Charles once again confirmed that he did not possess the protagonist's essential "talk-no-jutsu."
After taking care of Suzaku, Charles returned to Stella's side. As expected, Stella and Kagura had defeated their opponents.
Stella had literally pounded the Skull Dragon's power to bits with sheer draconic force, and even the Armor Dragon's supposedly indestructible defense couldn't withstand Kagura's Gravity Blade secret art.
Skullion and Madmole didn't have Acnologia-level overwhelming power to begin with, and they weren't necessarily stronger than Stella and Kagura.
Add on the two classic Fairy Tail buffs—"facing the opponent who once beat you" + "if we don't win, our comrades are in danger"—and this outcome couldn't be more normal.
But what came after the battle didn't go so smoothly.
Charles didn't know why Wraith had lost his memories from when he was alive, and Wraith clearly didn't believe Charles when he said Wraith had once been a member of Fairy Tail.
With no other choice, Charles traded the key to the Lock-Dragon Ring and letting the three—Suzaku and company—go in exchange for Wraith lifting the magic on Sting and Rogue.
Once everything was finished, Charles took everyone back to Ishgar—back to Fairy Tail.
After being busy for so long, Charles planned to get some real rest. Once he'd shaken off the fatigue, he intended to head to a new world to continue his training.
And just like that, a month passed!
Sitting at the bar, Charles sipped a drink through a straw and marveled at how wonderful peaceful days felt.
Stella had said she wanted to experience a mage's work, so she teamed up with Kagura to take on jobs.
Sting and Rogue had set out earlier. Since returning from Guiltina, the two had become even more diligent.
Sherria went back to studying God Slayer Magic and even took Wendy along as a classmate. Charles agreed the two little ones should make friends with each other.
Everyone else was as usual—some working, some resting—a harmonious scene all around.
Just then, Macao walked over holding a stack of documents. "Charles, these are the guild's reports for this period. Take a look."
Charles let the straw fall from his mouth. "Me? I'm not the guild master. Why should I read them? Didn't we agree that until the old man and the others come back, you're serving as the Fourth Master?"
Macao slapped the documents onto the counter. "When did we say that? I don't remember us agreeing to anything like that!"
Charles shot back, "Probably something you said when you were drunk! I told you not to drink so much—it's messing with your memory!"
Macao stared at Charles, who was spouting nonsense, until his eyebrow twitched with anger.
He quickly sighed and sat down next to Charles. "I know you don't like being tied down in the master's seat. But we all know you're the most suited for it.
If it weren't for you, who knows what the guild would look like right now—and the future's the same. You're the only one who can lead everyone!"
Charles went quiet for a moment, then suddenly smiled. "Fairy Tail doesn't need to be led. The old man didn't 'lead' either—he protected everyone and let them grow.
It's the same now. I'll protect everyone like he did. But master? I'm not cut out for it."
Macao sighed, knowing he wouldn't convince Charles, and pushed the documents over.
"Even if you won't be master, you should at least care about these matters."
Curious what was giving Macao such a headache, Charles picked up the paperwork and started reading.
The more he read, the more it felt like he was having a heart attack. He finally understood why Old Man Makarov always wanted to retire.
After winning the Grand Magic Games, Fairy Tail became famous throughout the kingdom. A flood of jobs came pouring in.
The top few pages were fine—job completion reports and payment confirmations. What came after sent Charles's blood pressure through the roof.
They were incident reports about property damage caused by Fairy Tail members while on jobs, along with reprimands from the Council and notices of fines and compensation.
Charles fought the urge to rip the papers to shreds, forcing a smile at Macao. "What's this about?"
Macao spread his hands. "What else could it be? Exactly what you're looking at. But why are you so surprised? Isn't this business as usual for us?"
Charles raked a hand through his hair. It used to be normal because that group of problem children—Natsu and company who don't know their own strength—were around. But they're still on Tenrou Island!
Everyone else in the guild should be normal. There's no way they'd cause this much chaos… right?
Suddenly, Charles thought of a possibility. He looked up at Macao, testing the waters. "These trouble jobs—don't tell me they were done by…?"
Macao mercilessly crushed Charles's last hope and nodded. "Yup. Them."
He pulled one file from the stack. "This job was done by Sting and Rogue. Sting blew the whole of Hargeon Port sky-high. Natsu only blew up half last time. Kids these days sure are energetic!"
Charles stared into the void, as if seeing Sting with a thumbs-up and a gleaming grin.
'Charles, I'll definitely surpass Natsu for you to see!'
When he'd heard that before Sting set out on the job, Charles naïvely thought it was because Sting was frustrated about being KO'd early in the fight against the Dragon Eaters and wanted to get stronger! Who could have imagined…
Don't surpass that idiot Natsu in this kind of terrible way, dammit!
Charles almost slammed the file to the floor. He yanked out another. "And this one? How did Habeka Snow Mountain end up flattened?"
Macao said, "Who else? That was Stella and Kagura on a harvesting mission for Habeka Ice."
Charles collapsed limply into his chair. Why would a harvesting job flatten an entire mountain?
Wait… in the original story, when Sting of Sabertooth and Kagura of Mermaid Heel joined up, they weren't problem children. How did they turn into such headaches this time?
Charles glanced at the Fairy Tail emblem. Did getting stamped with this guild's crest also turn people into problem children?
The old problem children are gone, and now I've gone and recruited a whole new batch? So all these troubles are basically my own doing, huh.
Macao looked at Charles's dead-eyed stare. "No need to be like this. It's not a big deal!"
Charles shoved the pile of headache-inducing paperwork into Macao's hands. "Since it's no big deal, I'll leave it to you! I really can't handle this kind of thing!"
Macao thought it over and didn't refuse. It was indeed a hassle. Some matters even required attending Council inquiries.
Given Charles's temperament, if those councilors said anything too harsh during questioning, Charles might just send the whole Council flying.
Charles had no idea Macao considered him a problem child too. He was just relieved someone else was taking over the troublesome chores.
No—he had to move up his new-world plan. If he kept fretting over these problem children, he'd be old before his time.