"Good morning, Goodman… And who is this?"
When Rhode came downstairs, he saw a lady busy with Goodman.
"Good morning, this is my wife Molly," Goodman introduced his wife first, and then introduced Rhode, "This is Mr. Rhode, who rented our second floor, as I told you."
"Hello, Mr. Rhode. My husband mentioned that you're a very skilled mage."
"Hello, I also heard Goodman say he had a beautiful and virtuous wife, but I didn't expect you to exceed his description by so much."
Mrs. Molly glanced at Goodman, a bit embarrassed, and said, "You're too kind."
Goodman gave a thumbs-up behind her, and then said seriously:
"Since it might be busy these days, I asked her to come help, and later we can stroll around the festival together."
Rhode said enviously, "You two have such a great relationship."
The couple, already with children, blushed a bit at Rhode's words.
Rhode bid farewell to the loving couple and headed to the guild.
On the way, he saw two mages fighting, knocking over a roadside stall.
He initially wanted to intervene, but the stall owner just scolded them, and the two obediently apologized and paid up.
Once forgiven, they resumed their fight in the middle of the street.
Rhode looked at the emblems on their bodies — sure enough, they were from Fairy Tail.
He pulled his sleeve to cover his own emblem and walked past them casually.
Rhode wasn't familiar with those people.
Today, the guild was slightly quieter than yesterday because Natsu still didn't have the energy to cause a ruckus.
Hapi, acting like nothing was wrong, finished its own fish and started eating the normal food Natsu had ordered.
Rhode ruffled Natsu's pink hair, finding the texture nice: "Why does it feel like Natsu's condition has worsened? Didn't he rest well yesterday?"
Natsu said weakly, "I'm not letting you off, Rhode…"
"Huh? Not letting me off? Isn't it Laxus you're not letting off?"
"Aye! It's because yesterday Rhode left Natsu to be taken care of by Erza." Hapi was munching on Natsu's breakfast, enjoying it.
"Ha… haha…" Rhode chuckled awkwardly, "When Erza gets serious, she should be able to take care of someone, right?"
"Aye! Because Erza saw Natsu suffering and felt sorry, so she knocked him out." Hapi paused, adding, "Five times."
"Sorry, it's my fault!" Rhode realized he underestimated Erza's unpredictability.
He thought it would just be some helmet clashing or bandage wrapping, but didn't expect her to be so heavy-handed.
He couldn't imagine if Erza became a mother and her child fell and couldn't get up, if she'd draw her sword on the spot:
"Can't stand? Looks like your leg's broken, hang on, mommy will amputate it for you. If you're afraid of the pain, mommy can knock you out first before cutting."
Yikes~~~
Rhode shivered, thinking Sister Mira was better.
Laki called out at the counter: "Rhode, come over, Sister Mira has something good to show you!"
Mira showed Rhode an album and a sketchbook.
"You found them?" Rhode eagerly watched her open the sketchbook.
The appearance of the guild from a few years ago unfolded page by page before Rhode's eyes.
Warm was anxiously circling at Rhode's feet.
As it grew larger, its jumping ability greatly diminished, now struggling even to jump onto a chair, let alone the counter.
Rhode had to pick it up so it could see too.
"Wow, how many years ago is this?"
Mira thought for a moment: "About four or five years? This drawing was made when Natsu had just found Hapi's egg and insisted it was a dragon's egg, drawn by Lidas."
Rhode examined it closely: "So this dragon is Hapi? The color matches."
Laki pointed at Natsu: "Natsu's scarf has always been the same one."
Mira said: "Because it was given by his adoptive father, a very important scarf."
Rhode skipped this slightly sad topic: "Gray really liked taking off clothes since childhood, and Erza has been wearing armor since she was young too."
Laki said: "Erza was also cute back then."
Rhode asked: "Laki, when did you join the guild? Haven't seen Erza's younger self?"
"About over two years ago, by then Erza was already more or less the same as now," Laki said regretfully.
After a pause, Laki continued: "Looking at this picture, Macao seemed quite handsome back then. Did Lidas get bribed by him?"
Mira laughed and said: "Nope, Macao was really like this when he was young."
"The president hasn't changed much…" Laki nudged Rhode with her elbow, "Hey, after looking so long, did you not recognize Sister Mira?"
"Ah… not really, it's just that her temperament is so different now, hard to believe."
Rhode asked, "Mira, were you and Lidas not on good terms back then?"
"Not at all, Lidas drew very well, identical except for Hapi."
Mira looked at herself in the drawing, asking, "What do you think, surprised?"
Rhode shook his head: "Not exactly surprised, just a different kind of cute, a bit different from what I imagined."
"The Gentle Neighboring Sister I Liked Used to Be a Little Delinquent?"
It's starting to feel a bit cliché.
Mira turned the pages of the sketchbook and album, explaining the stories behind the drawings.
Whenever she stopped at a past photo of herself, she'd occasionally glance at Rhode's reaction.
Rhode felt slightly complicated, realizing he didn't know Mira as well as he thought.
He tried to remember these trivial bits of information, not just for Mira, but also longing for the fun memories everyone had.
Erza, at some point, noticed and joined in to look through the pictures together.
"Seems like a lot happened, I feel a bit nostalgic."
As she spoke, Erza looked at a picture of herself standing in the middle while Natsu and Gray looked away, pouting.
Clearly, they didn't want to take a photo together but didn't dare go against Erza.
"Why did you keep even such a drawing?" Gray immediately noticed the picture with a big bump on his head.
Mira said: "Because they're precious memories, and it's interesting."
"Mm, mm!" Erza nodded seriously with her arms crossed.
Only Gray didn't want to recall those times.
"Even Laxus was so cute back then," Laki found a little Laxus.
Rhode looked at the lively and cute Laxus, wondering: "When did he turn into the person he is now?"
Gray said: "Who knows, maybe after the president kicked his son, Laxus' father, out."
Erza said: "Gray, the president doesn't want us discussing that."
Rhode patted Gray's shoulder and pointed behind him.
Gray turned and saw his clothes, then looked down at his oversized shorts: "When did this happen!?"