Chapter 370: The Allied Force Gathers
"Come on, you come and sit over here too," Ren walked up beside Lucy, holding her by the shoulders and leading her toward the sofa.
"By the way... you are incredibly cute," Ren said, a faint blush dusting his cheeks.
"Wah!" Startled, Lucy found herself involuntarily led over to the sofa and seated.
"What exactly are those guys doing?" Gray, having finally put his clothes back on, couldn't help but ask.
"Who are they?" Natsu hadn't paid any attention to their self-introductions just now.
"Please take care of us this time. If we all work together..." Erza tried to steer the conversation toward the Allied Force, but Eve interrupted her.
"So cute! That expression of yours is beautiful! I've always admired you!" Eve gazed at Erza with eyes full of worship.
Erza was caught completely off guard by his intense stare, rendering her temporarily speechless. Beside her, Hibiki was eagerly attending to Ultear and Sorano, handing them hot towels and drinks. The two of them were equally bewildered by the overwhelming hospitality.
"I-it's not like I did this specifically for you or anything," Ren said, sliding a glass of wine in front of Lucy while turning his head to look away.
"Tsundere!" Lucy couldn't help but blurt out, imaginary black lines dropping down the side of her head.
"Come now, such a long journey must have been exhausting, right?" Hibiki stepped in front of the girls.
Eve and Ren quickly joined him, and the three of them struck a synchronized pose as they declared to Ultear and the others, "Tonight, spend it Forever with us!"
Ultear, Erza, and Sorano stared at the trio with wide open mouths, completely dumbfounded and at a loss for words.
"You guys, that's enough!" A charming voice echoed from upstairs.
"W-what? Whose charming voice is that?" Lucy couldn't help but ask upon hearing it.
"Ichiya-sama!" Erza's expression immediately shifted when she heard the name.
"It has been a while, Erza-san," the male voice called out from the second floor.
"I... I didn't expect you to be participating as well..." Erza's voice trembled slightly as she spoke.
"I missed you so much, honey! I am the Ichiya who exists solely for you!"
The man upstairs finally revealed himself. He was short and stout, with orange hair, a noticeably large, somewhat rectangular face, and a broad, flat nose. He wore a pristine white suit with a blue rose pinned to the lapel.
"Honey?!" Happy and Lucy exclaimed in shock, while Ultear and Sorano watched the scene unfold with amused smiles.
"Is this the Ichiya that Erza mentioned before?" Ultear whispered to Sorano.
"Yeah. She met him when she accompanied the Master to a Guild Master's regular meeting. He fell in love with her at first sight. Erza has absolutely no feelings for him, but he kept launching all sorts of 'attacks' to win her over. She tried so hard to avoid him, but who would've thought he'd show up here too," Sorano chuckled softly, covering her mouth as she whispered back to Ultear.
Over on the side, Erza's body was visibly trembling slightly from the shock of Ichiya's sudden appearance.
"So she's Ichiya-sama's girlfriend! Please forgive our rudeness!" Hibiki and the others bowed to Erza in perfect unison.
"I completely deny that!" Erza instinctively yelled back at them. "Besides, I already have a boyfriend!"
Only then did she remember to use her newly acquired defense. She had been so spooked by Ichiya's appearance that she hadn't been able to think straight.
"What?!" This time it was Ichiya's turn to be shocked. He stared at Erza in disbelief.
"Yes, I recently got a boyfriend." Erza had completely calmed down now. Her body stopped trembling, and a radiant smile returned to her face.
"Who is it?"
"It's Noah," Erza replied with a smile.
"Him, huh..." Ichiya recalled his past interactions with Noah and couldn't help but sigh. "He is a man who does not lose to me in the slightest."
Seeing the genuine smile on Erza's face, Ichiya felt a deep sense of loss in his heart, but he still looked at her seriously and said, "Then I wish the two of you a lifetime of happiness."
"Thank you for your blessing," Erza replied earnestly to Ichiya.
Ichiya nodded, then turned and shouted at the Blue Pegasus trio, "You lot, hurry up and clean this mess up! We are not here to play around!"
"Yes, big bro!" The trio scrambled to frantically put away all the things they had just brought out.
"Huh... Weren't you guys calling him 'Ichiya-sama' just a second ago?" Lucy couldn't help but ask, noting the sudden change in title.
"It seems that isn't his usual title," Happy noted from the side.
"Looking at it this way, this man called Ichiya isn't too bad," Ultear observed, seeing that Ichiya hadn't overly pestered Erza.
"Mm. Pursuing bravely when she didn't have a boyfriend, and cleanly backing off when she does. That's better than the vast majority of men," Sorano nodded, agreeing with Ultear's assessment.
