Past

"Erza, how are you feeling?"

Cain supported the weakened Erza and asked with concern.

Though he knew that since Granny Porlyusica had said nothing, there was surely no problem, he still could not help asking.

Pale-faced, Erza thought for a moment. "I feel like I have no strength... and I want to eat."

Hearing that Erza wanted food, Cain finally realized that they had come here after breakfast and had not eaten all day.

Thinking of Granny Porlyusica, who had also gone without food and performed such an intensive surgery, he felt even more grateful.

Cain looked at Erza beside him, then suddenly stopped. "Erza, let me carry you."

"Huh?"

Cain's words caught Erza off guard. She quickly waved her hands. "N-No need. I can walk, really."

"Enough. You just had surgery, so you're at your weakest right now. Come on."

With that, he walked in front of Erza and crouched down, gesturing for her to climb on.

Erza looked at Cain in front of her, hesitated for a moment, then slowly climbed onto his back.

On Cain's back, Erza felt her heart beating rapidly. She did not know why. They had even slept in the same sleeping bag back on the snowy mountain.

Mm, completely unremarkable. As an old virgin in his previous life, Cain instinctively offered that assessment in his heart. He then realized just how pathetic he was.

Erza's weight was nothing to Cain, who often trained with heavy loads.

The two of them headed toward Magnolia in fits and starts. Suddenly, Erza asked, "Cain, why are you so good to me?"

"Because we're comrades in the same guild. We're family."

"Is that so?" Erza felt dissatisfied with Cain's answer, though she did not understand why.

Clearly, Cain's answer was not wrong. Since they were guildmates and family, was it not only natural for him to treat her well?

Recalling when they had first met, Erza blurted out, "At the beginning, before I joined the guild, why were you so good to me then?"

Cain could not help recalling their first meeting. Erza had been filthy all over, dressed in a battered suit of armor, and utterly dejected.

Remembering how Erza had called him a mermaid back then, Cain could not help laughing.

Seeing that Cain was not answering and was just laughing, Erza grew a little angry. She wrapped her arms around Cain's neck and shook him hard. "What's so funny?"

"Don't move, don't move. If you keep moving, we'll fall."

Already weak, Erza had even less strength after venting her frustration. She rested her head against Cain's shoulder and panted softly.

"I remembered when we first met, when you called me a mermaid, Erza. That's why I couldn't help laughing."

Cain's explanation made Erza recall her first impression of him: golden hair, a cute face, and emerging from the water.

He really had looked like the mermaids in Grandpa Rob's stories. It was only natural that she had mistaken him, Erza defended herself inwardly.

Seeing Erza remain silent, Cain thought she was still angry. He did not know why she was angry, but girls always got angry for no reason, did they? Even the future Fairy Queen was the same.

Cain thought for a moment before saying, "Actually, when I first saw you, Erza, I felt that you were a lot like me."

"Hm? Like you, Cain?"

Erza looked at Cain in confusion. No matter how she thought about it, she could not understand how the girl who had just escaped from the Tower of Heaven back then resembled Cain. It could not have been because they had both looked ragged, right?

Though he could not see Erza's expression, Cain understood from her tone that she must have been staring at him with a puzzled face.

So, he told her about what had happened at the Magic Development Bureau. The story began in a small mountain village.

At the time, Cain had not awakened the memories of his previous life. Like any ordinary child, he loved stealing bird eggs and playing in the mud.

He had had a strict father and a loving mother, but everything changed when he was eight. A group of strangers stormed into the village, killed all the adults, and took away the children.

After that, he was sold to the Magic Development Bureau as an experimental subject. Later, he awakened his magic during one experiment. As he watched the people around him grow fewer and fewer, he resolved to escape that place.

Then he met Ultear. The two planned their escape, but just as they were about to succeed, they were discovered by Brain, the director of the Magic Development Bureau.

Brain did not immediately take Ultear and him back. Instead, he said that as long as one of them was willing to stay, he would let the other leave.

Hearing this, Erza thought that the girl named Ultear had stayed behind, allowing Cain to escape.

But when she later heard that Brain had knocked them both unconscious, taken Ultear away, and ordered a guard to kill Cain—

A cold fury rose in her heart. That Brain had merely regarded Cain and Ultear as playthings to amuse himself. He had never intended to let either of them go.

Cain continued, saying that he had killed the guard and begun fleeing. "I was terrified back then. I was afraid people from the Magic Development Bureau would suddenly appear and capture me."

"And I didn't know where to go or what to do next. I only knew that I had to get as far away from the Magic Development Bureau as possible, then find a way to save Ultear."

Cain had lied about that. He really had been afraid at the time, but he had not been lost, because he knew where he needed to go.

Cain paused there before continuing. He had encountered Guild Master Makarov, asked him for help, and joined Fairy Tail.

When Cain stopped speaking, Erza asked curiously, "What happened next? Was that girl, Ultear, rescued?"

At the thought of Ultear, Cain's eyes filled with guilt and sorrow. He shook his head and said in a low voice,

"When the Magic Council sealed off the Magic Development Bureau, Brain blew up the entire Bureau. Aside from him, no one from the Magic Development Bureau survived."

"Sometimes, I wonder whether Ultear and the others might still be alive if I hadn't asked the Guild Master for help back then."

Erza realized that Cain was completely different from his usual self—confident, gentle, and warm like the sun.

At that moment, Cain had lost his light. He was like a creature drowning in an abyssal seabed, radiating a cold, sinister aura.

Erza held Cain tightly and said, "This isn't your fault. It's all Brain's fault."

Erza's words brought Cain back to himself. He had nearly sunk into darkness just now. The world of magic really was dangerous.

"Yeah, you're right, Erza. So I have to train hard, find Brain, and avenge Ultear."

Seeing Cain recover, Erza could not help letting out a sigh of relief.