Chapter 199: Miss Fairy Tail Pageant; Part 1
Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, Magnolia.
October 15, x784.
Exactly three minutes after the waitress made her announcement in the changing room, a slim man of average height with black eyes and hair styled in an undercut with a long bang covering the right side of his forehead stepped onto the stage and made his way towards its center. He also had a somewhat prominent nose and wide lips.
This young man was the host for today's Miss Fairy Tail pageant, Warren Rocko. And just for today, he was dressed in a bright orange suit with a matching bowtie, a maroon dress shirt, and a pair of brown leather shoes.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Warren Rocko. I'll be your host for today's program." Warren said with an enthusiastic smile. "Today, for the first time in our guild's history, we will be having a pageant to name the fairest of all the fairies."
With that, the crowd, for the most part, broke into a round of applause.
"Now, I'm sure none of you are here to see me stand here and talk." Warren continued, cutting off the applause. "So, I'll give you a rundown of the rules real quick. Then, we'll bring on the real stars of the show."
And just as he said, Warren gave a quick rundown of the rules that lasted no longer than three minutes.
And the rules were as follows. First, All the participants would come out wearing an evening gown. Then, once everyone was given a minute or so to show off, they would continue to the next round.
The second round would be a talent show, of sorts. Each female wizard would have the opportunity to make or do something beautiful with their magic. Then, once they all had a turn, the third round would commence.
In the third round, everyone would once again have the opportunity to show off for a minute or so. This time, however, they would all be showing off their swimsuit-clad bodies.
After everyone had their second chance to show off, the audience would be given the chance to vote for which girl they thought deserved the victory. After all the votes were tallied, the participants would once again be called onto the stage and the winner would be announced.
"And as a prize, the winner will receive 500,000 Jewels!" Warren said enthusiastically, once again drawing an applause from the audience. "Now, without further ado, join me in welcoming our first contestant, Sun Seto!"
A moment later, the lights in the guild hall dimmed and a spotlight shown on the stage. Then, the sound of high heeled shoes clacking against the stage could be heard before Sun finally walked into the light.
For today's pageant, Sun was wearing a pale yellow, one shoulder evening gown that showed off her left shoulder with a slit on the same side that reached to the base of her thigh. Completing the look, she wore a pale pink flower in her hair and a pair of open-toed heels of the same color. She also wore a rose gold bangle on her upper right arm.
Seeing the elegance with which Sun entered the stage, everyone in the audience was impressed, even if they did not show it overtly. However, there was one overenthusiastic member of the audience who had no problem doing so.
"Sun~~~~~!" Gozaburo shouted while waving his hands wildly. "You're so beautiful! Daddy is rooting for you!"
Hearing her father's loud cheering, Sun's graceful smile twitched for a moment before she managed to regain control of her expression. Then, she did her best to simply pretend that Gozaburo did not exist as she posed so that the audience could see her dress from all angles for the next minute or so.
"Masa! What are you doing?" Gozaburo shouted as Sun started to walk off stage. "Hold that recording lacrima higher! This moment must be immortalized."
As her father's latest shout echoed over the guild hall's first floor, Sun almost tripped over her own feet as she reached the back of the stage. Then, after regaining her balance, she stopped and slowly turned back towards the audience.
"Oh, shit." Alfonzo muttered with an alarmed expression on his face. Then, he crouched down in front of his seat while covering his ears as he shouted. "Everyone, get down! And don't' forget to cover your ears!"
While most people were confused by Alfonzo's behavior, they followed his instructions, nonetheless. The several who did not, including Laxus, Bickslow, Fried, and chief among them, Gozaburo, ended up feeling the full brunt of Sun's discontent.
"{Dad! Knock it off!}" Sun shouted, subconsciously using her [Howling Voice] spell as she did so.
With Sun's shout, a high-volume shockwave shot from her mouth and flew over the heads of all the audience members who followed Alfonzo's advice while sending those who did not flying upon impact.
Laxus, Bickslow, and Fried, while finding the volume uncomfortable, were mostly unaffected thanks to their strengths. Gozaburo, on the other hand, was struck head on, as the spell was aimed at him directly, and sent flying into the wall behind him.
"My sweet Sun." Gozaburo muttered as he slid down the wall. "Daddy will always be rooting for you."
As he finished, Gozaburo lost consciousness with a smile on his face.
Meanwhile, Sun turned around with a huff and made her way backstage. A moment later, she walked past the second contestant, Cana, who was on her way to the stage.
"So annoying." Sun muttered as she passed Cana. "Why can't he act normal?"
Hearing that, Cana could only smile wryly as she continued towards the stage.
'*Sigh* I'm just glad Dad isn't back yet.' Cana thought to herself. 'Otherwise, I'd be in the same boat as Sun.'
With that, the girls went on stage one after another in the order according to the lots they drew before the pageant started. So, after Cana, it was Lisanna, Juvia, Ultear, Marin, Lucy, Laki, Erza, Evergreen, and Bisca. Like Sun, they all wore evening gowns that suited them perfectly in the colors of their choice. And everyone found that perfectly natural, since they had all commissioned Elicia to make them just for today.
After Bisca left the stage, to another round of applause, Warren introduced the next contestant.
