Dinner is long over. Everyone else had gone back to their respective homes. Getting Mirel to brush her teeth and to take her bath is a little more troublesome than usual but it is nothing too difficult. For me, at least. Mirel doesn't really listen to Mira's words for whatever reasons but is surprisingly obedient when it comes to mine. Mira is a little jealous because of that.
"You are supposed to be sleeping now, Mirel."
"Just one last story, please? Pretty please? Can you read me one last story?"
"Last one, then you are going to bed. Mummy is going to be mad at you otherwise."
"Promise!"
I cannot help but release an amused sigh. Oh well, whatever makes her happy.
"Which story do you want me to read?" I asked as I scoured the bookshelf in Mirel's room for any good stories that she might be interested in. This one? No, read it the last time. The other one? She didn't really like it the last time I read it to her. What else is there?
Mirel quickly pointed to a specific book resting on her bookshelf. That book used to be mine, and was one of the first books that I bought as a child because it was the cheapest book available, and also because the main character of the book happens to share the same name as me. I was curious, so I bought the storybook to see what the story is really about.
"That one, daddy! Elden and the Valley of the Fairies! The main character of the book has the same name as you!"
"Oh, that one." I chuckled as I took the aforementioned book off the shelf before sitting by Mirel's bedside. My little girl covered herself with her blankets, looking at me eagerly with those beautiful blue eyes that she inherited from her mother.
"Do you know who wrote this book, daddy?"
"No clue." I shook my head. For some reason, the author did not put his name there. It had really surprised me too when I was young and had chanced upon this particular storybook by accident. The story itself isn't anything too interesting though.
I flipped open the book and began to read my daughter the story of this fictional character that shares the same name as me.
"Once upon a time, in a land far far away, there was a servant working under the House of Abramelin. His name was Elden…"
"... and the both of them lived the rest of their lives happily ever after. The end."
Mirel blinked her large eyes at me, as if she's unsatisfied that storytime is already over.
"One more story…?"
"We made a promise, Mirel."
"Awww... Okay…" Mirel pouted and gave a dramatic sigh. Nope, those cutesy looks of hers may work on the rest of the guild, but definitely not on me.
"Mirel."
"Fine, fine." Mirel grumbled as she pulled the covers up until it hid the bottom half of her face from view, her large eyes still blinking at me.
"Daddy?"
"Yes?"
"I like the Elden in the book. His kindness and willingness to help others reminds me a lot about you."
"Is that so?" I let out a laugh and gently ruffled Mirel's hair. "I guess I-"
"It's a little boring, but I like the character in the book. Elden, I like his kindness and his willingness to help others. I want to be like Elden."
Words spoken by an unknown voice resounded through my mind. For a moment, I thought I saw the blurry visage of a woman looking down at me. Is she smiling? I cannot really tell. Everything is a blurry mess.
What was that? Who is that?
"-ddy? Daddy?"
"Huh?" I was jolted back to reality when Mirel began to poke at me with a finger. "Ah, right. Sorry, daddy spaced out a little back there. Alright, time for you to go to bed you little demon. See you tomorrow morning, provided you can actually wake up early for once. I have to leave the house early tomorrow to do Ace stuff so I might not be around the entire day. Listen to your mummy and don't make her angry, okay?"
"Kay." Mirel replied with a yawn and I turned off the lights in her bedroom. I pressed a goodnight kiss on her forehead, knowing that it will only be a few more years before she finds it too embarrassing to receive a goodnight kiss from her daddy.
"Good night, daddy."
"Good night, Mirel."
"She finally went to bed?"
"Uh huh." I nodded to Mira's question. She was reading a book on our bed while waiting for me to finish reading Mirel her bedtime stories. I climbed onto the bed with her as she turned off the lights before turning around on the bed to hug me. The pale moonlight brightened up our room as we lay in each other's embrace.
"How about the passing mage tell this selfish girl a bedtime story too before she becomes a runaway client?" Mira mumbled as she lay her head on my chest.
"Isn't this selfish girl a little too old for bedtime stories?" I asked as I buried my face into her hair. She smells really nice today.
"Nope." Mira replied immediately as she looked up at me with a mischievous look. Looking at her expression more than convinced me that she's definitely who Mirel inherited her sense of mischief from.
"Somehow, I am not convinced."
Mira gave me a peck on the lips, her lips lingering on mine for a short moment before pulling herself away.
"There might be more later if I am satisfied with your story. Convincing enough?" She whispered into my ear as her smooth skin brushed across my body intimately. She's doing this on purpose.
"To prevent the selfish girl from becoming a runaway client and not paying her dues after getting her story, the passing mage requires some form of down payment before he is convinced enough to tell a story."
"Sly one, aren't you?" Mira lightly slapped my arm and did an exaggerated huff, to which I simply returned a smile.
"I learnt from the best."
