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After inquiring around Shirotsume Town, Noah discovered that the villa owner, Everlue, in addition to being a wealthy man, was also a Mage with the title of "Baron."
According to the town residents, although this title was bought by Everlue, it was genuinely recognized by the official Kingdom of Fiore and came with special privileges.
Given Everlue's distinguished status, forcibly entering would be a direct affront to the Kingdom of Fiore.
However, members of the Dark Guild could openly walk through the main gate of the esteemed baron's territory, moving with such familiarity as if they'd been there many times, which inevitably led to certain suspicions.
"Everlue might be in cahoots with Eisenwald, or he might be an unwitting victim."
"This is troublesome."
Although she said it was troublesome, Erza was already prepared to force her way into the villa.
If Baron Everlue was colluding with the Dark Guild, they would gather evidence and expose him. If Everlue was unaware that those individuals were from the Dark Guild, then it would be the perfect opportunity to reveal the true face of Eisenwald.
Watching the highly motivated Erza, Mira calmly pulled out a recruitment flyer. "Perhaps we don't need to make a big fuss to get in."
Noah and Erza looked at the flyer—it was an advertisement from Everlue seeking a maid, requesting "blonde" and "large-chested," with interviews to be held at the back gate of the villa.
"Mira, are you thinking of..."
It was then that Erza remembered that besides her Take Over Magic, Mira was also highly skilled in Transformation Magic, which allowed her to change into any appearance.
Mira nodded excitedly. "Exactly! I'll go disguised as a maid for the interview. With my looks, I'm sure I can smoothly enter the villa."
As soon as she finished speaking, the young girl waved her hand, casting Transformation Magic, and the magical glow instantly dyed her snow-white hair a golden blonde.
All that was needed next was for Erza to provide a maid outfit to meet the recruitment conditions, but Noah didn't want Mira to do this.
"Change back, Mira."
"Eh? Why?"
Mira looked at Noah, puzzled, while skillfully gathering her long hair and coiling it at the back of her head.
Noah rubbed his nose. He didn't quite understand why he was stopping Mira, so he just followed his gut feeling and said, "Whether it's you or Erza, I don't want either of you to use your looks to tempt him. That Everlue doesn't seem like a decent person."
"Oh my, Erza, did I hear that right? Noah is actually worried about us!"
Mira's smile grew wider, and she leaned forward, pressing close to Noah, her warm breath caressing the white-haired young man's face. "But why do I smell a hint of jealousy on you?"
"Eh~ Is there? I don't feel it."
Watching Noah fiddling with his clothes, Erza beside him smiled without speaking. Some people are clever in many things, but in certain aspects, they're quite oblivious.
After teasing Noah, Mira no longer insisted on her disguised maid plan and changed her hair back to its original color.
After discussing, Noah, Erza, and Mira decided to stake out Everlue's villa during the day, familiarize themselves with the environment, and then covertly infiltrate the villa at night, aiming to handle the matter with the least possible commotion.
However, as they rounded to the side of the villa, Noah knew that today's commotion would not be small, because he saw two shadowy figures.
The pink-haired young man and the blue cat were each holding branches in front of them, seemingly confident in their flawless (but full of holes) disguise.
Natsu and Happy hid their heads under the leaves, their gaze fixed from afar on the back door of the villa, where Lucy was currently being interviewed by Everlue.
"Natsu, Lucy actually believed it!"
"Yeah, Happy, we were just joking, but I didn't expect Lucy to actually go and apply for a maid position. She's really too naive."
"Lucy is just lucky to have us two as teammates, otherwise she'd be sold off and still clueless."
"Aye sir~ That's right~"
The man and the cat were giggling, completely oblivious to the pair of iron fists descending from above.
Two thudding sounds rang out.
Natsu and Happy clutched their heads and looked back. It wasn't a big deal not to look, but when Natsu did, his legs turned to jelly from fright, and he immediately plopped down on his knees at the red-haired girl's feet, unable to control himself.
"Er... Erza, what are you doing here!"
Having been beaten by Erza since childhood, Natsu always behaved like a mouse seeing a cat whenever he'd done something wrong and faced her.
Erza's face was cold, and her fingers tapped on the hilt of her sword. "You've gotten bold, Natsu, actually tricking Lucy into selling her looks."
Natsu hastily explained, "That was just a joke! Who knew Lucy would actually believe it? Happy can vouch for me! Speak up, Happy!"
"Aye sir~ I can vouch for it, Natsu definitely came up with this idea." Happy raised his cat paw, looking like a good little kitty, not mentioning his own complicity at all.
Seeing Happy so unhesitatingly clear himself, the betrayed Natsu was aghast. "You wretched cat, I'll just..."
"Stop messing around."
Erza's calm words immediately made the man and the cat, who were pulling each other's faces, settle down.
It turned out that Natsu's team was on a job—the client had requested them to steal a book from Everlue's villa.
While Natsu and Happy were scouting, they happened to see Everlue's maid recruitment flyer and joked with Lucy, but the naive Lucy believed them and went to apply as a maid.
After understanding the whole story, Noah inadvertently glanced at Mira. Among the five people present, two could come up with such a terrible idea. How to put it... worthy of Fairy Tail.
It was truly a case of "birds of a feather flock together."
While Natsu and Happy were being "arrested" by Erza on the spot, Lucy's interview on the other side wasn't going well—in fact, it could be described as a disastrous elimination.
Human aesthetics vary, but the appreciation for beautiful things is often similar, though for some, what they consider "beautiful" can only be described as a disaster.
Baron Everlue was such a person.
The blonde young girl who came for the interview was vibrant and in the prime of her youth. However, facing Lucy in a maid outfit, the short-statured Baron Everlue's face turned gloomy, and he angrily cursed her with disdain.
"Ugly! How dare you come to apply to be my maid looking like that!"
Upon hearing this, Lucy felt as if she'd been struck by lightning, utterly shocked.
Lucy had thought that with her looks, sneaking into the villa would be a piece of cake, but she never expected to be rejected at the interview and then called ugly!
Her temper flared, and Lucy, ignoring Everlue's status, retorted to him on the street. "Calling me ugly?! Do you even know what aesthetics are?!"
"Hmph, still defiant, then let me show you... my maids!"
Everlue clapped his hands, and immediately four figures burst from the ground behind him, Everlue's exclusive maids.
When those four bizarre, hideously ugly, deformed figures appeared from the dust, Lucy... fell silent.
Lucy realized one thing: with such an anti-human aesthetic, this Baron named Everlue must be a super pervert.