Cough, cough, this is not the time to be thinking about that.
Stay low-key, I have to look like someone who is not moved by money at all.
Kabe quietly reminded himself, cleared his throat, then refused in one breath.
"No need. This is simply what I, Kabe, should do as a member of the Fairy Tail guild."
"Oh, Fairy Tail, I will remember that. In a few days I will have someone send the money to your guild."
"...Huh?"
Kabe really wanted to slap himself. It is only five million J, why can I not control my stupid mouth...
Seeing that the young lady seemed to have misunderstood and taken her as a member of Fairy Tail as well, Karen hurriedly opened her mouth to explain.
"Wait a second, young lady. I am Karen, from Blue Pegasus."
The moment she finished, Mira puffed up her cheeks, glaring as she snapped,
"Hey, you are the one being shameless here. We are the ones who beat those guys, me and Kabe. What right do you have to take a share of the money?!"
"What?! Are you kidding me? If I had not ambushed and seriously injured Bart, you think a little girl like you could have hurt him at all?!"
"Ha? Seriously injured? Do not make me laugh. That level of attack was not even enough to tickle him."
"You brat, just because you have Makarov backing you up does not mean you can say whatever you like. With the relationship between our two guilds, believe it or not, I can go complain to Master Bob and have you kicked out of Fairy Tail."
"Hmph, now you remember the relationship between our guilds? What were you doing earlier? Go complain if you want, at most you get one percent of the reward as travel money."
"You, you, you, you... you little brat, you are going too far!!"
Watching the two women start arguing and nearly grabbing each other's hair over five million J, Kabe felt his embarrassment spike.
He turned to Lucy and gave her an awkward yet polite smile.
Then he spun back around and shouted,
"Enough. When we get back, I will report the whole mission process to Master Makarov truthfully. As for the reward, the two guild masters can discuss how to split it."
Hearing that, both women fell instantly silent.
Karen, however, knew very well that based on what she had actually contributed to this incident, if the money was divided according to effort, she would not be getting much at all.
But as the saying goes, the situation is stronger than the person. The fact that she came out of this alive and still had a share at all was already the best outcome she could hope for.
Lucy watched the three of them finish talking about how to divide the money, and could not help complaining in her heart.
What is wrong with those two big sisters? It is only five million, why are they acting like it is life or death?
That big brother with the long tail seems much more reliable.
Yes, Lucy had already noticed the fluffy tail happily swaying behind Kabe.
Although she really, really wanted to reach out and touch it, she suppressed that urge out of basic manners.
"Everyone, thank you very much for today. If you do not mind, I would like to invite the three of you to my family's manor in Hargeon for lunch, so that we can properly thank you."
A chance to eat for free, and it was at the home of someone as rich as Lucy, of course Kabe had no reason to say no.
Karen also wanted to see if she could use this opportunity to connect with the Heartfilia conglomerate, so she accepted the invitation without any hesitation.
Only Mira pouted as she stared at Kabe's tail swinging left and right.
After spending these past days with him, she had already noticed this pattern... whenever he was in a good mood or scheming something, his tail became especially lively.
That made her worry. Had this idiot already been blinded by that cold, heartless thing called money?
You really had to admit, a woman's sixth sense could be terrifyingly accurate sometimes.
From that tiny detail alone, Mira had already guessed the truth.
...
At Lucy's home on the outskirts of town, once the servants heard that the guests they were going to host were the benefactors who had saved their young lady's life, the butler, the chefs, and the maids all threw themselves into their work with everything they had.
They prepared the most splendid lunch Kabe had eaten since coming to this world.
He had not eaten properly since last night or this morning, and his stomach had long since been flattened by hunger.
Once the food was served, he opened up his engines to full power and put on a visual feast of gluttony for everyone present.
Looking at the plates stacked high on the table, and the servants going back and forth from the kitchen until they were drenched in sweat, Lucy's mouth hung open in shock as she sucked in a cold breath.
"Amazing... So this is why you are so strong, Brother Kabe?"
"No, no, no, absolutely not!" echoed three times
Mira, Karen, and Aquarius all shook their heads together, black lines practically drawn across their faces.
Karen, holding her knife, stared blankly at Kabe as he devoured the food at the rate of one plate per mouthful. She swallowed hard.
"Um... little delinquent girl, does Mr. Kabe always eat like this normally?"
"Who are you calling a delinquent?!" Mira snapped back instinctively.
Then she turned and saw Kabe's utterly indecent eating posture, and immediately covered her face in shame.
"More or less... It is just that the dishes at Lucy's place are way too good, so he is eating a bit more than usual."
"This is a bit more?" Aquarius was completely stunned, starting to complain as well.
"Is his stomach a bottomless pit? I have never seen any human who can eat this much."
Listening to the three of them comment on him like that, Kabe chewed rapidly, swallowed the huge mouthful in his cheek, then smugly flicked his tail.
"I never said I was human. Do not look at me with such simple standards."
With that, he looked at Lucy and praised,
"Lucy, you are not bad either. Among the Celestial Spirit mages I have seen, your talent is definitely one of the best. Much better than a certain greenhead."
Randomly getting stepped on like that made Karen feel a little unhappy.
A little girl who has not even grown up properly yet, how is she better than me, aside from being rich?
She grumbled inwardly, but when the corner of her eye swept over Aquarius, who was propping her chin up and staring impatiently at Lucy as she ate, she suddenly froze.
Wait a second, how long has this one been out here?
From when we first saw her on the beach, then all the way through that battle...
That little girl's magic power was enough to maintain her summon for this long?
You have got to be kidding me. That is one of the Golden Zodiac Spirits. Even I cannot keep them summoned for this long.
Finally noticing this blind spot, Karen felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Her whole body suddenly went weak.
Lucy, on the other hand, first gave an embarrassed smile after hearing Kabe's praise, then turned to Karen with eyes full of surprise.
"Big Sister Karen, you are also a Celestial Spirit mage? Then what Celestial Spirits do you have? Can you introduce them to me?"
Lucy had always loved making friends with Celestial Spirits, and Celestial Spirit mages were rare to begin with due to the scarcity of keys.
Now that such a chance was in front of her, she could not let it slip by. So even knowing it might be a bit forward, she still asked anyway.
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