Opening his eyes, he saw an unfamiliar ceiling.
This was the Fairy Tail girls' dormitory, where Noah was temporarily staying in a vacant room.
As for why Noah wasn't staying in the boys' dormitory... first, there had to be a boys' dormitory!
Noah never expected that a renowned, prominent guild would actually lack a boys' dormitory.
Or rather, there once was one, but because the troublemakers often tore it down during fights, countless sums of money were spent on repeated repairs and reconstructions.
Finally, due to too many losses, Makarov, in a fit of pique, abolished the boys' dormitory, telling the male members of the guild to find their own accommodation.
"That's outrageous. How much do they love to wreck their homes?"
Lying in bed, recalling what happened last night, Noah felt a momentary sympathy for Makarov; it truly wasn't easy for the old man to be a Guild Master.
Just the day before, the celebration to welcome Noah had somehow devolved into a full-blown party.
Initially, Noah was immersed in everyone's enthusiasm, but then the teenagers named Natsu and Gray, for some unknown reason, started fighting again, and tables, chairs, plates, and wine glasses shattered with a crashing sound.
Finally, the two were angrily blasted out of the guild by Makarov's Giant Magic, turning into stars and disappearing into the night sky, with their faint shouts of "I'll definitely be back" still audible.
Just as Noah was about to get up, he sensed something and waved his hand to activate his Magic.
The pure white Wish Magic transformed into a form resembling a request slip before Noah's eyes.
[This World Wish]
[Etherious Natsu Dragneel, due to excessive eating and drinking, has run out of living expenses this month and urgently needs a meat meal to replenish his stamina.]
[Reward: Fire Resistance (Weak)]
[Deadline: 60 minutes]
Looking at this Wish order, Noah fell silent.
Wish orders that could be found by the Wish Magic must be genuinely desired by the client at that moment, which meant Natsu truly, genuinely wanted to eat meat.
But if he's out of money, why would he want to eat a big meal?! Go earn some money!
Also, isn't this guy's full name too long? "Etherious," "Dragneel"—these look somewhat like two surnames.
However, if a meat meal could be exchanged for Fire Resistance, it seemed quite a good deal.
But the problem was that Noah was currently penniless; all the daily necessities in this dormitory were kindly sponsored by Mirajane.
Would an hour be enough time to go to the guild and take a job now?
Forget it, maybe next time.
His lazy tendencies kicking in, Noah felt a wave of lethargy, and his body, which had just sat up, lay back down, sealing himself in bed with the blanket.
"Noah, are you home?"
A knock sounded, and Mirajane's voice came from outside the door, forcing Noah to break free from the blanket's grip and get out of bed.
Opening the door with messy hair, Noah stared at the person outside, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes.
She was wearing a dark burgundy dress with a bow-like decorative tie at the chest, a sapphire pendant around her neck, high heels, and her bangs were swept up high and tied into a cute little bun on top of her head.
A gentle and virtuous demeanor, an angelic smile.
But yesterday, she was dressed like a tomboy!
Who are you, beautiful lady!
Although he knew the person was Mirajane, Noah still shouted this in his heart.
"Good morning, Mira, is there something you need?"
Noah invited Mirajane into the room and poured her a glass of water.
Mirajane took out a wrapped package from behind her back, opened it on the table, and pushed it towards Noah; it was stacks of neatly piled Jewels.
She... she wouldn't be trying to keep me, would she?!
Noah suddenly grew nervous; in Edolas, he had seen news of wealthy women keeping young men in some niche, non-mainstream newspapers.
Unthinkable scenarios flashed through his mind—it was too terrifying!
Unaware that Noah's mind had already started to wander, Mirajane said cheerfully, "Noah, the reward for 'Subduing the Beast King' has come down; it's a total bounty of 12 million Jewels, so it's 3 million for each of us four. This is your share."
"So that's how it is."
Noah breathed a sigh of relief; his thoughts had been inappropriate. Although Mirajane was a powerful S-Class Mage, she was also a seventeen-year-old girl and probably wouldn't know about those kinds of things.
Looking at the banknotes on the table, Noah could accept that Mirajane and the others were willing to give him a share, but the money on the table clearly far exceeded 3 million.
Meeting Noah's questioning gaze, Mirajane explained, "It's Elfman! He asked me to give you his share of the reward, saying it's a thank you for saving Lisanna."