"I had corrupted you too much, it seems. Whatever happened to the honest, stuttering and shy El that cannot even bring himself to stare at my boobs for even a second?"
I purposefully hummed in thought.
"I don't know, probably ran away with a runaway client to complete his job request. Wonder who that may be. Do you happen to know anything about that?"
"Maybe." She replied with a wry smile as her hands started to roam across my chest before wrapping themselves around my neck. "If you really want to know the answer, tell me a good bedtime story and I might consider. As for down payment..."
She pressed me down on my back as she climbed on top of me, her slender legs straddling me by my waist. Slowly, she slid down the shoulder straps of her silky white nightgown, letting the only article of clothing on her person slowly slide down her smooth white skin. She slowly leaned in towards me and whispered into my ear once more in the most seductive tone I ever heard her say to me.
"Had the selfish girl convinced the passing mage enough that she won't be a runaway client?"
"More than enough." I conceded with a smile as I let her lay on top of me, my hands idly combing through her wavy and smooth ivory hair.
"It seems that the selfish girl is not planning to sleep anytime soon, so I guess this passing mage will tell a longer story this time. Is the selfish girl happy?"
"Very. The selfish girl promises the passing mage that he will be given a very satisfactory reward later."
"How satisfactory?" I teased.
"She will be screaming his name for the rest of the night?" Mira blinked her eyes at me in faux innocence. "He can be the one on top later? This demon might give him another little demon months later if they are lucky enough?"
"In case you had forgotten, Jellal is sleeping in the guest room tonight. What if he heard us?"
"I had Freed help put up privacy runes around our bedroom when he came over yesterday."
"The passing mage is very impressed at how the selfish girl planned everything out. Alright, lemme see, what interesting stories have I not told you yet? ...Ah, what about this one? Once upon a time, in a land far far away, there is a country called Arendelle. In Arendelle there is a princess that goes by the name of Elsa..."
"Mirel, it's time to wake up."
"Huh? Morning mummy." Mirel greeted groggily as she slowly sat up on her bed and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand.
"Go wash up, breakfast is ready. We have to go to the guild later so don't take too long." Her mummy told her before leaving the room. Mirel perked up upon hearing the last part of her mummy's words. They are going to the guild later?
YAY!
Without further ado, she kicked off the blankets and put down her favourite teddy bear that her Aunt Yukino gave her on her second birthday. With a speed that she doesn't know she possessed, she finished brushing her teeth and her bath in record time and dashed down towards the living room. Waiting right on the dining table are her favourite food, pancakes.
Mummy's pancakes are always the best.
"Mirel, are you done?"
"Yes mummy!"
Just right after she wolfed down those delicious pancakes, her mother emerged from her room, already all dressed up and ready to go. After quickly washing the dishes they both left the house with her holding onto mummy's hand. According to mummy, daddy and Uncle Jellal had both left earlier because they have work to do today. Something about the guild and Magic Council and some other boring adult things that she has no interest in knowing. She is sure that her daddy had also told her something similar last night after their storytime but she was too tired to really remember anything about it.
They reached the guild building soon enough. As usual, it is bustling with activity. The guild building is so huge that it might as well be a castle. There it is, the guild which she will be a member of in the future, just like her parents and her Aunts and Uncles. Seeing the guild never fails to put a smile on her face whenever she is here.
Seeing as how her mummy has a small smile on her face while looking at the guild building, she must feel the same too.
They both entered the guild building through the main doors. Chairs and tables are flying about as per usual and right smack in the middle of the guild hall is the gigantic swear jar that is filled with so many coins that they could all probably swim in it. Mirel could not contain her excitement any longer. She let go of her mummy's hand and ran inside, shouting at the top of her lungs.
"We are here!"
"Mirel!"
The adults in the guild greeted her back just as enthusiastically. The guild brawl came to a temporary stop of one short second before it resumed once more.
"Mirel!"
"Asuka!" Mirel gleefully ran up to her only friend of the same age as her. They are the oldest members of their generation at four years old! Four! They will be the future big sisters of Fairy Tail!
"Hey, we go play! I have new gun from papa!"
"Really?!" Mirel squealed in delight. Asuka's toy guns are always so fun to play with! There is the sniper rifle, the pistol, the gatling gun… So many different varieties!
"Come on, let's go outside to play!"
"Yeah!"
Asuka left after lunch, saying that she had to follow her parents to somewhere. That leaves her alone with no one else to play with because the rest of the children her age are still so small and tiny. The next oldest is Emma who is two years old this year but she didn't see Uncle Gajeel or Aunt Levy anywhere. Even Pantherlily is missing. That means Emma and Gale are not in the guild right now. How old is Gale anyway? About one year old?
Sadly, Aunt Yukino, Sorano, and Lisanna will not be in the guild too. Aunt Yukino had told her yesterday evening that the three of them will be out of town today to complete some mission. That's too bad. The three of them are always so nice to her.
