"This is an incredibly big event, Mr. Vanadis, I don't think you can understand being a simple mage," the man did not mean to be condescending or rude, Houren knew, but that didn't mean he wasn't being condescending or rude. Still, Houren could understand somewhat where this guy was coming from, his request was the age old story of ''I have a big event planned and some guy might ruin it, so I need you to make sure that guy isn't able to ruin it'' sort of thing. It didn't take more than a glance at the man for Houren to realize that he was incredibly weak, but for a man as weak as him to rise to such a high position as the head of the guard for a noble house, he must have been an incredibly smart man; more a strategist or tactician than a fighter. If he was so smart though, wouldn't he have been able to stop a single old, senile man from interrupting his employers' event? Did he really need to hire a mage? Houren couldn't complain though, he was going to be paid for stopping an old man from spouting nonsense, but that was much easier said than done, he would find out.

When the event finally did kick off, Houren was told to wait outside for the man known as Leis and because they were orders given to him by his employer, he decided to follow it. It upset him somewhat though, to be so close to the event and being able to hear the good time being had inside, but not being allowed to join in. As such, when Leis the old man actually did show up, Houren was, in actuality, somewhat happy to have company. The money was still the most important thing here though, so the Fairy Tail mage had to be careful as to not let the old man sneak past him. Cocking his head to one side, the old man politely asked Houren to move aside for him, but that was one thing that he simply could not do. He shook his head and told the man to leave, but the old man Leis was incredibly stubborn. He stuck his tongue out at Houren and challenged him. "If you want me to leave, why don't you take me somewhere?" he seemed angry, but it was more childlike than menacing. Houren actually considered the idea, and came to the conclusion that it actually wasn't that bad of an idea.

As long as the old man didn't interfere with the event, then that head of the household guard guy probably wouldn't mind at all. Houren didn't necessarily need to stay in front of the castle at all times, he just needed to make sure that Leis didn't happen to go inside. And if one of his equally insane friends happened to sneak inside, then was that really Houren's problem? He was asked to deal with this one old man, so he was going to give his all to keeping him out of the castle; anyone else who got in and caused trouble just wasn't his problem. It was a selfish train of thought, Houren knew, but it couldn't be helped. There was no way Leis was going to go away unless Houren used force and coercion. Fortunately for the Muramasa family, this Fairy Tail mage just happened to specialize in that.

"Why not the bridge? I think they're having a firework display, so it'll be much more interesting than here, don't you think?" Houren's suggestion actually made Leis consider and after a moment's contemplation, he agreed to follow Houren to the bridge and the two of them made their way there, with the old man ranting all the while about spirits that weren't there and reminiscing about zany people from his past that couldn't possibly have existed. He also complained about having his wheelchair stolen, but spoke of a ''nice man'' who helped build him a new one, a person who, from Leis' description, seemed to be Enil Issir, the bartender who Houren had helped just a few days ago.

By the time they reached the bridge, the firework display was in full display and for a second, Houren could see some tears well up in the old man's eyes. He whispered something, very faint but with Houren's acute hearing, he was able to make it out. "Ah, this reminds me of my wife. She would have liked to see this," and for a second, Houren remembered the story he had heard about a kooky man from Enil. Apparently the old man in the story had lost his legs in an accident and his wife not long after. Since then, he's been rambling in a wheelchair about all sorts of things, until his wheelchair was stolen by some street urchin. He was eventually built a new one by some of the nicer people in the town, but that didn't stop his preaching at all. In fact, he just added the thieving street urchin to the list of people he considered to be his bane.

When you thought about it like that, you couldn't help but pity the guy, Houren thought, but it seemed like the old man wasn't interested in pity. When the firework display ended, he requested for Houren to wheel him back to his house, a favor that the Fairy Tail mage was more than willing to grant. The man would mention his wife once again as Houren assisted him away to his home. Once they were at the front door, the old man did something incredibly characteristic as he actually thanked Houren for spending some time with him, before leaving. With a warmed heart, the Fairy Tail mage headed back to the castle where the event was just dying down and the head of guard was standing outside with the payment in tow, and looking altogether too pleased with himself. He handed Houren the money but did not say a single word after before going back into the castle.

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