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 promotion at Fairy Tail 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. Becoming S-Class 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 the few S-Class Mages of Fairy Tail didn't need to shout any slogans—they could resolve issues that even other guilds' S-Class Mages couldn't.
Mirajane nodded. "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 simply smiled and let the topic pass.
"Hahahahaha!"
Natsu and Happy, who had left at some point, suddenly returned. Natsu 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!"
Grumbling under her breath, Cana continued pouring alcohol down her throat.
Natsu didn't mind. He lifted the dog with both hands and proudly 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 became intrigued. Although Happy was a cat, he was different from ordinary cats—but this dog looked completely normal. A normal dog walking on two legs naturally piqued their curiosity, and everyone's eyes focused on it.
"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 thoughtfully.
Aux, however, twitched his mouth. He couldn't believe the village elder had been caught so easily.
That's right.
This dog was the one whose body had swapped personalities with the elder. He thought the old man would hide, but instead, he got caught and brought straight into the Guild.
"Woof! Woof! Woof!"
The yellow dog immediately struggled when he spotted Aux, desperately trying to bite him.
"Calm down." Natsu tightened his grip, completely restraining the dog to keep him from breaking free.
But unexpectedly, the dog was vicious. It bared its teeth, twisted its head, and bit Natsu's hand.
"Ow!"
Natsu yelped in pain and reflexively let go of the dog.
"Woof!"
Seizing the chance, the dog darted away on all fours, and when he was near Aux, he leaped with his jaws wide open, aiming straight for Aux's arm.
Bang!
Aux wasn't going to indulge him. He slapped the dog mid-air, sending him crashing to the ground.
"Awoo…"
The dog's miserable whine echoed throughout the Guild. It had landed badly; its back right leg no longer dared to touch the ground, and it limped on three legs while whimpering pitifully.
"Aux is so cruel…"
"Yeah, he's just a little dog. Why hit him that hard?"
"Exactly! Even if he bit you, it wouldn't be a big deal…"
"That yelp was so pitiful. Poor thing…"
"He got caught for no reason and then got slapped out of nowhere. He must be traumatized!"
The uninformed members were overflowing with sympathy. Several random girls even pointed accusing fingers at Aux.
Aux grinned, left the counter, and squatted in front of the dog still whimpering on the floor. Through clenched teeth, he whispered, "If you cause any more trouble, I'll kill you."
Whoosh—
The dog instantly cowered and fled, surprisingly fast even on three legs.
Levy blinked in surprise. "I didn't expect that dog to be so intelligent!"
Elfman muttered, "A man… a dog that understands human speech. Having a dog like that around sounds fun."
Mirajane sensed that something was off about Aux's attitude. Narrowing her eyes, she warned Elfman, "You can't keep a pet."
"Tch. Such an interesting dog, and he ran off just like that," Natsu complained.
"Yeah, yeah," Happy agreed, then shot Aux a dissatisfied glare. "Aux is so petty."
Everyone treated the dog incident as nothing more than a short interlude. After a bit more chatter, they stopped discussing it and continued drinking and boasting.
After spending a while in the Guild, Aux prepared to go out for a stroll to check on the elder—whose body was currently being used by the dog.
He thought he would need to search for quite some time, but unexpectedly, he found him after only two streets.
It was in front of a magic tool shop. Many residents—men, women, and children of all ages—were gathered at the entrance. Aux squeezed into the crowd and listened to what they were saying.
"How could a perfectly normal person end up like this?"
"Who knows? Not only does he bark like a dog, he even defecates and urinates anywhere… and then licks it up with his tongue… Ugh…"
"If you ask me, this must be some kind of illness."
"He must've been bitten by a dog and got sick afterward. They still need to examine him to confirm."
"We need to be more careful of wild animals from now on."
Dog-like behavior, when displayed by a human, was shockingly bizarre. From the residents' discussion, Aux learned just how the elder's body was being used. It was cruel in a certain sense—even Aux felt it was difficult to watch.
At the same time, it served as a warning: in the future, even if he used personality swapping, he should try not to cross species boundaries. It was simply too cruel.
After looking at the elder—tied up by several men—Aux lost all desire to continue watching. Judging by the situation, the elder would likely be taken in for a full medical examination. Only after confirming he didn't have an illness would he be released.
Until then, his safety was guaranteed. Aux simply needed to wait for the magic's effect to wear off. When it did, the elder would definitely escape.
"I hope you'll be more honest after you recover."
Shaking his head, Aux turned away and left.
He wandered around Magnolia Town for another half a day, returning to the Guild dormitory to rest only after night had fallen.
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