Chapter 68 - Banquet of the Guild Masters

(Earthland, Fiore kingdom, Magnolia town, December 22th of the year X778)

(Arthur POV)

The guildhall of Fairy Tail was as rowdy as ever, perhaps even more so with the recent developments!

Two S ranked mages in one year!

Two of them!

This hadn't happened before, it was something that we celebrated over and over pretty much every day for an entire week.

However, it couldn't just be all celebrations now could it?

Cana and Gildarts had decided, the very moment Cana woke up, that they would be going on an S ranked mission together with Cana calling all the shots!

A sort of family bonding experience, as well as S rank mission experience.

Ur and Ultear on the other hand were rather busy with being a normal family in fact, Ur was busy spoiling her as a reward for getting so far into the exam this time and showing so much resolve.

As for Laxus and Gramps... Well they didn't do anything special, Gramps was simply silently proud and overly happy the whole time, even going as far as to not care too much about any trouble the guildmates caused.

Laxus went on his first S ranked mission together with the Thunder Legion, he went the day after the exam finished.

Today, during one of the many brawls that were going on and Erza trying to stop it all whilst fighting off Mira, Gramps called me over.

"Arthur my boy, come over here for a second." Gramps spoke up, waving me over.

I of course walked over while greeting him, "Hey, Gramps! What's up?" I asked, sitting up at the counter.

"Mmm, there's going to be an annual guild masters' meeting at Clover town in a few days. We've been asked to come along with our promising youths so I'd like you to come with me." Gramps explained the situation.

"Oh, that sounds sweet! Who else is coming? I'd ȧssume you'd want to take Cana too since she's the youngest, newest member of the S rank." I spoke up, "I'd recommend Mystogan too, he'll definitely get S rank next year after all."

"Mmm, while true that you're all exceptional little brats. I'm only taking you and Laxus." Gramps replied, "They wanna see up to two of the best new generation kids of each guild, so I've decided to take you two."

"Ah, I see... Well then, when will we go?" I replied, a little disappointed that the others would get to see other guilds.

It'd be a learning experience for them after all, quite helpful in my opinion. But hey, I guess Laxus can meet some rivals maybe?

"After Christmas is over, I just wanted to give you a heads up." Gramps said and gave me a pat on the shoulder.

I simply nodded and went about with my business, training in the following days and partying a bit during Christmas with the others.

…

On December 26th, Gramps, Laxus and me met up at the guild hall in the morning, "Gu-morning everyone." I yawned, "How was your sleep?" I asked the unamused Laxus and grinning old man.

"Splendid, thank you for asking my boy." Gramps said with a smile, obviously excited over the guild master meeting.

"Let's go and get this over with, I doubt the other guilds have anything to show for themselves." Laxus spoke arrogantly, obviously still on a high after both ranking up to S rank and finishing his first S ranked job.

"Now, now... Don't go underestimating the others, Laxus. They've all got splendid little brats of their own after all, hahaha!" Gramps laughed heartily.

"Yeah, there's probably a few strong guys. I'm quite excited myself to meet other guilds!" I spoke up, asking afterwards. "Anyway, shall we get going?"

"Yeah, let's go to Clover town. Arthur, if you would be so kind." Gramps requested, to which I obviously complied.

"Sure thing, {Gate}" I spoke, outstretching my hand and creating a portal to Clover town in front of it, "There we go, let's move!"

There wasn't anything special about this town other than the fact it was where the guild masters of Fiore went to hold their meetings, or well... Drinking parties.

The whole event was more so a gathering of old friends that could brag to each other about their guild and their members, it was also the reason why they had asked each other to invite some members.

Gramps was simply whistling to himself with a smile plastered on his face as we walked to the building.

I'm sure you can see why he's in such a good mood. I mean, why wouldn't he be in a good mood with us two to show off?

Gramps had asked me to come with because I was practically the new Ace of Fairy Tail already, as well as Laxus who was his grandson, his pride and joy who had just put on the mantle of S rank.

After our short walk was over, we found ourselves in front of what was essentially a large mansion, walking through we ended up in a big dining room that was all ready and equipped with staff, tables and chairs. Food and drinks were currently being prepared as the meeting wouldn't start for another hour or so.

"Hoh?" Laxus smirked, seemingly pleased at the scenery, "This looks like a good place to chow down at."

