"It's the cute furball that appeared during the day!"
This time, it was Lucy's turn to be drawn in. She excitedly opened her arms toward the Chestnut Ball.
Chestnut Ball seemed to have a good impression of Lucy. He looked back to ask for Ches's opinion, and after getting his consent, he floated into the soft and gentle embrace.
After petting the fur for a while, the two blonde girls put down the cute things in their arms at the same time.
Chestnut Ball and Plue stood on the coffee table and looked at each other in silence for two and a half seconds.
"Curry?"
"Puu?"
"Kuri-Kuri!"
"Puu~"
After greeting each other with their encrypted calls, the two adorable creatures began playing together hand in hand and quickly became good friends.
The world of cute animals truly is a wonderful one.
Whether it was Plue or Kuriboh, Natsu clearly had no interest in such cute things. He gave them a glance, then looked away indifferently.
Resting his chin in one hand, he thought for a moment, then looked at Ches with a puzzled expression and asked, "Ches, when I came in earlier, I felt a terrifying magical fluctuation. That was from you, right?"
"I think I felt it too," Lucy added in agreement.
"I got a new card monster, and I was just about to summon it when you barged in," Ches said, spreading his hands as he explained without hiding anything.
"A new card monster? What is it?!"
Natsu immediately perked up with interest.
"Don't be too shocked when I tell you, Natsu. It's a legendary, incredibly powerful monster—one that bears the name of a god..."
"Osiris the Sky Dragon!"
Ches smiled mysteriously, took out the Sky Dragon card, and placed it on the coffee table.
Natsu and Lucy both leaned in to get a closer look—and were immediately stunned by the dragon's overwhelming presence depicted on the card.
Crimson skeletal wings, twin fangs, a clawed serpentine body…
Just one glance was enough for the murderous aura emanating from the card to pierce straight into their hearts and send a chill through their minds.
This was the power of a God Card.
"A dragon?!" Natsu's expression changed drastically.
Whether it was because of his Dragon Slayer magic or instinct, his entire body began to tremble violently.
Compared to that, Lucy's reaction was far louder.
"Mr. Ches! Are you seriously planning to summon this terrifying monster right here in your house—in the middle of Magnolia?!"
Her sharp words exploded in Ches's ears like a thunderclap from a clear sky.
Only then did he come to his senses. His pupils widened, mouth slowly falling open in disbelief.
"There it is! The expression of someone who totally didn't think this through!"
Lucy watched Ches's shifting expression and silently held her forehead.
Ches wanted to summon a dragon inside the city.
Natsu wanted to find a dragon inside the city.
No wonder the two of them seemed so close—it turns out they were the same kind of lunatic!
The dependable image of an S-Class wizard that Lucy had been building up in her mind… crumbled spectacularly in an instant.
"…I really didn't expect you, Lucy, to think things through so thoroughly all of a sudden."
Ches finally snapped out of it, let out a light cough to cover up his embarrassment, and gave her an approving nod.
To be honest, even though he didn't think he'd successfully summon the Sky Dragon, he really hadn't given much thought to what might happen if he did. The possibility that Osiris's appearance might wreak havoc across the entire town had completely slipped his mind.
—After all, the citizens of Magnolia are famously tolerant. Surely, they wouldn't blame him for just summoning a god-tier dragon (right?).
But still, the sheer panic that might spread… plus the headache of explaining it all to the Magic Council afterward…
Ugh, what a pain.
"No—how is this something worth being surprised about?! Isn't it just basic common sense?!"
Lucy pointed at herself, utterly incredulous. Her freshly washed hair was now completely tangled from all the stress.
Clearly, it's Mr. Ches who's the idiot, doing reckless things without thinking!
Ches didn't answer her directly. Instead, he leaned close to the confused-looking Black Magician Girl and whispered into her ear:
"Lucy gives off the vibe of a silly, clumsy, and extremely gullible little girl."
"…I heard all of that."
"Well, whatever the case, thanks for the heads-up, Daixi," Ches said, scratching his head with an awkward smile.
Lucy snapped.
"I'm Lucy, not Daixi!! I'm done pretending to be polite!!"
And just as that chaos unfolded, another burst of heat washed through the room, accompanied by Natsu's excited voice:
"Ches! What are you waiting for? Hurry up and summon that dragon already!"
"It looks insanely strong! I'm itching to test my Dragon Slayer magic on it—I'm fired up just thinking about it!"
Can someone please call an expert?! These people are out of their minds!
Looking at Natsu—who had completely ignored their earlier conversation and was now fired up again—Lucy held her forehead and let out a long, exhausted sigh.
In her perfect world, right now she should be curled up in bed, hugging a soft, plush pillow and drifting off to sleep.
So how did she end up stuck between two lunatics like this?!
"...Well, I guess it's not going to work for now."
Ches retrieved the Sky Dragon card from the coffee table, his eyes drifting toward the trio of Happy, Plue, and Kuriboh dancing arm-in-arm like old drinking buddies.
With a straightforward tone, he admitted, "Unfortunately, my current magic power just isn't enough to summon the Sky Dragon."
He had already come to this conclusion during the ritual chant.
Although the final step had been interrupted by Natsu and Lucy's abrupt arrival, in that fleeting moment, he had sensed the terrifying presence of the Sky Dragon taking shape in his consciousness—looming like a shadow across the sky—only to vanish like a falling star.
Even though he had activated the secret technique, his entire magic reserve had been consumed.
If he tried to force the summoning now, he might be able to bring Osiris out for a single second at most.
And that would be pointless.
However, Ches didn't seem all that frustrated. In fact, his expression was calm—almost as if this outcome was entirely within his expectations.
After all, if summoning Osiris, the Sky Dragon, were that easy, it wouldn't be worthy of being called one of the strongest monsters in the deck.
The difficulty was a good thing.
Because in the future, what awaited them weren't simple opponents.
It would be monsters like Zeref… the Black Dragon Acnologia… and even the Five Divine Dragons.
They needed every bit of power they could get.
"What a pity."
Upon hearing the situation, Natsu's shoulders slumped. The flames dancing around his body vanished without a trace.
"Lucy, Happy, let's go back."
With a casual wave, he turned to leave.
This little night raid had been all about trying to settle the score with Ches for the beating he'd taken earlier. But now that Ches had no magic left, and the awe-inspiring Sky Dragon hadn't shown up after all, Natsu had no reason to stick around.
Hearing that, Lucy shot up like lightning.
She didn't even hesitate to nod in agreement.
Sure, she still wanted to talk more with the adorable Dark Magician Girl, but she definitely did not want to linger in Ches's house dressed like this.
Not now. Not like this.
"Wait."Ches's voice cut through the air, stopping them in their tracks.