"You... you... what did you say?"
Erza was a bit stunned, looking at Takeshi in disbelief.
Takeshi said with a smile, "I said, okay. After this matter is over, we'll go back to the marriage registry, get our marriage certificate, and then have a grand wedding witnessed by everyone in the Guild."
Marriage?!
Lucy and Happy were startled by this. Luckily, they were prepared and quickly covered each other's mouths.
As for why they didn't just cover their own? They were afraid they might accidentally blurt out a gasp.
Takeshi continued, "After we get married, we'll have a few babies. How many? Hmm, the more, the better."
"Mar... mar... marriage... babies..."
When Erza heard that Takeshi really agreed to marry her and have babies with her, her face turned bright red.
If there was one thing Erza was most interested in, besides armor, it was marriage. She even had a carefully selected wedding dress in her magical spatial suit, which she intended to wear on her wedding day. This wedding dress had never been seen by outsiders, except when she secretly tried it on in her dorm.
Erza waved her hand frantically. "I... I... I was just kidding. Besides, don't... don't you like Mira?"
"I do like Mira, but that doesn't mean I don't like you."
Takeshi sighed, pretending to be sad. "Alas. I thought my spring had finally arrived, but I didn't expect my feelings to be deceived."
Erza felt a pang of guilt seeing Takeshi like this.
Takeshi couldn't help but laugh at Erza's expression. "Haha... Just kidding."
Erza was a bit annoyed hearing Takeshi say that. Although she had started the joke, she was still displeased.
"However, jokes aside, if I could really marry a wonderful woman like you, I'd wake up laughing in my dreams."
As Takeshi said this, his hands were clasped behind his head, a relaxed smile on his face. Yet, his words were exceptionally sincere and earnest, making Erza feel they came from the heart.
Erza's heart couldn't help but race, and her face slowly flushed.
Lucy and Happy, eavesdropping not far away, looked like they had stumbled upon a huge piece of gossip, holding back their gasps. They hadn't expected to hear such an exciting conversation.
Lucy even imagined a love story between Takeshi, Mirajane, and Erza, which provided great inspiration for her novel.
Just as the two thought they might hear something even more explosive—
Takeshi's voice rang out. "Hey. Have you two heard enough?"
Lucy and Happy froze, then looked up to see Takeshi's face.
"Eek!"
The two couldn't help but scream in fright.
"Oh. Takeshi, what a coincidence. Are you out for work too?" Lucy awkwardly raised her hand to greet him.
Takeshi said, "Coincidence? You've been sneaking around following me since the train station. That's quite a coincidence."
"We were discovered?!" Lucy and Happy's eyes widened.
"You didn't really think you were hiding well, did you?"
Takeshi had noticed them from the moment he entered the train station. He wasn't sure if it was due to repeatedly transforming into powerful characters or his Breathing Style, but his five senses' sensitivity and magic perception had greatly improved.
The moment their gazes fell on his back, he had noticed them. However, he didn't make a fuss, wanting to see what they were up to.
It turned out these two were quite bold, openly approaching. He even heard their gasps clearly.
"Happy... you... um, you were at Fairy Tail yesterday too, right..."
Erza stood up and saw the two. When she had returned to the Guild yesterday, she had seen Lucy. The Guild was small, and Erza had met almost everyone. If she had seen a beautiful young girl like Lucy before, she would have remembered.
Lucy immediately bowed and said, "I'm a newbie, my name is Lucy. Please take care of me."
"I'm Erza. Please take care of me. So you're the girl the Guild members were talking about, defeating the mercenary gorilla and such. You're very reliable."
Erza had heard many people discussing Lucy, because she had defeated a certain influential person, causing quite a stir and spreading widely.
"That was... Natsu who defeated him. It's a bit different from the facts."
Lucy had been explaining all day yesterday. She wasn't sure why Natsu's good deed was attributed to her.
Erza asked, "By the way, where's Natsu?"
She wasn't familiar with Lucy, but she knew Happy and Natsu were almost inseparable.
"Oh, Natsu!"
Lucy just remembered Natsu, and quickly went over to help the motion-sick Natsu up.
"Haa... Haa... Ugh..."
Natsu looked miserable.
"Hey! Don't you dare throw up on me!"
Soon, the few of them sat facing each other.
"So... tell me, what are you doing here?"
Erza had reverted to her usual cool and authoritative self, as if the person who had just joked with Takeshi wasn't her at all. This startled Lucy and the others.
Lucy quickly said, "It's Natsu. Natsu was curious about what you invited Takeshi to do, so he dragged Happy and me along."
"Aye."
Following the principle of 'sacrifice a friend to save yourself,' Lucy and Happy unhesitatingly sold Natsu out.
"Ugh... Blegh..."
Natsu immediately covered his mouth and shook his head, while glaring at Lucy and Happy.
He had suggested it, but weren't they very interested?
"I see." Erza nodded.
"You... you're not angry?"
Lucy had seen Erza scold almost the entire Guild yesterday when she returned, and everyone in the Guild was afraid of her. She had thought Erza had a very bad temper.
Erza said, "Angry? Why should I be angry? Actually, if Takeshi wasn't here this time, I would have invited Natsu and Gray to come with me for this quest. With Takeshi here, I naturally don't need the two of them."
"Then why didn't you just invite Natsu and Gray?" Takeshi was a bit helpless.
He still wanted to do an S-Class Quest. Working with Erza, no matter how difficult the job, the system wouldn't give him any rewards.
Erza said, "Of course, because you're more reliable."
Takeshi asked, "Don't think I'll be happy just because you say nice things. Tell me, what do you need my help for?"
"That's right. For someone as powerful as Erza-san to need help from others, it must be a very tricky matter."
After Erza left yesterday, Lucy had found out from Mirajane that Erza was actually the strongest female Mage in Fairy Tail, and was also known as Fairy Queen.
She didn't know the name Erza, but she knew Fairy Queen. That was a famous Mage in the magic world. She just never expected it to be such a beautiful woman like Erza.
"No need to be so polite, just call me Erza. It's time to get to the point. This is something I unexpectedly heard on my way back..."