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"Oh, what do I see?"
"Mystogan's actually moving around with other people."
Wakaba, with a newly bought pipe in his mouth, greeted Noah and Mystogan jokingly, but his partner Macao immediately noticed the two little ones following behind them.
It was a cute little girl with long dark blue hair, wearing a blue and yellow dress, and also… "A white Happy?"
Macao's words attracted the blue cat from the Guild before Carla could retort with her sharp tongue.
Happy flapped his small wings, and upon seeing Carla, the entire cat went into an excited state, trotting over enthusiastically and even offering his favorite fish to her.
However, the tsundere white cat was rather cold toward this overly eager stranger of her kind; after all, Happy's behavior was a bit too fawning… This scene made Noah shake his head slightly, mentally labeling Happy as a simp.
A kitten a few years old already wants to fall in love, while I'm almost twenty and still don't know what love feels like. That won't do.
Since Happy had appeared, the pink-haired young man who was always inseparable from him was naturally also in the Guild. Noah looked in the direction Happy flew from and indeed saw Natsu enthusiastically waving at him.
"Yo! Noah, you're back!"
Natsu rushed over in a flash, hands on his hips, and proudly declared, "We did something awesome these past few days. The Magic Council even praised our Guild by name. Too bad you missed it!"
Looking at the smug Natsu, who practically had "Ask me about it" written all over his face, Noah couldn't help but smile. "Let me guess—you guys already took down all the Oración Seis's subordinate Guilds?"
"Eh? How'd you know?!" Natsu immediately deflated, looking surprised.
Noah shrugged. "Erza and I planned the whole 'eliminate Oración Seis' operation together. Of course I knew."
Back during the "Lullaby" incident, through Erza's interrogation, Noah had successfully obtained a detailed list of Oración Seis's affiliated Guilds from the Eisenwald members.
With the idea of clearing out the small fry first, Noah and Erza had decided to cut off Oración Seis's support network. But due to Mystogan and his adopted sister's situation, Noah went to Cait Shelter instead.
Unexpectedly, within just these few days, Erza had led some Guild members who'd mastered Armament Haki on a sweep through Oración Seis's subordinate forces.
That's right—it was a rare opportunity to openly go all out in a group fight under the banner of "justice" to subjugate Dark Guilds. The warlike members of the Guild had no reason not to jump at the chance.
Noah was well aware of the significant improvement Armament Haki brought to Fairy Tail's members, so he wasn't surprised they'd cleared out Oración Seis's wings in just a few days.
Unfortunately, plans change. This time, Noah's trip to Cait Shelter with Mystogan not only gained him a cute adopted sister but also conveniently dealt with Oración Seis itself.
"Eh! No way!!" Natsu cried out, clutching his head when he heard that Oración Seis was no longer a threat.
Although Armament Haki combined with Magic was great for mowing through small fry, Natsu still preferred fighting stronger enemies.
He'd been looking forward to taking on Oración Seis, and now you're telling him it's already over!
This left Natsu extremely disappointed.
Wendy was startled by Natsu's sudden outburst and quickly hid behind Mystogan, peeking out to curiously observe the fire-breathing pink-haired young man. She kept feeling a familiar aura from Natsu but couldn't quite figure out why.
"Don't shout, Natsu!"
A calm yet authoritative voice rang out, and Natsu immediately quieted down. Only one person in the Guild could shut Natsu up with a single sentence.
The familiar knight armor and short skirt came into view. Noah smiled at that crimson hair. "I'm back, Erza."
"Welcome home, Noah."
Walking alongside Lucy, Erza said what should've been Mira's line, then looked at the two little ones who'd returned with Noah and Mystogan. "And who are these two?"
"Hello, my name is Wendy Marvell, and this is my good friend Carla." Although she'd lived in the mountains for a long time, the little girl's manners were impeccable.
After Wendy introduced herself, Noah added, "Wendy's my older brother's adopted sister from six years ago, and now she's my sister too. She'll be joining Fairy Tail from now on."
"Oh, and Wendy's also a Sky Dragon Slayer."
The words "Dragon Slayer" immediately energized Natsu. Lucy knew all too well what her teammate was about to do, but unfortunately, she couldn't hold back this "Fire Dragon" who was fired up.
Natsu looked at Wendy with burning eyes. "I'm a Dragon Slayer too! Let's fight, Wen—"
Bang!
Before he could finish his sentence, Natsu was already flat on the ground.
After Erza delivered her "Fight your head" message with her fist, she turned and looked at the little girl gently. "Don't mind him. Natsu means well—he just doesn't use his brain very often."
Wendy could only give an awkward smile. Being the understanding type, she actually realized that Natsu didn't really want to hurt her; it was just his way of showing enthusiasm.
It's just that this kind of enthusiasm was a bit too much for Wendy to handle.
Lucy deeply agreed with that sentiment, having experienced Natsu's unique brand of enthusiasm herself. "Welcome, Wendy. I'm Lucy. From now on, we're guildmates."
Lucy bent down to greet Wendy, but she inadvertently caught sight of a string of keys hanging from Noah's belt.
Three Gold Keys and one silver-white key. The twelve zodiac patterns on the four keys were so eye-catching that Lucy couldn't look away.
"Aries, Scorpio, Gemini, and Caelum... Noah, where'd you get these keys?"
"As expected of a Celestial Spirit Mage—sharp eyes."
Noah smiled and removed the key chain. These four Celestial Spirit Keys had originally belonged to Angel, one of the Oración Seis members. After being captured, Angel had "voluntarily" terminated her contracts under the persuasion of Noah's fist.
Later, when the New Oración Seis was formed, Angel reverted to her real name, Sorano, but Noah had no intention of returning the Celestial Spirit Keys to her. Roubaul said he'd teach Sorano new Magic instead.
Noah looked at Lucy, who was staring intently at the key chain, and grinned. "So, my lady, how much are you willing to pay for these four Celestial Spirit Keys?"
"Wait, Noah, you're willing to sell them to me?!"
Lucy was shocked. Those were three extremely rare Gold Keys plus one Silver Key. They'd sell for an astronomical price on the market... Wait a minute!
I almost forgot—I'm not exactly broke.
Remembering that she was still a wealthy heiress, Lucy waved her hand grandly and spent her entire year's allowance to acquire the three priceless Gold Keys and one Silver Key from Noah.
Adding the Aquarius, Cancer, Taurus, and Virgo Celestial Spirits she already possessed, Lucy had remarkably gathered seven of the twelve zodiac Celestial Spirits.
This couldn't be explained by luck alone anymore.
The world was so vast, with three known continents. Seven unique Gold Celestial Spirit Keys appearing simultaneously within the Kingdom of Fiore... Noah even suspected the legendary Celestial Spirit King might be secretly supporting this generation's Heartfilia Mage.
Otherwise, how else could you explain it? Fate?
Noah never believed in that stuff.