"Heh, I can handle you~"
Ches gave a satisfied nod, slipping the card back into his deck before straightening up and adopting a rare serious tone.
"There's a particularly important matter that requires your assistance."
He gently peeled the clinging Black Magician Girl off his leg, reached into the deck again, and drew out the card glowing with divine power[Osiris the Sky Dragon] placing it before her.
Black Magician Girl had still been pouting, but the moment her eyes landed on the card, her whole demeanor shifted.
Her pupils shrank. Her expression turned solemn.
"W-Wait a second… that's… the Sky Dragon of Osiris?!"
"That's right," Ches confirmed. "A new companion I obtained after that fight with the Fire Dragon. I didn't have time to tell anyone while I was still traveling."
"That stupid, fire-breathing lizard! Next time I see it, I'm totally gonna beat it into charcoal!"
Just recalling that terrifying opponent made Black Magician Girl's fists tremble with rage.
Back then, the very instant she had been summoned, she'd been struck down by a single Dragon Fire–infused claw, obliterated before she could cast a spell and forced back into the deck to recover.
It was a humiliation she hadn't forgotten.
Her bright green eyes now smoldered with the spirit of revenge.
"Hmph! Nobody hurts me like that and gets away with it!" she declared.
Ches smiled faintly.That was exactly why he called her out tonight.
"Revenge is definitely on the cards, but right now, I want to try and see if I can summon the Sky Dragon. You help me maintain the activation state of the Book of Secret Arts."
With a flick of his wrist, Ches handed a shimmering Magic Card to the Black Magician Girl.
[Book of Secret Arts] A book of arcane knowledge containing intricate mysteries, capable of slightly increasing a Magician's Magic Power reserve limit.
The moment her fingers brushed the card, a delicate magic circle flared to life beneath her, and an ancient, leather-bound book materialized above her palm, its pages flipping slowly as if stirred by an invisible wind. A glowing quill floated beside it, etching unseen runes midair.
Each turn of the page released a faint shimmer of starlight, bathing the room in an ethereal glow.
Ches inhaled deeply, eyes closed, his chest subtly rising and falling. He could already feel the surge of enhanced Magic Power coursing through him amplified, stabilized.
Truth be told, he could maintain the Book of Secret Arts himself under ordinary conditions.
But summoning Osiris the Sky Dragon was no ordinary feat.
It was dangerous far beyond anything he'd attempted so far. Every fiber of his being would need to be hyper-focused, his mental strength, magical reserves, and spiritual flow in perfect alignment. He couldn't afford even a moment of distraction.
That was why he had chosen to do it here, in the familiar, safe town of Magnolia.
And that was why Black Magician Girl his trusted partner was by his side.
"Alright..." Ches opened his eyes, a determined light flickering within.
"Let's begin."
Under the anxious watch of the Black Magician Girl, Ches inhaled deeply, calming his breath and centering his Magic Power. He brought the Sky Dragon card above his head, two fingers pressed to its edge in ritual form. His expression grew solemn, lips moving in a low, rhythmic incantation:
"When the sky thunders and chaos reigns,gather the ancient magic books in the chaintheir power can reach infinity.
When good and evil converge,begin the ritual to summon the judge of hell.Descend..."
His eyes snapped open.
He was just about to declare the name Osiris when suddenly:
BOOM!!!
A deafening explosion ripped through the air, the violent tremor shaking the walls of the entire building. But… Ches hadn't summoned anything yet!
No, that's not right
Before he could make sense of it, a familiar voice pierced through the smoke now pouring through the blasted entrance.
"Hey Ches! We came to play with you!"
From within the thick fog of debris and shattered wood, Natsu Dragneel emerged, casually kicking aside the remains of Ches's obliterated front door, a cheerful grin on his face.
He had just night-attacked a summoning ritual.
Behind Natsu, Lucy tiptoed into the room, wrapped in nothing but a bath towel, her expression a mix of guilt and disbelief. Her wet hair clung to her shoulders, and she looked around cautiously, clearly realizing this wasn't quite what she'd signed up for.
Happy, meanwhile, floated in lazily behind them with a cheerful "Aye!", as if barging into someone's house mid-ritual was completely normal.
For a second, the room frozeTwo groups.One solemn and magical.The other chaotic and dripping wet.Staring each other down through a cloud of swirling sawdust and broken hinges.
Ches stood mid-summon, arm still raised, Sky Dragon card glowing faintly in his hand, frozen in a dramatic chuunibyou pose.
Lucy's eyes slowly trailed from the glowing Magic Circle to Ches's theatrical posture… and her expression gradually twisted into something complex.
Wait… did he just say something about "gathering the ancient magic books" and "the judge of hell"...?
『…Is Mr. Ches… a total chuunibyou behind closed doors?!』
As the realization hit her like a brick, Lucy's inner monologue exploded with judgmental energy. But before she could let it all show, she jolted back to her senses and bowed deeply, several times in succession, each at a perfect ninety-degree angle.
