"Is this right?"
Rhodes compared the numbers on the passbook with the balance reported by the bank clerk, frowning as though he'd stumbled into a scam.
That shouldn't have been possible. A bank would have to be insane to cheat Magicians.
Mira tilted her head, unconcerned. "What's wrong?"
"Not only did we not earn any interest, but the balance is over two million Jewel short." Rhodes held out the passbook, then looked at the clerk as calmly as he could manage. "Care to explain where this money went?"
The clerk, a veteran employee, had already recognized him as one of the Fairy Tail members who had been missing for six years. She calmly checked the records and smiled politely. "During those six years, annual management fees were charged. In addition, there were several years with negative interest rates. After deducting those, the balance you see is correct."
"Negative interest rates?" Rhodes blinked. He'd never even heard of such a thing. "Interest can go negative?" He turned to Mira in disbelief.
Mira nodded slowly. "It happens sometimes… but I've never seen so much vanish all at once."
The clerk continued smoothly. "If you'd like, you can review all the adjustment records from the past six years, along with your account activity. Everything was by regulation, no special treatment."
Rhodes gritted his teeth and ran the numbers. Painfully, they checked out. Losing the equivalent of a third of an S-Class mission reward just by doing nothing, his heart bled.
Mira gently patted his back. "It's alright. If we'd kept it at home, it might have been stolen completely."
"That's one way to look at it…" Rhodes sighed, resigning himself. At least prices outside hadn't skyrocketed. Even after the loss, their savings were still solid.
They withdrew two million Jewel for expenses and arranged to take out the rest in three days, planning to store it safely in Rhodes's Re-quip space. It had always felt cramped before, but now it seemed like the smartest vault they could have.
Rhodes handed out pocket money to Elfman and Lisanna, then split the shopping into two lists. Lisanna, being sensible, dragged Elfman away to shop while Rhodes wandered Magnolia with Mira until dusk.
When the four regrouped at home, they organized their purchases before deciding to eat dinner at the Guild and check on everyone else.
The moment they pushed open the doors, chaos greeted them. Groans and wails echoed everywhere.
Rhodes raised a brow and asked Laki what had happened to the Tenrou group.
She sighed. "Other than the Master, Laxus, Gildarts, and Cana, almost everyone drained their savings. Those without any… are deep in debt."
Erza had already stormed out at noon, sword at her hip and fury in her eyes, taking on a monster subjugation request to cover repair costs.
Gajeel and Juvia had also taken missions separately. Oddly, Gajeel left Panther Lily behind, while Juvia muttered about finding Gray.
Natsu, meanwhile, had come to the Guild with Happy after lunch. But after eating, Happy had slipped away with Lily and Carla to seek out their fellow Exceeds.
The Thunder God Tribe had already gathered, snatched the last request off the mission board, and were preparing to leave that night just to cover their meal money.
Levy sat at a table, distressed, tugging at her short blue hair until it was completely messy.
Beside her, Wendy lay slumped over the table in defeat, looking just as hopeless.
After checking in on everyone's situations, Mira stayed with Laki to catch up on six years' worth of guild gossip, with Lisanna listening intently by her side. Elfman, meanwhile, was arm-wrestling Nab, who had nothing better to do.
Rhodes sat across from Levy and Wendy, ordering food for himself and juice for the girls. "So… things are really that bad?"
Wendy puffed her cheeks and pouted. "My savings are gone…"
Before joining Fairy Tail, she had received mission rewards with Rhodes, plus a bit of inheritance when Cait Shelter vanished. She had once been a little rich girl. But now, nearly all of it was gone.
Levy looked even more miserable. "What's worse is… even if we want to earn money now, there are no missions left to take."
Her situation was worse than Wendy's. She had spent nearly every spare coin on books. Suddenly being hit with such heavy costs, she couldn't scrape enough together.
And because Fairy Tail had always been so busy in the past, with more requests than they could handle, the current mission board looked pitiful in comparison. The jobs that were left had terrible pay and were extremely dangerous. Levy had hesitated for only a moment… and the last ones were gone.
This was even with the guild's stay-behind members deliberately stepping aside to give the Tenrou group a chance.
Rhodes gently ruffled Wendy's hair, trying to comfort her. "This is even worse than I thought."
If it were just a lack of money, that could be solved by working harder. But with so few missions available, they didn't even have the opportunity to earn it. Fairy Tail couldn't just suddenly become a commercial guild and run a business.
"Do you want me to lend you some?" he asked.
Technically, the guild had a rule against lending money to each other, but Rhodes remembered Master Makarov once quietly lending him some funds. He had never believed that rule was absolute.
But both Wendy and Levy shook their heads firmly.
"I still have a few large bills left," Wendy insisted softly. "I'll be fine for now."
Levy added, "If you really want to help, Rhodes… then think of a way to rebuild the guild's trust with clients."
"Which means," Rhodes concluded, "we have to restore Fairy Tail's reputation as quickly as possible."
From what he had learned these past few days, the fastest way to do that was through the Grand Magic Games, a festival broadcast across Fiore by lacrima, watched nationwide. But that wouldn't happen until July. That was too far away.
Fairy Tail needed something sooner. Something dramatic, like tackling the Hundred Year Quest… though Rhodes dismissed it again. That request was too vague, too unreliable, with even the reward uncertain.
As he thought, Lucy's panicked voice suddenly rang out at the entrance.
"Wendy! Are you here? Please, help me!"
"Lucy?" Wendy stood quickly, startled, and saw Lucy rush in, breathless.
Levy hurried to her side and steadied her. "Lucy, what happened? Take it slow."
"My… my father…" Lucy stammered, before spilling out everything that had happened that day.
After the guild's banquet, she had gone back alone to her rented apartment, only to be stopped by her landlady.
For six years, the landlady had cleaned Lucy's room in her absence, and inside Lucy found six unopened birthday gifts and letter after letter from her father.
Lucy remembered how she used to write letters to her late mother in the same way. Reading her father's words, she realized that he had never once believed she was dead.
Overcome with emotion, Lucy had decided to visit him immediately.
That was when the landlady handed her the rent bill.
"…"
What had once been 70,000J a month had been raised to 80,000J starting in X786. In total, she owed 5.64 million Jewel.
Lucy couldn't pay.
So she left for her father's home, not just to visit him now, but hoping he might help.
But when she arrived, she discovered Jude was gravely ill.
The moment he saw her, Jude's joy and shock were too much for his weakened body. He began trying to give her his last words.
Lucy, terrified, refused to accept it. She immediately rented the fastest new Magic Four-Wheeler and rushed her father back to Fairy Tail for help.