Chapter 450: As Expected, The Guild is the Best!
"So pretty!" Meredy and the others exclaimed simultaneously.
"Yeah, it's beautiful," the group watched the departing Exceeds with smiles on their faces.
"Alright! Let's head back to the guild too!" Natsu said excitedly.
"But how are we supposed to write the report? Are we really just going to tell them we fought an entire kingdom?" Lucy asked with a troubled expression.
"No need to worry about that. Just tell Gramps and see how he wants to handle it," Gray said nonchalantly.
"Then when we get back, we should report to the Master first," Erza added.
"In the end, we're the ones who have to write it anyway. Grandpa will only review it to see if there's anything in our handling of the situation that needs fixing," Noah said exasperatedly.
"Speaking of which, weren't you preparing to make an enemy of the kingdom right from the start? You should have already prepared for this outcome," Sorano said with a smile.
"Big sister... your arms..." Yukino couldn't help but point out, noticing that Sorano, Noah, Natsu, and a few others were continuously waving their right arms back and forth, exactly like Nadi had done.
"You should try it too, Yukino! It's really fun!" Sorano told her sister excitedly.
"N-No thanks, sis," Yukino quickly waved her hands in refusal.
"W-Wait a minute!" Gajeel suddenly yelled.
"What's wrong, Gajeel? You want to try it too?" Natsu asked, still swinging his right arm.
"As if there's any value in doing that!" Gajeel shot back in exasperation. "Where is Lily? I don't see Panther Lily anywhere!" Gajeel frantically looked left and right.
"Lily?" Lucy asked, a bit confused.
"A human-sized black cat, Captain of the Royal Army's Magic Warfare Unit. He stopped Gajeel on the island where the Lacrima was kept earlier," Noah briefly explained.
"Oh, him. I think I saw him when the Exceeds came down to help, but I didn't see him after that. Is he really that strong to be able to stop Gajeel?" Lucy asked curiously.
"Of course! He's the cat I chose, so of course he's strong!" Gajeel proclaimed proudly.
"I am right here." A voice suddenly emerged from the nearby tall grass, followed by a black cat stepping out. He was roughly the same size as Happy and Carla.
"So tiny!" everyone exclaimed in unison.
"You've become so cute," Happy remarked, looking at Lily's current appearance.
"It seems Earth Land's environment does not agree with my physique," Lily replied.
"Do you feel unwell anywhere?" Carla asked.
"Not at the moment," Lily shook his head.
"Let me take a look," Noah said, walking up to Lily.
"Noah is really amazing when it comes to medicine," Happy said proudly.
"Mhm, then I will leave it to you," Lily said to Noah.
Noah nodded. He extended his hand, and several golden magic circles materialized around Lily, emitting a faint glow. Two small golden magic circles also appeared in front of Noah's eyes, alongside the keyboard and screens of his Archive magic.
After conducting a general check-up on Lily, Noah dispelled all the magic.
"Well? Is Lily okay?" Gajeel asked anxiously.
"No problem. From my initial check-up, Lily's body is perfectly healthy," Noah answered.
"Then why is Lily's body so small now?" Sorano asked curiously.
"This is likely due to the gradual disappearance of magic in Edolas earlier," Noah explained, seeing everyone's confusion. "Think about it. In Edolas, where was the magic located? Floating islands, the earth, various Lacrimas, magical items, and the Exceeds. But there was no magic in the air itself. Magic naturally flows from areas of high concentration to areas with none, just like water. So, the magic inside the Exceeds' bodies would subconsciously leak into the surrounding air. To prevent this magic drain, their bodies instinctively adapted. Under that counteracting force, Lily's body gradually grew larger until he was about our size. But now that he's in this world, the air is rich with magic, pushing back against his abnormally enlarged physique. What we are seeing now is actually Lily's normal, true form."
"Then why weren't the other Exceeds as big as Lily? By that logic, shouldn't they have grown huge too?" Lucy asked.
"That's because the other Exceeds didn't possess as much magic power as Lily, so their bodies didn't need to grow as large. I'm not sure if you saw the Exceed Royal Guard, but those cats were also quite large, much bigger than Happy and Carla. That's because they were stronger and had more magic power. But upon arriving here, they've all shrunk as well," Noah explained.
"Now that you mention it, when we were in Edolas, the cats in the Royal Guard were indeed very large. But the Exceeds we just saw were all roughly the same size; none of them stood out," Meredy recalled.
