The Merchant Guild Master

The magical train pulled into the station, and a boy with a handsome face yawned lazily as he slowly stepped off.

This was the city of Agalifa, fifty kilometers from Magnolia, and the location of the client Noah had come to meet.

The atmosphere of this city gave Noah one impression: "Get rich."

No sooner had he stepped out of Agalifa Station than several people shoved a stack of flyers into his hands. Opening them, he saw they were all advertisements for financial products.

"Tsk, if these were any good, they wouldn't be handing out flyers on the street."

Noah casually stuffed the flyers back into one of the distributors and, under the bewildered gaze of the other party, headed toward his destination.

Along the way, the streets were filled with voices hawking or discussing the economy. The people of Agalifa were so obsessed with "making money" entirely because of one commercial guild.

Stopping in front of a magnificent building, Noah looked up at the name on the sign of this commercial guild—"Love & Lucky."

A straightforward translation would be "Love and Luck."

It seemed luck wasn't something love could bring, otherwise, why would they be seeking out a magic guild?

"Hello, how can I help you?"

A young man in a sharp suit, carrying a briefcase, appeared behind Noah. He was a sales representative here.

After Noah explained his purpose, the sales rep warmly invited him into the guild to wait while he went to report to the president.

Compared to the financial frenzy on the streets outside, the interior of this commercial guild was surprisingly calm.

Noah had expected to be pulled aside by staff pushing products, but that didn't happen. Still, he overheard from a few employees why the people of Agalifa were so keen on making money.

It turned out that the founder of the legendary Heartfilia Consortium, that financial behemoth—Jude Heartfilia—had started out from the "Love & Lucky" commercial guild.

Building a massive business empire in just ten years—such a legendary story was no wonder people idolized him.

However, a senior employee remarked that no one else could ever replicate Jude's success.

Before Noah's curiosity could be satisfied, the sales rep from earlier returned. "This way, Master Mage. President Rena is waiting for you. Please follow me."

In the imposing president's office, a middle-aged man with a weary demeanor waved tiredly for the sales rep to leave. It seemed running a commercial guild required no less worry than a magic guild.

Rena forced a faint smile onto his exhausted face. "I've posted this request to many magic guilds over the past two years, and until now, you're the only one who's come. As expected of Fairy Tail—full of talented people."

Noah smiled wryly in response. If it weren't for his joining, Fairy Tail would have been just like any other magic guild.

In the end, the members of magic guilds had little interest in financial maneuvers that could "send you sky-high one second and crash you to the ground the next." They preferred earning their rewards through their own labor and effort.

"President Rena, please explain the details of your request."

Noah didn't want to listen to Rena ramble on; he wanted to hurry back to his dorm and keep holing up.

Rena nodded. "I want you to investigate the forces behind the 'Black Bird' consortium. I suspect they're part of the Dark Magic Cult."

The Dark Magic Cult?!

Noah raised an eyebrow. How was it that every time he stepped out, he heard about them? Those persistent bastards.

Seeing Noah's expressionless face, clearly unimpressed by that notorious group, Rena felt he had found a reliable mage.

"President Rena, if you have your suspicions, why not report it directly to the Magic Council?"

"Given the Council's 'zero-tolerance' policy toward the Dark Magic Cult, they'd surely conduct a forced search of Black Bird."

At Noah's question, Rena gave a bitter laugh. "Because a friend of mine had his funds tied up by Black Bird's schemes. If the Council gets involved, any confiscated assets won't be returned to him."

"Who is this friend of yours?"

"You've probably heard of him. His name is Jude, the head of the Heartfilia Consortium."

Noah hadn't expected to hear the name Heartfilia in this request, but how could a shrewd businessman like Jude have his funds locked up?

Sensing Noah's curiosity, Rena didn't hold back and said in a low voice, "Jude and I joined the guild at the same time. His surname wasn't originally 'Heartfilia'—he only changed it after marrying into the family."

"By the way, his wife, Layla Heartfilia, also worked at our guild, but they both left after getting married."

"With the Heartfilia family's capital, Jude quickly launched his business empire, and Layla gave birth to a lovely daughter."

"With both family and career thriving, I was almost jealous of how happy Jude was back then."

"But tragedy struck just as fast. Layla passed away suddenly, and the shock made Jude become extreme. He threw himself entirely into expanding his business, barely caring about his daughter."

"When he first started cooperating with Black Bird, I advised him against it, but Jude went his own way... After the funds were locked up, the Heartfilia Consortium faced a cash flow crisis. Then someone leaked the news, and Jude had no choice but to sell off even his core railway assets."

A change in personality due to his wife's sudden death, huh.

A devoted husband, but unfortunately, not a good father.

Jude was lucky, though—even after becoming like this, he still had a good brother like Rena looking out for him.

With that said, how could Noah not see that Rena had posted this request solely to help Jude?

Rena would help Noah disguise himself as a greenhorn rich kid, entering the Black Bird consortium under the guise of an investment inspection, while secretly searching for evidence that they were part of the Dark Magic Cult.

With the evidence, Rena could snap Jude out of it and use it to negotiate with Black Bird to get Jude's money back.

Noah sighed inwardly. President Rena's thinking was still locked into a businessman's approach.

What kind of people were the Dark Magic Cult?

Trying to negotiate and threaten a bunch of murderous bastards into returning Jude's money was pure fantasy.

Noah outwardly agreed with Rena's plan. After all, as an ordinary person, Rena wouldn't be participating in the infiltration anyway. When the time came, Noah would solve the problem his own way.