Erza was stunned. She stared at Kael in disbelief.
Kael just smiled. "I said, sure. After this is over, we'll go to the marriage registration office, get our certificate, and have a big wedding right in front of the whole guild."
"Married?!!"
Lucy and Happy nearly lost it. Thankfully, they were ready—both of them had their hands clamped over each other's mouths, terrified they'd shout.
Kael kept going, completely unbothered. "And after we're married, we'll have a few babies. How many? Hmm… the more, the better."
"M-m-married… babies…"
Erza's face went bright red.
If there was one thing Erza was interested in besides armor, it was marriage. She even had a wedding dress she'd carefully chosen—hidden away in her magic storage space. She planned to wear it at her future wedding. She had only ever tried it on in her dorm, in secret. No one else had ever seen it.
Erza waved her hands frantically. "I—I—I was joking! Besides, don't… don't you like Mira?"
"I like Mira," Kael said at once, "but that doesn't mean I don't like you."
Kael put on a wounded expression and let out a dramatic sigh. "Ah… I thought my time had finally come, but my feelings were just being played with."
Seeing him act like that, Erza's guilt flickered across her face.
Then Kael laughed. "Haha. I'm kidding!"
That only made Erza more irritated. Even though she'd started the joke, she was still annoyed.
But then Kael's tone eased, and so did his expression. "Joking aside… if I could really marry a wonderful woman like you, Erza, I'd wake up smiling from my dreams."
He leaned back with his hands behind his head, relaxed as ever—but his words landed with weight. They weren't teasing this time. You could hear the sincerity in them.
Erza's heart picked up speed, and the red in her cheeks only deepened.
Behind them, Lucy and Happy looked like they'd just stumbled onto the greatest gossip of their lives. They pressed themselves still, fighting the urge to make a sound.
They never thought they'd hear something this outrageous.
Lucy's mind was already running ahead—Kael, Mira, Erza… a whole love story took shape in an instant. It hit her like inspiration for her novel.
And just when the two of them thought they might hear something even more explosive—
Suddenly, Kael's voice cut through the noise. "Hey. Are you two done listening?!"
Lucy and Happy froze.
They slowly looked up.
Kael's face was right there.
"Eek—!!!" They both screamed.
"Oh! Kael, what a coincidence!" Lucy blurted, waving awkwardly. "Are you out working, too?"
"A coincidence?" Kael deadpanned. "You've been sneaking around following me since the station. Yeah. Real coincidence."
"We were caught?!" Lucy and Happy's eyes widened.
"Did you really think you were well hidden?"
Kael had noticed them back at the station. He wasn't sure if it was because of all the "Take Overs" or his breathing technique, but his five senses—and his magic perception—were much sharper now. He'd felt their eyes on his back immediately.
He just hadn't said anything. He wanted to see what they'd do.
And these two were bold. They kept openly moving closer. He could even hear their little gasps, clear as day.
"Happy… Lucy… I saw you two at the guild yesterday.…"
Erza stood up as well and finally turned to look at them properly. She remembered Lucy from the guild yesterday. The guild was small, and Erza knew almost everyone. A new, pretty girl like Lucy stood out.
Lucy immediately bowed. "I'm the new member, Lucy. It's nice to meet you."
"I'm Erza. Nice to meet you," Erza replied. "You're the girl everyone was talking about, right? The one who took down the mercenary gorilla. You seem very reliable."
Erza had heard the rumors. It had caused a stir because it involved someone in authority, so the story had spread fast.
"That… Natsu's the one who beat him," Lucy said quickly. "The story isn't quite right…"
Lucy had spent all day yesterday explaining. She didn't know why she was getting credit for what Natsu did.
"By the way," Erza asked, "where's Natsu?"
Erza didn't know Lucy well yet, but she knew Natsu and Happy were inseparable.
"Oh—Natsu!" Lucy suddenly remembered. She hurried off and dragged the motion-sick Natsu over.
"Hngh… urgh…" Natsu looked miserable.
"Hey—! Don't you dare puke on me!" Erza snapped.
Soon, they were all sitting, facing each other.
"So," Erza said, back to her usual cool and composed self, as if she hadn't been joking with Kael a moment ago, "explain yourselves. What are you doing here?"
The sudden shift startled Lucy and the others.
"It was Natsu!" Lucy said immediately. "Natsu was curious what you and Kael were doing, so he forced me and Happy to come along!"
"Aye~!" Happy agreed without hesitation.
Following the principle of "better you than me," Lucy and Happy sold Natsu out on the spot.
"Mmph! Hngh!" Natsu muffled a protest, shaking his head and glaring at them. Yes, it had been his idea—but weren't you two just as interested? Don't pin it all on me, you traitors!
"I see," Erza said, and simply nodded.
"You… you're not mad?" Lucy asked carefully.
After seeing how the whole guild had been afraid of Erza yesterday, Lucy had assumed Erza must have a terrible temper.
"Mad? Why?" Erza said. "Actually, if Kael hadn't been here, I would have invited Natsu and Gray to come with me. With Kael here, I just don't need them."
"Then why didn't you just invite Natsu and Gray?" Kael asked, a little frustrated.
He still wanted to do that S-Class mission. The system wouldn't reward him for this, no matter how hard it was.
"Because you're more reliable, of course!" Erza said without hesitation.
"Don't think you can sweet-talk me," Kael replied. "Just tell me—what did you need help with?"
"Yeah!" Lucy leaned forward despite herself. "For someone as strong as you, Miss Erza, to need help… it must be a tough problem."
After Erza left yesterday, Lucy had gotten the details from Mira. Erza was the strongest female wizard in Fairy Tail, known as 'Titania.'
Lucy didn't know the name "Erza," but she knew "Titania." She had never expected that title to belong to such a beautiful woman.
"You don't have to be so formal," Erza said. "Just call me Erza. It's time to get to the point. This is something I overheard on my way back…"