Gray walked resentfully on the pebbly beach by the sea, kicking a pebble boredly.
The pebble rolled into the sea with a gurgle, making a slight plop.
He pondered whether to sneak back to the Tower of Heaven to take a look, but as soon as the thought arose, the scene of Shane throwing him off the Magic Train without changing expression appeared in his mind. A chill crawled up his spine.
"Afterward, I would definitely be killed—" Gray shrank his neck and muttered in a low voice, finally choosing to follow his heart (be cowardly).
He sighed and walked towards the small wooden pier where they rented the boat earlier, as if accepting his fate.
Because he was going offshore, he only rented a small fishing boat this time.
The boat was small, only able to accommodate two or three people. Perhaps because he was the only one on the boat, snow-white seabirds landed on the bow from time to time, tilting their heads to size him up with black bean-like eyes, making crisp calls.
This inexplicably peaceful atmosphere improved Gray's mood a lot.
However, when the small boat sailed into the target sea area, looking at the sparkling, boundless sea surface, Gray quickly ran into trouble.
Winter Tail Fish? What does it look like? That guy Shane didn't even give an illustration or something. This vast sea, how to find it?
"Forget it, just go down and look." Gray muttered, habitually reaching out to unbutton his clothes, but touched nothing.
He looked down, only then discovering that his upper body had become naked again at some point. "Strange, when did I take it off?" He scratched his head, having absolutely no impression.
But this had long been the norm for him. He didn't dwell on it much, moved his body a bit, and dove into the seawater with a splash.
The winter seawater carried a bone-piercing chill. Light penetrated the water surface, casting swaying pillars of light in the sea.
Gray searched underwater for a while, his eyes getting sore, but he didn't see any fish with a tail resembling "ice and snow sculpture."
He surfaced, holding onto the gunwale and gasping for breath, deciding to dive two more times. If there was still no discovery, he would go back to report—anyway, he tried his best.
Just then, he suddenly felt a chill on his back, a strange feeling of being watched by something in the dark hitting him abruptly.
Gray immediately looked around vigilantly.
The sea surface was calm, like a huge spread-out sapphire. Except for his own small boat and scattered seabirds in the sky, there was nothing.
The sun was bright, everything normal as could be.
"Illusion?" He frowned, shook his wet hair, blaming that inexplicable chill on the coldness of the seawater.
He took a deep breath and dove into the water again.
Perhaps because of the quietness of the underwater world and the freedom of being alone, Gray quickly threw that slight strangeness just now, along with the troublesome task of finding the Winter Tail Fish, to the back of his mind.
He shuttled through the coral clusters, watching schools of fish gather and disperse around him. By the time he realized he should go back, it was already late.
He climbed ashore soaking wet, dragging dripping steps back.
When he returned to the street where the blacksmith shop was, he saw Shane and Erza already standing at the door from afar, seemingly waiting for him.
Gray was somewhat puzzled. According to his understanding, shouldn't forging a decent piece of equipment take a lot of time? Why so fast?
"Shane's level is very impressive, so it was fast." Erza saw his doubt and explained aloud.
Shane beside her immediately scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly and said modestly, "It's okay. After all, there are countless capable people in the world. Regarding the forging of swords and such, I can't say I'm number one."
The corners of Gray's mouth twitched slightly, his face written with "I believe you like hell."
Can't say number one? Doesn't that mean second or third?
Seeing Gray's obviously skeptical expression, Erza frowned her exquisite brows, seemingly feeling it necessary to justify Shane's name.
In the next second, the light of Requip flashed, and a heavy-styled, imposing greatsword appeared in her hands.
This sword was almost as long as Erza's height. The blade was broad, the edge not peerlessly sharp but carrying a heavy dullness. The whole body presented a dull metallic luster unique to being tempered thousands of times.
The contrast between the girl holding the sword with both hands, her slender figure, and the huge sword weapon actually had a kind of impactful sense of blending dashing coolness and power.
Shane stepped forward, flicking his finger gently on the sword body, producing a deep humming sound.
"Simply put, the advantage of this sword is 'Iron Cutting,' especially effective against hard things like armor and iron scales." Shane spoke. "But this doesn't rely on sharpness, but on structure and weight."
His finger moved to the junction of the sword body and the guard. "Here is specially reinforced with Lacrima, ensuring that no matter how much force is used to chop, it won't chip easily. This is 'Destroying Hardness'."
Finally, his tone carried a trace of satisfaction. "As for the last point, it's 'Stability'. The materials and heat control of this sword had no errors, making it sturdy and durable, and its adaptability to Magic Power is also very good."
These technical terms made Gray confused, but looking at this greatsword that felt heavy just by looking at it, even a layman like him who knew nothing about forging could intuitively feel this was a rare boutique item.
More importantly, this was merely the result of Shane's one afternoon.
Gray couldn't help restraining the ridicule on his face, believing in Shane's craftsmanship a bit more.
Then, the three casually found a decent-looking restaurant nearby and sat down.
Shane ate slowly and asked Gray naturally, "Any harvest this afternoon?"
Gray was currently lying listlessly on the table, emitting low pressure all over.
The reason was none other than that when he tried to enter the restaurant topless just now, he was directly blocked outside by the waiter as a pervert. No matter how he explained he just "accidentally" lost his clothes, it didn't help.
In the end, it was Erza who took out a pink women's jacket with cute frills from her Requip space and forced it on him to drape over before the other party reluctantly let him pass.
But wearing this kind of clothes—
Gray felt the gazes from around were even weirder. He was now also somewhat suspecting whether he was really a pervert.
This also led to him really being unable to cheer up, uncomfortable all over, like ants were crawling on him.
"In that case, wear clothes properly, Gray." Erza looked at his appearance and couldn't help saying.
"It's not that I don't want to wear them!" Gray looked up aggrievedly. "Every time I wear them properly, the clothes disappear inexplicably!"
"No, that's just you taking them off yourself." Shane didn't even lift his head, roasting accurately.
Seeing himself misunderstood once again, Gray sighed heavily, feeling he couldn't explain it clearly no matter what.
He had to pull the topic back to business, saying without much motivation, "Winter Tail Fish? Didn't see a shadow at all. There were plenty of fish in the sea, but none looked like they had ice crystal tails."
"If it could be found casually, it wouldn't be posted as a commission in the guild." Shane wasn't surprised at this.
"This kind of collection work is the most troublesome." Gray complained. He preferred combat or clearing jobs with clear targets where he could act directly.
Recalling when he just joined Fairy Tail, those commissions of finding cats and dogs and lost items were simply the nightmare of his rookie period.
Suddenly, he remembered that brief and strange feeling when he surfaced in the afternoon.
"By the way," he sat up straighter, his tone carrying a bit of uncertainty.
"While at sea, I suddenly felt for a moment like I was being peeped at. But there was nothing around—don't know if it was my illusion."