Chapter 23

[Third Person's PoV]

Futarou and Tohru both appeared in front of a giant mansion with a large gate bearing a red armor chestplate logo.

Futarou went up and rang the doorbell of the gate, and after a few seconds, an older gentleman with white hair and a white handlebar mustache appeared on the intercom wearing a butler's outfit.

"Ah, if it isn't young master Uesugi," he said with a smile.

Futarou sighed, "Come on Sal, I told you to just call me by your name already. We've known each other for months now."

Sal didn't say anything except smile at Futarou's words. "I'll get the young mistress in a second. Come in for some tea."

Futarou didn't have a chance to say anything as the intercom shut off and the gate started opening. Futarou began walking inside with Tohru following close behind.

As he arrived at the front door, it was opened by Sal holding a tray with tea cups. "Tea?" he said with a welcoming smile, presenting it towards Futarou and Tohru.

Futarou sighed and took a cup, "You know I can't say no to you, Sal."

Tohru looked at Futarou, to which he nodded his head.

Tohru then took a cup and downed it in one sip before nodding happily with the taste. Sal then moved the tray to Futarou's head, to which both Puck and Orion took a cup.

"I see you got yourself a maid. What happened, got jealous from seeing our own and decided to get one of your own?" Sal teased.

Futarou just clicked his tongue, "You're damn right." Futarou then got behind Tohru and squeezed her cheeks, "I mean, look at her. I'll say I win. None of your maids could ever beat mine."

Tohru looked proud of Futarou's compliments and puffed her chest with pride.

Sal continued looking at Futarou teasingly, "You can't just kidnap a young lady from the streets, dress her up as a maid, and call her a maid."

Futarou started blushing as that's almost exactly what he did. He then pointed a finger at Sal, "You don't make the rules, old man!"

Futarou then heard metallic footsteps running towards him at a very fast speed, making his face go pale. "Oh, uh…"

"Futarou!" Erza appeared and practically tackled Futarou into a hug, causing him to let out a large groan as her metal chestplate crashed against his body.

"How are you doing that, woman? I'm incredibly sturdy. How are you squishing the air out of my lungs?" Futarou said, sounding like he was suffocating.

Erza then released him and turned towards Tohru with sparkling eyes, "Woah, so this is your dragon summon you mentioned last night. She's strong, I can feel it."

Erza stuck out her hand towards Tohru and earnestly said, "It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Erza Scarlet. I hope we can get along well. I would also like the opportunity to spar with you whenever you have the chance."

Tohru was thrown off by Erza's earnestness and unconsciously shook her hand and nodded her head.

Meanwhile, Sal's eyes widened at the piece of information before he immediately composed himself, which nobody noticed.

Erza's attention then went towards Puck and Orion. She smiled and started petting the two, "Hello, guys."

After all the pleasantries, they returned the cups to the tray.

"Are you ready to get going? We don't want to be late," Futarou asked Erza, to which she nodded.

They all then started saying their goodbyes to Sal and started walking away. As Sal watched their retreating backs, he thought back to the conversation Erza and her father had a while back.

…

(Flashback: 1 month ago…)

Sal was seen next to the lord of the house, Yorio Scarlet, a buff, muscular man with red hair and a beard, with a scar over his right eye, serving him tea.

After a few seconds, Erza knocked on the door, to which Yorio then said, "Come in."

Erza marched inside with a head resting leisurely over her sword, "You called, Father?"

To which Yorio nodded his head, "I heard you've been hanging out and sparring with a boy. Tell me about him."

Erza didn't say anything, to which Yorio raised a brow before sighing, "Erza, you are the heir and future leader of the Scarlet Armor Guild. I'm not doing this to control your life or to tell you who you can or can't spend your time with. If I had to make such a decision for you, you wouldn't have been worthy to be the heir. I'm doing this to test you, to test your ability to judge someone and to see whether you plan to invest your time and efforts in that boy. So tell me, how would you describe this boy?"

Erza didn't say anything again and looked into her father's eyes for a few seconds before sighing.

"Very well. If I had to describe him in one word, it would be a Monster," Erza said with a serious expression.

Yorio was taken aback and intrigued by what she was going to say, while Sal already had an idea as he supervised their spars.

"Continue," Yorio demanded.

Erza sighed at first before continuing, "The reason I say he's a monster isn't because of his innate ability. Yes, he has a lot of potential, but that isn't why. It's his skills and his ability to improve. When we first started, I would also win our exchanges, but he started improving after every spar. Although we have only been sparring for a few months, I'm not sure if I can defeat him fully. I'm ashamed to admit this, but it's even got to the point where he's started giving pointers and showing me where I can improve… I'm a sword user, and he uses a spear."

Those from the Scarlet family don't care about abilities, due to their own abilities they have had to depend on their skills to survive and have come a long way, so they view a person's skills before anything else about them.

So hearing his daughter, someone who has been taught their family's ways, praise someone's skills to such an extent came off as a surprise to Yorio. He looked towards Sal, someone he trusted for a long time, for confirmation.

Sal nodded his head in agreement to Erza's statement, which caused Yorio further shock, but as someone from a large guild, that shock quickly went away and focused on the more important parts.

"So tell me, do you think it's worth it to invest in him as a hunter?" Yorio asked with a serious expression.

Erza, in equal seriousness, nodded her head.

Yorio let out a sigh, "Fine, I'll allow you to continue hanging out with him."

"Wha– But you said–"

Yorio just lifted a hand with his head down, "Stop, I already know what I said. At that time, I was speaking as the leader of a household and guild leader. Now I'm speaking as a Father. Do you really think I would let some nobody come close to my daughter?" He scoffed.

Erza then started to grumble before Yorio then asked, "Tell me, how did you even meet this boy?"

Erza smiled at the memory, "I came back into the city from doing my outside training and was craving some strawberry shortcake. I couldn't wait to be picked up and the craving got the better of me, so I went into a bakery and we both ordered the same thing at the same time."

Yorio then rubbed his face at his daughter's nature before muttering, "Am I really sure I can leave the guild's future in her hands?"

"Very well, you are dismissed. Thank you for sharing," Yorio said leaning back on his chair.

Erza nodded her head and exited the room.

(Flashback: End)

…

Sal looked at their retreating back and just had one thought, 'That monster has grown even stronger, not to mention he now possesses a dragon by his side. I don't know what to be more afraid of, the monsters in the dungeon or the monster that keeps growing in our own front yard.'

Meanwhile…

Erza grabbed Orion from Futarou's shoulder and copied him by putting him on her own head, looking pleased.

Erza then noticed Futarou carrying a katana on his waist. Growing curious, she asked, "Can I see this sword? I've never seen it before."

Futarou nodded and handed it to her, "Careful though, there's a pervert spirit in there that likes girls a bit too much."

"Wha–" Erza was caught completely off guard by Futarou's statement, "What do you mean by that?"

Futarou then told her about Paimon and how she acts and how she mostly has her chest exposed with her nipples pierced.

Erza gained an awkward expression looking at the sword before shrugging her shoulders and grabbing his Katana. She pulled the blade out and watched how it shined in the sun before letting out a sad sigh.

Futarou looked at her in confusion, "What's wrong?"

"It's a shame your spirit inhabits such a beautiful sword. The sharpness, the design, the structure, the balance, if it didn't have your spirit inside, I would have bought it off of you for 50 billion yen."

Futarou's head snapped towards her with his eyes widened in shock. 'And she said that like it was nothing. She was serious too, she wasn't joking. My God.'

Erza then returned the sword and shook her head in disappointment as they walked towards the hunter's academy examinations.