She did spot Aunt Lucy though. She is holding a six month old Nashi in her arms while feeding Nashi from a milk bottle. Aunt Lucy is talking to Aunt Juvia about something that she cannot quite hear at this distance but that is okay. She can hear once she runs up to them.
"Hi Aunt Lucy! Hi Aunt Juvia!"
"Hello Mirel." Lucy was the first to return the greeting as she watched the energetic Mirel climb onto the top of a bar stool to join them. Seeing as how she is watching Nashi curiously, Lucy asked Mirel a question.
"Do you want to hold Nashi?"
"Can I?" Mirel's eyes lit up at the statement. Lucy nodded as she slowly passed her daughter into Mirel's arms and taught her how to properly hold Nashi, who obediently did as she was taught.
"Nashi is so cute." Mirel whispered excitedly as she watched Nashi about to doze off after her meal, not wanting to accidentally wake the baby up.
"Our little Mirel is plenty cute too." Lucy teased as her fingers lightly pinched Mirel's cheek, causing her to pout a little.
"Why do you adults always love to pinch my cheeks? Go pinch Asuka's or Rain's or Emma's! Don't keep pinching mine!"
"But Mirel is the cutest." Juvia carried on the tease as she too, lightly pinched on Mirel's cheeks with her fingers.
"Aunt Juvia~ Not you too! Oh wait. Where's Rain?"
"Rain is with his father. They are not in the guild at the moment." Juvia replied as Mirel carefully adjusted her grip on Nashi to hold her better. Mirel cannot help but wonder. If she has a little brother or sister, will he or she be as cute as Nashi? Will her little siblings have the same black hair and blue eyes like her? Or maybe it will be the other way round? White hair and black eyes?
Mirel tilted her little head in thought. Come to think about it, where do children come from?
"Um, Aunt Lucy? Aunt Juvia?"
"Yes, Mirel?"
"Where do babies come from?"
Lucy froze. She is sure that the water woman beside her froze too and it definitely isn't because of Gray.
"Aunt Lucy?"
"U-Uh w-why are you asking this kind of question?" Lucy tried to divert Mirel's attention away from this dreaded topic of every parent across the world. She's only four! She knows Mirel is extremely smart and inquisitive but this is way too early for the girl to be asking such questions!
"I want a little brother or sister…" Mirel trailed off as she looked at little Nashi in her arms. How good would it be to be a real big sister? She will take really good care of her little brother or sister, promise!
"A-Ah, that! Ahahahaha…" Lucy laughed a little uneasily upon knowing the reason. "You would need to ask your daddy and mummy. Only your daddy can put a little brother or sister into your mummy."
Mirel frowned in confusion. The angle in which she tilted her head increased a little more.
"And how will daddy put a little brother or sister into mummy?"
Lucy froze again. Crap, she spoke too much. She glanced at Juvia, only to find that Juvia is nowhere to be seen. Traitor!
"WE ARE BAAAAAACK!"
Just at that moment, her husband and the blue cat barrelled into the guild hall, catching the entire guild's attention from how obnoxiously loud they had made their entrance. Lucy cannot help but heave a sigh of relief. Her husband really has some perfect timing.
"Where's Lucy and Nashi? Daddy's back hooooome!"
"Aye sir!"
"Over here!" Lucy quickly waved her husband and Happy over, eager to divert Mirel's attention to anything else but about the topic on how babies are made. Natsu easily bounded over with a few leaps and immediately bent down to make funny faces at their daughter, who had woken up from how Natsu had yelled at the top of his lungs earlier.
"Hey Nashi, did you miss daddy while daddy was away?"
"Aye sir! Did you miss your Uncle Happy while Uncle Happy was away? Uncle Happy brought fish for you on the way back~ Fresh fish! Fiiiiiish!"
"Nashi is only six months old, she won't be eating solid food for a while." Lucy helpfully reminded her husband and Happy as Natsu gently took Nashi from Mirel. Mirel is still staring at Nashi as if pondering about something.
"Hey there, Mirel. Thanks for looking after Nashi!" Natsu said with a grin as he ruffled Mirel's hair fondly.
"It's no problem at all!" Mirel replied energetically. "How did your job go? How many houses got destroyed this time?"
This time, it is Natsu's turn to pout.
"Come on~ Why is everybody asking me this question whenever I get back? I didn't destroy as many houses this time!"
"So you did destroy some?"
"Aye sir! Only three this time!"
"Oh, great." Lucy let out another sigh of relief. Only three buildings? She can make do with that. That means that Natsu would have at least brought back enough money to last them for a while after taking into account the amount deducted for reparations.
That is, until Happy completed the second half of his sentence.
"Only three blocks of residential districts this time! It's way better than the last job!"
"WHAT?! THREE BLOCKS OF RESIDENTIAL DISTRICTS?!" Lucy screeched as she grabbed onto her husband's shirt and began to shake him violently.
"Calm down, Luce! It's only three!"
