"Did you even hear a word I just said, you arrogant little brat?"
Makarov's face twitched with anger. He grabbed Kabe by one ear and bellowed directly into it.
"Hiss... I heard you, I heard you! I am not some bloodthirsty maniac. As long as people do not mess with me first, I cannot be bothered to go around causing trouble."
After snapping back, he dug at his ear hard, cursing in his heart about how loud this old man shouted. If he damaged his hearing like this, he was definitely going to turn into a Great Ape one day and stomp this baldy into paste.
His tone was perfunctory, but Makarov had gotten the answer he wanted, so he could not be bothered to keep arguing.
He snorted, then pulled out a key he had prepared earlier and tossed it to Kabe.
"This is the key to the boys' dorm. Your room is right next to Gray's. Tomorrow I am arranging for you to study together with Gray, Erza, and the others. So you had better sleep early tonight. If you are late tomorrow, I will personally go to your room and use my fists to wake you up."
Study? So this was training in magic and combat?
That was something he absolutely could not slack off on. Power was the only real guarantee for staying alive.
Kabe, who understood the importance of strength better than anyone, nodded for once in a serious way. He carefully pocketed the key, planning to head back to the dorm with Gray after he finished eating.
After that, he chatted with Makarov for a bit about what he had seen during the day. While they talked, the dishes he had ordered began coming out one after another.
Starving and impatient, Kabe hurriedly said goodbye to Makarov, then rushed over to the table Cana and the others had saved for him.
Under the cheers and exclamations of the onlookers, he began his second live eating performance.
"This brat..."
Watching plate after plate vanish into Kabe's mouth like a magic trick, Makarov felt like his heart was bleeding. Each bite hurt to watch.
But a brat he had picked up himself, no matter how much he ate, he still had to feed him. At worst, he could go out to the forest east of town and hunt for meat himself. There was no way he would let the kids go hungry.
'Damn it, a Guild Master reduced to this... I am probably the only one in the whole kingdom in this situation. I really want to retire already...'
...
Pang pang pang.
Pang pang pang.
"Hey, Kabe, wake up, it is time for class!"
At dawn, when the rising sun had just begun to light the sky, Kabe, who had gone to bed late again, was still lost in a sweet dream.
Obviously, that was the end of his peaceful sleep.
Outside the door, Gray kept knocking over and over, his banging growing more and more frantic.
"Hey, Kabe, we are going to be late. If you do not get up, Master is going to come grab you himself!"
On the bed, Kabe rolled over in annoyance and dragged the blanket over his head.
"Quit shouting... let me sleep a bit more..."
"I cannot. We really are going to be late."
After yelling, Gray pressed his ear to the door and listened.
Ten seconds passed. When he still heard nothing from inside, his face darkened. He twisted the doorknob and stormed in.
He scanned the room. His gaze quickly locked onto the lump of blanket on the bed in the far corner.
He strode over and shook the bundle hard, speaking urgently.
"Hey, seriously, we are out of time. Weren't you the one swearing yesterday that you were going to work hard in class? If you are late on the very first day, Master is absolutely going to chew you out."
Class? Lessons? Did he not already graduate?
That thought floated lazily through Kabe's half-asleep brain like a snooze alarm.
Then, in the next second, he jolted awake and shot upright.
"Right, class! Quick, quick, clothes, I am going to be late!"
He flung the blanket aside. Wearing only a pair of underwear, he started tearing around the room searching for his clothes.
Seeing that he was finally awake, Gray let out a sigh of relief and began helping him look.
By the time Kabe was finally dressed and had splashed some water on his face, then sprinted out of the dorm with Gray, it was already close to eight in the morning.
Eight o'clock was the time he had agreed on with Makarov the night before for the start of class.
They ran as fast as they could, but still arrived late at the day's classroom: Kardia Cathedral.
Kabe could not help wondering why they had to come to a church to learn magic. Couldn't they just teach at the guild?
But since he was late, he did not dare ask anything. He simply followed Gray into the cathedral, circling past the large central nave used for worship, and into a side room.
"I am sorry, Sister Mary, we are late."
As soon as they entered the classroom, Gray bowed his head and apologized to the woman standing by the blackboard: an older nun in her fifties, dressed in a habit.
It was Kabe's first time there, so he copied Gray and bowed his head as well.
Sister Mary glanced at the two late boys, then smiled kindly and waved them over.
"Come in, Gray, and our new student. Just remember not to be late next time."
Gray nodded gratefully, then hurriedly dragged Kabe to two empty seats in the back row.
On the way, Kabe caught sight of Cana and Erza looking at him with expressions that clearly said "knew it."
He could not chat with them in class, so he only gave them a small nod and then sat properly in his seat.
Each desk was single, with only one lonely textbook laid on top... or more accurately, a Bible.
Once they were settled, Sister Mary picked up her own Bible again and resumed the lesson.
"Now then, everyone turn to page sixty-three. We will start from the third paragraph. Read along with me: Love is patient and kind; love does not envy; love does not boast, it is not proud..."
Kabe held the Bible of this world in a daze and recited along with the others like a machine.
After the group finished the passage, Sister Mary wrote the key sentences on the blackboard and began teaching them to recognize the characters one by one.
Only then did enlightenment finally dawn on Kabe.
So much for magic and combat. This "studying" was just learning how to read?!
The gorgeous scenes in his head of learning powerful magic and full-contact martial arts shattered instantly and turned into dry, boring literacy lessons. His mood was like a roller coaster that had just climbed to the highest point, then dropped straight off the cliff.
Even so, he still obediently hugged his Bible and read along word by word.
He did not know why he had no problem talking to Makarov, Cana, and the others as soon as he arrived in this world. Spoken language was fine.
But when it came to the written script of the Fairy Tail world, he was completely blind.
To avoid the humiliation of being unable to even read the job descriptions in the future, Kabe gritted his teeth, forced himself back into a "school mode" he had not used since his previous life, and threw himself into studying with rare seriousness.
New book setting sail, begging for flowers, bookmarks, monthly tickets, reviews, urges for more chapters, rewards, begging for everything!!!