"It's this kind of advertisement again, so annoying."
Laki compared this type of advertisement to the pop-up ads Rhode used to encounter with software; it was novel at first, but soon became disdainful after seeing it too much.
She mysteriously said, "Flip a few more pages, there's a surprise~"
"Surprise?" Following Laki's suggestion, Rhode turned the pages, and right after the ad was the news section he wanted to read.
Clearly, the surprise Laki mentioned wasn't this, but Rhode glanced at it anyway.
"Laird Entertainment Company's popular actress's boyfriend exposed"
They called it an exposé, but it was just a picture of two people's backs. Rhode didn't know the popular actress; he just thought the rumored boyfriend looked a lot like some handsome guy in the guild.
"The Council decides to intensify the crackdown on Dark Guilds"
It seemed like an official article, but it didn't concern Rhode much — he'd asked indirectly, and Fairy Tail really wasn't a Dark Guild.
"Fairy Tail Mage obliterates Bandit Mountain Bandits"
The title was quite normal, but the content mentioned something like 'The bandits were particularly vicious, and the battle was fierce, causing the pine forest on the mountainside to burn to ashes.'
Laki said this was last week's magazine, and Rhode couldn't be bothered to guess who was responsible.
Upon flipping past the news section, Rhode finally saw the surprise Laki mentioned.
"This... this... isn't this..."
Isn't this Mira? That striking white hair was styled just like now, with bangs tied up and combed to the top of her head.
Her smile was somewhat different from what he'd seen, a bit more alluring than usual.
The focus was on Mira wearing a sea-blue swimsuit in the photo, naturally standing on a beach, with one hand brushing her hair back.
The fabric on her upper body was sparse; Rhode couldn't tell if it was an undergarment type.
Even when he tried to shift his gaze from the alluring spot, he was drawn to her smooth shoulders and exquisite collarbone.
The lower body was in a high-slit long skirt, or essentially a large piece of cloth loosely tied at the waist and hip, freely flaunting a waistline that would make many girls envious.
Mira's right leg was completely covered by the skirt, while her left leg was exposed through the slit.
—— Rhode discovered for the first time that Mira's emblem was white and printed on the side of her left thigh.
"Isn't she beautiful? Are you stunned?"
"Uh... huh?" Rhode initially nodded instinctively, then felt it was wrong and shook his head in denial.
But it still felt wrong; saying Mira isn't beautiful was honestly too hypocritical.
"Really?" Laki seemed regretful,
"I have over a year's worth of Weekly Sorashara, with more than twenty featuring Sister Mira's photoshoot... Doesn't Rhode really want to take a look?"
"No..." Embarrassment prompted Rhode to say no, but he felt he'd regret it if he refused.
He had a conflicted expression: "I just want to better understand the situation here, so I thought of borrowing the magazines to read. With you asking like this, it feels strange whether I borrow or not!"
"Hahaha..." Laki couldn't hold back her laughter, clutching her waist with one hand and tapping the counter with the other, "Just like Kana said, Rhode's reaction is too funny!"
He wasn't like Natsu, completely clueless, nor like the bold-faced pervy uncles, Macao and Wakaba.
Only people like Rhode, who understood when needed but were shy, were entertaining to tease.
"Kana..." Rhode remembered that drunk 'bad woman'...
Though Mira said she was a good person, Rhode thought of jotting her name down in a little book.
Laki laughed for a while, stopping only when Rhode considered escaping:
"Sister Mira started receiving invitations to be a special model for Sorashara last year, and her first photoshoot was a big hit."
"Sister Mira's been on magazine covers more than they have." Laki pointed to the boy band on the cover,
"By now, she's probably the best cover girl among all the mages in Fiore, and our guild's signature model."
So she's the poster girl...
Rhode felt he finally understood Mira's role: "Mira is really impressive."
Fairy Tail indeed had impressive talent, with formidable mages like those S-Class mages, and others like Mira excelling in different fields.
It seemed one of the reasons Fairy Tail was one of the most famous guilds was not just because of their troublemaking prowess.
...
Even though he got teased a bit, Rhode still managed to borrow the magazine.
The Weekly Sorashara was priced at 300J each.
About the cost of two of the cheapest beers. With a weekly issue, Rhode could afford to buy it.
However, buying previous issues was slightly inconvenient; better to borrow from others now and buy future ones himself.
Laki had agreed to bring it over tomorrow, saying that there was no point in letting them sit around, so she might as well free up space for more collectibles in her words.
She seemed to have some resentment toward that magazine.
Because Sorashara claimed to introduce the latest premium magic items, yet she never saw any of her favorite instruments mentioned in it.
"Yeah, it's too much, it's practically false advertising." Considering she lent him the magazine, Rhode decided to agree.
"Right, false advertising." Getting Rhode's 'support,' Laki was convinced it was the publisher's fault, clenching her fist,
"I'm going to the feedback section of this week's magazine to denounce them!"
Watching her serious demeanor, Rhode felt he might have misspoken:
"Um... maybe you should be more firm?"
"Firm?" Laki pondered seriously, nodding heavily, "Right, firm, to make them understand my stance!"
Rhode: ...
Did I say the wrong thing again?
-----------------
"Well, I just got invited casually and tried it out, after which it felt hard to turn them down."
Mira herself didn't have much interest in modeling but wasn't particularly opposed either.
After all, last year, she and Elfman lost their younger sister, which left them immersed in grief for quite a long time.
They even struggled to take on any mage work.
Had it not been for the income from the photoshoots and some savings from before, the siblings might have ended up in debt like Rhode.
So now, even if they didn't need the income, Mira didn't want to refuse the magazine's invitations.
"Putting that aside, how's your training going, Rhode?"
"It's alright, feels like I'll be able to try summoning a new wild creature in a few days."
"Wild creature?"
Rhode nodded: "Yeah, that's what I call my summoned creatures in general."
Poro counts as a wild creature, right? More or less the same anyway.
"Shouldn't you find someone to try real combat?"
"Real combat? With whom?"
"Well..." Mira tapped her chin with her finger,
"You know there are many battle enthusiasts in the guild, just pick one randomly for the first time, maybe the one you find the most annoying."
Judging from Mira's cunning nature, Rhode suspected she was trying to stir up trouble.
Nonetheless, practicing alone wouldn't work long-term, he pointed at a handsome man in the tavern,
"The one who stands out the most is, of course, him! Loki!"
"Huh?" Nearby, Loki, who'd just been fed a drink by a beautiful woman, looked up confused.