Titania's Invitation to Spar

"Expelled from the guild by the master himself?!"

Mira's voice suddenly rose, as if she'd heard something unbelievable.

Noah had only just joined Fairy Tail, so he didn't understand why Mira was so surprised that someone had been expelled.

Cana explained, "I only heard about this person when I was a child, while Wakaba and Macao were chatting."

"In all the years since Fairy Tail was founded, some members have left the guild or chosen to quit, but they all parted on good terms. Quite a few still kept in touch with the guild afterward."

"Ivan was different, though. He was the first member in the guild's history to be expelled for violating one of its taboos."

Mira curiously pressed Cana to tell her what taboo Ivan had violated, but Cana didn't know either.

After expelling Ivan, Makarov had hidden the guild's taboo away completely to keep the curious youngsters from asking questions. Not only did the new generation know nothing about it, but even senior members like Macao and Wakaba were in the dark.

But Noah knew what that so-called taboo was: the "Lumen Histoire" that Ivan claimed held Infinite Magic.

Only something capable of causing such bloodshed could have driven Makarov, that gentle old man, to do something like this.

"But Cana, you still haven't answered my question about Ivan and the master. Are they related?"

"Heh, they're more than just related."

"Ivan was the master's own son—and Laxus's father."

Now Noah was just as shocked as Mira.

He really put justice before family, huh, Master?

But then Noah remembered that after Ivan had been caught by his own father, Faust, he'd been sent straight to the executioner without even being interrogated.

Before the execution, Ivan had unhesitatingly sold Faust the information about "Lumen Histoire."

Noah thought he could understand Makarov's anger now.

Still, if Noah had been in Makarov's position, he would've locked Ivan away somewhere for the rest of his life instead of letting him leave.

Maybe Makarov hadn't expected that his own son would have nothing but arrogant ambition, with none of the backbone to match.

Fortunately, Noah's father had already helped Makarov clean up the mess.

Ivan would most likely spend the rest of his life in an Edolas prison, where he could regularly enjoy Faust's "kindness."

After chatting with Mira and Cana for a while, Noah left. It was a girls' room, after all, and it wouldn't be appropriate for him to stay too long.

Before leaving, Noah made sure to remind Cana to keep the "Soul Resurrection" card safe. Little White's life was now tied to that card.

As long as the card remained, the dog would live. If the card was destroyed, the dog would die.

Of course, it worked the other way around, too. But no one would be cruel enough to kill a pet dog, would they?

Back in his dorm, Noah used "Prayer" to claim this time's reward.

[Local Request Completed]

[Reward: Mastery of "Card" Magic]

[Client's Comment: Noah really is a great guy. If only he hadn't raised Little White's price to a million just to tease me...]

This girl actually had the nerve to complain about him. If you hadn't hoped I'd let you off the hook, I wouldn't have teased you...

Noah pursed his lips and accepted the reward.

In an instant, a vast body of knowledge about the theory and techniques of "Card" Magic appeared in Noah's mind, neatly organized.

"So that's how it is. It's meant to be well-rounded, but limitations in a crucial area leave it stuck as a jack-of-all-trades and master of none."

"Card" Magic was a type of Holder Magic, but it wasn't particularly impressive.

Most Spell Cards were mediocre in quality and leaned toward utility. The offensive cards' power also left much to be desired. When it came to combat, they couldn't compare to Celestial Spirit Keys at all.

As for Card Mages who fought with cards, their physical abilities couldn't compare to those of Requip Mages. The latter had battle-hardened physiques and a range of equipment they could Requip, making them a force to be reckoned with.

Its middling position left "Card" Magic in an extremely awkward spot.

Its offense was average, and its mages' physical abilities were poor. Its only real advantage was its variety of utility cards, but those were expensive on the market and weren't necessarily useful.

The "Flight Card" Cana had used to cross Iron Furnace Ridge in search of Noah was one such utility card, but it had a cooldown of thirty days, making it rather impractical.

That wasn't a problem for Noah, though. Although he didn't own a single Spell Card yet, he still had complete confidence in his "Card" Magic.

After all, he still had a long-term Prayer request. Having seen the effects of "Soul Resurrection," Noah understood just how terrifying the cards from Yugi Muto's world could be.

He just didn't know when this "ordinary high school student's" next request would begin, or whether the reward would be another card.

After straightening his clothes, Noah headed back to the guild with the two books he'd borrowed the day before. He'd finished Common Knowledge of Magic, but he couldn't make heads or tails of the book on Amaterasu, so he planned to look through some other books on magic.

There was no other reason. He simply wanted to learn about more kinds of magic.

Common Knowledge of Magic clearly stated that coming up with a battle strategy tailored to an opponent's magic could often produce unexpectedly good results.

That made learning about as many kinds of magic as possible essential.

This was a world of magic, full of all kinds of strange and wonderful spells. Noah didn't want to get caught off guard someday.

Among the guild's books was one that introduced a wide variety of magic. There was no doubt that the book had been compiled by the Second Master.

"Noah, are you free right now?"

Noah hadn't even had a chance to open the door to the temporary library when a calm voice called out to him.

He turned around. It was Erza, the "Titania," whom he'd met once before. She still wore a full suit of armor on top, with a short skirt and thigh-high boots below.

Noah wondered what this S-Class Mage wanted with him. He politely asked, "I was planning to read. Did you need something?"

"Master Doran told me what happened at Iron Furnace Ridge."

"Have a spar with me, Noah."

Cana had passed along Doran's request to Erza yesterday, after she'd returned.

Before dawn today, Erza had gone to Iron Furnace Ridge to collect her new armor from Doran. He'd also told her about Noah's impressive performance.

Doran had been especially full of praise for Noah's superb hand-to-hand combat skills, which had made Erza eager to spar with the guild's new member.

An S-Class Mage was inviting him to a hand-to-hand spar...

"Sure. Right now?"

Noah readily agreed. He also wanted to see whether this world's "Titania" was as formidable in hand-to-hand combat as the "General-in-Chief" from the other world.