"Is...is it over?" Lucy stared blankly at the ruined library.
"Aye! As expected of Natsu." Happy flew around excitedly.
"You...you bastards—!"
A shrill scream interrupted their conversation.
Everlue crawled out from behind a pile of collapsed bookshelves. His once magnificent suit was covered in dust, and his meticulously groomed mustache was askew, making him look incredibly disheveled.
He pointed at the almost destroyed library, trembling with rage. "My...my precious collection of books! Do you know how much these books are worth?! These are all my treasures!"
"Damn it!" Everlue stamped his foot in anger. "I paid a fortune for them!"
Natsu merely shrugged, disregarding Everlue's fury.
Lucy's attention, however, was completely captivated by the book in her hand. She pushed up the reading glasses on her nose, her gaze quickly scanning the pages, murmuring softly, "Is this the true work of Kemu Zaleon? On the surface, it's a terrible adventure novel about the protagonist Everlue, but in reality..."
Her eyes suddenly widened. "So there's such a secret hidden in the book."
"Secret? What secret?!"
Everlue suddenly turned his head, a flash of panic on his face.
"Tell me! What exactly is written in the book?!"
He was clearly worried that the book would expose his illicit dealings, and his voice was filled with fear.
If these contents fell into the hands of the Council's Mages, he would be completely finished. Fear quickly transformed into a cornered animal's madness.
Everlue suddenly raised his Celestial Spirit Key, shouting hoarsely, "Open, Gate of the Maiden, Virgo!"
Virgo, in her gorilla-woman form, was summoned back through the Celestial Spirit World.
"Virgo, snatch that book!"
Everlue pointed at the book in Lucy's hand and ordered Virgo.
"Yes, Master!"
Virgo responded, her massive body turning towards Lucy, her thick arm suddenly reaching for Daybreak in Lucy's arms.
Lucy screamed in fright, hugging the book tightly and trying to retreat.
Ryoma, who had been standing silently by, moved.
Crack!
A burst of extreme cold suddenly erupted.
Several crystal-clear ice chains shot out from the ground without warning, like living ice snakes, instantly wrapping around Virgo's massive body, from ankles to arms, locking her firmly in place, unable to move.
The extremely low temperature even caused a layer of frost to form on her body, making her emit confused grunts.
"What?!"
Everlue was dumbfounded, completely unaware of what had happened.
Ryoma had appeared in front of Lucy at some point, one hand in his pocket, the other casually raised, wisps of cold air swirling around his fingertips.
He glanced at the struggling Virgo, his tone flat. "Sorry, it's about time to end this."
He was just waiting for Lucy to decipher the book's secret. Otherwise, Natsu's destruction of the Duke's mansion would be a considerable problem.
If Everlue's crimes could be exposed, then they wouldn't have to pay compensation, right?
"You dare!"
Everlue was both shocked and enraged, his fat body trembling with fear and anger.
He stomped his foot, and the floor beneath him cracked. He tried to burrow into the ground to escape or launch an attack, as he had before.
"Still trying to burrow?"
Ryoma's eyes narrowed slightly, and his raised fingertip pressed down gently.
In an instant, centered around Everlue, the surrounding tens of square meters of ground, walls, and even the ceiling were instantly covered by an indestructible, thick layer of ice. It was smooth as a mirror and exuded chilling cold.
Everlue had barely burrowed halfway into the ground when he was completely frozen in place, leaving only a fat butt and two short legs exposed, comically struggling, but unable to sink another inch.
"Done."
Ryoma clapped his hands, as if he had just done a trivial thing,
"Now it's quiet."
"S-so amazing..."
Lucy hugged the book, looking at Virgo, who had been instantly subdued, and Everlue, who was frozen into an ice lump, once again deeply realizing the unfathomable depth of Ryoma's power.
"Aye! Ryoma is so reliable." Happy flew over, giving a thumbs-up.
Dust and rubble began to fall from the ceiling above, the walls groaned under the strain, and huge cracks spread rapidly like a spiderweb.
"Waaah! What's going on? Is it an earthquake?" Lucy cried out in panic, almost dropping the book in her hand.
Ryoma looked up at the already loose roof structure, then sensed the foundation beneath his feet, which had become riddled with holes due to Everlue's repeated burrowing. Finally, he glanced at the charred walls around them, ravaged by Natsu's flames.
"It seems Natsu's previous attacks, combined with this Duke's 'masterpiece' of burrowing everywhere, have pushed the load-bearing structure of this house to its limit." Ryoma analyzed calmly, then pulled up the still-dazed Lucy,
"Don't just stand there. The house is collapsing. Let's go."
"Eh?! Wait!" Lucy exclaimed.
"Aye!"
Happy immediately grabbed Natsu and Lucy, trying to fly, but carrying two people was too strenuous for him.
Seeing this, Ryoma's feet erupted with cold air, instantly creating a slippery ice path that led straight out the window.
"This way!"
The group immediately slid out the window along the ice path.
Almost the second after they left the library...
Boom!!!
Accompanied by a deafening roar, Everlue's luxurious mansion collapsed.
Only the lower half of Everlue, frozen outside, remained, strikingly and comically visible in the ruins.
As for Virgo, because she was summoned by Celestial Spirit Magic, she automatically returned to the Celestial Spirit World due to the interruption of magic power supply the moment the mansion collapsed and Everlue lost consciousness.
"Wow! We almost got buried alive." Lucy looked at the massive ruins behind her, still shaken.
Natsu, however, stood with his hands on his hips, laughing heartily, patting Lucy's back vigorously. "That was amazing. Lucy, you're really a Mage of Fairy Tail."
It was as if the culprit behind all this wasn't him at all.
Lucy stumbled from the pat, thinking with a wry smile, 'Is he complimenting me or himself?'
...
Soon after, Lucy and the others, carrying the book, met the client Kaby Melon again.
"I know why you can't forgive the existence of this book."
"It's to protect your father's reputation, you are Kemu Zaleon's son, aren't you?"
Kaby's body trembled slightly.
As Lucy explained, the magic applied to the book in her hand was activated. The text on the pages began to flow and reorganize, finally revealing the long-hidden true content—Dear Kaby.
Just like in the original story, this work, seemingly a satirical novel, was actually a deeply emotional letter full of apology and love from a father to his son.
A warm and sad silence filled the air.
Ultimately, because they didn't destroy the book, and the client probably had no money, Natsu decided to forgo the 2,000,000 reward.
At the same time, Natsu also told them to return to their own homes.
Not getting paid didn't matter much to Ryoma, as he had known it would happen and was prepared to work for free.
However, Lucy was not so lucky. This runaway young lady probably didn't have much money left. But it seemed she would get Virgo's Celestial Spirit Key afterward.
Ryoma put his hands in his pockets, looking at the dejected Lucy and the carefree laughing Natsu, shaking his head helplessly.
'It seems the one who truly gained nothing was just me.'