"I thought I was going to fall to my death."
Rhode hugged her tightly, probably out of fear.
"And yet you still acted recklessly."
Mira didn't mind his minor actions at all, just slowly descended with him.
"Because I do get angry sometimes." Rhode reluctantly let go of her and stood firm once he felt the ground under his feet.
The soft and fragrant feeling was unforgettable,
Mira reverted to her usual self, her clothes changing back to a purple dress.
She hadn't heard what that person said, but anything that could make Rhode angry must have been excessive, she'd ask Lucy afterward.
The rain had stopped, but both their hair and clothes were still soaking wet.
Mira pointed at the large chimney Rhode had created: "What do we do about this?"
"Give me a few minutes, I'll recover some magic power and then return it, as for the store's losses... we'll just have to compensate them."
Rhode thought he'd have to cover the costs first, and get it back from the Ghosts later.
After all, the building itself wasn't worth much money, tens of thousands could be enough to cover, hopefully, no valuable merchandise inside was damaged.
Rhode looked at Sol, who had landed before him, and was lost in thought:
Does this guy really have an S-Class?
When analyzing combat power, he always used his own S-Class as the standard.
That's why just now, as soon as there was an opportunity for an attack, he didn't dare to hold back.
After a whole day and night of traveling arduously, how could he afford to be careless?
But this guy doesn't seem quite up to par with his own S-Class mages? It felt like if he hadn't stepped in, Mira could have taken on two of him.
Thinking back, there didn't seem any need to unleash so many moves? Although it was quite enjoyable to fight.
Lucy ran over from around the enormous chimney: "Miss Mira, Mr. Rhode! Are you alright?"
Mira said: "We're fine. Are you hurt, Lucy?"
"I'm fine." Lucy covered her butt, "Except that giant tree monster suddenly disappeared, and I fell."
The scene was imaginable.
Rhode raised a hand: "Sorry, my magic power was exhausted just now."
"It's okay, it's okay, I heard from Erza that you rushed back overnight, and..."
Lucy bit her lip, guilt washing over her face, "I'm the one who should apologize. I may have caused trouble for everyone this time."
Mira let go of Rhode and gently patted Lucy on the back, her own body more soaked: "It was those Ghost people provoking us, how can it be your fault?"
"No, the guild being destroyed and Reby being attacked were all because of me." Lucy hung her head low, water dripping from strands of hair over her forehead, "Actually, my full name is Lucy Heartfilia..."
"Heartfilia..." Rhode had heard of this surname before, it represented the foremost financial group of the Fiore Kingdom, almost wealthy enough to challenge a nation.
No wonder Lucy completely omitted mentioning her surname when registering... a young heiress running away from home, and then the father sending people to capture her scenario?
Thinking about it, Lucy might be the country's biggest heiress after the princess, now just missing a penniless young man she would fall madly in love with.
Rhode wasn't tempted at all, he already felt content with having the country's most beautiful, ordinary young heiress.
Mira was also shocked: "You mean the Heartfilia of the Heartfilia family business?"
"Yes." Lucy nodded with difficulty.
From what Jubia and Sol had said, Lucy had already figured it out, it was probably her father who commissioned the Ghosts to bring her back.
Only she didn't know why the Ghosts first destroyed the guild and injured Reby and the others.
Maybe to 'reasonably' take their anger out while on a mission, or to lure them away.
In any case, Lucy had already concluded that she had brought the guild, and Reby's team, trouble.
"It's all my fault, if I hadn't... if I hadn't joined the guild..." Lucy said as she clutched at her chest.
She felt a sharp pain in her heart, this place was clearly much warmer than her home, yet she had ruined it.
"It's not like that, Lucy." Mira wrapped her arms around Lucy.
"When Ghost decided to attack our guild, it was no longer just your problem."
Mira held Lucy's right hand, stroking the pink emblem on the back of her hand, "Or rather, the moment you stamped the guild emblem, it was no longer just your problem."
"Miss Mira?" Tears welled up in Lucy's eyes.
Mira looked into her eyes: "One person's tears are everyone's tears, that's what our President always says, so rely on us, don't forget, we are Fairy Tail."
"Miss Mira! Boo hoo..." Lucy cried in Mira's arms.
Mira gently patted her back.
A Crown of Insight's previous duration had ended, and Rhode had recovered a lot of magic power. He summoned a golem and renewed one for himself and Mira.
Then he pressed his hands on the big chimney, his hands turned into dragon claws, and the towering chimney gradually lowered, merging back into the ground.
Rhode tried his best to restore the ground to its original state and wrote a few notes, placing them in the damaged shops to discuss compensation later.
After he finished everything, Lucy had calmed down a bit.
Rhode suggested, "Let's go take a bath and change clothes first."
Lucy's magic power was a bit weak now, wearing wet clothes for long could easily make her sick.
Besides, she was like our crystal now, Ghosts might send someone at any time to raid, he and Mira really couldn't leave easily.
Getting distracted a second time wasn't an option.
However, the safest place was definitely still among everyone, Rhode decided that after he and Mira regained some strength and spirit, he'd take Lucy to Og City to meet up with everyone.
It was Rhode's first time in Lucy's home, the living room was neatly organized, the pink blanket was laid perfectly, looking very cozy.
The dressing table held many bottles and jars, a closer look showed some were the same brands that Mira used.
Additionally, she had a dedicated writing desk with a few recent magazines and partly written sheets of paper.
The bookshelf housed many books, quite a few being well-known novels.
Aside from this, Rhode noticed a pink dumbbell in the corner of the room, the wallpaper nearby had a few scratch marks looking like a cat's claws.
"Lucy works out?" Rhode learned something new and peculiar about the newcomer, "Seems she's quite a dedicated person."
No one answered him, as Mira and Lucy were in the bathroom taking a bath, leaving only him and two captives in the room.
Sol was unrecognizable, he was swollen like a balloon, with more fractures than he could count, judging by the blood in his mouth, he likely had serious internal injuries, too.
Jubia seemed to have been beaten badly by Mira as well, her face was bruised and swollen, and her clothes were in tatters.
Mira had said it was because she needed to counter Jubia's ability to transform into flowing water, she used a lot of dark magic, hitting harder than normal.
Their injuries were not something they could quickly recover from, but Rhode still tied them up properly with rope, unfortunately, with no demon sealing stone at hand.
Rhode himself was also soaked, so he sat on the chair waiting, if it were Natsu, he might have just collapsed on the bed.
Mira's voice came from the bathroom: "Rhode, I forgot to bring my clothes in, can you help me bring them in here?"
Followed by Lucy's shocked shout: "No way~!"
Mira then said: "Are we supposed to walk out naked and change?"
Lucy firmly rejected: "That's even more of a no!"
"Oh~ I think it's fine, Lucy's so picky."
"Absolutely not!" Lucy exclaimed, "You're his girlfriend so, of course, you think it's fine!"
"So... does that mean Lucy wants to be Rhode's girlfriend too?"
"No, not at all!"
Rhode laughed outside, it seemed Mira had properly consoled Lucy.
As for the last remark, it was just a joke.
If Lucy really agreed to it, she'd probably meet a tragic end in the street by tomorrow.
If Mr. Rhode got lucky, he might keep his life, but if not, he'd end up preserved in formaldehyde forever with Mira.