"Warm?"
"Mm, Warm. Because it feels so warm when you hold it," Mira explained.
"Rhode said Poros lived in very cold places, right? I hoped that whenever it was by your side, it would always feel warm."
Rhode thought about it. "It sounded pretty good. What did you think?"
The little Poro's horns perked up. It clearly liked it.
"As long as it likes it." Mira smiled. "That was how Happy got his name."
Happy was the talking blue kitten that always followed Natsu around. Mira had introduced him to Rhode before.
She said Happy could fly and even carry people while flying, but unfortunately, Rhode had yet to see Happy fly.
"Then it's settled. From now on, your name is Warm. Officially."
"That wasn't how you used that phrase." The Master wondered whether he should call Hibiki back to provide after-sales service.
"Wululu~" Warm threw itself into Rhode's arms and rubbed its head against his chest.
Rhode hugged Warm, feeling its little horns digging into him a little.
"Mira, two beers over here!" Laki waved toward the counter.
"Coming~" Mira took out two wooden beer mugs, filled them, and set them on a tray. "Rhode, it'll be lunchtime soon. Things are about to get busy."
"Okay, I'll get to work now." Rhode set Warm down and picked up the tray.
Warm looked around, then followed at Rhode's heels as he went to deliver the drinks.
The customer was a middle-aged man with a pipe in his mouth, a brown pompadour, a floral shirt, cropped pants, and slippers.
"Your beer."
"Ah~~ Why wasn't it Mira-chan delivering it..." Wakaba casually complained, though it didn't stop him from lifting his mug. "Come to think of it, you're the one who's been sitting behind the counter these past few days..."
Rhode felt like he was being disliked, but that was normal. He would rather have a beautiful woman bring him food too.
"My name is Rhode. I just joined Fairy Tail, and I'm currently working as a waiter at the tavern. Please take care of me."
"Oh~~ A newcomer!" Wakaba became interested. A hand-shaped puff of smoke emerged from his pipe, grasping another beer mug and sending it over to Rhode. "As you can see, I use Smoke Magic. This drink is on me. Welcome to Fairy Tail!"
"I..."
Bang! Before Rhode could speak, the person sitting across from Wakaba slapped the table and stood up.
"Damn it, Wakaba! Don't just give away my beer!"
The man had short purple hair, sparse stubble around his mouth, and a white coat draped over his shoulders. As he spoke, purple flames rose from his hand.
The flames scattered Wakaba's smoky hand and took its place, gripping the beer mug.
"If anyone's treating him, it should be me!" He formally straightened his collar. "Hello, I'm—"
"Damn it, Macao!" Wakaba stood and smashed his own mug onto the table. Planting one foot on a stool, he leaned forward. "You wanted to fight? Huh?"
"Who would be afraid of you?!" Macao likewise planted one foot on a stool and leaned forward.
The two pressed their foreheads together across the table, locked in a fierce standoff, neither willing to yield.
Thick smoke gathered above Wakaba's pipe, while the purple flames spun back and hovered over Macao's hand.
The mug that had been supported by the flames fell. Rhode hastily caught it, spilling a few drops of beer. "Um..."
He wanted to talk them down, but the two had already ignored him. They argued while rolling up their sleeves, ready to start throwing punches at any moment.
Rhode looked around for help, only to find everyone nearby wearing expressions of eager anticipation.
Some people even egged them on, shouting things like, "Fight!" and "Teach him a lesson!"
Laki was still holding the empty beer mugs she had just collected, but she no longer bothered returning to the counter. Instead, she stood among the onlookers enjoying the spectacle.
She did not forget to offer a reminder. "Rhode, if I were you, I'd get far away while you still can."
"Why—"
Whoosh! A beer mug flew past Rhode's ear.
Macao and Wakaba had already jumped onto the table, gripping each other's hands as they began testing their strength.
Rhode touched his temple and decisively gave up on breaking up the fight. He scooped up Poro Warm with one hand, picked up the innocent beer with the other, tucked the tray under his arm, and quickly ran back beside the counter.
The Master's tiny figure gave him an immense sense of security.
Rhode asked, "Master, shouldn't someone stop them?"
"Let them be." Makarov picked up the mug Rhode had just set down and mooched a sip of beer.
No one was meditating right now, so there was no need to worry about anyone being disturbed. A little commotion was nice.
What was more, when someone started a bet on whether Macao or Wakaba would fall off the table first, the old man even put down 1,000J.
"I thought things were only chaotic those days because the Master wasn't around." Watching the Master gradually start cheering them on, Rhode said despairingly, "Were there no normal people in this guild?"
"Don't say that." Mira cheerfully wiped a beer mug. "It's fun this way."
Clanging and banging came from where Macao and Wakaba were fighting. The long table was soon smashed apart, and the stools were knocked over as well.
The two wrestled for quite a while before barely separating, and the crowd quickly grew bored and dispersed.
This brawl could only be considered a minor scuffle in Fairy Tail, because the two uncles had been very restrained and had not affected anyone else at all.
"Were those two okay?" Rhode looked at them sitting separately at different tables, both fuming, and felt that he was partly responsible for their falling out.
"It's fine. They're always like this. They'll be drinking together again soon enough."
Mira was not worried about it at all. She said to Makarov, "Master, that beer from earlier will still be charged to your tab."
"Huh? Macao was clearly the one who ordered that beer!"
"You secretly drank it."
"I..." Makarov failed to skip out on the bill and became listless.
The image Rhode had of the Master as kind, benevolent, and reliable gradually collapsed.
This old man did not seem very serious either. The guild had probably turned out this way because the upper beam was crooked.
He was about to ask what they should do about the broken table when he saw Laki walk over and form a strange gesture with both hands.
Wood Molding: Sincere Friendship Wooden Table!
The shattered tabletop and broken table legs moved as though they had come to life, bending and extending before seamlessly fusing together and reshaping into the original long table.
A bucktoothed guy nearby complained, "Why did you always use such weird names?"
Laki swept her long purple hair behind her and adjusted her glasses. "Oh my, were you jealous of my magic and talent?"
"Who would be jealous of that stuff?!"
Laki immersed herself in her own world, cupping her cheeks. "I really am a woman burdened by sin."
Rhode: "..."
He had noticed some signs earlier, and now he could more or less confirm it: Laki was the narcissistic type.
Still, her magic was quite convenient. It was almost on par with Yamato's Wood Release from the neighboring series.
No wonder everyone was so fearless about wrecking the place.
Language Issues
In the setting, Fairy Tail spoke a language from another world, not Japanese, English, or anything like that.
As for why the anime used English and Japanese, and why Letter Magic had both English letters and traditional Chinese characters, that was so the audience could understand.
This seemed to be a very classic, old-school transmigration novel setting, so there was no need to dwell on it.
When naming the Poro, I considered that Poros represented "warmth, happiness, and love."
So the Poro was named Warm, while Happy's name meant happiness, and his catchphrase was love. It happened to fit Fairy Tail's atmosphere perfectly.
In short, all Chinese-English homophones appearing in the story should be viewed as jokes translated from another world's language with faithfulness, expressiveness, and elegance.
Why did I specifically write at the beginning that the protagonist was learning the language... Those who knew, knew.
If you wanted to nitpick that, then the entire novel was written in Chinese too.
Before you continue