Mira pouted and said, "Just because you woke up late, you're not coming? You made me wait for so long."
Rhode looked at the lunch box that Mira brought and asked, thick-skinned, "Is that for me?"
"No!"
"Oh."
Oh, what do you mean oh! Mira felt like hitting him. Where's the courage you had yesterday to do weird things? Why don't you just open the basket and take a look?
Rhode immediately realized something was off. He recognized the lunch box; it was used for bringing meals and was equipped with a magic power warming feature.
As much as he thought this was a bit vain, who else would Mira bring breakfast for besides him?
Elfman?
Rhode thought for a while, then approached with the register:
"Is this written wrong here? Do you remember the date of Natsu and Hapi's last mission?"
Mira got momentarily distracted: "I remember it was..."
She saw a hand taking advantage of her distraction to reach for the lunch box.
Mira grabbed Rhode's wrist, held back her smile, and put on a straight face: "What are you doing?"
Rhode stayed composed: "I saw a hair on it, helping you remove it."
Mira looked at him: "Is that so?"
Gurgle, gurgle...
Betrayed by himself, Rhode looked up at the ceiling; he had consumed a lot of magic power yesterday and hadn't eaten breakfast in the morning.
Mira laughed, opened the lunch box, and pushed it in front of Rhode: "Go ahead, eat."
Pancakes, vegetable ham porridge, and some small pickles.
Not complicated, but it seemed like a lot of thought had gone into it. Seeing this, he could almost picture her busily wearing an apron.
Rhode first hugged her, then sat down to eat.
"Delicious!"
Mira sat beside him, propping her chin as she watched him eat. As he drank the last sip of porridge, she suddenly said:
"Actually, this was made by Elfman, and he didn't wash his hands before cooking."
"Uh, cough... cough, cough..." Rhode was choked and couldn't stop coughing.
"I'm kidding." Mira laughed while lightly patting Rhode's back.
She got him good; eventually, he would have his revenge.
"Sister... sister?" Elfman said hesitantly, "I want to go out and work."
"Hmm, let me see."
Mira seriously looked at the task list.
Rhode seriously looked at Elfman, noticing his brother-in-law's face was a bit swollen: "What happened to your face?"
Elfman touched his face, feeling guilty: "I accidentally fell."
"Can you really fall that badly?"
"A man!"
Rhode looked at Mira. Surely, she would know, right?
"It really was a 'fall,' oh, accidentally bumped into something hard," Mira laughed, "Don't worry, I've already applied medicine for him."
"That's good." Rhode nodded, "Having such a good sister is truly a blessing."
"Right?" Mira's eyes curved with her boyfriend's compliment.
"A man!" Elfman also felt very lucky.
His sister trained with him and even helped him with medicine; he was so touched he felt like crying.
Although it was a rather ordinary mission, Rhode still reminded Elfman with a few words as usual.
"Don't worry, a man will be fully prepared!" Elfman eagerly left.
Soon after, Makarov came downstairs with a stack of papers, specially dressed in formal attire.
Mira asked, "President, are you going out?"
Makarov nodded: "I'm going to apologize to the mayor and send these out."
Those were the reflection essays he'd written these past few days.
Rhode felt a bit guilty: "Should I go for you?"
Mira added, "I'll go too."
"No need! Just keep an eye on the guild. The president's duty includes things like this," Makarov seemed a bit reactive, afraid that these two would sneak off on holiday once they went out.
They could even find any excuse, such as sending the reflection directly to the Advisory Council lacked sincerity and needed to be delivered personally.
And not just to the Fiore branch but to the main branch abroad.
Makarov had only had some peace for a few days and didn't want to return to the early days of this month.
Rhode swore to the heavens he genuinely wanted to help and had no intention of slacking off.
But since the president disagreed, he couldn't do much: "Mira, maybe don't hide those two bottles of good wine."
Mira nodded: "Okay, we'll give them to him when he comes back."
During their time away playing, besides bringing things for Elfman, they also bought some fine wine for the president and gathered some unusual herbs for Granny Porlyusica.
However, when they had just returned, Mira fell for Rhode's persuasion and strictly controlled the president's alcohol intake, not hurrying to give him the bought wine.
Now... Rhode felt guilty.
Plus, when he visited Granny Porlyusica, he asked and found out that the president's health was pretty good with no relapse of old ailments, allowing a slight ease.
By the way, Granny Porlyusica had scorned Rhode's herb-picking skills, but Rhode could tell she really liked such gifts.
…
In the afternoon, Erza came to the guild to accept a mission.
It was the one she had asked Mira and Rhode to help select yesterday.
Luck was good; there was a mission with a fifty thousand reward, just enough to cover Erza's rent for five rooms, and it didn't require much time, basically only needed a fight to solve.
"This one then." Erza was satisfied, "By the way, Rhode, let's have a spar when I get back?"
"No problem."
Anyway, Erza's mission wouldn't take a few days, and he could take the opportunity to practice more with Mira.
…
"Full-Reception · Mountain Sub-Dragon's Soul!"
In a flash of light, his hands and feet transformed into earthen-colored dragon claws, wings emerged on his back, and a few scales appeared on his cheeks.
A strong burst of magic power erupted from Rhode, and his imposing aura almost matched Mira's Satan's Soul.
He opened his eyes, revealing brown dragon pupils, with the corners of his eyes slightly tilted upwards, exuding a fierce vibe.
"Rhode?" Mira tentatively called out.
Rhode understood what she was worried about, smiled at her: "Don't worry, my will hasn't been affected."
Mira breathed a sigh of relief. The biggest risk of receiving magic was that a strong receiving target might influence the technician's will.
Rhode not having such a risk was indeed great.
Moreover... that smile he just had was completely different from usual.
Not gentle, nor sunny...
It seemed that the changes in his eyes and the prominently sharpened canine teeth gave him a wilder temperament.
Mira's heart skipped a beat, feeling she might understand how Rhode felt when he saw her Satan's soul.
"Although the magic power consumption is quite intense, I feel really strong, and..." Rhode stomped his foot.
A circular stone wall rumbled up, enclosing him and Mira in the middle.
It was like a mini version of the magic the Mountain Sub-Dragon used that day.
In this state, he could use earth magic!
Rhode lifted his dragon-clawed right arm, placing it above Mira's left shoulder and pressed against the stone wall, his forehead touching hers:
"Now you can't escape."
Mira blushed slightly: "Reception · Satan's Soul!"
She extended her right hand to hook around Rhode's neck, licking her lips with her tongue: "Who's the one who can't escape?"
They both exchanged smiles and, with mutual understanding...
Started fighting.
Rhode's transformation could not last long and needed proper testing of battle capabilities.
The stone walls they built quickly shattered as they exchanged blows, punches, and kicks, moving to and fro.
After sparring for over twenty rounds, Mira flapped her wings and flew up, gathering a purple-black sphere between her hands.
Rhode followed suit, flying up and opening his mouth to unleash a dragon breath formed by numerous rocks.
Boom!!!
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Volume One: Newcomer Rhode, End.
Next Volume: Newcomer Lucy.