Compared to the first floor, the second floor of the guild had far less space and almost no decoration.
There was only a simple request board with fewer than ten job requests pinned to it, and two rows of bookshelves crammed with scattered documents and records.
The person Kabe was looking for, Makarov, was currently squatting in front of the request board with his back to him, doing something that was very clearly not work.
Kabe did not make a sound. He slowed his steps and quietly approached from behind.
As he moved closer, he heard a low, pervy little chuckle.
"Heheh... fufufu...
Poly-chan, your figure just keeps getting better and better..."
Kabe:
He sucked in a deep breath, then leaned right to Makarov's ear and suddenly yelled,
"Master!!!"
"Yaaah!!"
Makarov was so startled he almost flew into the air.
His hand jerked, and the magazine he had been holding slipped from his fingers.
He dove after it with surprising agility and snatched it up, stuffing it into his clothes in a panic.
Then, flustered, he snatched up a few request sheets from the floor that he had not yet pinned up, hurried over to the board, and pretended to calmly pin them on.
"Who, who is it? I am very busy, you know."
Behind him, Kabe crossed his arms and snorted.
"Wow, you dirty old man. Hiding on the second floor to read adult magazines in secret, huh."
"Nonsense! That is slander! I am warning you, do not slander your guild master!"
Makarov whipped his head around to argue, but the moment he saw that it was Kabe, his expression changed completely and he snapped,
"Kabe! You little brat, you are not even an S-Class mage yet. Who gave you permission to come up to the second floor?!"
Kabe was not scared at all by his angry shouting. In fact, he deliberately raised his voice and said,
"No wonder there are so few S-Class mages in this guild. So it is because you like to sit up here on the second floor reading indecent magazines, Master.
You deliberately made the S-Class promotion exam harder so fewer people could come up and bother you, right?"
"What? Hey, you brat, do not talk nonsense like that!"
Makarov's eyes almost popped out of his head. He had not expected this kid to dump such a huge pot on him in front of everyone.
Afraid that Kabe would say something even more explosive, Makarov quickly put on a pleading expression.
"Alright, alright, I will pretend I did not see you come up here this time. Just stop talking."
"Only pretend you did not see me?"
That casual little line almost made Makarov cough up blood.
His short body trembled. In the end, with great reluctance, he pulled the unfinished magazine from his clothes.
Before he could hand it over of his own free will, Kabe's hand flashed out and snatched it away.
He casually flipped through a few pages, found the quality very much to his taste, and then calmly tucked it into his own jacket.
"Ahem."
Kabe cleared his throat and instantly switched to a solemn, guilty expression.
"Master, I was wrong about you. You work so hard every day for the guild, always worrying over everyone. It truly must be exhausting."
Damn it, where did this brat learn to be such a shameless little blackmailer?
Internally cursing, Makarov also gave a small cough, clasped his hands behind his back, and smoothly took the offered step down.
"As long as you understand. Now, tell me, what did you come looking for me for?"
"Well, about that, Master, our mission this time was a failure."
"Oh, it failed, huh, good work anyw..."
Makarov started his usual comforting phrase, but halfway through his expression twisted and he shouted,
"What, the mission failed?! And you still have the nerve to come up here and threaten me!"
But then Kabe smoothly continued,
"However, on the way I happened to get lucky and saved the daughter of a very large business family.
She gave us five million J as compensation. I told her to send it straight to the guild."
"As I was saying, requests are always full of uncertainty. Failing once or twice is completely normal."
Makarov's face changed faster than turning a page in a book.
Kabe could not help quietly clicking his tongue in admiration.
Makarov pulled over a chair for him and sat down across from him, curiosity shining in his eyes.
"Come on then, tell me in detail what happened on this mission."
"This is going to be a bit complicated, so listen carefully..."
After that, Kabe recounted the entire trip to Hargeon from beginning to end.
He described recognizing the two brothers, Bart and Wright, as wanted criminals, how they clashed with Karen, how he resolved the incident, and what information he had forced out of Bart.
Finally he finished with,
"...and that is it. I handed them over to the Heartfilia family in the end."
When he was done, Makarov frowned, falling silent.
After thinking it over for quite a while, he finally gave his verdict on Kabe's handling of the situation.
"Well done. As a member of Fairy Tail, we must always stand on the right side.
Even when we are dealing with nobles, there is no need to hold back. If they step out of line, we teach them a lesson.
The title of Ten Wizard Saint is not just for show. Even if this matter reaches the royal family or the Council, I can still stand tall and yell at the king and those old councillors right to their faces."
Ignoring the last bit of self-praising bravado, Kabe focused on the part that truly mattered and shared his own suspicion about the plot.
"About that so-called big shot from the underworld, I have a theory.
On a mission before this one, I heard there used to be a high-ranking official in a Council-affiliated division.
After certain... events, he used the power he had quietly gathered from the Council to rise in the underworld.
Now he is apparently quite influential there, and among his subordinates there is said to be a Celestial Spirit mage.
I suspect these two things are connected.
Maybe you can ask Yajima to investigate this angle from the Council's side."
Makarov had absolute trust in the children of his guild.
He nodded without hesitation.
"This information is very important. I will let Yajima know and tell him to keep an eye on it."
With that, Makarov stood up, already planning to head over to the Council at once.
Just as Kabe had worried, Makarov was also concerned that legal Celestial Spirit mages across the continent might suffer sudden attacks like this.
Time was of the essence. He needed the Council to spread word to the other guilds as soon as possible so everyone could strengthen their defenses.
However, before he left, there was one more thing he had to tell Kabe.
"Brat, this year's S-Class Mage Promotion Trial is about to begin.
You... had better be ready."
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