Chapter 553: Two Quotas
"Here is the list of participants for this year’s S-Class Mage Promotion Exam."
Master Makarov’s voice rang out across the guild hall as he read the names aloud, his eyes sweeping across the young faces gathered before him.
These were the future of Fairy Tail, every one of them his pride.
"Natsu Dragneel."
"Gray Fullbuster."
"Juvia Lockser."
"Elfman Strauss."
"Cana Alberona."
"Fried Justine."
"Levy McGarden."
"Mest Gryder."
"And... Rhodes!"
As their names were called, the guild reacted in a wave of emotions.
Natsu, Gray, and Elfman immediately lit up with fighting spirit, their eyes gleaming with determination. This was their chance, to prove themselves, to rise higher.
Fried remained composed, his thoughts focused on upholding Laxus’s legacy. He would not waste this opportunity.
Mest, on the other hand, wore a thoughtful, almost guarded look. His mind wasn’t just on the exam, it was on the mission he’d secretly sworn to complete.
Levy blinked in disbelief.
She hadn’t expected her name to be called. Unlike Jet and Droy, who had been pushing themselves nonstop lately, she’d held back.She lacked confidence. She always had.
Yet here she was, recognized by the Master himself. Her hands trembled slightly.
Juvia was equally surprised.
Even now, she still felt like an outsider at times. She had once fought against Fairy Tail, and that shadow hadn’t fully lifted from her heart.She never imagined she’d be trusted with something as important as the S-Class Exam.
Cana took the announcement in stride.
Her heart wasn’t as tied to becoming an S-Class Mage as it had been in the past. Pass or fail, it didn’t matter much.
She just wanted to use the experience as a way to connect with her family.
She smiled faintly, thinking, ’Guess this counts as a parent-child activity, huh?’
Rhodes, of course, wasn’t surprised in the slightest.
If anything, he had expected it.
In fact, the moment Master Makarov hadn’t roped him into helping design this year’s exam...That was already a sign.
For someone as famously lazy as the Master, if he wasn’t putting Rhodes to work, that could only mean one thing: Rhodes was participating.
Still, that wasn’t exactly good news for everyone else.
The mood among the candidates shifted, some buzzing with anticipation, others breaking into a cold sweat.
Mest’s lips even curled into a strange smile.
A Wizard Saint candidate being summoned to compete in the S-Class Exam?
Clearly, there was more to this test than met the eye.
Tenrou Island... it must be special. And this whole "exam" might just be a cover, to show select members the guild’s deepest secrets.
A perfect moment to gather intel.
’This is it,’ Mest thought. ’The opportunity I’ve been waiting for.’
Lucy, standing nearby, noticed Mest’s unsettling grin and frowned.
Something about it just felt... off.
Before she could dwell on it too long, Mest suddenly leaned forward and bit the corner of a wooden table.
"I wonder... what does a table taste like?" he muttered around a mouthful of splinters. "I really wanna know..."
"HEY—!!" Lucy recoiled in disbelief.
’This guy is seriously weird,’ she concluded.
This realization made Lucy feel slightly more at ease.
There were a lot of weirdos in Fairy Tail, especially the ones who came looking for her. And among the weirdos, the ones attracted to her always seemed to be... weirder than average.
She had no idea what kind of weirdo magnet aura she possessed.
"Ahh..." Alzack groaned, scratching his head in frustration. "Didn’t make the cut again this year..."
"It’s okay, Alzack."
Bisca, unusually bold, leaned in close and offered comforting words in front of everyone.
"Just try harder next time."
Her gentle encouragement did the trick, Alzack’s face flushed bright red.
Sure, he wasn’t going to Tenrou Island, but he had Bisca.
That was more than he could say for Jet and Droy, who were still waving their arms and making loud gestures, celebrating for Levy.
Completely unaware of the awkward, almost worried look on Levy’s face.
Meanwhile, Gajeel was only now fully grasping what was happening.
He had his suspicions about why he wasn’t selected, but... it still stung.
Then Panther Lily opened his mouth to offer a few words of comfort
Which only made things worse.
’What the hell?!’ Gajeel grumbled inwardly.
’Since when does the great me need a pep talk from a flying cat?!’
As the noise finally began to settle, Mira stepped forward with her usual calm smile.
"Most of the rules for the exam are the same as previous years. First, you’ll need to choose a partner from the guild, though of course, your partner can’t be one of us."
By "us," she meant the S-Class mages and exam proctors.
Erza followed up immediately. "As tradition dictates, I’ll be one of the obstacles you’ll face during the test. Mira and Gildarts will also be participating as examiners."
Mira and Gildarts both waved cheerfully at the guild members below the stage.
