"Sister Mira, we have to take this mission!" Levy said as she handed over a commission sheet. Team Shadow Gear was finally heading out again.
Because of Jet's injury, they hadn't taken any jobs in a while.
Levy had been picking up small, simple requests with the newcor Tono recently, helping earn a little money. Troy looked about ready to collapse from the stress.
Especially Jet, who now had hospital bills piled up after getting hurt.
Now that his leg had healed, he was more than eager to jump back into work and make so cash.
"Let take a look," Mira said, scanning the form. It was a case involving theft at a library.
"It's not dangerous, but it won't be easy either. The incident happened two weeks ago. Are you sure you want to take this one?"
"Since it's related to books, I really want to try," Levy said brightly. "And the pay isn't bad either."
"No problem! Just leave it to this ti!" Jet declared with full confidence.
Troy imdiately poured cold water over him. "You said the exact sa thing last ti... and ended up in the hospital."
"Can you not bring that up again?!" Jet said, frantically waving his arms. "This ti it's just catching a thief! No one can outrun !"
"You idiot, that's not the point," Troy said dryly. "This ti, it's more important to actually find them, not chase them."
"Stop arguing, both of you..." Levy sighed and turned pleadingly to Mira. "Please, Sister Mira. If we don't take jobs, we're going to have trouble paying rent again soon."
"Alright then. Rhodes?"
"One second," Rhodes said, scribbling a few quick notes into the ledger before pulling out two forms and handing them over.
Mira looked everything over and passed them along with the commission sheet to Levy. "Here's the client's notes on the case. Read them carefully on the way. Good luck."
"Got it~" Levy chirped, but she didn't leave right away. Instead, she stared at Rhodes and Mira behind the counter.
"Is sothing wrong?" Mira asked. "Do you have more questions?"
Rhodes also asked, "Are you thinking of asking for backup? But just so you know, adding one more person would split the reward a little thin."
He had already glanced at the commission details. The reward was just 100,000 Jewels. While teaming up with Levy and the others sounded fun, splitting that amount would be a little... low.
Rhodes suddenly realized he might be getting a little arrogant. After taking on two high-difficulty jobs, he was already starting to look down on rewards under 25,000 J.
Maybe it was ti to adjust his mindset.
"No, that's not it," Levy waved her hands quickly. She glanced at Mira, her voice a little teasing. "I just feel like you two have such good chemistry. Hey, Sister Mira, did sothing happen while we weren't around?"
Being asked so directly again, Mira managed to keep a straight face this ti. "No, nothing. Maybe Rhodes just got better at the work."
Levy turned to Rhodes suspiciously. "Is that really it?"
Rhodes smiled warmly. "Really. Nothing happened."
"Strange..." Levy muttered as she left, clearly not believing a word of it.
After finishing up the paperwork, Rhodes checked the clock. "It's about ti. I'm heading to the backyard."
Mira nodded, "Mhm."
But Rhodes didn't move.
"I said I'm going to the backyard," he repeated.
"Mhm..." Mira t his eyes, and when she did, she saw that full, teasing smile shining in them.
She flushed slightly and snapped, "Just go already!"
Laughing, Rhodes slipped off toward the backyard.
After warming up, doing push-ups, hanging crunches, and punching the sandbag for a while, Rhodes suddenly stopped and summoned Warm.
"Woo~" Warm looked up at him with wide, expectant eyes.
'Was it finally ti for a big al?'
Rhodes squatted down, gently patting Warm's fluffy head, and asked thoughtfully, "Hey... tell honestly, have I gotten stupid and childish lately?"
"Woo?" Warm tilted his head, blinking in confusion. Was that even a question? In Warm's opinion, the better question was whether he was hungry.
"You only ever think about food," Rhodes said, sighing. He pulled out a thick bill and set it on Warm's head. "Here. Eat whatever you like."
Warm lit up with excitent and imdiately scrambled away, afraid Rhodes would change his mind.
In no ti at all, the bill was delivered into Mira's hands.
"He gave this to you?" Mira asked with a small smile.
"Wooo~" Warm nodded, struggling a little under the weight of the money.
"Such a waste," Mira muttered to herself, though there was a fondness in her voice. She rubbed Warm's head gently. "How about I ask Mr. Cook to make you sothing really special?"
"Wooo~!" Worm was so happy he rolled right off the counter.
He popped back up imdiately, bouncing excitedly again. Thanks to his soft, cushiony body, he didn't feel a thing.
Later at lunch, Mira handed the money back to Rhodes.
"Here. Take it."
"But that's the al money I gave to Warm..." Rhodes said, looking confused.
"I treated him to a al already," Mira said. "We didn't need that much."
At a regular restaurant, four or five thousand Jewels were enough to feed two or three people really well. Ten thousand was definitely over the top.
"Oh..." Rhodes scratched his head, thinking for a mont. "Then... how about I treat you to dinner tonight?"
"No," Mira replied quickly, noticing the little flash of disappointnt on his face. She looked away and added, "Maybe in a few days."
If she agreed now, it would feel like she was stealing Warm's al money. She figured she'd just spoil Warm with extra treats for a few days instead.
"Alright." Rhodes was still smiling, his mood completely lifted. Then he turned his head to look at two very obvious eavesdroppers nearby. "Seriously, why do you two have more expressions than us, the people actually talking?"
The two who had been quietly eating their staff als together were, of course, Laki and Sally, who were both on duty today.
Since morning, they had been whispering nonstop, and by lunchti, they were practically communicating through glances alone.
Laki shrugged. "How is that our fault? We really thought Sister Mira was finally going to reject you."
"Exactly," Sally chid in with a grin.
"And you two have been acting strange since this morning," Laki said, pointing his chopsticks at them. "It's like you're turning into Alzack and Bisca."
"Exactly," Sally chid in.
Lately, Alzack and Bisca had been glued together—taking on missions as a team, sitting at the sa table for als, blushing whenever they exchanged a few words, and blushing even harder whenever soone teased them about how close they were.
But despite all that, neither of them had confessed yet. Watching them was enough to make the entire guild want to tear their hair out from secondhand anxiety.
And now Rhodes and Mira seed to be headed down the sa road.
Rhodes glanced at Mira, then shot back, "We're different from them."
Laki imdiately opened his mouth to ask what exactly was different, but before he could get a word out—
Bang!
The guild doors swung open with a loud crash.
"We're back!" Natsu shouted.
"Aye, we're back!" Happy chid in.
Mira set down her bowl and chopsticks, smiling warmly. "Welco back, Natsu, Happy. And don't kick the door."
"Yeah, yeah," Natsu brushed her off hurriedly. "Mira, help find our next job!"
"Alright..." Mira was just about to stand up when Rhodes lightly pressed her shoulders down, guiding her back into her seat.
"Natsu, let her finish eating first," Rhodes said calmly. "She's been busy all morning."
Happy peeked out from behind Natsu's shoulder and whispered mischievously, "There's a connection here... Aye~"
Rhodes ignored him completely and asked, "You just got back. Why are you rushing to take another mission already?"
"Because we're broke!" Natsu said, practically shouting. "We have to get a job today!"
"Aye!" Happy added, waving his little arms. "It's all Natsu's fault. He accidentally set the rchant ship's mast on fire while trying to break the ice. So, uh, we didn't get paid."
"If we don't work soon," Happy said pitifully, "we'll have to catch fish from the glaciers just to survive."
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