Lucy counted out five 1,000 J bills, showing off her soon-to-be-empty wallet: "The excess can be your meal money; I don't have much money right now, either."
"..." Jude was still in a daze, feeling a bit guilty about his earlier outburst.
Rhode called everyone downstairs: "Alright, just a misunderstanding, let's head down first."
Hapi turned his head at the stairway: "Lucy, remember to call us if anything comes up."
Lucy gave him a smile: "Okay."
Jude was a bit lost in Lucy's smile.
He hadn't noticed before; his daughter really seemed to have grown up, and her smile was reminiscent of Reela's.
The father and daughter had a good chat for a while; Lucy saw Jude off and then found Erza and the others: "Sorry to keep you waiting so long. Shall we set off?"
Erza asked, "Is your dad not staying?"
Lucy nodded: "Yeah, he said he wants to start over. Just like when he was with Mom before."
Hapi said, "Lucy seems really happy."
"Because I only just found out where my name comes from today."
Lucy laughed; in the past ten years, she hadn't spoken as much with her dad as she had today.
"Huh?" Hapi wondered, "Wasn't it just randomly chosen?"
"It wasn't… well, maybe a little… no, not random at all!" Lucy didn't know how to explain.
Actually, her name was decided when her mother Reela was pregnant.
Back then, the sign of the commercial guild 'Love&Lucky' had a missing letter, turning Lucky into Lucy.
The couple found it amusing and decided that if they had a daughter, they would name her Lucy.
So it was a bit spontaneous, yet there was thought behind it; it was both casual and not casual at all…
Hapi casually made up rumors: "So, Lucy is a casual person."
"You pesky cat!" Lucy grabbed Hapi and gave him a good thrashing.
The group of four and a cat left the guild boisterously.
Rhode watched their retreating figures: "They're always so lively."
Mira nodded: "Yep, I want to team up with Lucy."
"Why?"
"Because it would be interesting to pick on someone who can make snarky comments."
"Who forms a team just to bully their teammates?" Rhode pinched the significantly thinner stack of documents he had, "Almost done, we can choose the task we take on."
"No need to choose." Mira waved a new commission form, "We just got a named task, for both of us."
"A named task for the two of us? Who has such good taste?"
Mira handed the commission form to Rhode to read for himself.
"Task requirements: As guards, ensure the successful hosting of the Harvest Festival…"
Seems like a pretty normal event.
After all, it's autumn, and not just Magnolia but many places are holding Harvest Festivals, though only places with a mages' guild have large-scale performances like the Magical Parade.
At Lamia Scale in Margaret City, they host a Thanksgiving Festival every year, which is also quite a popular event.
If a place doesn't have a mages' guild, they can only hold an ordinary celebration.
If the local law and order is poor, they might have to hire mages to prevent troublemakers.
This commission seems like that; Rhode checked the reward: "1.2 million J… A guard task with such high pay, have they provoked some troublesome enemies?"
Mira reminded: "Look at the commissioner."
"Lavender Village… Isn't this the village that had the rat infestation?"
Rhode was a bit pleased; hosting a Harvest Festival meant they had a good harvest from the crops they rushed to plant and could even spare over a million to hire mages.
Have they encountered new troubles?
Mira said: "The time is four days from now, we should be more or less free by then. Shall we go?"
You could tell that Mira wanted to go.
Rhode nodded: "Let's go, since it's a rare named task, let's see what difficulties they've met. After resolving it, we can catch a fugitive, and we'll have almost saved enough money."
"Okay!"
...
Two days flew by; Rhode and Mira wrapped up their tasks, planning to head out a day early to understand the situation.
The two reported their work to a reluctant Makarov.
Rhode coaxed: "No need to look so unwilling, right? We're just going to protect a Harvest Festival and will be back in three days at most."
"Ugh." Makarov sighed, accepting the facts.
It's easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but hard to go from extravagance to frugality.
Natsu kicked open the guild doors: "We're back!"
Hapi echoed: "We're back!"
Mira chuckled: "Welcome back, was the task successful?"
Natsu and Gray turned away, Hapi folded his wings and slowly landed on the ground, Erza sighed, and Lucy was listless.
Well, the result was obvious.
Makarov clutched his chest: "How many towns did you destroy this time?"
"Not that exaggerated…" Lucy said weakly, "This time, while capturing the criminal, we destroyed 10 rooftops, knocked over 8 stalls, broke two shops, and damaged a city center statue… So after compensation, we only got 200,000 J out of the 2 million reward."
Makarov breathed a sigh of relief; at least they didn't need the guild to help pay.
Erza said remorsefully: "I'm sorry, President, I overlooked it, and they…"
Natsu mumbled, "You said that person could use dangerous magic, so I didn't hold back."
Lucy noticed Mira's suitcase and inquired: "Mr. Rhode and Miss Mira are leaving?"
"Yes, we have a named task to handle."
"Wow~ That's amazing, having a named task." Lucy was envious; regular tasks could be taken by anyone, but named tasks could only be attained by mages with significant reputations.
She hoped that one day she could receive such a task.
"Ours is special." Mira reassured, not elaborating too much, "Anyway, we're heading off, good luck to you all."
"Uh… wait a moment, Mr. Rhode… at least help me find a suitable task…" Lucy said somewhat miserably, "I'm worried that at this rate, I won't be able to afford rent by the end of the month!"
Rhode suggested: "Why not become a server for a bit? Mira isn't here, you can fill in the gap."
"But there are five of us; the guild doesn't need so many servers, right?" Lucy surprisingly didn't count Hapi out.
Rhode replied: "I think you just don't want to do it."
Lucy smiled sheepishly.
Rhode thought for a moment and laughed: "If you don't like being a server, how about disguising as one to uncover a restaurant owner's true identity, do you want to do it?"
"Is there really such a task? Like being a spy!" Lucy's eyes sparkled; she liked such fun tasks.
Mira looked at Rhode, puzzled; she didn't remember such a task.
"That commission just came in and hasn't been registered yet; let me write it out for you."
Rhode took a blank paper and quickly jotted down the time, place, and reward, giving it to Lucy: "Once you get there, just tell the head chef you're there for the job, and then play it by ear."
Lucy, full of enthusiasm: "Got it, we'll get ready right away!"
It happened to be Lucy's turn to choose a task, so as long as she was okay with it, it was fine.
Mira glanced at the restaurant name Rhode had written—8island.
Mira stifled a laugh and nudged Rhode, for tricking Lucy into the server job she disliked most.
Counting the time, by the time they finished the named task, Lucy and her team should just be finishing their stint as servers, and Mira could barely hold back her laughter.
Can't wait for Lucy's reaction then.
Rhode is so naughty, and I love it.