“S-Sorry!”
Gildarts hurriedly wiped the water from his mouth, then grabbed a cloth and started drying Wakaba’s face.
When he looked toward the entrance and saw Ron’s green training suit and bowl-cut wig, his eyes widened in horror.
So this was the infamous new member?
“Ron?!”
Makarov reacted almost exactly the same way, poking his head out from the second floor.
Ron looked up at the disembodied head staring down at him, finally dropped his pose, and stood normally again.
The moment Makarov confirmed it was really Ron, he leaped down into the first-floor hall.
“What are you doing out this late?
Shouldn’t you be at home?
And why are you—?”
Makarov raised an eyebrow when he finally noticed the purple-haired girl hiding behind Ron.
Ron glanced back at Laki, who was still clutching his clothes, and returned to his normal voice.
“Master Makarov, this is Laki.
She got lost outside town.
Could you help her?”
Makarov had plenty to say about Ron’s outfit, but finding the girl’s family came first, so he turned his attention to her.
“Of course.
That won’t be a problem.”
He nodded and asked Wakaba to take Laki inside while they sorted everything out.
Wakaba walked over, bent down, and held out his hand.
“Come on.
Don’t be afraid.”
Laki stared at the offered hand but continued gripping Ron’s jumpsuit.
She looked up at Ron with wide, uncertain eyes, clearly still frightened.
Ron smiled and gave her an encouraging nod.
“Everyone here is kind.
You’ll be safe.”
Only then did Laki release his clothes and place her hand in Wakaba’s.
Wakaba gently led her toward the bar, where he and Macao began figuring out how to contact her family.
“Don’t worry, Master.
We’ll handle things over here.”
Macao gave Makarov an okay sign.
Makarov drew a deep breath, then turned back toward Ron.
He stared at the bowl-cut wig and the painfully bright green jumpsuit.
Between Ron’s dramatic entrance and the perfectly normal expression he wore now, the old man could no longer tell what was going on inside the boy’s head.
“Tell me the truth.
What is this outfit supposed to be?”
Makarov’s brows drew together as he spoke through clenched teeth.
“Everyone in town is saying you couldn’t handle what happened and suffered some kind of mental breakdown.”
Ron fell silent for a moment.
When he looked around the hall, he suddenly realized that the atmosphere inside the guild was unusually subdued.
Most of the members had gone quiet and were watching him.
They were genuinely worried and seemed to be waiting for an explanation.
Ron glanced at the system from the corner of his eye.
[Current Roleplay Completion: 93%.]
He stared at the number, still short of one hundred percent, and struggled with himself.
His original plan had been to flash Rock Lee’s dazzling smile and declare that these were the burning tears and sweat of youth!
But when he saw the anxiety in Makarov’s eyes and the heavy mood surrounding the others, the timing suddenly felt wrong.
Even Laki was staring curiously at him from beside the bar.
Ron sighed.
There was no need to frighten people who sincerely cared about him.
He reached up, grabbed the bowl-cut wig, and pulled it off, revealing hair soaked through with sweat.
“The truth is, this outfit belongs to a character from a new play I’m writing.
I dressed like this because I wanted inspiration.”
It was as though he had removed a mask.
Ron scratched his head and turned his face away slightly, looking like an ordinary child who knew he had caused trouble.
“It’s a method of acting I came up with.
I experience the character’s life and mindset for myself so I can understand them better and write more scripts.”
Everything he had said was technically true.
The acting was real, and so were the new scripts.
Ron already knew countless stories from other worlds.
If he wanted to roleplay their characters without attracting too much suspicion, the best solution was to rewrite those stories as stage plays and bring them to life in the world of Fairy Tail.
That might even be the fastest way to raise his roleplay completion.
He had criticized Laki for being dishonest earlier, and now he was the one carefully bending the truth.
After finishing his explanation, Ron finally turned back around.
The guild hall fell into a rare and complete silence as everyone stared at him blankly.
Makarov lowered his head, his body beginning to tremble.
Ron’s eyes widened.
‘Oh, hell.
He isn’t about to cry, is he?’
‘Please don’t.
I’m begging you!’