"That must be the reason, then," Lily nodded. He also found Noah's explanation perfectly reasonable.
"However, this was just a superficial check-up. Once you come over to my place later, I'll give you a more detailed examination," Noah told Lily. After thinking for a moment, he added, "I think you should be able to transform back into that larger form. After all, you've maintained that physique for a long time; it's likely become an alternate form for you. But I'll need to run further tests to confirm that for sure."
"I will leave that in your hands, then," Lily said earnestly to Noah. He then looked at Gajeel. "I want to join the guild that took care of the Prince. You will let me join as promised, right, Gajeel?"
Gajeel looked at Noah and the other S-Class mages. Noah smiled and nodded. Gajeel instantly burst into tears, scooped Lily up in a massive hug, and cried, "Of course I will! Partner!"
"Whoa... he's crying!" Lucy couldn't help but whisper.
"You have no idea how long he's waited for this day, or how much he's suffered for it," Sorano whispered back with a laugh.
After Gajeel spent a moment crying while hugging Lily, Lily finally reacted and wiggled out of his embrace.
"Welcome to the guild, Lily. Once we head back and sort out the paperwork, you'll officially be one of us. I still remember when I invited Mystogan—the one you call Prince Jellal—to join the guild," Noah said with a nostalgic expression.
"Oh? You were the one who invited the Prince to join?" Lily looked at Noah.
"It was just good luck. Not long after he arrived in this world, I bumped into him because of Wendy, and I invited him in. If you want to know more about Jellal... actually, I'll stick to calling him Mystogan; I'm more used to that name. If you want to know about Mystogan's time here, I can tell you all about it later," Noah smiled at Lily.
"Alright! I will definitely take you up on that," Lily nodded seriously.
"Let's head back now," Noah said. He raised his hand, and everyone vanished from the spot, reappearing right in front of the guild's entrance.
"I'm back!" Seeing the familiar guild doors, Natsu couldn't resist stepping up, kicking them open, and shouting inside.
The others followed Natsu inside one by one. Seeing everyone in the guild, Noah and the rest couldn't help but smile genuinely from the bottom of their hearts.
"Oh! Natsu and the others are back!" a guild member shouted upon turning around and seeing them at the door.
Immediately, the entire guild turned their attention to the group at the entrance.
"How was it? What was the other world like?"
"Was it fun over there?"
"Where are the souvenirs you promised to bring back?"
Everyone bombarded Noah's group with questions all at once.
"That world was amazing! They had floating islands, giant frogs, and rivers flowing in the sky..." Natsu loudly recounted with extreme excitement. The others happily joined in, sharing their own bizarre experiences in the parallel world.
Noah smiled and shook his head. He told the members asking for souvenirs that he would hand them out shortly, then headed over to the bar counter with Laxus and the other S-Class mages.
"Grandpa, we're back," Noah said to Makarov, who was sitting on the counter.
"Welcome back. Is everyone alright? How did things go?" Makarov asked with concern.
"We're fine. We just had a few fights, but no one took any serious damage. Everything went smoothly. Specifically, here's what happened..." Noah lowered his voice and summarized the events for Makarov, Gildarts, and Ur, who were sitting nearby. Laxus and the others chimed in with a few details here and there.
"That's the gist of it. I'll give you the full, detailed report later, Grandpa."
Having heard the rough summary, Makarov nodded. After pondering for a moment, he said to Noah's group, "A lot certainly happened. You all did very well. However, let's keep the details of your adventure in the other world—especially the part about going to war with an entire kingdom—to yourselves. Best not to tell the outside world and invite unnecessary trouble. I'll instruct the rest of the guild to keep their mouths shut as well. Also, regarding the Exceeds who came to this world, they plan to live nearby, right? We need to discuss things with them. Tell them to try and keep it quiet that they're from another world. As long as it's not a massive group openly declaring it, a few individuals mentioning it won't cause much of a stir. Besides, they've just arrived in this world; they're bound to be unfamiliar with a lot of things. We should help look after them."
"Yeah, we'll take care of it. It's a good opportunity to bring Happy and Carla along so they can spend more time with their parents—even though they don't know who their parents are yet," Noah smiled.
"The white and blue cats Happy was hanging around with earlier are his parents, right? And the Queen is Carla's mother," Laxus remarked.
