Mira didn't take advantage of Rhodes just because he said he was rich. Instead, she simply chose a cozy little dessert shop.
The two of them sat for a while, chatting and exchanging information about Levy. Rhodes also passed along Troy's latest updates.
"Aren't you planning to team up with them this time?" Mira asked, looking forward to the drama that might unfold with Rhodes and the Shadow Gear team.
"No," Rhodes shook his head. "I feel like it's not good to interfere too much. Besides, Troy seems pretty confident about it."
"That's true," Mira said, smiling as if she couldn't wait to see what would happen.
They chatted casually for a while. As they talked, Mira, halfway through her cake, habitually pinched her waist, a little worried about her figure.
Without thinking, Rhodes naturally reached out to take her plate.
"..."
Mira paused, realizing something felt off. Since when had they gotten this comfortable with each other?
Before Rhodes could start eating, Mira quickly pulled the plate back, scooped up a huge bite of cake with her fork, and stuffed it into her mouth, all while giving Rhodes a fierce stare.
Rhodes blinked in confusion. "?"
Did I say something wrong? he wondered.
After they left the dessert shop, Mira quickly returned to her normal cheerful self and even seemed to be in an even better mood.
Rhodes was still a little baffled. 'Why was she glaring at me just now?'
Seeing his confused face only made Mira feel better. She even promised to treat him to something different next time.
Rhodes agreed a little dazedly. 'Sometimes, girls' thoughts are just impossible to understand.'
...
When they returned to the guild, the moment Rhodes stepped through the door, Gray rushed over and grabbed him.
"Finally! You're back, Rhodes. I need your help with something!"
Rhodes instinctively blurted out, "No way, you too?"
Gray blinked, confused. "Huh? Is there someone else?"
Realizing he might have misunderstood, Rhodes quickly calmed himself. "Uh... never mind. What do you want to ask?"
"It's about the mission you did with Erza."
"..."
Rhodes froze for a second. 'Wait, does this guy like Erza?'
No, no, he quickly corrected himself. Gray looked serious. His focus was clearly on the mission, not Erza. Rhodes had just been influenced by Troy's love problems these past few days and was thinking nonsense.
"What exactly do you want to know?" Rhodes asked. "I should warn you first, I might not be able to tell you everything. Some details about Council missions are confidential."
There were rules every wizard had to follow. Unless something directly impacted another member, mission information wasn't supposed to be shared.
Gray's expression turned serious. "It's about the demon."
"!?"
Rhodes' eyes widened. "Where did you hear that?"
"The day before yesterday, on my way to work, I overheard people talking. They said Fairy Tail wizards defeated a demon. They described a red-haired female knight and a powerful beast tamer. I figured it must've been you."
"Beast tamer?!" Rhodes' face darkened. 'What kind of lousy nickname is that?'
And what about the Council's so-called confidentiality? Even the possibility that their target might be a demon had already leaked out?
"Come with me," Rhodes said firmly. He pulled Gray along to find Mira, repeating everything Gray had told him and asking if this situation might cause any problems.
Gray added a few more details, giving a brief report about his own mission in the process.
Mira thought for a moment, then said, "I don't think this necessarily means the Council leaked anything."
"The demons they mentioned to Gray were probably just the members of the Black Magic Cult. Considering what those people were doing, it wouldn't be wrong to call them demonic, right?"
Rhodes nodded. "That makes sense. Gray must have misunderstood."
"Hold on a second," Gray suddenly said, catching the real issue. "Are you saying there was an actual demon?"
Rhodes immediately realized his mistake and groaned, "Ah... I leaked the information, didn't I?"
Mira smiled reassuringly. "It's fine. The demon didn't actually appear, right? Technically, since it wasn't fully summoned during the mission, it's okay to tell Gray."
"And besides," she added playfully, "I think the title, 'beast tamer' suits you."
"Let's not talk about that," Rhodes said, utterly helpless. Nicknames are given by others, not chosen by yourself, he thought bitterly. There's no way to change it now.
After gathering his thoughts, he simply summarized everything for Gray:
"There was a Black Magic Cult trying to summon the flesh-eating demon Carniber from the Book of Zeref. Erza and I stopped them before they could complete the ritual. We destroyed the altar and captured all the cult members."
"They didn't summon it." Gray exhaled deeply, the tension draining from his body. "Thank you."
"Hey..." Rhodes scratched his head. He didn't quite understand why Gray was thanking him so seriously and turned to Mira for answers.
"I'm not sure about all the details," Mira whispered softly. "But I heard that about ten years ago, Gray's hometown was destroyed by a demon."
She added quietly, "He might have lost family back then. Even Gray's strange habit of stripping off his clothes probably started around that time."
"..."
Another child with a heartbreaking past. Rhodes didn't know what to say, he could only feel sympathy.
'If strange habits are tied to sad experiences...' he wondered, 'then what about Erza and her obsession with wearing armor?'
Now that he thought about it, Erza did show some odd behavior during their last mission too.
But when Rhodes asked, even Mira didn't know the full story behind it.
"Someone once asked Erza about her past," Mira said quietly, "but she refused to say anything. It's like her life only truly began after joining the guild. Maybe it was so painful she doesn't even want to remember it."
She noticed the worry in Rhodes' eyes for both Gray and Erza and gently comforted him:
"It's alright. No matter what happened before, we've all made it here, haven't we? As long as we have the guild, we can keep moving forward."
"Yeah..." Rhodes nodded thoughtfully.
Then, he suddenly let out a big yawn, feeling a wave of sleepiness wash over him.
Mira, about to scold him for dozing off while she was speaking from the heart, suddenly felt her own eyelids grow heavy too. "Is it Mystogan again..." she muttered.
She stumbled forward, and Rhodes instinctively reached out to catch her. Both of them ended up slumping against the counter, fast asleep.
Of course, the rest of the guild members were no better. Everyone had collapsed into naps all across the tavern.
Mystogan casually greeted the Master, picked a request off the job board, and then lifted the sleep magic before disappearing as quietly as he came.
Everyone slowly woke up one after another, and as usual, the guild filled with groggy complaints and cursing.
Rhodes opened his eyes, immediately feeling a familiar weight on his shoulder and promptly decided to pretend to stay asleep for a little longer.
But only a few seconds later, the warmth vanished, and he felt a sharp pinch at his waist.
"Ouch, ouch!" Rhodes yelped, rubbing his side.
Mira retracted her hand with a small blush on her cheeks. "I told you to wake up. Don't pretend to be asleep."
Still rubbing the sore spot, Rhodes grumbled, "How do you even know I was pretending?"
"Intuition," Mira said matter-of-factly, turning her head away with a little huff.
Intuition? Rhodes muttered in his heart. What are you, a Psychic wizard?
He honestly thought she was just making things up.
But all in all, it wasn't a bad way to wake up. Besides, it was almost time to go back to training.
Rhodes looked up and spotted Makarov still sitting on the second floor. "Master," he called, "are you free right now?"
...
Bonus Chapter.
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