"Did you even bring back any money at all?! We have a daughter to feed and rent to pay, you know!"
"Uh… About a thousand jewel? Rounded up…? Before paying for the guild tax…?" Natsu winced, and curled up even more when Lucy was now seemingly on fire. Mirel blinked and shook her head to check if she was seeing things. Isn't fire Natsu's thing? How is Aunt Lucy now on fire?
"NATSU DRAGNEEL!"
"I… will be off now." Mirel said lamely as she started to slink off step by step. There's no sane person in this guild that will want to get in the way of an angry Lucy, especially when she is mad at Natsu. Not even her Uncle Laxus dares to do so.
"Aye sir! See you around, Mirel!" Happy waved a goodbye to Mirel, who waved back in return, leaving Natsu's fate in Lucy's hands.
"LUCE! I'M SORRRRRRY!"
Yup, Aunt Lucy's mad. Like, really really mad.
"Soooo niceeeee!"
Mirel cannot help but squee as the strawberry goodness flooded through her mouth. Right beside her is her godmother, also in a similar state of euphoric bliss. Aunt Erza is right, strawberry cakes are the best!
"Seconds!" They both exclaimed in unison the moment they finished their respective strawberry cakes at the same time. However, a demon stands in her way.
"That's enough strawberry cake for the day, Mirel."
"Mummy~"
"Come on, Mira, another slice won't hurt." Erza, being the loving godmother she is, immediately came to Mirel's rescue. Mirel immediately put into practice what Aunt Yukino had taught her, something which her Aunt Yukino dubbed the 'puppy dog eyes', saying that she had used it with great effect many times when she was young.
Unfortunately, her mummy is a true demon. She's the type to kick a down puppy if she feels like it and she will gladly do so with a smile on her face.
"Too much sugar is not good for Mirel, Erza."
To make things worse, her mummy is in charge of almost all the admin matters within the guild, especially the guild's kitchen. That also includes on how the bar in the guild is run and how the orders are taken, which means that she also controls what goes in and out of the guild's kitchen. Her strawberry cake! She really wants her strawberry cake!
Her mummy went back to do her work, muttering something about having more paperwork to deal with than usual today. Aunt Lisanna did say that the guild had gotten a little too big and that there is a need to hire people who specialise in dealing with paperwork to go through the stacks of paper the guild has to complete on a daily basis. Something about needing more accountants, paper pushers… whatever these jobs are. Those did not interest her so she did not really pay that much attention to it.
However, mummy had said that nobody the guild hired ever lasted more than a week due to them being unable to withstand the guild's brand of crazy, not even when the offered pay is way above the market rate. So until someone brave enough is willing to take up the job offer, for now, the paperwork is mostly left to her mummy to handle with help from some of the other mages in the guild, like Aunt Levy and Uncle Freed. Uncle Bickslow and Aunt Ever helped too as far as she knows.
Or at least, that is what she understands. She knows that the true workings behind the scenes is a lot more complicated than this but she has no interest in finding out more.
Right now. She wants her cake. She wants- no, needs- her strawberry cake.
"Cheer up, Mirel! Have a drink!"
A mug larger than her own face was slammed onto the table where she was sitting at. Mirel looked up, only to see her Aunt Cana smiling at her from above. Cana had seated herself on the tabletop while she was spacing out.
"Mummy will be really mad if I drink alcohol."
"Why don't you take a sip and find out?" Cana said with a suggestive wink. Mirel can feel her eyebrows rising a little higher in doubt, but took a quick look around nevertheless. Her mummy is not looking in this direction, which is good.
Quickly, she took a sip, and her eyes widened in surprise upon finding out what drink it is.
Strawberry juice!
"You cannot have strawberry cake, but nobody said anything about not being able to drink some strawberry juice." Cana said with a hearty laugh as she slammed another large mug on the table. "Come on, let's drink! My treat!"
And so, that's how she got involved in a drinking spree with her Aunt Cana and her Aunt Erza.
"Uncle Elf!"
"Mirel!"
As always, her Uncle Elfman easily caught her when she ran and jumped at him the moment she spotted him entering the guild hall. Uncle Elfman always brings her the nicest tidbits to snack on!
"Have you been a good man?"
"Uncle Elf, I'm a girl! GIRL!" She pouted, which only incited a deep roaring laugh that is unique to Uncle Elfman.
"Someone looks like she's having fun."
"Hi hi, Aunt Ever! When am I going to have a little cousin?"
"M-Mirel! Y-You don't a-ask people questions like that!"
This time, it is her turn to laugh when she spotted the rapidly reddening faces of her Uncle Elf and Aunt Ever. They are so cute together!
"Where's your mummy and daddy?" Elfman asked as he carried her around the guild with his big arms. Mirel put a finger to her chin in thought. Come to think about it, where's daddy?
