The Dragon Bartender.
Chapter Two: The Punishment Begins.
Previously in the last chapter.
"And thirdly," Makarov raised another finger in the air, but he had a sly grin on his face, something that made everyone, including Erza and Mira, uncomfortable. Whenever the members of Fairy Tail see that grin on the old man's face, they would try to leave the guild as quickly as possible. Bad things happened whenever that grin appears. "You have to work as a bartender for a week and have to take Mira's place as a waiter and a chef."
There was silence in the guildhall as all the members were trying to process what they just heard from the short, old man before they said one word at the exact same time.
"WHAT?!"
(In the Present)
If anyone was walking by the Fairy Tail guild and stopped to look at the building, they would've hear so much shouting and yelling that it would not surprise them since Fairy Tail was known for being the loudest and strongest guild in the world.
"Has Master lost his mind on letting Natsu work as a bartender and a chef?!"
"Gramps, you can't be serious! Natsu destroys things, not cook food!"
"My alcohol is going to get burned because of Natsu!"
"That's what you're worried about, Cana?!"
After getting their minds working again and realizing what they heard about Natsu working as a bartender and chef was real, all the Fairy Tail members were loudly protesting against this punishment. They didn't want the Fire Dragon Slayer cooking and serving their food at all. They were not interested of eating ash food, thank you very much. They want to eat cook food.
Even Erza was protesting against the punishment, which wasn't hard to figure out since the crimson-hair woman loved her strawberry cake and didn't want anything to happened to it. While she did love Natsu as a little brother, Erza can't let him cook in the guild. The whole building might catch on fire if Natsu steps into the kitchen!
"Settle down, you brats!" Makarov exclaimed with a slight booming voice, ceasing all protests. "I understand you all are not happy with this, but my decision is final. Natsu will be working as a bartender for a week."
"Master, I don't think this is a good idea." Mira spoke up, the only person not protesting like the other members of Fairy Tail, apart from Natsu, who was strangely silent and had an pensive look on his face, which no one noticed. "Natsu has the tendency of burning things and having him in the kitchen would cause many problems. He could burn the guild down or make it a mess."
"I agree." Laxus seconded. "The idiot doesn't know anything about human nature, much less cooking. The only things he cares about is fighting and destroying stuff."
"Don't you guys think you're being a bit harsh on Natsu?" Lisanna asked with a frown, getting everyone's attention. "I mean, the punishment hasn't even started yet."
"Lisanna, it doesn't matter if the punishment hasn't started." Gray replied, crossing his arms over his bare chest. He had unknowingly taken off his shirt. "What really matters is that we don't want Flame-brain to cook our food. Can you imagine what he would do the moment he steps into the kitchen and cooks our food?" He gave a slight challenging look at the younger Strauss sibling.
"He could do what Mira-nee said a moment ago, burn the guild down or make it a mess." Lisanna replied, her frown deepening, as she looked towards the ground.
"Exactly, and that is why we don't want Natsu cooking." Gray stated. "To be honest, this punishment is stupid."
"If anyone should complain about the punishment, it's Natsu since he's the one being punished." Lucy spoke up. "But for some reason and I just noticed it now, he hasn't said a single word or protest at all. He's just silently standing there with a pensive look on his face."
"What?" Everyone in Fairy Tail asked, surprised from what Lucy said before turning to look at Natsu, who was still being silent and having that pensive expression on his face. To see such an expression on Natsu's face was surprising because the Dragon Slayer never thought of something before, even when he's battling opponents, apart from strong ones like Future Rogue.
'Could Natsu be thinking of taking the punishment without a complain for once?' Everyone in Fairy Tail thought, hoping for that case. Whenever Natsu gets punished from going overboard on missions, the Fairy Tail members had to endure his whining and complains for a whole day, much to their annoyance. 'If he is, then we don't have to deal with him whining for the rest of the day.'
'Should I do the bartender punishment?' Natsu thought, debating if he should do the punishment or not. 'I mean, it's not something I want to do at all because not only its boring but humiliating at the same time. Ice Princess and Metal Face will never it down. But on the other hand, if I do this punishment, then not only I will get paid from doing this, but I can try to negotiate gramps to let my team doing S-Class missions without Erza being there.' A shark-like smirk appeared on Natsu's face. 'Yes, the perfect opportunity to do S-Class missions.'
"I don't like that smirk on Natsu's face." Mira stated with a slight sense of foreboding inside her. She can tell that Natsu was planning something big from having that smirk on his face.
