Mirajane cleaned up the dishes and left, only to return quickly, bringing someone with her.
A person with a peculiar physique.
—His body was as fat as a giant sphere, but his limbs were very slender, and his face was not fat at all, making him look very disproportionate.
Based on his past experience watching Conan, Rhode suspected this Fat Man was fake.
Mirajane introduced, "This is Liddas, Li-d-das."
After Rhode repeated it, Liddas also greeted Rhode.
Rhode found that the four people he had met since waking up were all very distinctive, some beautiful and some strange, making them hard to forget.
Amidst Rhode's puzzled expression, Liddas took out a paintbrush and drawing board and quickly began to draw on his round belly.
First, he drew Rhode, then the old man who had just left.
Then… the two figures actually jumped off Liddas's body and started moving!
"Magic Brush Ma Liang? Super Beast Scroll?" Rhode immediately thought of the stories he knew.
Liddas didn't understand Rhode's words and just kept drawing.
A forest appeared, and the two little figures entered the forest and began their performance.
'Rhode' fell to the ground in the forest, and the 'old man' stretched and enlarged his arm, cupping Rhode in his hands and carrying him away.
Next, the pink-haired lady appeared, force-feeding 'Rhode' medicine, followed by 'Rhode' waking up and 'Mirajane' entering the room—all familiar scenes.
Rhode watched, dumbfounded; he understood that Mr. Liddas was explaining the situation to him in this way.
He could indeed understand, but… this method was simply too fantastical.
If it wasn't some high-tech projection technology, then it must be… magic? Sorcery?
After demonstrating the situation, the small figures turned into puddles of paint, which, with a flick of Liddas's paintbrush, flew onto the drawing board.
Immediately after, he took out several more drawing papers to show Rhode.
The first one was a map, marking the forest where Rhode fainted and his current location.
The second drawing showed a wooden structure, which was likely the house they were currently in.
The third was a 'group photo,' with dozens of people in the picture.
Rhode stared at the third picture the longest; he easily found the short old man, Mirajane, and Liddas.
Then… he also saw several familiar characters.
Natsu, Erza, Gray!
"Fairy Tail?"
Although unbelievable, Rhode finally realized where he was.
If that were the case, then the peculiar beast, Liddas's magic, and the unique appearances and colorful hair of the people he had seen all made sense!
But why Fairy Tail of all places?
If it were One Piece or Naruto, Rhode would know more of the plot, but Fairy Tail… he really wasn't familiar with it!
He only recognized those few people because a roommate had put up some posters in the dorm.
Aside from those few people, and Wendy and Lucy who weren't in the picture, Rhode knew almost nothing about Fairy Tail!
Mirajane noticed Rhode's expression: "What's wrong? Do you know anyone in here?"
Rhode heard the voice and looked at her in confusion.
"Sorry, I forgot again," Mirajane said regretfully, "If Levy were here, she might understand what you're saying."
Liddas asked, "Can't Warren come and communicate with him?"
Mirajane said, "Even Warren's 'Telepathy' magic can only transmit sound into the other person's mind; things that aren't understood still won't be understood."
"Then… should we just teach him our language?"
Mirajane nodded: "That's all we can do for now, even if it's less efficient. Hopefully, Levy will have another way."
"If you need my help with anything, just ask," Liddas lifted his paintbrush, indicating that he could help with illustrations during the teaching, and even with animated 3D images.
"Yes, I'll have to trouble you then, Liddas."
—
Rhode's literacy lessons quickly began.
His mood was very complex now; even if he wanted to go back to school, he didn't know how.
Moreover, it was so dangerous here; if he wasn't careful, he might not be so lucky the next time he went out and would just be eaten by wolves.
For a time, Rhode didn't know what he should do, so he simply followed their arrangements first.
Since they were friends of the protagonists, they shouldn't have any ill intentions, right?
Upon realizing that they intended to teach him to read and speak, Rhode began to study actively.
Whatever he wanted to do next, he first needed to solve the communication problem.
Mirajane found a textbook somewhere that looked like it was for teaching kindergarten children to read, and she taught Rhode to read by referencing the material.
She used a very magical pen to aid her teaching; it could write glowing characters of different colors in the air.
Seeing Rhode's curious expression, Mirajane simply went out and borrowed another light pen to teach him how to use it hands-on.
She guessed that Rhode might have never even seen magic before.
Rhode found it novel that magical tools could be used even by people who didn't understand magic.
Or, perhaps, as long as he held this pen, he could also be considered capable of magic?
…
Perhaps because there was truly nothing else to do, Rhode's attention was quite focused.
His literacy lessons progressed quickly, and in not much time, Rhode had already mastered the basic syllables.
The next step would be to continue learning specific words and phrases.
However, Mirajane seemed very busy; every so often, someone would come to her with a piece of paper for registration and stamping.
