### Chapter 54: The Second Floor
"Alright! Alright! Let's not get angry! Don't get angry!"
"I just find the way he steps on others to lift himself up annoying."
Mirajane was one of the few people who knew Riku's true strength. After witnessing that battle between master and disciple three years ago, Mirajane believed that Riku was actually the strongest mage in the Fairy Tail guild right now.
Seeing Mirajane getting angry in his defense, Riku found her very cute, as if she had returned to how she was when they first met.
"Now, now! He's always been like that anyway! His foul mouth isn't a new thing. Whether he's the strongest or not doesn't really matter. The Master, my Teacher, which one isn't stronger than him? The Master just pretends not to know. For the Master's sake, let's not haggle with him."
Hearing Riku's words, Mirajane calmed her small outburst. Indeed, Laxus had been like that for a long time.
"By the way, what did the Master mean earlier about not being allowed on the second floor?"
At this moment, Lucy asked. She had joined the guild for almost a month, and the guild members were almost always on the first floor. This was the first time she had seen anyone on the second floor.
Originally, she didn't care much, assuming the second floor was only for the Master. But seeing the Master stop Natsu from going up today made her curious.
Mirajane explained: "The difficulty of the requests on the second-floor board cannot be compared to the first floor. Those are all S-Class missions and above."
"S-Class?!"
This was the first time Lucy had heard this term.
"These are dangerous missions where a single error in judgment could cost you your life. However, correspondingly, the higher the danger, the higher the reward. To execute an S-Class mission, you must first become an S-Class Mage."
"S-Class Mage?!"
Another new term.
"Yes! S-Class Mages. Every S-Class Mage is an ace of the guild. In our Fairy Tail, including Erza, Laxus, Mystogan, and Riku, there are a total of six people."
"Six S-Class Mages, that's amazing!! Wait, there are six in total, so who are the other two?"
Riku interjected with a smile: "One is my teacher, Gildarts, and the other is Mirajane."
"Mi... Miss Mirajane?!!"
Lucy was greatly shocked. She had always thought Mirajane was just the poster girl for the Fairy Tail guild because Miss Mirajane looked so fragile, as if a gust of wind could blow her away.
Moreover, she had always been responsible for logistical work like serving tea and pouring alcohol. No matter what, she couldn't imagine Mirajane being a powerfully strong S-Class Mage.
Happy said proudly: "In the past, Mirajane was known as 'The Demon' Mirajane, a mage with strength on par with Erza!"
"The Demon?!"
This title... Miss Mirajane was so beautiful; she didn't seem related to a demon at all.
Mirajane smiled bitterly: "That's all in the past. I don't even count as a mage now."
But the bitterness in Mirajane's eyes flashed by quickly, replaced by a brilliant smile: "But being like this is also quite good. Being able to help everyone in the guild with logistics makes me very happy too."
These words were sincere. The Master was getting old and couldn't handle too heavy a workload. Helping handle affairs on the side could relieve the Master's pressure.
However, as a mage unable to use Magic, and formerly an S-Class Mage, to say there were no regrets would be impossible.
Riku stroked Mirajane's hair without speaking. After Lisanna disappeared, Mirajane suffered a huge shock and sealed her heart. When he returned from his mission, Mirajane had already become like this.
He couldn't rush it either. Now, only by finding Lisanna could Mirajane untie the knot in her heart and use Magic again.
"Mirajane! Three beers over here!"
"Coming!"
Laxus's appearance was just a small interlude. The guild quickly returned to its usual lively appearance.
No one in the guild noticed that Natsu's gaze was currently fixed on the second floor, his eyes flashing with an unclear meaning.
Early the next morning.
Mirajane was counting the number of mission requests.
This was something that had to be done every day. After all, there were many requests in the guild, and statistics were needed daily. If the numbers didn't match, she had to consider if one was lost, in which case it needed to be reprinted to avoid delaying the client.
While Mirajane was counting the mission requests on the second floor, her expression suddenly changed.
"This is bad! Master, one of the request papers on the second floor is missing!!"
Mirajane ran down the stairs in a hurry and shouted.
Hearing this, everyone in the guild went quiet. The second-floor requests were not like the first floor; the lowest on the second floor were S-Class requests. Missing any single one was not a small matter.
Laxus sat in a chair on the second floor with his arms crossed, looking calm and smiling: "Last night, I saw a cat sneakily tear it off. By the way, that cat had wings. Truly rare."
"Happy?!"
Everyone in the guild immediately knew who stole the request paper.
"So Natsu and Lucy are involved too?!"
If Happy stole the mission, it must have been under Natsu's instruction, and Lucy was teamed up with Natsu.
"Going to execute an S-Class mission so casually?!"
"What are those idiots thinking?!"
S-Class missions were recognized as super dangerous; one slip-up meant death. Even S-Class Mages needed the Master's approval to do them.
"This seriously violates our guild rules. They'll be kicked out of the guild when they return, right, Old Man? Speaking of which, with that three-legged cat kung fu doing an S-Class mission, they probably won't be coming back, hahahaha."
Laxus laughed with some schadenfreude.
"Laxus, you knew the consequences, so why didn't you stop them?!"
Mirajane questioned Laxus in front of him.
Laxus argued sophistically: "I just saw a gust of wind blow and a cat tear a piece of paper and run away. How would I know it was Happy, or know that Natsu was going to do an S-Class mission? Besides, even if I really knew, why should I stop them? Whether Natsu does an S-Class mission or not has nothing to do with me."
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