"Me too." Erza seconded, also having the same feeling as Mira inside her. "He must be planning something big." 'And why do I get the feeling that I'm not going to like this?'
"Alright, I made up my mind, gramps." Natsu finally said, getting rid of the pensive look on his face. "I'll do the bartender punishment without any complains." He was earned with surprised looks from every Fairy Tail member, including the Guild Master of Fairy Tail.
"Very well then." Makarov said, recovering himself. "Your punishment will start first thing in the morning. Mira, can you give Natsu a tour around the kitchen and show him where every utensil is, along with the food and alcohol storage? We don't want him getting confused on his first day of his new job."
"I can do that, Master." Mira replied, preparing to take Natsu with her to the kitchen after she was done serving her guildmates.
The Guild Master of Fairy Tail gave Mira an appreciative nod of his head and was about to head towards his office to do more paperwork when Natsu stopped him.
"But if I'm doing this punishment, there are two conditions I want, gramps." Natsu stated, his voice firm and serious, causing everyone's surprise to skyrocket. The Fairy Tail members never heard Natsu bargaining with the Guild Master before, and they were now interested of seeing what he has to say.
"What are your two conditions?" Makarov curiously asked, wondering what Natsu's conditions were.
"First, I get paid from doing this bartender job." Natsu reasoned, raising a finger up. "I'm not going to do this job if I don't get paid. Me and Happy need money."
"You'll get paid during this job, Natsu." Makarov assured the Fire Dragon Slayer. "But only if you do it right."
"And second," Natsu raised up another finger. "If I do a wonderful job of serving everyone their foods and drinks for the week I had to do, me and my team are allowed to do S-Class missions for two weeks by your permission."
The Guild Master of Fairy Tail grew suspicious of this last condition and couldn't help but slightly narrow his eyes at Natsu. "Why are you asking me for permission to go on S-Class missions when you already have a S-Class Mage with you?" The old man wasn't the only one being suspicious of this condition, as the rest of the Fairy Tail members were narrowing their own eyes at the Fire Dragon Slayer. They wonder why Natsu wanted permission to go on S-Class missions with his team.
Knowing full well there's going to be cries of outrage in a moment, Natsu took a deep breath and answered his Guild Master's question. "Because I just want me and my team to go on S-Class missions…without Erza being in the S-Class missions."
Sure enough, a moment later after Natsu said his reply, cries of outrage filled the guildhall.
"That's completely unfair!"
"It's against the rules!"
"Who do you think you are, asking to go on S-Class missions without an S-Class Mage?!"
"Silence!" Makarov exclaimed, using the same booming voice he used a few moments ago, causing all cries of outrage to cease. "I'm going to admit that you surprised me with your second condition, Natsu, but what makes you think I'm just going to give you and your team permission to do S-Class missions without an S-Class Mage?"
"Because nearly of us in this guild are S-Class potential level, and we all proved to be on that level during the Grand Magic Games and the Dragon King Festival." Natsu explained, not taking his eyes off Makarov. "Though, some of the members are not S-Class level since they didn't bother training for the last seven years. No offense to you guys."
"None taken, Natsu." The offending Fairy Tail members who didn't train for seven years replied by waving a hand in front of them.
"But the reason why I want to do S-Class missions with my team without Erza being in the missions, gramps, is because I don't want her holding us back."
"What do you mean by that, Natsu?" Erza demanded, standing up from her seat and surrounding herself in a red aura, causing everyone around her to fearfully back away. "Explain what you just said about me holding you, Lucy and Gray back. What did you mean?"
"Erza, ever since we formed as a team, not once have you taken me, Lucy and Gray on a single S-Class mission or even give us a chance to fight powerful monsters or opponents. All the missions we do is D-Class and C-Class missions, just to get Lucy's rent money." Natsu said, turning to his right to look at the crimson-hair woman, while ignoring the surprised looks on everyone's face when he said Gray's name instead of his usual 'Ice Princess' or 'Ice Stripper.' "And I'm tired of it. I'm tired of doing those kinds of missions for rent money. I want to do missions where I can go all out and use my entire magic. I want to face strong opponents."
"But what does this have to do with me holding you all back?" Erza asked with a frown.
"Because you, Erza, always face the strongest opponents and not giving me, Lucy and Gray a chance to prove how strong we are. You're always hogging all the opponents to yourself and whenever we fight someone strong, you come in and order us to get out of the way."
"It's only because I don't want you, Lucy and Gray to get injured or hurt!"
