A group of strange people entered the city, and indeed didn't draw much attention.
The ordinary passersby, except for a few who found the girls in the group pretty and looked twice, didn't really pay them any extra attention.
The few of them had their magic tools well concealed, and the patrol teams occasionally passing by didn't stop them for questioning either.
As it began to get dark, they found an apartment, and Lisana was in charge of booking a suite.
Rhode looked around for anything unusual, while Lucy, in her carefree manner, said she wanted to take a bath and enthusiastically invited Lisana and Wendy to join her.
Lisana gladly accepted Lucy's invitation, but Wendy said she'd go with Carla.
Natsu was unusually quiet, sitting by the window and saying he wanted to get accustomed to the environment early.
Rhode, after confirming there were no problems, sat down to study the map: "According to Carla, the map she got directs us to the Royal Capital. If it's a trap... that's strange. They could just set up a trap here and capture us all at once, instead of waiting for us to break things in the capital."
Logically, the news of 'Erza' and Shugboy's defeat should have already reached the Royal Capital... unless it hasn't been reported yet, or there's no time to react?
That's possible, after all, 'Erza's mount was sabotaged by the Throat of Dishonor, and their mobility might be compromised.
This suggests the King's Army might not be able to access real-time information about them.
And it's even more puzzling who is passing information to Carla.
They had a simple meal and freshened up; each then went to bed to rest.
That night some were anxious, some worried, and some carefree; in any case, they woke up to a new day.
Early the next morning, after a quick tidying up, they bought some dry food and water and headed out of the city.
However, as they reached the city gate, they suddenly heard a rumbling sound from the sky.
"What's that noise?"
Rhode turned his head to look at the sky behind them and saw a giant flying ship trailing white smoke as it flew towards the city.
Once it reached above the city, the white smoke at the back disappeared, the paddles below gently moving, the ship's speed gradually slowing, and its altitude decreasing as if preparing to land.
Lucy exclaimed, "What a large flying ship!"
"It seems like it's going to land for supplies there," Lisana thought for a moment, then added, "I remember there's an open space over there where the flying ship can land."
Natsu's eyes widened: "Wait, what's loaded on the ship?"
Lucy shielded her eyes with a hand and looked at the ship: "It seems like Magic Crystals..."
Even before finishing her sentence, she was startled: "Such a large Magic Crystal! Could it be..."
Wendy covered her mouth in surprise: "Is this the Magic Crystal that our companions turned into?"
Hapi asked in confusion, "Is everyone there? Didn't they say they were in the Royal Capital?"
Carla observed more closely: "No, the Magic Crystal has traces of being cut."
Hearing this, everyone's heart sank, wondering if the entire Magnolia had been transformed into Magic Crystals. Could cutting it lead to loss, and who suffered the damage?
Could this large piece that was cut out be restored?
Natsu smashed his right fist into his left palm: "Let's hijack that ship!"
Carla didn't understand Natsu's logic: "A normal person's idea should be to infiltrate, right?"
"I think it's possible, now is the perfect time for me to shine!" Lucy, usually timid and cautious, was now feeling stronger than Natsu.
Rhode thought for a moment and nodded: "Indeed, we need to hijack it, and this time we really need Lucy."
Wendy, surprised, said: "Even Brother Rhode..."
Upon receiving Rhode's approval, Lucy became more excited and confident: "Watch me!"
Saying this, she was about to run towards the ship landing site.
"Wait..." Rhode quickly caught her by the collar.
How did this girl become so reckless? He always thought she was just conned by Natsu, often unable to collect her earnings, but now it seemed she herself was partly to blame.
Usually, Rhode grabbing her like this wouldn't be a problem, but Lucy was running so fast that when her collar was pulled, two of the buttons in front popped off.
Lucy's sleeveless top had only three buttons, with the top one not fastened.
So the top ended up in Rhode's hand.
Rhode saw her pale back, and worse, didn't see the thin straps on her back.
"I'm sorry!" Rhode quickly covered his eyes and turned his face away, his mind buzzing.
'I'm screwed. My sister-in-law is here, watching as I strip Lucy's clothes.' Rhode's mind was filled with this thought, feeling as if a death sentence was hanging over his head.
Lisana was stunned, not knowing how to react for a moment.
Wendy was so shy that she covered her eyes with her hands, peeking through her fingers.
Carla slapped her forehead: "How childish."
Lucy didn't immediately realize what had happened, ran a couple of steps forward, felt a bounce in her chest, then looked down: "Ahhh—"
She let out a scream, crouched down with her hands covering her chest, looking back at Rhode with a flushed face while he held up the garment with one hand.
Natsu and Hapi were indifferent; Hapi even said, "Lucy is definitely like Gray, doesn't like wearing clothes."
"I'm not!" Lucy retorted, embarrassed and angry, "Mr. Rhode, how could you do this!"
"I really didn't mean to!" Rhode felt utterly defenseless, not daring to glance at Lucy, and hurriedly handed the clothes to Lisana.
However, he was curious about why Lucy said 'also', as if that word encapsulated many stories.
Lisana took the clothes from Lucy, giving Rhode a playful look.
With her hair styled like Mira's previously, that look sent chills down Rhode's spine.
Lisana draped the clothes over Lucy, unable to fix the missing buttons for now, so she had to hold it herself.
Rhode could only pretend nothing happened: "Back to the main topic, we can't just go and hijack the ship; we at least need to figure out how many of them there are and where this Magic Crystal was transported from.
"But they definitely won't tell us honestly, and capturing two people for interrogation is difficult, plus the information might not be reliable, so I said we need Lucy."
Lucy looked at Rhode with resentment, but with more pressing matters at hand, she asked, "What should I do?"
Rhode pointed at the keys at her waist: "Gemini from the Gemini Constellation."
"Ah!" Lucy suddenly understood, trying to clap her hands, but as soon as she let go, she quickly covered her chest again:
"You mean having Gemini turn into the appearance of a soldier and sneak in? It can help us hijack the ship and gather information from their minds!"
Rhode gave a thumbs up: "Exactly, it's up to you."
Lucy freed one hand to make a fist: "Leave it to me!"
"So that's how it can be done!" Natsu became excited, "You're so cunning; you truly aren't the world's fool, Rhode!"
"..." Rhode wanted to punch him; he finally realized this now?
But then Natsu was a bit displeased: "I hate battle tactics that involve sneaking around."
"Oh, that's easy. Later, let Gemini pretend to be a soldier, and you go up to the ship and make a big scene to attract their attention. We'll wait here, so even if you're pinned and beaten up, we won't help you."
"Who would get beaten by them? I can handle..."
Hapi tugged at Natsu's pants leg and reminded him: "Natsu, that's a ship."
"..."