Shortly after Jin and his companions fled the scene of destruction left in wake of their activities, a massive eye with a red cross covering a reddish-purple iris opened in the sky above the crater. A light green glow surrounded the eye on all sides. The eye observed the crater for several seconds before closing and vanishing.

Several more minutes passed, and three women arrived at the edge of the ruined forest. The woman leading the other two wore skimpy black witch attire, including a flamboyant black witch hat and cape. She had thick scarlet hair braided in pairs both in front and behind.. Almost as though an attempt to cover her lack of clothing, an elongated loincloth with a white symbol embroidered on it covered the front of her waist and legs. An angular scar marked her exposed stomach as the only blemish on an otherwise flawless stomach. A two-pronged wooden staff held in her right hand completed her attire.

Directly behind the scarlet-haired witch stood a woman wearing skin-tight black clothing, a blue waist-length cloak, and a black bandana around her forehead. A crescent moon ornament tied up her dark blue hair. Her sharp eyes stared calmly at the crater without much interest.

Another woman with dirty blond hair tied in pigtails stood next to the blue haired woman. Her round face and cheerful smile exuded friendliness and curiosity. In contrast to her companions, she wore an off-white dress with gold accents.

“I wonder what happened here,” The pigtailed girl said, one hand over her eyebrows as though to protect her eyes from the sun.

“I’m not sure yet,” The scarlet-haired woman calmly answered. After observing the crater for a few moments, she frowned and added, “A fairly powerful wizard was active here, but I also sense something unfamiliar and foreign. Whoever caused this seems to have already left. We’ll search for their traces. Destruction of this level can’t be tolerated within our borders.”

““Understood!””

* * *

“Ugh. Ouch,” Jin groaned while resting on a cot inside Jellal’s tent.

“It seems like one of your ribs may have fractured,” Jellal stated, dispersing the small magic circle that was scanning Jin’s torso.

“I noticed.”

“I can reset it and speed up the healing process, but it’ll probably hurt a lot,” Ultear offered.

Nodding, Jin responded, “If you’ve got a method to dull the pain, then please be my guest in doing so.”

‘Railgun’s world is already dangerous enough as is. I’d rather not deal with a fractured rib when visiting that place.’

“Erm. We’ve got some alcohol, I guess.”

“I hate losing control of my mental faculties, so let’s keep that as a last resort,” Jin replied, grimacing. “You don’t have any medicine or magic that can do the job?”

“It doesn’t particularly fall under our expertise, no,” Jellal replied while averting his eyes and awkwardly scratching his cheek.

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“Your body also isn’t as durable as ours, so we haven’t had to worry about such things that much,” Ultear added.

Jin’s brows creased and his lips moved back and forth while he debated whether to take the alcohol.

“Fine. Hand it over. Just forget anything you hear while I’m under its influence, alright?”

Ultear nodded and pulled a large glass bottle from her spatial pouch. It held close to three liters of cloudy brown liquid. She tried to help Jin drink it, but he politely declined and swiped it from her hand. Before the others could count to ten, he chugged the entire thing. Jellal, Ultear, and Meredy widened their eyes and gaped in disbelief.

“Go ahead and start when it kicks in, Ultear.”

“Uh, okay then…”

Over the next several minutes, Jin’s cheeks reddened, and his eyes dazed. Before long, a sloppy grin appeared on his face.

“Ah, I think it’s kicking in now, so I’ll start,” Ultear said. As soon as she raised her arm to use telekinesis and reset his fractured rib, Jin stunned her with an unexpected slurred statement.

“Y’know, Ultear, you’re suuu~per cool for helping on… with… for… ugh. Yer jus’ cool and pretty. How’s ‘bout we get married?”

Ultear halted her movements, and a slight blush colored her cheeks, though it disappeared rather quickly. Almost opposite of Ultear, Meredy’s expression froze in a placid state.

“Pft!” Jellal struggled to hold back laughter. The incongruity with Jin’s sober self was too much for him.

“What’re ya upset about, Meredy?” Jin asked, still slurring his speech as he smiled at the pink-haired woman. “Yer pretty too, and yuv been su~per du~per nice to me, so we can get married, too.”

Now it was Meredy’s turn to blush and turn her head.

“BWAHAHAHA! I didn’t expect drunk Jin to be like this!” Jellal exclaimed, slapping the ground with one hand and holding his gut with the other as he laughed at his companions’ expense. His laughter contained some awkwardness as though his vocal chords didn’t know how to handle it.

“No~tch you, Jellal. Yer cool, but I dun’ like ya that way, bro.”

Jellal’s laughter instantly stopped, but the ladies giggled in his place.

“Well, I think that’s enough of that,” Ultear said, flicking Jin’s forehead. “Now, be quiet. I need to fix you up.”

“Ouch,” Jin grumbled while rubbing his forehead. “That was mean.”

“Shush.”

When Ultear activated her telekinesis, Jin’s face paled. He started thrashing and grunting incoherently.

“Can one of you tie him up, please? Should’ve done that before starting,” Ultear requested, sweat dripping from her brow.

The next moment, dark chains extended from Jellal’s hands and held Jin in place. Ultear nodded in thanks before resuming her work. After resetting the bone, she activated her Arc of Time magic to accelerate the healing process of his rib.

Jin’s skin lost all color, and he sucked in a sharp breath of air. Each subsequent breath became laborious for him. Eventually, he stabilized. Ultear sighed and stopped her magic.

“He should be pretty much healed.”

“Is he still drunk?” Meredy asked with furrowed brows since she still saw the unusual blush on his face.

“Of course. I want to hear him say more funny things,” Ultear answered, her lips rising into a playful smirk.

Unfortunately, rain fell on their parade before they could get Jin to spout more nonsense. An oppressive magic force weighed down on their shoulders. Adopting serious expressions, Jellal, Ultear, and Meredy glared at the entrance to the tent.

The tent’s entry flap swung open, revealing a scarlet-haired witch with two followers. Jellal grimaced upon seeing her face. Both parties silently observed each other for a few moments until Jellal politely asked, “To what do we owe the honor of your visit, Miss Scarlet Despair?”

With a dignified expression and stature, the scarlet-haired witch stepped forward and answered, “While traveling today, we encountered an unusual disturbance. Might that have something to do with y-”

“Oh, hey! It’s pretty dragon mom!”

Stunned speechless, the witch lost her grip on her staff, tripped over her own feet, and faceplanted on the ground. Everyone else’s mouths may as well have dropped to the floor.

“Ah, are you okay? That’s, like, suuu~per outta character for ya. Lemme help ya,” Jin mumbled with heavily slurred speech. He stood up. He stepped forward. He faceplanted. It was going to be a long night.