The heavy oak doors of the study clicked shut behind Kai with a heavy, atmospheric thud.
Jude Heartfilia stood by his massive desk, his back to the entrance as he adjusted his golden cuff links. "I believe I made it quite clear that I am not to be disturbed while reviewing the railways' quarter-end—"
Jude turned around, his words cutting short. He froze, his sharp eyes narrowing as he took in the young man leaning casually against the doorframe. Kai didn't look like a standard guild mercenary. He wore a crisp, tailored coat over loose traveling clothes, his brilliant golden eyes glinting with lazy amusement, a tiny, brass mechanical spider resting idly on his shoulder.
Recognition flashed in Jude's eyes, quickly followed by a dark scowl.
"Minister Sunveil," Jude said flatly.
Kai smirked, taking a few languid steps into the room. "Oh? You recognize me? I feel honored, Moustache Man."
Jude didn't flinch. He walked slowly around his desk and took a seat in his high-backed leather chair, steepling his fingers. "The rogue minister. You are quite popular amongst the noble circles for your utter lack of proper etiquette."
"Not a lack of etiquette," Kai corrected smoothly, pulling out a chair across from Jude and dropping into it with unbothered grace. "I just don't respect you morons."
Jude's jaw tightened, but he maintained his stoic posture. "Why are you in my home, Sunveil?"
Kai leaned back, crossing his legs and sighing softly. "What happened to your famous noble etiquette, Jude? No tea or juice for a guest? A man travels three hours on a bumpy train with a screaming, motion-sick dragon slayer, and he can't even get basic hospitality?"
Jude stared at him for a long, heavy second before lifting a small silver bell and ringing it once. A nervous young maid peeked into the room. "Bring tea," Jude ordered coldly, never breaking eye contact with Kai. The maid scurried off, shutting the door behind her.
"Now," Jude said, resting his elbows on the desk. "Speak."
Kai's smirk vanished, replaced by an airy, mocking smile. "Well, to put it simply: you funded an illegal inter-guild war, endangered two major cities, and put millions of innocent lives at risk purely for your own personal gain. Might I say, that is exactly the image of nobles I had in mind when I worked in Crocus."
Jude scoffed, waving a dismissive, ringed hand. "Your accusations hold no solid ground, Minister. I am a private citizen exercising my legal rights."
"Is that so?" Kai chuckled. "So you didn't hire Phantom Lord and assign them the task of capturing your daughter?"
"I did," Jude replied without a shred of hesitation. "But how a guild and its mages carry out an allocated task is the sole responsibility of the guild. I merely hired the top legal guild in Fiore to return my runaway daughter. How they executed that contract was their choice. The client carries no legal liability for a contractor's tactical errors."
Right on cue, the maid returned, setting down a porcelain teapot and two pristine teacups with trembling hands before quickly bowing and darting out of the room.
Kai picked up his cup, blowing gently on the steaming amber liquid before taking a quiet sip. He let out a contented hum.
"You really don't disappoint me, Jude," Kai said, setting the cup down with a delicate clink. "Good to know at least you have something going on in there besides your head being rammed entirely up your own ass."
"Mind your tongue!" Jude growled, slamming a palm onto the mahogany surface. "Now I understand why you are so thoroughly disliked by the court!"
Kai smiled, taking another slow sip. "They can't beat me, so they just hate me like the losers they are. Their opinions are as valuable to me as their existence—which is currently in the negatives."
"Just why are you here?" Jude demanded, his voice dropping into a harsh rasp.
Kai set his cup down, his golden eyes finally losing their lazy sheen, sharpening into something cold, analytical, and dangerous.
"Work, of course," Kai murmured. "By the way, I heard you were planning to marry your daughter off, but she threw the offer right back in your face."
Jude glared at him. "What is my family's private business to you?"
"General knowledge, man," Kai smirked. "But getting back to the topic... your logic is definitely sound regarding the legal separation between a client and a guild. After all, if we blamed clients for a guild's collateral damage, every single one of Fairy Tail's clients would be rotting in a dungeon for property destruction."
Kai leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
"But your case is different, Jude Heartfilia. You are a noble of Fiore. You hold land, titles, and political influence meant to uphold the laws of the kingdom and its safety above all else. Your actions—even indirect—are subject to state-level scrutiny when they cause catastrophic instability. Especially when those actions were executed on your direct command, in territories beyond your jurisdiction."
Jude's brow twitched. "What are you driving at?"
"Magnolia and Oak Town both suffered astronomical losses to their infrastructure," Kai said smoothly, counting off on his fingers. "The Mayor of Magnolia happens to be a very good friend of Fairy Tail. To help a friend, I'd be more than happy to personally draft his official complaint and deliver it straight to the King."
Kai took a step closer to the desk, his voice dropping to an icy whisper.
"Consider the optics, Jude. The people lost their sense of safety. Magnolia lost half its town square. Phantom Lord—one of the kingdom's top legal guilds—was completely dismantled. Combine those two municipal disasters with the fact that you indirectly endangered my life..."
Kai paused, letting the weight of his former royal rank hang in the air.
"...And then think about Princess Hisui. How would poor Hisui feel, knowing that a man she holds in such high esteem is actually a petty, greedy pig? What happens when King Toma himself loses every ounce of respect for the Heartfilia name?"
Jude froze. The color slowly drained from his face.
"Best-case scenario?" Kai continued, smiling warmly like a teacher delivering a gold star. "You lose the Heartfilia Konzern. You are forced to liquidate every asset to pay for the massive physical damages and compensate every single affected citizen in two regions. And on top of that? The rest of the noble houses—the ones who've been waiting for you to slip up—will tear through your remaining wealth the absolute second you lose royal protection."
