Preparing for the Match-I Think This Is a Tradition!

Ed soon found a blacksmith's forge. "Is the owner here? A customer's arrived!" A burly, muscular man stepped out from inside and said to Ed, "What do you need made? Did you bring your own materials, or are you using mine? A weapon? Armor? I can make anything here! I'm the best blacksmith in town!"

"Do you have paper and a pen? I need some special darts made." "Here, take them." Ed took the paper and pen and quickly drew a diagram of a Flying Thunder God Kunai. "Just make them in this style. Start with thirty. Can you do it?"

"Don't underestimate me. Thirty of these things? I can finish them in a day. I'm the best blacksmith in town!"

"How much altogether?"

"If I provide the materials, it'll be 1,000J each. That's 30,000J total."

"That expensive? Give me a discount. I'll need a lot more of these in the future!"

"I'm the best blacksmith in town! My craftsmanship is absolutely worth that price. But if you can provide the materials, I can charge you 500J each."

"I don't have any materials either." Ed scratched his head and sighed resignedly. "Then 30,000J it is. I'll pick them up tomorrow afternoon. No problem, right?"

"I'm the best blacksmith in town!" The burly man immediately started boasting again. "Come pick them up tomorrow morning. You're a mage from Fairy Tail, right?" Looking at the mark on the back of Ed's hand, he added, "I won't charge you a deposit. Tomorrow afternoon, payment and goods exchanged at the same time!"

"Alright, alright... I'll leave it to you."

"Don't worry, I'm the best in town—"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. You're the best blacksmith in town. Please stop repeating yourself. This padding is about to hit a hundred words." Ed used Lightning Flash to interrupt the town's best blacksmith before he could finish boasting.

"Hmph!" The town's best blacksmith seemed quite dissatisfied at having his bragging interrupted. He snorted and began studying the diagram.

Ed left the blacksmith's forge and checked the time. "I've been busy all morning and still haven't had time to eat. I should head back to the guild, get some food, rest a bit, and see if there are any easy jobs I can take."

In a flash of golden light, Ed pushed open the guild doors and headed straight for the bar. "One huge meal, please! Preferably with meat!" As he ate and rested, Ed felt his magic gradually recovering.

Standing before the job board and looking at the wide variety of requests posted there, Ed began to hesitate.

"Hmm... This morning's delivery job paid 50,000J. The kunai cost 30,000J, and food cost 300J. But next month's rent is coming up, so I don't have enough money. I still need to keep taking jobs. This one is a missing person request... the reward is 20,000J, but it's so far away, and I'm not very good at finding people... Oh? This one pays a lot—500,000J. Let's see... exterminate a giant magical beast. An extermination job..."

Ed thought about the Flying Thunder God Technique, which he had become most proficient with, as well as his half-finished Monster Strength, which left half his arm wrecked after one punch.

"I should wait before taking that... I need to become proficient in at least one offensive ability first... Wait, what's this..." Ed's attention was caught by a job sheet. "Reward: 10,000J... Find... Tiger... return... Hmm... This one it is!"

Ed decisively tore down the job sheet and said to Makarov, "Old man, I'm taking this job!"

"This one? No problem. The client is a noblewoman from out of town. She's getting ready to leave Magnolia and has been worried sick over this. Go on, kid!"

Ed soon followed the address on the job sheet to a patch of woods. He tossed several stones marked with Flying Thunder God Marks around the area, along with some meat he had brought from the guild, then hid himself.

After a while, a cat with a red bow on its right ear crawled out from the bushes.

The little cat seemed to have caught the scent of the meat. It slowly approached the meat Ed had left behind, warily watching its surroundings.

Ed waited for the moment the cat lowered its head and opened its mouth, then activated Flying Thunder God. In a flash of golden light, Ed successfully grabbed the cat by the scruff of its fated neck.

The cat seemed to know what would happen after being caught and began struggling violently, but it was useless. After all, it was only a little cat and could not stop Ed from taking it to the client.

"Little Tiger~~~!!" The noblewoman snatched the little cat from Ed's hands and hugged it tightly to her chest, rubbing her face against it without stopping.

Looking at the cat being squeezed out of shape in the arms of the noblewoman, who had the build of a miniature elderly Big Mom, Ed could not help shivering. "Sure enough, cat-finding jobs are definitely a tradition. I had to try one."

Ed watched Little Tiger set off for home with the big noblewoman, with Zero feebly resisting all the while. Silently, he prayed for it, hoping it would survive in good health. As for whether it would be happy, that was another matter.

As night fell, Ed returned to the dormitory and began working out. He had enjoyed fitness training before being transported here. Although he did not have professional equipment, push-ups and planks were no problem.

"197... 198... 199... 200!" After finishing his workout, Ed began trying to improve Monster Strength. "That last punch was powerful, but my arm couldn't take another one afterward. It should be a problem with the magic bursting out. I figure I should split the magic into two parts—one to explode outward, and one to protect my body from the effects of the burst... Hmm. Let's try it... I'll use my left hand."

Ed opened the window, picked up a cup from the table, aimed into the distance, and began gathering power. "Since this is a test, I'll use less magic first. Gather it... cover my arm... then split it into three parts... protect the joints... the muscles... and finally, burst!"

Ed suddenly detonated the magic around his arm and threw the cup. The cup shot into the sky until it disappeared from view.

"Perfect! That's it. Just as I thought, as long as the magic released in the burst doesn't exceed the magic protecting my muscles and joints, there's no problem at all. Once I master this move, extermination jobs should be no problem!" Ed thought of those high rewards.

"When will I ever be able to buy a house if I only do delivery jobs? Even working for five years might not be enough. Alright, I'll practice tomorrow and strive to master it without needing to charge up slowly. Then Gray can properly experience the fist of love."

With pleasant fantasies of punching Gray and kicking Natsu in his head, Ed gradually drifted off to sleep.

As sunlight streamed through the window, Ed opened his eyes. "Ah, that was refreshing. Alright, let's go. I'll strive to master Monster Strength this morning!" Ed stretched, got out of bed, and prepared to head to the mountain behind the dormitory to train.

Time slowly passed. After Ed's constant attempts, afternoon soon arrived. "This is about enough. I still need to charge up for a full-power burst, and I can't maintain it for long, but tomorrow is only a spar. I won't need full power. If I hold back a little, I should be able to maintain Monster Strength for a long time." Ed nodded in satisfaction. "Oh, right. My kunai should be ready for pickup! Go, go, go!"

Ed arrived at the blacksmith's forge. "Boss! I'm here to pick up my order right on time! It's done already, right?"

"Of course it's done! I'm the—"

"Stop! Here's the money! Bring out the goods!" Ed interrupted the town's best blacksmith before he could start boasting again.

"Take it." Townsmith reluctantly shut his mouth and handed over a package.

Ed opened it and saw the finished Flying Thunder God Kunai. "Awesome. They're exactly like I imagined. But I don't think I've thrown this kind of projectile much before. Perfect, there's still time this afternoon. I'll go practice~"

"Whoosh~" Ed returned to the woods from before and began marking the kunai with Flying Thunder God Marks.

After marking them all, Ed began practicing throwing the kunai. After an afternoon of hard training, he could not hit a target from a hundred paces, but within five meters, he could hit wherever he aimed. Within ten meters, his error was no more than ten centimeters. Within twenty meters, less than one meter. At forty to sixty meters, it was basically up to fate. At sixty to eighty meters, it was already a miracle of life. Beyond eighty meters, he could not throw them that far without Monster Strength~

"Good! Now all that's left is tomorrow." Ed had made every possible preparation—meaning, for beating up Gray.