Drunkard Girl

Many hands make light work, especially with pay on the line.

With his companions' efforts, in less than two hours, the guild's stored books buried deep in the warehouse saw the light of day again, carried out batch by batch and temporarily piled in the main hall.

Noah looked at the stacks of books piled up, roughly counting them—there were over three hundred volumes.

According to Makarov's earlier introduction, most of these books were personally compiled by the previous guild master.

This was a massive undertaking.

Picking up a book titled Magic for Beginners, Noah quickly immersed himself in it.

The magic of this world was incredibly diverse.

"Elements," which gathered a single magical attribute;

"Shapes," which gave form to magic;

"Takeover," which used the power of the dead;

"Mysterious" and unfathomable "Space";

Various "Lost Magics," passed down through the ages but gradually withering due to their high demands...

There were too many types of magic. Based on how magic was activated, it could be broadly divided into two schools.

"Caster" and "Holder."

Caster magic only required a mage to channel their magical power, allowing them to cast spells anytime, anywhere. The strength of caster magic was directly tied to the quality and quantity of the mage's own magical power.

As long as the magical power was strong enough, even the most ordinary fireball could deal tons of damage.

On the other hand, Holder magic required corresponding magical tools to be used. Even if a Holder mage's magical power was extremely strong, their strength would still be limited by the carrying capacity of their magical tools.

With strength constrained by both magical power and magical tools, Holder mages were generally weaker than Caster mages.

Moreover, once they lost the tools that served as their magical medium, Holder mages would almost completely lose their combat ability.

Unless they had secretly trained in physical combat behind the scenes, planning to engage in a passionate brawl with the enemy after losing their magical tools.

Though Holder magic was a step behind, it wasn't without powerful spells.

"Celestial Spirit" magic was the ceiling of Holder magic. Through contracted "Celestial Spirit Keys," it summoned corresponding spirits from the self-contained "Celestial Spirit World" to fight for the user.

It was said that the "Zodiac Twelve" Celestial Spirits possessed strength comparable to S-class mages. Unfortunately, golden Celestial Spirit keys were priceless and rarely sold, and gathering all twelve golden keys was even harder than reaching the heavens.

Below the golden Celestial Spirits were the silver ones, whose levels varied widely. Some could exchange over a hundred moves with a golden spirit without losing, while others could only act cute.

Besides "Celestial Spirit" magic, which required specific magical tools, there were also many general-purpose magical tools.

General-purpose tools only needed magical power to activate. Though most had low capabilities, some were powerful enough to destroy cities or even annihilate countries—"War Magic."

Destroying countries and such—Noah didn't dare hope for that. His own "Dragoon" could theoretically achieve that too.

What Noah needed now were general-purpose magical tools for self-defense. Of course, if they could be just a tiny bit stronger, Noah wouldn't refuse.

Looking at the uncle carrying a bucket out to change the water, "Senior Macao, do you know where I can buy decent magical tools? My magic isn't suited for combat."

Macao, questioned by Noah, scratched his hair. He was a fire mage who used "Purple Flame." Though he had some knowledge of magical tools, he really didn't know where to buy ones suitable for combat.

Most of the magical tools in the shops on the market were for daily life. The rare few combat tools were pathetically weak.

"Cana, come over here."

Not wanting to lose face in front of the new junior, Macao quickly found someone who could answer Noah's question. "Noah, Cana is a Card mage, and she's also the best drinker among the guild's current regular members."

Actually, even if Macao hadn't said it, Noah already knew about Cana's drinking capacity.

Watching the girl stagger out of the warehouse with a beer bottle in one hand and a rag in the other, Noah had no idea how she managed to work without slacking off in that state.

After listening to Macao mutter a few words in her ear, Cana suddenly grabbed the middle-aged man by the collar with a look of grief and anger, shaking him violently.

"Macao! How dare you bring up magical tools to me!"

"It was you and Wakaba who tricked me onto this dead-end path of 'Card' magic!"

"Do you know how much those damn cards cost me! That's enough money to keep me in booze for years!"

Faced with Cana, who was starting to act drunk and crazy, Macao could only look helpless. He and Wakaba did bear some responsibility for this issue, but only some.

Cana had joined the guild when she was still a little girl. Because she wanted to know in advance when someone would return, she learned "Card" magic, which could be used for "divination," on Macao and Wakaba's advice.

Of course, as senior guild members, they hadn't given bad advice blindly. Cana did have talent in "divination," and the fastest, simplest way to achieve "divination" was through "Card" magic.

At the time, Macao had also clearly explained the drawbacks of being a Holder mage to Cana.

But to know when "that person" would return, young Cana had unhesitatingly learned "Card" magic and put a lot of effort into it.

Yet even now, Macao didn't know who the "someone" Cana spoke of was, whether she had ever waited for him, or if he was a guild member.

Every time Macao asked Cana, she would brush it off. Sometimes Macao felt that the reason Cana loved drinking so much was actually to drown her sorrows.

Letting go of Macao, Cana sat down familiarly cross-legged beside Noah, not minding his scrutiny.

"Noah, do you really need combat magical tools?"

Noah nodded. From Cana's tone, it seemed she knew where to get some decent combat tools.

Cana, having received a response, set down her bottle and stared seriously at Noah, then extended her hand. "Then give me the consultation fee first. Ten thousand, thanks."

"Are you sober, Miss Cana?"

Noah was speechless. She was asking him for money before he'd even said anything. Did she have the words 'easy mark' written on his face or something...

"Ten thousand is too much, huh? Eight thousand... no, five thousand will do." Cana still wanted to haggle. After all, this newcomer in front of her looked like someone easy to fool.

The corner of Noah's mouth twitched slightly. But that only worked if you had the acting skills to back it up...

From teaming up with Natsu on a job once, Noah understood that aside from S-Class mages, the others weren't exactly rolling in money. Cana, a Holder-type mage who loved her drink, probably wasn't much better off than Natsu financially.

"How about this, Cana."

"Take me to a place where I can buy combat gear. If I find something suitable, I'll give you a five percent commission on each item."

"Deal!"

Watching Cana agree without hesitation, Noah felt he had vastly underestimated just how broke she was.

His old man's final lesson was right. People's hearts were treacherous.

He should have said one percent from the start.