Mira, Can I Touch It?

Hughes grabbed Mira by the crook of her arm and pulled her against him, pointing at the crowd still hurling insults at them.

"Believe it or not, in a few years, these same people will be putting on completely different faces."

"There's no need to care what ignorant people say, especially trash like this, who cower and do nothing but flap their mouths!"

Flames bloomed in Hughes's hand. He turned his palm downward, and the fire spread toward them. The chattering ceased in an instant, and the crowd scattered, wishing they had a few more legs to run on.

The flames in his palm went out. Without warning, Hughes flipped the hood off Mira's head and pinched her cheeks, making her take in the crowd's disgraceful behavior.

"People have to move forward. Why be afraid of it? Try to get to know it, to accept it.

"You, Mira, are a true genius, one of the most magically gifted people in all of Earth-land.

"Once we reach Magnolia, find Makarov, and you learn Take Over Magic, you'll be able to truly blossom."

He wasn't exaggerating. In his mind, Mira was the most gifted person in the world of Fairy Tail. Unlike Erza, who was born after her dragon mother had been pregnant for four hundred years, she didn't have cheats like a Dragon Crystal, either.

She had never encountered magic before, yet it had taken her only three years to become an S-Class Mage of the Fairy Tail guild.

Afterward, although what happened to Lisanna had made her doubt herself and neglect her training, leaving her unable to practice Take Over Magic anymore,

even so, when she took up Take Over Magic again years later, she repeatedly defeated powerful enemies in all kinds of major battles.

In the end, she even forcibly took over the demon Seilah and awakened Joy Form. It was truly incredible.

Seeing that Mira had calmed down, Hughes released her arm and patted her head.

He turned around briskly. "Let's go, Elfman. We'll get our things from the inn and head out."

Elfman looked anxiously at Mira, then turned to Hughes, who was walking away on his own. "Brother Hughes, aren't we buying clothes?"

Hughes kept striding along, his hands crossed behind his head, as his voice drifted back to them. "People will always come to hate a city because of certain things or certain people.

"I'm no exception. I don't enjoy staying in Haige Town, and the thought of wearing clothes from here disgusts me, so forget the lot of it!

"Besides, I use fire. I'm not afraid of the cold or the heat, and I've got thick skin, so it doesn't matter whether I wear a shirt or not."

"Sister Mira... Brother Hughes is getting away!"

"Sister Mira, Brother Elfman is fooling you. Brother Hughes is still waiting for you!"

"Come on, Lisanna, Elfman. Let's catch up with Hughes!" The withdrawn girl spoke for the first time since arriving in Haige Town, her voice firmer than ever.

At Haige Town's train station, Hughes felt a little uncomfortable under the stares of Mira and her siblings. He was starting to question his life himself.

Who would have thought that even in another world, you needed identification to ride a train? Mages were only allowed aboard if they had the emblem of an official guild.

He could understand ordinary people needing identification, but mages also needed an official guild to vouch for them. Was that because they were afraid dark mages would cause trouble, or in case an official mage damaged the train, so they could go to his guild for compensation?

"Brother Hughes, you're an unregistered resident??"

Clutching her paper identification, Lisanna looked at Hughes with pity. In the Kingdom of Fiore, only people abandoned by their parents as children could end up unregistered.

Mira, who had decided to stop wearing her hood, didn't show her pity as openly as Lisanna. She offered a sincere suggestion.

"Once we're adults, we can find a few more people to vouch for you, Hughes. Then you can become a citizen of the Kingdom of Fiore!"

The Kingdom of Fiore already had a comprehensive set of policies for situations like Hughes's, but none of them could be handled right away.

Hughes waved a hand at them. Mira's suggestion was a good one, but he didn't particularly want to hear it. He had a better idea.

With a free mage like Mira available, why not make use of her? How could he come to the world of Fairy Tail and not try a magic vehicle?

Outside Haige Town, four people walked on eight legs, their steps somewhat out of sync.

Yes, Hughes's dream of riding in a magic vehicle had been shattered. It wasn't that Mira couldn't operate one, but that the price was beyond anything he had imagined.

In the original story, magic vehicles were nothing special. They looked like ordinary carriages, with magical equipment installed inside; a mage only had to put on a magic power transmission chain, and the vehicle would automatically travel at speed.

In reality, all the money Hughes and Mira's group had between them was only enough to buy a wheel.

It was outrageously expensive!

With no other choice, the four of them could only travel the most primitive way. Each carried a bag of dry rations, taking a few bites with some water, and none of them complained about how hard and dry the food was.

The tedious journey was too much for the talkative Lisanna, and she started fishing for information again.

"Brother Hughes, what kind of mage are you?"

"I suppose you could call it Fire Element Magic."

Between the flames and his ability to turn into an element, Hughes felt that the name he had made up for his magic wasn't really misleading Lisanna.

Seeing Erza come bouncing over, ready to speak, Hughes raised a hand to interrupt her. If she kept asking questions, things would get awkward for both of them. He still hadn't figured out what to make up!

He knew what Lisanna wanted to ask. It was bound to be about Mira.

This girl always managed to bring her questions around to Mira in the end.

"Mira, can I touch it?"

The expressions on the faces of Mira and her siblings shifted from curiosity to shock and disbelief.

Having been through this once before, Mira quickly returned to normal. She knew that sometimes it was best not to think too hard about Hughes's words.

Lisanna and Elfman, on the other hand, spread their arms like mother hens, shielding Mira behind them.

The way they looked at him like he was a pervert made Hughes's mouth twitch.

Kids in another world really were too mature... He suddenly remembered that shortly after Lisanna met Natsu, she had said she wanted to marry him and become his wife.

Tsk...

"Brother Hughes, I never thought you were this kind of person! Sister Mira, run!!"

"Bonk! Bonk!"

"Ow..."

Hughes, who had deliberately used Tekkai, brought both fists down on their heads.

"Lisanna, you're the last person who gets to say that about me! I want to look at Mira's demon arm. What were you two thinking?

"Sooner or later, I'll find a mage who knows Memory Magic and wash those brains of yours clean."

Hughes held out his palm in front of Mira. After struggling with herself for a long time, Mira shut her eyes tightly and placed her demon arm on his hand, trembling.

By now, Mira would occasionally show her demon arm from under her cloak in front of them, but laying it right under Hughes's nose like this left her both worried and afraid.

"You two kids probably haven't had a good look at it, have you? Come over here and see!"

"Huh? Is that what you meant, Brother Hughes?"

Hughes gripped the arm and tugged at it, then tapped the purple, eyeball-shaped crystals on it, curiosity on his face.

The sense of evil the arm gave him really had faded considerably. He wondered whether eating it would give him a new Devil Fruit ability.

Ahem, he had no other dirty thoughts. He was simply curious, that was all.