Today at noon, the tavern was even more boisterous than yesterday.
The main reason was that Natsu had returned from his task, and Gray hadn't left yet.
The two were originally ten meters apart, but suddenly they locked eyes and inexplicably started arguing.
Natsu shouted things like "droopy eyes" and "ice block bastard."
Gray retorted with "hanged eyes" and "fire flame fool."
In no more than ten seconds, their foreheads were pressing together, and soon they were in a brawl.
These two guys fought without the restraint of Macao and Wakaba, and soon a chair leg flew out and hit Elfman on the back.
Elfman yelled out things like "manly" while swinging his fists and joining the fray, but he quickly got punched away by both Natsu and Gray.
The flying Elfman toppled Kana's table, and the bottle Kana threw ended up hitting a handsome guy on the head.
The handsome guy, who was chatting with two beauties, didn't show any anger but rather gracefully let go of the two beauties:
"Please wait a moment, I'll join in."
Before leaving, he even threw a charming glance, which made the two beauties scream and cheer him on.
The tavern grew increasingly chaotic, and one member after another got dragged into the fight, even Lidas who was drawing, Nabu who was looking at the task board, and even Reby's squad couldn't escape.
Mira, as usual, smiled at the counter watching the spectacle.
Laki… was already fighting, as she was not one to back down easily.
Rhode decisively placed the food he was about to serve on the counter and stayed by the drunken President's side.
A sense of security.
He was completely focused on the various 'battlefields' in the tavern, not to watch the show but to avoid any unidentified flying objects that might come his way.
Rhode was already a veteran employee of Fairy Tail having joined for two days, and in the guild, one must learn to protect oneself.
Seeing the situation escalating, with the brawl about to upgrade to a magic fight, Rhode felt it was time to wake the President to stop them.
This step seemed like a routine.
But before he could act, the guild's door slammed open, and the bright midday sunlight poured in, outlining a graceful silhouette.
As Rhode's eyes gradually adjusted to the light, the silhouette had already walked steadily inside.
Long crimson hair, a face so delicate that it showed no emotion, complemented by black knee-high boots and a blue mini skirt that highlighted her long legs, but...
Her upper body was clad in metal armor, complete with shoulder armor, arm armor, and hand armor.
If the skirt had armor plates attached and she had a sword in her hand, she would be the quintessential image of a female knight.
But at the moment, she held a three-meter-long rope, and as she walked through the door, you could see the rope was pulling a flatbed cart.
And on the cart was a pile of luggage stacked up like a small mountain, higher than herself.
Must be a tough one. Rhode made this assessment in his mind.
Immediately, Rhode noticed her crimson hair and remembered what Mira mentioned yesterday—Erza!
As Erza pulled her luggage through the door, the noisy guild fell silent.
Everyone who had been arguing seemed frozen in time, even if they were still holding onto someone's collar or hair.
Mira was delightfully smiling: "Welcome back, Erza!"
"Ah, I'm back." Erza politely responded, then looked at everyone else, her expression turning stern.
The crowd froze in fear, with only a few daring to attempt conversation: "Erza… Miss, did the task go smoothly?"
He even intentionally added the honorific.
"Don't even think about getting away with it, I've heard you've caused quite a commotion again!"
"But we'll leave that for now. Bigda, stop dancing on the table! Nabu, stop lingering around the bulletin board and take a commission! Wakaba, watch your ash! Kana…"
Erza came in, immediately identifying and criticizing a group of troublemakers and irresponsible adults, especially those who had damaged tables and chairs.
Not one of those called out dared to argue back.
Especially Natsu and Gray, who had just been fighting fiercely, now were arm in arm, looking as if they were great friends.
Erza nodded with satisfaction: "Getting along is great, but Gray, your clothes."
"Huh? When did this happen?" Gray frantically found his pants and put them on.
However, Erza hadn't finished: "President, drinking heavily in broad daylight, maybe you should restrain them a little?"
"What's the harm..." Makarov seemed not quite awake, even belching from the alcohol.
Rhode suddenly noticed the tavern had returned to its usual state; those who had just been brawling were now back to normal, drinking and chatting.
Natsu and Gray sat across each other, still looking defiant when their eyes met, but would immediately clink glasses and laugh once Erza's gaze swept over them.
She's like a disciplinarian.
At this moment, Erza's gaze fell on Rhode, but fortunately it was rather friendly: "A new face, are you a new member or a resident of Magnolia?"
Rhode greeted properly: "Hello, I'm Rhode, just joined the guild two days ago.
Previously, Mira mentioned your glories, which are well-known."
"Glories…" Erza seemed a bit taken aback by the word, looking at Mira with some shock.
She only knew Mira liked gossip, but didn't know Mira would speak ill of people behind their backs.
"It's not like that, Rhode's use of common language is somewhat problematic..." Mira seemed a bit troubled, as a misunderstanding did occur.
She explained the way Rhode learned the language, then added,
"Anyway, Rhode's Magic and common language are still being studied, temporarily working as a waiter in the tavern."
"I see, I'm Erza." Erza's attitude towards the new member was quite friendly,
"Since you joined the guild, you're family, feel free to come to me with any difficulties, I will do my best to assist you!"
When saying 'do my best,' Erza clenched her fist; her tone and expression were very serious.
"Ah… thank you." Rhode wasn't sure if he should be happy.
Good news, he became 'family' with Erza from the main characters.
Bad news, Erza just disciplined a large group of 'family,' and judging by her skilled manner, it's clearly not her first time.
Erza sat in the guild for a while, had a drink, then dragged her luggage cart away, saying she'd been out too long and needed to go back and clean her room, then sort out her spoils.
Rhode curiously asked Mira about Erza's task.
But Mira said the client required confidentiality for specifics, broadly helping a small remote border town clean up a troublesome criminal gang.
"Erza single-handedly dealt with dozens of criminals~" Mira laughed, "How about it, isn't our 'Fairy Queen' impressive?"
Rhode nodded: "Uh... indeed impressive."
Honestly, Erza is powerful, and so far appears to be one of the rare serious ones in the guild.
And her appearance is on par with Mira's, Rhode guessed she surely stirs many hearts.
Yet… he dared not have any messy thoughts.
Because Mira had briefed him on Erza's glorious accomplishments:
Such as beating Natsu so hard that even Hapi couldn't recognize him, dealing with the sneaky Gray almost sending him to the grave, making the pursuing Loki barely able to breathe...
Suddenly Rhode felt that his earlier use of the term 'glories' might not have been wrong.
"Laki? What's that?"
Mira noticed after Laki saw Erza off, she returned with a person-high gift box.
"It's a specialty Erza brought back for me."
Laki happily set the red gift box down with a thud, sounding very substantial.