The first day of August begins with welcoming the president back.
In the height of summer, as the weather gets hotter, Warm is visiting less often, except for three meals a day.
Rhode and Mira's wicked plans were declared bankrupt before they were even put into action; they just couldn't bring themselves to have everyone work overtime under the scorching sun.
Although Rhode could think of a more evil plan for night construction and daytime rest.
"President!"
"The president is back!"
"You've worked hard on the journey, President!"
Everyone cheerfully greeted Makarov. In their view, with such a big incident, even though Ghost was fully responsible, the president, as a member of the Ten Wizard Saints, might still be detained for a few days.
It's good that he's back safely.
Makarov looked at the part of the first floor that had been built and said happily, "Progress is fast, you all are the ones who worked hard."
Mira poured him a cup of tea, "President, did everything go smoothly? Were you given a hard time?"
"There was some routine questioning, but I handled it beautifully!"
As for how he was questioned and how he "handled it beautifully," Makarov didn't elaborate. The kids only needed to know that Dad was impressive.
He jumped on the counter and said loudly, "I have good news for everyone. I brought back a large amount of funds, so let's build our Guild beautifully!"
"Oh!!!"
The Guild is everyone's home, so who wouldn't want to make their home better?
Rhode poured Makarov a glass of wine for a change, "Great, President. Let's get started with the accounts."
"No problem!" Makarov downed it in one gulp, though feeling slightly uneasy, "By the way, shouldn't we hold a banquet to celebrate before getting started?"
"No banquet; we'd just end up with hangovers and debts again." Rhode placed a stack of invoices in front of him,
"Look here, costs for timber, stone, cement, professional designer fees, skilled worker fees, costs for damages, replenishing Magic Crystals and Magic Books, and last month's bar wages..."
All these projects added up indeed to a substantial amount.
If not for Fairy Tail's high credit around here, the construction would've long stalled.
"I understand." Makarov sighed.
He thought about how awkward Rhode and Mira must have been while negotiating credit and how exhausted Laki and Marcus must be working overtime to save on material costs, so he couldn't complain.
"Cheer up, President." Mira encouraged him, "Today you only need to sign off on the accounts; there's no need to write a review."
Because the first batch going out on missions hasn't returned, they probably haven't had the chance to cause trouble yet.
"..." Makarov almost turned to stone, oh right, there might soon be new reviews to write...
Thinking about it, the period of isolation and review was unexpectedly his most relaxed time?
Makarov stiffly signed each invoice one by one; Xiaoya's advice to retire early was indeed right.
Rhode helplessly looked at Mira; hitting the president with such a blow after he just got back, isn't it too much?
Mira stuck her tongue out; she's used to it.
Rhode handed Mira two medicine bottles.
They were emergency medication for the president, specially sourced from Granny Porlyusica.
When the elders are in poor health, the juniors must be more prepared.
Though bringing out such preparations at this moment felt a bit odd.
Mira accepted the medicine bottles but waved them off at Rhode. The president is strong; otherwise, he wouldn't have lived to 88 years...Phooey phooey!
The president shall live to be a hundred.
...
Once the funds were in place, wages were promptly disbursed.
Alongside the salaries, the compensation for damages previously sustained by the store was also paid out.
Rhode's wounded little treasury finally received a replenishment.
The meritorious Laki, aside from her salary, also received a substantial bonus.
Laki had mixed feelings; she could acquire a long-awaited little cutie earlier than expected.
To maintain such ramification next month as well, Laki felt the urge to work even harder.
It's too terrifying. Laki patted her palm with a thick stack of bills: "Feels like I'm losing to the evil money."
Rhode couldn't bear to see his companion so troubled: "How about I help you handle these wicked things?"
Laki ignored him and directly complained to Mira: "Sister Mira, your boyfriend is asking other women for money now!"
"Is that so?" Mira covered her face with a shy expression, "He's surely feeling sorry for how hard I work, that's why. I'm so moved. So, let's give him the money."
"Eek~" Laki ran away holding her hard-earned cash.
Rhode and Mira had a long-overdue meal in a restaurant outside at noontime—although it wasn't really that long.
After lunch, they went to the bank.
Keeping large sums of cash in hand always felt unsettling; Mira also stored part of her salary.
She held her passbook and Rhode's together, opening them and calculating side-by-side.
Soon, together they would save enough. If he dared not to propose then… Humph!
Mira suddenly noticed Rhode's deposit record was incorrect: "Not depositing this month's salary?"
"No, we both probably won't be able to go out to work much this month. I want to keep it for contingency."
"That's true…" Mira revealed a troubled expression, "Then I might have saved too much."
Such an expression was cute. Rhode was somewhat touched; not only is he planning well, but Mira also has her future in mind.
Rhode embraced her boisterously: "No worries, I'll take care of you. So..."
Mira looked at him: "So?"
"So would you like to move into my place?"
"So ill-intentioned!"
...
The hottest time of the afternoon had just passed, and the construction site quickly became busy.
This time Makarov again transformed into a Giant, leading the work.
Once he's busy, he can rightfully assign Mira and Rhode those troublesome tasks.
This is definitely not shirking responsibility; it's the most logical allocation of tasks.
His Giant Magic is naturally suited for manual labor.
As the president, one must know how to utilize people to their strengths!
Rhode and Mira had no other choice but to handle the mundane tasks left by the president; they were used to it, it was just more troublesome now.
However, some things simply cannot be avoided.
That evening, while the bar was still open, Rhode received a magically transmitted letter from the Advisory Council.
Erza and the others hadn't returned yet, but the complaints had already reached the Advisory Council.
After reading the complaint, Rhode asked Mira to bring medicine and went to find Makarov, who was drinking alone in a quiet spot.
"President."
"Hmm?" Makarov was seriously pondering retirement then, not yet realizing the severity of the issue, "You're here, want to sit and have a drink together?"
"No need, President." Before Mira could speak, Rhode planned to lay some groundwork for the old man,
"Actually, Erza teamed up with Natsu, Gray, and Lucy to take on a mission to subdue the Magic Order."
Makarov realized something was wrong: "What's... the result then?"
Mira handed over the letter: "Even though Rhode reminded them to be restrained, they still ended up destroying three streets."
"Three... "
Rhode quickly supported the old man: "President, don't get too excited! President!"