The entire guild hall was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Everyone's gaze, filled with a mix of fear and guilt, focused uniformly on that figure.
Hope's sight naturally followed everyone else's.
It was a girl with scarlet long hair, wearing silver-white knight's armor on her upper body and a short skirt that didn't reach her knees on her lower body. An outfit that would normally be hard to imagine together looked exceptionally suitable on her.
"I'm back."
The girl's clear, cold voice distinctly reached everyone's ears. When her sharp eyes swept over the messy hall, everyone felt a chill down their necks.
"E-Erza, welcome back."
Natsu's body trembled as if cramping, his face filled only with nervousness, no longer fired up at all.
Gray frantically put on his clothes, only to despairingly realize he didn't know where he'd thrown his pants during the brawl, making him sweat profusely.
Cana, with lightning speed, hid her wine bottle behind her, trying to pretend nothing had happened.
Elfman's muscular body tried to shrink, attempting to lower his presence.
From the moment the red-haired girl appeared, these lawless individuals seemed to have met their nemesis, each becoming as silent as cicadas in winter, trembling with fear.
Lucy, still not understanding, was startled by the sudden silence and everyone's drastically changed expressions. She looked at the imposing red-haired female knight at the entrance and quietly asked Hope beside her:
"Who… who is she? Everyone seems really scared of her?"
Hope looked at the figure at the entrance and the instantly well-behaved crowd, his eye twitching slightly, and answered in a low voice: "This is my first time seeing her in person too. You should have heard of her title — the fairy queen."
Just hearing that name, Lucy immediately remembered the red-haired girl's identity.
"fairy queen" Erza Scarlet.
One of Fairy Tail's S-Class Mages.
Like Mirajane, she was a strong woman Lucy admired, but her entrance was too imposing, preventing Lucy, who hadn't yet recovered from everyone's teasing, from recognizing her immediately.
It was also Hope's first time seeing Erza.
He had heard Wakaba and Macao, two old members of the guild, mention in idle chat that Erza was a strict and exemplary model for the guild, often acting as the guild's "Disciplinary Committee" to curb her companions' bad behavior.
Simply put, Erza was the great demon king who could subdue these problematic kids; her words were sometimes more effective than Makarov, the guild master.
Hope also found it amusing, thinking that Erza chose to return neither too early nor too late, but precisely when the guild was in chaos and Makarov was absent. This was going to be interesting.
Erza's gaze slowly swept across the mess on the floor: broken tables and chairs, wine stains everywhere, scattered items... Her brows gradually furrowed, and the low pressure emanating from her made the air seem to freeze.
"Who can tell me..."
Erza spoke, her voice calm but carrying the danger of an impending storm, "I just went out for a long-term mission, how did the guild turn into this? Where is the Master?"
Everyone was silent, no one daring to speak.
Seeing this, Erza, as usual, walked up to Natsu. Her extensive experience told her that if there was a guild brawl, 99% of the time it was instigated by this pink-haired boy.
"Natsu, quickly answer me, why did you all fight again today?"
Facing Erza's questioning, the already guilty Natsu instantly went weak in the knees, dropping to his knees with a thud, hugging Erza's leg, and tearfully recounting the reason for the incident.
Erza's intuition was quite correct.
Today's guild brawl was indeed started by Natsu.
A week ago, he heard that a "Fire Dragon" had appeared in Harujion, so he rushed there, only to find out with Happy that there was no Fire Dragon in Harujion. Instead, he discovered a Fire Mage human trafficker impersonating him, Natsu, to scam people.
Lucy was one of the victims.
The other party impersonated a Fairy Tail Mage to tarnish the guild's reputation, and the hot-headed Natsu naturally couldn't stand it, so he severely punished that Mage and his group behind him.
Of course, he also accidentally caused a little bit of damage in the process.
Later, Natsu brought Lucy back to Magnolia, but the first thing he did upon arriving at the guild was to kick the companion who provided Happy with false information in the face.
During the fight, they accidentally affected others, so one by one they got involved, eventually forming a full-scale brawl.
"I see, I understand."
Erza nodded slightly. She approved of Natsu's actions in fighting to protect the guild's reputation from being slandered, but she was skeptical of his
As everyone knew, Natsu was the strongest member of Fairy Tail's
However, just dealing with a human trafficking group, at most, would only collapse a few houses, right?
Erza thought this.
In a so-so mood, she began her daily lecture.
"Gray, put on your pants!"
"Cana, you reek of alcohol, do you still need to hide the bottle?"
"Wakaba, there's ash all over the floor!"
"Loki, stop chasing girls all day, and occasionally go do some missions for me!"
"..."
In short, everyone in the hall, without exception, was reprimanded by Erza. Only Hope and Lucy, the two newcomers, and Mirajane escaped unscathed.
After her lecture, Erza walked through the hall past the frantically tidying crowd and approached the counter. Her gaze fell on the black-haired boy in a bartender's uniform beside Mirajane, and the blonde girl next to him.
"New faces?"
"Are you newcomers?"
Feeling Erza's scrutinizing gaze, Lucy was so nervous she almost tripped over her own feet, "H-hello! My name is Lucy! I just arrived today and really want to join Fairy Tail!"
Erza nodded, acknowledging her greeting, then looked at Hope, "Are you also a newly joined Mage?"
Meeting Erza's substantial gaze, Hope appeared quite calm, "No, I'm just an ordinary person picked up by Mirajane. The Master took me in when he saw I had amnesia and gave me a job helping out at the guild."
That was indeed something Makarov would do.
Erza didn't show any suspicion and turned to Mirajane, who was imprinting the guild mark on Lucy, "When will the Master be back? I have something I want to discuss with him before making a decision."
"The Master went to Blue Pegasus to visit Master Porlyusica, but yesterday, Hibiki from Blue Pegasus sent a message saying that both Masters had received notice of a routine meeting."
Hearing Mirajane say this, Erza frowned slightly.
The routine meeting was organized by the Council for the guild masters to communicate with each other. A round trip would take at least half a month.
But that matter needed to be resolved as soon as possible... "Natsu, Gray, I need your help. Come with me and form a team."