"Exactly," Noah nodded.
Ultear and the others didn't look surprised; there were plenty of subtle clues pointing to the relationships between those specific cats.
"Happy and Carla's parents have been found? That is wonderful news! They definitely should spend more time together," Makarov said happily; reuniting with family was a joyous occasion. He enthusiastically raised his mug and took a massive gulp of booze.
"I'll go talk to the Exceeds first and tell them not to go around telling everyone they're from another world. They can just say they moved here from some remote region. As long as they don't spin crazy lies or blab recklessly, no one will really look into it. There are plenty of strange creatures in this world anyway," Noah told Makarov. With that, he created a Thought Projection.
"Go and come back quickly. Don't overuse your Thought Projections; you need proper rest. Just stay in the guild and relax for the next few days," Makarov told Noah seriously.
"Understood, Grandpa," Noah nodded. His Thought Projection then vanished.
"You guys sure had quite the experience. Going up against a whole kingdom—sounds like a great adventure," Gildarts said calmly. The very next second, his stoic demeanor broke, and he lunged straight at Cana. "Cana-chaaan~ Daddy missed you so much!"
"Stop it, you stupid old man!" Cana shoved her right hand forcefully into Gildarts's face, physically blocking him from glomping her. Gildarts still struggled wildly, trying to inch closer to his daughter, and the two found themselves locked in a stalemate.
"No injuries?" Ur asked Ultear.
"Nothing serious. We didn't really run into any tremendously powerful opponents when fighting the Royal Army. We just burned through a lot of magic and stamina fighting large numbers of soldiers," Ultear shook her head, updating Ur.
"That's good. Make sure you get plenty of rest over the next few days," Ur said.
Laxus and the other S-Class mages dispersed to chat with the rest of the guild, sharing their otherworldly experiences.
Noah found a seat and sat down. Watching the loud, rowdy atmosphere of the guild, his heart naturally found peace.
As expected, the guild was the only place where he truly felt at ease.
"What?!"
A sudden shriek broke his train of thought. Noah turned to look and saw Juvia reacting to something Happy had just told her. Noah tuned in and realized Happy was telling Juvia about Edolas, specifically mentioning how the Edolas-Gray was head-over-heels in love with the Edolas-Juvia and actively pursued her.
Juvia's mental defenses instantly shattered. Wondering if her hairstyle was the issue, she frantically scrambled to change her hair back to her old style. After fixing it, she realized the hairstyle probably wasn't the problem, and retreated to a corner, sluggishly peeking at Gray from behind a pillar.
Not far from Juvia, Alzack and Bisca were standing back-to-back, their faces completely flushed red. They had just heard from Lucy about how incredibly intimate their Edolas counterparts were. Their envy was written plainly on their faces. They would sneak a glance at each other, then violently whip their heads away—so fast Noah briefly wondered if they might snap their own necks.
Noah shook his head with a laugh. It looked like those two wouldn't be able to interact normally for a few days, not that their usual interactions were very "normal" to begin with.
He then remembered the souvenirs he had bought for everyone. He stood up, pulled out his Magic Cards, and began distributing the gifts one by one.
"What's this?!"
"Whoa, this is amazing!"
"I've never seen anything like this!"
The guild members who received souvenirs exclaimed in delight, eagerly showing off their gifts to one another. Some of the more precious items were immediately tucked away into spatial storage, for fear of them breaking.
"As expected, the guild is the best!" Natsu shouted after sharing his stories. He ran wildly around the guild hall, constantly breathing jets of fire into the air.
"You're too loud, Natsu!"
"Stop causing such a ruckus, Natsu!"
"Don't tell me the Natsu over there is just like this too?" one of the members asked, knowing there was another Fairy Tail in Edolas.
"Not at all. The Natsu over there is super timid. He doesn't even dare to speak loudly, and he uses polite honorifics when talking to us. But once he gets in a car, he becomes incredibly aggressive. It's basically a split personality," Lucy explained, shaking her head.
"Pfft-hahahahaha!"
"I literally can't even imagine Natsu acting like that!"
"I really want to see that version of Natsu!"
Hearing Lucy's description, the guild erupted into roaring laughter. Many were incredibly intrigued, genuinely wanting to see what a polite, timid Natsu looked like.
"Hey! I'm not some museum exhibit!" Natsu yelled back from across the room, having overheard them.
~~~
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