"Porlyusica?!"
Makarov turned around. Seeing Porlyusica standing there with a broom in hand, radiating fury and murderous intent, he shivered instinctively. Knowing her as well as he did, he knew she was genuinely angry this time.
"Not good! Run!"
Valuing his life above all else, Makarov panicked and bolted without looking back.
"Master, what happened?"
Ide, unaware of the severity of the situation, looked at the fleeing Makarov in confusion and called out.
"No time to explain!"
"What are you standing there for? Run!"
"If you don't run now, it'll be too late!"
Makarov completely ignored Ide and Gildarts. He sprinted past them, disappearing into the distant forest in a cloud of dust, leaving only his lingering words as proof he had ever been there.
When disaster strikes, it's every man for himself! Who cares about guild members in a life-or-death situation like this?!
Cough.
"Huh?!"
Ide stared blankly at the spot where Makarov had vanished into the woods, already miles away. He was speechless.
"I see."
"So you two are the brats who fought here without my permission, caused that massive earthquake, and ruined all the apples on my trees, right?"
Seeing that she couldn't catch Makarov, Porlyusica turned her gaze to Ide and Gildarts. Noticing the Fairy Tail emblems on their bodies, her rage flared. She brandished her broom and charged at them.
"Wait! No one told me someone lived on the mountain behind the Fairy Tail guild!"
"If I had known you lived here, I never would have chosen this place to spar with Gildarts!"
Knowing he was in the wrong, Ide fled all over the mountain with Porlyusica hot on his heels. Of course, Gildarts was running right alongside him.
"Well, now you know someone lives here, don't you?!"
Broom in hand, Porlyusica moved with agility and speed that belied her age. She chased Ide and Gildarts for a full ten miles without showing any signs of fatigue, barely even breaking a sweat. It was hard to believe she was an old woman nearing seventy.
"Ms. Porlyusica!"
"Please be generous and forgive us this once!"
"I promise, next time we spar here, we'll go even deeper into the mountains!"
Gildarts pleaded as he ran, trying to appease the furious woman chasing them.
"You brat."
"You're planning a next time?!"
Porlyusica's anger had been starting to subside after chasing them for ten miles, but Gildarts' simple sentence reignited the flames.
Furious, she burst forward with unprecedented speed, closing the gap instantly. Her broom sliced through the air and smacked Gildarts hard on the back.
"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"
Gildarts yelped in pain, grinning and bearing it as he picked up his pace.
Looking at Ide, who was way ahead of him, Gildarts couldn't help but shout, "Hey, Ide, isn't that a bit much? Why are you running so fast?"
"..."
Ide stayed silent, only increasing his speed.
"Damn it."
"The Master agreed to let us spar here! Why are we the only ones getting beaten up?"
Internally, Ide was furiously cursing the Guild Master for abandoning them and running away alone.
He expanded his Observation Haki, scanning the mountain for Makarov's location.
If we're going to suffer, we suffer together. I'm dragging that old man out to get beaten up with us.
"Found him!"
With the help of his Haki, Ide quickly located Makarov perched on a tree branch a hundred meters away.
The old man was squatting on the branch, quietly enjoying the sight of Ide and Gildarts being chased all over the mountain by Porlyusica, a look of gleeful schadenfreude on his face.
"Master!"
Naturally, Ide wasn't going to let Makarov off the hook. After locking onto him with Haki, Ide led Gildarts—and the relentless Porlyusica—straight toward Makarov's hiding spot.
"Crap, I've been spotted."
"Ide, what are you doing? Don't come over here!"
"You and Gildarts are young! A beating won't hurt you! I'm an old man, I can't take it!"
Makarov, who had been enjoying the show, panicked when he saw Ide leading Porlyusica toward him. He was so desperate he even used Telepathy Magic to transmit his voice directly into Ide's mind, trying to stop him from selling out his teammate.
"Are you kidding?"
"How could we let you miss out on the fun, Master?!"
Ide replied to Makarov, then pointed at the tree where Makarov was hiding. He whispered to Gildarts, "Gildarts, the Master is hiding in that tree."
"I see."
"Leave it to me."
"CRUSH!!"
Without a second thought, Gildarts pulverized a swath of trees, including the one Makarov was hiding in, turning them into sawdust.
"Makarov!"
Having lost his cover, Makarov was instantly exposed to the furious Porlyusica. Naturally, he drew the majority of her aggro. Porlyusica sped up, ignoring Ide and Gildarts who had stopped running, and swung her broom at Makarov.
"Ah!"
"My back!"
Makarov's miserable screams echoed through the mountains.
"Don't let me see any of you three on this mountain again."
In the end, Makarov, Ide, and Gildarts apologized to Porlyusica, compensated her for the apples, and promised to restore the mountain to its original state. Only then did she let them go, kicking them off the mountain and strictly forbidding them from ever appearing in her sight again.
"Master, your relationship with Ms. Porlyusica isn't simple, is it?!"
Walking back to the guild in the sunset, battered and bruised, Ide asked Makarov.
"Hmph."
"You figured it out?"
"Fine, I'll tell you a story about my youth~"
Makarov smiled smugly and began to recount tales of his younger days.