Fairy Tail: You said you were just acting, are you serious?

Ten minutes later, Ron and Gildarts watched as the two sisters, supporting each other, walked towards the hotel with Urru, who had arrived.

They then followed the captain and his sailors onto the ship and slowly left the dock.

Because of Unicor's previous attack, only Ron and his crew's boat are now sailing on the wide river.

The surface of the water was calmer than usual, but beneath the bottomless riverbed, a huge dark shadow was moving with the current.

As the silhouette of the boat's hull was projected underwater, countless eyes instantly opened within that shadow, simultaneously and densely staring at the boat on the surface.

The dark shadow swayed its massive body, swimming upstream with the dark current. As it passed through the moonlit waters, it finally revealed its entire body.

It was a giant, monstrous fish that was over ten meters long. A huge horn stood upright in the center of its head, and its body was covered with hundreds of constantly moving eyes, making it incredibly intimidating.

This is the monster lurking in the river of Monez Town, Unicor.

Unikol's figure drew closer and closer to the bottom of the ship, its countless eyes gleaming with greed as it stared intently at the vessel, fearing that if it missed this opportunity, it would never see humans again.

It swung its tail, aimed its single horn at the bottom of the boat, and prepared to ram it, throwing all the food on board into the water.

Pfft!

Just then, Unikol's large mouth suddenly bit into a sharp, hard object, causing its half-swimming body to slow down and feel a pulling sensation.

Its countless eyes looked up at the large mouth in confusion and spotted a fishhook.

The fishhook seemed to be alive, piercing through the inner layer of scales around its mouth and moving deeper into its body.

At the same time, on the deck of the only boat on the water, a boy was pulling on his fishing rod, a triumphant smile on his face.

"They've taken the bait!"

[Sand Boy: From "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure," this Stand can extract a fishing rod-type Stand. After casting the rod with magical energy, the hook and line can ignore physical volume and pass through any non-magically shielded entity. The user can sense the target's vital signs and magical energy flow through the vibrations transmitted back from the hook. If the fishing line is attacked from the outside, the damage will bounce back along the line to the hooked target.]

Ron's fishing line tightened instantly, generating a huge pulling force.

The unicor, submerged in the water, opened its massive mouth and spewed out huge bubbles as it began to struggle frantically to break the fishing line.

But the fishing line didn't break. Instead, the more it struggled, the more the hook pierced through the flesh of its mouth and went straight towards its heart!

"How's it going? Can you pull it up?"

Gildarts and the captain looked at the taut fishing rod and couldn't help but feel worried for Ron.

"It's alright, I have another way!"

Ron then gripped the fishing rod tightly with his right hand and body, while his Zanpakuto, Hyōrinmaru, reappeared in his left hand.

He quickly pressed the blade against his fishing rod and line, his own magic surging, causing the cold air from the blade to flow towards the fishing line.

An astonishing scene unfolded: Hyōrinmaru's chilling aura and blade did not sever the fishing line. Instead, the chilling aura traveled along the fishing line at great speed, rushing straight to the bottom of the water!

Ron continuously channeled his magic power, injecting a steady stream of cold air into it.

The fishhook, which had already reached the depths of Unikol's heart, was receiving the chill from the attack on the fishing line. It rebounded and instantly froze into a block of ice inside Unikol's heart!

The ice block in his heart gradually grew larger, spreading wildly through Unikol's body with its chilling aura.

Its blood stopped flowing, congealed into clots, and its internal organs instantly froze. Unikol's struggles gradually slowed down, and it eventually froze.

Its countless terrified eyes were covered by a layer of ice, and eventually, Ron froze the monster into a giant ice sculpture at the bottom of the river.

Ron breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the fishing line stop pulling.

"Alright, that's almost done."

The captain and sailors looked at Ron with puzzled expressions.

"Solved? You're not kidding me...!"

Whoosh!

The ice sculpture named Unikol broke through the water due to buoyancy, interrupting the captain's question.

This ice sculpture, resembling an iceberg, stirred up quite a few waves, which then spread along the water's surface.

The wave caused Ron and his crew's only boat to rock violently from side to side, nearly knocking the captain and sailors off their feet.

After the captain and sailors regained their footing, their eyes widened in shock, their jaws nearly dropping to their sides.

So, the problem of Unikor, which had been lurking at the bottom of the river for so long, was solved just like that?!

Even the well-traveled Gildarts was momentarily stunned when he saw the enormous ice sculpture.

He finally came to his senses and couldn't help but look at Ron and say words of praise.

"You've got a lot of magical artifacts, kid. Well done!"

I was worried that fighting on the water would be a bit more troublesome, but I didn't expect you to solve it so easily.

Ron then put away the Hyōrinmaru and leisurely looked at Gildarts, saying:

"Alright, uncle, what are you waiting for? The rest is up to you."

"Okay, leave it to me!"

Gildarts laughed loudly and leaped onto the deck in an instant, clearing the iceberg in front of him, causing the captain and sailors beside him to look up in shock.

Is this a height a human could jump out of in one leap?!

Gildarts unleashed a shattering magic circle from his right fist, blasting it towards the massive block of ice before him!

"Dispelling Evil and Revealing Justice - One Day!"

Boom!

Then, the huge iceberg, along with the Unikor inside, instantly turned into countless flying ice crystal fragments, and the force of the punch also stirred up quite a few waves.

