"It's nothing. It's just that your methods are a little too ruthless. They don't really fit the way Fairy Tail does things."
Erza frowned. As for Jovian's actions, she did not exactly like them, but he was not wrong, either. Everything he had done was permitted. Since it was permitted, it was not wrong.
"The way Fairy Tail does things?"
"Are you saying Natsu destroying half a dock just to beat a criminal counts as the way Fairy Tail does things?"
"Or Gray freezing a bandit and accidentally freezing the hostage in the bandit's hands along with him, is that the way Fairy Tail does things?"
"Or stripping naked in front of a bunch of young women, then nearly getting arrested by the town guards as a pervert, is that our Fairy Tail style? As for who that pervert was, I won't say. I'll give him some face. Although he still isn't wearing any clothes right now…"
Jovian pointed at Natsu and Gray, speaking in obvious irritation.
"Seriously, what kind of pervert would do something like that? Unforgivable. I'd better not catch him!"
Gray's face filled with anger. He clenched his fists, absolutely furious.
"Gray, your clothes…" Cana glanced at Gray and reminded him.
"Crap. My clothes ran off on their own again without me noticing…"
"Huh? A naked pervert…"
Gray looked down at his bare body, then connected it with the naked pervert Jovian had just mentioned. He fell into deep thought.
"Uh…"
"They have, admittedly, done things they shouldn't have."
Erza seemed to hear a sharp sound. It was the sound of a slap landing on her own face.
"Or Mystogan, after completing a job, knocking out the client when he met them, taking the money, and leaving…"
"Laxus getting angry because his client hired people from another guild for the same subjugation job after already hiring him, then taking out both the enemies and his own allies in a fit of rage…"
"Or Gildarts destroying the client's entire town while turning in a job…"
"Is that our Fairy Tail style?"
Before Erza could argue, Jovian's voice rang out again and again. Every word felt like another slap against her cheek, making her face ache.
"Well…"
"That…"
"So…"
Erza's face turned red. She felt ashamed on behalf of her teammates. Seriously, what were the guild's S-Class Mages even doing? Did they not know how to show a little restraint?
"Erza's being pushed back…"
"That Erza is actually being pushed back!"
Natsu and Gray stared at Erza as she retreated step by step, her body trembling slightly. They were stunned. This was Erza, the woman who had never once lost an argument. And now some nameless Fairy Tail logistics worker had talked her into retreating over and over again.
"In any case, I hope you can improve your style a little. Acting like this all the time will bring some bad opinions down on Fairy Tail."
Erza tried to persuade Jovian.
"Forget it, Erza…"
"Our guild's reputation has already become well-known to every member of the Magic Council thanks to Natsu's hard work. Last time I went to the Magic Council to collect a bounty, one frog-faced guy inside complained to me for half a day. He asked if you people from Fairy Tail could please give them a break and stop causing trouble all the time, especially that Fire Dragon…"
After Jovian finished speaking, he looked at Natsu.
"Ahahaha…"
"Really? My name has already spread so far that even the big shots of the Magic Council know about me?"
Natsu put his hands on his hips and laughed loudly. He did not seem even slightly bothered by his fame spreading everywhere. On the contrary, he was absolutely delighted that his name had become so widely known.
"Nobody's praising you!"
Gray shouted angrily at Natsu.
"You aren't much better, are you, naked pervert?"
Lucy stood behind Gray and Natsu and cut in.
"Uh, well…"
Gray lowered his head. It was not like he wanted to take off his clothes, but taking off your clothes during a fight was common sense!
After thinking for a long while, Erza realized she had no way to deal with Jovian. In the end, she slammed her hand hard onto the table in front of her and shouted at him, "In any case, I'll be keeping an eye on you!"
"Oh."
Jovian nodded, as if he did not care about Erza's words at all.
"Hah…"
"Besides that, there's something I want Natsu and Gray to help me with. Actually, since you're here too, I'll add you in. It happens to have something to do with you as well…"
After slowly letting out a sigh, Erza looked at Jovian, Gray, and Natsu as she spoke.
"Something related to us?"
Jovian sat in his seat, his mind moving quickly as if he had thought of something.
"Is it about a Dark Guild?"
Jovian asked Erza.
"Yes. It's about a Dark Guild. Looks like you've heard something too."
Erza nodded in confirmation.
"All right, then."
Jovian looked indifferent. Since it involved a Dark Guild, he would get involved. He remembered that Erza and the others were about to go after a guild under the Oración Seis. Conveniently enough, he had been searching for traces of the Oración Seis recently.
"Jovian, Erza, Gray, and Natsu are going to team up? Wouldn't that make them Fairy Tail's strongest team?"
Mirajane heard Erza's words and covered her cheeks with both hands, looking surprised.
"The strongest team?"
"That's more like a deadly team. If those people get together, wouldn't they end up destroying an entire town?"
"Destroying half a dock just from a fight was already ridiculous enough. Now it looks like things are going to get even more ridiculous…"
"When the master comes back, won't he just die of rage on the spot?"
A group of background Mages had very sharp instincts and immediately started making comments.
"In any case, come over here for a moment…"
"Our job is simple. We need to stop that Dark Guild from releasing Lullaby, the magic created by Zeref…"
Erza gathered Natsu, Gray, and the others and explained their objective, Eisenwald's movements, and where they were headed. Jovian sat to the side and listened in silence, still holding his beer. He looked as if he did not care about a single thing Erza was saying. His target was not Lullaby. He wanted to find Eisenwald's people and ask whether they knew the whereabouts of the Oración Seis.
"We got it…"
After the explanation, the next day at the train station, everyone gathered together.
"So why do I have to come too?"
Lucy had a headache. She had heard that their enemies were a group of people who killed without blinking.
"Because we're all on the same team! So of course you have to come!"
