"Now that I think of it, it's a very simple job," Lucy said as we made our way to the clients home in a carriage.

"Really? You were against it a little while ago. Now you're for it?" Happy asked her sitting next to a sick Natsu.

"Of course!" Lucy told him enthusiastically. "After all, it's my very first job! I want to do it right!"

"That's right," I remembered. "Other than working with us to get Macau back you haven't done a job as part of the guild."

"Yep. For this job, all we have to do is infiltrate the mansion and carry off the book, right?" she asked us.

"That's right," I told her. "Infiltrate the lecherous old man's mansion..." I sighed.

"Exactly! The lecherous old man!" She said with a large grin on her face.

"You seem better about that fact now," I commented.

"You may not know it to look at me, but I'm pretty sure of myself when it comes to sex appeal. Teehee!" She told us winking.

"That isn't something a cat can judge very well," Happy told her.

"And you're not my type, sorry," I told her.

"Let's get one thing straight," Lucy said suddenly becoming serious. "You, boys, aren't contributing partners in this mission so we'll be splitting this 40%, 40%, 10%, 10%."

"Lucy! You'll be satisfied with just 10%?!" Happy asked her happily and I laughed.

MINE IS ONE OF THE 40% SHARES!" she shouted at the cat.

"W-Wait... We do... have... something to... contribute..." Natsu chimed in.

"Yeah?" Lucy asked skeptically. "What's that?"

"They rescue us if we get caught," I told her.

"We won't make any mistakes to get us caught," she said so sure of herself.

"There are a lot of times when a fisherman loses the worm," Happy told her.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A WORM?!" Lucy asked him as I laughed. "AND WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING!"


Shirotsume Town

"We're here!" Lucy called out happily.

"I will never board a horse-drawn carriage again!" Natsu told us panting and wheezing while getting over his motion sickness.

"You always say that," Happy and I reminded him.

"Well, anyway, let's eat! I'm starving!" Natsu told us.

"You're always hungry," I laughed.

"How about a hotel," Happy suggested. "I want to drop off our baggage."

"That does sound like a good idea," I told him.

"I'm not hungry in the slightest!" Lucy told us. "Why don't you eat a little of your own fire?"

"Why would someone do that?" I asked her.

"Don't say stupid things like that! Would you eat Plue or that cow of yours?" Natsu asked her.

"I'D NEVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!"

"It's the same thing."

"I-Is it really...?" Lucy asked. "So what you're saying is you can't eat your own fire? Wha a pain."

"At times," I agreed.

"I've got an idea!" Lucy said excitedly.

"Oh? What's that?" I asked her.

"I'll go and take a look around town. You three go eat if you like," Lucy said turning away from us and leaving.

"What's with her?" Natsu asked. "It's more fun to eat as a group."

"Aye."

"Come on guys," I said. "She'll meet us at the restaurant."


"I wonder if Lucy hates it?" Natsu asked while he chowed down on his food. "She looks like she'd like greasy foods."

"Well, this stuff is really good and greasy!" Happy said happily. I just smiled at them drinking my tea. I'd already eaten my fill.

"Are you sure you don't want more to eat, Az?" Natsu asked me.

"No, I'm full for now," I told them smiling as they put food aside for Lucy, all of it greasy. "Are you sure she'll be happy with all that greasy food?"

"Of course, she loves it," Happy said.

"W-When did I ever say I like greasy foods...?" Lucy asked from next to us.

"Oh! Lu... cy...?" I nearly spit up my tea. She was wearing a short maids outfit with her hair in pigtails.

"I guess I could wear just about anything and it'd look good on me, huh?" she asked us.

"I don't think you want us to answer that," I told her with a sweatdrop falling down the side of my head as the boys stared at her in shock.

"Might you be taking a break from your lunch, Master?" Lucy asked Natsu. "If you're still hungry, please take your time and eat up! Teehee!"

"What'll we do?" Happy asked Natsu. "We were only kidding about the maid plan. She took it seriously!"

"Well, we can't admit that it was a joke now! We'll just have to go through with it."

"I CAN HEAR YOU!" Lucy shouted at them as I laughed.


We arrived at the client's mansion and while Natsu and Happy went for the door, Lucy and I stared up at the mansion in awe.

"That's a pretty impressive mansion!" Lucy said. "This is where Duke Everlue lives...?"

"No, this is the client's home," I told her before going to join Natsu at the door.

"I see... if he's willing to pay 200,000 J for one book he must be pretty rich," she commented as Natsu knocked.

"Who might you be?" Someone asked on the other side of the door.

"We're from the Fairy Tail wizard guild-"

"SHH! KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN!" the same voice ordered. "Forgive my rudeness, but could you enter via the back door?" We all shared a confused look before doing as asked.


"Please forgive the inconvenience," a man said smiling at us. "I requested this mission. I'm Kaby Melon. And this is my wife." She nodded in greeting.

"Your name sounds tasty!" Natsu said loudly as we sat in a chair next to them.

"Melon!" Happy shouted happily.

"Hey, that's rude!" Lucy scolded.

"But it's Happy and Natsu," I reminded her as the client laughed.

