The next day, at Fairy Tail...
Lisanna, who had just woken Noah up, stared at him with an almost tangible gaze, startling Noah, who had been awake for less than a second.
Noah hurriedly looked himself over. After confirming there was nothing strange about him, he reached up to touch his cheek before asking in confusion.
"I didn't have that dream this time. I didn't cry, did I?"
"No!" Lisanna said reproachfully.
"I was checking whether you were hurt anywhere, Noah!"
"Hurt?" Rather than putting Noah at ease, Lisanna's words only made him more confused.
"Why would I be hurt?"
"Isn't that obvious?" Lisanna raised a finger, adopting the air of someone teaching him a lesson.
"You had such an intense fight with Laxus last night. It'd be normal for you to get hurt, wouldn't it?"
"Does fighting Laxus mean I have to get hurt?" Noah said irritably. He stood up, walked over to the wardrobe, and began picking out clothes.
"At Laxus's level last night, he wasn't enough to hurt me!"
"Oh?" Lisanna looked somewhat surprised.
"Laxus is very strong. Not only is he older than Mira and Erza, but he's also been an S-Class Mage longer than either of them. Are you really that confident you can beat Laxus, Noah? Without getting hurt?"
"What you saw last night was only the surface. It looked like we were fighting fiercely, but before you all arrived, it was only a warm-up!" Noah took out his clothes and began changing.
"Laxus had only just been about to use his full strength when you arrived. So at the level he showed before, he had no way of hurting me!"
Laxus was indeed very strong even before using Dragon Slayer Magic, perhaps even comparable to Mira and Erza, but Noah truly did not