Lucy rushed over to Natsu, grabbed him by the collar, and shook him violently.
“Natsu!
Please wake up!” “I obviously didn’t do anything to you, why do I have to be the scapegoat here?!” Natsu reluctantly opened his eyes and looked at Lucy with a droopy gaze.
“Lucy!
We’re the closest of partners, right…” Before he could even finish his dramatic sentence, Natsu closed his eyes again, his head slumped limply, and he seemingly passed out from hunger!
The entire guild instantly went into an uproar.
Gray stared at Lucy with a mix of shock and teasing.
“Oh!
So you guys have already reached the ‘closest’ stage?
Since when did you two…” Mirajane covered her mouth with a teasing smile.
“My, my!
It turns out only Lucy can tame Natsu!” “To ruin him and drain all his energy like this…
Lucy, you have to take responsibility, you know!” Cana walked up to Lucy carrying a full keg of beer, then slung an arm around the blonde girl’s shoulder.
“Yo!
You’re pretty amazing, cutie.
I didn’t expect you could tame a wild guy like Natsu!” “Come on, come on!
Let’s drink to celebrate your big victory!” Seeing the giant keg Cana offered, Lucy’s brow immediately furrowed.
“Are you kidding me?!
That’s a keg, not a glass!” “Besides!
I really didn’t do anything to him!
Why do you all keep saying that I broke Natsu?!” Realizing her choice of words was a bit ambiguous, Lucy groaned weakly, “I mean…
Natsu is perfectly fine!
Nothing is broken with his body!” In another corner, Macao and Wakaba sat side by side, chatting about dirty things typical of middle-aged men.
They occasionally glanced at Natsu and Lucy with weird, meaningful expressions.
Lucy felt like sending those two old men to the Celestial Spirit World right then and there.
Makarov jumped down from his table, walked over to Lucy, and said with an incredibly serious face, “Lucy!” “Eh?” Seeing the Master’s dignified expression, a glimmer of hope sparked in Lucy’s heart.
Finally, a sane person who’s willing to defend me!
“Master!
Natsu’s condition has absolutely nothing to do with me.
I really don’t know why he suddenly became so weak like this!” However!
Makarov’s next action successfully made Lucy want to bury herself in the Celestial Spirit World.
Makarov suddenly bowed deeply toward Lucy.
“Please take good care of Natsu!” Mirajane also gave a gentle bow.
“Please take good care of Natsu!” Gray grinned widely.
“Even though I’m sick of seeing that droopy-eyed bastard’s face, he’s still our old friend.
Lucy!
We’re leaving Natsu in your hands.” In an instant, the entire guild followed suit in unison.
“Lucy!
We’re leaving Natsu in your hands!” Staring at Natsu’s limply starving figure, Lucy wanted to cry but no tears would come out.
She wailed in despair, “But I really didn’t do anything…” Meanwhile, Natsu, who was pretending to be passed out, secretly curled his lips into a faint smile.
Success!
From now on, he was guaranteed free lunches.
Especially when the one providing them was a beautiful girl like Lucy.
Far better than relying on that stupid cat, Happy.
Standing on the bar counter, Makarov stared at Natsu in silence.
In truth, he somewhat understood what was happening to the young man’s body.
Whatever the trigger was, an incredibly massive surge of magic energy had forced Natsu’s body into a self-preservation mode.
Affected by this phase, Natsu lost all his drive to move.
No matter how hungry he was, the young man refused to lift even a single finger.
The only way for Natsu to snap out of this mode was to take in a massive amount of food.
Once he managed to recover from this state, his magic power would undoubtedly skyrocket to a terrifying level.
Makarov glanced at Mirajane beside him, then the image of a red-haired woman who always wore armor popped into his mind.
As the two strongest female wizards in the guild, both of their magic powers were terrifying, and their combat abilities were practically flawless.
They were the current backbone of Fairy Tail.
As for the other S-Class wizards…
One was too reluctant to stay in the guild for long, while the other was currently on a ten-year quest and who knows where.
In fact, no one knew what his true face looked like besides Makarov himself.
“If Natsu manages to get past this phase, his magic level will definitely be on par with theirs,” Makarov thought.
“What a shame!
Natsu himself has absolutely no drive to get back up.” “How is he supposed to get back up?
The savings he painstakingly gathered over the years were eaten away in just three months.” “He’s starving all the time, how could he possibly have the energy to go work?” “It’s not that I’m a stingy Master.
But I clearly can’t keep funding a Natsu whose appetite is equal to a black hole.
He could wipe out the entire guild’s food supply for a month in just one sitting!” “That brat has already swallowed half of my retirement savings!
Who else could afford to bear his food expenses?!” Thinking about his thinning wallet, Makarov raised his cane high and cheered enthusiastically, “LUCY!
DO YOUR BEST!” The entire guild instantly erupted in loud cheers.
“LUCY!
DO YOUR BEST!” The cheers were also punctuated by various shouts from Elfman about ‘manliness’ that had absolutely nothing to do with the situation.
Staring at Natsu’s weak and innocent face, Lucy felt truly helpless.
In a resigned tone, she whined, “How am I supposed to do my best in a situation like this?!” “Stupid Natsu!” “Idiot Natsu!” “You go do your best!” “Or are you deliberately making me struggle alone?!” “F…
ooo…
d…” Natsu painstakingly spelled out the word through his lips.
Sensing Natsu’s sly intentions, Lucy felt like throwing this young man into the Celestial Spirit World right then and there.
“Earlier at my apartment you tried to mooch free food, and now you want to squeeze my wallet dry at the guild too?!” “Natsu, your behavior is seriously awful!” Having no other choice, Lucy was forced to dig into her wallet to buy food for Natsu.
The exact second the food was served on the table, Natsu instantly sprang up fresh and energized, sweeping clean a table full of dishes like a starving hurricane.
Sensing the young man’s parasitic aura, Lucy sorrowfully stared at her wallet, which was now completely deflated.
She immediately marched over to the guild’s request board and snatched a job flyer with a considerably high reward.
Without bothering to read the mission details, she approached Natsu’s table and slammed the paper right in front of the Dragon Slayer.
“If you want to leech off me, I don’t care!
But my money is almost gone!
You have to come complete this mission with me right now!” Happy flapped his wings and hovered closer while grumbling.
“Lucy, you’re going too far!
You’re the one who ruined Natsu’s body until he’s this weak, but now you’re forcing him to go to work?!”