"Mummy is probably busy with paperwork as usual. I didn't see daddy and Uncle Jellal the entire day but I know that they must be busy with something again. Maybe you should go ask mummy or Uncle Laxus?"
"Alright, I will do just that." Elfman nodded as he skillfully evaded the chairs/tables/spells/humans that are flying across the guild hall with practiced ease. Guess another guild brawl had broken out again while they weren't paying attention. How many brawls does that make this since she came to the guild this morning? Four? Five? Probably more.
"I wanna join too."
She found herself mumbling those words to herself even before she registered herself doing so. Elfman only laughed boisterously.
"You can when you unlock your magic!"
"But I'm already four! FOUR!" For further emphasis, she held up four fingers to her Uncle Elfman as she said that. "If I have magic I would have been able to use it by now!"
"There's no rush, Mirel. Your mummy didn't unlock hers until she was… How old was Mira when she unlocked her magic, Elf?"
"Thirteen." Elfman replied with a grin. "And nee-san went on to be an S Class Mage only about two years later. There's no hurry, Mirel."
"THIRTEEN?! That's too long! It's boring to be unable to use magic!" Mirel pouted as she crossed her arms, looking at the ongoing brawl with a look of longing. Just how long more will it take for her to be able to use magic?
"What magic does our little Mirel want to learn anyway?" Elfman asked, causing Mirel to look up at him with a bright grin.
"Every single magic in the world!"
"What a MAN!" Elfman laughed out loud as Mirel reminded him once more that no, she is not a man. She is a girl.
"Hey hey, Uncle Elf." Mirel began to tug at Elfman's shirt to get his attention and pointed to the mess ahead. "Who do you think will win this brawl?"
"ME, of course!" Elfman replied with gusto as he set Mirel down gently from where they are on the second floor before jumping down into the fray with a manly shout.
"REAL MAN FIGHT WITH THEIR FISTS! COME, FIGHT ME!"
"GET OUT YOU OAF!"
"DON'T STEP ON MY FACE!"
"YOU LITTLE SHITS! YOU GUYS JUST BROKE MY WATCH!"
"NO SWEARING!"
Mirel could hear more coins being deposited into the ginormous swear jar once more. She turned to face her Aunt Evergreen.
"Aunt Ever? You are not joining?"
Evergreen scoffed at that statement as she flipped open the fan that she was holding in her right hand and proceeded to fan herself, safe from all the mayhem that she and Mirel are observing from the second floor.
"You know me, Mirel. There's no way I am going to partake in such barbaric-"
SPLAT!
Mirel can only watch in silence as a slice of cake smacked itself right in her Aunt Ever's face just as she said that. How did someone manage to throw a slice of cake from the first floor all the way to the second floor anyway?
"YOU GUYS HAVE GONE AND DONE IT NOW! ARRGH!"
Sparkling dust and explosions began to dot the big brawl below as her Aunt Ever joined the fight. Welp, Aunt Ever had gone bonkers. Aunt Ever rarely gets mad, but hitting her face is one sure way to rile her up.
Mirel excitedly climbed up and sat on the railings to get a better look, loudly cheering for her Uncle Elf and Aunt Ever the whole time. They are doing well so far but it seems that Natsu had joined the battle, saying something about winning this fight for Nashi. Then there's her Aunt Cana as well, who only gets stronger the more drunk she is and she's definitely plenty drunk right now.
"You really shouldn't be sitting on the railings."
She felt someone picked her up by the back of her shirt and deposited her on the floor. She looked up, only to beam a smile upon recognising who it is.
"Uncle Mystogan! You are back!"
"I am." Mystogan's eyes crinkled into a smile as he used a hand to fondly ruffle Mirel's hair.
"Did you just come back from an S Class mission?" Mirel asked excitedly, to which Mystogan answered with a nod.
"Dispelled a 300 year curse. It was tricky, but I managed it."
That got her attention immediately.
"Isn't dispelling curses more of Uncle Freed's or Aunt Levy's thing? You can do that too?"
"Of course I can." Mystogan retorted. "Repeater magic and magic tool user, remember? I am a walking library of spells and magic. Jellal can never compare to me."
"Eh? But Uncle Jellal just bought me a suuuuuper big bear plushie. Like thiiiiiiis big." Mirel used her hands to gesture to Mystogan the height of the teddy bear in question, which is about as tall as an adult. Mystogan's eyes narrowed a little once more. Jellal did what now?
"You wanted to learn more about magic, didn't you? I'm definitely more knowledgeable than Jellal when it comes to magic. Come, we can have our lessons right now. Any magic you are interested in learning about?"
"YAY!" Mirel jumped in joy and quickly latched onto her Uncle Mystogan, who caught her in a piggyback as they both started to exit the guild without anybody noticing their departure from the guild hall.
"And every single magic! Every magic in existence! I want to learn them all!"
"Sure. Repeater Magic it is then."
"But I promised Uncle Jellal that I will learn his Heavenly Body Magic first before learning any other magic!"
