With the village elder's interference, Aux no longer felt like working. He returned to the Fairy Tail Guild and walked straight to the counter to order a coffee to perk himself up.
The coffee at the Fairy Tail Guild was quite good, it just felt out of place among companions who were drinking alcohol and other beverages.
"Aux hasn't been in the Guild long enough. There's definitely no hope for him to be nominated for this year's S-Class Mage promotion exam," Mirajane said with a smile.
Aux shook his head, unconcerned. "I've only been in the Guild for a few days. The Master wouldn't just casually let me participate in that kind of exam."
Among all Mage Guilds,
the S-Class at Fairy Tail Guild was arguably the most stringent, and those who managed to become S-Class were few and far between.
The biggest example was Cana!
She had been selected for the S-Class exam multiple times, but had never managed to pass the test.
This not only required strength, but also diligence in work and speed in handling requests. Otherwise, there wouldn't be so few S-Class Mages after all these years.
It could be said that as S-Class Mages, the few from Fairy Tail Guild didn't even need to shout slogans; they could resolve issues that other Guild's S-Class Mages couldn't.
Mirajane nodded in agreement. "It's possible. These past few days, I've often heard the Master say you're very powerful. He might actually make an exception and promote you to S-Class."
Aux naturally couldn't truly believe such a statement, so he smiled, letting the topic pass.
"Hahahahaha..."
Just then, Natsu and Happy, who had left at some point, returned. The former was carrying a large yellow dog.
"Natsu, don't you already have Happy? Are you planning to keep a dog as a pet too?" Cana drunkenly asked when she saw the dog.
This immediately drew a strange look from Natsu. "What are you talking about? Happy isn't a pet, he's my partner."
"Aye~" Happy echoed, "Cana, you've had too much to drink, I'm not a pet!"
Grumble... Cana was speechless and continued to pour more alcohol down her throat.
Natsu didn't mind. He lifted the dog with both hands and told everyone, "This dog is really interesting. When I found him, he was walking on two legs, and he walked really strangely, it was so funny, hehehe..."
Oh?
Many members of the Guild were slightly interested. Although Happy was a cat, he was different from ordinary cats, but this dog looked like a common one.
Therefore, the fact that this dog walked on two legs aroused their curiosity, and they all focused their attention on the dog.
"A dog that walks on two legs sounds fun. Keeping an animal like that in the Guild should be interesting," Mirajane murmured, tapping her chin with her index finger.
Aux, however, twitched his mouth. He couldn't understand what was going on with the village elder; how could he have been caught like this?
That's right!
This dog was the dog that had swapped personalities with the village elder. He had thought he would hide, but he didn't expect to be caught.
"Woof woof woof..."
The yellow dog, whose body was held, immediately struggled to come over and bite when his dog eyes saw Aux.
"Quiet down." Natsu used force with both hands, completely restraining the dog to prevent him from breaking free.
But who would have thought, the dog was unexpectedly vicious, baring his teeth and turning his head to bite Natsu's hand.
Ow!
Natsu cried out in pain, and in turn, let go of the dog.
"Woof!"
The dog found an opportunity, ran wildly on all fours, and when he was not far from Aux, he directly jumped from the ground, opening his mouth full of dog teeth to bite.
Bang!
Aux wouldn't indulge him. He directly slapped the dog, instantly sending him from mid-air back to the ground.
"Awoo..."
The dog's pained yelp instantly echoed in the Guild. The dog had fallen quite hard; his back right leg dared not touch the ground, and he was supporting his body with his other three legs, yelping.
"Aux is so cruel..."
"Yeah, yeah, he's just a little dog, why be so heavy-handed?"
"Exactly, it wouldn't matter even if he got bitten..."
"That yelp is so pitiful, this dog is too pathetic."
"He was caught for no reason, and then inexplicably slapped. He must have been traumatized!"
...
The uninformed members of the Guild were overflowing with sympathy.
Several random girls pointed fingers, accusing Aux of cruelty.
Hearing these words,
Aux grinned, left the counter, and squatted in front of the still yelping dog.
He squeezed out a sentence through his teeth, "If you dare to cause any more trouble, I'll kill you!"
Whoosh~
The dog immediately whimpered and turned to flee, running remarkably swiftly even on three legs.
Levy was surprised, "I didn't expect that dog to be so intelligent!"
Elfman muttered, "A man, a dog that understands human speech. Having such a dog by your side seems like a good way to pass the time."
Mirajane seemed to sense something amiss from Aux's attitude and immediately narrowed her eyes to warn him, "You can't keep a pet, Elfman."
Natsu clicked his tongue and said regretfully, "Such an interesting dog is gone just like that."
"Yeah, yeah." Happy agreed, and then expressed his dissatisfaction with Aux's actions, "Aux is so petty."
Everyone else treated the dog as a mere interlude.
After a few chats, they stopped discussing it and continued drinking and boasting.
After a while in the Guild,
Aux prepared to go out for a stroll to see how the elder, whose body was occupied by the dog, was doing now.
He had expected to search for a long time, but he unexpectedly found him after only two streets.
It was a magic tool shop.
Many residents, men, women, old and young of all ages, were gathered at the entrance.
Aux squeezed into the crowd.
He heard about the bizarre things the elder had done after his body was occupied by the dog.
"How could a perfectly normal person turn out like this?"
"Who knows? Not only does he bark like a dog, he also defecates and urinates anywhere and then licks it up with his tongue... Ugh..."
"If you ask me, this should be some kind of illness."
"He must have been bitten by a dog, and then the illness flared up. The specific cause still needs to be examined and confirmed."
"We need to be careful of these wild animals from now on."
...
Dog-like behavior, when exhibited by a human, would appear particularly strange.
From the conversations of the residents, he learned that
the elder's body was being used like a dog's, which was cruel in a certain sense.
Even Aux couldn't bear to watch.
At the same time, it also sounded a warning bell for him: in the future, even if he were to swap personalities, he should try not to cross species.
It was truly too cruel!
After looking at the elder, who was tied up by several men, Aux no longer had the desire to continue watching.
Judging by the current situation, the elder would likely be taken away for a physical examination.
Only after confirming that the elder had no illness would he be given his freedom.
Before then, his safety was guaranteed.
He just needed to wait for the magic effect to wear off; at that time, the elder would definitely run away.
"I hope you'll be more honest after you recover."
Aux shook his head and left.
He wandered around Magnolia Town for another half a day, and only returned to the Guild dormitory to rest after dark...