After the baptism of both ice and fire, Ryoma felt like a pitiful little creature that had been ravaged by two magical beasts in turns.
Half of his hair was charred, the other half was covered in ice shards, his clothes were tattered, and his face was streaked with black and white, making him look like a beggar who had crawled out of a rubbish heap.
Natsu and Gray finally stopped, but they still flanked him, one on each side. Their eyes were spewing fire, smoke was coming out of their nostrils, and their stance suggested that if Ryoma dared to say "no" again, they would tear him to shreds the next second.
Ryoma looked at the two devils in front of him, wanting to cry but shedding no tears.
Clean it off?
With what? With his tears?
Ryoma finally had to get specially formulated potions to wash off those drawings. He was also ordered to clean the Guild Hall and restore it to its original state.
"Tsk, they hit really hard." Ryoma complained softly, but his hands didn't stop working.
"I should have just run away if I had known."
After the guild temporarily quieted down, Lucy's curiosity was piqued.
"Mystogan made everyone fall asleep, how did Ryoma avoid it? Is he that strong?"
"Hmph! Who knows what's going on with that guy?" Gray snorted.
"Originally, no one had seen Mystogan's face except for Master. But now it seems we have to add Ryoma to that list."
"You're wrong, I've seen him too."
A very arrogant voice suddenly sounded from the second floor of the guild.
"Laxus, so you were here."
"How rare."
Many people in the first-floor hall immediately gathered around and looked up at the figure leaning on the railing on the second floor.
The newly joined Lucy was bewildered. She looked at Gray and whispered, "Who is he? Why is everyone reacting so strongly?"
Gray briefly told Lucy, "This is another candidate for the strongest."
Laxus Dreyar, Makarov's grandson, one of the strongest in the guild, was lazily leaning against the railing on the second floor.
His short yellow hair stood on end, headphones hung by his ears, and his face carried its usual arrogance and cynicism.
Laxus clearly enjoyed being the center of attention. He chuckled, his gaze fixed on the figure in the crowd who was cleaning up the mess.
"Mystogan is a shy person, stop talking about him all the time."
Laxus said with a light laugh, "What's interesting is that someone actually didn't fall for it."
"So you've been watching the show from upstairs?" Erza asked in a deep voice.
"Of course." Laxus admitted without hesitation.
Natsu's face instantly darkened. "You bastard! You were watching from up there the whole time, why didn't you stop it?"
"Stop? Why should I stop? And…"
Laxus grinned, paused, and his eyes became even sharper.
"What I'm more interested in is, how did that kid manage to avoid Mystogan's sleep magic?"
As soon as these words came out, the entire guild instantly fell silent, and everyone's eyes once again focused on Ryoma.
Ryoma's heart skipped a beat. 'Why is it always me again?'
"Laxus, forget about that, come and fight me."
Natsu didn't intend to think so much. He pointed at Laxus upstairs, full of fighting spirit.
"You just got taken down by Erza not long ago, didn't you?" Gray speechlessly said.
"Yeah. If you can't even beat Erza, there's no way you can beat me." Laxus looked down and provoked him arrogantly.
"What's more, compared to you guys..."
Laxus leaned on the second floor, looking down at Ryoma.
"I'm more interested in seeing how strong someone who can resist Mystogan's magic really is."
Ryoma felt a headache at this moment. He chuckled and backed away.
"Uh… I don't think that's necessary, is it? I'm very weak."
"Weak?"
Laxus sneered, "You can withstand Mystogan's magic, draw under everyone's noses, and still get away unscathed, and you say you're weak?"
These words made everyone present pause.
Even Mirajane and Erza couldn't stay awake under Mystogan's sleep magic. But Ryoma not only stayed awake but also had the leisure to play pranks, which in itself was problematic.
"Laxus, that's enough." Erza had a gloomy expression.
"I just want to confirm the strength of the guild members." Laxus shrugged. "After all, Fairy Tail doesn't take in weaklings."
Ryoma cursed inwardly.
This guy was clearly looking for trouble.
In the original story, Laxus was an extremely arrogant guy who looked down on all weak people and had a very arrogant attitude. Now that he saw Ryoma display some special abilities, he became interested and wanted to test him.
"Get down here, you bastard!" Natsu, who was ignored by Laxus, couldn't hold back anymore.
"You come up here." Laxus contemptuously hooked his finger at Natsu.
"My pleasure!"
Natsu roared, pushed off the ground, and was about to leap to the second floor, stepping on the bar.
Just as his body was airborne, about to touch the second-floor—
Bang!
Makarov's gigantic fist descended from the sky, slamming Natsu firmly back onto the first-floor.
"You can't go to the second floor, you're not ready yet."
Laxus looked at the struggling Natsu and curled his lips in disdain.
Makarov said, "Alright, let's stop this here. Laxus, you shut up too."
As he spoke, the tense atmosphere immediately eased a lot.
But Laxus clearly didn't intend to let it go.
"I won't give the position of the strongest in Fairy Tail to anyone, whether it's Erza or Mystogan. I am the strongest."
Laxus's gaze swept across the room again, finally landing on Ryoma. Ryoma didn't dodge, but instead met his gaze and sized up Laxus.
His lips moved silently.
Although no sound was made, from the shape of his mouth, anyone who could read lips could make out a word—
Immature.
Laxus's face instantly turned black, and an electric flash flickered around him.
"Very good."
He squeezed out two words through gritted teeth, and gave Ryoma a deep look, his eyes seeming to say "you just wait," and then turned and disappeared into the shadows of the second floor.
The crisis was temporarily averted, but Ryoma knew that he seemed to have gotten himself into another trouble.
—
At night, Ryoma was still working miserably in the guild.
At this moment, besides him, only Lucy and Mirajane were left in the hall.
"Just now, Master said we can't go to the second floor, what does that mean?"
Lucy was very confused about Makarov saying they couldn't go to the second floor, and even personally stopping Natsu from going to the second floor.
"The second floor is only accessible to S-Class Mages recognized by the guild." Ryoma explained.
Mirajane, as the poster girl of Fairy Tail, naturally took over the topic and introduced it in detail, "Hmm, but it's still too early for Lucy. On the second floor's quest board, there are difficult quests that are completely incomparable to those on the first floor, S-Class quests."
"These are quests where a momentary misjudgment could cost you your life. But the rewards are also higher."
"Currently, there are only 5 people with this qualification, including Erza, Laxus, and Mystogan."
Ryoma interjected, "Mira, did you intentionally hide your and Gildarts' names?"
"Eh?!"
Lucy's eyes widened. She looked incredulously at the poster girl who always had a smiling face and was gentle and considerate.
"Mira… is also an S-Class Mage?"
In her impression, Mirajane was delicate and needed protection, completely unable to be associated with "S-Class Mage."
When this topic was brought up, Mirajane's characteristic gentle smile showed a crack for the first time. Her eyes dimmed, and the hand holding the cup paused slightly. Her somewhat lost profile was reflected on the smooth cup wall.
Ryoma noticed this detail. He put down his tools and walked over to Mirajane. He didn't say any useless words like "you should cheer up."
He just leaned into her ear and said softly and clearly, in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Mira, it's time for the sleeping Demon to wake up."