CHAPTER 762: LUCY: OH MY GOD!

Carla also smiled. If they went with this person, there would be no problem.

Wendy then asked, "What about Lucy?"

"Ask her if she wants to come along too. Yesterday, I heard her complain she’d be broke after paying rent." Rhodes took a sheet of paper and jotted down a few keywords. "The task of investigating these materials is up to you two. Once you’re ready, we’ll depart this afternoon."

"Okay!" Wendy happily agreed.

She wanted to become an excellent Magician who could stand on her own. If Rhodes handled everything, she’d only feel awkward.

Carla glanced around. "I haven’t seen Lucy today."

"Natsu’s already here, but Lucy isn’t," Mira mused, tapping her chin with a sly smile. "Which means Natsu didn’t stay at Lucy’s place last night... or maybe they already..."

Mira’s grin carried the air of a seasoned expert.

"M-Mira-nee..." Wendy’s face turned bright red.

Rhodes patted her head helplessly. "Go find Lucy at her house first."

Wendy grabbed Carla and hurried off.

Rhodes looked at Mira reproachfully. "Aren’t you afraid of corrupting the children?"

Mira didn’t mind in the least. "Wendy doesn’t like being treated like a child. Besides, she studies medicine, she knows more than you think. Honestly, when I have kids someday, I bet I’ll end up asking her for advice."

For the first time, Lucy formally received guests at home, and they happened to be the most polite guests she’d ever had since joining the guild.

The only comparable time was when Juvia had shown up uninvited and Rhodes and Mira escorted Lucy home afterward.

Wendy and Carla climbed the stairs, knocked before entering, and even asked where the slippers were.

Lucy didn’t know how to process it. She felt like hugging them both and never letting go.

As soon as they sat down, she hurried to brew her best tea and poured out all her snacks, creating a little mountain of treats on the table.

Wendy and Carla exchanged a puzzled glance.

Did... no one usually come over to play?

But they’d heard that Natsu, Erza, and Gray came by all the time.

Even they had been dragged in once or twice during those "illegal entry" incidents with the others.

"I’m sorry, my home’s a bit simple, I don’t have much to offer."

"It’s plenty," Carla said flatly, eyeing the mountain of snacks. Lucy, she decided, was a rather strange person.

After a few polite exchanges, Lucy asked, "So, did you come for something?"

Wendy took out the Poison Bee request form. "Yes! We have a mission and wanted to invite you, Lucy, to team up with us."

"? A job? 500,000 J? That’s amazing pay!" Lucy’s eyes sparkled, then she paused. "But what about Erza and the others?"

"They all have things to do," Wendy explained. "This time, we’re going with Big Brother Rhodes."

"I see." Lucy nodded and glanced down at the paper, then froze.

A few seconds later, her head shot up. "With who?!"

Carla silently confirmed her earlier suspicion: Lucy really was a strange person.

She briefly explained that Rhodes would be leading the team to complete two missions at once.

Lucy was so moved she nearly cried. "Wendy! You remembered me!"

She suddenly hugged Wendy, burying her in her arms and rubbing her cheek affectionately.

Carla, watching the struggling Wendy, calmly sipped her tea. Lucy was truly a menace, repaying kindness with suffering.

Around noon, Lucy and Wendy each lugged a suitcase as they returned to the guild to find Rhodes.

Lucy held a stack of notes, offering them like she was turning in homework. "Mr. Rhodes, all the relevant information is here! Please give further instructions!"

She proudly adjusted her wind song glasses. "I’m quite confident in this kind of work!"

Wendy chimed in, "Lucy’s amazing at organizing things!"

After all, Lucy was a writer, it made sense she’d be great at research and compiling data.

"Good work." Rhodes flipped through the pages and asked, "Have you two thought about where to start?"

"Yes!" Lucy eagerly said, "First, for the Poison Bee mission, since people are poisoned, we must first go see the villagers’ condition and try our best to help detoxify them.

"After that, we’ll go investigate the bees’ situation. In the meantime, we can first meet up with the Quatro Cerberus to confirm how to handle the Hellhound mission.

"After that, we’ll decide which to prioritize based on the situation. If all goes well, we should be back tomorrow."

Lucy smoothly stated her brief plan, with a little person inside her cheering herself on:

’Go, Lucy! You must seize this opportunity to perform well in front of Mr. Rhode, then collaborate on more high-difficulty missions, and become the most popular Magician!’

"Lucy, I declare you the most outstanding Magician in the guild. I want to recommend you to participate in this year’s S-Class Mage examination!"

In Lucy’s mind, a chibi Rhodes appeared, saying these words to her.

Behind Rhodes, Master, Laxus, Erza, Mira, and Gildarts stood in a line, all nodding in agreement.

And beside her, Natsu and Gray lay prostrate, waving white flags.

However, Rhode’s words pulled her back to reality: "Isn’t this quite well-organized? Why do you usually fail to get paid?"

Natsu and Gray in Lucy’s mind jumped up, each hitting her with a large hammer, knocking her down, then one spewed fire everywhere, and the other threw ice blocks everywhere.

"Because unexpected things always happen." Lucy was on the verge of tears.

Of course, she couldn’t blame Natsu and Gray entirely; she occasionally ran into trouble herself.

"Let’s decide on this for now. We’ll depart after dinner." Rhodes said, "Be mentally prepared; you two are the main force this time."

"Yes!"

Lucy and Wendy were full of enthusiasm, like college students just starting an internship.

Rhodes took his luggage, bid farewell to Mira, and set off with his adorable interns.

He had decided that this time he would just be a bystander, a last resort or something, trying his best to let Lucy and Wendy take the lead.

It just so happened that he was also curious about their progress.

Seeing that they were about to leave the city, Lucy noticed the wrong direction and asked, "Aren’t we renting a carriage?"

"No need; we have a faster mode of transportation."

Wendy and Caral hadn’t reacted yet, but Lucy’s face suddenly turned pale, and she fearfully said, "It’s not that again, is it?"

Rhode said, "Hex Gate requires preparing the magic circle in advance. If you like, you can use it on the way back."

Lucy quickly said, "I want normal transportation!"

Wendy and Carla also panicked a little when they heard about the Hex Gate; the painful experience from last time was still fresh in their minds.

"Alright, this is it." Rhodes saw that there were no people around. "Cloud Dragon!"

A blue-and-white giant dragon suddenly appeared before them, looking kindly at Wendy: "Long time no see. Have you grown a bit taller?"

Her speaking speed was as fast as ever, but Wendy had good hearing and could keep up.

However, hearing her question, her smile became a bit forced: "I haven’t grown at all."

Cloud Dragon tried to comfort her: "Ah, I almost forgot, only a few months have passed for you."

Wendy felt a little better.

Rhodes didn’t have the heart to say that a child this big should have clearly grown taller in a few months.

"Alright, hurry up and get on."

Cloud Dragon knew the purpose of Rhodes summoning her. "Where are we going?"