Gray felt his heartbeat rising as Jura reached out his hand towards Kazu's bag.
Gray's eyes widened when Kazu caught Jura's hand just before the latter could reach his bag.
"Hmm? Is there something worth hiding in the bag?" Jura smirked.
Kazu smirked. "Aren't you embarrassed to check the stuff of a young boy? There's a lot of stuff that young boys like me need to hide."
"Hoho. Indeed. However, you do know that I would need to do that, to make sure that the book's content had remained confidential."
Kazu nodded. "Yes. Unfortunately, this needs to be done. But I feel like you might get information about things that you weren't supposed to know if you look inside this bag. How are you going to compensate me for that?"
"How indeed. How about this? The council will give you appropriate compensation for the information I come to know from it." 'Seeing how confident he is, the bag doesn't contain the book.'
The council had already foreseen the possibility that the book's contents might leak, either through the robbers or through Kazu, who had brought it with suspicious movements. Their current goal is to minimise the damage they have incurred. They aren't going to go to extreme measures to find some evidence against Kazu. They will do the bare minimum, as he was part of a pretty famous guild.
'Though I am curious about the contents of his bag.'
"You do know that some information can't be bought with money, right?" Kazu made a serious expression.
"Everything could be bought at some price... Though I get what you mean. Do you want the compensation in the form of artefacts or some magic items?"
Kazu shook his head. "Actually, just monetary compensation would suffice. I hope you make a good judgment of the information in this bag." He handed the bag to Jura.
"Very well." Jura slowly opened the bag before looking inside.
"Books...?" He took out one and realised it wasn't a book, but rather a magazine.
"..."
"..."
Both Jura and Gray became speechless when they looked at the front cover of the magazine.
There was a portrait of a half-naked lady, throwing a seductive gaze.
Jura flipped through the magazine before closing it immediately.
The content was more indecent than he had expected.
He then glanced at the other things in the bag, which looked like magazines.
Jura then shifted his gaze to Kazu. "You were right. The boy your age does seem to have a lot of things to hide." He said with a deadpan.
"I know, right~ How about we talk about the compensation now? You now know such things about me. When I become an S-rank in a few years, can't you use this information to defame me? I want compensation for such a scenario if it happens." Kazu's words were too outrageous for the situation.
"Right..." Jura regretted that he had agreed to give compensation. He didn't think that Kazu would scam him so brazenly.
---
"When did you buy those magazines? Also, what about the book you copied?" It was only after they had boarded the train and the train had moved for 30 minutes did Gray spoke up.
"I burned the book. No need for that anymore. About the magazines, I just bought them at the station. Weren't you with me? Or were you distracted by something else?" Kazu threw him a confused look.
"Oh...I don't remember when. I was distracted several times at the station." Gray shrugged.
---
They reached Magnolia after a few days.
"Do you want me to report to the master about the mission, or do you want to do it?" Kazu asked Gray.
"I will do it. I had some business in the guild when I returned."
Kazu shrugged. "Well, thanks. I will head home directly then."
He soon arrived at his house.
'Did I lock the windows when I left or not? It would be a pain to clean up if there is dust on my bed.' Kazu frowned as he opened the lock.
He checked the window and sighed in relief when he noticed that it was closed.
He plopped on the bed.
'It was worth it to invest so much money in this bed. I feel like I am in clouds.' Kazu's body relaxed. He had bought this bed after Elfman had accidentally destroyed it with the ceiling last time.
DING DONG
Kazu's body twitched.
'Why did somebody have to ring the bell just now? At least they should have done it after I had slept, then I wouldn't have to respond.' He sighed, before a small blue sphere materialised above him, and rushed at the door.
Without damaging anything, it hit the lock button, promptly unlocking the door.
The door then opened. Kazu's face was still in the mattress, so he didn't see the visitor.
"I thought I heard the door opening. Guess, I wasn't hallucinating. You are finally back."
"Why do you have so good ears?" Kazu groaned.
Mira shrugged as he closed the door before she took a seat on the chair. "You said you were going to come within a week, yet it's nearly 2 weeks." She asked in an accusatory tone.
