Following in Mirajane's footsteps, the group descended the stone stairs to the makeshift tavern on the first basent floor.
Fairy Tail, which usually brimming with laughter and cheer, to the point where one might even feel compelled to cover their ears, was now eerily silent.
All the guild mbers sat together in small clusters, each one silent and utterly speechless.
The air was thick with a sense of oppression, anger, and a deep, bitter frustration.
"Um... everyone..." Lucy began, but for a mont, she didn't know what to say; her voice sounded exceptionally clear in the silent space.
Hearing the commotion, everyone turned their heads toward the entrance, and upon seeing the figures of the group, they instantly erupted into noise.
"It's Erza and Ron, and Natsu, Gray... Thank goodness, you're finally back!"
"You saw it outside, right? The guild got trashed..."
"It was those bastards from Phantom Lord! Let's fight back and take them down!!!"
"Stop it. Our opponent is Phantom Lord, and the Council has strictly forbidden conflict between guilds..."
"..." The voices of the crowd rose and fell, all talking at once.
Mirajane swept a glance over them, and the crowd imdiately fell silent.
"The Master is over there." She stepped aside to clear the view, and looking in that direction, Makarov was sitting alone, cross-legged on a table.
He turned a deaf ear to the recent commotion, silently lifting his glass to his lips, drinking gloomily, one gulp after another.
Ron sighed slightly in his heart and walked straight up to him. "Gramps, we're back!"
Makarov's movents paused slightly, and he opened his slightly drunken eyes, scanning the group.
Then, he squeezed a smile onto his face. "Oh! You're back. How about it, Lucy? Did the job go smoothly?"
"Ah? Um... it... it went smoothly enough." Suddenly called upon, Lucy hugged Plue tightly in her arms, stamring her reply.
"What could possibly go wrong?" Ron, seeing the forced smile on Makarov's face, decided to play along, putting on a relaxed and easygoing appearance.
"It was just a 500J job. With our strongest team on the case, it was a piece of cake, an absolute breeze."
"If it weren't for Natsu and the others ssing around, we would have been back sooner."
"Is that so? Natsu is still the sa old guy, always causing trouble, hahahaha..."
If it were the past, Natsu would have been jumping up and retorting impatiently upon hearing such words.
But now, watching Makarov and Ron chatting and laughing, seemingly indifferent to what had happened, he was suddenly filled with rage.
"Gramps!!!" A roar abruptly cut off Makarov's laughter.
"How can you still be so relaxed? Our guild! Our ho! It's been destroyed!!!"
"Why can you act like nothing happened?!"
The smile on Makarov's face gradually faded. He looked at Natsu with calm eyes, waved his hand, and spoke in a nonchalant tone.
"It's fine, it's fine. Natsu, calm down. Don't make such a big fuss."
"Phantom Lord, huh..." He turned his head and took a sip of wine, his tone lingering and filled with disdainful mockery.
"That guy Jose, that's all he's capable of. Sneaking an attack on an empty guild while we were away, what's there to brag about?"
"No one was there?"
"Yes, the attack happened at night."
"I see." Erza let out a sigh of relief. "There were no casualties; that is truly the silver lining in this misfortune."
The killing intent in her eyes dissipated significantly. For her, as long as her companions were safe, the destruction of the building, while infuriating, was not irreparable.
"Did you hear that? There's no need to pay attention to guys who only know how to sneak attacks and don't even dare to face us head-on! Let them be!"
Likewise, in Makarov's heart, the children of the guild were his bottom line.
As for the guild building, it was just an inanimate object. Although seeing it destroyed was certainly unpleasant, as long as everyone was safe, he, Makarov, could swallow this anger!
After all... when do Natsu and the others go on a mission without destroying sothing!
"I can't accept this!!!"
"What do you an, 'let them be'?! That's our guild! That's the place where we all live and laugh together!"
Young Natsu could not yet understand this kind of patience from Makarov.
In his worldview, if you get taken advantage of, you hit back; if your companions are wronged, you demand justice!
"Boom!" An angry Natsu punched an empty wooden barrel beside him, instantly sending wood chips flying as the oak barrel turned into a pile of debris.
"If I don't beat them into the sky, I absolutely won't be able to swallow this anger!!!"
Makarov slamd his glass onto the table, the drunken look in his eyes vanishing, his expression turning serious.
"Alright, that's enough of this topic! Until the place upstairs is repaired, everyone will temporarily accept jobs from here."
"What?!!!" Natsu looked at Makarov in disbelief. "Is this the ti to be worrying about work? Gramps!!!"
"Natsu! Stop it right there!" Makarov shouted sternly. "Do you want to disobey the Master's orders?!"
"But—!"
"Alright, Natsu." Just as Natsu was about to argue further, Ron walked over to his side and patted him on the shoulder.
"Everyone feels bad about the guild being destroyed, but ard conflict between guilds is strictly prohibited by the Council."
"So, we occasionally need to be considerate of the Gramps's difficulties. We can't always cause trouble for him and make things hard for him!"
He recalled the Magic Council's attitude toward Fairy Tail; because they were always acting recklessly, they had received countless complaints, which made the Council very dissatisfied, and so councilors had even proposed dissolving the Fairy Tail guild.
Listening to Ron's words, a warm current surged in Makarov's heart, and he felt very comforted.
He sighed inwardly: Ron really understands ! But... what does 'occasionally' an? Does that an you don't need to be considerate of at other tis? This brat...
Although Natsu was successfully persuaded by Ron's words, he still felt incredibly stifled.
He plopped down onto the floor, pouting as he said, "But they were the ones who struck first! Are we just going to sit here and take it?"
"Of course not." The corners of Ron's mouth curled up, revealing a aningful smile.
"So things, as long as no one sees them, can't be blad on us, right?"
"You an..."
"Let's ss them up!!!"
Hearing this, Natsu's eyes instantly lit up, clearly very interested in doing such a thing.
Suddenly, Ron rembered sothing and turned to remind everyone in the guild.
"Oh, by the way, everyone, the guys who trashed our guild are probably still hanging around nearby, and they might even be watching us from the shadows."
He gently patted Levy on the shoulder, leaving a subtle mark.
"So, starting today, you must stay vigilant and be careful. It's best to travel in groups and absolutely do not get separated!"
"Especially at night, don't wander around!!!"
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