Maids? The Magic Council?

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Margaret.

February, x786.

A month has passed since Gildarts and Ur confirmed their relationship. And the wizards of Fairy Tail were thoroughly flabbergasted when the news came out. At the same time, however, they all saw it as a somewhat expected outcome.

Meanwhile, Alfonzo, Ultear, and Juvia were kept in the dark about it. And the reason for that was simple. No one knew how Juvia, who saw Ur as one of her soul mates, would react to the news. Luckily, spending time with Alfonzo and Ultear mellowed her out quite a bit.

Even though Juvia still saw Ur, Gray, and Ultear as her soul mates, she was no longer so insistent on having them all to herself. Instead, she had adopted the thought: "As long as they are happy, I can be happy, too." Or, at least, that's what she told herself, anyway.

"Damn, it feels like the last month just flew by." Alfonzo said while levitating the materials needed for the fourth of the six training chambers he was installing into place. "And Jura still isn't back yet."

["Yeah, didn't he say he would be gone for only a week?"] Bedlam asked, curiosity lacing his tone.

"That's right." Alfonzo replied. "And Ultear is getting impatient."

["Hahaha! And that's horrible news for Lyon."] Riot said while laughing uproariously.

As Riot said, because Ultear has been getting impatient about her spar with Jura, Lyon has been her outlet. Ever since Jura left, Ultear has taken it upon herself to help Lyon, Sherry, Yuka, and Toby train. And she put most of her attention on Lyon.

"Yeah, I almost feel bad for the guy." Alfonzo said with a chuckle. "But when I think about the training Gildarts used to put me through when I was younger, I can't help but think he's getting off easy."

["He might wanna fight you if you ever told him that."] Bedlam said with a smile.

["You should tell him."] riot added while smiling deviously. ["Since we've been away from the guild, we haven't got the chance to beat any one up. And my hands are itchy."]

In response, Alfonzo only shook his head. A moment later, he turned his head towards the entrance of his work space.

At the end of his line of sight, Ultear had just finished descending the stairs from the guild hall's first floor.

"Hey, Tear, what's up?" Alfonzo asked as he got the walls of the training chamber in place.

"A letter from Magnolia came for you." Ultear replied with a smile.

"A letter, huh?" Alfonzo said as he used his magic to the floor in place. "I wonder what's going on. I hope it's nothing serious."

"Who knows." Ultear replied. "There's no sender on the envelope. So, it could be from anyone."

"a hundred thousand Jewels says it's from Lici." Alfonzo said while smiling wryly. "I don't know what makes me think that. But my instincts are telling me that it's from her."

'Letters are so outdated.' Alfonzo thought to himself as Ultear approached with the letter in hand. 'Before I make the trip to Blue Pegasus, I'm gonna read up on [Archive Magic]. Then, I'm definitely gonna pitch the idea of the internet to Hibiki. And when we get that ironed out, I'm gonna make phones that work on the basis of internet calling.'

As those thoughts ran through Alfonzo's head, Ultear made her way to Alfonzo's side. Then, she handed the envelope to him with a pout on her face.

"What's wrong, Tear?" Alfonzo asked while accepting the letter.

At the same time, Alfonzo began combing his fingers through Ultear's hair.

"I wanna have my spar with Jura." Ultear muttered as she wrapped her arms around Alfonzo. "Do you think he's avoiding me?"

"You know, if it wasn't because you wanted to fight him, I might be getting jealous right about now." Alfonzo said while wearing a smile. "I mean, you spend more time thinking about him than you spend thinking about me lately. But since you want to fight him so bad, I kinda feel sorry for the guy."

"Hahaha! Whatever!" Ultear replied while laughing hardily. Then, she playfully swatted Alfonzo on the shoulder as she continued. "You know you don't have to worry about that."

Then, Ultear stood on the tips of her toes as she whispered into Alfonzo's ear.

"But if you're unsure, I don't mind showing you just how much I love you, after we get back to our room, tonight." Ultear said in a seductive tone. "I'll even allow you to pleasure me however you like."

Rolling his eyes, Alfonzo raised his hand to swat Ultear on the butt. However, just before he could, he felt Juvia's presence approaching. Meanwhile, Ultear pouted as she did not feel the swat on her butt that she was expecting.

