Chapter 17: The Guild's Reputation Cannot Be Tarnished
The girl had golden hair with a blue ribbon tied on the right side, a white top with blue trim, a blue pleated skirt, and a leather whip at her waist. She was fair-skinned with a stunning figure, a pretty face, and an appearance that naturally drew attention.
Being invited to dinner by a girl, Dino and Natsu had no reason to refuse, especially when it meant saving money on a meal. Soon the three of them arrived at a restaurant, ordered plenty of food, and started eating.
"Thank you for what you did back there!"
"???" Dino and Natsu exchanged confused looks.
"That man calling himself Fire Dragon used charm magic, a type of spell that attracts people's hearts to the caster. It was banned from sale several years ago. He actually used that magic to attract girls. What a scumbag. I was freed from that spell because of you two."
"By the way, I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Lucy. Don't let appearances fool you. I'm actually a mage, although I haven't joined a guild yet."
"You don't know about guilds? A guild is an organization that gathers mages together. If a mage doesn't work through a guild, they can't really make it on their own."
"There are many guilds in the world, but the popular ones are very strict about who they accept. The guild I want to join has gathered so many amazing mages. Ah, what should I do? I really want to join, but the requirements must be incredibly strict."
"Ah! I'm sorry, you probably don't know much about the mage world, but I'm absolutely determined to join that guild."
Natsu and Dino both stared at the girl speechlessly, while Happy complained, "You sure can talk!" Dino and Natsu nodded in agreement.
"Ah! I need to get going. I'll pay for the meal. You two enjoy!"
Natsu and Happy suddenly became teary-eyed. "You're such a good person!"
"Don't make it weird, that's embarrassing. I'm leaving!"
This was the first time Dino had seen a girl who could ramble on like that. Wait, Lucy. That name sounded familiar. Lucy? Could it be that Lucy? Dino blinked rapidly. He still remembered bits and pieces of the story from when he first arrived in this world.
After spending seven years here, remembering every detail would be impossible. But Lucy, the complaining heroine, stuck in his memory pretty clearly.
Still, there was a difference between what he remembered and real life, and Dino had more important things to worry about. Awakening his Devil Fruit ability completely had occupied most of his thoughts. The other details had long faded. He only remembered that Lucy had some kind of trouble before joining Fairy Tail.
"Dino, where have you been for more than half a year? There wasn't any news at all!"
"I went training. The location was the Abyss of Death. I originally planned to come back earlier, but I had a breakthrough, so I kept training until now."
"Abyss of Death!! Isn't that a forbidden zone?!" Natsu and Happy's eyes widened.
Dino smiled. "It's fine! The environment there was perfect. Plenty of monsters to train against, and food delivered right to me when I got hungry. Except for being a little lonely, everything else was great."
Happy said, "He really is a training maniac! Natsu can't compare at all."
"So you've gotten way stronger? Just thinking about it gets my blood pumping! I'm all fired up! You've gotta have a real fight with me when we get back to the guild." Natsu looked at Dino excitedly.
"Dino, the Master explicitly banned using magic in battles inside Magnolia!"
Natsu grabbed his hair. "Ah~~! Right! I forgot about that! What's the point of being a mage if you can't use magic?"
"It's not that bad. I can control my power output when using magic now. I only went all out against you before for the visual impact. Actually, I could beat you without all those flashy moves."
"Hey~~! Dino really knows how to crush someone's spirit!"
Natsu wasn't too discouraged. He clenched his fist. "You beat me fair and square last time. But I've gotten way stronger now. It won't be that easy to take me down again."
"That girl Lucy from earlier might be in some kind of trouble."
Natsu and Happy stared at Dino like he'd just performed fortune-telling magic. Happy covered his mouth with his paw in an exaggerated tone. "Dino, when did you learn divination magic? Is it because that girl was pretty and you actually want to…"
Dino grabbed Happy and shook him around several times until the cat begged for mercy. "Didn't she say she wants to join a wizard guild? Let's help her out as a favor."
While Dino and Natsu continued eating, a conversation between three girls at the next table drifted over.
"Hey! Did you hear? The Fairy Tail mage, Lord Fire Dragon, is throwing a party on a ship tonight!"
"Is he that super famous mage?"
"I heard about it! I'm so jealous! I really want to go!"
Dino and Natsu both frowned when they heard this. Dino asked Natsu, "Is there anyone called Fire Dragon in Fairy Tail?"
"I've never heard of a guy like that. I'd definitely remember such a show-off name, but I've never seen anyone like that before."
Happy said, "Hey~! That's a fake."
The air suddenly grew heavy, and both Dino and Natsu's expressions darkened. Using another guild's name to do shady business and smear the guild's reputation was a major taboo among mages. No guild would tolerate such behavior.
Dino said, "Looks like we need to have a little meeting with this Lord Fire Dragon."
"The guild's reputation cannot be tarnished by anyone."