"How was the ride, Master~!"
Lucy squinted, smiling like a cunning cat.
She stared at Natsu, who was slumped in his seat with a pale face, mercilessly enacting her "revenge."
He had tried to scheme against her just now, so this was her chance to get even.
"I can see the Under... Underworld!"
Natsu groaned weakly, looking like he was about to throw up, which made Lorne next to him shake his head.
Lorne sighed softly, "Vehicles... are indeed the ultimate weapon against Dragon Slayer Mages."
The more he thought about it, the more amusing he found it, even stroking his chin in contemplation.
It seemed the stronger a Dragon Slayer Mage was, the worse their motion sickness became.
If Acnologia, with his power, were to transform back into human form and get into a vehicle, would he also be so dizzy that he temporarily lost the ability to resist?
"Aye—! I was supposed to be the one playing the master!"
Happy flapped his wings and flew over, pouting in protest, interrupting Lorne's dangerous fantasy.
Although Lorne knew what mission Natsu and the others had taken, he still asked for details:
"Where's that mission request? Let me see the specifics first!"
Lucy slapped her forehead and pulled a request form from her clothes.
"It's this one! We just need to get a book!"
Her eyes lit up as she spoke, "The reward is 200,000 J!"
Lorne took the mission request and examined it carefully. It was indeed a request about "sunrise," and there wasn't any more information.
"Anyway, this is my first job, so I need to finish it quickly!"
Lucy waved her fist to cheer herself on!
"Huh! Don't you hate it?"
Happy tilted his head, looking puzzled.
"The client is a perverted old man. Don't look at me like this, I'm quite confident in my beauty!"
Lucy tossed her golden hair, instantly entering self-adoration mode, as if she could already see the client utterly captivated by her.
"200,000 J..."
Money glittered in Lucy's eyes.
"Let me say this upfront, you guys didn't do anything, so the reward will be split 7:1:1:1!"
Happy blinked his big eyes, innocently asking:
"Is 1 enough for Lucy?"
Lorne, who knew the inside story and had been waiting for this moment, chimed in faintly:
"Yes, didn't Lucy just say 200,000 J? So, according to this ratio... Happy, you and Natsu each get 200,000 J, and the remaining 1,400,000 J goes to me."
"Hmm! A very reasonable distribution!"
Lucy: "???"
Happy: "???"
She instantly froze, her mouth agape, the words "I'm the 7" caught in her throat.
"Huh?! Wait, wait a minute!"
A few seconds later, she finally snapped out of her confusion, her voice trembling as she pointed at the request form:
"Isn't this only 200,000 J? Where did 1,400,000 J come from?!"
Lorne shook the request form in his hand, a playful smile on his face:
"Lucy, you're not mistaken, it clearly says 200,000 J on this form."
"Then, then the 1,400,000 you mentioned..."
"Oh, that,"
Lorne blinked, feigning surprise,
"I thought your 7:1:1:1 meant that out of a total of 2,000,000 J, I would take seventy percent, which is 1,400,000 J, and the remaining 600,000 J would be split equally among the three of you."
"It wasn't? Looks like I misunderstood! What a pity!"
"2... 2,000,000 J." Lucy's breathing quickened, but she immediately shook her head vigorously.
"Aye~! Lucy is so greedy! She actually wants to take all 2,000,000 J for herself!"
Happy immediately flew to Lorne's side, looking at Lucy with an expression that said, "I misjudged you."
"I didn't! Besides, there isn't even 2,000,000 J!"
Lucy stamped her foot in anger.
"Ugh... so sick... money and stuff... yuck..."
Natsu, on the side, was completely unable to join this sudden "loot-sharing meeting," leaning against the car window with a pale face, as if he were about to ascend to heaven any second.
"Hahaha,"
Watching the bickering human and cat, and the dying Natsu, Lorne finally burst out laughing.
"There really is 2,000,000 J! After Natsu took the mission request, the client contacted the Master and raised the reward to 2,000,000 J!"
"Eh eh eh—!!!" Lucy and Happy exclaimed in unison.
Lorne silently added in his mind: "However, whether we can successfully get it... that's another story~"
— — — —
"I am the client, Kaby Melon!"
Hearing the client's name, Lucy felt like she had heard it somewhere before.
"Then let's quickly talk about the job! My request is for the book 'sunrise,' owned by Duke Eibar, to be destroyed or burned."
"Burn it! Then let's burn the whole house down too!"
Natsu smiled easily, as if saying, "Leave it to me."
Happy also unexpectedly supported Natsu's idea.
Lorne's eye twitched slightly as he listened. If Natsu didn't team up with people to complete missions, would his mission rewards truly be enough to cover the damages?
It was incredible that he hadn't ended up heavily in debt due to compensation, reduced to starving on the streets!
"No way, we'd definitely end up in jail if we did that!"
Lucy also expressed strong protest.
"Besides, I also want to hear the reason why you're willing to pay a hefty price of 2,000,000 J to destroy that book."
Kaby Melon didn't explain directly, only muttering in a low voice, yet his tone was unusually firm:
"That book must be destroyed no matter what. I cannot allow its existence."
"Alright, I'm fired up! Let's go, Lucy!"
Natsu didn't care about any of that, and he pulled Lucy and ran out.
Lorne was stunned again!
"No!"
"Are you just dragging me along as a laborer?!"
"Why are you leaving him alone again!"
Lorne shook his head helplessly and quickly followed. Natsu really did whatever came to his mind.
In front of Duke Eibar's mansion.
"I'm here because I saw the advertisement for a maid. Is anyone home?"
Lucy stood alone in front of the mansion gates, shouting inside.
She even thought to herself that as long as the perverted old man fell for her, and she burned the book, she could easily get 2,000,000 J. It couldn't be easier.
Lorne didn't stop Lucy's attempt, after all, a girl confident in her looks wouldn't doubt her charm.
Even though he knew that Duke Eibar in the story had very peculiar aesthetics.
Sure enough, the next second, a pink-haired woman with a strong build like a gorilla, and a short, stout middle-aged man with a mustache, burst out from a hole in the floor behind her with a "bang."
"Poyo yo yo yo! Are you calling for me? Let me see..."
Duke Eibar stroked his two upturned mustaches, sizing up Lucy.
"...No, go back! Ugly duckling!"
"Ugly...!?"
"That's right, go back, ugly duckling!"
The gorilla-woman next to him mercilessly added a cutting remark.
"Listen carefully,"
Duke Eibar lifted his head, looking smug,
"Only girls as beautiful as this are worthy of a great man like me."
As he finished speaking, four more bizarrely beautiful women burst out from the ground with "bang, bang, bang," standing in a neat row.
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