The Red-Haired Little Girl Who Didn't Fit In

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The Fairy Tail guild had three floors.

The first floor was where guild members usually gathered. They either accepted jobs posted on the Request Board and went out to work, or held various guild activities and chatted nonsense. It was rather similar to an ordinary tavern, and most guilds were roughly the same.

The second floor was an unused area. Its layout was no different from an ordinary building, but it had a Request Board just like the one on the first floor. The jobs posted there were far more difficult than those downstairs, and only powerful guild mages approved by the Guild Master could enter.

As for the third floor, it had originally been used to store important guild items. Only after Noah moved into the Fairy Tail guild had one of its rooms been cleared out for him to live in.

In other words, without Noah, the third floor of the Fairy Tail guild would have been the most neglected place. Even now, people only went up occasionally when they needed something from Noah. Gray went up most often, of course, though he never stayed long.

The two headed down from the third-floor stairs. When they passed the second floor, they curiously glanced inside, but all they saw was an empty level.

At present, only one or two people in all of Fairy Tail had been recognized by the Guild Master and allowed to enter the second floor to accept jobs. Naturally, it was not easy to see anyone there.

"Hey, Noah..." Perhaps driven by curiosity, Gray spoke eagerly.

"I heard the guild members say that the jobs on the second-floor Request Board are terrifying jobs that only super~~~ powerful mages can take. We pass by here every day, so shouldn't we also...?"

"Don't even think about it!" Having already guessed what Gray was about to say from his expression, Noah cut him off without hesitation.

"When I moved into the guild's third floor, Grandpa warned me with a really scary expression that I absolutely couldn't go into the second floor when passing by. Otherwise, he'd expel me from the guild!"

"Expelled from the guild?!" Even someone as bold as Gray was greatly startled.

"Just for going in to take a look? Does the punishment really need to be that severe?"

"I don't know either." Noah shook his head.

"But Grandpa usually dotes on me. The only times he's ever been that fierce with me were when he warned me not to learn magic before I could freely control my own magic power, and that one time. So, we'd better not go in."

"Tch..." Gray curled his lips, but the eagerness on his face had clearly vanished.

"Even if I can't go in now, someday, I'll definitely go in!"

"As long as we earn Grandpa's approval, we can enter the second floor!" Noah nodded heavily.

"Someday, I'll definitely go in too!"

One was an immature mage still studying magic, while the other could not even use a single spell and was completely half-baked. Yet at that moment, they made a resolution to each other that even ordinary outstanding mages would not dare make lightly.

Should it have been called newborn calves unafraid of tigers? Or just childish nonsense?

The two involved wore determined expressions, smiled at each other, and stopped paying attention to the second floor. Chatting idly, they continued down to the first floor.

"Whaaa—!"

The moment Noah and Gray reached the first floor, a tremendous clamor flooded their ears.

The sky had only just brightened, yet there were already many Fairy Tail mages in the guild. Some sat at wooden tables, drinking and boasting loudly, while others headed toward the Request Board to take jobs and go to work.

As the grandson of the Fairy Tail Guild Master, and someone who had lived in the guild for a year, Noah was already very familiar to everyone there. The moment they saw him coming downstairs, they all greeted him.

"Yo! Noah!"

"Finally awake?"

"You're a little later than usual today!"

"Don't tell me you wet the bed?"

"Hahahaha!"

Faced with the teasing from his fellow guild members, Noah wore a helpless expression as he responded to them. He quite liked this lively, unreserved atmosphere that made him feel so close to everyone. Otherwise, he would not have chosen to live in the guild.

However, just because Noah could handle the guild members with ease did not mean Gray could.

"Hey! You guys! Can't you see me?!" Gray jumped out, veins bulging across his forehead as he pointed at everyone in the guild.

"I'm clearly here too, so why do you only greet Noah every time?!"

At that, the guild members burst into laughter.

"Before that, Gray, go put some clothes on!"

"Whoa?!" Only then did Gray realize that he was wearing nothing but a pair of shorts.

Noah could not help laughing as well.

Although they were playmates of the same age, and being able to use magic at eleven or twelve was already very impressive, Gray had a habit that made others laugh despite themselves—an exhibitionist streak.

Because of that, Gray often ended up running around naked without realizing it!

That was why Noah had remained so calm when Gray came to call him dressed like that.

While everyone in the guild was noisily fooling around with Gray, their gazes unconsciously turned toward a wooden table in a corner of the guild.

There sat a little girl about the same age as Noah and Gray.

She was a little girl who seemed utterly out of place amid the lively atmosphere of the entire guild.

The girl had bright red hair. Though her little face was still childish, it was exquisitely delicate and adorable.

Yet despite being such an adorable little girl in every respect, she wore cold armor that did not suit her at all. One of her delicate eyes was covered by a medical eyepatch. Sitting there alone without speaking to anyone, she seemed to deliberately separate herself from everyone around her, silently eating her food.

The girl's name was Erza Scarlet.

Noah did not know much about this girl named Erza. He only knew that she had joined Fairy Tail after he did.

However, ever since joining Fairy Tail, Erza had remained in this state. She neither spoke to anyone nor interacted with anyone in the slightest. Apart from speaking with Makarov, the Guild Master, a few times, she had not communicated with anyone else.

She was a girl with a story.

That was Noah's first impression of Erza, and indeed his entire impression of her up to now.

Watching her silently sit there eating alone, utterly disconnected from the lively scene in the guild, Noah hesitated for a moment before walking toward the counter that provided drinks and food.

"Hm?" As Erza silently ate alone, a hand suddenly appeared in her field of vision. It set a plate holding a slice of cheesecake before her, then disappeared.

Erza frowned slightly and looked up. However, all she saw was a back about the same size as her own, yet seemingly broad and dependable, heading toward the guild's entrance. It then walked straight out of the guild and vanished from her sight.

Erza stared blankly at the guild entrance, then looked somewhat dazedly at the cheesecake before her. She fell silent. Only after a while did she raise the fork in her hand, cut off a small piece, and put it into her mouth.

After a long time, a voice only Erza could hear came from her lips.

"So sweet..."