Once he got serious about the work, Rhodes was surprisingly efficient.
The stack of documents Makarov had dumped on them looked intimidating at first glance, but the actual workload wasn't too bad.
Most of it was just unfiled task records, some weren't even logged at all because the Guild Master had lazily waved them off when the jobs were accepted. Only once the missions were completed and brought back were they remembered at all.
Some of the more important papers involved money: food and drink purchases that hadn't been properly logged, reimbursements, or advanced payments from the guild that hadn't been written into the accounting ledger yet.
There were also new commissions that had come in that very morning, still unposted and unrecorded.
Fortunately, Rhodes was familiar with all this by now, and handling it was a breeze.
By noon, most of the stack had already been processed.
During this time, the guild remained fairly quiet. Most of the more energetic members were still at home recovering after last night's celebration, especially the ones who'd ended up more bruised than drunk.
Rhodes and Mira set down their pens at the same time, both stretching their arms out—and then laughed when they made eye contact.
It was one of those little moments of synchronicity that always felt magical between them.
Flutter flutter flutter...
A white pigeon flew in through the open guild doors, clutching a small parcel in its claws.
The parcel was larger than the pigeon itself, but the bird didn't seem to be struggling at all.
It circled once above Rhodes and Mira before calling out in a mechanical voice, "Mail for Guild Master Makarov! Mail for Guild Master Makarov!"
It looked like a magic courier bird, not unlike Little Beep.
Makarov popped his head over the second-floor railing and waved, "Up here!"
The bird soared up and dropped the parcel neatly into his hands.
Mira was already ready with a handful of melon seeds and peanuts—her usual treats for magical birds like this.
As the pigeon nibbled happily, Makarov opened the package, scribbled something on a slip of paper, and handed it back to the bird for return delivery.
Rhodes, watching curiously, asked, "Who was it from?"
Makarov replied, "From the local guild alliance."
"Huh? Did they switch pigeons? I thought their bird was black and gray."
"This isn't from our alliance," Makarov explained. "It's from the western Fiore alliance, the one Lamia Scale belongs to."
"Oh," Rhodes said, catching on.
"You remember the crusade against the Oración Seis?" Makarov continued. "That was a joint operation between multiple regional guild alliances across Fiore. The reward pool was funded by all the official guilds who didn't participate."
"But because Jura was the commander of the whole operation, the rewards were handled by his alliance."
For once, Makarov came down the stairs like a normal person instead of shrinking or leaping off something. He placed a bundle of thick banknotes and a folded letter on the counter.
"There's a share here for you two, and for Wendy and Carla as well," Makarov said. "You handle the distribution."
Rhodes looked at the thick stack of bills in front of him. If all of them were 10,000-Jewel notes, then the total must be several million.
He grumbled, "They actually sent this much cash by pigeon instead of using a bank? That guild alliance must be really reckless."
Makarov shrugged. "Well, as long as it arrived safely, right?" He set down the documents and turned to leave the guild. After writing too many self-criticisms, he needed to get out and clear his head.
Mira picked up the letter while Rhodes took charge of counting the money.
After a short while, Rhodes finished tallying and confirmed there were 540 notes in total. He passed the stack to Mira for double-checking and picked up the letter to read.
"After deducting a portion to compensate Blue Pegasus for their losses, the remaining amount has been equally divided among all participants, Happy and Carla included. Everyone receives 600,000 J," he read aloud.
Rhodes silently did the math: 12 members in the coalition, plus the four of them who'd joined later, that made 16 people total. At 600,000 J each, the total payout came to 9.6 million J.
Since Blue Pegasus's magic bomber was repairable, the repair compensation had only been partial. That meant the original reward must have exceeded 10 million J.
Definitely a major sum.
Judging by the scale of the payment, this wasn't just an S-Class commission, it bordered on SS-Class.
The letter also noted that while the four Fairy Tail members weren't officially part of the alliance's forces, and Jura himself was supposed to receive a higher share, Jura had insisted that Rhodes's support and Wendy's healing magic were indispensable. Therefore, everyone should receive equal compensation.
"Mr. Jura is such a good man," Rhodes said sincerely. "I need to visit and thank him properly sometime."
"That settles it. We don't even need to wait on Erigor's bounty now," Mira said as she carefully divided the banknotes into nine equal portions, sixty bills per stack, ready to distribute when everyone showed up.
She slipped two stacks into her bag, pulled out the receipt, signed her own name, then grabbed Rhode's hand and signed it for him as well.
"The guildmaster is abetting the embezzlement of his comrades' wages!" Rhodes cried out in a mock-serious voice, loud enough to draw an eye-roll from Laki nearby.
Truth be told, they hadn't really been able to tell whose money was whose for months now. Whether it was their wages, bonuses, or reimbursements, they almost always deposited it straight into the bank.
Sometimes they went together, sometimes just whoever had free time. One time it went into Mira's account, another time into Rhode's, it had all become one big, messy pool.
Not that it mattered.
Around noon, Lucy arrived at the guild for lunch and spotted Rhodes pinning up new job requests. Curious, she stood behind him and watched for a while.
"Hey, Rhodes, are there any jobs that would be a good fit for me?" she asked hopefully.
Rhodes gave a quick glance at the Band-Aid on her forehead. "You're already looking for work again? You're still not fully healed."
Lucy groaned. "It's already the end of the month! The Harvest Festival took over more than a week, I didn't get the pageant prize money, and the whole wanted criminal mess went sideways. I barely earned anything waiting tables!"
Rhodes teased, "See? And you're blaming me, even though I was the one who found you that waitressing gig."
"That's not the point!" Lucy said with a frustrated huff. "The point is, if I don't land a job soon, I won't make rent again next month!"
Rhodes nodded. "Alright, alright. In that case, I actually have the perfect job for you. Doesn't even matter if you're in a team."
Lucy's eyes sparkled. "Really? What is it?"
He grinned. "Counting money. Just head over to Mira and tell her I need you to help count some cash. Every bill you count will be yours to keep."
Lucy stared at him, unimpressed. "Yeah, right. That's way too good to be true. Total scam."
"Then how about a bet?" Rhodes offered. "If you don't get any money, lunch is on me and I'll help you find a proper job. But if you do get paid, you owe Mira a blueberry mousse from Honey's Dessert House. Deal?"
Lucy hesitated. It sounded believable. Which only made her more suspicious. No, no—he wanted her to think it was a trick, so she'd back out.
Her eyes narrowed. "Alright, you're on!"
She marched straight over to the counter and spoke to Mira, who blinked for a second in surprise… then smiled, nodded, and pulled out a wad of cash to hand to Lucy.
Lucy froze.
"Wait. Seriously?!"
From the request board, Rhodes threw her a thumbs-up. Mira covered her mouth and laughed as Lucy stared at the money, stunned.