Early on July 6th, Rhodes didn't rush to the venue.
Instead, he unhappily dragged two people to the hotel where Team A was staying to find Lucy.
Why two people? Because at around three in the morning, another uninvited guest arrived in his room.
This time, it wasn't to steal a necklace, but to directly stab his throat with a dagger.
And, as expected, this person was also apprehended.
Rhodes wasn't angry because someone wanted to kill him; after all, there were certainly more than one or two people who wanted him dead.
His anger was mainly because the interval between these two 'visits' was timed too perfectly, not too long, not too short, just enough to keep him, Rhodes, from getting a good night's sleep.
Now, personally dragging two bound and gagged individuals out the door was largely due to a bit of morning grumpiness.
"A thief and an assassin?" Erza, who opened the door, listened to Rhodes's purpose and said thoughtfully, "We also caught a thief last night."
"Hmm?" Rhodes thought for a moment. "Then the target must have been Lucy's keys?"
"Exactly." Erza let Rhodes in.
Since it was still early, the others were still sound asleep; only Lucy was rubbing her eyes and getting out of bed.
Gray, as expected, was naked, Natsu only had his legs still on the bed, his upper body folded under the bed, yet he seemed to be sleeping soundly like that.
Cana was hugging a wine bottle, wearing pajamas but disheveled, generously displaying her plump upper body.
However, Rhodes didn't even bother to glance at Cana like that, because her disheveled appearance actually looked more covered than her usual attire.
Rhodes glanced at the person on the floor, tied up like a zongzi with their mouth gagged, then looked at the others and chuckled, "Lucy's vigilance has improved? Commendable."
However, Lucy said shyly, "No, there's a reason for this."
Erza gave a thumbs-up and laughed, "Because I slept with Lucy!"
Rhodes suddenly understood. No wonder Erza's bed was so neat; he had thought she hadn't slept all night.
Lucy scratched her hair and complained, "Don't say that so proudly! And don't just randomly crawl into someone's mattress!"
"This is for all-day close protection, because Lucy is a key figure in this incident." Erza nodded solemnly, feeling very satisfied with her decision.
Because it indeed worked, successfully catching the ill-intentioned thief.
But Lucy denied it, "But you've done this even when protection wasn't needed."
Erza showed no embarrassment, admitting frankly, "Yes, because Lucy's bed is always very comfortable."
Lucy covered her face: "You say that so matter-of-factly again."
Rhodes felt there was a lot of information.
Team A usually has a lot of fun, should I really let Wendy team up with them less?
Rhodes skipped the topic: "Anyway, please ask Gemini to help out."
"Okay." Lucy buttoned the front of her pajamas, tidied her hair briefly, and took out the Gemini key.
Then she realized something was amiss.
'Did I really chat for so long with my collar open? I feel like I'm becoming more and more abnormal! And why didn't anyone remind me?'
'No, why didn't Mr. Rhodes's gaze change at all from beginning to end? Not just me, even Mr. Rhodes, like Natsu, has gotten used to this kind of thing?!' Lucy thought, somewhat distraught, about her image in the guild, and for a moment, she didn't activate her Star Spirit Magic.
Rhodes saw Lucy's face turn red then pale, and his heart skipped a beat: "What's wrong? Your key hasn't been swapped, has it?"
"Ah? N-no." Lucy snapped back to reality. "Open, gate of the Twins, Gemini!"
The magic was successfully cast, and Rhodes breathed a sigh of relief, but due to her strange behavior just now, he still asked Lucy to carefully check her other keys.
Gemini was a little flustered to see Rhodes again so soon, but he still cooperated by touching the two thieves and reading the information in their minds.
"Beep-boop-whoosh~ Both of them are members of the Mercury Hand Thieves' Guild. They came to you because they took on the tasks of 'stealing Rhodes's personal necklace' and 'stealing Lucy's celestial spirit key chain'.
"Besides these two tasks, there was also a task to 'steal Yukino's celestial spirit key,' which was taken by their companion."
"Very targeted." Rhodes asked, "Why would they dare to steal from a Ten Wizard Saints? And Yukino is currently in the palace; do they dare to go there too?"
Jamie said, "Because the reward is very generous, and the other party even paid a portion in advance. Then, this person's idea is that if he successfully steals a Ten Wizard Saints's personal item, he will be the world's number one thief."
Mini commented, "Adults' thoughts are so strange."
In summary, it was still for fame and fortune. The person who took on the task of stealing Yukino's key in the palace probably had similar thoughts.
"Ah, I need to contact Yukino quickly!" Lucy exclaimed, "Closing the Eclipse Gate also requires Yukino's key!"
Rhodes said, "It's true that we need to confirm, but there's no need to worry too much. Yukino and her key are also very well protected."
The King and Princess Hisui shouldn't be that foolish. The key figures and tools of the Eclipse Plan would be seriously protected no matter what.
Moreover, Rhodes knew that there were still a few Magicians with decent strength in the palace.
Rhodes asked without much hope, "The commission, I guess there aren't many clues, right?"
Gemini said, "Yes, these two people have the same common sense in their minds: commissions from the Thieves' Guild are often anonymous or use pseudonym (aliases). This time is the same; the client's name is 'Rogue Eucliffe,' which is completely unbelievable."
Lucy asked, puzzled, "Why does that sound familiar?"
Erza said, "You're thinking of Sabertooth's Rogue, right? I remember his full name is Rogue Cheney."
Rhodes added, "And Sting's full name is Sting Eucliffe. This is a made-up name."
Lucy said, "So that's it. They want to deliberately mislead us into suspecting Sabertooth, who we already have a conflict with."
"They both roughly thought so." Gemini said, "Also, because the commission date was yesterday, they suspect the client suddenly thought of the Dragon Slayer battle from the day before yesterday, which is why they used such a name."
That's possible, Rhodes nodded. Although there was some conflict with Sabertooth, they shouldn't resort to such underhanded tactics, uh, considering Minerva's actions, it's not entirely impossible.
Even if it were possible, they shouldn't be stupid enough to hire such weaklings, uh, it's not entirely impossible either.
Then they shouldn't use their own guild members' names, it might be a deliberate smokescreen.
Damn it, the more he thought about it, the more suspicious Sabertooth became.