Thump!
A sharp burst of pain jolted Noah awake from his nap.
“Ow! Which blind idiot dares to disturb me while I’m sleeping? I swear I’ll—”
“It was me.”
Noah opened his sky-blue eyes and found a woman standing in front of him, her long scarlet hair framing a distinctly displeased expression.
The look in her eyes made it perfectly clear that if he did not get up immediately, she might decide to demolish his shop instead.
Noah became fully awake in an instant, and his tone changed just as quickly.
“—be sure to thank her properly for waking me up so I can get back to work.”
“Oh, Erza! What a pleasant surprise!” He sprang to his feet and casually wiped the drool from the corner of his mouth.
“Please, sit down. What can I get you?”
At that moment, Noah looked far more like an overeager tavern waiter than the owner of a magic shop.
Erza Scarlet gave him a measured look.
“I heard you bought out all the strawberry cake from that new bakery next door yesterday.”
“Say no more. I’ll get it ready immediately!”
Noah’s enthusiasm had nothing to do with being afraid of Erza’s strength.
Well, mostly nothing.
A minute later, he returned with a plate held reverently in both hands.
“For one of Hope Cottage’s most distinguished VIP customers. Please enjoy! If there’s anything wrong with the flavor, just say the word and I’ll personally go smash the bakery for you!”
Hope Cottage was the finest magic shop in Magnolia, selling all manner of magical items, including powerful weapons and armor.
As an S-Class Mage who specialized in Requip: The Knight, Erza naturally ranked among Hope Cottage’s most valuable customers.
More importantly, she had money.
A lot of money.
One minute later, Erza sat elegantly on a leather sofa, sampling the new strawberry cake with a small fork.
“The flavor is good, and I like the texture,” she said after taking a bite.
“The service was a little slow, though.”
Noah stared at her.
‘You call that slow?’
Once she had finished enjoying the cake, Erza finally revealed why she had come.
“I’m here to collect the armor I ordered the day before yesterday.”
“Right. Give me a moment.”
Noah nodded and disappeared into a small room at the back of the shop.
Before long, he returned carrying a gleaming suit of armor.
The armor was flawless white, surprisingly light despite its obvious toughness.
The helmet, breastplate, vambraces, greaves, boots, and gauntlets had been crafted with such consistency that they seemed to belong to a single seamless whole.
Paired with a large round shield, the complete set possessed a powerful, imposing beauty that suited Erza perfectly.
“This Adamantine Armor was made according to your requirements and Heart Kreuz’s design specifications,” Noah began proudly.
“I used an entirely new forging method and only the best materials. Serpent scales, rhino horn, jackal claws, crocodile teeth—”
He continued enthusiastically, describing every supposedly rare material and complicated process in increasingly extravagant detail.
“I also reinforced the entire set with a defensive enchantment I’ve been using and refining for twelve years. I can guarantee its defensive strength is top-class.”
This was something Noah had picked up during a trip to the royal capital the previous month, after exchanging business tips with the owner of one of the city’s most famous magic shops.
According to that man, the secret to selling expensive magical equipment was to overwhelm the customer with so much impressive-sounding jargon that they forgot to question the price.
Unfortunately, Noah’s current customer was Erza.
Erza was polite enough not to interrupt his passionate explanation, but in truth, not a single word was getting through to her.
She cared about only one thing: whether the armor actually worked.
“Then let’s test it.”
“Huh? But I’m not finished yet!”
Noah stared at her in disbelief.
This armor was one of his proudest creations.
He had spent a ridiculous amount of time making it, and even if Erza was a VIP, completely ignoring his carefully prepared sales pitch was just cruel.
What was the point of creating something this impressive if he did not get to brag about it?
“That’s all right,” Erza said.
“I don’t mind.”
“Fine, but there’s also a small Hope Cottage logo engraved here, and in the future—”
“Yes, yes. Very nice.”
Erza nodded along with the enthusiasm of someone who clearly did not care in the slightest whether the armor had a shop logo.
As long as the equipment was good, money was hardly an issue.
Then her patience ran out.
“Hurry up!”
“Yes, ma’am!”
Noah immediately carried the armor over to an unusually constructed wall inside the shop.
The wall had been built from energy-absorbing stone, a rare and expensive mineral capable of neutralizing most of the force from magical and physical attacks.
It was commonly used in places that required exceptional protection, including sections of fortified city walls, because it prevented destructive shockwaves from spreading beyond the point of impact.
There was another rare mineral found across Ishgar known as Magic Sealing Stone, though that material was more commonly fashioned into restraints.
A Mage wearing cuffs made from Magic Sealing Stone would be unable to use magic.
Any proper magic shop needed some way to demonstrate the strength of the equipment it sold, and having a testing wall made from energy-absorbing stone was one of the clearest signs that a shop took its merchandise seriously.
That was why, despite the material’s ridiculous cost, Noah had installed one in Hope Cottage.
He reached into his sleeve and pulled out a distinctive magic wand.
It was only about thirty centimeters long and scarcely thicker than his index finger.
The wand had a metallic silver finish, with several unusual characters engraved along its surface.
At first glance, it resembled nothing more than an exquisitely made metal baton.
Any powerful and experienced Mage, however, would immediately sense the specialized Magic Circle embedded within it.
“Watch closely.”
Noah lightly pressed the wand against the armor and murmured an incantation.
“Energy Impact.”
Magic power surged through the room.
A crimson Magic Circle flashed into existence in midair as Noah’s Word Magic responded to his command, converting the torrent of magic power into a concentrated blast of raw energy.
Amplified through the wand, the attack gathered enough destructive force to wreck the entire shop before erupting from the end of the weapon.
The blast sent a fierce gust tearing through the room, whipping Erza’s scarlet hair and skirt violently around her, yet her feet did not shift so much as an inch.
Noah glanced at her from the corner of his eye.
‘As expected of Erza.
Even that much pressure doesn’t move her at all.’
Erza, meanwhile, was looking at Noah with similar interest.
‘As expected of Noah.
He can cast magic of this intensity so casually.’
Their eyes met for a moment before both looked away.
Almost simultaneously, another thought crossed their minds.
‘I should spar with her sometime.’
‘I should spar with him sometime.’
Erza’s surprise deepened as she considered what she had just seen.
‘Noah’s barely taken any jobs lately, so I assumed he’d been slacking off.
I didn’t expect his Word Magic to have improved this much.’
Since the armor had not been secured in place, the enormous impact sent it flying straight into the testing wall.
Yet there was no violent crash.
The energy-absorbing stone swallowed the remaining magical force on impact and reduced the resulting vibration to almost nothing.
As long as that wall remained intact, there were very few attacks capable of causing serious damage to the little shop.
Noah hurried over, retrieved the armor, and carried it back to Erza.
He gave its breastplate several proud pats.
“See? Look at that! The defense is incredible. Not even a scratch!”
Erza stepped forward and inspected the armor carefully.
She knew exactly how powerful Noah’s attack had been.
After all, she had experienced that magic firsthand before.
If the armor could take a spell of that strength without suffering any visible damage, then its defensive capability was clearly a full level above most of the armor she had used in the past.
Erza gave a satisfied nod.
The Adamantine Armor had passed her test.