Chapter 33: Duke Everlue

The next day Natsu and Mira both arrived at the guild together. Lucy was looking at the request board, trying to find a suitable job.

'I forgot about Duke Everlue's quest. I'll try not to change the events if possible, you never know when shxts gonna happen.' thought Natsu heading toward the request board. He took the required quest details and approached Lucy.

"Hey, Lucy! I noticed that you were trying to find a good quest for a starter. Why don't you take this quest together with me? I'll teach you all the necessary things you need on the way." said Natsu with a dimpled smile.

Lucy raised her eyebrows, listening to him, and took the paper containing the quest details from Natsu. After reading it properly, she couldn't find anything wrong. So, she accepted his help and both of them took off for the quest after informing Mira about it.

The journey to the client was peaceful; both of them talked about their magic. and various things she needed to know when doing a quest. Natsu got to know some interesting facts about celestial spirits magic that wasn't mentioned in the anime. The same goes for Lucy, she was delighted to know more about such powerful lost magic i.e. Dragon Slaying Magic.

Both of them arrived at their destination. They talked about the quest details to the client, who informed them about the raised reward from two hundred thousand jewels to two million jewels. Lucy was shocked and had money-shaped eyes imagining the award.

Natsu sighed and just went along with the flow. He knew that the client was actually a poor guy and was just putting a fake persona as rich to destroy his father's last book. He felt pity for the guy. So, he planned to return it to him to give him salvation.

Both of them left the client after agreeing to the quest and headed toward the Duke Everlue's mansion. Natsu didn't have Lucy disguise as a maid to infiltrate the manor, knowing it will fail due to the duke's ridiculous sense of beauty.

Both Natsu and Lucy wore black clothes and infiltrated the mansion in the night. It was a lot safer this way than directly busting through the front door. The security wasn't tight, so they arrived at the library quickly. After searching for a while, Natsu found the required book and gave it to Lucy in the name of safekeeping, fully knowing that she would want to read it and return it.

But Lucy was too shocked to find her favorite author's name on the book that she yelped out loud alerting the duke. Soon, Duke Everlue arrived in the library with fatty Virgo and Vanish Brothers.

Lucy was embarrassed due to her blunder and apologized to Natsu with minimal eye contact. He just rolled his eyes watching her antics and decided to focus on the people in front of him.

"Boyoyoyo! What do we have here? Some rats managed to sneak into my library. Go and capture them Virgo and Vanish brothers. I want to punish them for intruding on my house." said Everlue in a creepy laugh.

Then, Natsu and Lucy were surrounded by fatty Virgo and Vanish Brothers. Lucy was nervous watching and kept on clutching Natsu's dress.

"Sigh… I really didn't want to fight these clowns. Remember that you were the one that forced me to do it. And for you Virgo, I didn't want to fight you, but well, I guess that's not happening now. I'll promise to send you to the celestial realm with minimal injury. And for you Lucy, your job is to keep that duke occupied." said Natsu gravely, which Lucy nodded.

Both the fatty Virgo and Vanish Brothers didn't care about his words and tried to attack Lucy. Natsu blocked their attack, allowing her to get past them. She headed towards the duke and engaged in heated combat with him using her gate keys.

On the other hand, Natsu beat down both the brothers single-handedly. Even though both of them had a strong body, they were nowhere near Natsu's level. Both of them were unconscious afterward, with a lot of injuries all over their bodies.

Natsu didn't attack Virgo seriously because he didn't feel any ill intent from her. He wanted to defeat her with minimal injury.

While they were engaging in boring combat, Lucy arrived with Taurus holding the fainted duke. Virgo stopped fighting with Natsu watching her defeated master.

"Natsu! Look, I've defeated him. This was my first magic combat, and I won." said Lucy with a happy smile.

But when she noticed the fatty Virgo next to him, she frowned and asked. "Why haven't you defeated her already? I thought you would have already finished them by now."

Natsu shrugged his shoulders and said casually. "It's unnecessary. Virgo was never out enemy. She's just a contracted spirit. Now that her master is defeated, she will return to the celestial realm."

"But why isn't she returning? She's just standing there staring at you," asked Lucy suspiciously.

"Dunno. Maybe she has something left to say to us, isn't that right, miss Virgo?" answered Natsu casually while returning the question to the fatty Virgo.

"Affirmative. Indeed I have something to say to you. Since my master is defeated and will be imprisoned soon, I need to find a new owner for my gate keys." said the fatty Virgo with a stoic voice, making Lucy surprised. Natsu already knew this and wasn't that surprised.

"Can you please change into a smaller body type? It hurts my eyes to look at you like this, Virgo," asked Natsu with a sigh which Virgo nodded.

Lucy looked confused, hearing this but soon got her answered when Virgo changed her form into a beautiful lady. She was shocked, watching this with her mouths opening wide. Natsu was amused by watching her expression.

Virgo took the form of a maid with shackles around her wrists, short, pink hair, and blue eyes. She wears a typical maid outfit, consisting of a black undercoat and a white, frilled-trim apron, and a white knee-length white with black shoes.

"I guess you're here for Lucy then. She's the only celestial wizard here. You two can finalize your contract while I gather evidence for the duke's crimes." said Natsu gesturing to Lucy.

Lucy nodded and headed toward Virgo with a wide smile. "I'm happy to have you as my celestial spirit, Virgo. Let's be friends starting today."

Virgo also walked towards her. Lucy thought she wanted a hug and spread her arms while saying, "Here come to your new master. Don't worry. I will take proper care of you."

Natsu watched this with a smile, but soon his expression changed into a confused one.

Virgo ignored Lucy and approached in front of Natsu. She bowed her knees in front of him and said, "Please be my master."

"WTF! This wasn't how it was supposed to be," exclaimed Natsu loudly. Lucy was also frozen on the spot watching this with a wide mouth.

(A/N: Hehe I just wanted to change some stuff. I hope you guys like it. Virgo won't be included in the official harem. She is still a spirit technically.)