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A night passed, and Noah woke up early.
Due to different worldviews, the mainstream currency of Earth Land might not work in the world where Jade lived, so Noah planned to visit the Heartfilia Konzern's exchange in Magnolia to buy a few gold coins.
Gold, as a precious metal, was hard currency whether in magic-abundant Earth Land or magic-depleted Edolas, so Noah figured gold might also have value in other worlds.
"Five gold coins should be enough to buy a doll, right?"
Guessing at prices in another world, Noah walked out of the exchange, weighing five gold coins embossed with the Heartfilia emblem.
Truth be told, gold really wasn't cheap—five gold coins cost Noah nearly two hundred thousand Jewels, an amount an ordinary Mage would have to earn from several Jobs.
However, Noah didn't feel bad about the money. He just wanted to complain about the recently soaring gold prices.
"Noah! You're here too!"
A passionate voice rang out, and there was no need to look to know who it was. That seemingly inexhaustible vitality—not just in Fairy Tail, but in all of Magnolia—only one person had it.
A combination of a pink-haired boy, a blonde girl, and a blue cat appeared in Noah's line of sight.
"Morning, Noah."
Lucy yawned. She couldn't sleep from excitement after suddenly acquiring four Celestial Spirit Keys, spending the whole night just happily hugging them.
In contrast, Happy was much more energetic, raising his cute little paw to greet Noah. "Noah, it's weird that you didn't sleep in today and get dragged out by Erza."
Damn, this mischievous cat!
Hitting a sore spot, are we?!
Noah's face darkened, and he grabbed Happy, teaching him what human vengeance looked like with just one move—a big windmill spin!
To this, Natsu, Happy's closest companion, just laughed heartily from the side. Indeed, after spending enough time with someone, you became like them, and Happy had long since adopted Natsu's personality.
After a brief moment of playfulness, Lucy took the dizzy Happy with both hands and asked, "Noah, what're you doing here? Shopping?"
"Yeah, buying some trinkets."
Noah nodded. "Your Heartfilia Konzern is truly powerful—you even obtained the right to mint gold coins. Besides the royal family in the Kingdom of Fiore, only your Konzern can mint gold coins. Impressive."
Unsure if she was being praised or teased, Lucy could only give an awkward smile and changed the subject, saying she'd come to the exchange to withdraw some money and pick up a gift her father sent.
Because she'd bought four Celestial Spirit Keys (three Gold and one Silver) from Noah, Lucy's accumulated pocket money had completely run out.
As for the rewards she earned from Guild Jobs, they all went to compensating for the damages her troublemaking teammates caused. If she didn't withdraw money soon, she might not even be able to eat...
The reason the Heartfilia Konzern set up an exchange in Magnolia—to put it nicely—was to expand business, but in reality, Jude was worried his daughter didn't have enough money and specifically prepared a small private fund for Lucy.
Noah knew the cash available in this private fund was enough to buy half of Magnolia, but Jude just hadn't told Lucy.
This was probably a rich person's way of showing love.
It was truly enviable.
But that was what others thought. As a dignified foreign prince, had he, Noah, ever been proud?
Leaving with a goodbye, Noah's figure vanished like the wind.
"Noah's getting stronger and stronger! I need to work harder too! I'm all fired up!"
Lucy and Happy were already used to Natsu's sudden excited declarations about catching up to Noah. To get stronger, Natsu always set powerful individuals as his goal.
Entering the exchange, the steward, seeing it was their young miss, quickly ushered the two people and one cat into Lucy's exclusive luxurious room, then left.
This was originally a residence Jude had prepared for Lucy, but Lucy wasn't very interested in luxury living—she preferred liveliness, so she'd later moved into the Guild dormitory.
The gift Jude sent lay quietly on the table. It was a letter. Lucy curiously opened the envelope and took out a letter and a Gold Key.
"This is... Libra!!"
Looking at the constellation pattern on the Key, Lucy's face lit up with joy. She didn't expect her father had actually collected a Gold Celestial Spirit Key for her!
8 + 1 = 9!
Just three more Gold Keys, and she'd gather all twelve zodiac Celestial Spirits! This was an unprecedented feat!
Would she become the strongest Celestial Spirit Mage in history?
For a moment, Lucy fell into fantasy.
But right then, someone was about to ruin her fun. Natsu, holding the letter, quickly scanned it and excitedly said, "Lucy! Your dad actually has a Job for us!"
"Huh?!"
Snapping out of it, Lucy curiously leaned over to look at her father's letter.
Turned out the Libra Key had been bought by Jude from a little girl named Yukino Aguria. The little girl didn't want money—she hoped Jude could help her escape from her Magic Guild, Sabertooth.
When Jude came to take Yukino away, Sabertooth's Guild Master was extremely stubborn. Even with Jude offering exorbitant compensation, and even with Yukino expressing her wishes, he refused to let Yukino leave.
In the end, Sabertooth's Guild Master had even unreasonably attacked and injured the Konzern's people, and locked Yukino in a dark room without food or water as punishment.
No matter how rich Jude was, he was just an ordinary person and couldn't fight Mages.
But to complete the transaction with Yukino, and also worried about the little girl's safety, Jude decisively sought outside help, appealing to his daughter who'd joined a Magic Guild, hoping she could ask Makarov or Noah for help.
"There's no need for the Guild Master or Noah to get involved—we can handle this!"
Natsu was furious. He couldn't stand Guilds that bullied their own members, especially a child! "I'm definitely gonna punch that guy who doesn't respect his Guild members' wishes!"
Lucy was still hesitant. If there wasn't a reasonable excuse, forcibly taking Yukino from Sabertooth might escalate into a Guild war, which would bring the Magic Council's judgment...
But Natsu couldn't care less. Grabbing Lucy's arm, he dragged her and Happy out of the exchange in a whirlwind and rushed toward the Magic Train station.
However, at the train station, Natsu and Lucy ran into a familiar yet somehow different person. He was dressed in black metal armor, with spiky black hair, and iron studs seemed to be pierced through his eyebrows and nose, making his entire being radiate the sharpness of metal.
"Fire Dragon, you here to greet me?"
Gajeel, returning from his training, looked at Natsu and gave a wicked smile. "Just so you know, I'm way..."
"You're coming with us too!" Natsu didn't hear what Gajeel was saying. He just felt Gajeel's arrival was perfectly timed. He charged into him, pushing him onto the train heading toward Sabertooth.
"You bastard! I just got off a train!!"
Inside the train car, Gajeel and Natsu glared at each other—one angry, one confused—but they quickly slumped down, completely limp, under Lucy and Happy's expectant gazes.
Motion sickness.
This was a fate no Dragon Slayer could escape.