When he opened his eyes, he saw an unfamiliar ceiling.
He was in the Fairy Tail girls' dormitory. Noah had been given an empty room to stay in for the time being.
As for why Noah wasn't staying in the boys' dormitory...
First of all, there had to be a boys' dormitory!!
Noah had never imagined that a famous guild like Fairy Tail wouldn't have a boys' dormitory.
Or rather, they used to have one, but the hotheads kept tearing it apart whenever they fought. The guild had spent who knew how much repairing and rebuilding it over and over.
In the end, after paying out far too much, Makarov had canceled the boys' dormitory in a fit of anger and told the guild's male members to find their own places to stay.
"That's ridiculous. How much do they love wrecking the place?"
Lying in bed and recalling what had happened the night before, Noah couldn't help feeling a little sorry for Makarov. Being guild master really wasn't easy for the old man.
Just the day before, Noah's welcome celebration had somehow turned into a welcome party.
At first, Noah had been caught up in everyone's enthusiasm, but for some reason, the boys named Natsu and Gray had started fighting again. Tables, chairs, plates, glasses—everything went crashing and shattering all over the place.
In the end, an enraged Makarov had sent the two of them flying out of the guild with his giant fist. They'd turned into stars and disappeared into the night sky, their shouts of "I'll be back!" still faintly audible.
Just as Noah was about to get up, he sensed something and waved his hand, activating his magic.
The pure white "Prayer" magic transformed before Noah's eyes into something resembling a commission slip.
[Local Prayer]
[E.N.D. Natsu Dragneel has spent this month's living allowance on eating and drinking too much. He urgently needs a meal of meat to replenish his strength.]
[Reward: Flame Resistance (Weak)]
[Time limit: 60 minutes]
Looking at the prayer request, Noah fell silent.
Any request found by his "Prayer" magic was something the requester genuinely wanted at that moment. In other words, Natsu really, truly wanted to eat meat.
But why would you want to feast when you're out of money?! Go earn some money instead!
And wasn't this guy's full name a little too long? "Etherious" and "Dragneel"—they sounded like two surnames.
Still, Flame Resistance seemed like a pretty good deal in exchange for one meal of meat.
The problem was that Noah didn't have a penny to his name. Even the necessities in this room had been generously provided by Mira.
Would he have time to take a job at the guild and finish it within an hour?
Forget it. Maybe next time.
His lazy streak kicked in. Noah's newly risen body sank back down, and he sealed himself in bed beneath the covers.
"Noah, are you home?"
There was a knock at the door, and Mira's voice came from outside. Noah had no choice but to break free of the demon under the blankets and get out of bed.
He opened the door with his hair in a wild mess and stared at the visitor, a trace of confusion in his eyes.
She wore a dark burgundy dress with a bow-like tie at the chest, a sapphire pendant around her neck, and high heels. Her bangs were swept high and tied into a cute little tuft on top of her head.
She had a gentle, refined air about her and a smile like an angel's.
But yesterday, she'd been dressed like a delinquent!
Who are you, beauty?!
Although he knew the visitor was Mira, Noah still shouted that in his mind.
"Good morning, Mira. What can I do for you?"
Noah invited Mira into the room and poured her a glass of water.
Mira took a bundle from behind her back, set it on the table, unwrapped it, and pushed it toward Noah. Inside were stacks and stacks of neatly arranged banknotes.
W-was she planning to keep him?!
Noah suddenly tensed up. Back in Edolas, he'd seen stories in some obscure, unconventional newspapers about rich women keeping young men.
The thought of getting scrubbed with a steel wool ball like a cucumber was terrifying!
Unaware that Noah's imagination had run wild, Mira said cheerfully, "Noah, the reward for defeating the Beast King has come in. The total bounty was twelve million. That works out to three million each for the four of us. This is your share."
"Oh, so that's what this is."
Noah breathed a sigh of relief. His mind was the dirty one. Mira might be a powerful S-Class Mage, but she was also a seventeen-year-old girl. She probably didn't know about those kinds of games.
Noah was fine with Mira and the others giving him a share, but the money on the table was clearly far more than three million.
Seeing the question marks in Noah's eyes, Mira explained, "It's from Elfman. He asked me to give you his share as thanks for saving Lisanna."
