Fairy Tail: Magic is not such an inconvenient thing.

Makarov's spirits lifted. He had been racking his brains for a long time. Although Abbo had told him not to worry too much, he still wanted to do something. Unfortunately, he couldn't come up with any good ideas. It was true that a young mind was the best.

"To solve a problem, you must first grasp its core. Guild leader, what do you think is our guild's biggest problem right now?"

"Well... there are quite a few problems. The veterans in the guild don't quite like these newcomers, and the newcomers are full of energy and want to become official members as soon as possible. With more people in the guild, there are more arguments... well, that's happened quite often, but now they always manage to make the atmosphere very tense, plus there are some guys who joined the guild with malicious intent..."

Makarov sighed, rubbing his forehead.

"So much trouble, Abbot. Is this the price of fame? Our guild used to be quite famous..."

Abbo rolled his eyes:

“Our guild didn’t have a good reputation before. We were criticized by the council every few days. When people asked why we hadn’t been kicked out of the guild alliance, they were curious. Is that what you call being famous?”

"Uh...no, it's not that bad..."

"Actually, all of what you just mentioned boils down to the same problem—the problem of unreasonable distribution of benefits."

"Huh? That's not right. There's no such thing as profit sharing. Our guild doesn't have a habit of giving out money."

"Well, to be honest, I also bear some responsibility for this. President, it's not just money that counts as profit."

The veterans of the guild are familiar with our Fairy Tail style, but the arrival of newcomers has disrupted the environment they have become accustomed to, so the veterans feel that their interests have been infringed upon.

The new members joined our guild after hearing about our recent impressive reputation. Most assumed that a guild that had made so much money must offer excellent benefits to its members, especially since we had just introduced a "prospective member" system...

They probably think that once they become official members of the guild, they will be able to enjoy better benefits. If this matter is not handled properly, those of them who have not benefited will feel that their interests have been infringed.

The difference in perception between veterans and newcomers is the main reason for the current chaos in our guild, which is... everyone feels they are being taken advantage of.

Previously, fights among guild members were never due to conflicts of interest. However, whenever interests were involved, the fights would turn into ugly brawls. So, ultimately, the root of the problem lies here—interests.

"Hiss... I think I understand now, Abbot, your analysis makes a lot of sense, but isn't this just nonsense! Our guild has never cared about profits or anything like that. The guild is a place where comrades gather and live together, and we can't let it get tainted by the stench of money!"

Makarov sensed something was wrong. His guild was heading in the direction he least wanted to see, and he absolutely would not allow it to become a place reeking of money under his leadership!

"Abbott, how about we shut down the factories? We're not going to make any more money from them!"

"You idiot student council president!"

Abbot conjured up a golden cudgel and gave Makarov a powerful blow, nearly knocking off the old man's beard.

Makarov touched his smooth forehead, bewildered, then shocked and furious:

"You brat! You've gone too far! How dare you attack the president!?"

"That's what I'm going to do! I've never seen such a stupid old man. Listen to what you just said? You got into trouble because you made too much money, so you're choosing to throw it all away? Don't you understand that's called throwing the baby out with the bathwater? Did Laxus eat your brain?!"

Makarov paused, realizing that Abbott was right, and sighed dejectedly:

"Sigh~ But we mages aren't short of money to begin with... Oh well, I was just being anxious. So, Abbot, what do you suggest we do?"

"Actually, this matter is not difficult to resolve. The simplest way is to make a clean break, create a Fairy Tail branch, and send all the newcomers there so they can live their own lives. That way, there will be no conflict."

"No, no, Fairy Tail isn't like that. If we wanted to have a branch, we would have done it a long time ago. This is not appropriate."

"If you don't want to open a branch, that's easy to solve. Conflicts arising from interests can be resolved with interests. Guild leader, we just need to improve the welfare of guild members."

"Hmm? What do you mean? Give everyone money? That's not a good idea, is it?"

Abbott shook his head:

"As I've said before, don't think of money when you talk about benefits. There are many benefits that money can't buy."

"I hadn't originally planned to bring this up so soon, but let's take this opportunity to do it all at once."

Guild leader, we want to establish a completely new welfare system, or you can just call it insurance. We won't directly pay guild members, but we can ensure they have no worries about the future.

"It's not without risk for mages to take on quests. If anything unexpected happens, our guild can be their strongest support..."

Abbott explained concepts like accident insurance and pension insurance to Makarov.

Makarov's eyes lit up as he listened. Making the guild a guarantee for the members' future—wasn't this the ultimate goal he was pursuing: a guild that is also like family?

"That's a great idea! That's perfect! That's exactly right! This is how you should use money when you have too much! Abbott, you're such a good kid! Hahaha!"

