The one-eyed girl with scarlet hair

Year X776.

Almost a year had passed since Blanc joined Fairy Tail.

Morning workouts without fail, studying Card Magic with Cana in his free time, regular visits to the library to read magic books, and taking commissions whenever he ran out of money-over the course of a year, Blanc had somehow turned guild life into a rigid routine between three regular stops.

Gray no longer challenged him, knowing Blanc would refuse. Cana continued studying her cards as always, and Blanc often sat opposite her to practice together.

Occasionally, a guild member would shout for him to help repair a chair.

Card Magic was far more demanding than he had imagined. The principles were easy enough; the hard parts were obtaining precious materials and controlling his magic precisely enough to stay right at their capacity limit.

Following Cana through everything from engraving magic circles and selecting materials to the final infusion of magic, Blanc struggled through an entire year before finally managing to reliably produce a few low-level cards.

He was still far from achieving his ideal results-but if the cards activated reliably and survived after use, then the year had not been wasted.

The staggering prices of high-grade materials prevented him from making particularly advanced cards, so Wood Make and Nature Magic remained his main tools in combat.

For now, Card Magic was only a tactical reserve, but he felt it was worth continuing to pour money and time into.

By comparison, his commissions had gone smoothly from start to finish. After Creekside Village, Blanc had become much more restrained when using large-scale magic.

Clearing out magical beasts, escorting merchant caravans, handling jobs that looked troublesome but were actually simple-he had hardly ever botched one.

Over the year, he had not taken the most commission slips from the job board, but his completion record was the best in the entire guild-additional losses approached zero, and his approval rating topped the list.

Gradually, rumors spread through Magnolia: Fairy Tail had a black-haired boy who completed every job cleanly and efficiently, never leaving a mess for the client to clean up. Master Makarov praised him lavishly for it.

Blanc himself did not think it was anything remarkable-as the hired party, those things were simply his responsibility. Learning to leave piles of trouble behind after finishing a job, like the rest of Fairy Tail, would actually have been harder for him.

Ten became eleven, and his magic capacity grew steadily. Physical combat alone remained his weakness.

His days passed quietly but productively. Sometimes, Blanc would wonder to himself, Come to think of it, wasn't there some "main job" I came to Fairy Tail for? What was it again?

Then, one day, Blanc returned from a commission and stepped into the guild to find a scene bristling with hostility.

Gray was walking up to a girl with a defiant look on his face. She had short scarlet hair, a cold expression, and a patch over her right eye. Clad in silver-white armor, she was eating a half-finished piece of bread as though nobody else existed.

Gray puffed out his chest and shouted, "Hey! You!"

The girl merely continued eating the bread in her hand. She did not even raise her eyelids, completely ignoring him.

Gray bristled instantly at being ignored and kicked over the table in front of her! The wooden table crashed to the floor, scattering its food everywhere.

Only then did the girl finally turn her head, fixing Gray with an almost frighteningly calm gaze.

"What do you want?"

Gray folded his arms, swaggering as he challenged her.

"Hey! This is a wizards' guild! Why are you wearing armor for no reason?"

The girl looked calmly at Gray, then said:

"Who are you to talk? Go put some clothes on. This isn't a guild for perverts, is it?"

He blanched, never expecting such a cutting comeback from her. For a moment, he stood frozen, his face burning red as he struggled to get a single word out.

The guild members watching them burst into laughter.

"Well said, little girl!"

"She got you there, Gray!"

Gray's embarrassment turned to rage, a vein bulging at his temple. "You little-!"

The girl was not intimidated in the slightest, and the impatience in her eye grew more obvious. "Quit bothering me, brat."

Blanc realized, So Erza has joined the guild too. Things are only going to get livelier from here.

Everyone's attention was fixed on the two at the center of the storm. Nobody noticed Blanc returning from his trip.

Blanc glanced around and soon spotted Cana. He walked over and sat beside her, his eyes still on the center of the hall.

"Hey, Cana, I'm back. What's going on over there?" Blanc asked, nodding toward Gray.

Cana was watching them too, looking rather anxious. She answered Blanc without turning her head.

"Oh, Blanc. That's Erza. She joined the guild a few days ago."

"Maybe she's uneasy about being somewhere new. She's been a little cold toward everyone, and she spends all day sitting in a corner in her armor."

"Gray was already annoyed by her attitude. When he heard she'd ignored me when I tried talking to her too, he finally snapped."

"He suddenly said something like, 'How dare a newcomer not greet the great Lord Gray,' and ran over to pick a fight. Then it turned into this."

Before she had finished speaking, Erza had already set Gray off completely. He roared at her:

"Erza, you're way too full of yourself! What's with that attitude? I'm going to beat you into the floor!"

With that, Gray charged at Erza. Her gaze sharpened, and she met him head-on without dodging.

Thud!

With a dull sound of flesh striking flesh, the fight ended before even two exchanges had passed. One solid punch from Erza sent Gray flying, and he landed in a heap on the floor.

Gray curled up, clutching his stomach, staring at Erza with pain and shock written all over his face.

"Damn it... She's strong."

"That's... it?" Macao held his glass, his eyes nearly popping out. "That fast? Isn't Gray supposed to be pretty good in a fight?"

Wakaba adjusted his sunglasses and whistled. "That just means she's stronger. Sending someone flying with one punch-this newcomer is something else."

"Hey, Gray! Weren't you acting pretty tough just now? You flipped her table, but you're the one who ended up on the floor!"

"So much for 'beating her into the floor.' You're the one down there! Hahaha!"

A wave of laughter swept through the hall. The spectators slapped tables and mercilessly heckled Gray as he lay on the floor.

"Wasn't Blanc the last one to knock Gray down that quickly? Tsk, looks like another monster rookie has joined our guild."

