Virgo spoke calmly, "Originally, my contract was set for year-round availability, ready to answer your summons at any time."
"But the Celestial Spirit King made a rule to prevent spirits from burning out. Every spirit must have at least one day of rest in the human world each week."
"So, I can only offer summoning services from Monday to Saturday."
Natsu tilted his head, whispering to Happy, "Talk about dedication!"
Happy nodded enthusiastically. "Aye! Totally different from some people who can't even scrape together rent money."
A vein popped on Lucy's forehead. "I can hear you!"
"And whose fault is it that I can't pay rent?!" she snapped. "It's because you guys keep wrecking buildings on missions, so we only get half the reward! We've gone on two jobs together, and one of them we had to pay to complete!!!"
She slapped her forehead, letting out a heavy sigh. "Ugh, this trip is exhausting my soul…"
But in the end, things worked out. She turned to Virgo. "Alright then—contract sealed!"
Virgo bowed gracefully. "I look forward to serving you, Master."
Lucy's face twisted slightly. "Um… could you not call me 'Master'? It feels kinda weird…"
"Oh?" Virgo's gaze drifted thoughtfully to the whip hanging at Lucy's waist. With a completely serious tone, she suggested, "How about 'Queen' then?"
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!" Lucy flailed her arms, forming a giant X in front of her chest. "That name is a hard no! I never want to be associated with the word 'Queen' in my life!!"
Virgo, ever accommodating, offered another option. "Then… 'Princess'?"
Lucy's eyes lit up instantly. "Now that's more like it! I like the sound of that!!"
Virgo bowed again, a faint, almost imperceptible smile in her voice. "Very well, Princess. I look forward to serving you."
With that, her form dissolved into countless warm golden sparkles, fading into the air as she returned to the Celestial Spirit World.
Lucy stared at the spot where the sparkles vanished, rubbing her chin. The process had been a bit bumpy, but she'd gained another powerful Celestial Spirit ally—and a Zodiac one at that.
Maybe this mission wasn't such a bust after all?
"Excuse me, Princess," Happy piped up, his tail swishing and a mischievous grin spreading across his face. "Would you like to combine with your whip to evolve into Queen mode?" His ears twitched smugly.
Another vein throbbed on Lucy's forehead as her hand instinctively reached for the whip at her waist.
"I don't know what 'combine and evolve' means, but I can let you experience this firsthand—"
"Behold the Whip Queen!!!"
Crack! The whip snapped against the ground, sending a few shredded leaves flying.
Happy's fur puffed up in fright, and he scrambled back, waving his paws nervously. "Haha, n-never mind, I'm good!!"
"Honestly," Lucy huffed, tucking the whip away and crossing her arms. "What a bunch of clowns."
But as soon as the words left her mouth, she froze. "…Clowns??"
She clapped her hands over her mouth, eyes wide as saucers, her voice pitching higher. "Wh-what's going on?! Why's my tongue not working?!"
Loke, barely holding back laughter, dangled a small fruit in front of her. "This is called a Sweet Numb Fruit. It's super sweet but has a mild toxin. If you eat a whole one, it'll make your tongue stiff and numb for a bit. One fruit's effects wear off in a few minutes, though."
"They sell juice with it at the juice shop. They usually cut one fruit into ten pieces, mix a piece into two liters of water to make syrup, then blend it with other fruits to make juice."
"It's got a unique fruity aroma, and after drinking it, your tongue gets this tingly, numb feeling. You've probably had it before, right? At that drink shop near the guild."
"It's called Jump Juice."
"Ohhh, that stuff!" Lucy exclaimed, realization dawning. Then she whirled around, pointing at Erza, who was calmly munching on one of the fruits, her speech still slurred. "Then why isn't Erza affected?!"
Loke shrugged. "Because her body's built different. Not just her—Mirajane's Take Over magic makes her immune to poisons. Natsu's constitution is so ridiculous that this toxin's like a joke to him. And Gray's been training since he was a kid, so his resistance is high too."
Lucy's face fell, tears welling up. "So I'm the only one who's like this?!"
"Pfft—hahaha!" Happy doubled over, rolling with laughter. "Lucy's so dumb!"
He froze mid-laugh, slapping his paws over his mouth as his eyes darted around in panic.
Lucy narrowed her eyes, slowly leaning in with a wicked grin, half-covering her mouth. "Ohhh? What's that~?"
"The clever Happy-sama can't talk right either~?" she teased, dragging out her words. "I thought Happy-sama had a special constitution too~"
She threw her hands up, shaking her head in mock disappointment. "Who would've thought? You're just as dumb as me~"
"N-no way!" Happy's ears flattened, and he dramatically collapsed to his knees, the background turning gray. "I got mocked by Lucy… I'm a failure of a cat…"
Lucy deadpanned, "=_= Does getting mocked by me really warrant that much despair?"
"Alright," Loke's voice cut in from the side. "The royal army got wiped out by Lullaby. Time to wrap this up."
He turned to Mirajane. "What about the reporters?"
Mirajane gave a cheerful nod. "I used transformation magic to contact a nearby magazine that's about to go under~ The scoop fee wasn't much, but they move fast."
"Alright, everything's set. Let's go," Loke said.
Lucy blinked, utterly confused by their cryptic exchange. "What are you guys talking about?"
Then it hit her, and she gasped, covering her mouth. "My tongue's back to normal!!"
Mirajane giggled, explaining, "Remember that phantom outside the train window? Loke sent it to contact four different magazines from various locations."
"And while I was wandering around, I happened to find a small magazine office nearby. So I 'leaked' a bit about Lullaby~ After all, a local magazine can spread the word faster." She twirled her finger in the air. "By now, they've probably snapped their 'battle shots' and are rushing to print."
"You might even be able to buy the magazine around here tonight~"
---
please vote this story to motivate me post 2ch/day
you can request story !!
dont forget to comment and leave some vote