As Erza came out of the kitchen carrying a tray, she just happened to catch sight of Ultear's back as she pushed the door open and left.
"? Ultear's already gone?"
The girl blinked in surprise.
She lowered her eyes to the extra breakfast on the tray—something she'd woken up early to make on purpose, with double cheese and ham.
"I even made hers…"
Even she couldn't quite explain why she always felt a weird sense of competition with Ultear, but as the host, she still wanted to treat her properly.
"She had something urgent to do."
Shane came out of the washroom, wiping the water off his face as he answered casually.
He looked a little distracted.
Ultear's hesitant, half-spoken expression right before she left wouldn't stop replaying in his head.
"So it really is about that 'Great Magic World' Hades mentioned?" Shane mulled it over.
Aside from that sort of scheme-like plan, he couldn't think of anything else that would make the normally ice-cold woman so conflicted.
Unfortunately, his understanding of this world's magic theory was still too shallow.
Even after cramming a few times, concepts like that were still complete fog to him.
"Looks like I'll have to ask the old man."
Ultear wouldn't explain, and he couldn't reason it out on his own.
Shane sighed and made up his mind.
If the guild had a Wizard Saint sitting in it, he might as well use the living encyclopedia instead of wasting the resource.
While he was thinking that, his whole body suddenly stiffened as he remembered something huge he'd forgotten—
So much happened on the Worth Woodsea trip that he'd completely forgotten to check Ultear's name off in the trial's "companions" list!
Who knew how long it would be until they met again? She'd been right there, hanging around him for ages—
Shane's face immediately collapsed. He punched his own thigh hard.
Erza had just set breakfast on the table. When she looked up and saw Shane wearing the expression of someone who'd just missed out on a hundred million, her mood soured.
Ultear left, and he had to look this depressed?
Erza didn't say anything. She scrunched her nose unhappily and reached out to pull the breakfast that had been meant for Ultear over to herself.
Fine. Turning frustration into appetite—she'd just eat both portions!
Shane snapped back to reality and saw Erza angrily stuffing her face. He couldn't help but feel amused.
"Uh… your appetite's great today?"
Of course, he had no clue about the twists and turns in her head—he just assumed she didn't want the breakfast she'd worked hard on to go to waste.
"Are we going to the guild later?" Erza didn't answer him. She swallowed a bite of toast and asked in a muffled voice.
Shane had promised they'd team up, but she knew his lazy streak—after doing something big, he usually collapsed at home for a few days.
Shane swallowed, thought it over, and nodded.
Since he needed to ask the Master about the "Great Magic World" anyway, and judging by the timeline, the letter he'd mailed to Layla should have a reply by now—he also needed to check the post office.
"Yeah. We're going out today," he said. "And while we're at it, let's take a fairly easy request."
"Okay!"
Erza's low mood instantly vanished. She quietly sped up her eating.
She didn't say anything—just ate faster and faster.
Even with two people's worth of food in front of her, she devoured it at a ridiculous pace.
Her cheeks were puffed out like a tiny hamster, yet her movements were still oddly graceful—nothing messy or sloppy about it.
Shane stared, slightly stunned.
He genuinely couldn't understand how so much food fit inside such a slim body—and how she could eat that fast while still looking neat.
He'd planned to eat slowly while thinking, but now he could only helplessly match her tempo, stuffing down the rest in a few bites and nearly choking.
Out on the main street, the sun was perfect and the breeze mild.
Erza didn't forget their earlier agreement.
She walked at Shane's side, keeping their distance within a subtle arm's length.
Whenever they crossed the road, she naturally drifted closer—her shoulder occasionally brushing his arm.
The scent that came with her wasn't rich and intoxicating like Ultear's.
It was just a faint soapbean smell mixed with the crisp bite of morning air—like clean bed sheets that had been sun-dried until they were warm. The kind of scent that made you feel calm.
Maybe the vibe was too perfectly placed, because Shane simply reached out and took her hand.
He'd held her hand countless times before, but for some reason this time, Erza's body stiffened for a split second—her steps even stumbled half a beat.
She stole a glance sideways, but Shane's eyelids were lowered, his expression focused, like he was thinking hard about something—completely not paying attention to her reaction.
"Mm…" Realizing his attention wasn't on her at all, Erza puffed her cheeks in irritation.
And Shane really didn't have any spare brainpower for her face right then.
He was fully focused on sensing the changes in his inner "sea," estimating how much longer that "heartlight" resonance would take to unlock Lancer's second vision.
"…"
A moment later, his brows knit faintly.
At this rate, it would take about two months to build up enough.
Even with heartlight acceleration, that cycle felt painfully long.
Shane sighed inside. He'd need other ways to speed it up—brute-forcing it like this was torture.
At the post office, he gave his name and, as expected, received a reply from the Heartfilia family.
He tore it open at once.
Anna was mysterious and held a lot of hidden information.
If Layla could tell him where Anna was, maybe he could learn more about dragons—
And if he could get closer to that, Lancer's second vision would unlock faster too!
But the moment he unfolded the letter and skimmed the contents, his excitement was doused like it had been hit with a bucket of cold water.
Layla wrote that Anna had left in a hurry and hadn't left any way to contact her.
She did promise that if Anna ever returned to see her again, she would pass Shane's message along.
"Yeah… figures. Someone that mysterious was never going to leave contact info so easily."
Shane shook his head, disappointed, and continued reading.
At the bottom, the handwriting style suddenly changed.
Compared to Layla's neat, elegant script, this part was crooked and childish.
There were even a few cute smiley faces drawn in.
"Shane-nii! I miss you!"
"And also, Mom taught me Celestial Spirit Magic! I already made a contract with a spirit! It's a talking clock grandpa—he's really fun! Next time we meet, I'll summon him for you to see!"
Reading those playful lines, Shane couldn't help smiling as Lucy's adorable face popped into his mind.
But then the smile froze.
"Wait… it's only been that long?"
Shane suddenly realized—
From when he left the Heartfilia estate to now, it had only been a handful of days.
And Lucy had already learned Celestial Spirit Magic and successfully contracted a spirit?
Sure, she had Layla teaching her hands-on, but that speed was still ridiculous.
Shane thought back to the months he'd spent suffering in the library just to learn Requip magic, and his heart inexplicably stung.
A wave of helplessness—the struggling student facing the genius—washed over him.
"The gap between people is bigger than the gap between people and dogs," he muttered internally, feeling like he'd taken critical emotional damage.
But he quickly comforted himself:
So what if someone's magic talent is good? Strength is what matters!
Look at Ultear and Erza—tons of talent, and they still can't beat me in a fight, right?
Just like that, his mood leveled out.
He took the pen and paper the post office provided and started writing a reply.
Besides basic greetings, he also needed to tell Layla something he'd heard from Ultear—about Zoldeo.
That servant who tried to harm Lucy had secretly learned a terrifying Lost Magic: Human Subordination.
Shane felt Layla needed to know.
He began writing carefully, detailing what he knew about Human Subordination, and once again earnestly asked Layla to notify him immediately if Anna ever returned.
When he finished, he sealed the letter and handed it to the clerk.
As he turned around, he saw Erza standing quietly at the entrance, waiting for him.
Her hands were clasped behind her back, but her eyes weren't idle—there was real weight in them as they clung to him.
She was honestly worried that once Shane read the letter, he'd do what he did last time and suddenly disappear on another long trip.
When Shane walked up, Erza straightened reflexively.
"All done?" she asked.
"Yeah. All set."
Seeing her tense little face, Shane broke into a bright grin.
"Come on. Let's go to the guild and pick a request. Today we're going to do something big!"