With a handle in Noah's hands, Laxus had been much more well-behaved lately; although he was still rebellious, his attitude towards Makarov had improved significantly.
"You did well, Noah," Makarov said, smiling as he looked at the projection Lacrima Noah had sent him in his third-floor office.
The content, of course, was Laxus begging for help.
Although Noah had promised Laxus that the recording would not be spread before he violated the rules, Makarov was his biological grandfather, not an outsider; how could it be considered spreading if he watched it?
Makarov was very happy; since personally expelling his son Ivan from the guild, he hadn't seen any expression other than "indifference" on Laxus's face for a long time.
The more Makarov looked at Noah, the more pleasing he became; he didn't know why he always felt a sense of familiarity and inexplicable trust towards him.
"Noah, you're not really planning to make a hundred copies of that recording, are you?"
"Hard to say."
Noah shrugged; in his opinion, Laxus's behavior was a bit excessive.
It was one thing to look down on his companions because of his own strength, but he actually fantasized about becoming the Guild Master, expelling weak companions, only recruiting strong ones, and making Fairy Tail even stronger.
Because of this, Laxus and Makarov had argued many times, and besides rejecting his rebellious grandson's unreasonable proposals, all Makarov could do was sulk alone; he could no longer discipline the grown-up Laxus.
Noah believed that if Laxus continued like this, he might one day seize the Guild Master's position by force and use extreme methods to "strengthen" the guild.
Therefore, using some means to make Laxus have some scruples was the best approach.
"No, Laxus loves the guild very much; he wouldn't do something like that," Makarov said. Even though Laxus was accustomed to being arrogant, he still believed he wouldn't do anything to harm the guild.
Noah shrugged again; his previous statement was just the worst-case scenario in his imagination, and as Makarov said, it was unlikely that Laxus would do anything too outrageous to the guild.
"Speaking of which, Noah, come help me with something..."
Watching Makarov take a stack of letters from the drawer, Noah knew what he wanted to do, so he ran away.
Makarov looked at this scene in surprise, his mouth twitching. "Really, one by one, is helping me write apology letters so terrifying? This time there are only a dozen or so to write."
Noah quickly ran from the third floor down to the first-floor hall, and only breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Makarov hadn't chased him; to actually want a slacker like himself to help write apology letters, the Guild Master must really be getting senile.
"Noah, you're here!"
Such an enthusiastic voice could only come from one person: Natsu, holding up his partner, the blue cat Happy, exclaimed, "I've been waiting for a long time! Let your Cheese and my Happy compete!"
"The winner will receive the title of the guild's strongest cat!"
Mirajane, who'd just returned from delivering drinks, passed by Noah and chuckled, "Haha, it seems you've been targeted by a troublesome fellow."
Noah directly ignored Natsu's invitation for a cat duel; Exceed cats only needed to be cute, and it was best not to get involved in fighting.
"It's so boring! I've been diligently practicing Haki during this time, but there's no place for me to use it."
Seeing that Noah didn't want the cats to compete, Natsu slumped on the table, bored, his gaze falling on the blonde girl chatting and laughing with Levy. "I've got it! Lucy! Levy! Let me help you train! That way, you'll learn Haki sooner!"
The petite literary girl Levy gave an awkward smile. "Um, the city's library recently expanded, adding many books, so Haki training... let's postpone it for a while."
Lucy, on the other hand, flatly refused; in the two months since she'd joined Fairy Tail, she'd become familiar with the guild, and it was best not to join Natsu's strange spur-of-the-moment ideas.
"What's wrong... we're teammates in a team..."
Natsu continued to lie on the table, looking at Lucy with resentful eyes.
Lucy also had something to say; if she hadn't been attracted by Happy's cute appearance, she wouldn't have teamed up with Natsu.
Since teaming up with Natsu, Lucy had not only failed to earn a single Jewel from jobs but had even lost some money; however, the process of doing jobs was thrilling, and the blonde girl loved that feeling.
But speaking of jobs, Natsu seemed to remember something.
"Eh? Happy, did we forget a job?"
"Aye? Did we?"
The blue cat, sitting side by side with Cheese and eating dried fish, looked puzzled; Lucy also confirmed multiple times that all the jobs their team had recently taken were completed, but the rewards had all been returned as compensation for damages.
Natsu shook his head. "No, when I took that job, Lucy hadn't joined the guild yet; it was a few years ago."
"A few years ago, Happy was just a newborn kitten; how could he remember that?"
Mirajane glanced at Natsu and whispered an explanation to Lucy beside her, but looking at Natsu's serious expression, that job might be very important.
"It was like a group of invisible people... asked me to defeat an evil scientist?"
Frowning deeply, Natsu tried hard to recall.
Suddenly, a name appeared in his mind, and Natsu slapped the table hard. "Damn it! Silent Town! How could I forget about this!"
Amidst Natsu's exasperated cry, a notification sound also rang in Noah's mind.
[Local Wish Request]
[Due to the influence of Stealth Magic, Etherious Natsu Dragneel has forgotten his promise to the residents of Silent Town. Please help him fulfill his promise from a few years ago and rescue the invisible town residents.]
[Reward: Flame Consumption]
[Deadline: 24 hours]
Good heavens, he finally got another one of Natsu's orders! Noah had originally thought he could directly obtain Fire Dragon Slayer Magic in one go, but he didn't expect it to only be the Dragon Slayer's ability to consume elements of the same attribute.
Flame resistance, flame consumption... perhaps with a few more of Natsu's Wish requests, Noah could piece together the complete Fire Dragon Slayer Magic.
"Natsu, now that you've remembered, stop blaming yourself. Go to Silent Town quickly and see if there's still a chance to make amends."
"Don't worry, I'll be with you."
Noah's voice roused Natsu from his self-reproach, and he nodded vigorously. "Thank you, Noah, we need to leave quickly."