Fairy Tail

The Kingdom of Fiore!

It was a permanently neutral country on the Ishgar Continent, with a population of seventeen million.

It was a country where magic flourished. In this world, people who had magic power and could use magic were called "Mages." Generally, however, they had to join a "guild" to be officially recognized. That was why so many "Mage Guilds" had been established. The guilds kept running by having their "Mages" accept and complete the "jobs" assigned to them by clients.

There were many types of magic in this world. Broadly speaking, they could be divided into three categories: caster-type, holder-type, and special-type.

Holder-type magic mainly referred to magic that required magical items combined with one's own magic power to use, such as Celestial Spirit Magic and Requip Magic.

Caster-type magic referred to magic that used one's own trained magic power by giving it physical form, such as earth, water, fire, and wind magic.

Special-type magic referred to magic beyond the two types above, such as Take Over Magic, which received external power, and Possession Magic.

Besides these three types,

there were also some very unusual kinds of magic that belonged to one of the three categories. They were known as "Ancient Magic," "Ancient magic," or "Lost Magic"...

And the magic used by the protagonist of this world—the guy standing in front of Ul—was precisely one of the Ancient Magics: "Dragon Slayer Magic."

It was magic that existed specifically to slay dragons!

......

......

Ul had been something of a shut-in in his previous life, so he knew a fair bit about this anime. However, with time, he had gradually forgotten some of the details.

He quickly recalled the general state of this world.

Then he put that together with Natsu's endless chatter beside him.

Ul's situation gradually became clearer in his mind...

"Erza just passed the S-Class Mage exam, which means she's fifteen this year. Natsu is fourteen. The story starts when the protagonist is eighteen, so it'll begin in four years."

Ul quietly thought it over. He couldn't remember the years in this world at all, so he could only work out the timeline from the characters' ages!

And, from talking with Natsu, Ul had also roughly deduced that the original owner of this body had probably been a loner.

That was the only good news he'd gotten so far!

A loner's personality was easy to imitate, and it also made it less likely that he would give himself away.

......

Just as Ul was getting ready to learn a little more from Natsu, a young voice suddenly called from the distance: "Hey~~~ Natsu, let's go eat! I heard they're serving fish for lunch today!"

"Really, Happy!"

Natsu sprang to his feet at the words, then excitedly turned to Ul. "Ul, let's go eat!"

"Uh... okay!"

Ul replied.

But although he'd answered Natsu, his gaze had been fixed the whole time on the creature that had just called out!

That's right!

The creature that had called out wasn't human. It was a kitten.

It had blue fur, black-and-white eyes, and a pair of little wings on its back. It was absolutely adorable.

This cat was Natsu's personal pet—or rather, partner—a member of the Exceed from another world named Happy.

Happy hadn't fully grown yet. His two little wings wobbled as they carried him over to Natsu's shoulder. Then he folded them, stood upright on his hind legs, raised one paw, and greeted Ul. "Hiya! Long time no see, Ul."

"Hey, Happy!" Ul replied with a smile.

He had to admit, this cat was much cuter than he'd looked in the anime.

"Ul, let's go eat! I heard they're serving fish for lunch today!" The moment fish came up, drool slipped from the corners of the little cat's mouth, and he looked ready to devour it.

"Okay!" Ul nodded. His body did need a little energy.

With that, Ul prepared to get up and follow Natsu and Happy to eat. But before he'd taken two steps, he suddenly felt a tremendous force wrap around his waist and lift him up. He couldn't resist at all with his current strength.

"Wahaha! Ul, you're too slow walking like that. Let me carry you!"

Natsu grinned at Ul, and an intensely ominous feeling immediately rose in Ul's heart.

......

......

The cafeteria!

Natsu and Happy wolfed down their food, the clatter of their bowls and chopsticks sounding like a battle.

Ul, meanwhile, lay sprawled over the table, completely drained. He felt like his whole body was about to fall apart.

When he'd watched the anime, Ul had thought Natsu, the protagonist, was a bit of a blockhead. He'd never imagined that in person, the guy would be even more of a blockhead.

It took well over ten minutes!

Only then did Ul finally feel that some of his strength had returned. He reached for a bowl of porridge on the table and began sipping it slowly...

When people were hungry, they really wanted to eat.

But if they got too hungry, their stomachs would contract, and they would lose their appetite instead.

That was exactly the state Ul was in now.

"Ul, you... nom nom... still eat as little as ever!" Natsu said with his mouth full, like a hamster.

"Yeah... nom nom!" Happy agreed, a fish clamped in his mouth.

Ul: "......"

"By the way, Natsu, I want to ask you a few things..." Ul used the time over their meal to learn as much as he could about this world.

He had to admit,

Natsu was the standard protagonist template.

Dull, dim-witted, stupid, and clueless.

The guy had all four traits in spades.

Sometimes, when Ul watched the anime, he'd genuinely wondered how Natsu had managed to survive to the end...

To put it bluntly, if Ul were a villain, having an enemy like this would be a dream come true.

Of course!

As a companion, Natsu was pretty great, too. At least right now, Ul barely had to fish for information before Natsu volunteered everything he wanted to know.

As Natsu talked, Ul gained a better understanding of his situation.

Just as Ul had guessed, he was currently in an orphanage. It had been established jointly by several Mage Guilds, including Fairy Tail, primarily to care for orphans rescued by those guilds.

The orphanage also taught the basics of magic. Anyone who successfully learned magic could join one of the guilds directly.

When Natsu had first been picked up by Makarov, the guild master of Fairy Tail, he had stayed at this orphanage for a while. That was where he had met Ul.

But Natsu had been learning Dragon Slayer Magic from a dragon since he was little, so he hadn't stayed there for long before successfully joining Fairy Tail.

As for why Ul hadn't appeared in the original story...

The reason went without saying.