The gift box didn't look fancy, and the ribbons seemed leftover from the harvest festival decorations.
But Lucy didn't mind at all, because according to Rhode, it was a reward she received by earning recognition with her (Star Spirit) efforts.
Lucy had already decided that no matter what was inside, she had to act surprised, so as not to disappoint Mr. Rhode.
Actually, receiving a gift itself was already surprising enough.
If Rhode knew Lucy's inner thoughts, his conscience would definitely blame him for 0.1 seconds.
Lucy untied the ribbon and opened the lid with anticipation: "This is... clothes?"
Rhode said with a straight face: "Yes, specially selected for you, it should fit well. Why don't you go to the back and try it on?"
"Okay! I'll just..." Lucy took the clothes out of the box and unfolded them, her joyful expression froze on her face, "Um... is this really a special gift for me?"
Rhode nodded: "Yes, looks good, right?"
Lucy unfolded the clothes in front of her: "It looks nice, but... this is a server's uniform, isn't it?!"
Rhode said seriously: "You could say that, since it happens to be the same style as the server's uniform."
"It's totally a uniform!"
"It's a coincidence, just a coincidence. Hey, isn't it funny, Sally and Iz just quit today, and the guild just happened to give you this outfit, and now you can just put it on to help out?"
Lucy slammed the clothes onto the counter: "What coincidence? It's clearly a staff shortage, and you're trying to rope me into working!"
"It's a reward for excellent newcomers," Rhode babbled, "I was last year's best newcomer, and I also started as a server."
Lucy shouted at him: "That's a completely different thing! All that about performing excellently and making great contributions, you were fooling me, weren't you?"
"You can't say that, Gemini's contribution is real." Rhode sighed at the cynical world, Lucy was not as easy to fool as before, "Being a server isn't bad, it helps you bond with everyone."
"I don't want to do it!"
Rhode confirmed: "Really not doing it?"
"I refuse!" Lucy turned her face away, showing she was angry at being deceived.
"Oh..." Rhode put on a different face, "In that case, let's talk about the matter of you withholding information."
Lucy suddenly felt guilty: "W-what information withholding?"
"The fact that you took a potion to use magic, but insisted on fooling us that you have good adaptability."
"I-didn't..." Lucy's voice got lower and lower, "I just forgot."
"Would you normally forget such important information?"
"I'm sorry..."
"Since no one got into trouble because of it, we won't pursue it further, but the tavern is short-staffed now, so, you see..."
"I get it, I get it." Lucy reluctantly picked up the clothes and walked toward the guild's bathroom.
"..." Rhode wanted to say that the outfit was just randomly picked as an excuse to give a gift, and it wasn't a must-wear-uniform day.
But after thinking about it, he decided not to dampen the newcomer's enthusiasm.
"Sigh." Rhode realized he had turned bad, bullying Lucy like this—definitely learned the bad example from Natsu.
...
Mira and Lisana came back a bit late, and they didn't have anything in hand, except Lisana had changed into a new outfit.
They probably already took what they bought back home.
When they came in, Lucy was already busy working.
"Lucy, a glass of water!"
"Yes."
"Lucy, we want a glass of water too."
"Yes..."
"Lucy, we don't want it anymore."
"Enough already, you stinky cat!" Lucy shouted at the teasing Hapi.
"Pfft..." Hapi covered his mouth, holding back laughter.
Natsu gently patted Lucy on the head: "Ah hahahaha... A server can't be mad at customers."
"Natsu!" Lucy couldn't take it anymore, lifting the tray and chasing Natsu all around the guild.
Mira and Lisana stepped aside, sitting across from Rhode.
Mira returned the wallet to Rhode, asking, "Why did Lucy agree to be a server?"
"Because Sally and Iz quit, so I asked Lucy nicely," Rhode took the wallet, asking, "Was it enough?"
"It was enough, because Elfman also chipped in some money."
"This outfit was bought with your money, you know." Lisana stood up and spun around, "Sister Mira said it counts as a gift from you to me."
"Very pretty." Rhode complimented and then looked at Mira, trying to flirt with her, "I should also gift my beautiful fiancée one, right?"
Mira smiled and winked with her left eye: "You'll have to come with me to pick it out."
Rhode smiled without saying a word. This time, his flirting attempt backfired on him instead.
"Ooooh~~~~~" Lisana's voice dragged out long.
This made Mira a bit embarrassed, being watched by her brother was fine, but having her younger sister watching was quite awkward.
She awkwardly changed the subject: "What happened to Sally and Iz?"
"They..."
Marcus rushed in from outside the guild shouting: "Something's wrong! The Council is here!"
"What?!"
Many people were shocked and at a loss.
Some even panicked and tried to crawl under the table.
Makarov calmly jumped down from the second floor, saying loudly: "What's there to panic about? We did a good deed this time, not caused trouble."
The crowd suddenly realized: "Ah!"
"Yes!"
"This time, the trouble wasn't started by us!"
Though the Freshman Council had just begun its operation, Magnolia's disappearance for three days without any news would indeed be strange.
Nobody kept watch nearby yesterday, and it wasn't until today that someone came to investigate, which was already pretty slow.
With such a big issue, it wouldn't be surprising if the royal family of Fiore Kingdom also got involved.
Since they weren't here to find fault, everyone settled down and continued with their work, with the President handling them.
The people who came weren't few, but most spread out in town to interview residents, while a small number remained at the guild entrance without entering uninvited.
Those who came inside the guild were familiar faces—Lahar and his two subordinates.
Lahar politely greeted Makarov: "Long time no see, Mr. Makarov."
"Hello." Makarov smiled, confident as no trouble had been caused, "You came because of Magnolia's sudden disappearance, right?"
"Ah, yes." Lahar nodded, but then changed the topic, saying, "But before that, there's another matter to address."
"..." Makarov suddenly felt guilty; no trouble had happened in the past three days, but before that, a lot had occurred.
Additionally, because it happened so suddenly, his self-criticism report wasn't finished.
"Apologies." Lahar nodded courteously, looking at Rhode and Miss Mirajane, "It's regarding Mr. Rhode and Miss Mirajane."
"What?" Makarov clutched his chest.
Rhode usually didn't cause trouble, but when he did, it could be big trouble.
Where's my medicine? Where did I put my medicine?