A Noisy Place

"Fairy Tail!"

As Ul looked at the guildhall before him, a faint glimmer appeared in his eyes.

It wasn't because the building was particularly grand. After all, Ul had experienced the glitz and glamour of city life. By his standards, the building before him was no more than a three-story house—and a rather shabby one at that...

The only reason Ul was excited was simple curiosity!

After all, it was impossible for him not to be interested in things from an anime appearing in the real world...

Wakaba led Ul toward the guildhall...

Before they even reached the entrance, Ul could already hear the racket inside. Amid the noise, he could make out the sounds of arguments and brawling!

Hearing all that commotion,

Ul was suddenly overcome by an inexplicable sense of reality.

"That's right!"

"Besides Fairy Tail, I doubt there are many guilds this noisy!"

Just as Ul was silently making fun of them, the guildhall doors suddenly opened!

Then,

two white-haired girls stepped out slowly...

"Huh? Wakaba, is this a new member?"

When Ul saw the two girls, they noticed him too. The curious question came from the younger of the two.

"That's right! Lisanna, this is Ul. He's lived in an orphanage all his life and only recently learned magic and became a Mage." Seeing the adorable little girl, Wakaba smiled and introduced him.

"Oh, I see!"

Lisanna tilted her little head and looked Ul over curiously. Then, a happy smile spread across her face, and she held out her hand. "Welcome to our guild, Ul!"

"Uh... thank you!"

After a brief pause, Ul reached out and gave Lisanna's hand a polite shake.

Ul had recognized the two of them as soon as they came out.

The little girl who had just shaken his hand was Lisanna. She was thirteen and Natsu's childhood friend.

Emmmm!

The kind who'd been saying, "I'm going to marry Natsu when I grow up," since she was little...

The other girl, dressed like a dark, rebellious girl, was Lisanna's older sister. Her name was Mirajane!

But this Mirajane was nothing like the future natural-born schemer and "Fairy Tail's number-one beauty."

Right now, she was more like a haughty, capricious little girl with a dark streak.

Especially with that purple-black dress and matching bow headband. Ul had just two words for the look: a real handful!

"I'll take Ul to meet the master first. Be careful on your job, you two!"

After chatting for a bit, Wakaba reminded the two girls as he got ready to leave.

Ul hadn't said much during their conversation. For one thing, they didn't know each other yet. For another, his predecessor had been quiet by nature, and that personality was already starting to influence Ul.

Mirajane was still very haughty, so if Ul didn't greet her first, she wouldn't approach him either.

Still,

as they parted, Ul thought he heard Mirajane let out an unhappy little snort!

As soon as they entered the guildhall,

the noise grew even louder.

Fairy Tail didn't have as many members as it would later, but Ul could still see twenty or thirty people scattered around the guild. He didn't recognize any of them, though!

That was one of the frustrating things about the Fairy Tail anime!

Its scope was far too narrow. That went for both the setting and the story, which mostly revolved around a handful of characters. Almost everyone else was little more than background.

The guildhall's layout was simple. Apart from a noticeboard in the corner covered with job requests and an area that looked like a bar counter, nearly every other part of the room was filled with wooden tables.

When Ul walked in, most of the members were gathered in small groups around the tables, drinking and bragging...

Two men seemed to have had too much to drink. They were arguing the loudest, and it looked like they might roll up their sleeves and start fighting.

But as soon as Wakaba led Ul inside,

everyone's attention was drawn to them.

Especially when they saw Ul, their eyes lit up, and they immediately began calling out...

"Hey, Wakaba! Is that a new member with you?"

"Where'd you recruit him?"

"Come to think of it, we haven't had a new member join the guild in a while!"

More than a dozen people called out at once, their voices as loud and lively as a flock of chirping sparrows.

Wakaba, however, clearly had plenty of experience dealing with this kind of thing.

Facing their questions, he calmly said, "This is Ul, a new member from the orphanage!"

The words "orphanage" seemed to strike a chord with everyone. The guild fell silent for a moment, but soon they were back to their cheerful selves!

"Hey, newbie! Welcome aboard!"

"Kid, want to come have a drink with us?"

"You idiot, this kid's obviously underage! How could he drink...?"

People in the crowd shouted to Ul, and the atmosphere was lively.

Everyone there wore happy smiles, looking as if they didn't have a care in the world!

But Ul knew better.

Every person here had a story of their own...

Or, to put it another way,

most of Fairy Tail's members had once carried emotional scars. In other words, many of them had their own struggles.

They were simply used to keeping them buried deep inside!

Wakaba ignored the "idiots" making a racket and led Wei Yi straight to the guild's bar.

There, a short old man with white hair and a white beard sat atop the counter, his face flushed from drinking.

There was no mistaking him!

He was the current master of Fairy Tail, and one of the ten most outstanding Mages on the continent according to the Magic Council.

He was none other than Makarov Dreyar, one of the Ten Wizard Saints!