Suspected of Being Too Sincere...

He opened his eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling.

This was the Fairy Tail girls' dormitory, where an empty room had been temporarily assigned to Noah.

As for why Noah wasn't staying in the boys' dormitory...

First of all, there had to be a boys' dormitory!!

Noah never would have guessed that a renowned, major guild wouldn't have a boys' dormitory.

Or rather, it had once existed, but the troublemakers' fights would constantly demolish it, and the money spent on repeated repairs and rebuilding was incalculable.

In the end, after too many losses, Makarov got fed up and abolished the boys' dormitory, telling the male guild members to find their own housing.

"How ridiculous. Just how much did they love wrecking the place?"

Lying in bed, recalling the events of the previous night, Noah actually felt a twinge of sympathy for Makarov. The old man really had it tough as guild master.

Just the day before, the celebration welcoming Noah had somehow devolved into a welcome party.

Noah had been basking in everyone's warmth, but then that kid Natsu and Gray started fighting again for some unknown reason. Tables, chairs, plates, cups—everything shattered with a deafening crash.

In the end, the two were sent flying out of the guild by an irate Makarov's giant fist, vanishing into the night sky like stars, their shouts of "I'll be back!" faintly echoing.

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 a form resembling a request slip.

code
[This Realm's Prayer]
[E.N.D., due to excessive eating and drinking, has run out of living expenses for this month and urgently needs a meal of meat to replenish his strength.]
[Reward: Fire Resistance (Weak)]
[Time Limit: 60 minutes]

Staring at this prayer order, Noah fell silent.

Prayer orders that the "Prayer" magic could detect were always what the client genuinely wished for at that moment. In other words, Natsu really, really wanted to eat meat.

But if he had no money, why would he want to gorge himself!? Go earn some money instead!

And wasn't this guy's full name way too long? "Etherious," "Dragneel"—those looked like two surnames.

Still, if a meal of meat could get him Fire Resistance, it seemed pretty worthwhile.

The problem was that Noah was completely broke right now. All the daily necessities in this dorm room were kindly sponsored by Mira.

If he went to take a guild job now, could he make it back in an hour?

Forget it. Next time, for sure.

His lazy streak flaring up, Noah's inertia took over. He had just sat up, but now he lay back down, sealing himself in bed with the blanket.

"Noah, are you home?"

A knock came, and Mira's voice sounded from outside the door. Noah had no choice but to break free from the blanket demon and get out of bed.

Opening the door with a head of messy hair, Noah stared at the person outside, a flicker of confusion in his eyes.

She wore a dark wine-red dress with a bow-like decorative tie at the chest, a sapphire pendant around her neck, high heels on her feet, and her bangs were swept up high on her head and tied into a cute little bun.

A gentle, virtuous temperament. An angelic smile.

Just yesterday, she had been dressed like a delinquent girl!

Who are you, beautiful lady?!

Even though he knew the visitor was Mira, Noah still screamed internally.

"Good morning, Mira. What's up?"

Noah invited Mira into the room and poured her a glass of water.

Mira pulled a package from behind her back, opened it on the table, and pushed it toward Noah. It was stacks upon stacks of neatly arranged banknotes.

She... she wasn't trying to keep him, was she!

Noah suddenly grew nervous. Back in Edolas, he had seen news in some niche, non-mainstream tabloids about wealthy older women keeping young studs.

Scrubbing cucumbers with steel wool—that was too terrifying!

Unaware that Noah's mind had started wandering, Mira said cheerfully, "Noah, the reward for the 'Beast King Subjugation' came through. The total bounty is 12 million, so that's 3 million for each of the four of us. This is your share."

"Oh, so that's it."

Noah breathed a sigh of relief. His thoughts had been dirty. Mira, though a powerful S-class mage, was still a 17-year-old girl. She probably didn't know about those kinds of games.

He looked at the money on the table. Noah could accept Mira and the others giving him a share, but the cash there clearly far exceeded 3 million.

Meeting Noah's questioning gaze, Mira explained, "It's from Elfman. He asked me to pass his share on to you, as thanks for saving Lisanna."

Noah understood that Elfman was still shaken by the fear of nearly losing a family member, so he asked how he was doing now.

