Long-Term Commission: The Path of Friendship of the King of Games (Part 1)

On the magic train heading back.

With no mood to appreciate the boring scenery outside the window, Cana hugged a bottle of booze and snored loudly, sprawled across two seats in a very ungraceful sleeping posture.

Luckily, this was the last train of the day, and besides her and Noah, there were no other passengers in the carriage.

The ride from Iron Furnace Ridge back to Magnolia took an hour, and Noah planned to rest his eyes for a bit, but a sudden "ding" in his mind caught his attention.

After completing three Prayer orders, now when a new order came in, there was a notification sound.

Noah stroked his chin. Could it be that the "Prayer" magic had some functions yet to be discovered, only gradually unlocked by fulfilling Prayer orders?

Glancing at Cana, who was giggling in her sleep over some dream, Noah sighed inwardly at her carefree attitude and unfolded the "Prayer" magic.

White magical power appeared in Noah's hand in the form of book pages.

[Received a cross-world Prayer commission]

[Long-term commission: The Friendship Path of the King of Games (Part One)]

[Yugi Muto is an ordinary high school student in Domino City. Lonely, he desperately longs for friends. Please teach him the experience of making friends.]

[Reward: Trap Card "Soul Resurrection"]

[Deadline: Before Yugi Muto completes the "Millennium Puzzle"]

Noah frowned at the content of the commission.

A wish to make friends? A shut-in student, huh...

But what the hell is a "Trap Card"?

And what's with that strange deadline? How long could it take to assemble a puzzle? A few hours at most. It couldn't possibly take years.

Though completely baffled, since this was his first long-term commission, Noah wanted to give it a try.

After all, the words "King of Games" in the commission were quite imposing, and they clearly had a deep connection with the name "Yugi Muto."

Not knowing when the so-called "Millennium Puzzle" would be completed, Noah planned to finish this commission as soon as possible.

Just some experience making friends, watch me do it in no ti...

His finger, about to write on the magic page, stopped. Noah suddenly froze as a thought struck him.

He... didn't really have any friends either.

In his eighteen years in Edolas, Noah was the respected and noble Second Prince, but most people he met were merely nodding acquaintances due to his status.

And after training, Noah would just hole up in his own palace, rarely interacting much with others besides his old father, basically living a life of "shutting himself in" until the end of time.

Since coming to Earth-land, had he made any friends?

The Strauss siblings?

Noah felt that the reason they were willing to get close to him was probably more because of his role as their lifesaver, which wouldn't be useful to share with Yugi Muto.

Besides them, was there anyone he could call a friend?

Natsu and Happy?

Could he consider himself their friend?

Shaking his head, Noah looked at the drunk girl across from him, who had a bubble of snot coming out of her nose. Though they'd only known each other for less than a day, he and Cana might actually count as friends.

So, how did he and Cana become friends?

After asking himself this question, Noah fell into silence, because he himself didn't know why they had suddenly become friends.

Holding his head and slamming it onto the small wooden table attached to the train seat, Noah realized that he, just like the commissioner, had no clue how to make friends!

Damn it! No wonder it's a long-term commission, starting off with such a high-difficulty task.

But I really don't know how to solve this problem...

Noah's commotion woke Cana. She opened her eyes, wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth, and instinctively reached for her bottle, but was drawn by Noah's troubled expression.

"Something on your mind? Noah."

Looking at Cana, who had a mature air about her, she must have a lot of friends, Noah thought. He finally decided to ask for outside help.

"Cana, please tell me how to make friends!"

"Huh?"

Cana was startled by Noah's sudden serious expression. Still groggy from just waking up, her mind wasn't fully working, and she misunderstood Noah's meaning.

Making friends needs to be taught too?

Could it be...

Putting on a knowing big-sister smile, Cana thought she understood what Noah meant by "making friends."

A young boy, you know how it is.

"You came to the right big sister for this."

"Let me tell you, the guys chasing me could circle the guild hall once."

Striking a pose of experience, Cana began spouting long passages at Noah about the tropes she'd read in romance novels.

Loving and killing each other, constantly missing each other, the first love, slaughtering the world for you...

The more Noah listened, the more wrong it felt. What was all this nonsense?!

It was just making a friend, how could it be this ridiculous!

With a face full of black lines, Noah forcefully interrupted Cana, afraid he couldn't help but blurt out a complaint.

"Cana, I have a male friend who's very withdrawn. I want to gather some friendship-making experience to share with him."

Cana realized at this point that she had been overthinking it. Though she felt mortified inside, she pretended to be calm on the surface.

"So it's just that kind of thing. Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"The easiest way to build friendship between men is to just have a fight."

Noah's face darkened. How could that be a way to make friends! It would only make the relationship worse!

Seeing Noah's face full of disapproval, Cana offered her second plan. "Drinking is also a way to build friendship."

"My friend is still a student. Underage, you know?"

Rejected again, Cana smacked her lips and said dismissively, "The Kingdom of Fiore says you have to be 15 to drink, but I started at 13. Look at me now, nothing's wrong. Don't worry."

Noah looked suspiciously at the confident Cana. Since he was completely clueless about making friends, he didn't know whether to trust this female drunkard.

Not knowing how fast Yugi Muto could piece together blocks, and wanting to complete the commission as quickly as possible, Noah still chose to trust Cana.

Using the excuse of getting some fresh air, Noah left the carriage. At the empty connecting point between carriages, he wrote Cana's seemingly unreliable friendship advice on the Prayer order, and with a thought, submitted it.

Ten minutes later, Noah received a notification about the commission reward.

So fast? Could it actually be useful?!!

Noah couldn't wait to open "Prayer."

[Otherworld Commission Completed]

[Reward: Trap Card "Soul Resurrection"]

[Client Comment: I don't know who you are, but thank you very much for the advice. Unfortunately, I'm a minor and can't drink. But fighting really did help me make a friend. Jonouchi-kun actually begged me not to die. That's something only a friend would say, right?]

You got beaten half to death!

And even after all that, you still remembered to thank me...

Noah felt a heavy pang of guilt. He really shouldn't have trusted Cana.

But since the reward had already been sent, Noah didn't know how to return it, so he had no choice but to accept it.

In a pure white light, a card appeared and fell into Noah's hand. It was a card with a magenta background and the character "Trap" printed in the upper right corner.

[Soul Resurrection (Effect modified to suit the current world)]

[Prerequisite: Card Mage, Vast Magical Power]

[Target: One dead ordinary creature, resurrect it]

[Note: This card only affects a single target. When the card is destroyed, the resurrected ordinary creature also dies again.]

Noah stared blankly at the card in his hand.

Resurrecting the dead. Even though it was limited to ordinary creatures, it was still an incredibly heaven-defying existence.

How the hell could a normal high school student have something like this?!

But I can't use card magic either...