On a side note, even though Marin was capable of freely changing her measurements, she decided to use her body's natural measurements for the pageant.
"And now, let's welcome the next contestant." Warren said with a smile from the side of the stage. "I'm sure quite a few of you have been looking forward to the next contestant. Now, please give her a warm welcome. Ice Mistress, Ur Milkovich, please make your way to the stage!"
With Warren's announcement, the audience fell silent for a moment. Then, once that moment had passed, they exploded in to a cacophony of cheers, with the middle aged men in the guild contributing most of the loud cheering.
Even with all the cheering, the sound of high heels could still be heard clearly, as if the sound was being projected directly into the listener's brain.
"Damn, Ur is really going all-out for this, isn't she?" Alfonzo thought to himself as he listened to the sound of the footsteps coming towards the stage. 'She's even using a spell to amplify the sound of her footsteps to anyone with enough magic power to detect it.'
Just as Alfonzo finished that thought, as if to mock him for thinking too small, a mist shrouded the entrance to the stage, slowly extending towards the center as the footsteps grew in volume.
A moment later, the silhouette of a woman could be seen walking through the mist, eventually reaching the center of the stage. Then, as soon as the silhouette came to a stop, the mist dispersed, revealing Ur smiling at the audience with her right hand resting on her hip.
Most of the men in the audience felt their breaths get caught in their throats after seen Ur.
Instead of her usual, somewhat messy hair style, Ur's hair was straightened completely, falling down to her shoulders with her bangs combed to the left. On her body, she wore a strapless, backless, two-toned evening gown that faded from black at the top with a snowflake-shaped cut out in the middle of her chest, that revealed her breasts and cleavage, to ice blue at the bottom with a thigh high slit on the right side. While on her feet, she wore a pair of black high heels with straps that wrapped around her upper ankles.
A moment later, the crowd roared to life as Ur struck several poses to show off her figure in the evening gown before she turned around and left the stage to a standing ovation.
After Ur, Ren, in an elegant, formal violet kimono with rainbow cherry blossoms embroidered around the collar and the ends of the sleeves, was the next to appear on stage. And although not as much as Ur, she also received a standing ovation from the crowd. And once again, Gozaburo, who had woken up sometime during the other younger girl's turns, was the loudest of those who cheered.
With a smile on her face, Ren turned around once her time was up and returned backstage, leaving only one more contestant.
"I must say, when I saw the last two contestant's names show up on my intro cards, I was just as surprised and excited as all of you." Warren said once Ren had left the stage. "Now, I know We've all enjoyed this round of the pageant, haven't we?"
In response, the crowd cheered loudly in agreement.
"But as all good things do, this round, too, must come to an end." Warren continued. "So, please join me in welcoming our last contestant. The Magic Seamstress responsible for all the beautiful outfits we saw this afternoon, Elicia Taylor!"
To a standing ovation that was just as intense as the one Ur received, Elicia made her way onto the stage. Now, no one present was under the illusion that Elicia's entrance was as anticipated as Ur's. Not by a long shot. Instead, the reason she received such cheers was for the work she did in bringing out the girls/women's natural beauty with the clothing she made.
Elicia, wearing a white, sleeveless, backless gown with a strap that looped around her neck and faded to baby pink at the botttom, a diamond shaped cut out that showed of her breasts and cleavage, a slit that showed off her right leg, a baby pink sash tied diagonally from her right hip to the left side of her waist, and pink, open-toed high heels with straps that crisscrossed around her calves before they were tied off halfway to her knees, stepped out from backstage and her gaze immediately locked onto Warren, causing him to shudder.
"Um... Elicia, is there something wrong?" Warren asked nervously.
"Is there something wrong?" Elicia parroted in an annoyed tone. "The question is, what isn't wrong? Honey, who gave you the bright idea that matching orange and maroon was a good idea? You look like some kind of hokie. And a bowtie? Seriously? Do you even keep up with the current trends? Bowties haven't been in style in Fiore for at least three years. My goodness, who was in charge of dressing you? And don't get me started on..."
"Well, we really should have seen this coming after we saw what Warren was wearing." Alfonzo mutter with a wry smile while shaking his head.
Hearing Elicia immediately go into a tirade about Warren's outfit dumbfounded everyone in the audience. But After hearig what Alfonzo had to say, they snapped out of their stupors relatively quickly.
Then, when they thought about it a second time, it was not all that surprising. It was no secret in or outside of the guild that Elicia was a lover of fashion. And after seeing Warren's rather loud, uncoordinated outfit, they should have all expected this.
But what really surprised everyone was the fact that Elicia continued to strike poses to show off her figure in the dress. And when a minute passed, she cat walked off stage as if she were a professional runway model, while continuing to lecture Warren about his outfit through it all.
"Well, I gotta say that the end of this round was really... intense." warren said as soon as Elicia's voice could no longer be heard from the stage. Then, while wiping the cold sweat off his forehead, he made his way back to the center of the stage. "That brings an end to the evening gown portion of our program. After a short intermission, we'll continue onto the talent show part of the Miss Fairy Tail Pageant. And during the break, I think I'll go backstage and do a little wardrobe change of my own. Ha ha ha."
With that hollow laughter, Warren left the stage, no doubt to change into a different suit, while the audience saw him off with sympathy in their gazes.
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