Fairy Tail: I Absolutely Refuse to Be the Guild Master

"Ah... another busy day," Rhodes said as he returned home and took a quick cold shower.

Luckily, it was summer, and ever since gaining magical power, his body felt a bit stronger, making it easier to adapt.

He didn't take a hot shower because he didn't have a solar heater, and using firewood to heat water was too much trouble.

Rhodes had thought about getting a magical device for heating water, but after asking about the price, he decided to endure it for now and get one in winter when he couldn't take it anymore.

After also washing Worm, Rhodes began to miss the washing machines in school that only needed two coins per use.

Hand-washing clothes was both slow and tedious, and without a phone to watch videos, it made the process even more boring.

At most, he could use an old-fashioned hand-cranked phonograph to play some music.

At first, he wasn't used to it, but after a while, Rhodes suddenly felt quite refined, like those high-class characters in movies set in the Republic of China.

It's just that the songs recorded on the record were a bit eclectic—pop, rock, classical, all mixed in.

Swish swish swish...

The washboard was slanted in the basin, and Rhodes rubbed wet clothes against it, leaving behind white bubbles.

He wasn't very skilled with it yet, but scrubbing in rhythm to the music made the sound oddly satisfying.

Worm stared curiously at the bag of detergent, and after a long time, finally couldn't resist giving it a lick with his big tongue.

His face immediately twisted in disgust, and he started spitting out the detergent.

"Are you stupid?" Rhodes tapped Worm's head and threw him towards the sink, "Rinse your mouth yourself."

After hanging the washed clothes on the balcony, Rhodes noticed a few potted plants sitting there.

One looked like a succulent, while the other two seemed like orchids. Since no one had watered them for a couple of days, the soil looked quite dry.

"Looks like I've got a few more lives to take care of now... probably."

Rhodes picked up a watering can nearby, filling it with water, and gave the poor plants some much-needed hydration.

The sprinkler head sprayed drops of water, moistening the leaves and soaking into the soil.

Rhodes felt like he could sense the plants coming back to life and joked to himself:

"From now on, you'll be called Daya, you'll be Ren Ming, and you... well, in this other world, it seems Dad will have to take care of you three."

Worm looked at his owner's expression and felt that he wasn't truly happy.

"Why are you making that face?" Rhodes put down the watering can and picked up Worm, "Go clean up the floor you just dirtied!"

Worm looked at him in shock. Wasn't he supposed to be a pet? And now he was expected to clean?

"Don't look at me like that. Since when do pets not do housework?" Rhodes tossed Worm into the laundry room, "You made the mess; you clean it up."

Worm squatted on the floor and looked at his little paws. How was he supposed to clean?

How Worm was going to clean the floor wasn't Rhodes's problem. The little creature could understand human speech and wasn't stupid—he'd figure it out.

Just thinking about this annoyed Rhodes. Why could Worm, a creature from the Howling Abyss, understand the language here instantly, while he had to learn it?

Couldn't Mr. Hibyuki's language pack be shared?

Feeling indignant, Rhodes sat at the desk in his bedroom, opening a book he'd brought back from the guild.

It was a history book. Though he wasn't interested in history, he felt it was necessary to learn a bit about it.

And to help him focus, Levy had lent him a pair of glasses.

These were magical glasses, "Wind Whisper Glasses," which could let people read at up to 32 times the normal speed.

That meant that just one minute of reading would be equivalent to half an hour!

Rhodes thought his good fortune had finally come. No matter how much he disliked history, surely he could manage a few minutes?

However, after just one minute...

Thud!

The spine of the book slammed onto the desk, startling Rhodes awake from his drowsiness.

He had miscalculated. Although the reading time was shorter, the content to be read was still the same.

Not being interested meant not being interested. For someone who got sleepy at the sight of a history book, even a magical tool couldn't make him a straight-A student.

Someone like Rhodes was better suited for having Hibiki use magic to directly transmit knowledge to his mind.

Or listening to someone like Levy, a beautiful girl, tell historical stories.

Like today, when she told him the story of the legendary hunter from Belvarasso and the heroic tale of Ruben Cardo—they left a deep impression on him.

"Alright, let's do fifty push-ups to wake up a bit."

Rhodes lay on the ground, panting as he managed thirty push-ups before his arms started shaking.

'If you want to improve your magic power quickly, you should also exercise your body a bit aside from meditation. Otherwise... you'll be at a disadvantage.'

That was what the guild master had told Rhodes.

But Rhodes felt the old man wasn't referring to combat, but to getting into brawls in the guild.

Although he wasn't particularly fond of fighting, with how things had been lately, he might get caught up in it one of these days.

Considering how the girls in the guild seemed like they could move mountains, he couldn't even imagine how heavy Natsu's or Gray's punches would be.

Rhodes gritted his teeth, "To increase my magic power!"

One push-up.

"So I don't get beaten up!"

Another one.

"So I can fight back if I do get beaten up!"

Another one.

Rhodes's reasons for working hard were getting stranger and stranger.

Exercise to build his physique, meditation to increase magic power, reading to expand his knowledge—these were the three most important things for Rhodes at this stage.

The biggest challenge was reading. Books related to magic were okay, but history and geography were a pain.

Rhodes decided to ask tomorrow if there were any newspapers or magazines available. Knowing a bit about current events would also be helpful.

...

The next day, the weather was a bit overcast, but it just looked like the sun was hiding, not that it was going to rain.

Rhodes chose a flashy way to go to work—riding the Rift Scuttler.

The huge, deep green crab immediately attracted the attention of the neighbors, many of whom were startled by its strange appearance.

But when it began trotting along, carrying Rhodes, and even actively avoiding pedestrians, the slight panic quickly dissipated.

"So it's just a mount. It looks odd, but it's quite majestic."

"Hey, that's a crab, right? Why isn't it walking sideways?"

"The guy on the crab's back seems to be from Fairy Tail."

"Must be a newbie, huh? Seems like another restless one."

Some sharp-eyed people spotted the blue emblem on Rhodes's arm as his short sleeves were blown by the wind.

Someone riding a monster through the streets—that's novel.

It's from Fairy Tail? Well, that explains it.

Rhodes's arm emblem was providing him "convenience" in unexpected ways, though he himself was unaware.

Rhodes gripped the Rift Scuttler's two antennae with both hands, feeling like he was riding a heavy-duty motorcycle.

The only sound in his ears was the rushing wind, and then they arrived at the guild entrance—it was less than a kilometer away, still too close.

Rhodes tidied his windblown hair and thought to himself that it was fortunate the ride was on autopilot, otherwise, who knows how many people he would have run over.

Driving the "Crab Chariot" at full speed didn't feel particularly safe.