A Most Unwelcome Request

(Heartfelt thanks to 'Guardian Angel' for the 10,000 reward! 'Night Moon 8 Starry Sky' for the 3,000 reward! 'Wu Guan Wei Shei Mi' for the 1,000 reward! And 'Diying,' 'Qinxun Luopo,' 'Wu Jin Hua Yu,' 'Yun Qi Qing Gu,' 'Dancing in the Maple Wind,' 'Wu Fa Ru Yuan,' and 'Xiong Mao A!' for their rewards!)

(During the new book period! Please bookmark! Please recommend! Please click! Friends, please support me!)

The next day, early morning...

"Bang bang bang bang—!"

Noah, still deep in sleep, was suddenly jolted awake by a thunderous knocking on the door. Before he could fully come to his senses, he heard Gray shouting outside.

"Hey! Noah! Are you awake?!"

Watching his door shake repeatedly under the pounding, Noah could not help but frown.

Gray really was not the sort to consider whether he might disturb someone's sleep. Whenever he came to wake Noah, he always knocked this rudely and forcefully. But Noah could tell that Gray was knocking much harder than usual today, and even his tone sounded anxious.

Had something happened?

The question had barely surfaced in Noah's mind when Gray's voice from outside gave him the answer.

"You bastard! This isn't the time to sleep! It's lively downstairs! Get up already!"

Noah hurried downstairs with Gray. The moment he reached the first floor, he discovered that things in the guild were different from usual today.

It was still as lively as ever, but the guild members had all gathered around the Request Board, packing the space in front of it so tightly that not even water could pass through.

"Is it that request again?"

"The client really has it rough. That request is so unpopular..."

"That's not entirely true. Look, the reward after completing it has gone up quite a bit compared to before."

"That's true..."

Amid all the chatter, an elderly man sat cross-legged atop the guild counter. He held a cane and wore clown-like clothes. Though he was as short as an ordinary child, he looked exceptionally old. He drank casually, forming a stark contrast with the guild members around him.

But when Noah saw the small old man sitting on the counter, delight appeared on his face.

"Grandpa!"

This man was Fairy Tail's Guild Master—Makarov Dreyar!

"Hm?" Makarov paused slightly as he drank and turned toward the staircase. Seeing Noah standing there, a gentle expression appeared on his face, and he smiled until his eyes narrowed into slits.

"Oh, Noah? You're up?"

"Grandpa!" Noah jogged over to Makarov.

"You haven't come to the guild for days!"

"I was just catching up with a few old friends. No need to worry!" Makarov laughed as he rubbed his head.

"Sorry about that!"

"Old man!" Gray came to Noah's side, but he looked toward the bustling Request Board and asked curiously.

"What happened? Why does everyone look so worked up?"

"Let them make a fuss for now!" Makarov glanced toward the Request Board and continued drinking.

"Anyway, you'll find out soon enough!"

"Waiting for everyone in the guild to calm down will probably take quite a while..." Noah said helplessly.

"So, Grandpa, you should explain it first!"

"True enough..." Knowing perfectly well how rowdy his guild members could be, Makarov helplessly tapped his forehead. Then he leaped down from the counter and headed toward the Request Board.

"Enough! Quiet down, all of you!"

The moment Makarov spoke, the previously noisy guild fell completely silent. The guild members gathered around the Request Board also consciously parted, opening a path for Makarov.

Only after reaching the front of the Request Board did Makarov turn around to face everyone in the guild. He raised the cane in his hand and pointed it at an especially conspicuous request posted in the center of the board.

Noah's eyesight was fairly good, so he clearly saw the words on the request and read them aloud.

"Lake of Rituals?"

The moment he said it, Noah saw Gray beside him reveal a look of realization and immediately asked.

"What is Lake of Rituals?..."

"You don't know?" Gray was first taken aback, then nodded.

"Right, you've only been in Fairy Tail for a year."

"What is it?..." Noah asked with great curiosity.

"Could it be that everyone is making such a fuss because of this Lake of Rituals?"

"Lake of Rituals is a famous wishing lake!" Seeing that Noah truly did not know, Gray began to explain.

"It is said that if someone makes a wish at Lake of Rituals, then under the lake's witness, the Lake Spirit will grant that person's wish and make their dream come true!"

"Make dreams come true?" Noah immediately lost most of his interest.

"It already sounds like something that couldn't possibly be true."

"Well, in fact, you're not the only one. Quite a few people treat it as nothing more than a rumor. No one has ever heard of so-and-so making a wish there, then having the Lake Spirit appear and grant it!" Gray shrugged.

"However, there was one person who really did make a wish by Lake of Rituals, and then had it come true!"

With that, Gray looked at Noah.

"You know about the Council of Magi, right?"

Noah raised an eyebrow at that.

The Council of Magi was an organization in the Kingdom of Fiore responsible for maintaining order in the magical world.

It consisted of one chairman and eight Councilors. Its main duties were overseeing the actions of mage guilds, punishing guilds that violated the Council of Magi's regulations, and hunting down Dark Guilds that endangered the magical world.

In the Kingdom of Fiore, only guilds recognized by the Council of Magi could be considered legitimate guilds. Mage guilds recognized by the Council of Magi also had to abide by the treaties it established, or they would be forcibly disbanded. It was effectively the overseer of every legitimate guild in the Kingdom of Fiore.

"I heard that the Council of Magi's first chairman made a wish at Lake of Rituals to establish the Council of Magi!" Gray said with a curl of his lip.

"Although the Council of Magi was established entirely because that chairman was truly capable, after he made that wish to establish it at Lake of Rituals and successfully founded the Council of Magi, Lake of Rituals became the Council of Magi's holy ground!"

"As it happened, Lake of Rituals is also a very strange lake. Once a large amount of magic power is poured into it, the lake starts to glow!" Gray looked at the thoughtful Noah.

"So, at some point, a rumor began spreading within the Council of Magi that if Lake of Rituals was not kept glowing, the original wish to establish the Council of Magi would lose its effect, and the Council of Magi would be dissolved. Therefore, every year, the Council of Magi sends a request to a famous guild, asking people to go to Lake of Rituals and pour magic power into it!"

"So that's the request issued by the Council of Magi?" Noah looked at the request posted in the center of the board and asked in confusion.

"But why does everyone seem to dislike this request so much?"

"Because making Lake of Rituals glow requires an enormous amount of magic power. At least several dozen mages need to go together to accomplish it. But then the reward has to be divided into dozens of shares, leaving each person with a pitifully small amount!" Gray crossed his arms.

"With a reward that pitiful, even if it was issued by the Council of Magi, who would welcome it?"

"But those bastards from the Council of Magi demand that the guild receiving this request complete it within a month, and this year, it's Fairy Tail's turn to receive it!" Makarov, standing before the Request Board, spoke with considerable resentment in his tone.

"Though I'd really like to turn it down, those people would definitely use the opportunity to make trouble for me. So, let's just get this request over with quickly!"

Hearing Makarov's words, the guild members immediately exchanged looks.

"Complete the request..."

"With such a low reward, who wants to go?"

"Exactly..."

Makarov was not surprised by the guild members' murmurs. He tapped the cane in his hand and spoke.

"You don't need to worry about that. I've already decided!"

As he said this, Makarov raised his head, his gaze shooting straight toward Noah standing before the counter.

"This request, Noah, will be completed by you!"