Happy flew beside Lucy and muttered softly.
"I feel like I boarded the wrong ship."
Lucy narrowed her eyes, looking pained.
"Hey, can we just not take transportation?"
Natsu stared at the vehicle in front of them, his body trembling nonstop.
"Oh right, Natsu can't handle transportation…"
"Hehe. I never thought there'd be something Natsu was bad at!"
Lucy snickered. She was very happy about the one area where she could beat Natsu.
"Don't worry. I've got this."
Erza smiled slightly at Natsu. Her smile gave Natsu a strong sense of security. When Natsu got on the train and was still constantly nauseated, Erza generously knocked him unconscious with one punch.
"So this is the legendary 'I've got this'?"
"That's terrifying…"
Lucy shivered as she watched Erza knock Natsu out directly.
Soon, the train arrived at the station. Just as Erza and the others were preparing to leave, Jovian moved.
"About time…"
Jovian, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly stood up from his seat and walked into the train car.
"What is Jovian doing?"
Lucy, who had heard of Jovian's reputation, did not dare offend him, so her tone was very polite.
"No idea. Maybe he went to the bathroom…"
Happy kept licking the salted fish in his hand, apparently thinking about when he should start eating it.
"No. He must have sensed something…"
Erza frowned. She felt that Jovian standing up could not possibly be that simple.
"Erza, should I follow him and take a look?"
Gray asked Erza.
"No. Just wait here for a bit."
Erza shook her head at Gray, signaling that he did not need to follow Jovian.
On the other side, Jovian walked through the train car, his eyes sweeping back and forth. Eventually, his gaze landed on a man with pineapple-shaped hair who was holding something that looked like it was covered in bandages. Jovian stopped in front of him.
"Show me what you're holding."
Jovian spoke in an absolutely commanding tone, coldly addressing the pineapple-haired guy who looked like he was cosplaying Shikamaru.
"Hey! Who the hell are you?"
The fake Shikamaru raised his head in displeasure after hearing Jovian's words and asked angrily.
"You talk too much…"
Jovian was too lazy to waste words on him. He reached out, grabbed the man by the neck, and dragged him straight out of his seat.
"Ah!"
"What's going on?"
"Why is he hitting people?"
The passengers around them looked at Jovian choking fake Shikamaru with one hand and cried out in shock. They hurriedly left their seats in panic, but Jovian ignored all of it.
Just like that, he casually snatched the bandage-wrapped Lullaby, known as a living curse, out of the man's hand. Then, with one hand around fake Shikamaru's neck and the other holding Lullaby, he walked back toward his original seat.
Before long, Jovian returned to everyone.
"That person is…"
Erza looked at the man Jovian had dragged over and asked.
"I saw him holding Lullaby. He looked like someone from a Dark Guild."
Jovian answered coldly.
"Lullaby? The thing in your hand is Lullaby?"
Erza looked at the sealed flute wrapped in bandages in Jovian's hand and asked.
"Yeah."
Jovian nodded, then looked at the Dark Guild Mage he had captured.
"Hey, kid. Where's your guild?"
Jovian questioned the fake Shikamaru he had caught.
"I won't tell you…"
"You trash from Legal Guilds can all go die!"
Fake Shikamaru sneered at Jovian, as if he had already stopped caring about life and death.
"Talk! What are you planning to do with Lullaby?"
At that moment, Erza also drew her blade and placed it against fake Shikamaru's neck as she questioned him.
"Huh? Didn't you say we should avoid killing people if possible?"
Lucy cried out when she saw Erza draw her sword.
"Hehehe…"
"You stupid Mages, keep dreaming. No matter what, I won't talk…"
The fake Shikamaru was still stubborn.
"Sigh…"
Seeing how tight-lipped the fake Shikamaru was, Jovian grabbed his head, smashed straight through the train's ceiling, and flew out.
"What? He flew?"
Lucy's eyes widened as she watched Jovian fly freely. Flight magic was extremely rare even among Mages.
Rumble, rumble, rumble…
In front of the train racing forward, a figure slowly descended.
Jovian gripped the back of fake Shikamaru's head with one hand and aimed him at the speeding train. His voice was very calm. "I'll give you ten seconds. Tell me where your guild is, or you die."
"I won't talk…"
Fake Shikamaru stared at the train racing toward them and still tried to act tough.
"Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven…"
Jovian directly ignored fake Shikamaru's stubbornness and calmly counted down.
"I…"
Fake Shikamaru gritted his teeth nonstop, but the wind pressure from the approaching train had already made it impossible for him to open his eyes. He could feel the wind scraping across every pore on his face, bringing an enormous, stinging pain. He was suffering. He wanted to say something, but Jovian's hand squeezed tighter and tighter. He realized he could no longer speak at all.
"Go die. I never planned to let you live anyway…"
In a haze, fake Shikamaru seemed to hear Jovian whispering softly beside his ear.
"Jovian!"
Just as fake Shikamaru felt the Grim Reaper begin swinging his scythe at him, a roar suddenly exploded beside his ear.
Boom!
In an instant, fake Shikamaru felt his body fly into the air.
Thud.
Finally, he slammed hard onto the roof of the train car.
"I never planned to kill him anyway…"
Immediately afterward, Jovian slowly floated up and drifted in front of the red-haired woman standing on the train roof, the one who had shouted his name. That person was Erza.
"…"
Erza looked deeply at Jovian. Then she grabbed the Dark Guild member by the neck and asked coldly, "Tell me. Who are you trying to kill with Lullaby? How many people do you have? Where are the others?"
Erza questioned the fake Shikamaru about the enemy's next plan.
"…"
Jovian looked at the utterly fierce Erza and shrugged. The way she looked now was even more ruthless than him, yet she was telling him to go easy? He truly did not know what to say.
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