Half a month had passed since New Year's Eve.
The lively atmosphere of Magnolia had gradually faded, but there was one place in the city where such liveliness was a permanent fixture.
"Noah! Accept my challenge!"
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
Thud.
The hot-blooded, pink-haired youth, who'd just been full of fighting passion, lay on the ground with a bump on his head, drawing a burst of laughter from his companions watching the show.
"Natsu actually wasn't knocked out by one punch from Noah this time."
"Of course, Erza was the one who made a move today, but it was still just one punch."
"Even Erza finally couldn't stand Natsu's continuous challenges to Noah anymore..."
"That's harassment, actually."
"..."
Listening to the discussions around him, Noah looked sympathetically at Natsu, who'd been knocked unconscious by Erza's punch.
Although Natsu had used a Dragon Slayer Magic move just now, it was really just a name he slapped on it.
After Natsu's persistent pestering, Noah, unable to bear it, had agreed to spar with him in hand-to-hand combat, but once he agreed, it became difficult to stop.
Following a frequency of a small fight once a day and a big battle every three days, Natsu tirelessly challenged Noah for two weeks, completely numbing Noah.
At first, Noah would still exchange a few moves with Natsu before taking him down, but later, impatient, he directly chose to end the fight with one punch.
Until today, even Erza couldn't stand it anymore and gave Natsu a knockout package.
However, during this period of sparring with Natsu, Noah discovered that this kid perfectly fit the saying, "When heaven closes a door, it opens a window."
Although Natsu was usually not very intelligent, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him an idiot, his combat awareness was very strong, and his physical fitness could even be described as defying nature.
Even ignoring the characteristic of Fire Dragon Slayer Magic to recover by eating fire, Natsu's physical recovery ability was the strongest among all the people Noah had ever seen.
"By the way, is Natsu's father really a Dragon?"
Noah curiously asked Erza, who shook her head.
Natsu had joined the guild longer than Erza, and she'd never seen the Dragon father Natsu spoke of, only knowing that Natsu's Dragon father was named Igneel, and that Igneel had personally taught Natsu his Dragon Slayer Magic.
"Igneel..."
Noah silently recited the name. He'd heard it from the master blacksmith Doran, whose clan's Iron Dragon was friends with Fire Dragon King Igneel, one of the Three Dragon Kings.
Natsu's Dragon father and this Fire Dragon King shared the same name—was it a coincidence? Or were they the same Dragon?
"Today's subscribed newspapers are here—big news!"
Mirajane, holding a stack of newspapers, forcefully sat between Noah and Erza, distributing the newspapers to their companions.
The guild subscribed to many newspapers every month, usually receiving more than twenty copies a day, some serious, some entertainment, but today, almost all the front pages of the newspapers featured news about the same person.
"Ten Wizard Saints Candidate! And a Councilman!"
"Shocking! The Youngest Councilman is Actually Him!"
"Magic World Boyfriend Ranking: Newcomer Strongly Takes the Top Spot!"
"Who exactly is Siegrain?"
...Such big news at the start of the new year.
This Mage, named Siegrain, only nineteen years old, had become a candidate for the Ten Wizard Saints at such a young age. As long as he passed the various assessments of the Magic Council, he could officially become one of the Ten Wizard Saints.
It was important to know that this title was almost equivalent to being one of the ten strongest Mages recognized by the Council.
If he truly became a Ten Wizard Saint, then with Siegrain's potential, surpassing veteran Ten Wizard Saints like Makarov could be said to be promising for the future.
But the phrase "promising for the future" might be a bit inappropriate for this new powerhouse of the Magic World.
Because Siegrain's current status was no lower than Makarov's, and in some sense, even a notch higher.
He defeated Lahar, the person with the highest internal support within the Council.
He became the youngest Councilman in the history of the Magic Council.
With the "golden body" of a Councilman, Siegrain becoming a Ten Wizard Saint was already a foregone conclusion.
However, Noah didn't care about these intimidating titles or positions. He was only interested in the appearance of the dark-blue-haired man in the newspaper.
Everyone in the guild who saw the newspaper couldn't help but turn their gaze toward Noah.
Siegrain's appearance was surprisingly six or seven parts similar to Noah's. If the tattoo on Siegrain's right cheek were removed, their similarity would only be higher!
Mirajane looked at Noah with delight. "Is he the brother you're looking for?"
Before Noah could answer, Erza, who'd been engrossed in the person in the newspaper, snapped back to reality and asked in confusion, "Brother? Noah, do you have relatives?"
"It seems you don't know. Noah came out of his secluded home precisely to find his brother."
Mirajane was a little pleased that Erza didn't know. Erza had been so close to Noah recently, yet Noah hadn't told her about this.
Noah certainly hadn't told Erza, because he'd almost forgotten that he'd used this excuse to disguise his identity in the first place.
"This great Mage with a boundless future has nothing to do with me."
Noah gave Mirajane his answer, then turned to Erza to explain, "My brother is named Jellal, and the person in the newspaper is clearly not him."
What Noah didn't know was that after he spoke the name Jellal, Erza's hand, placed under the table, clenched tightly into a fist.
Noah was that person's younger brother!
Erza's heart was instantly filled with complex emotions.
The lively discussions woke Natsu, who was still lying on the ground. He noticed a girl he'd never seen before peeking her head through the guild's main door, sneakily observing the interior of the guild.
Seeing that someone had noticed her, the blonde girl awkwardly stepped forward.
"Hello, my name is Lucy."
"Um, may I join Fairy Tail?"