Drake had to admit that he didn't possess the protagonist's essential skill: Talk-no-jutsu.
After dealing with Suzaku, Drake returned to Stella and the others. Unsurprisingly, Stella and Kagura had both triumphed over their opponents.
Skullion's power over bones had been brutally crushed by Stella's dragon power, and Madmole's supposedly impenetrable armor had failed to withstand Kagura's Gravity Blade Arcane Art.
Skullion and Madmole didn't possess Acnologia's overwhelming strength, and weren't necessarily stronger than Stella and Kagura to begin with.
Combined with the classic Fairy Tail buffs of "facing an opponent they had previously defeated" + "danger to their companions," the result was only to be expected.
However, the aftermath wasn't so smooth.
Drake didn't know why Luce had lost his memories of his past life, but he clearly didn't believe Drake's claim that he had once been a member of Fairy Tail.
Unable to convince him otherwise, Drake had to trade the key to the Dragon Shackling Ring and the release of Suzaku and the others in exchange for Luce undoing the magic on Sting and Rogue.
With everything resolved, Drake led his group back to Earth-land, back to Fairy Tail.
Having been busy for so long, Drake intended to rest properly. After shaking off his fatigue, he also planned to go to a new world to continue his training.
And so, a month passed!
Drake sat at the bar, sucking on a straw in his drink, marveling at the beauty of these peaceful days.
Stella had said that she wanted to experience the work of a mage, so she and Kagura had teamed up to take on requests.
Sting and Rogue had left even earlier; after returning from Guiltina, the two had become even more diligent.
Chelia had also gone to continue learning God Slayer magic, dragging Wendy along as a classmate. Drake had approved of the two little ones becoming friends.
The others were also working or resting as usual, creating a harmonious scene.
Just then, Macao walked over with a stack of documents, saying, "Drake, this is the guild's report for this period; take a look!"
Drake spat out his straw, replying, "Me? I'm not the guild master; why would I look at this? Weren't you supposed to serve as the Fourth Guild Master until the old man and the others return?"
Macao slammed the documents on the bar, exclaiming, "When did I ever say that? I don't remember us ever discussing such a thing!"
Drake immediately retorted, "You probably said it when you were drunk! I told you not to drink so much; it's clearly affecting your memory!"
Macao glared at the glib-tongued Drake, his eyebrows twitching with annoyance.
However, he soon deflated, sitting down next to Drake and saying, "I know you don't like being tied down as the guild master, Drake. But we all know that you're the most suited for the position.
Without you, who knows what the guild would have become, and the same is true for the future. You're the only one who can lead everyone!"
Drake was silent for a moment, before suddenly smiling, saying, "Fairy Tail doesn't need to be led. The old man only protected everyone as they slowly grew.
The current guild is the same; I'll protect everyone like the old man did. But I can't stand being the guild master."
Macao sighed, knowing that he couldn't convince Drake, and pushed the documents over.
"Even if you don't become the guild master, you should still care about these things!"
Drake wondered what was causing Macao so much trouble, and picked up the documents to take a look.
As he read, Drake felt like he was having a heart attack, finally understanding why Makarov had always wanted to retire.
After winning the Grand Magic Games, Fairy Tail had become famous throughout the kingdom. The number of requests had also increased significantly.
The first few pages were fine, consisting of reports on completed requests and proof of payment. But the things below made Drake's blood pressure skyrocket.
They were accident reports detailing the damage caused by Fairy Tail members while on the job, as well as reprimands from the Magic Council, along with notices of fines and compensation.
Drake restrained himself from tearing the documents to shreds, forcing a smile as he said to Macao, "What's going on here?"
Macao spread his hands, saying, "What else could it be? It's just what you see. Why are you so surprised; isn't this normal for us?"
Drake scratched his head; it had been normal before because of Natsu and that group of reckless problem children, but they were still on Tenrou Island!
The other members of the guild should still be normal; they couldn't possibly be causing so much trouble, could they?
Suddenly, Drake thought of a possibility, and looked at Macao tentatively, saying, "The jobs that caused these problems… weren't done by…?"
Macao ruthlessly shattered Drake's hopes, nodding, "That's right; it was them."
