Magnolia Town has a considerable population.
Rent and living expenses were quite high, and after a few days, he owed the Guild a lot of money.
Since Aux currently had no work,
the Fairy Tail Guild generously allowed him to run a tab; he didn't need to pay for food, drinks, or lodging.
This day,
Natsu and Gray sat facing each other, their eyes wider than brass bells.
"They haven't blinked in three hours; aren't their eyes tired?"
Levy sat at the table next to them.
She rubbed her sore eyes, unable to comprehend how the two of them managed it.
"Hmph hmph… What they're competing on now is whoever blinks first concedes first," Cana replied.
She couldn't help but laugh remembering the rumors of the past three days.
Gray of the Fairy Tail Guild was a perverted exhibitionist who particularly enjoyed stripping in town to scare young women.
Even when locked in a cell, he would still take off his clothes at the drop of a hat!
Not only that… there were also rumors that Natsu of the Fairy Tail Guild was an arsonist, setting fires wherever he went.
These two were now particularly famous in Magnolia.
"Amazing! If Gray and a girl swapped bodies, would he still strip?" Aux mumbled.
Cana and Levy instantly shivered.
Aux, who manipulated Gray and Natsu in the palm of his hand, was absolutely the most terrifying devil!
After hearing that,
both girls warned themselves in their hearts: no matter who they offended, they absolutely could not offend Aux!
They definitely didn't want to swap bodies.
Bang!
The two stalemated individuals finally couldn't hold on any longer, and Natsu slammed his hand on the table first.
He stomped his foot on the table, his eyes burning with raging flames.
"Exhibitionist! If you hadn't set fires all over the city, I wouldn't have been fined five hundred thousand!" Natsu fumed.
He had received the fine this morning.
The reason was that he had set fires all over the city these past few days; although no one was hurt, many buildings were damaged.
Now, the fines from Magnolia Town required him to pay.
That was five hundred thousand!!!
His savings were nowhere near enough, and it was all thanks to Gray, that idiot.
"Huh?" Gray was even more annoyed, also stepping onto the table to retort: "You only have to pay five hundred thousand, while my perverted exhibitionist habit is now known throughout the entire city."
Natsu snorted, "You were already an exhibitionist; even without me, everyone in the city would have known sooner or later."
"Nani?"
"Bastard!"
"Fire-eating bastard."
"Droopy eyes!"
Crackling sounds~
The two argued back and forth, immediately coming to blows without another word, fighting fiercely.
Aux watched the show with relish, but soon his smile faded.
Clang~
Gray and Natsu were fighting intensely.
Master Makarov appeared, gripping his staff and tapping it firmly on the floor.
The crisp sound immediately silenced the Guild.
Gray and Natsu were forced to stop, but they still glared at each other with dislike.
"Today, the Mayor of Magnolia came to me, reporting Gray for arbitrarily taking off his clothes, causing a great impact on the female residents of the city."
"At the same time, he also reported Natsu for setting fires and damaging buildings, leading to significant compensation costs. The two of you need to pay a total of one million gold as atonement."
What!!!
Natsu and Gray's faces darkened; one million gold meant both of them had to pay.
They immediately glared at each other again, annoyed.
At the same time, they also felt a little regret; if they had known they'd have to pay so much, they wouldn't have acted so recklessly.
Makarov said, "Let this incident be a lesson to you two; don't be so impulsive next time!"
At these words, the two lost their tempers.
"Next, you two need to team up for work until the one million gold is paid off," Makarov ordered.
Natsu and Gray were stunned.
They had to team up with him?
"Impossible, I'm not teaming up with him."
"Happy and I are doing perfectly fine; why should I work with an exhibitionist?"
Neither of them agreed.
If they teamed up, neither would yield to the other, and work would be impossible to complete.
"Aux, you also team up with them. It was you who swapped their bodies, so you also bear responsibility for this matter," Makarov named him again.
Aux's smile froze.
He scratched his head and was forced to accept the team arrangement; he had originally planned to team up with others for work.
Just as he had said, he possessed support magic!
He certainly wouldn't fight; his job was to provide support by teaming up with people.
Makarov looked at Gray and Natsu, warning, "If you don't work properly, Aux has the power to swap your bodies with a kitten or a puppy."
Hiss… Natsu and Gray gasped, the old man truly was a devil.
What would happen if they were swapped with a cat or a dog?
It seemed they could only reluctantly accept the team arrangement and earn enough millions as soon as possible to disband the team.
"Work! Work!"
To disband the team quickly, Natsu clamored and ran to the request board to look for a mission.
Gray could only follow along.
"Sigh…"
Aux knew he would be busy next, so he also walked over with his staff.
"If we could go to the second floor, any request there would have such a high reward…" Natsu said.
Gray retorted, "The second floor is only for S-Class Mages; don't even think about it."
Fairy Tail was one of the top Mage Guilds.
The quality and rewards of its requests were not low, but it was impossible to find a million-gold reward mission on the first floor.
Most requests were below one hundred thousand gold.
Only a few extremely dangerous requests could offer twenty to thirty thousand in rewards.
Whether it was Aux, Gray, or Natsu, their strength was not to be underestimated.
Naturally, they wouldn't take requests with rewards below one hundred thousand gold.
"Let's do this one."
Aux pointed to a mission on the request board; it was a job to deal with a Magical Beast.
The location wasn't far, just in the next town.
The reward was also over two hundred thousand; doing a few of these would be enough to cover the million-gold compensation.
"Will it be a bit difficult?"
Happy naturally had to go along; he and Natsu had always been inseparable.
"A Magical Beast over ten meters tall, it could be called a Magical Beast King."
Gray, on the other hand, was eager to move.
Natsu, even more so, said, "I'll burn it to a crisp…"
Mission confirmed!
They took the request to Mirajane for registration, then went back to pack their bags, preparing to depart.
They would meet at the station in half an hour.
"Run, it's Gray from the Fairy Tail Guild!"
As soon as Gray arrived, a girl shrieked, pulling her friend to flee.
The friend said, "Isn't the Fairy Tail Guild your Mage Guild here? Why are you running away?"
The girl hastily warned, "Gray is an exhibitionist; he especially likes to strip naked in front of women to scare people!"
The friend's face paled, "That perverted, then we really should run quickly!"
The conversation between the two girls reached Gray's ears.
Veins popped in his neck, his teeth ground, and he glared at the stinking fire dragon with a look that could kill!
"Puff puff puff~"
Happy had been holding back his laughter, but he couldn't anymore.
"Hahaha, Gray will never have a good reputation in Magnolia again."
Natsu stood with his hands on his hips, smugly.
See!
This was the consequence of offending the great Fire Dragon; Gray would forever be unable to hold his head high in Magnolia!
"Depart!"
Aux stopped Gray, who was about to explode, and with a single command, everyone got on the train!