Dobengal stayed gloomy for a long while before remembering the actual job. "Right… the mission."
"Their crimes have already been exposed," Yukino said. "Princess Hisui personally ordered their arrest. We don't need to intervene further."
"Mm." Dobengal fell quiet.
Yukino added, "I also heard their arrest had something to do with Saint Rhodes and Lady Mirajane."
"!"
Dobengal's eyes widened, though his reaction wasn't as explosive as before. "Them, huh…"
He glanced back the way they'd come. "That beast that carried me, was it your Celestial Spirit?"
"No. Lord Rhodes lent it to me," Yukino said. "He was worried we might run out of magic if something unexpected happened on the road."
Dobengal lapsed into silence again, then murmured, "Yukino… what kind of guild is Fairy Tail, really?"
"Huh?" Yukino blinked. "Senior Dobengal?"
"I...I'm just curious, that's all."
By then, the carriage had long since left the capital. Inside another coach, Rhodes was idly toying with Natsu's wedding present: a pair of dumbbells.
They were a "couple set", one blue, one pink, with extremely abstract stick-figure portraits scribbled on each. Rhodes boldly guessed one was supposed to be him and the other Mirajane. Since Mira clearly hadn't drawn them, that meant either Natsu did it himself… or Erza had done the "artwork" for him.
Rhodes lifted and lowered the pair at an easy rhythm. Beside him, Mirajane's thoughts were still on Sorano. "Do you think Yukino's sister has any chance of being released?"
"There's a chance," Rhodes said, "but it won't be easy."
"What would it take? Is there anything we can do?"
"We can't make her innocent, that's impossible, but with good behavior her sentence can be reduced. If Yukino assists the Council with certain matters, she might earn reductions for Sorano as well. I remember there's a policy like that."
Mira frowned. "But that would mean taking on dangerous Council work, wouldn't it?"
"Because you can't just free a serious offender," Rhodes replied. "Aside from that, if royal households in various nations put forward sufficiently weighty merits, they can sway the Council's decision too."
"Sufficiently weighty…"
"Think Edolas-level," he said. "Preventing a war, averting a national catastrophe, something on that scale."
Both paths were incredibly hard, but Rhodes figured Yukino would pursue them anyway. He just hoped her guild would understand her reasons.
And maybe, that "beaten ninja" would prove helpful after all.
Rhodes set the dumbbells aside, scooted closer, and started pointing out both the ordinary and the wonderful passing by the window; Mira soon let the worry slide from her shoulders and began "harassing" him back with the same giddy energy.
Their carriage rocked along into a small town for the night, and by dusk the next day they reached the outskirts of Gasmin Village. The driver reined in from a distance.
"Are you sure you want to go there?" he asked.
"Is something wrong with the place?" Rhodes said.
"I've heard tell of a demon in those parts," the coachman said. "Been rumors for over a decade. Folks say the whole village was eaten. I never dare go near."
Rhodes smiled, took up his suitcase, and hopped down. Mira took his free hand and jumped after him.
They paid the fare and started toward the village together.
Rhodes already knew the "demon rumor" was true, though the so-called demon had tricked him into marrying her. This was Gasmin Village, where Mirajane had lived as a child.
The coachman had no idea what the couple found so funny. He flicked the reins and hastily turned his cart around.
Rule one for ambitious coachmen: don't ask questions you shouldn't.
Rule one for survival-minded coachmen: don't drive into strange places.
Rhodes glanced at Mirajane, her figure glowing softly in the sunset. "Are you ready?"
"Hmph, you're the one who should be ready." She tightened her grip on his hand and led him into the village.
Rhodes had been curious about the little place that raised Mirajane, but the closer they got, the more the village's silence pressed in. Even at dusk, not a curl of cooking smoke rose, and no one walked the streets.
The houses were a jumble of rotting wood and crumbling earth walls. Doors sagged on broken hinges, ready to fall at the touch of a breeze. Weeds sprouted from the collapsed clay walls, reclaiming the street.
Rhodes gently pulled his hand free, draped it across Mirajane's shoulder, and drew her close.
"It's been more than ten years since I last came back," Mira murmured, pressing against him. She looked up with a smile, forcing lightness into her voice. "This place is so far out… everyone probably moved away. I even swore I'd come back and beat up everyone who bullied me!"
Rhodes chuckled. "Then let's find out where they went. No matter how far, we'll track them down and rough them up for you."
Mirajane laughed, clung to him for a moment, then wriggled free, tugging him forward with a playful trot. "Come on, I'll show you my home!"
Rhodes let her drag him along, stumbling over piles of dirt and brushing through tall weeds as they moved through the hushed streets.
She didn't look like a grown woman returning to her childhood home, more like a mischievous girl bringing her favorite boy to play.
They soon stopped before the Strauss family house. Mirajane gave a wry smile. "Sure enough, it's fallen apart like the rest."
Before Rhodes could answer, she perked up, tugging him into the overgrown yard and pointing at a half-collapsed roof. "Look, that was Elfman's room."
"Poor Elfman," Rhodes mused. "No roof over his head."
"Don't worry," Mira clapped her hands, grinning. "In summer he loved to string up a mosquito net and sleep outside on the roof anyway. Now he can sleep under the stars all he wants!"
"You really are a good sister."
"Hehe~" She pointed to the still-intact side. "That was Lisanna's and my room. See that window? Kids used to throw stones in through there. And that idiot Elfman, timid as he was, he wouldn't hide in his own room. He'd squeeze in with us and get pelted instead!"
She laughed at the memory, then grew softer. "There used to be a well right here, though now it's buried under rubble. And over there was a big willow tree… we'd pluck the leaves and blow through them like whistles. And…"
Step by step, Mirajane guided Rhodes through the wreckage, pointing out corners of the house and weaving her warm, bittersweet memories into the ruins.
Rhodes listened with care, savoring every shade of emotion in her voice. Through it all, their hands stayed clasped together, firm and unshakable.