Noah understood that Elfman was still shaken about potentially losing a loved one and immediately asked how he was doing now.
"Him... he's a man now."
Mirajane showed a relieved smile, seemingly happy about her brother's sudden growth.
Mirajane didn't stay long before leaving; she still had to go to Porlyusica's place for a full body check-up, which Makarov had insisted on due to his concern for Mirajane's health.
According to Mirajane, Porlyusica was Makarov's close friend, an excellent healer, but with an eccentric personality, living in seclusion in the forest outside Magnolia.
Porlyusica, Noah knew that name.
In the world of Edolas, Faust's elder sister, Noah's aunt, was also named Porlyusica, and she was also an excellent healer.
Unfortunately... Noah had never seen his aunt in person, only in photographs of her when she was young.
Because Porlyusica had already gone missing when Faust was still a small child.
His palm glided over the banknotes, feeling the texture of the paper. Noah roughly counted them; it was a total of 9 million Jewels. It seemed Mirajane hadn't told the whole truth; she and Lisanna had also given Noah a portion of their reward.
The dormitory rent was around 100,000 Jewels a month, so this money would last Noah for a very long time.
Mirajane and the two others thanked Noah for saving their lives, and Noah also thanked them for their timely help.
"Well then, next, let's go have a big meal."
"By the way, where does Natsu live?"
By the time Noah went to the guild to inquire about Natsu's whereabouts and arrived, fifteen minutes had already passed.
A cheap bungalow in a corner of Magnolia, that was Natsu's location.
He knocked on the door but received no response. Noah, however, pushed the door open with one hand.
The imagined scene of a bare house did not appear; although the room was a bit messy, overall, Natsu's home could be described as "livable."
Looking at the listless, pink-haired boy lying on the floor, and a small blue cat whose stomach was rumbling, Noah knew why there had been no response to his knock.
"How did you manage to get this hungry in less than a day...?"
"Also, what's with this Exceed?"
Thirty minutes later, in a barbecue restaurant in Magnolia's food street, twenty-odd empty plates were stacked high on a table.
Many diners were drawn by the sight of the ravenous boy, some even starting to bet on whether the pink-haired boy could break the barbecue restaurant's thirty-plate eating record.
"Ah~ I'm alive again."
After the twenty-ninth empty plate, Natsu leaned back in his chair contentedly, rubbing his bulging stomach. It seemed he still hadn't broken the thirty-plate record after all.
"Noah, thank you for treating me to grilled fish."
The cute blue cat named Happy sat on the table like a tiny person, next to a plate of leftover grilled fish bones.
Looking at the utterly happy Happy, Noah couldn't resist reaching out to stroke his soft fur; this was something he had wanted to do but couldn't in Edolas.
In the world of Edolas, there was a special race that naturally possessed Magic within their bodies. They had the appearance of cats, and each could use Aera to fly, thus being worshipped as angels by humans. They also called themselves Exceeds.
Happy was an Exceed, and although Noah didn't know how he came to Earth Land, a cat that allowed him to pet it was a good cat.
[Local Request Completed]
[Reward: Fire Resistance (Weak)]
[Client's comment: Praise Noah!]
Noah felt as if something had changed within his body. He glanced at Natsu. "Are you full, Natsu? If not, just call the waiter for more meat; it's my treat."
Although Natsu was usually thick-skinned, that was when he was getting beaten. Having already eaten so much for free from Noah, he was too embarrassed to continue.
"Noah, you haven't taken on any jobs yet, have you? Do you want to team up with me and Happy?"
"Aye! Noah, let's go together!"
Stroking the cat's fur, Noah politely declined Natsu and Happy, using the excuse that he needed to read a book.
After spending 10,000 Jewels and leaving the barbecue restaurant, a new Wish order suddenly appeared as Noah and Natsu parted ways.
[This World Wish Order]
[To thank his new companion for his generosity, Natsu wants to take him on a good job as a team.]
[Reward: Fire Resistance (Strong)]
[Deadline: 24 hours]
Seriously, buddy... are you helping me boost my performance here?!
But this lousy Magic doesn't even have a sales award!
Wish orders require the client's sincere desire, and it must be what the client most wants or most wishes to do at that moment, for it to be retrieved by Wish Magic and generate a Wish order.
Noah looked at Natsu, who hadn't walked far yet. This guy... isn't he a little too sincere...?