"Even if you say that…"
Kabe held up the drawing with both hands. The "design" was still at kindergarten doodle level, and after hesitating several times, he could only nod helplessly.
"Fine, we will go with what they want. I just hope whoever you find can understand such high level blueprints so my new house will at least look like a house in the end."
Across the table, Gray and Natsu tilted their heads up and sneakily glanced at the so called blueprint.
In the end, both of them stared blankly at each other, seeing the same confusion, shock, and a faint trace of sympathy for Kabe in each other's eyes.
Laki snatched the drawing out of his hands without a care and patted her own chest, promising boldly:
"You not understanding is fine. As long as the foreman understands it, it will be fine." "You? Foreman?"
Kabe instantly leaned back in a tactical dodge, his heart even more uneasy.
"What, you do not trust me? Do not forget I have Wood Release that you taught me. A mere house is nothing. I just put my hands together, clap, and in a ring I can raise an entire forest of homes.
"At worst, I just need to hire some people afterward to carve and polish the details."
Laki brought her hands together in a gesture and spoke with full confidence.
At that, Kabe instantly regretted everything.
Back then, when he saw Laki using her Wood Modeling Magic, he thought it looked a lot like the Wood Release from "the neighboring studio" next door.
So purely out of mischief, he had given her a bunch of ideas on how to develop that magic.
He had wanted to train her into Fairy Tail's very own Senju Hashirama.
Reality, however, was that with Laki's somewhat lacking magic reserves, becoming a Hashirama was a bit too much to ask.
So Kabe had lowered the bar and aimed her at becoming this world's Second Tsuchikage of real estate… while casually pointing out a bright and shiny path to getting rich in the process.
He taught her how to become a proper real estate developer.
What he had never expected was that his random kindness back then would come spinning back as a boomerang this fast and smack him right in the face.
Just as he was hesitating, trying to find an excuse to politely turn down Laki's "kindness," he heard her cheerfully add:
"Thanks to your guidance, Kabe boss, I have made a lot of money over the years building houses for people. Since I now have the honor of building your new home, I do not have much else to offer. So for you, boss, the construction cost is free."
"Deal. Foreman Laki, this project is all yours."
Kabe performed a live demonstration of what it meant to change faces on the spot. He switched to a bright smile in an instant and happily shook Laki's hand to seal the deal.
Laki immediately pulled out a stack of project papers and gave Kabe a quick, rough explanation. Then, right there on the spot, both of them signed and stamped everything, officially locking it in.
Everyone watching was completely dumbfounded.
"Hey, you two are being way too casual about this."
Levy spoke as she snatched away the project plan with the signatures, scanning through it quickly.
Then her eyes landed on the big bold numbers after the "construction cost" line at the bottom, and on that long row of zeros that followed.
Very decisively, Levy changed her tune.
"Of course, it is not that I do not trust your skills, Laki. I just think it would be safer if captain and Erza took a look when they get back."
Come on, a job with a construction price tag of ten million J just got snapped up in an instant.
If she had been in that position, she would not have hesitated either. She would have signed it right away.
Inwardly, Levy was screaming.
"There is no way this mansion will not be outrageously luxurious. And Laki, this girl, just how much side money has she been making behind our backs all these years?!"
Sure enough, no matter which world you live in, real estate is the big money business.
Putting away his copy of the contract, Kabe could not help but sigh in his heart.
Seeing how both Karen and Laki, under his influence, had found their own paths and turned into little rich ladies, while he himself still had to run around doing jobs, he once again remembered that dream buried deep in his heart.
"Speaking of which, I still have that other key for Leo, the Lion. It is about time I use it to deepen things with Lucy a bit and start planning for the future."
Leo: "@#%%"
(Star Spirit swearing)
Natsu had zero interest in houses and construction. After listening to everyone chat for a while, he and Happy simply slipped out.
Taking two instant KOs from Kabe, once last time at the door and once today, had left a knot in his heart. He was already planning a period of closed door training to power up properly.
Gray did not stay much longer either, soon taking a job and heading out.
Since he had no way to join the future "take back Deliora" mission, he might as well go outside and hunt for leads himself.
Who knew, maybe he would stumble right into the jerk who stole Deliora and give him a proper beating.
Once the two of them left, the guild was basically empty.
Seeing that, Makarov simply closed the guild for the day.
With no need to tend bar, Laki decided to drag Kabe out to inspect her favorite plots of land for his future home.
Levy had nothing better to do by herself either, so she tagged along with the two of them.
Over the next three days, Kabe and Laki practically scouted every corner around Magnolia.
Only by picking the best of the best did they finally nail down the location where their new house would be built.
But before construction could actually begin, Makarov sent word that there was news about Deliora.
So Kabe had no choice but to hand all the land purchasing and construction down to Laki, while he himself hurried back to the guild.
"Old man, just tell me straight. The sooner I go, the sooner I get back!"
Seeing how eager he was, Makarov did not waste time talking in circles. He brought Kabe straight over to a table, spread out a map of the Kingdom of Fiore, and pointed at a small island in the southwest.
"Two days ago, the guild master of Lamia Scale, old lady Ooba, sent word. They had three young members leave the guild a year ago. All three of them, coincidentally, are victims from the region Deliora destroyed.
"Since the time they left the guild matches the period when Deliora went missing, Ooba immediately sent people out to track them down.
"In the end, confirmation came in last night. The last place those three appeared was the port city of Hargeon in the southwest. Their goal was to board a ship to head for an island that is rumored to be haunted by a demon, Galuna Island."
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