Chapter 728: Ordinary Play
It was already noon, and since they hadn’t eaten yet, sampling Mermaid Heel’s special dishes seemed like the perfect idea.
To their surprise, after trying them, both Rhodes and Mira found the food absolutely delightful.
As expected of a guild by the sea, they truly excelled at preparing fish.
The two of them enjoyed a lavish seafood feast before casually asking their hosts about interesting places to visit.
"The place you must go is Mermaid Bay!" a cheerful, cat-eared girl suddenly bounded over to greet them. "Mr. Rhodes, Miss Mira, welcome to Mermaid Heel, meow!"
Mira smiled warmly. "Millianna, so you’re here. We thought you had gone out."
"Of course I’m here, meow!" Millianna declared energetically. "The deep-sea fish dish you just ate was made by me! Did you feel the vitality?"
Rhodes blinked in surprise. "So you’re skilled at cooking too?"
Millianna’s face flushed. "I’m only good at preparing fish, meow."
She glanced around curiously. "Didn’t the cats come with you?"
Mira chuckled. "They’re all busy with their own partners. None of them had time to come out and play with us."
Rhodes thought to himself that Mira could also take on a cat form, though she rarely revealed that side to others.
Millianna was a little disappointed when she heard Mira ask, "Is Kagura not here?"
"Kagura-chan went to see Simon," Millianna explained, spreading her hands with a helpless smile. "Those two are always together, constantly watching over each other."
"Well, they are siblings," Risley remarked softly. She remembered how Kagura had been before finding her brother, training all day long, expressionless, never smiling.
Now, though, she occasionally showed a girlish side, her face brightening whenever she was with Simon. Risley felt this was a much healthier change.
"This is your reward," Mélomee appeared, placing a thick stack of banknotes on the table. "Three million Jewels in total. The value of the Magic Convergent Cannon and other magical tools will be assessed in a few days. For now, please accept this advance."
In truth, both the client and Mermaid Heel had underestimated the the gang’s threat. The danger had been far greater than anticipated, and the reward, as a result, felt somewhat low. But since the contract was already decided, there was nothing more to be done, it could only be chalked up to bad luck.
Even so, Araña, Risley, and Beth glanced at the pile of money but didn’t reach for it.
"This mission shouldn’t count as our success," Risley said firmly.
"That’s right," Beth agreed. "The reward should go to Mr. Rhodes and Miss Mira."
"But this was your mission," Mira replied gently. "We only happened to be passing by. At the very least, you three still worked very hard."
Araña produced the mission sheet, showing how the trio’s names had been crossed out and replaced with Rhodes and Mira’s.
"Our Mermaid Heel mages aren’t so shameless as to claim credit we didn’t earn," she said with a smile.
It wasn’t against guild law for mages from one guild to complete missions accepted by another, provided both the mage and their respective guild masters approved. But in practice, it was rare, guilds were often too competitive for such arrangements.
Fortunately, Fairy Tail and Mermaid Heel had never been hostile toward each other, so there were no problems this time.
"At the very least, let’s call it a joint completion," Rhodes suggested. "It’s Fairy Tail’s custom to split rewards equally."
"Hehe~"
Mélomee chuckled in her natural mature tone before quickly clearing her throat and switching back to her childlike voice. "You really are a good child, even if you’re a man. In that case, listen to me: you take the cash, and when the ’final payment’ comes through, we’ll divide it among Araña and the others."
"Alright then," Rhodes said. He didn’t want to keep tossing the matter back and forth. Besides, although Mira had destroyed the large cannon, its core components were still intact, they’d fetch a good price. In the end, no one would lose out.
After taking a short rest following their meal, Rhodes and Mira set out for Mermaid Bay, just as Millianna had suggested.
Araña mentioned that she and the others also planned to head there after finishing their reports and tying up a few loose ends. She hesitated, though, worried that they might intrude on Rhodes and Mira’s private time.
Mira simply laughed. "It’s fine. The more the merrier."
Rhodes smirked. "Hehe."
Mermaid Bay was only a few hundred meters from Mermaid Heel. Originally, the place had been called Goldfish Grass Bay.
But as Mermaid Heel grew in prestige, and because of its proximity, the mayor eventually held a public vote and officially renamed the area Mermaid Bay in honor of the guild’s contributions to the city.
Now everyone called it that without a second thought.
Rhodes couldn’t help but compare. ’Look at the treatment they get, an entire bay named after them! And what about us in Magnolia? What does Fairy Tail have?’
The answer: Guildarts Mode.
What a painful difference.
Rhodes sighed dramatically, only soothing his broken heart by gazing at the glittering seascape before him.
When Rhodes and Mira played, they played seriously.
They set up their sun umbrella and beach chairs with practiced ease, bought themselves cold drinks, and arranged everything neatly. The only delay came when Mira insisted on properly applying sunscreen, thoroughly.
Even Warm, who hated the heat, was dragged out to "enjoy" the sun. But for the sake of ice cream, the creature didn’t protest. It fully intended to vanish again once the treat was gone.
"Look over there, she’s really cute," Mira teased, pointing toward a girl splashing in the surf with her best friend.
Rhodes gave it a glance. "Average."
"And that one? She’s got a nice figure."
"Ordinary."
"What about that one."
"Her swimsuit is decent."
Mira jabbed her elbow into his side. He might’ve said "average" and "ordinary" with a straight face, but his eyes told a very different story.
Rhodes just chuckled and stole a quick peck on her cheek. ’What was it like to have a wife who could spot other beauties faster than he could? Truly disgraceful.’
"Ugh, get away," Mira pushed him off with mock disgust. Then, stretching languidly, she suddenly ran forward, skipped once across the sand, and dove gracefully into the water.
"I just knew it," Rhodes murmured with a smile, watching her swim. "Even if there were real mermaids, they couldn’t compare to my wife."
Feeling satisfied, he followed after her, plunging into the sea.
By the time the Mermaid Heel girls arrived, Rhodes and Mira had already escalated into what could only be called a war.
Rhodes swept his arm through the surf, and a wave several meters high surged toward Mira.
She responded by plunging her hands into the water and heaving upward, raising a matching wave to crash against his.
Next came enormous water spheres, several meters wide, hurled like cannonballs, and twisting water tornadoes flung back and forth between them. The scale only grew larger, until no one dared step within two hundred meters.
Millianna and the others stood dumbstruck on the shore. It wasn’t that they couldn’t have a water fight like this, they could, but Rhodes and Mira weren’t using water magic at all.
They were simply brute-forcing it, pouring out vast amounts of raw magical energy to manipulate the sea itself.
This wasn’t a water fight. This was a clash of magic power.
Anyone with less mana simply wasn’t qualified to play.
...
Stones PLzzz
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