"I hear that often," Kaby told us. "I never imagined a wizard from the famed Fairy Tail guild would take up my offer..."

"Really?" Natsu asked happily. "I was surprised that such a good job was left on the board as long as it was."

"You're so young," Kaby said. "No doubt you've become famous in your own right, but..."

"They call me Natsu the Salamander."

"And I'm Azkadelia the Elemental."

"Oh! Those are names that I've heard before," Kaby mentioned. "And you are..."

"I'M A FAIRY TAIL WIZARD TOO!" Lucy shouted at him. He just stared at her for a moment.

"So your clothes are a hobby of yours?" he asked her causing Natsu to burst out laughing while Happy and I tried to hold it in. "No need to answer. Never mind."

"I think I want to go home," Lucy cried.

"Now, shall we talk about the job?"

"Yes!"

"Aye!"

"Of course!"

"I am only requesting one thing. To obtain a one-of-a-kind book that is in Duke Everlue's possession - Daybreak - and to bur or otherwise destroy it." This shocked the three of us. Was such a simple job really worth so much?

"You don't want it stolen for you?" Natsu asked him in our confusion.

"I suppose, in reality, obtaining someone else's property without compensation and destroying it is very much the same as stealing it, but..." Kaby didn't finish his sentence.

"I'm surprised," Lucy said. "I thought for sure this would be a question of returning a book previously stolen from you."

"Bur it, huh?" Natsu asked loudly. "Then all we have to do is burn the entire mansion down!"

"An easy score!" Happy said.

"NOOO!" Lucy shouted. "That's a prison sentence for sure!"

"Compared to everything else we've done?" I asked her with a knowing smile.

"So what... is this book exactly...?" Lucy asked him, but he wouldn't answer.

"WHO CARES WHAT IT IS?!" Natsu asked her. "We're talking 200,000 J here!"

"No, we aren't." All our attention was on him now. "I will pay three million Jewels. The compensation for the mission is three million Jewels."

"WHA-?!"

"HYA!

GUK?!"

"WHY-?!"

"WHAT THE-?!" Natsu shouted.

"Oh, dear. You arrived not knowing the price had gone up," Kaby said.

"TWO MILLION?! WAIT A SECOND... SPLIT FOUR WAY, THAT COMES TO... AAAAGH! I CAN'T EVEN CALCULATE IT!"

"It's simple. I get one million, you get one million, Az gets one million, and Lucy gets the rest," Happy told him.

"You're so smart, Happy!"

"THERE IS NO "REST" AFTER THAT!"

"Come, come," Kaby said trying to calm them down. I was still in shock at the price. "Everyone, calm down."

"Why did it suddenly to up so high?" I asked him once I found my voice.

"Because that is exactly how much I want that book destroyed," he told us. "I cannot allow that book to stay in existence."

"OOOOOHHH! Come on, Az, Lucy! I'm on fire here!" Natsu grabbed our hands and pulled us behind him to Duke Everlue's mansion.


The Residence of Duke Everlue

"Excuse me!" Lucy called into the mansion from the gate while Natsu, Happy, and I waited in the trees for her. "I heard you might be looking for a blonde maid? Excuse me! Is anybody in there?" she called again.

"Do a good job, Lucy!" Natsu called out quietly.

"Hang in there!" Happy whispered.

"I don't think we have to worry so much," I said from behind another tree. Suddenly, something burst from the earth making Lucy scream in shock. When the thing landed we all saw it was an extremely tall large woman.

"You want to be a maid?" the woman asked in a deep voice. "She says she saw your ad and came looking for a job, Master!" Another person popped up from the earth and it revealed a short, fat older man. I made a face and nearly gagged at the look of him.

"Were you calling me?" Was that really Duke Everlue? "Let's see..." He began to look Lucy over in her maid outfit.

"I hope you like what you see!" Lucy told him. After his inspection, he turned from her.

"Don't want you! Go home, Ugly!" She stared at him in shock before the monster woman behind her picked her up.

"You heard him. Now go away, Ugly!"

"Eh...? Wait..."

"For such a very, very, very, very, very important man like me..." Four new people popped up from the ground and the hideousness didn't end with just the pair who had already appeared. "Only the most beautiful young ladies will do!"

"So true, Master!" A large, pig-faced woman said.

"You're so skillful with the flattery," A long-faced, thin woman said.

"Teeheee!" a thin, large ended, football-headed woman, laughed.

"Now leave, Ugly! Shoo, shoo!" I think I killed a monster like this one before. Or maybe I just remembered a picture of a monkey I'd seen.

"WHAT'S GOING ON?!"


Lucy, after she'd changed, was sulking behind a tree at what had just happened.

"You're no use," Natsu complained.

"THIS ISN'T IT! THAT JERK EVERLUE HAS THIS WEIRD, ABNORMAL IDEA OF BEAUTY!" Lucy shouted at us.

"Is that your excuse?"

"AARRRGH! THIS IS SO FRUSTRATING!"

"If that's the case, it's time to change to Plan C!" Natsu said pounding his fist in his hand.

"C for CHARGE!"

"THAT OLD MAN DID SOMETHING UNFORGIVABLE!"

"We go in, get the book, destroy it, and get paid!"