Surprise, bewilderment, and a struggle to keep a straight face.
This was the shift in everyone's mood present.
Mage Guilds have always lived by taking requests and earning rewards by completing missions, and Hope was currently a temporary supporter of this rule.
There is no such thing as a free lunch.
"Solving such a big issue as the Water God Dragon, it would really be unreasonable if there weren't some benefits," Hope said as if it were only natural. "If every Guild Mage helped everyone they saw, what would everyone eat in the future?"
"Yeah, what would we eat?"
Natsu and Happy were instantly convinced, nodding in agreement.
The others couldn't easily refute it either; after all, they all lived off request rewards. If it were someone poor, they could provide help for free.
But the Water God Dragon, who owned a massive underwater palace, was clearly a wealthy tycoon—there was no need to be polite with him.
Melkobia let out a soft breath; he thought Hope would make some grand request, but it turned out to be just money, something he had plenty of.
Dragons like to collect shiny things. Although this setting didn't apply to the dragons of this world, Melkobia, who had spent years wandering the oceans, had collected many valuable treasures from the seabed.
As everyone knows, the one with money is the boss. Melkobia also grew bold, adopting the posture of a wealthy tycoon. "Name your price."
"Straightforward enough. Then I won't be polite."
After saying that, Hope held up one finger.
Melkobia was a bit surprised. "Only 100 million? Actually, you could ask for a bit more."
Hope shook his head.
Melkobia suddenly realized; this price was even lower than what the Council offered, which was a bit insulting and belittling to him.
He immediately said, "100 million."
Hope still shook his head.
Then it must be 1 billion. Although this amount was staggering, the wealth Melkobia had accumulated over the centuries was enough to cover it, though it would be quite a blow to his finances.
But as long as he could resolve the uncontrollable magic within him and continue to live, let alone 1 billion, even 100 billion... well, he probably didn't actually have that much... However, when Melkobia made the offer, Hope shook his head again.
Now Melkobia couldn't sit still. "Can't you just name your price? Do you have to play riddles with me? Don't you know I never went to school?"
Hope smiled, and his extended finger slowly lowered, pointing at Melkobia himself. "I'm not interested in money. What I want is you."
"Huh?!" Melkobia's mouth fell wide open.
This person couldn't possibly be lusting after my body, right?
He had long heard that among humans, there were people with severe dragon obsessions like "dracophilia" or "dragon-mania," where extremes even changed their sexual orientation, calling female dragons their wives.
But I'm male... Suddenly, Melkobia thought of something, and his hair stood on end. He felt a wave of revulsion and then let out a strange cry:
"Gua! I don't want to be your plaything!"
As soon as those words were spoken, the atmosphere instantly dropped to freezing point.
Everyone's gaze toward Hope became sharp.
"Hmph, I already felt something was off."
"To think he has such a fetish..."
"How perverted. Hope wouldn't want to... do me too, would he?"
"He wouldn't, because you're an idiot."
"Shut up!"
Erza's cold voice instantly silenced the chattering crowd. Only her voice echoed in the palace. "An emergency has arisen. We will now vote on the 'Operation: Correct Hope's Kink.' Those in favor, please raise your hands."
Shua shua shua!
As soon as she finished speaking, everyone except Hope raised their hands in unison, even including Melkobia.
Erza nodded with satisfaction. "Good. The correction action officially begins. Everyone, you may proceed!"
Fairy Tail has many ways of solving problems, but among the numerous options, only one is far ahead: fighting... using the iron fist of love to reform the wrongdoer.
Gajeel took the lead, lunging forward and tackling Hope to the ground. Then Erza and the others piled on like a human pyramid, eventually turning into a chaotic brawl.
Watching the chaotic mess in the palace hall, Melkobia sighed. Had he known this would happen, he would have been better off throwing himself into that punch Hope threw earlier.
Even if it was a staged accident, at least he would have died cleanly.
"You also raised your hand to vote in favor. Why didn't you join the others in beating him up?"
A voice came from beside him, and Melkobia replied subconsciously, "That's their guild's private family matter, after all. As an outsider, it's fine to just follow the crowd; how could I actually lay a hand on him..."
"Well, you're quite polite."
"Indeed, indeed." Melkobia smiled and turned his head. When he saw the person beside him, his smile froze on his face.
Hope was right next to him. Then who was the one being beaten?
"I used Transformation Magic on him to make him look like me," Hope said with a mischievous grin. "Don't worry, Gajeel is an Iron Dragon Slayer Mage. He doesn't have much else, but he's incredibly durable."
Actually, Hope initially wanted Natsu to take his place, since Natsu loves fighting the most. Who knew Gajeel would be so eager too? So, he reluctantly let him have the 'treat.'
Listen to that. Is that even something a human would say?
Melkobia's mouth twitched slightly; he had never seen such a brazenly shameless person.
"Alright, I'm done joking with you."
His mischievous urge satisfied, Hope stopped teasing the Water God Dragon and returned to business. "You were staring at Lucy earlier because of her celestial spirit key, right?"
Melkobia had nothing to hide. "I am close friends with the Aquarius celestial spirit, Aquarius. To tell you the truth, I've specifically studied the Celestial Spirit Gates. Based on that magic, which is similar to a spatial tunnel, I created a key that can summon me."
"I originally wanted to give it to Aquarius, but unfortunately, many years have passed without an opportunity."
Hope's eyes lit up. This guy is a talent.
Creating a key to summon oneself isn't actually that difficult; it just requires a 'tiny bit' of understanding of spatial magic. The hard part is coming up with the idea.
On the importance of a wild imagination to the development of magic.
Melkobia had opened the door to a new world for Hope. Since celestial spirits and dragons could have summoning keys, why couldn't humans?
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