Lamia Scale Gets Two New Members

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Margaret.

February 23, x786.

A few weeks have passed since the Magic Council delivered the summons to Alfonzo. And in that time, not much of note has taken place. Other than Alfonzo completing the structures of the training chambers, leaving all the wiring to be completed, and Ultear growing more and more impatient with Jura's absence, resulting in Lyon, as well as the rest of his team, getting much harsher training as an outlet for her annoyance.

Then, there was the fact that Juvia managed to make her [Water Body] completely out of pure water. As long as she was not wearing clothes, that is. Unfortunately, just as Alfonzo hypothesized, her clothing was the reason for most of the impurities. The rest came from imprecise magic power control, which she managed to rectify over the last six weeks or so.

Today, however, the uneventful days would finally come to an end.

"*Sigh* There are only two more rooms to run wires from." Alfonzo said as he took a seat at a table with Ultear, Juvia, Sherria, and Team Lyon. "Then, we can finally go home."

"Yes, Juvia is ready to go home." Juvia replied. "Juvia misses Ur and Gray."

Hearring that, Lyon put on a depressed expression.

"Are you sure you can't stay a little longer?" Lyon asked in a desperate tone. "I mean, this is good for the relationship between our guilds, right?"

In response, Juvia rolled her eyes while not even looking in Lyon's direction, causing Lyon's depressed expression to become more prominent. Meanwhile, Sherria, who was watching the exchange frowned in displeasure.

"What's wrong, Sherria?" Ultear asked in a teasing tone. "See something you don't like? Why don't you tell Big Sister Ultear all about it?"

Immediately, Sherria's face was dusted in pink, the color similar to her hair. Then, she began to stutter, completely unable to put her thoughts into words.

"Oh, Sherria." Sherry said with a smile. "Are you in---"

Before Sherry could say the last word of her sentence, a word that would undoubtedly reverberate through the surroundings, Sherria jumped out of her seat and pressed her hands to her older cousin's mouth while stealing glances at Lyon, who did not seem to notice.

Ignoring the little drama playing out between Ultear, Sherry, and Sherria, Alfonzo turned to Lyon with a smile.

"Even if Juvia wanted to stay, that wouldn't be possible." Alfonzo said. "Because as the leader of this little party, when I go home, I have to take her with me. Plus, I really miss my wife, fiancées, and girlfriends. And since I have to do this all over again with Quatro Cerberus at the beginning of April, I wanna spend some time with them."

"*Sigh* I get it." Lyon replied while hanging his head.

"You'll stay long enough to show us how these new training chambers work though, right?" Yuka asked in a curious tone. "I mean, they've been hyped up so much, I'm really looking forward to seeing them in action."

"Of course." Alfonzo replied with a nod.

'And with these, whenever the Grand Magic Games start, hopefully we won't just steam roll the rest of the guilds.' Alfonzo thought to himself. 'Having some competition would be nice. And fighting Jura after he's had a chance to train under increased gravity should be pretty good, too.'

Like that, the group continued to chat, their conversation blending in with the conversations of the other wizards in the guild hall. However, this harmonious atmosphere was paused when the guild hall's doors opened.

When the doors to the guild hall opened, most of the wizards present turned their heads in their direction. And when they did, their eyes landed on a pair of young people, a young man with black hair and a young woman with brown hair, both looking to be about eighteen or nineteen years old.

"*sigh* We're finally here." The black-haired young man, Takashi, said in a tired tone. "It feels like we were on the train forever."

"Yeah, and how many times did we have to change trains before we finally got here?' The brown-haired young woman, Rei asked. "There were a few times I thought we were gonna miss out train when we almost got lost in those stations."

"Yeah, and that would have made the trip even longer." Takashi said in a relieved tone. "It's a good thing Alfonzo taught us how to circulate our magic power. Without the extra speed it provided, we really would have missed a few trains."

"Well, it's good to know you're still using what I taught you." Alfonzo said, his voice audible due to the silence that fell over the guild hall. "But I honestly didn't think you two would join a guild after declining my offer last year."