"Him... he's a man now."

Mira showed a relieved smile, seemingly happy about her brother's sudden growth.

Mira didn't stay long before leaving. She still had to go to Porlyusica's place for a full physical checkup, which Makarov had insisted on because he was worried about Mira's health.

According to Mira, old lady Porlyusica was Makarov's close friend, highly skilled in medicine, but eccentric in personality, living in seclusion in the forest outside Magnolia.

Porlyusica—Noah knew that name.

In the world of Edolas, Faust's biological older sister, Noah's aunt, was also named Porlyusica, likewise a doctor with superb medical skills.

Unfortunately... Noah had never seen his aunt in person, only photos of her when she was young.

Because Porlyusica had already disappeared when Faust was still a little brat.

His palm swept over the bills, feeling the texture of the paper. Noah roughly counted—nine million in total. It seemed Mira hadn't told the truth; she and Lisanna had split part of their own reward with Noah.

Dorm rent was about one hundred thousand a month. This money would last Noah a long time.

The three of them thanked Noah for saving their lives, and Noah thanked them for the timely help.

"Alright then, next up—let's go pig out."

"By the way, where does Natsu live?"

By the time Noah asked around the guild for Natsu's address and arrived, fifteen minutes had passed.

A cheap bungalow on the corner of Magnolia—that was where Natsu was.

He knocked on the door but got no response. Noah pushed it open with one hand.

The imagined scene of bare walls didn't appear. Though the room was a bit messy, it could generally be described with the phrase "fit for human habitation" when it came to Natsu's home.

Looking at the cherry-haired boy lying limp on the floor, and a blue cat whose stomach was letting out a growl, Noah understood why there was no answer to his knock.

"It's been less than a day and you're already this hungry—how do you manage that..."

"And, what's with this Exceed?"

Thirty minutes later, in a barbecue restaurant on Magnolia's food street, over twenty empty plates were stacked high on one table.

Many diners were drawn to the sight of the boy wolfing down food. Some even started betting on whether the cherry-haired kid could break the restaurant's thirty-plate eating record.

"Ahhh~ I'm alive."

After the twenty-ninth empty plate, Natsu leaned back in his chair with satisfaction, patting his bulging stomach. It seemed he ultimately hadn't broken thirty plates.

"Noah, thanks for treating me to grilled fish."

The cute blue cat named Happy sat on the table like a little person, a plate of leftover grilled fish bones beside him.

Watching Happy's blissful expression, Noah couldn't resist reaching out to stroke its soft fur—something he'd wanted to do in Edolas but never could.

In the world of Edolas, there was a special race born with magic inside them. They had the appearance of cats, and each one could use "Aera" magic to fly. Because of this, humans worshipped them as angels, and they called themselves "Exceed."

Happy was an Exceed. Though Noah didn't know how it had come to the world of Earth-land, any cat you could pet was a good cat.

[Local commission completed]

[Reward: Fire Resistance (Weak)]

[Commissioner's comment: Praise Noah!]

Noah felt something change in his body. He glanced at Natsu. "Full, Natsu? If it's not enough, just call the waiter for more meat—my treat."

Natsu was usually thick-skinned and tough, but that was when getting beaten up. Having already freeloaded this much from Noah, he couldn't bring himself to keep going.

"Noah, you haven't taken any commission jobs yet, right? Want to team up with me and Happy?"

"Aye! Let's team up, Noah!"

Petting the cat's fur, Noah used the excuse of needing to read to politely decline Natsu and Happy.

Spending ten thousand, he left the barbecue restaurant. Just as Noah was parting ways with Natsu, a new Prayer order suddenly popped up.

[This Realm Prayer Order]

[Natsu, wanting to thank his new companion for the generous treat, wishes to take him along on a decent commission job.]

[Reward: Fire Resistance (Strong)]

[Time limit: 24 hours]

Bro, seriously... You're helping me farm my stats here, aren't you!

But this crappy magic doesn't even have a top-salesman bonus!

A Prayer order required the client to be sincere, and for it to be what the client most wanted or most wanted to do at that moment, before the "Prayer" magic could detect it and generate the order.

Noah looked at Natsu, who hadn't gone far yet. This guy... was he a little too sincere...