Carla awoke from her sleep, but it was still dark outside.
No, that's not right, it should be time already, she felt a bit suffocated, as if buried in something, so she struggled upwards, finally squeezing out from the crevice between the towering mountains.
Now it's light, and what she saw was Mira's exquisite pretty face, and behind her was poor... adorable Wendy.
Her paw rested on the mountain, instinctively pressing... just a cat's instinct.
Carla withdrew her paw.
Will Wendy be greatly upset again later? Carla understood Wendy's little concerns, but she was helpless.
Get up and make a nutritious breakfast for Wendy, she's still young, maybe it's not too late.
Carla got out of bed.
Mira seemed to notice, softly murmured, tightening her 'pillow' in her arms.
Now it was Wendy's turn to suffocate.
Carla shook her head, went out to do her own things, dismissing the thought that being held like that was actually quite comfortable.
"57, 58, 59..."
Carla heard someone counting, she peeked outside, it was Rhode doing push-ups, with a Warm sitting on his back.
How strong is this person's power? He's doing push-ups with such a heavy thing on his back!
"Hoo~" Warm happily greeted Carla.
"Morning." Carla greeted them. "You haven't changed this habit at all."
She recalled that when Rhode and that perverted exhibitionist came to stay over, they already had this morning exercise habit.
"Morning... persistence..."
Rhode spat out two words every time he pushed up, speaking during exercise does have some influence.
Carla, seeing Warm eager to try, quickly dodged back, fearing she'd be licked all over with saliva.
When it was breakfast time, the few people sat together, Wendy hung her head, looking listless.
Rhode asked, "Didn't Wendy sleep well last night?"
"No, that's not it." Wendy hastily denied.
In fact, she slept very well, very comfortably and solidly, like sleeping in her mother's embrace.
It's just too disappointing when she woke up.
Mira patted Wendy's head: "Sorry, when I'm home, I'm used to hugging a pillow to sleep, and by accident..."
Hiss...
Rhode looked at Wendy enviously, being used as a pillow by Mira must be so comfortable!
Mira picked up a fried egg and stuffed it into Rhode's mouth, his thoughts were plainly written on his face, wasn't it? There's nothing to be envious about.
Rhode chewed noisily, he has been hugged, but not while sleeping... huh?
Come to think of it, he has been magically helped to sleep by Mira twice, did Mira do something secretly?
Feels like he missed out a billion.
"No, no, it's nothing, Sister Mira, do you have any plans today?" Wendy wanted to quickly skip over this sad topic.
"It's my first time staying at the Cat Transformation Inn, I want to take a good look, then maybe go back tomorrow. If it's too much trouble..."
"Not at all!" Wendy was delighted to have friends visit, "I'll take Sister Mira to look around! By the way, Pepel's clothes look beautiful, Sister Mira, would you like to try on some of our clothes here?"
"Can I?"
"Yes, yes!"
Mira was very much looking forward to it, actually last year Rhode gave her a set of clothes from here, but only got to wear it once due to the seasonal issue at that time.
This year... she thought about wearing it, but the size was a bit off, needed some adjustments.
If there's one that fits here, that would be perfect.
With such a great opportunity, of course Rhode had to join in the fun.
Although he couldn't follow into the changing room, he could give some advice on the pairing.
In matters like this, his words carried quite a lot of weight, Rhode complacently thought.
Unfortunately, this 'Mira Fashion' game didn't last long before someone came to stop it.
"Mr. Rhode and Miss Mira, the President is looking for you."
It was that young man named Naoqi, Rhode recognized him: "President Robin Lu?"
Naoqi nodded: "Yes, the President said there's something urgent and asked you to go over quickly."
Rhode said, "We'll go immediately."
Mira put down the clothes in her hand, only tidied up the purple dress she was wearing, and also arranged the luxurious golden necklace around her neck.
Rhode reached out and helped her straighten the necklace, Mira also straightened Rhode's collar.
The two went together to see President Robin Lu, Wendy and Carla followed out of concern.
"President Robin Lu, we apologize for the intrusion."
Yesterday Wendy and Carla said not to intentionally greet the President, so they didn't come.
Thinking about it now, could it have been somewhat disrespectful?
President Robin Lu sat in the main seat: "Nonsense."
"?" Mira didn't understand.
Rhode whispered in her ear: "Seems like President Robin Lu's catchphrase, don't mind it."
Mira nodded, directly asked: "May I ask what urgent matter prompted you to see us?"
"No, it's Fairy Tail contacting us, wishing to speak with you. Nonsense."
"The Guild?" Rhode and Mira felt a jolt, generally emergency matters wouldn't use this type of communication.
It's either something happened in the Guild or a companion nearby is in danger and needs their aid.
Robin Lu pointed to the curtain behind him: "Go on, the Communication Magic Crystal is behind there. Nonsense."
The two slightly nodded to Robin Lu and quickly walked behind the curtain.
Wendy couldn't help but ask: "President, did something happen to Fairy Tail?"
Robin Lu shook his head: "Not sure, if Wendy is concerned, you can go check as well. Nonsense."
Wendy took a step forward but stopped.
Even though she was concerned, she wasn't a member of Fairy Tail, it'd be too improper to just go like that.
...
The Communication Magic Crystal at the Cat Transformation Inn was much larger than those Rhode had seen in the Guild.
Just the Magic Crystal alone was about as tall as Rhode.
However, usually the larger these things are, the more outdated they tend to be, because recent years have been all about miniaturization.
That's not the point, the point is the Magic Crystal showed Erza's figure.
"Sorry, Mira, Rhode." Erza apologized right from the start.
The two were bewildered, Rhode asked: "Did something happen?"
Erza clenched her fists and hung her head, somewhat afraid to look at them: "It was my carelessness, I had promised to take care of the Guild while you were away, but this still happened."
Such an Erza was quite rare, not her usual kind of naive self-blame, but a more intense guilt.
Mira gently said: "Don't rush to take all the responsibility, there are so many troublemakers in the Guild, it's not something you alone could manage..."
"It's not that kind of minor oversight." Erza interrupted Mira, "The incident started the day you left. That very night, Natsu had Hapi steal an S-Class request!"
"That guy, Natsu..." Rhode was shocked, though he knew Natsu was daring, he didn't think he'd go this far.
Doing such a thing could get one expelled from the Guild!
However, Rhode's first thought was that Natsu might need support: "Natsu ran into danger?"
"No, something happened, Gray and I chased all the way to the mission location and successfully resolved the task." Erza looked serious, "But when we got back, the Guild... was destroyed."
"What?"
Mira covered her mouth, Rhode's mind buzzed.
If it were internal fighting that wrecked the Guild, Erza wouldn't show such an expression, so it must have been an attack.
"Who did it?!"