Gray lay there with his teeth clenched, glaring at Erza with eyes full of frustration.

Erza simply withdrew her fist, her expression calm, as though the fight had been nothing more than a casual swing. Without a word, she returned to her seat and resumed eating her remaining bread, radiating the cold, guarded air of someone who spoke little and hit hard.

Sitting nearby, Blanc shook his head helplessly. Gray might have been the one who got beaten up, but he had also been the one to start it.

Still, Blanc understood the awkward intentions behind Gray's behavior-the boy was really acting out of a rough sort of kindness, hoping Erza would fit into the guild.

For Gray, who had wandered here, Fairy Tail was his most treasured home, one he would never let anyone violate. Seeing Erza so withdrawn and at odds with the entire guild made him more anxious than anyone.

Unfortunately, Erza had only just endured the nightmare of the Tower of Heaven and had built high walls between herself and the outside world. Gray's extreme approach would only burden her further and make her more guarded.

"I can't just sit and watch. Things are too tense."

Blanc murmured to himself. As one of the few levelheaded people in the guild, he felt obliged to smooth things over.

He stood and walked over to Gray, teasing him. "Looks like your strength ranking in the guild just dropped another spot, Gray."

He could not help laughing afterward, and the spectators around them joined in.

Gray, who had been sprawled on the floor playing dead, suddenly went rigid at those words. Then he exploded like a cat whose tail had been stepped on!

"Blanc?! When did you get back-no, wait! Whose ranking dropped another spot?! I wasn't going all out just now!"

He struggled to prop up his upper body, his ears burning red. The laughter in the hall grew louder. Rubbing his stomach and drawing sharp breaths, Gray glared at Blanc, stubbornly refusing to admit defeat.

"I-I just let my guard down!"

Gray tried to force himself to stand, but his stomach gave an uncooperative spasm. He could only snort angrily. "Just you wait! I'll settle this with you later!"

Then he turned toward Erza, who was still silently eating her bread, and shouted in frustration, "And you! I won't lose next time!"

Erza did not even move her head. Gray was thoroughly shut down, and in the end he could only scramble up and sulk off to a distant corner. He did not charge at her again.

Blanc smiled helplessly, walked to the overturned wooden table, and bent down to set it upright.

He looked at Erza and apologized gently. "Sorry about that. Gray has a one-track mind. Please don't take his rude behavior too personally."

Erza looked up at Blanc, still maintaining her suffocating silence.

Getting no reply did not discourage Blanc. Having only just joined the guild, Erza had sealed her heart tightly shut. He was not the understanding big-brother type and had no idea how to help her open up, so he could only look after her in small, everyday ways.

All he could do was wait-wait for the warmth of Gray and the other guild members to slowly thaw her frozen heart.

"My name's Blanc. I'm a member of the guild too. I've been away on a job these past few days and only just got back. If you ever run into trouble here, you can come to me for help."

Blanc gave her a small smile, then turned away easily after those gentle words and headed toward the counter to report his completed job.

Erza's gaze lingered on Blanc's straight back for a moment before she silently lowered her eye again and continued eating the bread in her hand.

At the counter, Master Makarov still held his glass, but his eyes were clearly not on his drink. He had witnessed the entire commotion in the hall; as their parental figure, he had simply chosen not to intervene.

Only when Blanc approached did he slowly withdraw his gaze and reach for the heavily creased commission slip Blanc handed him.

"You're back." Makarov unfolded the slip, his eyes moving from the client's handwritten signature and seal to the final evaluation. The corners of his mouth kept rising.

"Well, well, another cleanly finished commission. Additional losses-zero. I've been hearing so much praise for you around Magnolia lately that my ears are about to grow calluses. You've really done us proud."

"Perfect. This is exactly the kind of professional skill Fairy Tail needs. Blanc, I'm very pleased with how you've handled your commissions this past year."

"You're too kind, Master." Blanc smiled modestly. "Once I've accepted the client's payment, doing the job properly is simply my responsibility."

"Your responsibility?" Makarov snorted with a laugh and tipped back a mouthful of liquor. "If those little troublemakers understood even half as much about that 'responsibility' as you do, would those youngsters at the Magic Council be making me write apologies every day?"

The smile had not yet left his lips, but the master's gaze shifted past Blanc's shoulder and returned to the corner of the hall.

Gray was still grimacing as he rubbed his stomach. Erza sat quietly, her silver-white armor reflecting a cold gleam in the sunlight. Having finished her bread, she simply sat there without moving, like an exquisite but isolated statue.

Makarov sighed, lowering his voice.

"You saw what happened just now, didn't you?"

"Yes. Gray was a little impulsive. Erza only just arrived, and she hasn't adjusted to the guild's atmosphere yet," Blanc said calmly.

"You're different from that hotheaded fool Gray. You know what to say, and you keep a level head." Makarov looked at Blanc seriously.

"I'd like to ask you a favor-keep an eye on her for a while. You don't need to go out of your way to do anything. Just spend time with her normally. That child has been through some..."

Seeing the master hesitate, his eyes filled with aching concern, Blanc understood. Before Makarov could voice that painful past, he interrupted with a smile.

"I understand, Master. But... I think Gray's clumsy, reckless approach might actually work surprisingly well when it comes to breaking through Erza's defenses."

Makarov stared at him for two seconds, as though making sure he was not joking. "You mean that?"

Blanc remembered that, in the original story, Gray had been the first to create an opening in Erza's closed-off heart. Only then had she gradually begun to fit into the guild.

"Yes. Erza is a guild member now. She's family. Gray may seem unreliable most of the time, but nobody cares more about the guild's members or is more devoted to them than he is. That warmth of his might just reach Erza."