"Improving the benefits for official guild members will satisfy veteran members, and new members who haven't joined yet will see a goal to strive for, thus reducing unnecessary disputes."

In addition, I suggest rebuilding, no, expanding our guild. Right now, our guild's space is a bit insufficient and doesn't quite live up to our status as the strongest guild.

Abbott continued to offer suggestions:

"After the guild expands, we can set the usage rights of some facilities to be available only to formal members. This can be considered a benefit. For example, we can change the second floor of the guild to a place that only formal members can go up, or build some hot springs, swimming pools, game rooms... Oh, and the boys' dormitory can also be rebuilt."

"A swimming pool! This is great! This is great!"

"Once these plans are implemented, I believe our guild's official members will become the envy of everyone. The veteran members' benefits will improve, and they won't be so picky about newcomers anymore."

The newcomers will no longer complain about their current treatment; instead, it will ignite their desire to officially become part of our team, thus greatly alleviating the problems the guild is currently facing.

"Huh? Just to alleviate it?"

"Otherwise what? Wherever there are people, there will inevitably be disputes. Factional conflicts will definitely arise in the guild in the future, but let you, the guild leader, worry about that. It's not my concern."

Makarov's face darkened at first, then his eyes suddenly lit up, and he rubbed his hands together, whispering:

"Abbott, what do you think of the chairman's position... do you like it?"

"?"

-----------------

Abo felt that perhaps he had been performing too well lately, which caused Makarov to start thinking all day about how to help him become the fourth chairman.

This left him speechless.

Abbott never thought he was particularly smart; he simply stood on the shoulders of giants, possessing a vision that transcended his time. When faced with difficulties that ordinary people in the world found insurmountable, he could always find a different answer.

Ultimately, setting aside his special abilities, he's just an ordinary person with all sorts of minor flaws, being lecherous and lazy, hardly a figure of great ambition or vision.

Abbot was not interested in being the guild leader because he was a guy who would side with his own people regardless of right or wrong, and it would be difficult for him to treat every guild member fairly. Abbot did not think that his personality was suitable to be a good guild leader.

Although the guild leader is very protective of his own, he can be truly "selfless" when it comes to handling guild affairs. After all, he kicked his own son out of the guild and had no intention of letting Laxus succeed him as the next guild leader.

This is also what Abbo admires about the chairman. However, Makarov's ability to raise his son and grandson is really hard to describe. He is a good chairman, but not a good father or grandfather.

If Aibo were to become the guild master, Fairy Tail would become Aibo's harem!

So let's forget about the chairman's suggestion. Abbott wants to follow Gildarts' example; he won't settle down until he's lived a carefree and dissolute life for decades!

Being the president of the student council is nothing compared to enjoying the delicious little cakes from my older sisters!

Ignoring the president's request to be his successor, Aibo felt that he should give the president more responsibilities. As long as the old president was busy, he wouldn't think about so many other things.

Having the chairman draft new employee benefits regulations was just the first step; next, Abbott set his sights on the chairman's old associates...

Chapter 110 Fairy Tail's "Guild Alliance"

A few days after Aibo had his detailed conversation with Makarov, Makarov officially announced in the guild the latest version of "Fairy Tail Official Member Benefits," which he had painstakingly compiled and designed after discussing it with several S-class core members (mainly Aibo).

Including but not limited to workers' compensation insurance, accident insurance, pension security, rental discounts, marriage and childbirth benefits...

This isn't just a perk for members; even their parents haven't treated them this well!

The people of this world have never seen anything like this before. With this combination of moves, they would be more than willing to be Fairy Tail's lackeys, or even to support Chairman Makarov to the throne!

Even the eyes of those traitors sent by other organizations to infiltrate Fairy Tail have become clear.

If we could really become official members of Fairy Tail, then what would they do as traitors?! I was born a member of Fairy Tail, and I'll die a member of Fairy Tail!

In short, this event excited everyone. The guild's banquet lasted almost all night, and everyone was drinking heavily. Makarov almost lost himself amidst shouts of "Guild Leader, we love you!"

Newcomers are already calling Makarov the saintly mage of the new era.

This incident earned Makarov immense prestige, and several newspapers even came to interview him about it.

"Guild Master Makarov, your latest proposal for guild benefits has attracted widespread attention in the mage world. What made you come up with this mage benefits system?"

"Haha, it wasn't my idea, it was our guild's S-rank mage, Little Aibo. Aibo has always considered the guild his home, so when he earns money, he always thinks about how to benefit everyone in the guild. It's all thanks to that kid's good intentions, and I'm so proud of him!"

"I understand! I will definitely report the truth for you!"

Then the next day's newspaper read—

[...In response to the reporter's question, Guild Master Makarov smiled kindly: "I've always treated the guild members like my family. Now that our guild has money, where to spend it has been a problem that has troubled me for a long time. Then, with a suggestion from one of the guild members, I had an idea: why not pour this money into every ordinary member who makes up our guild..."]