Saying this, Macao pulled out one of the documents, saying, "This job was done by Sting and Rogue. That Sting blew up the entire Harujion Port. Natsu only blew up half of it before; young people these days are really energetic!"
Drake's eyes glazed over, and he seemed to see Sting flashing a thumbs-up, revealing his pearly white teeth.
"Drake-san, I'll definitely surpass Natsu-san; you just watch!"
Before Sting had left for work, Drake had naively thought that he just wanted to become stronger because he had been forced to sit on the sidelines during the battle with the Dragon Eaters! Who would have thought…
Don't surpass Natsu in such a terrible way, you idiot!
Drake almost threw the documents in his hand to the ground, and pulled out another one, saying, "Then what's this? How did the Habeca Snow Mountain get flattened?"
Macao said, "Who else could it be? Only Stella and Kagura went to harvest Habeca ice."
Drake slumped into his chair, feeling drained. Why would a harvesting job result in the flattening of an entire snow mountain?
Wait a minute… Drake remembered that Sting and Kagura, who had joined Sabertooth and Mermaid Heel in the original timeline, shouldn't have been the kind of problem children who caused so much trouble. How had they managed to cause so much trouble this time?
Drake looked at the Fairy Tail crest, wondering if having that guild crest imprinted on you had the effect of turning you into a problem child.
So, with that group of problem children gone, he had gone and found a new group of problem children himself! So all of these troubles were Drake's own fault.
Macao, seeing Drake's dead eyes, said, "Don't be like that; it's not a big deal!"
Drake grabbed all of the documents that looked like they would cause a headache and shoved them into Macao's hands, saying, "Since it's not a big deal, then I'll leave it to you to handle! I really can't handle this kind of thing!"
Macao thought about it and didn't refuse; these things were indeed very troublesome. Some of them even required him to attend inquiries from the Magic Council.
Thinking about Drake's personality, what would happen if those councilors said something harsh during the inquiry? Drake might just send the entire Magic Council flying.
Drake didn't know that Macao actually thought of him as a problem child; he was just relieved that someone else was taking over those troublesome jobs.
No, he had to put the plans for a new world on the agenda as soon as possible. If he kept worrying about these problem children, he would prematurely age.
Inside the Fairy Tail Guild Hall, Drake sighed as he looked at the four people kneeling obediently before him.
"Alright, let's go one by one! First, Sting, why did you blow up the port?"
Sting looked up, saying, "The job was to defeat pirates, right? Those guys were all weak and fast, and I didn't have the patience to catch them one by one…"
"So you blew up the entire port, is that it!"
Drake's icy voice immediately cut off Sting's triumphant boasting, and he obediently lowered his head, saying, "I'm sorry; I'll be more careful next time!"
Rogue also lowered his head, saying, "I'll make sure to restrain this idiot next time!"
"Hey, Rogue, that's too much; calling me an idiot and all!"
"Sting has always been a hot-blooded idiot!"
…
Looking at the two arguing, Drake immediately knew that these two were the type who would say "I know, I'll do better next time," without actually realizing what they had done wrong.
Clearing his throat, Drake silenced the arguing pair, and they lowered their heads, no longer speaking.
Drake turned to Kagura, saying, "I thought you would be more mature. Tell me, why did you flatten the entire snow mountain?"
Kagura sat up straight, saying, "We encountered a cave while on the job, and found a strange monster inside. We got a little serious during the fight.
We didn't expect the structure of the cave to be connected to the entire mountain, so…!"
Stella chimed in, saying, "That's right; who knew that destroying a cave would cause the entire mountain to collapse! We were almost buried inside."
So that's what happened; that was understandable… not really!
It was a snow mountain that had stood for hundreds of years, not something made of building blocks. Even if the cave was connected to the mountain structure, it couldn't possibly cause the entire mountain to collapse so easily.
That "got a little serious" that Kagura mentioned probably wasn't on the level of a certain Great Tomb of Nazarick's Floor Guardian's finger snap, was it?
Seeing Drake's completely darkened face, the four lowered their heads, saying, "We were wrong!"
Looking at the four, Drake could only sigh, saying, "Alright! These things aren't a big deal."
The four breathed a sigh of relief, and Drake smiled as he looked at them.