Hearing that familiar voice, Takashi and Rei's conversation immediately came to a stop. Then, they looked in the direction of the voice. And after seeing Alfonzo, who was smiling at them, they exchanged glances.

A moment later, they stepped back from the doors and looked up at the banner hanging above the guild hall's entrance. Then, after making sure that the banner was of the Lamia Scale guild mark, they stepped through the doors once again.

"I thought we accidentally came to the wrong guild." Takashi said while patting himself on the chest in relief. "I mean, I wasn't expecting to see you here, Alfonzo."

"Hahaha!" Alfonzo laughed uproariously at the reactions of his acquaintances.

"You didn't switch guilds, did you, Alfonzo?" Rei asked curiously. "I mean, we saw you fighting in the Battle of Fairy Tail Tournament less than six months ago."

"Nah." Alfonzo replied while waving dismissively. "I'm only here to do some work. Lamia Scale hired me for a construction project."

"Oh, that makes sense." Rei replied with a nod and a smile. "Either way, it's good to see you again."

"You, too." Alfonzo replied with a smile of his own. "And I see the two of you are still using the weapons I made for you back then."

"Hey, Alfonzo." Ultear said, cutting in on the conversation. "Are those the two that you helped when you went to take care of that zombie outbreak? The ones that you mentioned who decided not to follow you back?"

"That's right." Alfonza replied. "They're Takashi Komuro and Rei Miyamoto. They went to the same school as Saeko, Saya, and Kohta."

Nodding in reply, Ultear returned her attention to the new arrivals.

"Anyway, I'm sure you didn't come here to talk to me." Alfonzo said, also turning his attention back to Takashi and Rei. "You're here to join Lamia Scale, right?"

"Yeah, that's right." Takashi replied.

Nodding his head, Alfonzo then turned his attention towards Sherria, who was listening to his conversation with the newcomers with interest.

"Sherria, you should probably go tell Ooba Babasama that you have a couple of people who want to join the guild." Alfonzo said.

In response, Sherria nodded her head vigorously. However, before she could stand up, the sound a footsteps and a walking stick could be heard from the top of the stairs.

"No need." Ooba said as she slowly descended the stairs. "I heard everything."

For the next few moments, the wizards of Lamia Scaled watched Ooba climb down the stairs. Meanwhile, Takashi and Rei took a few more steps into the guild hall.

Eventually, Ooba and the two aspiring wizards from Takanosu were standing face to face. And while Takashi and Rei looked at the Lamia Scale guild master with nervous expressions, Ooba let her discerning gaze roam over the two young people in front of her.

"It looks like the two of you started training pretty late." Ooba said after she finished her inspections.

"Yes, Ma'am." Takashi replied with a nod. "In fact, we didn't even know we had any magic power until October of last year."

Hearing that, Ooba nodded her head, Takashi's reply matching up with her initial assessment.

"And why did you decide to join Lamia Scale?" Ooba asked. "From what I heard, Alfonzo both saved your lives and taught you how to harness your magic power. Wouldn't joining Fairy Tail make more sense?"

"Honestly, we considered it." This time, Rei was the one to reply.

"And we were torn between Fairy Tail and Lamia Scale." Takashi continued. "But since Jura Neekis is a member of Lamia Scale, that is what clenched it for us in the end."

"Jura fans, huh?" Ooba asked while stroking her chin with her free hand.

"Well, that's part of it." Takashi replied. "I actually wanted to learn [Earth Magic]. And as a member of the Ten Wizard Saints who specializes in [Earth Magic], I thought there would be no one better to guide me if I needed it."

Nodding in response, Ooba turned her attention to Rei.

"And what about you, Girl?" Ooba asked.

"Wherever Takashi goes, I go." Rei said as she reached out and grasped Takashi's hand with a smile on her face.

"Looks like he finally grew a pair and confessed, huh?" Alfonzo said, breaking the atmosphere. "Saya complained about that part of you a lot ever since she joined Fairy Tail."

