Rhode was seriously planning the layout of the library.
Because the space had expanded a bit, both he and Reby were considering making some changes to the original arrangement.
"How about we put the history section at the very end?"
Reby thought for a moment, "That sounds good. I feel like besides us, not many people will read history books."
It's not just the history section; there aren't many people in the Guild who read any section of books.
Though it's called the Guild library, it's more like a personal collection for a few people.
When they were designing the Guild, the location and space for the library were arranged according to Reby's suggestions.
Now, how to arrange the interior and the order of books was entirely up to the two of them to decide.
Of course, to make finding books easier, Rhode decided to create an index as they arranged the books.
Reby pushed the book ladder to the corresponding bookshelf.
Rhode carried out boxes of books from the storeroom, handing them over to Reby one stack at a time after opening them.
As she sorted them by category and title, Rhode recorded the sequence.
With a man-woman combo, work isn't tiring, though sometimes Rhode felt a shiver down his spine—maybe because the library was a bit cold.
"Setting them up like this is going to take a while," Rhode said, looking at the surrounding empty bookshelves. "Where are Jet and Troy today?"
"They said they get a headache just looking at so many books." Reby didn't have any special reaction when hearing the names of her two childhood friends. "Plus, they wanted to tackle a few tasks on their own for a change."
Their thought process seemed to be that they wanted to prove their abilities to Reby.
This situation... Rhode couldn't comment much, so he just wished them good luck with their tasks.
"By the way, someone set off fireworks on Sister Mira's birthday the other night."
Rhode nodded, "Yeah, that was me."
"Wow!" Reby was a bit envious—two people in love watching fireworks together felt so romantic.
She gossiped, "So how far along are you and Sister Mira?"
Rhode glanced at Reby, thinking her question was quite innocent, so he said honestly, "I've already started thinking about what kind of wedding ring to buy."
"W-Wedding!?" Reby covered her mouth with both hands, her cheeks turning slightly red.
She originally just wanted to see if Rhode would be embarrassed when talking about this, but instead, she accidentally stumbled onto big news.
Rhode found it odd; the girls here usually dressed quite boldly, but at the mention of marriage, they instantly blushed.
Just like Reby, who usually liked wearing backless dresses, but now was incredibly shy.
Could it be that, like Erza, she mentally placed herself in the marriage scenario?
"Well, yeah, because we've decided to always be together," Rhode thought Mira would definitely enjoy seeing such an expression from Reby.
So he habitually added fuel to the fire, "Reby, if someone proposed to you, what kind of setting would you hope for?"
"Huh??? Me?" Reby's face grew redder and scenarios like the seaside, flower fields, and Guild entrance flashed through her mind.
In the end, she could only cover her face with both hands, saying, "I-I don't know!"
Too bad Mira wasn't here, Rhode regrettably decided to let it go.
Busy with work, the day passed, and in the evening, it was time for practice with Mira again.
Mira was acting a bit strange today; since dinner, she had been frequently glancing at him without speaking.
During meditation, she even deliberately sat far from him—this was too unusual.
Rhode tentatively asked, "Did you get tired today?"
Mira: "No."
Rhode: "Want to take a break and continue?"
Mira: "Oh."
That "oh" was so profound; Rhode had a headache.
Trying to think positively, she probably was upset.
Was it because he looked at Lucy last time? Or the time before?
But those incidents were long passed, and one was Erza's fault, the other was Natsu's, Rhode had no subjective intent!
Epic dilemma: how to appease an upset girlfriend.
First step is figuring out why she's upset.
But this step is the hardest; Rhode, after all, didn't have Wolian's magic to see what Mira was thinking.
Directly asking was out of the question; each time he asked, it reminded her of why she was angry.
He might even make her angrier by asking.
So he could only guess.
However, Rhode really couldn't think of anything he did wrong. Everything was fine in the morning, and they didn't even meet in the afternoon...
After thinking a while, Rhode only had a slight guess.
So he decided to skip this step and just ignored Mira's expression and approached her, hugging her tightly.
"What are you doing?" Mira pushed him, but didn't manage to push him away.
Rhode hugged her tighter, his cheek against her hair, "Nothing, it's just I didn't see you all afternoon, and I felt a kind of emptiness and loneliness."
"Liar, you had Reby with you at work. How could you feel lonely?" Mira pushed him once more, and it seemed like her strength increased, "Let go now!"
Oh~ so it was about this.
Then he certainly couldn't let go, Rhode vowed in her ear, "I thought of you all afternoon, wishing you were there, wishing you were there... If there's even a single lie, may I... may I get bullied by my wife in the next life after we're married."
"So cheesy." Mira's ears turned a bit red. She pushed him again, "Let go now."
Rhode couldn't see her expression, but he could feel her force wasn't as strong as before: "No."
Mira had no choice but to hug him back; it seemed like she'd temporarily forgotten about Reby and Erza.
She softly said, "If you don't let go, how are we supposed to practice next?"
"Well, let's just hug a little longer and call it halftime."
"Okay."
Rhode thought for a moment and said, "Tomorrow morning, I'll ask Elfman to make a bit less food, and I'll bring you some koya cakes."
Koya cakes were Mira's favorite food.
"No need." Mira sniffed Rhode's scent, putting her face against his chest, "We need to save money, no frivolous spending."
On September 8, X784, Rhode didn't end up getting accidentally framed by Erza's carelessness and survived.
...
Three days passed since then.
With Rhode frequently calling Mira over for help, the library was already finished being organized.
The Guild's renovations were also quite promising.
Yesterday, Makarov had a sudden idea to set up a store at the Guild entrance, selling Fairy Tail merchandise.
Like cups, towels, and necklaces with the Fairy Tail logo.
He also planned to make figures of well-known Mages within the Guild for sale. Rhode, Mira, Erza, and Natsu were all on the consideration list.
However, Rhode had a small reservation about this. Having figures of his likeness sold and played with by others felt a bit weird.
Especially when the President, who's quite eccentric, planned to make the female Mages' clothes removable, which Rhode strongly opposed.
"At least they should consent to it, right?" Rhode said.
Makarov went sulkingly to ask Mira, "What do you think?"
Mira smiled, "You can discuss it with Rhode."
"But I can't get through to him..." Makarov attempted to grab liquor from the shelf behind him.
Mira slapped his hand away, smilingly reminding, "President, your alcohol ban has one more month to go."
"Wasn't it only half a month left?!"
"I just added another half month."
"Why..." Makarov opened his mouth wide, looking like he was about to go gray with despair.
"President, Mira, I'm taking this task." Loki brought over a task sheet.
Makarov.exe not responding.
"Okay, hang on a second." Mira took it to have a look herself.
"Arrest the Rogue Mage using magic to abduct women"
Mira glanced at Loki's complexion, slightly frowning, "You don't look well, is it okay to take on such a task?"
"It's fine." Loki adjusted his glasses, striking a cool pose, "Protecting ladies in danger is my duty."
Not as handsome as Rhode. This thought suddenly popped into Mira's head.
She hurriedly dismissed the strange thought, indicating behind Loki, "Isn't that your girlfriend?"
"Huh?" Loki turned around, suddenly overcome by a wave of drowsiness, feeling his body going limp as he fell limply backward.