"Sometimes, promises are meant to be broken. He's not here now, is he? What he doesn't know won't hurt him."
"I still cannot use magic!"
Mirel lay down with her back on the ground after screaming her frustrations out loud. This is so frustrating! She had been trying for hours! Hours!
"Such things take time."
As usual, her always calm and collected Uncle Mystogan reassured her with a smile on his face as he sat down beside her. She looked up at him with her cheeks puffed up. It's easy for him to say! He already has magic!
"If you are truly eager, why not I start you off by learning how to use magic tools?" Mystogan offered. Mirel can only groan at the thought of using those clunky magic tools.
"Those are so hard to use."
"Nothing ever comes easy, and especially so for magic."
"I don't wanna~ I want my own magic! Mine!" Mirel exclaimed as she threw her arms up into the air. What will her own magic be? She doesn't want it to be the exact same as her parents but… she's just so curious right now ARGH!
"You want your own magic yet you also want to learn every single magic possible." Mystogan mused out loud. This little niece of his, seriously. The only thing she ever wants to do is the impossible, learning every single magic the world has to offer.
"I will find a way to do it! I will be the first mage ever to learn all the magic in the world!" Mirel shouted her declaration into the sky. If there isn't a way then she will find one! She will master all magics and then be the strongest mage in Fairy Tail! Just like how her daddy and Uncle Laxus are!
"Ahahaha! Aren't you a little hasty, Mirel?"
"Gramps!" Mirel squealed when she heard that familiar voice and turned her head, spotting the doting grandfather figure of the guild. She threw herself into his arms immediately, only to scrunch her nose when she smelt the familiar smell of booze from the small old man.
"You have been drinking again!"
"When have I not been drinking?" Makarov argued as he dotingly patted Mirel on the head. "Oh hi there, Mystogan. Glad to see you back here safe and sound."
"Master Makarov." Mystogan greeted with a nod of his head.
"Continue to drink and Uncle Laxus will nag at you again! You are not getting any younger! Drinking is bad for your health!" Mirel said as she pointed an accusing finger at Makarov, regurgitating the words she often heard the adults say to Makarov. Makarov put a hand over his chest where his heart is as if in mock hurt.
"OLD?! I'm still young, you know!"
"You are already so old and wrinkly! And more importantly, you have so little hair! So you are old!"
"I-I-I-!" Makarov stuttered, lacking the proper words to make a comeback. Gah! How did he lose an argument against a four year old?! Damn it Elden, Mira! Your daughter is too smart for her age!
"And old men cannot drink too much booze or else their kidneys might fail! That was what Porlyusica told me!"
Damn it Porlyusica! What have you been teaching the little girl?!
"And then I just give them a Fire Dragon's Iron Fist! And then kapow! They went flying!"
The massive brawl had ended by the time she went back into the guild hall with her Uncle Mystogan and Gramps. The members of the guild are seated in their little groups as they exchange stories about what they have experienced on their missions. Natsu's voice was particularly loud, so Mirel chose to go over to his table because Natsu's stories are always the funniest. And oh! Uncle Gray is already here! So is Uncle Gajeel and Aunt Levy!
"Aye sir! And along with it three blocks of residential districts!"
"Happy! You don't have to add that in!"
"How does Fire Dragon Slayer Magic work anyway?" She piped up, catching the attention of the adults sitting around that particular table. Is there a way for her to learn Dragon Slayer Magic as well? It must be a very powerful form of magic. Just look at Uncle Laxus, Gajeel, Natsu, and even her sweet and gentle Aunt Wendy! They are all so powerful!
"Eh? It's pretty easy! I can teach you right now!" Natsu offered energetically as he leapt onto the table top, already taking a stance and making various exaggerated gestures. "Just feel the fire within you, collect the magic into your lungs, and then breathe it out! RAWR! Like this! That's the Fire Dragon's Roar!"
The table which they are at fell into a temporary silence.
"Natsu you idiot, how is anyone ever going to learn Fire Dragon Slayer Magic from you if that is how you teach it?"
"Har? Why don't you try teaching little Mirel your ice cube magic if ya so good at it?"
"Fine." Gray snorted before turning to Mirel. Mirel blinked her eyes. Wait, not again! Where did Uncle Gray's shirt go? She was staring at him the entire time just to see how he made his clothes disappear all the time and she still missed it! He was wearing his shirt just a second ago! What kind of magic is this? Clothes disappearing magic?!
"Alright Mirel, Ice-Make is actually pretty easy to learn. Firstly, you take off your clothes-"
WHAM!
"Don't go around teaching Mirel these kinds of pervy things you popsicle!" Gajeel yelled out loud with the veins on his head visibly bulging a little. Gray's face is now half-buried into the wooden table, having been punched into it by the Iron Dragon Slayer.
"Yeah! What's wrong with you ice princess?!"
