"How was the ride, Master?" Lucy squinted, smiling like a cunning cat.
She stared at Natsu, who was slumped in his seat with a pale face, mercilessly enacting her "revenge."
He had tried to scheme against her just now, so this was her chance to get even.
"I can see the Under... Underworld." Natsu groaned weakly, looking like he was about to throw up, which made Ryoma next to him shake his head.
Ryoma sighed softly, "Vehicles... are indeed the ultimate weapon against Dragon Slayers."
The more he thought about it, the more amusing he found it, even stroking his chin in contemplation.
It seemed the stronger a Dragon Slayer was, the worse their motion sickness became.
If Acnologia, with his power, were to transform back into human form and get into a vehicle, would he also temporarily lose the ability to resist due to extreme dizziness?
"Aye! I was supposed to be the one playing the master." Happy flapped his wings and flew over, pouting in protest, interrupting Ryoma's dangerous fantasy.
Although Ryoma knew what quest Natsu and the others had taken, he still asked for details, "Where's that quest? Let me see the specifics first."
Lucy slapped her forehead and pulled a quest form from her clothes.
"It's this one. We just need to get a book."
Her eyes lit up as she spoke, "The reward is 200,000."
Ryoma took the quest and examined it carefully. It was indeed a quest about "Daybreak," and there wasn't any more information.
"Anyway, this is my first job, so I need to finish it quickly." Lucy waved her fist to cheer herself on.
"Huh? Don't you hate it?" Happy tilted his head, looking puzzled.
"The client is a perverted old man. Don't look at me like this, I'm quite confident in my beauty." Lucy tossed her hair, instantly entering self-adoration mode, as if she could already see the client utterly captivated by her.
"200,000..."
Money glittered in Lucy's eyes.
"Let me say this upfront, you guys didn't do anything, so the reward will be split 7:1:1:1."
Happy blinked his big eyes, innocently asking, "Is 1 enough for Lucy?"
Ryoma, who knew the inside story and had been waiting for this moment, chimed in faintly, "Yes, didn't Lucy just say 7:1:1:1? So, according to this ratio... Happy, you, Natsu and Lucy each get 200,000, and the remaining 1,400,000 goes to me."
"Hmm! A very reasonable distribution."
Lucy: "???"
Happy: "???"
She instantly froze, her mouth agape, the words "I'm the 7" caught in her throat.
"Huh?! Wait a minute!"
A few seconds later, she finally snapped out of her confusion, her voice trembling as she pointed at the quest form.
"Isn't this only 200,000 Jewels? Where did 1,400,000 come from?!"
Ryoma shook the quest form in his hand, a playful smile on his face. "Lucy, you're not mistaken, it clearly says 200,000 on this form."
"Then, then the 1,400,000 you mentioned..."
"Oh, that?"
Ryoma blinked, feigning surprise, "I thought your 7:1:1:1 meant that out of a total of 2,000,000, I would take seventy percent, which is 1,400,000, and the remaining 600,000 would be split equally among the three of you."
"It wasn't? Looks like I misunderstood. What a pity."
"2... 2,000,000." Lucy's breathing quickened, but she immediately shook her head vigorously.
"Aye! Lucy is so greedy. She actually wants to take all 2,000,000 for herself."
Happy immediately flew to Ryoma's side, looking at Lucy with an expression that said, "I misjudged you."
"I didn't! Besides, there isn't even 2,000,000." Lucy stamped her foot in anger.
"Ugh... so sick... money and stuff... yuck..."
Natsu, on the side, was unable to join this sudden "loot-sharing meeting," leaning against the car window with a pale face, as if he were about to ascend to heaven any second.
"Hahaha."
Watching the bickering human and cat, and the dying Natsu, Ryoma finally burst out laughing.
"There really is 2,000,000 Jewels. After Natsu took the quest, the client contacted Master and raised the reward to 2,000,000."
"Eh!!!" Lucy and Happy exclaimed in unison.
Ryoma silently added in his mind, 'However, whether we can successfully get it... that's another story.'
— — —
"I am the client, Kaby Melon!"
Hearing the client's name, Lucy felt like she had heard it somewhere before.
"Then let's quickly talk about the job. My request is for the book 'Daybreak,' owned by Duke Everlue, to be destroyed or burned."
"Burn it? Then let's burn the whole house down too."
Natsu smiled, as if saying, "Leave it to me."
Happy also unexpectedly supported Natsu's idea.
Ryoma's eye twitched slightly as he listened. Would Natsu's quest rewards truly be enough to cover the damages?
It was incredible that he hadn't ended up heavily in debt due to compensation, reduced to starving on the streets.
"No way, we'd definitely end up in jail if we did that." Lucy expressed strong protest.
"Besides, I also want to hear the reason why you're willing to pay a hefty price of 2,000,000 to destroy that book."
Kaby Melon didn't explain directly, only muttering in a low voice, yet his tone was unusually firm, "That book must be destroyed no matter what. I cannot allow its existence."
"Alright, I'm fired up! Let's go, Lucy."
Natsu didn't care about any of that. He pulled Lucy and ran out.
Ryoma was stunned again.
"No!"
"Are you just dragging me along as a laborer?!"
"Why are you leaving me alone again?"
Ryoma shook his head helplessly and quickly followed. Natsu really did whatever came to his mind.
—
In front of Duke Everlue's mansion.
"I'm here because I saw the advertisement for a maid. Is anyone home?!" Lucy stood alone in front of the mansion gates, shouting.
She even thought to herself that as long as the perverted old man fell for her, and she burned the book, she could easily get 2,000,000. It couldn't be easier.
Ryoma didn't stop Lucy's attempt, after all, a girl confident in her looks wouldn't doubt her charm.
But he knew that Duke Everlue in the story had very peculiar aesthetics.
Bang!
The next second, a pink-haired woman with a strong build like a gorilla, and a short, stout middle-aged man with a mustache, burst out from a hole in the floor behind her.
"Are you calling for me? Let me see..."
Duke Everlue stroked his two upturned mustaches, sizing up Lucy.
"No, go back. Ugly duckling."
"Ugly...!?"
"That's right, go back, ugly duckling." The gorilla-woman next to him mercilessly added a cutting remark.
"Listen carefully,"
Duke Everlue lifted his head, looking smug. "Only girls as beautiful as this are worthy of a great man like me."
As he finished speaking, four more bizarrely beautiful women burst out from the ground, standing in a neat row.