Immediately, all the Lamia Scale wizards turned incredulous expressions towards Alfonzo. Meanwhile, Takashi and Rei's expressions reddened quickly.

"Just ignore him." Ooba said, waving off Alfonzo's interruption. "His opinion doesn't matter. He's an outsider, anyway."

Immediately upon hearing Ooba's comeback, Alfonzo threw himself into Ultear's arms, causing Juvia's eyebrow to twitch.

"Tear, Ooba Babasama is bullying me!" Alfonzo whined.

In response, Ultear could only smile wryly as she ran her fingers through Alfonzo's dreads.

"If you'd stop causing trouble, she wouldn't bully you." Ultear said.

Smiling brightly in response, Alfonzo stayed silent as he continued to snuggle with Ultear while watching Ooba, Takashi, and Rei. And the rest of the conversation did not last very long. In conclusion, Ooba did not mind accepting Takashi and Rei into the guild. So, in front of the rest of the wizards present, she placed the guild mark on each of them, with Takashi's on his left shoulder and Rei's on the back of her right hand.

"Now, let us celebrate the joining of two new members to our family." Ooba said as she put the guild stamp into her pocket.

"Yeah~~~~~~~~!" The wizards of Lamia Scale cheered happily.

Meanwhile, Takashi and Rei were slightly overwhelmed with the fervor the rest of the guild showed them. However, when they registered that there would be a celebration, their eyes turned to Alfonzo.

"Oh, shit..." Alfonzo muttered, knowing exactly what the glint in Takashi and Rei's eyes meant. "Don't do it, please."

Hearing Alfonzo's muttering, Juvia and Ultear looked at him with confusion. A moment later, however, they also realized what he was talking about.

"Alfonzo, since we're having a celebration, do you think you could cook?" Takashi asked, drool leaking out of his mouth as he spoke.

"Yeah, we've been craving your cooking ever since you left Takanosu." Rei added. "It was a shame that we couldn't have some of your cooking when we came to Magnolia for the Harvest Festival."

As soon as Rei's words ended, the guild hall fell silent. Most of the Lamia Scale wizards only looked at Alfonzo with skepticism, not believing that he could cook. At the same time, they were thinking, if he could cook so well that the new members had been thinking about his cooking for months, then why didn't he cook at all while he was here for almost two months.

"Now that I think about it..." Ooba said while, once again, rubbing her chin with her free hand. "I remember Makarov saying something like that. He bragged about you being 'a real wizard in the kitchen'."

With that, all the skeptical gazes turned into ones filled with blame.

"Well... Shit." Alfonzo muttered as he slowly separated himself from Ultear. "If you all will excuse me, I just remembered something back in my hotel room. So, I'll see you all later."

With that, Alfonzo started walking towards the guild hall's entrance. And while he did, he glared at Takashi and Rei for speaking too much.

Just before Alfonzo reached the doors, however, the entire doorway was frozen over.

"[Ice-Make: Wal]." Lyon chanted while making his casting gesture. "After hearing Ooba Babasama, I just remembered hearing Master, Gray, and Ultear bragging about your cooking during the Oración Seis subjugation quest."

Immediately, Alfonzo spun on his heels. And when he did, his glare landed on Ultear, who looked away awkwardly.

"Don't look at me like that." Ultear said while smiling wryly. "I had no idea you would be spending so much time at Lamia Scale when I bragged about that back then."

Knowing what Ultear said was true, Alfonzo could only let his shoulders slump.

"Fine, I'll cook." Alfonzo said in a resigned tone. "But it's gonna cost you."

Expecting a response like that, Ooba nodded her head. At the same time, Takashi and Rei's expressions lit up. Meanwhile, the rest of the guild looked forward to Alfonzo's cooking. And if it was as good as Ooba, Lyon, Takashi, and Rei said, they would be happy. On the other hand, if it were terrible, they would spread the rumor as far, and as fast as they could.