As for the Magician Guild and these companions, to put it nicely, they were carefree and didn't hold grudges. To put it harshly, they were heartless.
Once or twice was fine, but out of ten requests, at least six would cause trouble.
A monster subjugation request led to burning a farmer's field.
A mission to strike a Black Mage Guild resulted in innocent people getting hurt in a downtown brawl, and six city blocks were destroyed.
During an escort mission, they walked along and stripped in front of the female companions!
Because of the inappropriate behavior of these Magician Guild companions, Makarov apologized, paid compensation, wrote self-criticisms, and listened to the Council's criticisms time and again. These things had almost become the old man's daily routine in his later years!
How could Laxus not despise this group from the Magician Guild?
If Laxus were replaced by himself, he probably would be seething with resentment too.
Just watching the anime, one might think all this was just a characteristic daily occurrence for the Magician Guild, but being in this world, and looking at it from a normal person's perspective, there were indeed problems.
Ezreal had only been here for two months, but he had to admit that everyone in the Magician Guild was indeed quite good at causing trouble.
"Laxus, I can now understand why you dislike everyone in the Magician Guild so much." Ezreal picked up the teapot and poured Laxus a glass of water, soothing him before continuing, "But you need to calm down now. The weather changes caused by your emotions are still intensifying. If this continues, you will cause panic among the citizens."
Ezreal pointed out the window. It was clearly noon, and the sky had been bright, but now, outside the window, it was pitch black, with golden electrical flashes accompanied by the roar of thunder.
Thick, inky black clouds enveloped the area where Hans Restaurant was located and seemed to be expanding, with clear exclamations from onlookers on the street.
Laxus's expression softened a little, as he seemed to realize that his sudden emotional outburst was very inappropriate.
He closed his eyes, and after several deep breaths, the rampaging lightning around him disappeared, and the dark clouds outside also silently vanished along with the thunder.
Magic is the power of the heart. Ezreal only now truly understood this saying.
Such awe-inspiring magical power could be so easily controlled. No wonder Laxus looked down on Magician Guild members who always struggled to control their magic power.
"What terrifying strength, Laxus," Ezreal exclaimed from the bottom of his heart. He had originally thought he was close to S-Class strength, but now he saw he was still far off.
"I don't want to hear any more nonsense. Tell me your thoughts on the Magician Guild." Laxus opened his eyes and spoke coldly.
Ezreal was not bothered by Laxus's speaking manner; he had already figured out that this was a guy who was cold on the outside but warm on the inside.
"The Magician Guild is a bit too undisciplined. Everyone in the Magician Guild usually does only three things," Ezreal said, holding up three fingers.
"One, taking on requests."
"Two, eating, drinking, chatting, and fighting."
"Three, the annual Mage rank assessment."
"Besides these, there's nothing else. Personally, I feel that the Magician Guild has a high degree of freedom, which I like, but this has both good and bad aspects."
"The Magician Guild has no system for training Mages; everyone relies on taking on quests themselves, honing themselves and improving their strength through these quests."
"The Magician Guild also has no department specifically responsible for recruiting new members. I asked the Master, and most Magician Guild members were either picked up or joined by chance."
Ezreal shrugged, a wry smile on his face. "I'm honored that I'm the only new member the Magician Guild has had in seven years, but this isn't healthy for the Magician Guild."
"I think you must have noticed that there's a significant age gap among the Magician Guild members. Macao and the others are generally about fifty years younger than the Master, while Natsu and his group are about twenty years younger than Macao."
"Such a large age span, with no new members joining in between, is detrimental to the Magician Guild's development. It's like an ancient building lacking new cornerstones, making it difficult to stand for long."
"Although the number of Mage requests isn't that high, and if the Magician Guild's numbers increased, there might not be enough requests for everyone, the Magician Guild could actually develop along other paths, not just limited to requests."
"These are all my thoughts on the Magician Guild. What do you think?" Ezreal poured himself a glass of water to clear his throat; he was a bit parched after speaking so much in one go.
"It was indeed the right choice to communicate with you," Laxus said after listening quietly, his expression finally softening completely.
"Fairy Tail won't develop much if it continues like this; it might even get weaker and weaker. I have a plan, and I'd like to invite you to join me." Laxus's gaze was burning... In the Magician Guild Hall.
Natsu had Happy on his head, and the boy and cat were picking suitable quests from the request board.
On the first floor of the Magician Guild Hall, there were a total of four request boards, with one board each for A, B, C, and D-Class quests, though all the boards were placed together.
"Aye! Natsu, here's a quest!" Happy pointed to a request slip on the B-Class Request Board.
"Happy~ All of them are quests here." Natsu ignored him, continuing to stare wide-eyed, searching for a suitable subjugation or combat quest for himself.
"Aye, it's a request posted by Ezreal, look quickly!" Happy tugged on Natsu's pink hair, turning his head towards the request slip, his small blue cat paw pointing to the client's signature at the end.
On the white paper, the neat handwriting clearly detailed the quest content, which was clearly Mira's handwriting, who was in charge of reviewing quests.
At the end, the signature was Ezreal's own handwritten name.
"Escort Quest"
"Quest Content: Protect client Ezreal on an exploration mission to the Magic Beast Mountains, Asgard."
"Quest Requirements: The client has specifically stated that due to the high difficulty of this journey, solo quest takers must have A-Class Mage strength. For group quest takers, the team must have no fewer than two B-Class Mages."
"Quest Reward: 100,000 Jewels + one flying Magic Beast of B-Class Mage strength."
"Client: Ezreal"
"It's Ezreal's request," Natsu leaned in for a closer look, then sighed, "Too bad it's not a combat request, and I don't think I'd have any use for a flying Magic Beast."
"Ezreal's request?" Marcus, with his green bowl cut, who was also checking the request board nearby, leaned over.
"My best friend needs help! I must take this quest so he can safely explore the Asgard Mountains!" Marcus was so moved he had tears in his eyes, not even looking at the quest reward, only staring at Ezreal's signature.
"Give it a rest, you just got promoted to B-Class Mage, and solo quests require A-Class Mage strength." Laki rolled her eyes, walking over gracefully with Cana's arm linked in hers.
"Neither of you is a match for Ezreal. When you two do a quest, who's protecting whom, really?"