"See how amazing I am... Hey, how did the boat capsize!?"

Gildarts, suspended in mid-air, watched as the waves surged up again below, eventually capsizing the ship. His smug smile froze instantly, replaced by a look of shock.

Phew~!

Just as Gildarts was about to fall into the river, the giant ink-wash bird caught him in its beak.

Gildarts looked up and saw Ron sitting there, with the captain and sailors he had just rescued beside him.

The captain and sailors' angry stares made Gildarts give an awkward smile.

Ron looked helpless, then closed his eyes in frustration and slapped his forehead.

"I think you should just give me the entire commission fee. As for the compensation for the ship, I'll apply to Chairman Makarov later."

Chapter 76 The Generous Captain

The port of Monnet was unusually lively the next morning.

Ron and his friends arrived at the pier with the two sisters, only to encounter an army conducting a search. Ron and his friends were also searched.

The news of the monster Unicor's destruction spread, which brought the previously stagnant Flight K back to normal.

Meanwhile, on the other side of Monnet, the army arrived in order to arrest the middle-aged bald man named Cappuccino.

It turns out they had already received evidence of Cappuccino's crime of taking over the town, but because of Unicor, they were unable to cross the river and only managed to get across last night.

They originally intended to take them back on the spot, but the ice block that had frozen them left them helpless. They also couldn't find a mage who could use fire magic, so they could only send people to guard the ice sculpture all night.

It finally melted this morning, and they effortlessly captured two shivering criminals.

At the dock, Cappuccino and the baby, covered in blankets, were handcuffed and escorted onto the prison ship.

The two men being escorted were sneezing and wiping their noses, clearly suffering from severe colds.

While being questioned, Ron glanced at them and couldn't help but think to himself, "What do you mean?"

The physical condition of people in this world is truly extraordinary; they didn't even freeze to death.

On the other side of the pier, the army captain learned of the victims injured by the cappuccino and went to check the final statements with the Emily sisters.

After confirming that Cappuccino was guilty, Emily and Marie finally burst into tears of joy.

"Ron, you're a Fairy Tail mage, right?"

The squad leader closed the notebook, frowned slightly, and asked Ron a question.

"What's wrong?"

Ron looked puzzled.

"No, I just remembered that a town was half destroyed a few days ago. According to insiders, it was done by a mage from Fairy Tail. Do you have any clue?"

Ron scratched his head and gave an awkward smile.

"Haha, I don't know, after all, I've never done such a thing. They might have mistaken me for someone else."

"Maybe. You don't look like that kind of person. I'm just asking as usual."

The army captain patted Ron on the shoulder helplessly and let out a sigh of regret.

"If only all the mages in Fairy Tail were as well-behaved and didn't cause trouble as you, you'd be a good boy."

Ron nodded smugly and accepted the praise.

Putting aside the mischief, at least every time I caused damage, it was out of necessity for work, and it really wasn't my fault.

It's fortunate that this captain doesn't work in Magnolia, where the law enforcement team is quite troubled by his bizarre daily outfits and doesn't know how to deal with each time they receive a civilian weapon attack against V.

Compared to those mages in the guild who demolish houses at will, my little antics are nothing to them.

"By the way, where did you buy that big Protoss bird you're holding? It's quite a nice-looking one."

The army captain saw a string in Ron's hand. Looking up along the string, he saw a large ink-wash bird with a rope around its neck, circling quietly in the air.

Uru and the others, who were standing nearby, looked embarrassed upon hearing this, and the Emily sisters also looked over guiltily.

"Oh, you mean this? The magic shops around here don't sell it; I drew it myself."

Ron pointed to the birds flying in the sky and explained with a smile.

"Drawn? The magic of painting these days is truly bizarre."

Alright, we won't keep you on your journey any longer. Have a safe trip!

After saying this, the army captain bowed to Ron and his group and boarded the army ship.

After capturing these underground criminals, the army captain led his men, escorting Cappuccino and the others away from the dock.

After the army had completely disappeared from sight, Uru and the two sisters breathed a sigh of relief.

Ron also breathed a sigh of relief, then looked up at the ink-wash bird with a helpless expression.

"Don't hide anymore, they're gone."

Then a person poked their head out from the big bird; it was Gildarts, who had been hiding from the army.

"Phew, we were exposed after all. Next time we sabotage, we'll have to be careful to make sure no one is around."

Gildarts then gave Ron a thumbs-up in recognition of his praise.

"This time it's all thanks to you. You're so resourceful; you managed to evade their detection."

Ron sighed helplessly. Was it a matter of whether there were any witnesses?

Fortunately, Ron discovered the army approaching when he arrived at the docks, and when he informed Gildarts, the latter showed a shocked expression.

He then wondered what other tricks Ron had up his sleeve to get past them, and Ron gave him this one. To his surprise, it really worked and he escaped their sight.

"Come on down, it's time for us to board the ship."

Ron said something to Gildarts, and the latter nodded and jumped down.

After Gildarts jumped down, he and Ron walked to the dock of the passenger ship.

Coincidentally, the captain of this passenger ship was the same captain who took Ron and the others hunting last night.

"Welcome aboard...?"

He was smiling at first, but when he turned around and saw Ron and Gildarts, his expression became complicated.

Seeing them reminded me of the capsizing incident last night; the scene is still vivid in my mind.

"It's you guys again?"

"Hey Captain, what a coincidence!"

Ron smiled and greeted him.