"Eh—?!"
Upon hearing the village chief's request, Lucy and the others were startled. Destroy the moon? What kind of joke was that? Who could destroy the moon? Not even the most powerful Mage could do that.
"Hmm… I understand the situation you've described. I'll need to investigate how to lift the curse."
"Then… Mage-sama, when do you think the curse can be lifted?"
"Tomorrow night."
Qi Yan stated calmly.
"Tomorrow night!!"
"That's wonderful!"
"This is truly wonderful!"
"The curse will be lifted tomorrow night!"… The village chief and the villagers all showed expressions of pleasant surprise upon hearing Qi Yan's firm answer, cheering uncontrollably. They had been tormented by this curse to the point of near madness, and now it was finally going to be lifted.
Gray quickly leaned in and whispered to Qi Yan, "Hey! Qi Yan, we haven't even figured out the curse yet. Isn't it a bit too hasty to give an exact time?"
Qi Yan smiled confidently and said, "Don't worry! I have it handled."
Hearing that Qi Yan could lift the curse by tomorrow night, the village chief also became enthusiastic: "Someone! Quickly escort the Mages to the guest rooms to rest, and prepare fruits and food for them to enjoy."
"Yes!"
Soon, guided by the villagers, the group arrived at the guest rooms. Natsu was also carried in by the villagers, his entire body covered in bruise-healing ointment, looking like a mummy wrapped in bandages.
However, even like this, it didn't stop him from eating. Seeing Natsu's energetic appearance, Lucy and the others breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed Qi Yan was right; Natsu had only suffered some superficial injuries.
"Ugh… Qi Yan, you're too much! How could you hit so hard?!"
Natsu complained to Qi Yan; he was in pain with every movement.
Qi Yan retorted unhappily, "If I didn't hit hard, you wouldn't learn your lesson. Sneaking off to do an S-Class Quest, and even tricking Lucy into going with you—how could you even think of that?"
Natsu mumbled softly, "Weren't you the same back then, tricking Elfman into doing an S-Class Quest with you?"
"The most important thing is, it's one thing to sneak off and do an S-Class Quest, but you absolutely shouldn't have stolen my S-Class Quest. This is me going easy on you. If there's a next time, I'll break your legs, and then we'll see if you can still sneak out."
S-Class Quests were crucial to the speed of his growth. Sometimes, he would spend many days in the guild just to wait for an S-Class Quest.
His S-Class Quest was almost stolen, so how could Qi Yan not be angry?
Natsu was startled by these words. Qi Yan might not break his legs when in his other forms, but when he took on the Tyrant persona, he would definitely do something like that.
However, he couldn't do anything about it. Who told him there was only one S-Class Quest on the second-floor request board?
"The more I look at this moon, the creepier it gets."
Happy said, looking at the purple moon in the sky outside the window.
Seeing this, Lucy quickly said, "Happy, close the window quickly! Have you forgotten what the village chief said?"
"What did he say?"
"If we stay in the moonlight for too long, we'll turn into demons too."
Happy said carelessly, "What does it matter! Anyway, Qi Yan will lift the curse tomorrow night, and if I turn into a demon, maybe I'll look really cool!"
"Oh, right, the curse. Qi Yan, are you going to destroy the moon tomorrow night?"
Natsu asked excitedly.
Gray retorted, "How is that possible? How can humans destroy the moon? Even if Qi Yan is strong, he definitely can't do that, right?"
"But their request is to destroy the moon. If we can't do it, won't it harm Fairy Tail's reputation?"
"If we can't do it, we can't do it. Besides, even if they ask us to destroy the moon, we can't actually do it. If the moon is destroyed, we won't be able to enjoy moon viewing anymore."
"That's right! And that means the Fairy Tail limited edition special moon-viewing steak will be gone too!!"
Happy also chimed in, "It won't do if my moon-viewing dried fish is gone."
Lucy rolled her eyes and complained, "How did the conversation shift to food? Aren't we talking about the curse right now? Qi Yan, since you said you'd lift the curse tomorrow night, you must have figured out how to do it, right?"
Qi Yan took a bite of an apple and nodded, "Yes!"
"So fast! Qi Yan, you've already figured out how to lift the curse? What exactly is this curse about?"
Everyone looked at Qi Yan curiously. This curse seemed too terrifying, capable of turning people into demons. They also wanted to know how Qi Yan would lift the curse.
"Don't you want to do an S-Class Quest? Then I'll give you another chance. I will lift the curse tomorrow night. In the meantime, you can try to lift the curse yourselves. If you succeed, it will count as completing an S-Class Quest."
"Really?!!"
Everyone immediately became excited upon hearing this.
"That's wonderful! If we complete an S-Class Quest, won't we be able to go to the second floor?" Lucy said happily. If she could go to the second floor, wouldn't her status in the guild be the same as Qi Yan's?
Gray shook his head: "No, you can't go to the second floor. When Qi Yan first completed an S-Class Quest, the Master didn't allow him to go to the second floor. It was only after he became an S-Class Mage that Qi Yan was allowed to go to the second floor."
"That doesn't matter! As long as we complete an S-Class Quest, won't our guild status greatly improve?"
"Aye~!"
"Haaah~~~! You guys can keep discussing, I'm going to sleep."
Qi Yan yawned, then lay down, covered himself, and rested. Before long, Qi Yan fell into a deep sleep.
In the morning, the sun rose high, and its warm rays dispelled the darkness of the night, revitalizing the world.
Qi Yan stretched lazily.
"Comfortable~~~!!"
The Sun Breathing's inherent restorative ability allowed his body to fully recover overnight, and all his depleted magic power was refilled. He was now full of vigor.
"Good morning~~!"
A weak voice sounded from behind Qi Yan.
Qi Yan turned his head and said, "Good… Hmm?… What happened to you guys?"
The three people and one cat all looked dispirited, appearing as if they were on the verge of death.
Gray, overcome with sleepiness, yawned and said, "It's all because we were discussing how to lift the curse, and we didn't sleep at all last night."
"Did you come up with any results from discussing all night?"
Lucy shook her head: "No clues at all."
Everyone was very confused. They had all come with Qi Yan, so why was Qi Yan able to figure out how to lift the curse? They tried to recall the details together, but no matter how they thought, they couldn't find anything different. Yet, Qi Yan's confident demeanor didn't seem like he was faking it; he clearly already knew how to break the curse.