December 24th, 7:30 AM —
The morning sunlight stread through the floor-to-ceiling window, spilling across the large bed.
Accompanied by a lodious alarm ringtone, Raizel sat up, pressing a hand to his forehead.
After squinting for a mont with slightly bloodshot eyes, his gaze was inevitably drawn to the snow outside the window.
"It's snowing." Raizel shielded his eyes, observing the scene beyond the glass.
The eastern forest under the blue sky and white clouds was draped in silver, exceptionally enchanting.
A familiar sight, seemingly unchanged day after day, leaped into view.
Raizel had initially planted four red maple trees, followed by a few more later.
Now, the leaves of the maples had nearly all fallen, their bare branches covered with a thick layer of accumulated snow.
"Not making breakfast today—I'll go mooch a al at the guild," he decided.
It was Christmas Eve, and he wasn't sure if the usual street breakfast vendors would even be open.
After sitting on the edge of the bed for a while, admiring the scenery, Raizel leisurely slipped on his slippers and went to wash up. He put on the new clothes Ultear had dragged him out to have custom-made.
Initially, Raizel hadn't been too confident about this outfit, but now he trusted Ultear's taste.
Under the gray suit jacket was a black base with a white patterned cardigan as an undershirt, allowing for both warmth and style.
The pants were slightly flared, accentuating his height.
Magnolia's economy had been improving steadily in recent years, partly due to the heavy influx of visitors brought by the Fiore Garden Square.
This year, the festive atmosphere in the city was particularly strong, with various snown piled up along the cobblestone streets.
On his way, Raizel had already seen nurous snown shaped like Happy.
So seed to be attempts at sculpting guild mbers, but unfortunately, Raizel couldn't recognize who they were supposed to be at all.
Except for one he could identify—Wendy.
Because this particular snowman had curved, withered branches fashioned into her signature twin tails... with a lumpy snow-cat sitting beside it.
As for the face, though... it was hard to describe.
The guild had already started selling Christmas-thed version plush dolls of its mbers in the gift shop.
It had to be said, when it ca to making money, Makarov was a genius!
Most of the dolls were of the female mbers, with several highly popular mages selling extrely well.
Few tourists were interested in the male plush dolls, except for one—Gray's stock was nearly cleared out by Juvia.
According to Lucy, Juvia's dorm room was so cramd with all sorts of Gray rchandise that there was hardly any space left to live in.
Lucy said that the last ti she visited Juvia's place, there was no place to step and she had no idea how Juvia managed to sleep in there.
Before even entering the guild hall, Raizel caught a whiff of a delicious aroma.
"Good morning."
"No need to guess—I knew it was you," Mira smiled.
As soon as he pushed open the main door, he saw Mira bustling about in the kitchen.
"Want so?" Mira asked, noticing Raizel staring eagerly at the stove.
"Of course. I didn't eat anything at ho just so I could co mooch a al here." Raizel grinned shalessly.
"I don't see you this lazy usually."
"It's Christmas, isn't it? It's fine to be lazy," Raizel said, yawning.
"Delicious!" The steaming vegetable and lean at porridge ward his stomach, making him feel much more awake.
Receiving his praise, Mira smiled, her eyes curving like crescent moons.
"You're all up so early?" Ur's voice ca from behind Raizel.
It was just past eight o'clock.
Ur had just returned from the grocery market, planning to co early to prepare food for the mbers.
"Used to waking up early," Raizel and Mira answered in unison.
"Have sothing to eat first before working, Ur. I've already prepared everything." Mira served Ur a bowl and placed it at the counter.
"Alright. They won't be coming that early anyway," Ur sighed, shaking her head helplessly.
Right now, a bunch of the girls in the dormitory were fast asleep.
Last night, many of them were playing their new card ga, staying up almost all night.
Their card ga wasn't perfected yet, but it had beco much more interesting with the new rules.
The most addicted player was Mavis, mainly because she kept winning. Simply put, she had everyone under her thumb, reading the mbers' psychology like an open book. Mavis could even calculate the various draw probabilities in her head.
Plus, she didn't need to sleep at all, implenting the "exhaust the mortals" tactic—while others grew sleepier and made mistakes, she remained as energetic as ever.
Fortunately, Ur eventually stepped in to stop them, otherwise, they'd probably all have dark circles under their eyes today!
Gray, Freed, and Laxus arrived one after another, and Loke specially crossed over from the Celestial Spirit World to join the festivities.
"You're actually this early? Unbelievable," Raizel teased the newcor.
Several people sweeping snow at the main entrance paused when they saw Gildarts walking unsteadily toward the guild, yawning with heavy, sleepy eyes.
Gildarts maintained that sa appearance no matter the season, always wearing his heavy traveling cloak.
"I'm hungry..." Gildarts grinned, rubbing his stomach as he walked in.
"Typical you. Both Mira and Ur have prepared breakfast. Go on in," Raizel pointed toward the kitchen.
"Right away! I'll co help clean after I eat!"
"No need! You'll just cause damage if you help!" Raizel warned.
He didn't want to see the new brooms getting crushed to dust.
However, Gildarts didn't even hear Raizel's response.
Upon hearing there was breakfast, Gildarts charged in like an unbridled wild horse, sitting at the counter with lightning speed.
"So fast!" Gray and Loke's jaws dropped in astonishnt.
"Breakfast! Breakfast!" Natsu and Happy quickly greeted everyone before rushing into the guild, sitting beside Gildarts and starting to devour their food.
The area around the guild in 'Gildarts Mode' was quite easy to sweep and soon Raizel and the others finished cleaning the front steps.
anwhile, Gildarts and Natsu's eating marathon hadn't ended yet.
The two had started a fierce eating contest, consuming porridge like a wind sweeping away clouds.
Fortunately, Mira and Ur had prepared enough—Mira had used an extra-large clay pot for cooking.
Only with her culinary skills could she properly handle such a massive batch.
"Lucy and the others are coming," Happy's ears twitched.
Raizel heard them too.
Their voices arrived before they did, and he could faintly make out that they were still aggressively debating last night's card ga.
"We brought so breakfast," Ultear, Erza, and Kagura walked in, carrying several paper bags.
"Coffee?" Raizel caught the rich scent.
"Yes, we just had so bread and coffee at a cafe, so we brought so along," Ultear nodded.
They weren't planning to have a proper al at noon and would wait until the evening feast to eat heavily.
Raizel helped them arrange the coffee cups and pastries on the counter.
Each cup had a label indicating the ingredient ratios, and Raizel picked one with extra milk.
"What's the plan for later?" Ultear asked Raizel, sipping her dark roast.
The Christmas party preparations had always been Raizel's responsibility.
After taking a sip of his coffee, Raizel set his cup down.
"Hmm... Let's buy the fresh ingredients and party supplies first. The guild also needs so more decorations hung up."
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