The Ghost of Fiore

Chastisement

I think the old man was hoping that I would get back within the next two or three days to talk to him about the magic council, but that just didn't end up happening. It took me a full week and a half to get back to the guild after the whole Phantom Lord incident. The first day was me finishing my mission to take out some monsters (That hurt like hell, let me tell you... Internal damage is real boys and girls), and after that, I went back home and slept for a good three days straight.

After my mini coma, I contacted Evergreen, who seemed to be close to murdering me at that point, and took her on an impromptu shopping trip to Gavin's, who was absolutely ecstatic to have her back in the shop... Creepy is a major understatement when it comes to him at times; when we were teenagers, it was weird, now that we were legal adults, it was somehow worse.

Anyways, the main reason it took me so long to get back to Magnolia was the fact that I needed to check out the popular gossip spots for news about the Ghost of Fiore. If news about me still being around got out, any form of a cover-up job would be exponentially harder, and gossip was the best way to find anything out half the time. Sure, at best, you would have to throw out half the rumor due to exaggeration, but it was amazing how reliable gossip was, and I knew the most ruthless gossip hotspots.

After a week of jumping between different locations with no news, I knew I was pretty much in the clear. Any information about me had been well contained, which was a bit of a miracle, all things considered. 

It was a busy week and a half, not at all the vacation from stress I had been hoping for, though there certainly was a few moments that I was able to de-stress. My favorite of which was the time when a few bandits decided that I would be an easy paycheck. Beating the shit out of them was great, especially after fighting so many high tiered mages; between Jose, Aria, and the entirety of Phantom Lord's guild, there had been a lot of strenuous fights, so this was downright therapeutic.

Seeing that hopeless look, the one that showed they realized just how badly they had messed up by picking me as a target, was a look I loved. It was just so much fun to rub their newfound realization in by knocking out some teeth.

Sadism aside, nothing major happened the rest of my time away, I was either passed out or working, so by the time I got back to the guild, I was already exhausted again.

Seeing the guild the way it was, a huge skeleton that was far bigger than I remembered the original building being, was shocking. The original building was gone, replaced by framing that showed what would be a truly huge building.

The old man must have taken the opportunity presented when the guild hall was trashed to expand, which made me chuckle. He was ever the opportunist, though, I was a bit more surprised at who I found inside the skeletal guild hall than I was by the hall itself. You see, I knew a lot about the people I had grown up with, and while they certainly visited the guild more than I did, Laxus especially never mixed well with those he viewed as 'below' him...

Prejudiced hog.

As I listened to Laxus insult the other members of the guild, I carefully climbed into the wooden framework so I wouldn't be noticed. Not that I really cared... Well, I mean, I cared, but I just had some things to say to the idiotic spark plug before he left without eavesdroppers listening in. I honestly doubted he would stay too much longer, seeing as there was nowhere he could go that allowed him to lord above the plebeians.

He really wanted to prove my point, because only a few seconds of me thinking that, he swept out of the common area with a flourish, passing under my little nest, "You know," I called out calmly, causing Laxus' shoulders to tense up, "Usually I get a kick out of your whole superiority act, it's hilarious normally, but today the ignorance is just painful to watch... You should really work on that."