Ever since Ankh brought the Mirajane siblings into the guild, the atmosphere in Fairy Tail became even livelier.
There's no need to say much about Lisanna's personality; she was incredibly endearing and mischievous, and everyone in the guild loved her.
Although Elfman was a bit shy, he was honest and hardworking, and quickly blended in with the boisterous Natsu and others, playing together.
As for Mirajane, there's even less to say; not long after joining the guild, she had already sparred with most of the members... she was a true wild child, until she met her nemesis—Erza.
The two seemed to have been at odds in their past lives; the carefree Mirajane and the commanding Erza, after a few fights, became even more like fire and water.
This day, Ankh, who had been cultivating at home for a long time and craved activity, finally decided to come to the guild to find something to do.
Upon arriving at the guild, he happened to see Mirajane bored, slumped over her seat.
When Mirajane saw Ankh, her eyes lit up, and she excitedly asked, "Where is the place in our guild... to take jobs?"
Ankh's mouth twitched, and he asked incredulously, "After all this time, you still don't know?"
Mirajane, looking adorable, confidently shook her head.
Ankh sighed helplessly, led Mirajane to the guild hall—next to the prominent bar—in front of the very large request board, and said with a hint of disbelief himself:
"Is the request board... hidden very well?"
Mirajane surprisingly tapped her head and exclaimed, "So these are requests! I always thought they were newspapers or something!"
...The handsome guy was speechless.
Ankh rubbed his forehead and sighed, "Although you're tough, Lisanna and Elfman are still young, you need to be more diligent."
This fellow was also a prime example of someone with family responsibilities; most of the other people in the entire guild were unburdened by family, only Mirajane had such a heavy financial load.
Thinking this, Ankh led Mirajane to the request board and introduced, "Our guild has a considerable number of requests; you can choose suitable ones."
Mirajane looked curiously at the densely packed board of requests, pulling off one after another, carefully picking through them.
Ankh had been in the guild for a long time, and he generally understood the rewards for these requests, so he meticulously explained to Mirajane:
"General guild tasks are roughly divided into three categories, and the rewards also range from low to high."
Mirajane held a stack of request forms, sitting upright on a stool, staring at him with wide eyes, listening intently.
"The lowest tier involves using magic to handle miscellaneous tasks for people, such as working part-time at a restaurant or music hall. Although these types earn little, doing a few more can easily cover daily living expenses."
"Mid-tier requests involve Mages undertaking somewhat dangerous tasks, such as gathering herbs in high-risk areas or exploring unknown territories; these are our main source of income."
"High-tier requests carry a certain possibility of death, often involving the subjugation of Dark Guilds, monsters, or resolving disputes, and they earn more money."
Ankh pulled out a magic pen from somewhere and wrote a series of blue glowing characters in the air, then paused and said again:
"Above these, there are also S-Class tasks, Ten-Year tasks, and the highest-level Hundred-Year tasks. You don't need to think about these for now; their difficulty is terrifying."
Ankh pointed at the mid-tier requests with his pen and said, "I recommend you take on these types of tasks. After some training, your strength should be barely sufficient."
Upon hearing this, Mirajane quickly pulled out a few suitable requests from the thick stack. Seeing the rewards listed, she said contentedly, "That's enough, I'll take these."
Ankh rubbed his forehead, saying with a headache, "My point is, you need to fully master Satan Soul before you can undertake tasks."
Mirajane arrogantly curled her lips, her expression defiant as she laughed, like a walking, arrogant emoji, and loudly declared, "No training is faster than actual combat!"
That utterly obnoxious expression, he really wanted to punch her... Ankh, however, frowned tightly, looking at Mirajane with a slight worry, thinking of some unpleasant things.
Being arrogant is normal; Erza and Ankh were both like that. But Mirajane was different... In the original story, Mirajane, who had only been an S-Class Mage for a year, brought her not-so-strong younger siblings, leading to the subsequent tragedy.
Although there were many contributing factors to that outcome, Mirajane's overconfidence was a very important one.
If she was going to take her family on tasks, she had to be sufficiently cautious; such a thick-skinned attitude wouldn't do... Looking at Mirajane, who was excitedly jumping around like a husky, Ankh grabbed her white-haired head and said in a deep voice, "Be serious; this is not a game."
Mirajane's head was restrained, and she instantly stopped jumping, only pouting defiantly, "I think it's fine..."
Ankh had a flash of inspiration: if Mirajane couldn't go alone for now, then why not have her find someone to team up with?
Among their generation, someone willing to team up with others and capable of taking on requests... Erza?
Mirajane and Erza would both be the strongest female Mages in Fairy Tail in the future, and neither of them were ones to back down, so friction was inevitable.
Natsu and Gray were too much of a stretch... Ankh looked at Mirajane helplessly and said, "Never mind... Mira, you can team up with me for work first."
Hearing such an intimate address, Mirajane's heart suddenly fluttered, then she quickly turned her face away and agreed, "Okay!"
...Ankh leaned lazily in his chair, while Mirajane next to him, squinting at a stack of request forms in her hand, read out the information on each one to him.
Their voices continuously echoed through the guild:
"Hire a skilled Mage to escort a merchant caravan, passing through Mount Hakobe."
"Escort missions pay little, are laborious, and unrewarding. Not taking it."
"Looking for an expert proficient in transparent magic to investigate what my wife is secretly plotting with Mr. Wang at the neighbor's house late at night."
"Anyone knows what they're plotting. Not taking it!"
"In the forest outside Magnolia, Mages are hoped to hunt and acquire the reproductive organs of giant elephants to make a divine medicine, with the divine medicine to be split equally."
"...Not taking it."
Ankh shot up from his chair, angrily snatched the request forms from Mirajane's hand, and said,
"What kind of trashy tasks are you picking? It's either catching cheaters or making fake medicine!"
Mirajane pouted, somewhat guiltily saying, "I feel like these tasks would be fun to do..."
Ankh's cool exterior persona almost collapsed from this guy's antics. He clutched his chest and browsed through the requests in his hand.
Well, what can be said, Mirajane's eye for tasks was simply ruthless.
Among the tasks she picked, thirty percent were about catching mistresses, fifty percent were about collecting strange animal organs, and another ten percent were Ankh's nightmare, which were magazine photoshoot requests... Truly a great teammate, not a single task she picked was decent to look at.
Ankh's face was grim as he flipped through one page after another, while Mirajane hid to the side, feeling guilty and not daring to speak.
In this low-pressure atmosphere, Ankh's hand, which was turning the page, suddenly stopped, his eyes wavering slightly as he stared intently at one of the request forms.