"Don't act like that; we're Fairy Tail mages. Once we've chosen a path, we have to walk it head-on, and follow our own magic path; that's our style."
Macao, watching this scene, couldn't help but secretly wipe away the tears in the corners of his eyes.
Time seemed to have flowed backwards, returning to the time when everyone was still here.
"However, you still have to take responsibility for what you've done; go to work and earn back the fines!" Drake added as a final note.
After scolding the group of problem children, Drake picked up his cup and took a big gulp.
Macao, who was standing nearby, smiled and said, "You weren't that angry, were you? You were too harsh on them!"
Drake sighed, saying, "There's no way around it; if I didn't do that, those guys wouldn't learn their lesson. The guild can't take any more problem children!"
Macao nodded in agreement, then suddenly remembered something, saying, "Oh, that's right; I almost forgot to tell you something."
Saying this, Macao pulled out an invitation from his pocket and handed it to Drake.
Looking at the pink ribbon on the invitation envelope, Drake said in surprise, "A wedding invitation; who's getting married?"
Macao replied, "It's Bisca and Alzack. To be honest, it's surprising that those two are only deciding to get married now."
Drake nodded in agreement; those two should have made things official a long time ago.
Bisca and Alzack were both immigrants from the Western Continent, and had joined the guild at the same time. Since they were both gun mages who used firearms, they had always worked together after forming the team "Eagles."
It was likely that even Natsu, that emotional idiot, could tell that the two liked each other, but neither of them had the courage to confess first.
They both knew that the other wouldn't reject them, but they just didn't have the courage, being so innocent that it was almost painful.
However, Drake had known all along that the two would end up together, and that they would have a cute daughter in the future. He hadn't expected them to be getting married at this time.
"A wedding, huh!"
Drake suddenly became sentimental; speaking of which, Stella's father had mentioned the possibility of the two getting engaged, but only after Stella had finished her studies.
Drake had naturally said that it was fine; their relationship was already that of a betrothed couple.
Drake wasn't worried about his own love life, but he was quite concerned about his friends.
Take the people in Fairy Tail, for example; although there were several potential couples, none of them seemed to be progressing smoothly.
The first one that came to mind was Natsu; there was no way around it, since Drake had promised Igneel that he would take care of this younger brother.
Natsu was definitely the most worrying of the bunch; although his relationship with Lucy was practically set in stone, Natsu himself just didn't get it.
There was no way he could expect a guy whose head was filled with nothing but eating and fighting, and who was like a child, to suddenly understand what love was!
Why couldn't he learn from Gajeel? Eight years from now in the original timeline, he had even had a child with Levy!
Come to think of it, Gajeel and Levy were one of the few couples that had actually achieved a happy ending. Unlike the others, who were just infuriating.
Gray and Juvia were a prime example; Juvia had been so persistent that it was almost scary, but the two still hadn't made their relationship official.
If he was a scumbag who was playing with her feelings, it would have been easy; Drake would just have to physically correct his personality.
But the guy was also innocently pure-hearted to the core. He was constantly worried about whether he could protect Juvia, which was why he was afraid to commit.
They had both confessed their feelings for each other, but were too afraid to move forward because of such a ridiculous idea.
They were much luckier than Erza and Jellal. Although the two were also in love, the things they were grappling with were much heavier.
However, with Drake's involvement this time, Simon hadn't died at Jellal's hand, so the obstacles between them shouldn't be as great.
Then there was Elfman and Evergreen; those two should be progressing smoothly. Judging from their behavior, they might already be together, but were just keeping it a secret.
Speaking of Elfman, that brought to mind Mirajane and Lisanna; those two girls didn't seem to have any definite love interests.
Lisanna had expressed her feelings for Natsu, but the childhood friend couldn't compare to the transfer student, Lucy. Who would have thought that the white-haired girl would end up as the loser?
That left Laxus in the main group; well, he seemed to be close to everyone, but didn't seem like he could develop a relationship with anyone.
Wait a minute… Drake suddenly realized that Laxus' love life should be something that Makarov was concerned about; why was he worrying about it?
Drake sighed, thinking that there was no point in others worrying about such things; it all depended on them. All he could do was continue to grow stronger in order to create a future where everyone could be happy.
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