She didn't know how to express it, so she and Rhode just nestled together, unable to stop sighing.
"Mm." Rhode replied simply.
He was feeling a bit sleepy.
Having pulled an all-nighter yesterday and staying constantly vigilant today, now that he finally relaxed and had a full meal, a wave of drowsiness washed over him.
He drowsily leaned against Mira, his eyelids growing heavy, his body gradually relaxing, his head finding the most comfortable spot to rest, and his breathing gradually becoming steady.
Mira gently held him, a gentle smile on her face.
The next morning.
"Did you ambush me yesterday?"
"No."
"Did you secretly use sleep magic on me?"
"No."
"Did you do anything while I was asleep?"
"Yes." Mira said with a bright smile, "I secretly put on really nice makeup and changed into clothes you've never seen and walked around in front of you."
"Sigh..." Rhode sighed.
Mira looked at him, "Why do you look so disappointed, regret sleeping too early?"
"No, it's just that since you said it that way, you must be lying to me." Rhode took a deep breath, "Time to get up."
Mira hit him on the chest, saying, "Pervert, what's there to smell."
The two got up to wash up.
As if to get back at Mira, Rhode stared at her without any intention to look away as she changed out of her nightgown.
Mira held his gaze for a while, then simply changed her clothes generously, since she was wearing specialized sleepwear underneath, she could treat it as showing him a swimsuit.
If you like watching, just watch. Whoever feels uncomfortable will know.
He insists on preparing this and that before he's willing to get married!
After receiving the reward and leaving the village, Rhode still looked at Mira with a resentful gaze.
Mira just chuckled secretly.
After enough teasing, she'd lean against Rhode, whisper in his ear, steal a kiss on his cheek, rest his head on her lap or chest...
All sorts of intimate little gestures until he had no temper left.
Rhode gazed up at the sky, thinking he was finished, completely fallen for this wicked woman.
He reached back and pinched her, only satisfied when he saw her surprised eyes and blushing cheeks.
The price was losing the pillow.
No worry, there will be plenty more in the future.
Rhode started talking about the next plan:
"Let's go to town first, take these guys there, confirm Ailiger's whereabouts, and then catch him."
Now over forty people were being carried by all sorts of wild monsters, following behind the River Crab they were riding.
More than twenty wild monsters lined up in a mighty row.
Mira said, "We still need to persuade the President when we go back."
Rhode showed a fox-like smile, "No need. We'll head back later. The President will leave for a routine meeting by noon at the latest, otherwise, he'll be late."
"Routine meeting?" Mira calculated the date. She didn't pay attention when they left, only realizing now that it's time for the routine meeting.
"Hehe... When we go back, we can just leave things to Erza, or hand it over to Macao and Wakaba."
Rhode had mentioned many times about dodging the routine meeting, but this was the only time he actually executed it with a plan.
Mira also laughed, this guy... the President, good luck.
She continued, "If Erza's around, it's fine. If not, Macao and Wakaba probably won't like handling this sort of thing either."
"It's okay, I can bribe them." Rhode was confident, "I have a few Blue Pegasus invitation cards. They definitely won't refuse."
"Oh~ Blue, Pegasus... invitation cards." Mira gently hugged Rhode's waist, pressing her face against his back.
If it were another girl, this could be considered an intimate act or playful teasing, but this was Mira.
This could easily turn into a powerful suplex or a ruthless hug-of-death.
"Um... The invitations were given to me by President Bob when I attended a routine meeting last time."
Rhode placed his hand on hers, feeling the smoothness and slender fingers, wishing they weren't so tense.
Mira stayed silent, waiting for him to speak.
"I had originally planned to tell you as soon as we got back, and either give them away or sell them, but somehow got distracted and forgot until now."
Rhode felt the arms around him relax a little and quickly turned slightly to hug her back, "I never intended to go, really. Now using them to bribe those two old guys is just perfect."
Mira thought for a moment and said, "Don't give it to them."
"Hm?"
"Let's keep them for us two to use instead."
Rhode raised a hand, "I, Rhode, swear to the heavens never to set foot in Blue Pegasus. If I do..."
"What are you thinking!" Mira swatted away Rhode's hand, cutting off his vow, and gave him a playful eye-roll.
Then she couldn't help but laugh, "What I meant was, we should go together, and then... specifically ask Jenny to serve us tea and wine, and chat with us, keep us entertained..."
Imagining Jenny's reluctant face, Mira couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"You're such a demon." Rhode laughed too, "I like it."
A long line of wild monsters entered the town, causing a bit of commotion. But seeing their orderly behavior, there wasn't much fear.
This actually made it convenient for Rhode since he didn't need to ask where the security team was; they came to him instead.
Rhode explained things clearly right from the start, to avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings:
"We're mages from Fairy Tail, and those people behind us are members of the Dark Guild Black Unicorn. We captured them yesterday. These beasts are my summoned beasts, so there's no need to worry."
"Uh, yeah, right." The security captain, who should be interrogating them, ended up looking like the one being interrogated.
"Can you take these guys into custody?"
"Well, we need to check if we have enough Demon Sealing Stone handcuffs in stock. If not, we'll have to ask the Advisory Council branch for help."
The security captain had never seen so many dark guild mages gathered together in his life, even though none of them were awake, he was still a bit panicked.
Rhode noticed an interesting piece of information: "Is the Advisory Council back in operation?"
The security captain said, "Although not fully restored, the branch is functioning in some capacities without issues."
Rhode nodded, "Then we'll leave it to you. Also, there's one more thing I'd like to ask."
"Go ahead, please."
"About the murder case near Lavender Village half a month ago, I've heard it was the doing of a mage. We now have a suspect in mind and would like to gather more information to confirm."
"No problem!" The security captain responded readily, eager for the case to be solved quickly.
With mages involved, they couldn't handle it themselves, and the Advisory Council was clearly occupied, so having enthusiastic mages take care of it was a great relief.
It eased the fears of the local residents too.
Rhode helped escort the Black Unicorn members to jail, but, as expected, the town didn't have enough Demon Sealing Stones.
However, Mira agreed to stay a bit longer to extend the duration of the sleep magic as much as possible.
The captain expressed his thanks and soon brought over the relevant case files.
Rhode quickly browsed through them.
According to expert analysis, the five victims had two types of wounds on their bodies.
One was caused by wind magic, likely a highly cutting type of magic like a Wind Blade.
The other was caused by sharp weapons. Based on the shape of the wounds, it was likely a scythe-type weapon.
Moreover, the perpetrator did not hesitate when striking, executing very clean moves.
With this information, it's almost certain that Ailiger was responsible.
A destructive wind magic combined with a scythe weapon and the brutal, decisive manner of killing — Ailiger was the most notorious person with these traits.
It's just unknown who hired him for the murder. It'll be a test of Ailiger's professional ethics to see if he's willing to talk.