"No, it's only because you want to test out your new armors and weapons you brought." Natsu countered, which caused everyone in the guildhall to become amazed. Never in a million years had they ever heard Natsu argue with Erza, and the fact it's happening right in front of their eyes, they don't know if they should step in to back up Natsu's claims or back away from Erza's wrath. "Face it, Erza, you'll never give anyone in this guild a chance to prove ourselves. You never even once gave us tips about what an S-Class Mage is, and not once have you given us advice about increasing our magic. All you do is beat people up when they destroy your cake and threaten them into submission. Regardless of what you say about bonds and family, you are acting like a person who believes in the survival of the fittest and sees people and Mages as weaklings…like Sabertooth's former Guild Master."
A pin drop can be heard in the Fairy Tail guildhall from how quiet it was. It was so quiet that it feels like time had stopped moving. The Fairy Tail members were deeply shocked from what Natsu just said about Erza, who was also shocked from what Natsu said about her, believing the survival of the fittest like the former Sabertooth's Guild Master, and they were starting to get scared when Erza's red aura flared up into a frightening level. Tension was rising in the guild.
'Rest in peace, Natsu.' Everyone in Fairy Tail thought, backing as far away as they could to the sidelines. 'You just dug your grave.'
"HOW DARE YOU COMPARE ME TO THAT MAN, NATSU?! I DO NOT SEE PEOPLE OR MAGES AS WEAKLINGS!" Erza's scream was loud as a banshee, which caused everyone, particularly the Dragon Slayers, in the guildhall to wince. "IN FACT, I DO NOT EVEN BELIEVE IN THE SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST! JUST FOR SAYING ALL THAT RANDOM CRAP, NATSU, I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU THE BIGGEST PUNISHMENT IN YOUR LIFE!" With that, Erza transformed into her Purgatory Armor and gave Natsu a piercing glare.
"BRING IT ON, ERZA!" Natsu shouted, returning Erza's glare with one of his own, while lighting his fists on fire and releasing his orange aura.
"ENOUGH, NATSU AND ERZA!" Makarov roared, standing up from his seat and releasing his yellow aura. "Stand down and cancel your magic, now!" The two said members cancelled their respective magic, but still glared at each other. Needing to do something before things get out of hand, Makarov went into his serious mood. "Erza, go to the job board on the second floor and pick a mission that will take you a while to complete. Mira, take Natsu with you to the kitchen and show him where every utensil is, along with the alcohol and food storage."
Erza immediately obeyed with the Guild Master's order and giving one last piecing glare at Natsu, who still glared back at her, she turned around and quickly strolled to the second floor, not before using her magic to switch her Purgatory Armor into her usual Heart Kreuz outfit. Mira also immediately obeyed the Guild Master's order and quickly walked around the bar to drag Natsu towards the kitchen.
While there may not be any fighting in the Fairy Tail guildhall, the members can feel the tension that was still ringing in the air.
"Everyone, why don't you all just call it a day and head home?" Makarov asked, losing his serious mode and letting out a sigh. "Hopefully by tomorrow, things would calm down and go back to normal."
"But what about Natsu's second condition, Master?" Lucy asked with a frown. "You haven't told us your decision."
"That's because I am seriously considering giving Natsu permission to go on S-Class missions with you and Gray without an S-Class Mage, my dear." Makarov replied, sighing even more from thinking about the condition. A simple condition nearly caused a fight to break out. "But I want some time to think about it."
"You're actually considering accepting Natsu's second condition?" Everyone in Fairy Tail asked with gob-smacked expressions on their faces. They never thought that Makarov, the Guild Master of Fairy Tail, one of the Wizard Saints, would ever grant Natsu permission to do S-Class missions.
"Like I said, I want time to think about it."
The members of the Fairy Tail guild spent rest of the day talking about Natsu's punishment and conditions, with the said person left the guild after Mira was done showing him around the kitchen with a determined look on his face. Soon, the evening has arrived and after having a few more drinks and food, the members of Fairy Tail left the guild and head to their respective homes.
The last person to leave the guild was Makarov and as he locked the door, a thought entered his head. One that caused him to look at the dark sky where the stars are twinkling brightly with a small frown.
'Why do I get the feeling that Natsu working as a bartender is a bad idea?'
I know that it has been four weeks since I created this story, but I want to say sorry for the lack of chapter updates. There was just so many ideas in my head that I just couldn't think how I wanted to write the chapter. So, I hope this chapter will make you readers happy.
Write a review if you like this story and enjoy the chapter.
Next Chapter: Day One.