The Magic Council arrived very quickly, having been dispatched from their nearest branch.
Watching the Magic Council members travel in their flying Magic Ship, Statiw couldn't help but marvel at the organization's immense resources.
The handover between the two parties went smoothly; Mirajane handed over all the Dark Guild members to the Magic Council, and the Council, in turn, gave the bounty to Mirajane.
Early the next morning, the two returned to the Fairy Tail guild together.
As soon as they entered the Guild, they saw Natsu and Happy dancing on a table, while Lisanna watched them below, clapping happily.
Not far from the table where Natsu was dancing, Cana was playing chess with Levy, and Elfman stood by, watching the game.
"Yo, Elfman, long time no see. Hi, Cana. And Levy, aren't you at the library reading today?" Statiw greeted them one by one as he walked to the table.
"Long time no see, Statiw. Sister, you're back." Hearing Statiw's voice, Elfman turned his head and greeted him happily.
"You're back." Cana, seeing Statiw and Mirajane walk over, also raised her hand to greet them.
"We just got back from a mission, and we're planning to relax today." Levy, who was contemplating her next move in chess, turned her head sideways, and seeing that it was Statiw who spoke, she replied.
At this moment, Lisanna, who heard Statiw's voice from afar, ran over happily: "Sister, Statiw. Welcome back."
"Mhm." Mirajane merely nodded to everyone.
"Yo, long time no see. How has it been, doing missions with Elfman lately?" Statiw said to Lisanna with a smile.
"Mhm, Elfman is very strong, and the missions went very well." Lisanna nodded vigorously and replied with a smile.
"Hehe." Hearing Lisanna's praise, Elfman scratched his head and chuckled foolishly.
"What is Natsu doing? Did something happen?" At this, Statiw asked, looking at Natsu wriggling on the table.
"Natsu is celebrating," Elfman replied.
"Celebrating?" Statiw was taken aback, not understanding Elfman's meaning.
"He's celebrating finally being able to get out of bed and move around." Not far away, Cana, who was playing chess with Levy, heard Statiw's question and directly told him.
"I see. Natsu has a lot of energy; keeping him in bed all the time would indeed make him very uncomfortable." Statiw realized, understanding the situation.
Just then, Natsu, who heard someone mention his name, turned his head and happened to see Mirajane next to Statiw, immediately shouting loudly at her: "Mirajane, why can't I defeat Erza even after training?"
"Huh?" Mirajane walked over to Natsu, speechless, and said: "Natsu, you only trained for one afternoon and you want to defeat Erza? It's not that easy."
"Ah? It's not possible? How long do I need to train then?" Natsu heard Mirajane's words, found them reasonable, and asked.
"At least a few years, right? After all, that's Erza; her strength is on another level." Mirajane thought for a moment, a mischievous smile appearing on her face.
While Mirajane was talking to Natsu, Statiw turned his head and looked around, asking with a slight doubt: "Huh, why aren't Gray and Erza at the Guild?"
"Erza went on a mission and hasn't returned yet," Lisanna said, tilting her head in thought.
"Gray too," Elfman replied: "Recently, the shops in Magnolia have been very short on ice."
"I see." Statiw nodded, then chatted a few more words with Elfman and Lisanna.
Then he went to the mission board and started looking for a new mission.
Elfman, who had followed Statiw to the mission board, scratched his head in confusion and asked: "Didn't you and Sister just complete a mission? Are you picking a new one so soon?"
"Yes, although I just got back from a mission, I'm short on money lately, so I need to take on more missions." Statiw replied, browsing the contents of the mission requests posted on the mission board.
"You're short on money? I still have some here, if it's urgent…" Elfman said, realizing.
But before he could finish, Statiw interrupted him, saying: "It's not urgent; I just want to save money to buy a house in Magnolia…"
Statiw had only spoken half a sentence when Mirajane suddenly walked behind the two and said: "What's going on? Why have you suddenly become so diligent?"
"It's not diligence, Sister," Elfman whispered, explaining to Mirajane: "Statiw wants to save money to buy a house in Magnolia."
"Ah? Why are you in such a hurry to buy a house?" Mirajane looked at Statiw with great confusion.
"No reason, because I want to." Statiw shrugged his shoulders.
"Alright, then what's our next mission?" Mirajane asked casually.
"I don't know, I haven't decided yet." Statiw shook his head.
"Let me know when you've decided." Mirajane simply nodded.
After Mirajane walked away, Statiw pulled Elfman and said: "Didn't you notice that Mirajane seems to have changed a bit?"
"No," Elfman said, scratching his head and recalling carefully, then replied in confusion: "Sister has always been like that."
"Is that so? But why do I feel like Mirajane's personality has become a bit gentler?" Statiw said, puzzled.
"I know why." Just as both of them were wondering, Lisanna, who had walked behind Elfman, said with a smile.
"Oh? Why?" Statiw immediately asked.
"Because Mirajane thinks it's not good to always be fierce, especially when facing a certain person," Lisanna hinted to Statiw at this moment.
"The 'certain person' you're talking about is me, right?" Statiw wasn't stupid; he instantly understood who Lisanna's 'certain person' referred to.
As Statiw pointed at himself to confirm with Lisanna, Natsu in the distance suddenly shouted loudly at Statiw: "Statiw, I heard Mirajane say you easily defeated a B-Class Mage. Come on, let's duel!"
Hearing Natsu's loud shout, the other people in the Guild immediately looked at Statiw.
Statiw replied with a surprised expression: "Huh? You want to duel me?"
"Yes, yes. Just the two of us." Natsu leaped from the table to stand in front of Statiw, affirming with a grin.
At this moment, people in the Guild started discussing: "Statiw and Natsu are going to duel?"
"This is Statiw's first duel, isn't it?"
"Yes, but I hope Statiw doesn't lose too badly. After all, Statiw uses Pict Magic, and his combat abilities might not be very strong."
"So, what do you say, shall we duel?" Natsu asked again, listening to the discussions of everyone in the surrounding Guild.
After thinking for a moment, Statiw also wanted to know how his abilities stacked up against Natsu's, so he nodded and said: "Alright, but I'm a bit tired today. Tomorrow. We'll duel tomorrow."
"That's great, I'm fired up!" Natsu, upon hearing this, excitedly raised his fist, tilted his head back, and even breathed fire.