BAM!
A loud crash shook the entire foundation of the Duke’s mansion.
A giant shadow suddenly appeared and blocked everyone’s view.
The giant maid, Virgo, stood tall while gripping the unfortunate, half-roasted Duke’s body in her right hand.
Her gaze was fixed straight on the two humans and one cat in front of her.
As a Celestial Spirit, her gaze was instantly locked onto the Celestial Spirit Keys hanging at Lucy’s waist.
Natsu clenched his fists and glared at Virgo with a defiant look.
“Want me to beat you up again, huh?” Strangely, ever since he devoured the contents of the food storage yesterday, Natsu hadn’t felt hungry at all until this afternoon.
Something felt weird with his body condition, so he wasn’t really in the mood to move around too much.
However!
If this ugly giant maid dared to try anything funny, Natsu wouldn’t mind giving her a free Fire Dragon’s Iron Fist!
Virgo ignored Natsu’s threat.
She kept staring at Lucy’s Celestial Spirit Keys without saying a single word and had absolutely no intention of getting out of the way.
Natsu’s patience was extremely thin.
Flames immediately flared up around his right fist, ready to be unleashed at any moment.
But before Natsu could throw his punch, Lucy grabbed the young man’s arm.
“Wait!
She’s been staring at my Celestial Spirit Keys this whole time.
She must have some connection to Celestial Spirit magic.
Let me handle her!” the blonde girl pleaded.
Without another word, Natsu immediately scooped up Happy and ran away as fast as he could, leaving the place.
“Happy!
I saw a lot of big fish earlier, let’s go eat fish together!” “Aye, Sir!” Happy, who had looked weak and drained of energy earlier, instantly radiated an incredible aura of enthusiasm the moment he heard the word ‘fish’.
Seeing the reaction of her two teammates running away in terror, Lucy screamed in a panic.
“Heeey!
Are you guys seriously just leaving me behind?!
What if I can’t beat her?!” Exhausting!
Lucy felt that her decision to choose Natsu—this irresponsible guy—as a teammate was a huge mistake that drained her soul at every turn.
Those two creatures were nothing more than a pair of food-digesting machines.
As long as there was food, they’d instantly forget about her existence!
“How could they be so cruel to me!” “Why on earth did I choose this pair of parasites as my partners?!” While Lucy was still busy grumbling and lamenting her fate, Virgo had placed the Duke’s charred body on the floor.
The unfortunate Duke was clearly done for.
If Virgo still wanted to be summoned to the human world, she had to find another Celestial Spirit wizard to make a new contract.
Coincidentally, Lucy appeared at the perfect time.
Because of that, Virgo wanted to test the girl’s strength and care for Celestial Spirits before making a decision.
After putting the Duke down, Virgo’s body, which was up to two meters wide, easily sank right through the mansion’s stone floor.
“Open!
Gate of the Golden Bull, Taurus!” A magic circle pattern immediately lit up from the golden key in Lucy’s hand, radiating a golden light that illuminated the entire Duke’s mansion.
“MOOO!!” The thunderous roar of the bull shook the entire building, startling the guards who were gathering to inspect the situation outside the mansion.
As soon as the perverted cow appeared, his gaze instantly locked onto Lucy’s figure.
“Miss Lucy’s body is truly spectac—” BAM!
The floor beneath them suddenly exploded, sending stone debris and dust flying in all directions.
Virgo suddenly emerged from the ground, cutting off Taurus’s perverted sentence before he could finish it.
The moment Virgo’s ugly giant form was clearly visible, Taurus’s anger instantly boiled over.
“An ugly creature like you dares to attack Miss Lucy!
MOOO!!” Swinging his giant axe, Taurus ruthlessly slashed at Virgo.
Both of them were Zodiac Spirits.
Since they were of the same tier, their magic capacity and basic combat strength were not vastly different.
Lucy observed the fierce battle in front of her.
They were trading blows without either one gaining the upper hand, let alone showing signs of losing.
“This is weird!” Lucy thought to herself.
“Logically, if there isn’t a significant difference in power, a perfectly balanced fight like this is extremely rare.” “A constant stalemate like this is almost impossible to find in a fight between human wizards.” “Taurus is my Celestial Spirit, so his current combat strength is influenced by the limits of my own magic power.” “In that case…
could it be that the giant maid…” To prove her hypothesis, Lucy secretly sneaked closer to the Duke’s half-charred body that Natsu had burned earlier.
As a Celestial Spirit wizard, Lucy had a unique instinct and sensitivity toward the presence of Celestial Spirit Keys.
And sure enough, she quickly found a golden key hidden in the unfortunate Duke’s pocket.
Elsewhere, on top of a pile of mansion rubble…
A pink-haired head and a blue cat head were hiding close together, secretly peeking at the fight from above.
“Teeheehee, look!
Dumb Lucy’s movements are already like a professional thief!” Happy whispered with a giggle.
Natsu gently flicked the cat’s head.
“Stop calling her dumb Lucy.
The proof is, she could deduce Virgo’s identity as a Celestial Spirit just by watching her fight against Taurus.
She’s not dumb at all.” “She just easily gets carried awa—” Before Natsu could finish his defense, Happy hurriedly covered his own mouth with his paws, trying to hold back his laughter, and looked at Natsu with a meaningful gaze.
“Oooooh!
Natsu is defending Lucy now, huh!” the blue cat teased.
Natsu rolled his eyes in annoyance, but replied in a casual and natural tone.
“If I won’t even protect my own woman, then what’s the point of letting someone else do it?” From the very beginning, Natsu actually liked Lucy quite a bit.
And after spending time together for the past three months, his feelings for this girl who loved to complain had secretly grown deeper.
Of course, he would never admit that he liked her because of her…
spectacular assets.
Natsu would keep that secret locked away in his heart!
“I took down that damn Duke with one punch.
Sooner or later, Virgo definitely has to find a new master to make a contract.
Even without me arranging it like this, she would surely choose Lucy.” “I left on purpose so Virgo wouldn’t be intimidated by my presence.
Besides, she wouldn’t attack Lucy seriously, let alone hurt her,” Natsu explained at length.
Hearing that explanation, Happy’s expression instantly turned gloomy.
“Natsu is so nice to Lucy…
But his promise to give me a big fish hasn’t been kept at all!” the cat wailed pitifully.
“Natsu’s heart has been completely stolen by Lucy!
The old Natsu, who only cared about me, is gone!” “Uwaaa!!
I’ve been dumped by Natsu!!” Seeing him acting out sobbing uncontrollably over a fish, Natsu couldn’t hold back an amused smile.
Happy’s acting skills were truly on par with an Oscar winner.
His tears could fall right on cue, and it didn’t look fake at all.
Natsu gently rubbed his beloved blue cat’s head.
“Alright, alright.
On our way home later, I promise to catch a super-sized fish for you.
It’ll definitely be enough to make your stomach explode!”