Makarov's expression after reading the newspaper looked like this: 囧?

"Do these reporters even understand what truthful reporting means?! Isn't this just writing whatever comes to mind?! Which sentence in this is something I actually said?!"

Makarov even began to worry about Abbott's feelings:

"Abbott, you know me. This old man has absolutely no intention of stealing your credit. These reporters are completely fabricating stories! I'm going to file a complaint against them!"

"Haha, this is the result of not having control over your own mouthpiece. Now, Chairman, you know how important it is to own your own media outlet, right?"

"Sigh, Abbott, you've got it all figured out. I'll have Levy issue a statement right now to debunk those newspaper articles!"

"President, don't panic. I secretly slipped them money to make them write it this way."

"Oh, huh?! What? You did it?! Why?!"

"Because I don't need this kind of reputation, but you do, Guild Leader. The greater your reputation, the more beneficial it is to our guild. The better your image, the higher the quality of new members you can attract to the guild. These are all unseen benefits, so you don't need to worry about this, Guild Leader."

"But, but..."

Makarov looked conflicted. He didn't really care about his reputation, but a good reputation would certainly make him feel good. However, it seemed a bit much for an old man like him to steal Abo's credit...

"President, please stop worrying about this. I don't care, so why do you? With that time, I suggest you pay more attention to your old friends."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"These reports aren't without their downsides, Guild Master. There are so many mage guilds in Fiore, but only we've managed to do something this big. What do you think the other guilds will think of us? We have the money to set up such a member welfare system, but do you think other guilds can follow our lead?"

"this..."

"Originally, I planned to develop the guild further and raise its strength to the next level before bringing out this system. But now that it's already done, we should think about how to plan for the future."

"Layout? Aibo, you're not thinking of some bad idea again, are you?"

"Um?!"

Aibo pulled out his golden cudgel.

"Sorry, I spoke too loudly just now. Abbot, please continue."

"If our guild is so high-profile, we'll become too big a target. Although we're not afraid, it's better to avoid trouble. Since we've taken the lion's share, shouldn't we share some of the profits with others?"

Aibo projected a map of the Kingdom of Fiore in front of him using light magic, marking several resource points, and then illuminating the guilds near these resources:

"President, our factory needs a lot of raw materials right now. Magic crystals are the main component, but cotton, iron ore, gold... Although many merchants have reached cooperation agreements with us, they are not trustworthy. We should try to control the source of our own raw materials."

"Look, for example, right next to the Four-Headed Hound Guild is one of the top magic crystal mines in the Kingdom of Fiore, and the town where the Blue Pegasus lives is famous for its textiles and grows a lot of cotton... We should get them involved to make money together!"

Currently, we have a technological advantage, so we'll have them provide us with raw materials for now. Once we achieve technological breakthroughs, we can then let them handle some of the downstream industries.

Let's form a brand new guild alliance, with Fairy Tail at the head, where we'll all stand together and fight side by side. We can all make money together, right? I don't think anyone will refuse our offer.

Makarov found it increasingly brilliant; Abbott's idea had struck a chord with him once again.

"Great! That's a good idea! Let's do it this way!"

“We can also use this trick to eliminate dissidents. Guild leader, don’t you hate that Ghost Guild the most? Then we’ll deliberately not play with them. Sooner or later, so-and-so will come crying to our door to apologize.”

"Great! This is good! This is good! We must do it this way!"

"By the way, besides the local guilds, we should also reach out to those mage families, such as the Heartfilia family, who have been cooperating with us for a long time. We should bring them into this alliance as well."

We need to make as many friends as possible. We can make others envious, but we can't let them be blinded. We need to form a formidable and powerful force, leaving only—

"Ahem, it's a bit early to say that, but let's just do it this way for now! Good luck, President! I'm going to go take care of other things now."

"Wow! Even I, an old man, am fired up!"

Makarov didn't think anything was wrong and went off to show off to his old buddies with great enthusiasm.

The wheels of history keep turning, and on the southern coast of Fiore, a dazzling sun called Fairy Tail is rising!

Chapter 111 Le Qi

One month later, the reconstruction of Fairy Tail Guild's main building was completed. Two months later, all the auxiliary buildings of the guild were completed. Three months later, Fairy Tail Guild Industrial Park was officially completed.

The new guild hall was expanded on the original site, doubling in size. The land around the guild was also fenced off, and the newly built residences, office buildings, and small parks all belong to Fairy Tail.

A swimming pool, hot spring pavilion, and small amusement park were built behind the guild. The game room and movie theater inside the guild were renovated, and a magic projector was installed in the guild hall. The entire guild has been completely transformed.