The girl, suddenly patted on the shoulder, trembled fiercely like a frightened small animal and turned her head quickly.
What came into view was a face she didn't recognize at all. She subconsciously retreated repeatedly, her back almost touching the cold guild gate, her voice carrying timidity. "Wh-What do you want?"
Seeing her overreaction, Shane couldn't help but raise his hand to touch his own face.
Recently, he always felt he was being disliked by people. Erza was like this, Ultear was like this, and this strange girl before him was also like this.
He turned his head somewhat depressedly and asked, "Do I look very scary?"
"Isn't that nonsense?" Gray rolled his eyes silently in his heart, twitching the corner of his mouth at the thought of the 30,000 Jewels robbed on the road.
Hearing this, Erza actually leaned closer.
She extended her hands, gently cupped Shane's face, and scrutinized it carefully.
The distance between the two was extremely close. Shane could even feel the girl's warm breath carrying a sweet scent puffing on his face, making him subconsciously tilt his head slightly.
After a long while, Erza let go and concluded extremely seriously, "Mhm, not fierce."
In all fairness, Shane's appearance had nothing to do with the word "fierce."
Black messy hair casually draped over his forehead, making his complexion look somewhat pale and lacking in blood.
Those black eyes, always half-open, revealed a bit of laziness, completely different from the sharp temperament of ordinary Mages.
"Uh—no need to answer so seriously." Shane waved his hand, feeling somewhat helpless about the girl's overly serious personality.
The purple-haired girl left hanging aside, watching the natural and familiar interaction of these people, and the aura on them that seemed to be one with "Fairy Tail," found her initial nervousness dissipating a bit.
She mustered up courage and asked in a low voice, "Are... are you people from Fairy Tail?"
Shane, having just been "disliked" by this girl, retreated aside sulkily.
Seeing this, Erza bent down slightly, her tone rare and gentle. "Yes. What are you doing here? Do you have a commission?"
The girl shook her head hard, her purple shoulder-length hair shaking with it. She looked up, a trace of longing light flashing in her eyes. "My name is Laki Olietta! I—I want to join Fairy Tail!"
"Want to join Fairy Tail?" Gray interjected somewhat strangely. "Then why stay at the door and not go in?"
Saying this, he stepped forward carelessly, as if returning to his own home, lifted his foot extremely casually, and kicked open the heavy guild gate with a bang.
"Brats! Lord Gray is back!" He shouted inside at the top of his lungs, trying to create a bit of momentum.
Laki stood by the door, completely expecting this sudden commotion. She staggered, carried by the opening door, and almost fell.
It was Shane who had quick eyes and hands, grabbing the back collar of her winter coat, holding her steady like carrying a kitten, preventing her from performing a flat fall at the guild entrance.
Inside the guild was still that familiar noisy scene.
The smell of alcohol, the aroma of food, and the laughing and cursing of men bragging mixed together, warm air hitting their faces.
Regarding "Lord Gray's" "declaration," most drunk Mages just glanced casually, then continued to drink and brag on their own, obviously not taking him seriously.
Only Cana, playing poker alone not far from the entrance, raised her head.
She rubbed her forehead and roasted, "Gray, when did you become a 'Lord'? And 'brats,' too arrogant."
Shane felt the same.
This guy Gray, as soon as he returned to the guild, seemed to have lifted some seal, returning a bit to that beatable arrogant appearance before "training."
At this time, Cana noticed Shane and Erza behind Gray.
A smile of "you guys are back too" just appeared on her face when her gaze immediately fell on the still-frightened Laki held by Shane in one hand.
And the black-haired girl behind him, tied up with long whips, looking dejected—Ultear.
Cana's eyes widened instantly, and the poker cards in her hand fell onto the table with a crash.
She turned her head abruptly and shouted in panic toward the depths of the guild: "Oh no! Everyone look!
Shane—Shane kidnapped two girls and brought them back!"
This shout was like dropping cold water into boiling oil. The entire guild silenced instantly, then erupted into even greater uproar.
"What? Kidnapping?"
"Two girls?! Has that kid Shane finally embarked on the path of crime?"
"Where, where? Let me see!"
"As expected of Shane; doesn't act often, but when he does, it's shocking!"
Countless gazes focused on Shane in unison, full of suspicion, curiosity, and the excitement of watching the fun without minding the trouble.
Looking at these companions who instantly entered the spectator mode, Shane, already somewhat tired from the journey, felt the veins on his forehead throbbing, his head hurting even more.
He took a deep breath helplessly, pulled the still somewhat dazed Laki, and pushed her in front of Cana. "This is a newcomer who wants to join the guild, Laki Olietta."
Then, he pulled the silent Ultear in front of him, his movements not gentle. "This is the captive we caught this time, an enemy."
After explaining concisely, his gaze swept over the onlookers.
"Tch—"
"What, so it's not kidnapping."
"Boring, disperse, disperse."
"Thought there was some big news."
Hearing there was no explosive gossip as imagined, the onlooker Mages instantly lost interest, letting out bored boos, and soon scattered like birds and beasts.
Shane glared grumpily at the initiator, Cana, wanting to raise his hand to give her a knuckle knock on that head full of wild thoughts.
But Cana was very clever. She had already taken Laki's hand, slipped aside with a grin, and began to introduce the guild situation to her enthusiastically, completely giving Shane no chance for "revenge."
Shane could only sigh helplessly, signaling Erza and Gray to follow, while he escorted Ultear toward the bar in the center of the guild.
The first priority after returning was naturally to report the situation to the Master.
In front of the bar, as expected, the short Master Makarov was sitting there.
But what surprised Shane a bit was that there was another unexpected figure sitting next to the Master.
"Gildarts? You're back?" Shane was somewhat surprised.
Gildarts turned his head at the sound, revealing a hearty smile, raising the wine glass in his hand as a greeting. "Yo! Shane! I heard about your matter from the Master. You're too distant; why didn't you wait for me to come back and act together?"
Shane rolled his eyes and sat in the empty seat next to the bar. "Who knew when you, the elusive uncle, would come back."
Gildarts scratched his messy orange-red hair and laughed heartily. "Well, I occasionally come back for Christmas too; after all, this is home."
Saying this, he seemed to remember something, picked up an object from his feet, and tossed it to Shane. "Here, I brought you a gift!"
Shane caught the flying object and looked closely. It was a bottle of exquisite-looking fruit wine, but only more than half of the liquid remained in the bottle, the cork stuffed casually.
But this bottle style—looked familiar no matter how he looked at it.
Shane speechlessly opened the gift box he just bought from the "Tourist Trap Boutique" in his hand and took out the intact fruit wine inside.
Compared the two; exactly the same!
The corner of Shane's mouth twitched. He stuffed the half bottle given by Gildarts back into his hand. "You drank the rest of this, and you have the nerve to give it as a gift? Drink my bottle."
Gildarts gave an "Oh?" and reached out to take it.
"Who said it's for you?" Shane dodged quickly with quick eyes and hands, turned around, and solemnly placed the brand-new fruit wine in front of Master Makarov, who had been watching their interaction with a smile.
"Master, this is a souvenir for you."