"Haha, surely! They seem like they'll be serving us first class gourmet meals here! Sweet!" I commented as well, anticipating the upcoming feast.

"Oh, you're both in for a treat. The masters are all going to be putting in their everything into the banquet this year, making sure to properly introduce the new generation brats to each other! Hahaha!" Gramps laughed heartily in a good mood.

"Sweet! I can't wait to see the food here, I wonder if anyone else is here yet?" I asked.

"Look over there, there's Blue Pegasus' master Bob." Gramps pointed to the side where an old man cross-dressed as a woman with a bald head and lipstick stood together with another man who was seemingly in his early twenties, he was short and had a rather flamboyant haircut with its wavy style and many curved spikes jutting outwards.

He wore an expensive white suit with a blue rose place at his ċhėst, the most distinctive feature about him however was his big rather rectangular flat nose.

Hey... Is that Ichiya...?

"Ohhh! Makarov my dear! Is that you?" Master Bob hopped over while smiling.

"Bob, it's been a while hasn't it?" Gramps smiled, shaking hands with the Master of Blue Pegasus.

"Indeed it has, dear old friend. Might I have the pŀėȧsurė of knowing these handsome young hunks you've been hiding from me? Hmm?" Master bob suddenly got creepy, looking towards me and Laxus while sending shivers down both our spines.

"Hahaha! You never change do you, Bob? These are some of the most promising brats from my place, my grandson, Laxus Dreyar, one of the two newly appointed S ranks of our guild," Gramps pointed to Laxus, "And the one who is currently perhaps our guild's Ace, Arthur Wulf." He pointed to me.

"Ohh! Your grandson and your new Ace, huh? They're both handsome young men, lucky you Makky!" Master Bob spoke while holding his cheek with a hand, "Let me introduce my own promising fellow, this is Ichiya Vandalay Kotobuki, a rather rising start within our guild, hohoho!" Master Bob giggled.

"It is my pŀėȧsurė, to meet you two. Men." Ichiya bowed lightly, seemingly sparkling as he spoke, "I do hope we can learn much from eachother even in the short time we are here. Men..." He looked up at us, posing with two fingers in front of his face.

The 'Men' seemingly echoed in my head as he said it...

"It's nice to meet you too Ichiya, you seem like an... Interesting fellow." I greeted him with a wry smile.

Yep... It was Ichiya...

And heck, I didn't know he had such a long ȧss name! Is this guy a Royal? His name is longer than the king's for crying out loud!

"Old man... You seriously intend to compare me to this?" Laxus pointed at Ichiya with a disappointed look, obviously displeased.

"Hoooh, it seems like your grandsonny is rather ċȯċky? Say, Laxus was it? Why don't you have a short bout with our Ichiya." Master Bob spoke, smiling kindly at Laxus.

"Hm? Sure, why not. I'll show you why Fairy Tail is the best." Laxus grinned smuggly, electricity flashing slightly over his body frame.

Seeing how confident the master of Blue Pegasus was, Laxus decided not to judge a book by it's cover and prepared to fight.

"I of course mean you no harm, good sir." Ichiya spoke politely, "However, it would seem that I have to show you... THE POWER OF MY PARFUM! MEEEEEN!" He out burst suddenly and placed two glass containers of what was probably his parfum straight into his nostrils.

Not a moment after that, Ichiya grew in size and became a rather muscular individual with an overbearing height, tearing his suit apart from the sudden growth spurt.

"Hoh? Maybe he can fight then!" Laxus smiled in excitement, charging up his lightning magic in his fists.

"Have at thee then! Meeen!!" Ichiya yelled, rushing towards Laxus with a straight punch.

We had all cleared the way for them to fight, however it surprisingly for most, and not very surprisingly for me, ended up being a rather short encounter.

Laxus dodged Ichiya's attack and upper cutted him into the air, sending him flying a ways away while Ichiya yelled, "MEEEEEEEEEEEN!!!" the flight was short as the poor Ichiya smashed into a table, breaking it and all its plates in the process.

"Ichiya-chan!" Master Bob ran up to him in a panic with a feminine step at his feet.

"Wh-What... He really was as much of a trash as he looked like!" Laxus was rather disappointed once again.

I sighed, "Well then, {Repair}." I said and fixed the broken table and all its plates. "Seems like Ichiya is the same as ever even in this day and age." I could only smile wryly.