"Mira and Gildarts too?!"
"And Rhodes is one of the candidates?!"
"Is this year’s exam, like... hell-mode difficulty?!"
Murmurs of unease spread through the crowd like wildfire.
Still, there was always one idiot who didn’t get the memo.
"An S-Class Exam should be like this! I’M FIRED UP!!" Natsu, naturally.
Makarov raised a hand to regain attention, then held up two fingers.
"Due to the unusually high number of participants this year, we’ll be making a small change, a maximum of two participants may be promoted to S-Class this time."
"Two?!" the crowd gasped.
And immediately, Rhodes felt several dozen pairs of eyes lock onto him.
"The exam will begin in one week," Makarov announced. "The contents will not be revealed until then."
"You’ve all been working hard lately," he added, glancing across the guild with pride. "So use this week to recover and prepare yourselves. In seven days, all examinees and their chosen partners will meet at Hargeon port."
"And that’s the end of the meeting!"
As expected of Makarov, he didn’t bother with any extra speeches, just the essentials.
Once everything had been said, the old man turned and walked off without delay.
Those who weren’t selected reacted in all kinds of ways.
Some chatted excitedly about who might make it to S-Class this year.
Some sighed in disappointment, already turning toward the mission board.
And some were just relieved it was all over, finally free from the frenzy of recent days.
Erza followed after Makarov without saying much, there were still matters that required discussion.
Gildarts flashed a thumbs-up at his daughter, and Mira waved sweetly at her husband and her brother before quietly exiting as well.
Cana, meanwhile, looked anything but encouraged. She awkwardly took a long sip from her bottle and muttered under her breath:
"Tch... What’s there to cheer for anyway... So annoying..."
Elfman didn’t feel very encouraged by the announcement.
Even though the number of promotion slots had increased to two, it didn’t make the exam any easier.
In fact, it probably made things worse.
Even with his sister serving as one of the examiners, Elfman didn’t think he’d get any sort of advantage. If anything, Mira might go even harder on him.
And this year’s list of participants was stacked with strong opponents.
"Alright, Wendy," said Rhodes, glancing over at his pint-sized partner. "Let’s skip extreme training this week. We’ll ease off and just focus on staying in peak condition."
"Mm! I’ll do my best!" Wendy nodded earnestly.
From the side, Lucy crossed her arms and muttered to herself.
"Mr. Rhodes is so sneaky... he actually arranged to partner with Wendy ahead of time."
To her, Wendy was insanely strong. Sure, she might not have the raw firepower of Natsu or Gajeel, but she was still a Dragon Slayer, and having a partner who could both fight and heal?
That was a dream combo.
"That’s called foresight," Rhodes said casually, then raised an eyebrow. "Speaking of which... why didn’t you go talk to Mest?"
"I was going to!" Lucy huffed. "But he vanished before I could even say a word!"
She sighed. "One minute he was biting the corner of a table, and the next he was chomping on a chair leg... If I didn’t know better, I’d think he was a Wood Dragon Slayer or something."
Honestly, she wasn’t sure how strong he really was.
But in terms of unpredictability, Mest was up there with a certain flame-brained Dragon Slayer.
She’d been under so much pressure these past few days, constantly worrying about whether she’d hold Mest back during the exam.
Gray offered some reassurance. "Don’t worry. Mest is really strong. He participated in last year’s S-Class Exam too. He’s got more experience than the rest of us."
"Last year?" Lucy tilted her head. "Then... who was his partner back then?"
Gray paused.
"Last year was...uh..."
He frowned, visibly struggling to remember.
Rhodes casually offered, "It was Wang Chanzi."
Gray immediately snapped his fingers. "Right! Wang! That guy doesn’t usually stand out much, so I forgot."
"Ah." Lucy blinked. "I only ever said hello to him once. He just said ’hello’ back and then... nothing. He felt impossible to talk to."
Wendy nodded in agreement, her voice small. "Same here..."
Rhodes shrugged. "That’s already more than most people get. He doesn’t say more than ten sentences a week."
He added with a slight grin, "Joey usually orders food for him."
Lucy and Wendy: "..."
Well. That explained a lot.
"Oh, right, have you all picked your partners yet?" Lucy asked. "Who’s Natsu pairing up with?"
"Natsu?" Rhodes echoed.
"He’s already gone," Gray said, jerking his thumb toward the guild doors. "He picked Happy. Said he’s gonna train hard this week and beat everyone to the ground."
"That sounds exactly like him," Lucy muttered, half exasperated, half amused.
She turned her gaze back to Gray. "What about you?"
Gray gave her a puzzled look.
"You don’t know?"