Instead, Makarov threw back his head and burst into laughter so hard that tears nearly flew from his eyes.
“You little brat!
You should’ve said that from the beginning!”
“Experiential acting?
That’s actually pretty creative!”
Laughter gradually spread through the guild until the gloomy atmosphere vanished and the hall was lively once more.
Ron quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
As long as everyone was happy again and stopped staring at him like that, he was satisfied.
Gildarts laughed louder than anyone else, pointing directly at Ron.
“I like this kid!”
Still laughing, he strode over and familiarly ruffled Ron’s already messy hair with one enormous hand.
“You should’ve explained sooner.
Then the old man wouldn’t have made the whole guild feel like someone had died.
Everyone was so nervous that no one even dared to breathe properly.”
When Ron realized who was touching his head, he swallowed nervously.
‘Please don’t get too excited and accidentally activate your magic.’
Crush Magic was not something he wanted anywhere near his skull.
Ron raised both hands and tried to push Gildarts away, only to discover that the man’s arm would not budge at all.
In the end, Ron gave up and rolled his eyes.
The physical strength of an S-Class Mage was absolutely terrifying.
Gildarts pointed toward Makarov and laughed again.
“There you go, old man.
You can finally relax.”
Makarov released a long breath and returned to his usual kindly expression.
“Yes.
Thank goodness.”
Now that Makarov was no longer worried, Gildarts finally removed his hand.
Ron immediately retreated several steps out of reach.
Holding the wig in one hand, he used the fingers of the other to comb his abused hair back into place.
“Ron, listen to me.”
Makarov cleared his throat and gave him a serious look.
Seeing how solemn he had suddenly become, Ron lowered his hand and met his gaze.
“No matter what happens in the future, you can always come and talk to us.”
“This place will always be your home, because you are a member of Fairy Tail.”
Ron froze for a moment, then the corners of his mouth lifted.
Something warm and unfamiliar settled in his chest.
‘A home that will always be here…?’
He quickly smoothed his expression and waved both hands.
“Let’s not say ‘always.’ That sounds unlucky, like you’re cursing my parents never to return.”
He refused to let the conversation become emotional.
It had to be stopped before it gathered momentum.
Makarov paused, then laughed and shook his head.
“Fine.
Then this will be your home until your family returns.”
Ron nodded.
That was much better.
“All right.
I only came here to bring Laki, so I should get going.”
Gildarts looked confused.
“You’re not staying?”
Ron said nothing.
He simply placed the bowl-cut wig back on his head.
Then he flashed a brilliant smile and raised his thumb.
“Youth waits for no one!”
Under everyone’s gaze, Ron kicked into a handstand, supporting himself on both palms.
“I may not be a genius, but through hard work, I can defeat any genius!”
The entire guild burst into laughter again.
“Well said!”
His declaration drew an enthusiastic cheer from the Fairy Tail members.
Ron then began walking toward the entrance on his hands, using his palms as though they were feet.
“Old man, that kid’s hilarious.”
Gildarts crouched beside Makarov and nudged him with an elbow.
Makarov continued smiling as he watched Ron leave.
“With that much energy, I’m starting to look forward to the day his theatre troupe reopens.”
The two of them threw back their heads and laughed.
“Oh, right, Master!”
Ron suddenly spun around while still upside down and faced the guild hall from outside.
He shouted toward Makarov.
“On my way back, I saw that man over there pulverize an entire street in the shopping district!
Three stores were caught in it too!”
The two men froze in the middle of their laughter.
The smiles around the guild hall gradually disappeared as everyone stared in confusion.
“The Rune Knights are already calculating the damages!
Don’t forget to report to the Magic Council!”
Once he had finished, Ron spun back around.
His hands began moving at frantic speed as he hurried away toward home.
Makarov slowly turned toward Gildarts, who was scratching his head.
Come to think of it, Makarov had not heard the usual announcement for the Gildarts Shift.
Had Magnolia forgotten to rearrange the streets today?
Gildarts smiled sheepishly.
“I was wondering why the route back looked different from what I remembered.
So that’s what happened.”
Makarov sucked in a sharp breath.
His soul drifted from his mouth, and he collapsed unconscious on the spot.