"It's already been 2 weeks? Time does pass quickly. How's your training going along?"
"I am more comfortable with my partial-transformation. I am done with the parts that were quickly able to be upgraded." Mira nodded.
"Awesome. Check this out." He threw her a book.
Mira caught it before opening it.
"Whoa. Where did you get it from?" Seeing that it was related to dark magic, along with several spells, brightened her mood.
"It was lying on the ground. So, I picked it up."
Mira deadpanned. "Well...Thank you."
Kazu shrugged. "No worries. Though make sure to burn it once you are done reading or something. I have memorised it, so I could make it again. We would get into trouble if people found out."
"Wait...Did you steal it?" Mira looked at him in shock. This was another thing she hadn't Kazu of all people to do.
"As I said, the book was lying on the ground, so I picked it up and gave it back its owner. In the process of doing it, I might have read it a bit. Nothing serious." Kazu said in a nonchalant tone, as if he hadn't committed a crime.
He then lifted his head and glanced at Mira. "Do you have a problem with that?"
"No." The answer came pretty quickly.
"As I thought so." Kazu might have thought a few times before saying the same thing to somebody like Natsu, but Mira clearly didn't belong to that category.
Mira raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean, thought so?"
"You know...with your delinquent persona...pfft... I thought you would be fine with it." Kazu stifled his laugh.
"YOU!" Mira felt her cheeks redden due to the embarrassment.
"I am going!" She stormed off.
"Don't forget to come to the training ground at the same time tomorrow!"
The door slammed closed.
Kazu looked at the door for a few seconds before dropping his head back to the mattress.
"She's so easy to tease."
---
December 15 x778
"Jeez. Why are you all so tense? Do you really think you would become S-rank even if you got selected for the trial?" Kazu looked at the other people present at the table. Though his words were mean, it was pure truth. Even he himself was not sure if he qualified as S-rank.
"Hmph. It's all about the process. Not the outcome. This experience itself would be pretty valuable." Cana folded her arms. The others nodded too. Currently, only 2 S-ranks were present in the guild. So, becoming an S-rank feels like a dream to them.
Kazu deadpanned. "Why do wise words come from your mouth when you aren't drunk? It feels like you have a bipolar personality."
"What's that?"
Before Kazu could enlighten her, Makarov entered the tavern, prompting everybody to look at him.
He jumped on a nearby table and then looked around.
"I think everybody already knows what I am going to say, but for the new members, I would repeat. In a week, there would be S-rank promotion trials. I am going to name the people who have qualified for it now. It's based completely on the contribution you have made to the guild, in the form of a mission or something else."
Makarov then took a paper from his pocket. "I am now going to announce the members who have qualified."
The air became strained with tension as everyone waited with bated breath. In the last month, everyone had increased the number of missions they could do to get a chance to qualify for this.
"Laxus Dreyar"
Laxus didn't react. It was as if it were a given thing for him. Everyone had already expected this. In the last few years, Laxus's name has always come up due to the number of missions he has done.
"Kazu Sukehiro."
Kazu smirked. He had done two S-rank missions this year, so it would have been more shocking if his name didn't come up.
"Erza Scarlet"
Erza pumped her fist. She had failed to qualify last year, so she had focused on doing missions from the beginning of the year.
"Gray Fullbuster."
Gray made a shocked expression. "Wait, me too!?"
"Well done!" Cana patted him a little too hard on the back, causing the shirtless boy to glare at her.
"Evergreen."
The brown-haired girl blinked before nodding to herself in a self-assured manner.
"Wait, the new girl also got in? Damn." Levy exclaimed.
"And lastly, Freed Justine."
The green-haired boy didn't make any change in expression.
"Another new guy? How did we lose to some newcomers?" Cana groaned.
Gray chuckled. "Maybe you would have been selected if you had focused on doing missions instead of playing around."
Cana snorted.
"These are the participants for the S-rank exams. All of you could choose one partner who would accompany you in the exam. The exam will be held on 23rd December. All the best." Makarov smiled.
***
A/n- If we get one more review in 24 hours, then I would release two chapters tomorrow.
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