The poor guy stood no chance against Laxus, I feel rather bad for him although this does seem to be the general way anything he does goes.

Master Bob had become preoccupied with dealing with Ichiya, so the three of us went on our own way, meeting with some of the other guild masters and their new generation kids.

None really piqued Laxus' interest, although some of them were a good conversation for me at the very least.

The banquet eventually started and everyone was there, having a merry time while bragging and drinking.

No one could really top Gramps though, oh no. Our old guild master eventually got so drunk he stood atop a table and went on and on about me and Laxus, as well as the rest of the guild.

About Laxus' recent achievements and record breaking speeds at the Hakobe mountain trials. Erza's incredible swordsmanship, Mystogan's amazing items and Cana's achievements at her young age.

Gramps also talked a lot about me and all my accomplishments, especially my fight with Gildarts a year ago and how I had gotten far stronger since, probably already having surpassed the famous Gildarts.

Which was an understatement honestly, my training and techniques have improved along with my skillset. There isn't anyone lower than the four kings of Ishgar who can fight me now from the original timeline here in the continent of Ishgar.

Not that I know of at least, the continent is huge and there might be some 'Hidden Experts' as they say in those good ol' cultivation novels.

I wonder if my favorite novels have finished yet?

Who am I kidding... Probably not...

"My, my if it isn't my good friend Master Makarov in all of his elegancy!" A sarcastic voice spoke up, earning a lot of gazes to himself.

"Mmm?" Gramps turned to the voice, "Oh, Master Jose himself! How have you been?" He said in a pleased tone.

Oh, so that's the Master of Phantom Lord. Fairy Tail's rival guild, huh? The guy is a wizard saint to boot, ranking right under gramps.

"My, thank you for asking. I am in good health as you can see, however..." Jose replied in a cheerful tone, "Imagine my surprise to see you here Makarov? You really have the face to show up with all the trouble your guild causes? Hm? And in such a drunken stupor... Shameful really" He spoke in a mocking tone.

Gramps ignored the comment on him being drunk, replying as he kept a smile on his face, "Well, we have begun to fix everything rather quickly, you see. All thanks to my good boy Arthur here."

"Ohh, so you're that famous kid who's been Fairy Tail's errand boy this whole time?" Jose turned to me, "Must be tiresome cleaning up after every one of those incompetent rabble's mess." He spoke in obvious fake empathy, shrugging all the while.

"Why, yes. It is rather of a hassle, but I can't just leave them alone, now can I?" I replied, "Fairy Tail can be rather troublesome at the best of times, for which I do apologize if we've inconvenienced some here," I spoke while looking over at the masters, before turning back to Jose, "however we mean well and do our jobs as best as we can. I myself strive to keep it all in order, making sure to lighten the load on Master's back and lessen the animosity most held towards us before." I spoke kindly to the Phantom Lord master, earning some good points in the eyes of many.

"Hahaha!" Gramps laughed, patting me on the back "Yes, our boy Arthur is a rather special one! I can't thank him enough for all the selflessness he's been acting upon."

Oi... You punished me into it, don't go making up stuff now...

"Hmm... Selflessness, huh?" Jose spoke up, "Still, I feel that one of your skill level is of wasted potential over at that drunken bub of a guildhall." Jose commented while waving his hand to the side.

"What?!" Gramps got angry, knowing what Jose was implaying.

"Oh, I mean no disrespect of course. I just think that Arthur here would do a lot better if he were to join up with a more... How should I say? Proper, wizard's guild." Jose spoke with animosity.

"Oi, if you think I'll just let you talk over me while trying to poach one of my members! Then you've got another thing-" Gramps got cut off by me.

"Excuse me, Master, please let me handle this." I spoke up, stopping gramps before his anger outburst. "Master Jose. While I do respect you, could you not disregard in front of whom you're speaking? I cannot tolerate such disrespect, not towards my guild master nor my guild!" I spoke, a hint of powerful killing intent that I had empowered with my demonic attributes filling my words.

Jose felt the danger, immediately backing up with cold sweat dripping down his forehead. "Y-You...!"

"Yes? What is it, 'Phantom Lord guild master, Jose Porla. the ninth ranked wizard saint.' Are you okay? Here, have a glass of water to calm your nerves." I asked, speaking his status, name and rank in a mocking tone before handing him a glass of cold water from one of the tables.