Jude sat completely paralyzed, his breath hitching in his chest. His mind raced, calculating numbers, political favors, legal loopholes—and finding absolutely nothing to shield him from the Crown's direct intervention.
Jude swallowed hard, his posture collapsing slightly as he forced out the words. "Is there... is there any way to avoid this?"
Kai raised an eyebrow, putting on an expression of pure, unadulterated innocence. "Who knows?"
Jude felt his temper spike, but the terrifying reality of losing his entire empire forced him to swallow his pride. "What do you want from me to drop this?"
Kai leaned back in his leather chair, crossing his legs and swirling the remaining tea in his cup with a thoughtful, predatory smirk.
"Destroying you completely is exhausting, Jude," Kai said softly. "Paperwork, royal hearings, liquidating assets... frankly, it's a hassle. And besides, the noble circles are filled with scavengers who would just swallow up your estate anyway. Why let them have the fun?"
Jude stared at him, his brow furrowing. "What are you suggesting?"
"I am suggesting an arrangement," Kai said, his eyes glittering like freshly minted coins. "I don't care about your money, but I do care about convenience. I am an active researcher and an operative. Sometimes I need high-tier lab equipment, rare magical alloys, or private shipping channels without the Magic Council breathing down my neck."
Kai leaned forward, resting his elbows on Jude's desk, looking straight into the older man's eyes.
"And more importantly... I dislike dealing with royal bureaucracy personally. When I need a whisper in a Duke's ear, a noble voucher, or access to high-society archives in Crocus, I don't want to dress up and bow. I want you to do it for me."
Jude's eyes widened slightly. "You want me to be your proxy in high society?"
"I want you to be my silent asset," Kai corrected deadpan. "You keep your title. You keep your trains. You keep pretending to be the big, terrifying head of the Heartfilia Konzern. But when I send a letter asking for a research grant, a shipment of Lacrima, or political leverage in the capital... you fulfill it immediately, quietly, and without question."
Jude clenched his fists beneath the desk, his ego screaming in protest. "You're blackmailing me into servitude!"
"I'm giving you a business partnership where I hold 100% of the voting shares and you get to keep your head," Kai replied smoothly, taking a final sip of tea. "If you refuse, I step out these doors, send a missive to Princess Hisui, and let the vultures strip your estate bare by next week. Your choice, Moustache Man."
The study fell silent. Jude could practically hear the ticking of the clock on the wall as the implications crashed down on him. This wasn't a negotiation between a businessman and a guild mage. It was a noble staring down a man who possessed the King's ear, the Princess's trust, and enough influence to ruin him without ever raising his voice.
Finally, Jude let out a long, defeated breath, his shoulders slumping. "...What is your first request?"
Kai smirked, setting his empty cup down on the desk. "A line of credit for my personal research lab in Magnolia, and unrestricted access to Heartfilia private freight shipments. A formal contract will arrive at your desk by tomorrow morning."
Kai stood up, smoothing his lapels. "It was a pleasure doing business with you, Jude. Give my regards to the servants."
Without waiting for a reply, Kai turned on his heel and walked out of the study, leaving Jude sitting alone in the cold room, staring blankly at the empty teacup.
***
As Kai walked down the grand marble staircase of the estate, the surrounding servants watched him in total silence.
When he stepped out into the crisp afternoon air, a tiny metallic clicking sounded near his collar. A tiny, brass-plated mechanical spider—Pixie—scrambled out of his coat pocket and climbed onto his shoulder. It raised two slender copper legs, clicking rapidly in a series of rhythmic mechanical chirps.
Kai turned his head slightly, looking at the device with a calm expression. "What?"
Pixie clicked three more times, spinning a tiny gear on its back.
Kai smirked, letting out a soft laugh. "Destroying him? Why would I destroy a gold mine? Let the other nobles or the natural consequences of his actions tear him down later if they want. In the meantime, I have unlimited funding for my phase-anchor experiments and a noble mouthpiece whenever I need one."
He patted the tiny brass spider gently on the head. "Efficiency, Pixie. Efficiency."
***
A few minutes later, Kai reached the grassy hilltop near the estate gates where Team Natsu was waiting.
The second his boots crunched on the gravel, the entire group swarmed him.
"KAI!" Lucy shouted, running up to him with her hands clenched into fists, her eyes wide with worry. "What happened?! What did you say to my dad?!"
"Did you melt his desk?!" Natsu yelled, punching the air. "Tell me you melted his desk!"
"Did you engage in physical combat?" Erza asked sternly, her hand resting on her pommel.
Kai stopped, looking at the anxious circle of faces surrounding him. He let out a dramatic sigh, placing a hand over his heart and looking at Lucy with a soft, deeply serious expression.
"I asked him for your hand in marriage, Lucy," Kai said smoothly. "He agreed. The wedding is next Tuesday."
The entire hilltop went dead silent.
Lucy froze solid. Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, and a dark, violent crimson blush exploded across her face, traveling all the way down to her neck. "W-W-W-WHAT?!"
Erza's jaw dropped, her armor clanking as she stumbled back a step. "M-Marriage?! But y-you never—"
"WHAT?!" Natsu and Gray screamed in unison, their eyes popping out of their heads.
"AYE?!" Happy shrieked, dropping his fish. "LUCY IS GETTING MARRIED TO THE GEAR GUY?!"
Lucy stood paralyzed, steam practically pouring out of her ears as her brain short-circuited. "K-Kai... you... he... I..."
Kai stared at them for three seconds before bursting into a quiet, breathless chuckle.
"Just kidding," Kai said, waving a hand casually as he walked past the frozen group toward the train station. "We just had some tea and a wonderful discussion about responsibility."