The Boy Who Devoured Flames

"Aibo! Where's the update?! I want to read the latest chapter!"

The moment Aibo appeared at the guild, cries demanding updates sounded from every direction. He had long since grown used to it.

"Yawn... You should be hounding Lydas instead. He's the one who always misses his deadlines."

"Hehehe, we've already locked Lydas in the little black room. We won't let him out until he finishes this week's update!"

"...Are you demons?"

Aibo's career as a copycat author in another world had been going on for over a year now, with remarkable results.

Naruto had become the hottest popular novel in the Fiore Kingdom. Its manga serialization was also thriving, and people had even begun selling merchandise based on the work. Its influence continued to spread.

The success of his work had brought Aibo a huge sum of money. His savings had now reached tens of millions of J, putting him in an entirely different class from the guild's paupers.

Although he had been in the guild for a year, he had not taken on a single job and was living quite comfortably. These days, aside from practicing Telepathy Magic—listening in on gossip—he came to the guild just to have fun.

Oh, he also had a job as a waiter, but Aibo had no intention of quitting. On the contrary, he planned to make being a waiter his main profession.

When Sosara Weekly came to interview him someday, Aibo intended to say that he was "a part-time mage at Fairy Tail, a novelist on the side, and a restaurant waiter by trade."

The reporter's expression would surely be wonderful then. Just thinking about it made him happy.

Aibo did not actually have much ambition. All he wanted in this life was to live happily.

As a Happy Superman, happiness made him stronger. Naturally, he would do whatever felt good.

"Guys, when I passed by outside town just now, I saw the master bringing along a kid who could breathe fire. We might be getting another new member!"

A big kid whose feet never seemed to stop darted all around the guild. He was Jade Troy, who had joined the guild not long ago and used the magic [Godspeed].

Aibo had learned that magic too, but it had ultimately turned into 3,000 experience points added to [Enhancement Magic]. That "experience" was quite useful. He only needed a little over two thousand more points for Enhancement Magic to reach LV2.

"Another newcomer? Our guild has really been flourishing lately!"

"We're the number one mage guild in Fiore!"

"Cheers!"

Amid the clamor, Makarov entered the guild with a pink-haired boy who looked rather rowdy.

"Everyone, quiet down! I have an announcement! This is Natsu, the newest member of our guild! Make sure you all look after him!"

Before Makarov had even finished speaking, Natsu took a great stride, leaped onto a table, and blasted a mouthful of flame into the air.

"Roar! Has any of you seen a dragon?! I'm looking for a dragon! A fire-breathing Fire Dragon!"

—

Everyone in the guild was drawn to the brat, then suddenly burst out laughing.

"Ha ha ha! Is this kid still half-asleep?"

"How could there possibly still be dragons in this world? Dragons went extinct ages ago!"

"Kid, that fire blast just now was pretty good. Do it again!"

Natsu turned red with anger and shouted furiously.

"I'm not joking with you! I'm looking for Igneel! The strongest Fire Dragon! He's my father! I was raised by a dragon, so how could dragons not exist?!"

The guild fell quiet again. Everyone exchanged looks. This kid did not seem bright enough to be lying, so could what he said be true? Did dragons really exist in this world?

"Oi! You fireball-spitting bastard, get down from the table already. Nobody here has seen any damn dragon."

"Huh?! Are you a pervert? Why aren't you wearing any clothes?"

"Ah! When did that happen?!"

"And you, don't you dare talk bad about Igneel!"

Natsu launched himself off the table and punched Gray, who was in the middle of putting on his pants. The two tumbled to the floor and quickly began brawling.

The shameless older men saw that there was a spectacle to watch and immediately gathered around. Someone even started taking bets, with Gray's odds at 1.3.

"Go, Gray! Beat him up!"

"Go, newcomer! Don't lose!"

"Get him! Get him! Get him!"

Aibo looked at Makarov beside him, who was about the same height as him and smiling benevolently, then asked, "Master, aren't you going to stop them?"

"It's fine, it's fine. They're kids. Being lively is good~"

"You look pretty happy. Is it because you picked up another talented kid with good potential?"

"Oh? Aibo, you can tell that Natsu is special?"

"He didn't have a single pointless thought just now. He's the kind of straightforward guy who doesn't hold anything back, so everything he says is probably true. The fire element around him is so dense it's practically overflowing... So dragons really do exist in this world..."

"Mhm, that's right. Natsu inherited Lost Magic—Dragon Slayer Magic. It's an extremely rare kind of magic. If it really was taught to him by a dragon, then his future is limitless~"

Just as Makarov smiled smugly, Natsu suddenly shouted.

"Is there any fire?! Give me some fire!"

Macao, eager to make things more exciting, tossed him a ball of flame. Natsu tilted his head back and swallowed it in one gulp.

"Ha ha! The power's surging up! Fire Dragon's—Roar!"

Natsu suddenly opened his mouth and shot a massive fireball at Gray. Gray dropped flat to dodge it, the onlookers scattered aside, and Aibo vanished with a flicker. The fireball landed in front of Makarov and exploded.

Makarov's face turned black in the literal sense. The crowd dispersed in a stampede, leaving only Natsu standing there stupidly.

Then Makarov transformed into a ten-foot giant and lifted Natsu up.

"You bastard! Don't use magic inside the guild! Are you trying to die, you little brat?!"

"Sorry..."

He had scared the child into tears. Aibo, who had teleported to the side, shook his head. The master was hardly one to criticize the guild members.

Still, Aibo had not expected that the boy could eat flames. That was interesting.

He needed to find time to learn this "Dragon Slayer Magic" and see what it was all about.

While Aibo was watching the commotion, the commotion came looking for him.

"Aibo, Aibo, what magic are you going to teach me?"

Aibo had grown used to suddenly being pulled into a soft girl's embrace. The girls in the guild all liked hugging him, and he was happy to be fussed over like a child.

"Big Sis Cana, I think your Card Magic works best when paired with two other types of magic."

"What, what?"

"The formulas from Word Magic, and contract summoning magic."

"Ehh~~ You mean Levy's magic and Celestial Spirit Magic?"

"Levy learned Solid Script... As for contract summoning magic, it doesn't necessarily have to be Celestial Spirit Magic..."

"Huh? What do you mean? I don't get it."

"I'll explain contract summoning magic in detail once I've researched it. For now, Big Sis Cana can start learning formulas. Word Magic is the foundation of almost all magic, so there's no downside to learning it."

"Okay~ I'll listen to whatever Aibo says!"

Aibo now had some understanding of most of the magic in this world. Whenever people mentioned summoners here, they always brought up Celestial Spirit Mages.

Aibo had spoken with Celestial Spirit Mages before, but the Celestial Spirits they had contracted were not particularly strong.

The information currently known was this: the summons of Celestial Spirit Magic did not exist in this world and could not die. A Celestial Spirit's strength depended entirely on the magical power of the mage who summoned it.

And Cana's greatest talent was her enormous magical power. She could train her magic halfheartedly and still catch up to Erza. Therefore, in theory, Celestial Spirit Magic was the best magic for her.

But Aibo felt that summoning magic did not necessarily need to be achieved through Celestial Spirits...

He had an idea, though he was not yet sure whether it could be realized. He would need to study Celestial Spirit Magic more deeply.

Before that, he first needed a Celestial Spirit.