Unfortunately, Rhode didn't recognize the characters on it and didn't know what it said.
Some people came and left in a hurry, while others would curiously inquire about Rhode's situation.
Mirajane patiently explained to everyone and also introduced these people's names to Rhode.
It was just a bit too many people; if he only relied on pronunciation and didn't understand the meaning, trying to remember so many names resulted in not remembering any of them.
And the more people who came to see Mirajane, the more uncomfortable Rhode felt.
—He seemed to be delaying Miss Mirajane's work and causing a lot of trouble for others' work.
Mirajane didn't mind these things, after all, it was something the Master had asked her to do.
Besides, everyone was just coming to her to register quests, and the infirmary wasn't far from the main hall, so everyone wouldn't mind once they understood the reason.
"You."
"You."
"I."
"I."
Mirajane taught him word by word, and Rhode, like a babbling child, parroted after her.
Mirajane pointed to her eyes: "Eyes."
"Eyes."
"Look."
"Look."
Rhode found Mirajane's eyes very beautiful; he initially thought her pupils were black, but on closer inspection, he found them to be a faint blue.
Her defined double eyelids made her eyes look large and spirited, and her eyelashes, though not long, were just right.
Her slender eyebrows drooped slightly, making her appear very gentle, but combined with her slightly downturned eye corners, there seemed to be a hint of sadness.
However, once she smiled, her eyes would curve into slits, making her whole person appear more approachable.
"Rhode?"
"Ah, I'm sorry." Rhode realized he had zoned out a bit.
"It's alright, class seems to have been going on for a while," Mirajane checked the time, gently propped herself up by her knees, and stood, "Please wait a moment, I'll go get something to eat."
Mirajane repeated it with gestures.
Rhode seemed to understand one or two words, and combined with her gestures, he could roughly guess what she meant.
It was then that he noticed that, unknowingly, the sky had already grown dark; he had been in a foreign language class for half a day without realizing it.
He used to complain that foreign language classes dragged on, but now it was the opposite.
Perhaps it was because he truly had nothing else to do.
His second meal after arriving in this world was a large bowl of steaming ramen.
The bowl was a large white porcelain bowl with peculiar red patterns along its rim.
The chopsticks were plain brown, and from their feel and weight, they seemed to be ordinary wooden chopsticks.
The main point was the noodles with oil slicks in the bowl, deep red char siu, a white-to-yellow fried egg, a few pieces of green vegetables, plus finely chopped scallions…
The beautiful plating and color combination greatly stimulated his appetite.
Rhode picked up the chopsticks and took a large mouthful of noodles, but then he thought that eating so messily wouldn't look good, so he loosened his grip, leaving only half.
He gently blew on the steam rising from the noodles; before they even reached his mouth, the aroma had already entered his nasal cavity, making his mouth water.
When the noodles entered his mouth, their springy yet soft and savory texture made Rhode admire the chef here, and he also wished for a couple of cloves of garlic.
It didn't matter if there weren't any, there was still tender, juicy, slightly sweet char siu to accompany the meal.
The fried egg was cooked perfectly; biting off half the yolk at once was one flavor, and letting the remaining half of the yolk soak up a bit of broth was another.
Then, a piece of blanched but still slightly crisp green vegetable to cleanse the palate, and he could begin the next round of fierce eating.
As Rhode ate, he forgot all about being refined, and his mouth began to make slurping sounds.
After finishing the food, he didn't forget to slurp up a few mouthfuls of the clear noodle broth—pure and gentle, rich and seasoned; indeed, if the noodles were this good, the broth couldn't be far behind.
Rhode let out a long breath, a fine layer of sweat beaded on his forehead, and the aftertaste in his mouth and the warmth in his stomach gave him immense happiness.
"It was delicious, thank you!"
"I'm glad you liked it," Mirajane said with a smile, placing a cup of water on the nightstand and carrying the ramen bowl away.
When she returned this time, Mirajane was carrying a small bag, and a large man was accompanying her.
The large man wore a dark blue high-collared jacket, and through the open collar, a tattoo could be seen on the left side of his neck.
—It was the same symbol as on the ramen bowl, only black in color.
Rhode then remembered that it seemed to be the Fairy Tail symbol.
He hadn't seen Mirajane's symbol anywhere, it seemed.
"Elfman, my younger brother," Mirajane introduced.
Elfman had a scar at the corner of his right eye, which made him look somewhat fierce even when he wasn't intentionally making an expression.
Rhode noted down the name Elfman but didn't understand the word 'younger brother'.
However, looking at Elfman's demeanor and the same white hair as hers, this person was probably her older brother, right?
A novice writing a novel for the first time (not really).
Writing Fairy Tail for the first time (not entirely either).
Anyway, please collect and invest.