The next day, at the Fairy Tail Guild.
Early in the morning, the Guild was still noisy, and the renovation progress was well underway.
"Ah, I don't know what mission to take."
Lucy was carefully choosing from the mission board, feeling quite a headache, unsure of how to pick. Natsu and Happy, on the other hand, were having a blast playing nearby, and Gray was leisurely drinking at the bar, all of them enjoying the fruits of others' labor.
"Lucy, pick this one. The mission reward is very high."
"But this one…."
"Oh, Loki, you, why are you here already?"
Lucy turned her head and exclaimed in surprise, seeing Loki, who had recovered so quickly and returned to the human world.
This also made Everyone else in the Guild immediately gather around. After all, they had learned about the general situation last night, and given Loki's condition, he should have needed a long time in the Celestial Spirit World to recover.
"Ouch~… Bang!"
Natsu immediately shot over from a distance, breathing fire from his mouth, intending to duel Loki. However, as he passed the mission board, Lucy tripped him with her outstretched foot. With a whoosh, he slid past Loki and Gray and crashed into a pile of Sundries nearby.
"Loki, how are you? Have you recovered?"
"I've recovered a bit, but I still wanted to come over and say hello to Everyone! Especially Lucy!"
After Gray showed concern for Loki's health, Loki reported his condition to Everyone, feeling a bit embarrassed. However, when he spoke his last sentence, he gazed at Lucy with deep affection.
Such a deep and affectionate gaze made Lucy's cheeks flush, and she somewhat dared not meet Loki's eyes.
However, less than a second later, Happy appeared directly beside Lucy, covering his mouth and snickering: "Sure enough, you two are together, Lucy!!"
"Happy, act normal, don't talk like that." Lucy listened to Happy's words, her forehead covered in black lines. He had certainly learned bad habits from Natsu.
"That's how it is, Lucy, let's go plan our future together!!" Loki flashed over, scooped Lucy up in a princess carry, and, following Happy's teasing words, intended to leave the temporary Guild location.
"I wish you happiness, Lucy, Loki!!!" The Guild Members, eager for a show, continued to egg them on from behind, making Lucy in Loki's arms shyly protest and struggle: "Alright, alright, put me down!"
"Ah, how nice, I also want a Celestial Spirit."
"What kind of Celestial Spirit do you want, Natsu?" Happy flapped his tiny wings, extending his short arms to echo Natsu's fantasy.
"A dragon, so I can try Dragon Slayer Magic."
Natsu stood in place, expressing how fervent his dream was to the sky, while Happy and a group of Guild Members clapped and cheered.
"Natsu, Celestial Spirits are not for you to test your strength against."
"Hm?"
"That is to say, Celestial Spirits exist to convey love!" Loki used Zorn's words to express his feelings to Lucy, and also refuted Natsu's statement.
"Enough, Loki, I understand your feelings. You can go back now, isn't your body still not recovered?" Lucy placed her hand in front of their faces, stopping Loki from further actions.
"Zorn, Cana, you're here." Gray greeted the two who had just entered.
"Ah! Yes, good morning. Ah, I'm still a bit sleepy."
"Morning, Everyone."
Zorn yawned as he greeted Everyone, then walked to the bar and asked Lisanna for two glasses of milk. The other Lisanna had been taken by Mirajane and Elfman to perform a mission, so today she was working as a waitress at the Guild.
"Oh, love, I understand. Is it love between comrades?"
After a moment of thought, Natsu seemed to have an epiphany, clapped his hands, and stated his understanding.
"Well, what you said is also correct!!" Zorn finished his last sip of milk and nodded, acknowledging Natsu.
At this moment, a flock of sparrows suddenly flew across the sky, cawing a few times with varying lengths. It was these few sounds that caused Zorn, who was laughing and chatting with Everyone, to change his expression, though it was very subtle, and no one around noticed.
"Zorn, come here…" Loki suddenly extended his hand and waved to Zorn, as if avoiding Cana, specifically waving to Zorn from Cana's blind spot.
"Well, originally I wanted to hold a banquet at the Guild to properly thank Everyone for their care, but these two tickets are specially reserved for you." Loki took out the travel tickets from his embrace and handed them to Zorn.
"These are?"
"These are tickets for a special couples' resort hotel, my treasured collection, a tourist paradise." Loki whispered into Zorn's ear.
Upon hearing this, Zorn's heart stirred, and he immediately clutched the tickets in his hand. To Loki, Zorn's expression was one of nervousness, and he secretly rejoiced, indicating that his arrangement was very reasonable.
However, Zorn was thinking about something else at this moment. Just now, he had received a message from Ultear: the Council had received a set of photos, and the scene in the photos was highly suspected by the Council to be the island of the Tower of Paradise.
But to Zorn, this news meant that Jellal's Tower of Paradise was already completed, and the next step would definitely be to take action against Erza. Moreover, at this time, he must also be preparing to advocate for the Council to use Etherion.
"Thank you, Loki."
"You're welcome, haha, I'm rooting for you."
Loki gave Zorn a thumbs-up. After speaking, he ran to Lucy's side to show his devotion, and loudly announced in the Guild that he, Prince Loki, would pay for all the bills for today's banquet.
All the Guild Members cheered.
"Banquet, banquet."
Zorn, however, stood aside, looking at the two tickets in his hand, lost in his thoughts. It was at this moment that a homing pigeon flew over from a distance, delivering a mission notification from the Council to Zorn's hand.
"Three days later, the Magic Council will hold a meeting with mission assignments. Please attend on time!!!"
————Separator————
Council Headquarters.....
"Jellal, your plan is almost successful. Now all that's left is to get the Council Members to use Etherion!!"
"Don't worry, Ultear, it's simple. Just let some photos that shouldn't be leaked, leak out, and then those fools in the Council will automatically fall into the trap."
"That would be even better."
"Mm-hmm, the game is about to begin…."
To be continued~
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