"That was how I learnt Ice-Make!"
"Mirel is a girl! She cannot just go around taking off her clothes! Do you want Mira and El to kill you?!" Levy screeched as she held her son, Gale, who is currently sleeping contently in her arms. Emma is probably running around somewhere with Pantherlily keeping an eye out for her as always.
"You have to put your hands like this, right?" Mirel asked as she ignored the squabbling adults, placing her right fist on the opened palm of the left hand. She had seen Gray do it too many times to count.
"It's slightly off, let me adjust it for you." Gray said as he used his hands and corrected the stance which Mirel's hands should take when using Ice-Make. "Okay, now pull on your magic container, think of the freezing cold, visualise the coldest temperature you can and make it even colder, and will that sensation out of your hands. Bring the cold to life."
Mirel narrowed her eyes and tried very hard to pull on the magic container which she still cannot sense within her. Nothing came out. Not even a slight breeze or a detectable change in temperature.
Seeing as how Mirel's eyes began to water a little in disappointment, Gajeel quickly directed her attention elsewhere.
"Don't worry, it's fine! Ice-Make is such a lame magic anyway, why not I teach ya Iron Dragon Slayer magic? You will be an unstoppable force of nature!" Gajeel guffawed out loud while munching on a plate of iron nails, his rough calloused hand ruffling Mirel's hair.
"Dude, in case you have forgotten, Mirel's father is El. Your Iron Dragon Slayer magic ain't gonna do a thing when compared to his barriers. Those barriers of his are crazily hard."
"But he sure as hell can't eat iron!" Gajeel argued. Undeterred, he turned back to Mirel and began to explain his magic.
"Right, Iron Dragon Slayer Magic is actually very simple! See this? Touch it!"
Gajeel pointed to the iron scales that he formed on his arm and Mirel touched them like he told her to. It's hard, yet smooth. The metallic cold and shine can be felt when she runs her fingers across Gajeel's iron scales.
"Now you have a fine idea of what iron scales feel like, yeah? Etch that sensation which you just felt into your mind! Remember what you just felt! Now, visualise it! Magic is all about visualisation, to make your imaginations a reality! Remember the sensations that you have felt when touching my iron scales and concentrate it to your arm! Visualise your arm growing the same scales as I did! Imagine that you are now a dragon, the great Iron Dragon Mirel and you have some tough as nail iron scales covering your entire arm!"
"I'm trying." Mirel replied as she focused all of her concentration to her right arm, glaring at it and hoping that this will help her learn magic, any kind of magic, faster.
It's not working.
"How about Solid Script?" Levy suggested when she saw the slightly disappointed look in Mirel's eyes when there is no manifestation of magic from her. Everyone in the guild all knows how eager Mirel is in wanting to learn magic and how frustrated she is in not having unlocked her magic yet. Truthfully, she is still too young to possibly unlock her magic, but Mirel is apparently not accepting no for an answer.
"Solid Script?"
"Yup! Magic to make words a reality! Since you love to read and are so smart for your age it might be the perfect magic for you! Solid Script is a type of magic best suited for intelligent people! Like you and me!" Levy replied enthusiastically and as she quickly wrote the words for 'Fire', 'Ice', and 'Iron' out with a finger, manifesting them in the air above them.
"See? I can even do what the three of them can do! Fun, right?"
"The iron Lev makes is actually different from mine, but whatever. This iron's tasty." Gajeel grunted out as he immediately plucked the iron Levy had conjured and began to chomp on it. Natsu had already sucked the fire all in.
"Teach me!" Mirel asked excitedly. Of course! Aunt Levy's Solid Script! Almost anything can be produced with Solid Script!
"Solid Script is not very hard to learn. It is a branch of Letter Magic, just like Freed's Dark Ecriture. Firstly, you need to…"
"Brat."
"Shhh." Mirel shushed her Uncle Laxus up as she very carefully wrote words on a blank piece of paper, face scrunched up in concentration. Imagine, visualise… That's the one point the adults' explanations all have in common when they were explaining to her how their brand of magic works. It's all about your imagination and then using your magic to make your imaginations a reality.
So, if she imagines hard enough she would be able to use Aunt Levy's Solid Script, right? Going by that logic if she has enough imagination she would be able to use all kinds of magic, right? She has imagination in spades! She can do this! Starting from Solid Script!
She can feel her Uncle Laxus peering over her shoulder in curiosity.
"Go away, Uncle Laxus. You are distracting me."
"It's-"
"Master Laxus. Yes, yes, whatever."
"Don't you whatever me, you brat." Laxus gently knocked her on the head. Ah! There goes all her concentration in trying to use her imagination to make the words she is writing out a reality!
"Uncle Laxus!" She whined. "I was trying so hard to learn Solid Script and now you just ruined it!"
