Fairy Tail - Eyes of Ice

Chapter 53 - Grand Magic Games Pt. 15

A beautiful blue sky draped over the Fiore countryside. Wendy's Troia spell allowed Kai's insides to sit comfortably with him while he watched Erza comfortably read a bunch and Gray stared out the back window.

Team Natsu had been given a carriage big enough to carry all of them, though it was split into two carts: Erza, Iggy, Gray, and Kai were in the front one near the automatic lacrimal driver, and Natsu, Wendy, Carla, Happy, and Lucy were in the other, chatting away about this and that. Natsu, for the most part, was passed out from all the partying he'd done and Lucy and Wendy spoke about some of the friends they'd made.

The front cart was quieter, by far. For a good bit of the ride, Erza just read while Kai and Gray worked to reinforce Kai's sword. Iggy took to traveling in the skies above for most of the ride home, enjoying the feeling of the wind rushing around her.

The ride would take a few days at best, though none of the wizards felt any rush. The earnings would be more than enough to cover reparation costs for the guild hall plus a few small bonuses for those that partook—small earnings, of course, considering that it would be split across twelve guild members...it would've been thirteen but Makarov was wise not to risk paying Jellal some of it for his part.

In Kai's mind, those winnings would pay for the ring he'd get Erza. He still had the frozen one from before in his pocket and would continue to keep it up until he could purchase one from in the town and get someone in the guild to help him stylize it for Erza, specifically. Probably Levy, the more that he thought about it. As good as Gajeel was with working metals, he was not the most...light-touched of the members.

If Kai needed a sword made? Call Gajeel. An engagement ring? Call Levy.

Made sense.

Since the carriage didn't move too fast when Kai felt his stomach start to church from the Troia spell wearing off, he'd step out with Natsu and they'd walk for a little bit. The weather could not have been better for them returning home. They kept the windows down in the cart, too.

During a stretch with some hills, Erza at last closed up her book. Iggy continued to fly around outside and Gray had crashed. Natsu was, it sounded, crashing while Lucy kept him away. The Celestial Spirit Wizard had been busy scribbling away for her book.

"What's next, then?" Erza asked.

Kai's stomach flipped end over end. "Next?" Like, for them, as a couple? Did she know, was she going to propose?

"Our next job," Erza said.

Kai tried not to sigh, and instead just exhaled, pretending he was confused—though, genuinely, he had no idea.

"I mean, how do you top the Grand Magic Games?"

"A few odd jobs here and there couldn't hurt," Erza said. "Our winnings could be enough to continue making ample payments toward the house. I'm hoping to buy some new armor sets, so, a few jobs would pay for that."

"I could probably go for a wardrobe change, too," Kai said, poking at his hoodie. "But, I don't know, I guess we'll just have to see what's available."

"Hopefully quite a bit, considering we're the number one guild of Fiore now."

"Yeah."

Erza tilted her head back, still relaxed. "When should tackle the problem of Alok?"

Kai nestled back as well. "Soon. Gildarts said he had some leads. We'll need to sync up with him if he isn't halfway across the continent already."

"He must be a powerful wizard to have done that to Iggy."

"I don't care how powerful. There's nothing I won't to do help her out."