"I have heard all about your exploits! Erza-san, Ultear-san, Angel-san, Lucy-san... and the others," Ichiya's gaze swept over the Fairy Tail group.
"What?!" Gray was rendered speechless. Ichiya had individually named all the women in the guild, but when it came to him and Natsu, they were just lumped together as 'the others'?
"Sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff..." Ichiya suddenly began inhaling deeply as he looked at Lucy, before loudly praising, "What a beautiful parfum!"
Lucy shuddered violently at his actions, goosebumps erupting all over her arms. "So gross!"
"I'm sorry, I don't know how to deal with him either. But he is a very powerful mage," Erza whispered to Lucy as she cautiously took two steps back. Even though she had cleared things up with him, she still instinctively wanted to maintain her distance; his sheer presence caused her physiological discomfort.
"You Blue Pegasus pretty-boy bastards, could you please stop bothering our guild's princesses?" Gray couldn't hold back anymore. He was already incredibly annoyed by the trio's behavior.
"Ah, the men can leave," Ichiya dismissed Gray with a wave of his hand the moment he spoke up.
"Thank you for your hard work! Please have a safe trip!" The Blue Pegasus trio bowed deeply to Gray, politely seeing him out.
"Giving me attitude like this... You guys wanna fight?!" Gray growled angrily.
"Wanna try us?"
"We're actually quite strong, you know."
Ren and Eve replied with serious expressions.
"A fight?! I'm in!" Natsu yelled loudly, having finally heard something that interested him.
"Knock it off, all of you!" Erza shouted at them.
"Is this the meeting point? It's quite lively."
At that moment, a new voice drifted in from the doorway, and everyone turned to look simultaneously. Standing at the entrance was a slender, short young man wearing a hat, with blue hair tied in a braid behind his head, very thick eyebrows, and dressed in a martial arts uniform.
"I didn't expect to see such a lively scene right after arriving," the blue-haired man said.
"Could all the men please go home?" Hibiki from Blue Pegasus said.
"Oh my, there are women here too."
Suddenly, a female voice spoke up from the ground. The carpet began to ripple and warp, and a woman gracefully emerged from within the undulating fabric. She had long pink hair, wore a light pink dress, and possessed elegant features.
"Hehe," the pink-haired woman giggled softly.
Although the argument had been briefly interrupted by the two newcomers, Natsu and Gray were still locked onto the Blue Pegasus trio.
"Bring it on!" Natsu excitedly beckoned to them.
The Blue Pegasus trio stared back at Natsu and Gray with equally serious expressions. The atmosphere grew incredibly tense. Ultear and the other girls stood by and watched without saying a word. The trio's earlier overwhelming 'hospitality' had left them feeling quite exasperated; they just hadn't directly refused out of politeness. Now that Natsu and Gray wanted to pick a fight, they naturally had no objections and were more than happy to let the boys throw down.
"Don't we need to stop them?" Ur, who was watching from her concealed position, turned to look at Noah.
"No need. Letting them fight is fine. I actually found those three pretty annoying anyway," Noah said nonchalantly.
He didn't like the looks of those three to begin with. Even if Natsu and Gray hadn't stepped up, Noah had been planning on giving them a beating later on anyway.
"Besides, they won't get the chance to fight. The person who's going to stop them is here."
"Oh?" Ur sensed something as well and turned her gaze toward the door.
"Stop this at once!" A deep, resonant voice echoed from the doorway, forcing the impending brawl to a halt. Everyone instinctively turned to look outside.
"We are supposed to form an Allied Force to defeat the Oración Seis. Is this the time for internal conflict?!"
Standing at the entrance was a tall, bald man draped in a short cape, with a loincloth wrapped around his waist that hung down to his calves, and holding a magic staff in his hand.
"Jura-dono..." the blue-haired man said respectfully to the tall, bald man.
"Jura?" Erza couldn't help but utter.
"That guy is..."
"Lamia Scale's ace..."
"Iron Rock Jura..."
The Blue Pegasus trio stared at the man in the doorway with deadly serious expressions.
"Who's that?" Natsu asked Happy, who had walked up beside him. Seeing that everyone's attention had been stolen by this newcomer, yet having absolutely no idea who the guy was, Natsu was utterly clueless.
"He's one of the Ten Wizard Saints," Happy answered directly.
"I've heard that name before too..." Lucy murmured from the side.
"How does he compare to Jose of Phantom Lord?" Sorano whispered to Ultear.
"Hmm... He probably can't match Jose. I recall his ranking is at the very bottom, while Jose's rank was higher. Jura seems to have only become a Wizard Saint somewhat recently, whereas Jose had already held the title for many years," Ultear whispered back.
"I see." Sorano nodded in understanding.
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