"I haven't even told you off for coming to my office to use my desk without my permission and now you are the one complaining?" Laxus scoffed as he glugged down another bottle of orange juice he just retrieved from the guild's kitchen. He was gone from his office for only about half an hour, just to take a short break, and he returned to find a little demon spawn occupying the seat that is rightfully his. The Guild Master's seat. Who is the Guild Master here, huh?
He looked back at the neatly written words on the piece of paper Mirel had been writing on. Wait, isn't that his paperwork she is writing on?!
"Oi, brat, you don't just write whatever on my important paperwork! Now I have to redo them!"
"They are not whatever! This is my magic!" Mirel said in indignation, hugging the product of her blood, sweat, and tears close to her. Nobody is taking her magic from her! Nobody!
"I sense no magic from it." Laxus said with a roll of his eyes before easily picking the little demon spawn up from his chair and sat himself down on the chair instead. He placed that little demon on his lap as he began to explain to the little demon spawn how magic really works. If somebody has to teach the demon spawn what magic is about and how to use it, it's best if he does it himself. Who knows what stupid crap the idiotic members of the guild had been teaching her?
"Touch my hand."
He raised his hand, palm facing up and put it in front of Mirel. Mirel placed her little hands on his big one as he directed a trickle of his magic to his hand and slowly into her body.
"Sense that? Can you feel it? This, is magic."
"I-I-I think I felt it!" Mirel squealed in glee. "T-There's something! I can feel something under my skin!"
"If you want to learn and use magic, then remember the sensation that you are feeling right now. What you felt is my magic in its rawest form, Ethernano. Magic is made of ethernano, we call it the building blocks of magic. By shaping ethernano and giving them specific properties through our magic, they become the various forms of magic that we know today. My Lightning magic is created by shaping the ethernano in my body into lightning and giving it the properties of lightning."
"Then Aunt Levy's Solid Script? Uncle Mystogan's Repeater Magic? What about-"
"One at a time." Laxus grumbled as he tried to think of a way to explain to his goddaughter the workings of the more complicated types of magic, something simple enough to satisfy a four year old while giving her some tidbits of knowledge. Dammit, what business does a four year old have in learning how ethernano works anyway? He is not an expert when it comes to little brats but four year olds are supposed to be running around rolling in the mud or something, aren't they?
"In its rawest form, Ethernano contains all sorts of different powers and elements. You name it, they have it. As mages, what we do with our magic is that we use the Ethernano in us and around us to pick out what we need. You get what I'm saying?"
"Oh, oh! So it's like how mummy goes to the market to buy groceries! The grocer is the Ethernano, they have everything! But mummy only needs a few ingredients to cook, she doesn't need everything, so she only buys what she needs!"
"Something like that." Laxus said with a shrug. It's a weird analogy, but whatever works to help explain what and how Magic and Ethernano works to this little demon spawn.
"So back to Ethernano. My Lightning Dragon Slayer magic, for example, only needs lightning. So through my magic, I only utilise the lightning elements found within the Ethernano in my body and around me. Think of Magic as a process rather than a thing. Different magic produces different things because each of their processes are different. You feed the Ethernano into your magic, your magic simply produces what it is supposed to produce."
"But what about how the magic you use shapes your magic container? Like how a Fire Mage will have a way harder time using Ice Magic or Water Magic because their magic shapes their magic container that way?"
Laxus blinked. Who the hell taught this little demon spawn such advanced theory about magic?
"Who taught you that?"
"Uncle Jellal."
Of course, it must have been that bugger. Now he has to explain to his four year old goddaughter such an advanced level of magic theory that no four year old could possibly fully learn and comprehend at this age.
And how on earth is he going to explain something as complicated as that to a four year old? No friggin way. He's out.
"You are honestly too young to be learning something as difficult as this."
"But I want to! I'm smart enough to understand, promise!"
"Nah, go bug your daddy or your mummy."
"Mummy's busy and I haven't seen daddy all day! Where's daddy anyway?"
"At Magic Council HQ doing Ace stuff. Jellal's with him."
"You need to stop working daddy so hard!" Mirel complained as she pounded her little fists on his chest, which barely tickled. "Daddy is so busy nowadays that he barely has time to play with me or read me stories! It's all your fault! All your fault!"
"He's the Ace of the guild, the workload is par for the course. You don't see me complaining how I have to complete all the paperwork as Guild Master, do you?"
"I don't care! I want daddy to play with me! And it's your fault he has no time to play with me! Your fault! You are not Best Uncle anymore!"
Laxus sighed. Now she's throwing a tantrum.
"Fine, fine, I will give him a break when he gets back. Same goes for your mummy while I'm at it cos why not? You three can go on a vacation somewhere or something in the meantime. Happy now?"
"YAY!" Mirel whooped with a cheer and clung onto him like an excitable monkey. "I know Uncle Laxus is the BEST! The very best best bestbestbestbestbest BESTEST Uncle in the world!"
Laxus can only sigh. He had really spoiled her rotten.
"Manipulative brat."