Noah understood that Elfman was still shaken by the thought of losing his family, so he asked how he was doing now.
"He's... a man now."
Mira smiled with relief, apparently happy to see her little brother grow up so suddenly.
Mira didn't stay long before leaving. She still had to get a full checkup from Porlyusica, and Makarov had insisted because he was worried about her health.
According to Mira, Porlyusica was a close friend of Makarov's, a highly skilled doctor with an eccentric personality who lived in the forest outside Magnolia.
Noah knew the name Porlyusica.
In the world of Edolas, Faust's elder sister—Noah's aunt—was also named Porlyusica. She was a highly skilled doctor as well.
Unfortunately... Noah had never met his aunt in person. He'd only seen pictures of her when she was young.
That was because Porlyusica had already disappeared by the time Faust was a little kid.
Noah ran his palm over the banknotes, feeling the texture of the paper, and counted them roughly. There were nine million in total. It seemed Mira hadn't told the whole truth. She and Lisanna had also given Noah part of their reward.
Rent for the dormitory was around a hundred thousand a month. This money would last Noah a long time.
Mira and the others were grateful to Noah for saving their lives, and Noah was grateful to them for helping him when he needed it.
"Now then, time to go feast."
"By the way, where does Natsu live?"
By the time Noah asked around at the guild and reached Natsu's place, fifteen minutes had passed.
A cheap little house in a corner of Magnolia—that was where Natsu lived.
Noah knocked, but when no one answered, he pushed the door open anyway.
The place wasn't the bare, empty home he'd imagined. It was a bit messy, but overall, Natsu's home could be described as "a place fit for people to live in."
Seeing the pink-haired boy lying weakly on the floor, along with a blue cat whose stomach was growling, Noah understood why no one had answered the door.
"It hasn't even been a day, and you're already this hungry. How do you manage that..."
"And what's with this Exceed?"
Thirty minutes later, at a barbecue restaurant on Magnolia's food street, more than twenty empty plates were stacked high on a table.
Quite a few diners had turned to watch the boy wolfing down his food. Some had even started betting on whether the pink-haired boy could beat the restaurant's record of thirty plates.
"Ah~ I'm alive again."
After clearing his twenty-ninth empty plate, Natsu leaned back in his chair with satisfaction and rubbed his bulging stomach. It seemed he still hadn't managed to break thirty plates.
"Noah, thanks for treating me to grilled fish."
Happy, the cute blue cat, sat on the table like a little person. Beside him was a plate of fish bones.
Seeing how happy Happy was, Noah couldn't resist reaching out to stroke his soft fur. It was something he'd wanted to do in Edolas but never could.
In the world of Edolas, there was a special race born with magic power inside them. They looked like cats, and every one of them could use "Aera" magic to fly. Humans worshipped them as angels, and they called themselves the Exceed.
Happy was an Exceed. Noah didn't know how he'd come to the world of Earth-land, but a cat you could pet was a good cat.
[Local request completed]
[Reward: Flame Resistance (Weak)]
[Requester's comment: Praise Noah!]
Noah felt as if something had changed in his body. He glanced at Natsu. "Are you full, Natsu? If not, just call the waiter and order more meat. It's on me."
Natsu might be tough as nails, but that was when he was taking a beating. He'd already eaten so much at Noah's expense, and he didn't feel right asking for more.
"Noah, you haven't taken any commission jobs yet, have you? Want to team up with me and Happy?"
"Aye! Let's team up, Noah!"
Still stroking the cat's fur, Noah declined Natsu and Happy's offer on the excuse that he wanted to go read.
After spending ten thousand and leaving the barbecue restaurant, just as Noah and Natsu were parting ways, a new prayer request suddenly appeared.
[Local Prayer Request]
[Natsu wants to thank his new companion for his generosity by taking him along to complete a good commission.]
[Reward: Flame Resistance (Strong)]
[Time limit: 24 hours]
Come on, man... Are you trying to help me rack up the numbers here?!
But this lousy magic doesn't even give me a top-seller bonus!
A prayer request only appeared when the requester genuinely meant it and it was the thing they most wanted or most wanted to do at that moment. Only then would "Prayer" magic find it and generate a request.
Noah looked at Natsu, who hadn't gone far yet. Was this guy... just a little too sincere...?
Before you continue