Fairy Tail: This Healing Mage's hits hurt so much!

When the three of them emerged from the Tidal Forest, carrying the gleaming, straight wooden stick and trudging through sticky, decaying leaves, bear blood, and alpaca saliva, they looked like crazy kids who had just rolled in a swamp.

Natsu's messy hair was covered with half-dry bear fur and bits of grass.

Gray's coat was covered in grass clippings.

Riyao's tattered coat was filled with freshly picked star and moon grass, and a few alpaca hairs that hadn't been cleaned were still hanging on the wooden stick, jingling as he walked. The scratches on the back of his hands were still red.

They had only walked half a mile when the hot spring hotel with its blue cloth banner fluttering at the entrance of town came into view. Natsu's eyes lit up, and he strode off.

Gray grabbed him by the back of his collar and rolled his eyes so wide they reached the back of his head.

"What's your hurry?"

Riyao, holding a wooden stick, leaned against the banner pole, swinging his feet, which were covered in grass clippings, as he examined the banner.

"Wow, this place looks a hundred times better than those stinky puddles in the forest! Let's hurry in and scrub ourselves!"

After paying for their room, the three of them immediately plunged into the steaming hot spring pool.

Riyao leaned back on the stone platform by the pool, looking so content that his eyes were almost closed. He casually stretched his foot out towards Gray, splashing the other man's face with hot spring water.

This is life~

Gray wiped his face, closed his eyes, and leaned against the pool wall, his voice soft and lacking its usual sarcastic tone.

"Ah~ Great, finally out of that damn forest of drool."

Natsu clung to the tiles by the pool, kicking his feet in the water, splashing water everywhere. Small orange flames were already rising from his fists, and his eyes shone like tiny suns.

"Haha, let me heat up this hot spring! That way it'll be more invigorating!"

"No!" x2

Gray and Sunburst both bristled at the same time; one reached out and froze Natsu's fiery wrist, while the other grabbed his arm and pushed him into the pool.

Natsu struggled and kicked, splashing water everywhere. The three of them made a ruckus in the hot spring pool, causing ripples half a meter high, and even the bath curtain by the pool was lifted and swayed back and forth.

Just as they were having a good time, a hotel owner wearing a faded cotton apron came over carrying a wooden basin, smiling gently and waving his hand.

"Guests, I'm so sorry, but the temperature of our hot spring is fixed. If we were to use magic to raise the temperature, the wooden beams wouldn't be able to withstand the heat."

The three of them smiled and quickly stopped fooling around. They slunk out of the pool and wrapped themselves in the bathrobes provided by the hotel.

Natsu pouted and muttered, "You're so stingy, it won't hurt to burn it a little..."

Gray used ice magic to freeze his wet hair into strands, and complained, "If you really burned it, we'd be sleeping on the streets feeding mosquitoes tonight."

Riyao's shoulders trembled as he tried to suppress his laughter.

Just as she stepped out of the bathhouse, she took out a drink that Gray had specially frozen with ice magic.

The three of them moved in unison, tilting their heads back and gulping the food into their mouths. The sounds of them swallowing gurgling together sounded like a small chorus.

Natsu chugged too fast and coughed, spraying soda all over Gray's face. Gray immediately raised his hand and conjured ice shards, freezing Natsu's nose into a small red radish.

Riyao laughed so hard he slapped his thigh: "Hahaha, serves you right for being so eager to grab it!"

Finally, the three of them leaned against the bluestone slab at the entrance of the hotel, wiped the foam from their mouths, and exclaimed in unison, "Ah~ That's awesome!"

Gray suddenly nudged Sunrise's elbow, his eyes lighting up with curiosity: "By the way, I've been wondering for a while now, Sunrise, how do you have so much magic power?"

Riyao was picking at the bark on a stick when he casually looked up and whistled irritatingly, "Huh? I don't have that much magic power either."

Gray rolled his eyes so wide they seemed to reach the back of his head, and flicked the ice shards from his fingertips onto the grass at his feet.

"Come on, when you were fighting that Ironmane Demon Bear a few days ago, you cast more than a dozen amplification, healing and restraint spells in a row without even taking a breath. If it were me, I would have run out of mana and be squatting on the ground eating dirt by now."

Riyao scratched his messy hair, a mischievous smile reminiscent of Versailles playing on his lips, and patted his chest while shaking his leg.

"Oh, it's just a mixture of magic and life force, nothing to worry about."

"Wow! That sounds amazing!"

Natsu jumped up instantly, squeezing the soda can in his hand even flatter, making a crisp "click" sound, and then grabbed Sunrise's sleeve and shook it violently.

"I want to learn this!!"

"Learn my ass."

Gray shot Natsu directly in the forehead with an ice pellet, causing him to thrash around in pain while clutching his head.

"With a brain like yours, you still want to study this?"

Sunlight also kicked Natsu in the butt, making him stumble forward two steps, and laughed gleefully.

"It's already a miracle that you, an idiot, could even learn Dragon Slayer Magic, and you still want to learn this?"

Natsu, clutching his backside and puffing out his cheeks, retorted, "I'm not stupid!"

If Ignier heard this, he'd probably say that taking care of a child is really hard work.

Fortunately, the Sunburst Magic makes Natsu immune to motion sickness, otherwise he probably would have died on the way back.

What a pity~ This magic actually has resistance, hehe.

The one-month period has ended! Fairy Tail has welcomed back its most severe demolition boss.

One of the guilds, number unknown, went offline first. The carvings on the top of the door shattered into pieces, and even the hinges were twisted into a pretzel shape.

boom!

The setting sun cast long shadows of the three people, who stood in front of the warped gate against the golden-red afterglow, striking incredibly flamboyant poses.

The guild members, who had been busy at work, suddenly stopped what they were doing. Some were wiping cups, some were practicing basic magic, and some were munching on bread. Everything in their hands froze in mid-air, and they all stared at the three guys at the main entrance.

Makarov and Erza, who were even more stern than the demolition boss, squinted.

Sunburst shielded Gray and Natsu in front of him, casually shoving the Star Moon Grass he had been carrying into their arms, and whispered to them, "Go inside. Here, help me with the Star Moon Grass, I need to tie my shoelaces."

Natsu didn't think much of it and headed into the guild with the heavy Star Moon Grass in his arms. Gray rolled his eyes even more and followed behind, pulling Natsu's arm while muttering complaints.

"You'd better hold it steady, or Erza will make you clean the floor again."

Erza silently crept up behind Natsu and Gray as they stepped into the guild, placing her hands on their shoulders.

The force was as steady as a welded iron hoop. Natsu, who was holding the Star Moon Grass and humming a tuneless tune, instantly froze into a wooden stake.

Gray was about to complain about Sunshine tying his shoelaces when, before he could even utter a word, his shoulder was pressed down half an inch, and the large white eye on his face froze instantly.

The two of them, like puppets whose pause button had been pressed, stiffly turned their necks, their faces contorted into pretzels.

Natsu's lips trembled like leaves in the autumn wind, and it took him a long time to squeeze out a shaky sound.

"Erza... Erza..."

Gray and Natsu lay peacefully on the ground as Sunrise slowly walked into the guild, grinning as he passed the two.