Tonight, Rhode is all alone in his room, hugging a pillow to sleep.
Although he felt he could manage, Mira insisted that he should get some rest.
Feeling lonely, empty, and cold, but the room was almost too crowded for Warm, so he couldn't call it out for a chat.
Rhode was so bored that he considered plucking some of Warm's fur to make a genuine Poro pillow.
Tossing and turning, unable to sleep, Rhode turned on the bedside lamp and took out a book to read.
It was a book he borrowed from the guild library, one from the 'Essential Reading List for Crash Course in Magic Knowledge.'
In pursuit of learning powerful, cool, and practical Super Magic, Rhode had read many hefty tomes.
Many of these books were passed down from two or three hundred years ago, predating the guild's history.
For this reason, Rhode found reading them slightly challenging.
Mainly because the language and words had undergone significant changes over the two to three centuries, with many characters becoming obscure and words falling out of use decades ago.
The good news was that these books often featured annotations, clearly written and straightforward, providing Rhode with considerable convenience, saving him the trouble of flipping through ancient dictionaries.
Rhode asked Makarov, who replied that the only person likely to do such a thing was the second-generation president, Precht, who loved knowledge and magic research.
Unfortunately, judging by the borrowing records from the past two years, these books had not been touched in a long time, and very few people noticed President Precht's efforts.
So when Rhode brought these books to ask him, Makarov was quite pleased.
After all, he had grown up under Precht's personal care and guidance. Someone inheriting his knowledge made Makarov very gratified.
The hefty tome turned page by page, the profound magic knowledge gradually making Rhode's mind feel drowsy.
Rhode yawned, turned a page ahead, and placed a bookmark—concerned that his mind might not be clear when he reached the last page, he'd revisit that part tomorrow.
The light went out, and Rhode entered dreamland.
...
The next day, December 8, X784.
The guild was bustling with people, with the number of members returning to the guild almost rivaling that of the Harvest Festival days.
After arriving at the guild in the morning, Mira, Erza, and Kildas were called away by the president and hadn't appeared for half the day.
Lazy Kildas, the big guy, actually showed up quite early today.
This year, like last year, the pre-announcement ceremony was elaborate, only this time it was moved to the small stage, with a curtain specifically drawn up.
As the estimated time approached, the crowd began to gather in that direction.
Natsu, Gray, and Elfman all squeezed to the front.
Gajeel chatted with Li Li, oblivious to the major announcement the president was about to make.
Jubia's eyes were sharply locked on Gray, her body squirming uneasily. Lisana wanted to talk to her but hesitated on how to start.
Lucy glanced around, finally spotting Mest's figure, and as always concerned about others, she worried if Mest could get selected.
If Rhode hadn't known Mest was on his side, he would've beaten the guy up, let alone done so on Mira's behalf, wondering who dared to bully their adorably obtuse Lucy.
Wendy and Carla naturally stood beside Rhode.
Carla initiated a conversation with Rhode: "That exam, I always feel uneasy about it."
"What's wrong? Did you foresee something again?" Rhode's trust in Carla's Divination Magic was limited.
Mainly because she couldn't fully control it.
Sometimes she could precisely predict small events around her, down to who would talk to whom about what, and when a fight would break out.
Other times, she only saw scattered fragments, interpreting them incoherently.
For instance, she saw a table shake and utensils break, predicting an earthquake and telling everyone to be careful.
But it turned out to be just a regular scuffle, upsetting the president, who then turned into a giant, wrecking the table and the utensils...
The key was her particularly pessimistic mindset, seeing any forewarning as an omen of misfortune at first glance.
Carla tried to recall the scene she saw and finally said, "I think I saw Natsu crying."
"..." Natsu crying? Rhode thought this unlikely.
Wendy speculated, "Could it be because he failed the exam?"
"I don't know." Carla felt frustrated; magic beyond control had this downside.
Randomly inserting fragmented scenes without context now and then, not only made it difficult to analyze effective information but also kept her incredibly curious, uneasy even while eating and sleeping.
Rhode sensed the most likely scenario would be Natsu's elimination and the elimination method dealt a severe blow to him.
'If I go easy on Natsu during the exam, would that not hurt his pride even more?'
Rhode looked at Natsu, bouncing up and down in the front row, yelling for the old man to come out quickly, utterly clueless.
Shush...
The curtain drew open, the guild flag hung above, and Makarov stood at the front of the stage, with Erza and Mira on either side, Kildas standing a step behind, unusually displaying a serious expression.
The guild quietened for a moment, and then people started urging the president to hurry.
Makarov gently coughed to signal everyone to be quiet; the old man wasn't one for long speeches. He got straight to the point when he opened his mouth:
"Next, we'll announce the details of this year's S-Class Mage promotion exam!"
"S-Class?" Most people already knew about this, though Gajeel and Li Li were a bit surprised.
Gajeel felt particularly uncomfortable, not because he felt isolated, but because, despite being the one responsible for spying for the president, he didn't catch wind of such crucial guild intel.
"This year's examination location is our guild's Holy Land: Celestial Wolf Island!"
"Celestial Wolf Island!" Many voiced their surprise.
It's said that Celestial Wolf Island is the origin of Fairy Tail, but many had only heard of it and never visited it.
Rumors have it that the island hides guild secrets, that it bears an unknown history.
There are also whispers of guild wealth accumulated over nearly a century being there—allegedly why the guild could continue despite frequent reparations.
Rhode had only read scattered accounts in the library, knowing it was guild territory with special concealment magic around.
Ordinarily, without a Fairy Tail Badge, it would be difficult to find.
What others didn't know was that on this island, unreachable by ordinary people, someone was already resting there.