"I-I'm so sorry, Mr. Ches! I really was going to knock! But then Natsu he just ! I'm so sorry for the intrusion!!"
–––––
Let's rewind time a bit, shall we?
Back to earlier that evening, just as Ches returned to his cozy riverside residence...
She paused her quill and looked out the window, the moonlight spilling gently across her desk.
Lucy smiled softly to herself.
"Still, I really want to know what kind of person Mr. Ches is in private…"
Just then
BOOM!
A sudden explosion echoed from across the river, accompanied by the distant crash of splintering wood and a familiar, loud voice shouting:
"Hey Ches! We came to play with you!"
Lucy's face froze.
"...That voice, don't tell me !"
In the next second, Natsu's silhouette zipped past her window, leaping roof to roof, with Happy in tow.
"Aye!!"
Lucy's mouth dropped open.
『They're not seriously going to his house at this hour… right?!』
A terrible premonition rose in her chest.
"Natsu, you idiot! I just got out of the bath!"
Grabbing the closest thing she could find her bath towel still barely wrapped around her Lucy bolted after them, clutching it tightly with one hand and hissing under her breath:
"Wait! Don't drag me into your madness again!"
And thus… Lucy's unexpected, chaotic night raid on Ches's house began.
Natsu greeted her with his mouth still stuffed, waving a chicken leg casually like it was totally normal to break into someone's house uninvited.
Happy, who was buried in a bag of fish crackers, gave a muffled, "Aye!"
Lucy's eye twitched violently.
『Good evening your head! You two are the real burglars here!』
Clutching her bath towel tightly with one hand and her Celestial Spirit Key in the other, Lucy was completely torn between summoning Taurus to teach them a lesson or crying on the spot.
"What are you doing in my house?! Who told you you could just walk in?!"
Natsu wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and answered with perfect seriousness, "I smelled something good..."
"And you just… followed your nose all the way into someone's locked house?!"
"Yup." He grinned without shame.
Lucy let out a scream of despair.
"Ughhhhhh!! Get out!! OUT!!"
"But Lucy," Happy blinked innocently, "you said you wanted to get closer to Mr. Ches, right? He just got back. Let's go visit!"
Lucy froze mid-yell. "...Huh?"
"Come on, come on!" Natsu reached over, grabbed her wrist, and dragged her toward the door.
"W-Wait!! I'm still in my towel! My hair's wet! My novel my key !!"
But it was too late.
Thus began the infamous night raid on Ches's house… and Lucy's slow descent into madness.
Natsu greeted her with a smile, grease from roasted meat still on the corners of his mouth.
"Good evening... my foot! This is my house, my private space!!"
"Ahahaha, what does it matter? We just came to play with you."
"I don't remember inviting you over!"
Looking at Natsu, who seemed to think it was perfectly normal, Lucy's saliva flew everywhere. "And that dead cat over there, stop sharpening your claws on the freshly renovated wall!!"
"Aye! Lucy, have some delicious dried fish."
Happy reached behind him and pulled out a blue dried fish from his bag.
"...That's bought with my money, isn't it."
Lucy's mouth twitched, and pound signs representing anger kept appearing on her forehead.
"Oh yeah Lucy, what were you doing in your room? I think I heard the sound of a quill writing."
Saying this, Natsu took a step forward, poked his head in, and curiously peered at the desk in the room.
"Ahhhh! Go to hell!"
Afraid that her secret of writing a novel would be discovered, Lucy's face turned bright red. She spun around 180 degrees and delivered a flying kick, slamming Natsu's head heavily into the wall by the door.
Crack.
The wall immediately cracked in several spiderweb-like patterns.
Natsu instantly coughed up blood, truly instantly taken down the moment he showed his head.
Happy shivered, muttering, "Lucy is scary, Lucy is scary."
After the farce, Lucy's heart eventually softened. She didn't send these two trespassers to the Council for judgment, but instead made them each a cup of hot tea.
Her original intention was for these two to drink it quickly and leave quickly.
However, under Natsu's relentless pestering, she eventually gave in and introduced her proud Celestial Spirit Magic to them, even demonstrating it a little.
Natsu and Happy were thoroughly amazed.
"Hey hey, Lucy, wanna go hang out at Ches's place? His house is just across the river, super close!" Natsu suddenly suggested with a grin full of mischief.
He still hadn't gotten over being knocked out with a single punch by Ches earlier that day and clearly wanted payback.
"Huh? What a coincidence?! Mr. Ches lives right across from me?!" Lucy's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Even though it's only polite for a junior to visit a senior, isn't it a bit too late to drop by now? Shouldn't we wait until tomorr ahhhhh!"
Before Lucy could finish her sentence, Natsu grabbed her small hand and dragged her straight toward the window.
With a loud crash, the fragile windowpane shattered instantly.
As shards of glass flew through the air, Lucy's enraged scream echoed sharply.
"So you weren't asking for my opinion you were just informing me!"
"At least let me change into proper clothes first!"
"And! Can't you leave a house like a normal human being?!"