"I'd be happy to accept your offer tonight." Alfonzo said as he placed a kiss on Ultear's forehead. "But I really don't wanna have to clean up after Juvia's nosebleed if she were to see me smack your ass."

"*sigh* Fine..." Ultear replied as she looked back at the stairs. And as she did, she could hear the sound of approaching footsteps. "*Sigh* I think I've been too relaxed. I haven't even had my [magic Power Detection] spread out in the Lamia Scale guild hall. I mean, it's not like we're in our own guild hall, I should be more cautious."

"Don't worry about it, Tear." Alfonzo said, planting another kiss on Ultear's forehead after he spoke. "It's highly unlikely that we'd be in any danger while we're in the guild hall of an ally. Besides, I've had my [MPD] active since the moment we left Magnolia. So, things are alright."

As Alfonzo finished speaking, his left eyebrow twitched, something that Ultear did not notice. And the reason for that was the fact that he picked up Lahar and Doranbolt, along with a contingent of Rune Knights, entering the town on an air ship. And from what he could tell, the airship was headed to the Lamia Scale guild hall.

'I just raised a fucking flag.' Alfonzo muttered internally. 'And it got picked up really fucking fast.'

["Yup, sure did."] Bedlam replied in a tone filled with Schadenfreude.

["Well, look on the bright side."] Riot said. ["At least you can fuck with Doranbolt, right?"]

'Actually, now that I think about it, why the hell is that guy still working for the Magic Council?'

"*Sigh* I guess you're right." Ultear replied, stopping Alfonzo's internal conversation, while letting herself sink into Alfonzo's embrace even further. "Anyway, you should open that letter. It might be important."

"Yeah, you're right." Alfonzo replied as he unwrapped his arm from around Ultear.

Then, he opened the envelope before pulling the folded letter out.

At the same time, Juvia finally arrived in Alfonzo's workspace. And when she saw Ultear snuggling up to Alfonzo, her eyebrow twitched for a moment. But other than that, she had no reaction to the scene in front of her.

'Damn, I'm really curious to know what Ultear said to her to set her straight like that.' Alfonzo thought to himself after seeing Juvia's small reaction. 'But at the same time, I know Ultear well enough to know that it wasn't anything tame. In fact, I'd bet there were a few psychological threats involved. Still, I wish I could have been a fly on the wall.'

In fact, Ultear did not say much to Juvia when they had their talk a month ago. The only thing she told her was that she was on the verge of hating her because of the stalking and the way she treated Alfonzo. And that was more than enough to make her fall in line.

"Hmm... Let's see..." Alfonzo said as he began reading the letter. "Just like I thought, it's from Lici."

"What does it say?" Ultear asked curiously.

Even Juvia's ears perked up in curiosity.

"It looks like Ed and Al came by to hear my theory on how to fix their problems." Alfonzo replied as he glanced at Juvia from the corner of his eye.

Both Ultear and Juvia noticed Alfonzo's glance. And they had completely different reactions. While Ultear knew that Alphonse did not have a human body in the suit of armor he wore, Juvia had no interest in anyone other than Ur, Gray, and Ultear back then. Meaning, she had no idea what Alfonso was talking about. So, while Ultear nodded her head in understanding, Juvia frowned.

"Oh, and it looks like Lici, and the other girls, want to hire a group of maids to take care of the house." Alfonzo continued. "Well, I guess I saw that coming. While I can cook, and Lici and I have no issue with cleaning, the rest of you are..."

"Yeah, you don't have to say it." Ultear interrupted. "We're not the best when it comes to housekeeping."

"That's putting it mildly." Alfonzo replied while smiling wryly. "At least Mira's getting better in the kitchen, though."

"Yeah, fine... We're terrible at it." Ultear said. "It wasn't so bad when the house was smaller. But now that the house is so much bigger, we tend to make things worse."

Alfonzo only smiled in response while combing his fingers through Ultear's hair.

"Still, how many maids did Lici want to hire?" Ultear asked curiously.

"Not sure." Alfonzo replied. "But she's already got a candidate for the first one."

"Really? Who is it?" Ultear asked instinctively. Then, she shook her head before continuing. "Never mind, it's not like I know any maids."

"You've met this one before, though." Alfonzo said while smiling wryly.

"Really?" Ultear asked.

