Although he's a new driver, Rhode still managed to drive the car back to Magnolia smoothly.
This car is an MK-P6 model, which requires a wizard to provide Magic Power through an SE plug (which looks like a handcuff worn on the wrist), and its Magic Power consumption is extremely high.
Even so, Rhode was still driving enthusiastically.
This thing should be considered as automatic transmission; as long as the Magic Power keeps up, you can shift gears however you want.
Except for the lever being a bit tricky, the operational difficulty is akin to that of a child's electric toy car.
Mira saw him enjoying himself and originally planned to provide Magic Power in the latter part of the journey.
But Rhode had a blue buff, so as long as he didn't go full speed, there was no need to worry about Magic Power.
However, after experiencing the high consumption of the Magic Four-Wheeled Vehicle firsthand, Rhode felt even more empathetic towards Mira.
How anxious must she have been on the way here to speed up so desperately and drive such a long distance?
So, when the car came to a stop and he removed the SE plug, Rhode hugged Mira tightly.
"Huh?" Mira was a little surprised by his sudden attack, but she quickly felt his emotions.
She gently patted Rhode's back: "Alright, your shoulder injury hasn't fully healed yet. Don't hurt yourself."
Rhode inhaled the fragrance of her hair and whispered, "I'm already holding the best painkiller."
"Don't say things like that all of a sudden." Mira's ears turned red, and after considering the uninjured spot on Rhode's body, she pushed him away.
Rhode reflected on whether he was being too cheesy just now, but sometimes emotions just naturally arise.
Kana staggered drunkenly down from the car and suddenly shouted, "Hapi."
"Aye!"
"Do you know what the best painkiller in the world is?"
"Love!"
"Wrong, it's alcohol, not love~"
When she said 'love', Kana dragged out the syllable and aimed her words at Rhode and Mira, scraping her cheek with a finger.
"I'm going to return the car!" Mira, unusually flustered by the teasing, fled.
Rhode decided not to argue with a drunk; let's see if she could tease him even more.
"Ah, I see!" Erza hit her palm with her fist, as if she had an epiphany, "The 'love' between companions can dispel pain and give people the motivation to move forward."
"So, the bond between Mira and Rhode is already this deep, huh." The more Erza analyzed, the more it made sense to her, nodding in agreement with herself, "Mm, mm!"
"How to put it, what you said is both right and wrong." Elfman admired Erza's way of thinking, "But my sister and Rhode… a true man!"
Natsu was focused elsewhere, thinking about the fire he wanted to keep: "Hapi, I'm going home!"
"Aren't you going to the guild?"
"No, not when I can't even eat fire. It's so embarrassing for a Dragon Slayer Mage!"
Thinking about the possibility of being mocked by Gray as a 'fire-less fake Dragon Slayer Mage,' Natsu felt a chill all over.
Hapi had no choice but to follow him back, fearing that if they were late, their home would be gone.
...
The atmosphere in the guild was originally a bit tense, but since Erza had already contacted the president yesterday, it returned to its usual lively state.
As soon as the door was pushed open, the noise hit as if it had mass.
But once they saw who entered, the guild fell silent for a few seconds, and then erupted into even louder cheers:
"Welcome back!!!"
"Mira (Rhode, Elfman, Erza, Kana)!"
The voices were a cacophony, calling out everyone's names.
"Why isn't Natsu here?"
"He's definitely motion sick again!"
Amidst the hubbub, everyone greeted each other and headed straight for their places.
Kana found a random seat, and when someone asked what happened, she patted the table, indicating a story for each beer.
Erza, along with Mira and Rhode, went to find the president to report the details.
Elfman went to chat with Nabu and Marcus; when grouped with Rhode, he basically didn't worry about the report.
Especially since this time his sister was involved, he had even less to do, it was better to go arm wrestling.
"Yo!" Makarov was pleased, as they had encountered Demon's Heart this time, and as long as the kids came back safely, he was delighted.
"Such a pity, President." After Rhode recounted the details, Erza said apologetically,
"We didn't encounter even one officer after we got there and didn't get any more information."
Eliminating such a dangerous Dark Guild has always been a goal of the Advisory Council and Legitimate Guilds.
Makarov actually wanted to know more about this elusive 'Strongest Dark Guild'.
"It's alright, hasn't the Advisory Council captured quite a few ordinary members? They should be able to extract some information."
Makarov stood up from the counter, "Anyway, let's have a party to celebrate everyone's safe return!"
"Oh!!!"
This kind of request always gets a unanimous response.
With parties and activities happening so frequently, Rhode occasionally worried about the guild's finances.
But thinking about the compensation bills after some members caused trouble… having a party once in a while seemed fine, it's all small money.
Everyone partied late into the night again that day, but Rhode and Elfman were banned from alcohol by Mira and were sent to rest early.
They were supposed to be the stars of this party, but after their disappearance, nobody really noticed.
The guild folks cared more about having a blast than why the party started, just so long as they could party hard and be happy.
Even if the tavern got chaotic, Erza and the president wouldn't care.
...
"Here, this isn't right, the eye corners should be angled up more…"
"Like this?"
"Yes, yes, and then the emblem, on the right chest here, seems like it's only half inked."
"Then it looks like this."
"Exactly, and then…"
Rhode is someone who keeps his word; if he says he'll make intelligence with portraits, he'll do it.
But his own skill is only good for drawing cubes, so he definitely needs Lidas's help for this type of work.
Lidas is indeed amazing, able to draw out the likeness of two people based fully on Rhode's description.
Even the few monsters Rastillos manifested with magic are drawn accurately by him.
Rhode thought about whether to take some time to learn Transformation Magic from Mira; if there's a similar situation, he could transform instead, much easier than describing it.
The Advisory Council seemed pretty anxious too, and within a couple of days, Lahar came to the guild to see Rhode.
"It's all sorted out," Rhode said,
"But we've made an enemy of Demon's Heart this time, and we're worried about retaliation. Can the Advisory Council exchange information with us? There should be some progress on interrogating those people by now, right?"
"On this point, I'm very sorry." Lahar looked at Rhode, then glanced at the eavesdropping Makarov, showing a guilty look.
The two who accompanied him felt the same shame.
Makarov understandingly said, "If it's something that needs confidentiality, then you don't have to say it."
Lahar looked troubled, but he decided to be honest: "No, actually, the transport team was attacked, and all the captives disappeared."
"Huh?"