Everyone could see this man, this famous individual, back up in a cold sweat from a child that bȧrėly classified as a teenager.

Rather embarrassing, no?

"You... How dare you!" Jose yelled, exuding an awful lot of magic power as he attempted to frighten me back, he was angry.

The guild masters caught onto what had happened as well as what was happening and couldn't help but chuckle at the all mighty master of Phantom Lord, Gramps himself was laughing his heart out.

"Hahahahaha! Good, good job my boy! Hahaha!"

"Heh," Laxus grinned, "Good one, Arthur."

Jose realized just how much he was being mocked, his veins bulged on his forehead and he initiated an attack towards me!

Jose swung his hand at me, concentrating an awful lot of magic into his palm as he obviously intended to vaporize me in a blind rage.

"{Gate}." I spoke up, creating a small portal right in front of Jose's palm and also creating one opening right above his head.

His own magic blasted him right into the floor, creating a hole deep into the ground and sending shards of wooden floor, tables and plates flying everywhere.

"{Restore}." I said while everything was still flying, fixing the entire premise before anyone could get hit by a flying object.

Jose himself was left buried in the hole he had made for himself.

"Pffff! HAHAHAHAHAHA!" The entire banquet hall exploded in laughter, no one had ever seen a wizard saint so profoundly humiliated by a nearly fourteen year old kid.

"YOU BASTARD!" Jose exploded in anger, blasting his way out of the hole.

"Hey! I just fixed that! {Restore}," I said, restoring the broken up floor once more, "Master Jose, you have no manners what so ever now do you?"

The phantom lord master was red from the embarrassment as everyone laughed, "You... You Insolent brat! I'll kill you!" Jose said, ready to attack again, however he was promptly stopped by a pale white hand placed in front of him.

"Master, please. Calm yourself." The voice of a child spoke.

"Clayman? Get out of my way child! I have to teach this brat some respe-" Jose got cut off.

"Master, please. Calm yourself." The so called Clayman repeated himself, to which Jose promptly complied after looking around himself.

This child named Clayman had a slim, oblong head with a sharp chin and defined jawlines, he had a pair of pointed ears and silver short hair. His eyebrows were so thin that one may might confuse the yellow markings on his forehead as his eyebrows instead.

His getup involves a three-layered tuxedo, having an overall white color scheme.

"Tsk, I'll remember this! Mark my words, you brat!" Jose spoke in anger and turned around, leaving the premise by himself.

Clayman looked at his master with his hands place behind his back, turning to me with a soft smile, "I'm sorry that you had to go through that, your name is Arthur correct? I am Clayman, it is a pŀėȧsurė to make your acquaintance." He lightly bowed.

"Mm, mine as well. Thank you for stopping Master Jose, I wouldn't know what to do if he had gone at me more seriously." I lightly bowed as well, showing some modesty.

"Hohoho, you needn't mention it." Clayman spoke, "Now then, if you would all excuse me I will go see Master Jose. Good day everyone." He showed proper etiquette to the masters and left the banquet hall.

Clayman, huh?

That guy seemed rather interesting, he was obviously a game participant with that dark aura surrounding him. I wonder if he's the only one in Phantom lord?

That name though... Clayman... The name sounds really familiar, but I just can't put my finger on it...

Well, considering future events then we'll definitely cross paths again, I'll be prepared to face a stronger Phantom Lord when the time comes, I guess.

…

After that little fiasco the banquet continued like normal, many people had a good laugh over the matter where 'a child defeated a wizard saint' and it was a hot topic among everyone.

Fairy Tail had become the center of attention with everyone praising Makarov for nurturing such prodigies as myself and Laxus. Trying to gain his favor all the while.

Gramps had an exceedingly fun day with us and his old friends, even Laxus seemed to enjoy himself with all the food and the thing with Jose. He also expressed his opinion that the boy named Clayman seemed like he was strong.

I obviously agreed, knowing the truth of the matter.

On the next day's morning I decided to return everyone to their homes myself, as a way to apologize for the ruckus and to gain some good will from the guilds all across Fiore.

It was safe to ȧssume that Fairy Tail and my name especially had become even more famous, what with Sorcerer weekly posting a story titled, "Wizard Saint defeated by Fairy Tail's rising star, Arthur Wulf! Big Leak from Guild Master's Banquet!"

Sweet!

...