Then, Ultear fell into contemplation, trying to remember all the maids she had ever met while meeting with clients.

"I can guess what you're thinking, Tear." Alfonzo said, cutting off Ultear's train of thought. "But she's not a maid... Not by profession, anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if she worked as a maid while on quests before, though."

"Huh? That means she's a wizard then, right? Ultear asked. "I mean, she's either a wizard or a mercenary if she's taken quests, right?"

"Right. Well... half-right." Alfonzo replied. "She was a dark wizard."

"A dark wizard?" Ultear asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, do you remember that chick from Trinity Raven?? Alfonzo asked. "The one Lici saved when we raided the Tower of Heaven?"

Immediately, the light of recognition flashed past Ultear's eyes.

"Well, I don't know how she got out so fast, but that chick, Ikaruga, came to Magnolia as soon as she got out of prison." Alfonzo continued. "Then, she went to the guild hall to find Lici. And when she did, she asked to serve her, to carry out the vow she made after Lici saved her life."

"Now that you mention it, it's all coming back to me." Ultear replied. "But is it really okay to accept her?"

"It should be fine, I think." Alfonzo replied with a shrug. "I mean, she's not strong enough to hurt anyone in our family. Well... she could probably give Lucy some problems. But I don't think Lucy would lose. So..."

"Yeah, we're all a lot stronger than we were back then." Ultear replied with a nod. "And with our [Soul Armaments] there's no chance she could beat us."

"Thaht's right." Alfonzo said with a nod. "And when Lucy unseals hers, she'll be leagues ahead of Ikaruga, too."

"Anyway, does that mean we're gonna get some maids?" Ultear asked with a hopeful glint in her eyes. "It would give us more time to train if we didn't need to worry about the housekeeping."

"We'll talk about it when we get back to Magnolia." Alfonzo replied. "I'd still like to have a little talk with that Ikaruga chick before agreeing to anything."

Nodding in understanding, Ultear separated from Alfonzo.

"Anyway, I think I'll go back upstairs and help Sherria with her training." Ultear said. "I bet the same training methods Mom uses with Wendy should work."

"Probably." Alfonzo replied. "You may have to modify them a little, though. If you've ever seen Romeo train, you should probably incorporate some of his training regimen into it, too."

"Yeah, that makes sense." Ultear replied with a nod as she continued towards the stairs with Juvia following closely behind her.

Before the two ladies could reach the stairs, however, Sherria came running down. Unfortunately, she missed the last step. AS a result, she tripped and fell face first onto the ground.

"Damn, that looked like it hurt." Alfonzo said while wincing at the fall.

In response, Ultear shot a glare at Alfonzo. Though, the hint of amusement in her gaze could not be hidden.

"Sherria, are you okay?" Ultear asked in a concerned tone as she reached down to help Sherria off the floor.

"Ow… That hurt." Sherria muttered while rubbing her nose as Ultear helped her up. "Uh… Yeah, I'm okay. And I'm sorry for making you worry."

"As long as you're okay, it's alright." Ultear replied with a smile, gaining a smile from Sherria in return.

"So, why were you in such a hurry?" Juvia asked curiously while looking at Sherria enviously because of the care Ultear showed while helping her up.

"Oh, that's right!" Sherria exclaimed as she remembered why she ran down the stairs. Then, she looked at Alfonzo as she continued. "Alfonzo, the people from the Magic Council are here. And they said they wanna talk to you. So, Ooba Babasama sent me down here to get you."

Hearing that the Magic Council wanted to talk to Alfonzo, he was confused. Not only him, but Ultear and Juvia were also confused, as well.

"What did you do?" Ultear asked in an uncertain tone. "Did you finally cause a bunch of collateral damage on your last quest?"

"Of course not." Alfonzo replied while rolling his eyes.

"Then, why would the Magic Council need to see you?" Ultear asked, her confusion growing even further.

"No clue." Alfonzo replied with a shrug. Then, after folding the letter and putting it back in the envelope, he continued while putting the letter in his pocket. "But there's an easy way to find out."

With that, Alfonzo began walking towards the stairs.

"Let's go and ask them." Alfonzo said as he walked past Ultear, Juvia, and Sherria.

After briefly making eye contact, Ultear, Juvia, and Sherria quickly hurried to catch up with Alfonzo with curiosity shining in their eyes.