Early the next morning, after Qi Yan and the others woke up, they prepared to return to Fairy Tail.
The village chief and the villagers saw Qi Yan and the others off.
"Thank you so much. If it weren't for you, we might have remained in a state of confusion, living in constant fear. Here is the agreed-upon quest reward."
The village chief handed a box to Qi Yan, who reached out and took it. He wouldn't be polite about the reward; it was his rightful earning for his work.
"No need to be polite. This was just our quest. Compared to the reward, I even feel this quest was a bit too simple."
"It might be simple for you, but for us, it was as difficult as ascending to the heavens."
"If you have any more jobs like this in the future, please contact Fairy Tail anytime. Next time, I'll give you a twenty percent discount."
Qi Yan uttered his classic line for attracting repeat customers.
Everyone was momentarily stunned.
The village chief smiled, "Good! If there's a next time, we'll still look for you."
"Hahahahaha!!"
All the villagers couldn't help but laugh when they heard this. They knew Qi Yan was joking, but who could guarantee they would always be safe in the future? If they could establish a connection with such a powerful Mage, it would be a trump card for them.
"Then let me take you back to Hargeon," the boatman uncle said.
Qi Yan waved his hand and said, "No, no, as Mages, we can get back on our own. With good luck, we might even catch the early train to Magnolia."
The boatman uncle's eyes widened, "Early train? There's only about an hour until the early train departs, and it takes at least four hours by boat from here to Hargeon."
Qi Yan glanced at Gray, who immediately understood.
"Ice-Make: Boat!!"
Gray immediately created a sparkling ice boat that floated on the sea.
"Wow—! An ice boat!!"
"So beautiful—!!"
"Let's go! Get on board!"
Several people boarded the boat one after another, and the boat slowly left the shore and moved forward.
"Thank you all!! Fairy Tail!!"
"Keep up the good work—!! Come visit anytime in the future—!!"
"Let's all dance the demon dance together again someday—!!" ... "Take care—!!"
... "Time to split the money!!"
After the boat had sailed far away, Qi Yan shouted.
Upon hearing this, several people's eyes immediately lit up, and they all gathered around.
Qi Yan opened the box, and 7 million J plus a Celestial Spirit key lay inside.
"So much money—!!"
Looking at the 7 million J, everyone's eyes involuntarily showed a greedy look.
"I've never seen so much money before!"
Gray's hands trembled. Although he had been a Mage for many years, he always spent what he earned and hadn't saved any money at all. Most Mages in the guild were similar to him.
"Aye !"
"500 J for one fish, 5,000 J for ten fish, 50,000 J for one hundred fish. No, Lucy, I can't calculate it."
Lucy said, "Idiot, just divide 700 by 500, then add the unit 'ten thousand.' That's a total of 14,000 fish."
"14,000 fish!!"
Happy felt like he was lying in an ocean of fish. 14,000 fish, when would he ever finish eating them all?
"Hmm... 6 million J for me, 1 million J for Gray. Splitting the loot is done!"
Qi Yan took out 1 million J for Gray, then closed the box.
"What?!!"
"Qi Yan... why did you give Gray so much money?! He didn't do anything! He even got thoroughly beaten up!!" Happy shouted indignantly.
"What? You guys who wanted to steal my quest still want a share of the money? Although Gray got beaten, he still wasted his time coming to help, so he deserves a reward."
Gray's hand, holding the money, trembled slightly. He had long heard that Qi Yan was generous. When he and Elfman did an S-Class Quest together, Elfman also did nothing and still received a reward of 1 million J.
At that time, they were so envious. He hadn't expected such a windfall to happen to him.
"Qi Yan! If there's another job like this in the future, you must find me!!"
Gray was practically ready to become Qi Yan's subordinate. Following such a generous big brother, there was no loss at all.
"Qi Yan, let me be your cat!"
Happy hugged Qi Yan's leg and said.
"Me too... Ugh..."
Natsu also wanted to come over; he also wanted to improve.
Before he could get closer, Gray pushed him aside. "Natsu is useless... So disgusting! Don't come over here! You might as well swim back!"
Lucy nervously rubbed her hands and said, "Th-that... Qi Yan, that golden key is useless to you, why don't you..."
"Why don't I sell it? I heard this thing is very rare, and it can fetch a high price."
"Don't... don't... if you're going to sell it, sell it to me!"
"Sell it to you? Do you have money?"
"Ugh..."
Lucy was speechless. What she lacked most right now was money.
Just then, something was thrown into her hand. Lucy looked and saw that it was the golden key she had always dreamed of.
"Qi Yan?"
"It's for you, consider it a return for when you treated me to a meal."
"This... this is too valuable..."
Lucy hadn't expected Qi Yan to just give her such a precious golden key, simply because of one meal.
"You don't want it? Then I'll take it back."
"I want it! I want it!!"
Lucy quickly clutched the golden key tightly. She was just saying that; she wouldn't give away a golden key she had in hand.
She also realized that following Qi Yan was really good. She also wanted to team up with Qi Yan. If she and Gray had swapped places, she would have been the one to get 1 million J. She immediately felt a lot of regret.
"Alright! The loot has been split, and it's time to return to the guild."
Qi Yan activated Take Over Magic, and his body quickly transformed into Ace's appearance.
Then a small speedboat was materialized. Qi Yan jumped onto it, a rope tied to the mast, and the other end tied to the bow of the ice boat.
"What is this?"
"A small boat? Don't we already have a boat?"
Lucy and Happy were a bit confused.
Gray, however, warned with a serious expression, "Don't ask, hold on tight."
Saying that, Gray immediately used his magic to secure several safety locks for everyone, then sat down with a tense expression.
"Hold on, we're off!!"
Boom—!!
A violent flame shot out from the thruster. Lucy and the others immediately felt a terrifying thrust, and the entire boat seemed to fly.
"Waaahhh!!!"
Everyone screamed in fright.
In less than twenty minutes, they arrived at Hargeon Port.
"Ugh !"
This time, not only Natsu but the others also got seasick.