Mira frowned slightly.
“Oh dear… this might be getting a little out of hand.”
Noah chuckled.
“It’s fine. Lucy, aren’t you going to join in too? It’s fun.”
Lucy stared at him.
“You call that fun?!”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“I-I think I’ll pass.”
“That won’t do.” Noah shook his head solemnly.
“Now that you’re officially part of the guild, you need to make an effort to fit into the atmosphere of our big happy family.”
Lucy looked ready to break down.
“Why does fitting in with the family require joining a giant brawl?!”
Noah gave her a surprised look, then answered as though the reason should have been obvious.
“Why? Because once we’ve all beaten each other up together, then we’re really family.”
“I… but…”
Lucy’s opinion of Noah took another sharp turn.
As expected, the refined and harmless appearance was a lie.
She glanced toward the ongoing melee and instinctively took a step away from him.
“That looks… incredibly dangerous.”
Happy noticed and immediately began stirring up trouble with an innocent expression.
“What’s wrong? Is Lucy joining too?”
“I am not!”
Unfortunately, her protest was far too weak.
What Natsu heard was apparently something closer to, I’m coming in too!
He grinned excitedly.
“Oh! Lucy wants to join us? Awesome! Now I’m really fired up!”
“Huh?!”
Gray, who had somehow managed to put his shirt back on at some point, immediately took it off again.
“This is getting more interesting.”
“What?!”
Elfman raised both fists and roared.
“NOW THAT’S MANLY!”
“I’M A GIRL!”
Cana looked over with interest.
“Oh? Didn’t expect the new girl to be such a battle maniac.”
“I’M NOT!”
Loke sighed dramatically.
“Come on, everyone. You should be gentler with a beautiful lady.”
“That somehow makes me even more nervous!”
“Lucy’s really strong!” Natsu added.
“Aye!”
“You two shut up!” Lucy shouted.
“Everyone, listen! I’m actually—”
She never got to finish.
Flames, ice, crushing force, lightning, and flashes of light erupted toward her all at once.
Lucy shrieked, covered her head, and stumbled backward.
“NOOO!”
Mira’s face changed instantly.
“Lucy! Watch out!”
The attacks were already almost on top of her.
At the last possible moment—
“Taurus!”
A Gold Celestial Spirit Key carved a streak of golden light through the air.
With a clear chime, a Magic Circle opened the Gate of the Golden Bull, and a massive cow-like Celestial Spirit appeared carrying an enormous battle axe.
Taurus swung one hoof forward and brought the axe down in a single powerful sweep.
The incoming flames, ice, heavy strikes, lightning, and flashes of light were all blown apart at once.
“He looks pretty strong!”
“Even Celestial Spirits can be manly!”
“A Celestial Spirit, huh? What a coincidence.”
“It’s Taurus…”
Taurus rested the axe across one shoulder and struck what he clearly believed was an incredibly cool pose.
“Moooo! Leave Miss Lucy’s boobs—and the fighting—to me!”
Lucy, meanwhile, was nowhere near him.
She was hiding inside Horologium, curled up and clutching her head while tears streamed down her face.
“Waaah… this is terrifying! she says,” Horologium reported in his usual elderly voice, his eyes narrowed.
Gray leaned closer and inspected him curiously.
“A clock? Is this another Celestial Spirit?”
“At least look before you start attacking people! she says.”
Happy immediately trotted over.
“Lucy, I wanna go inside too!”
Cats were naturally curious creatures.
Mira strode toward the group with her hands planted firmly on her hips.
Her expression had become unusually stern.
“Enough. There’s a limit to how far you can take a joke.”
“Exactly!”
Noah immediately stepped behind her with righteous indignation despite having contributed heavily to the entire situation.
“Is this how we treat newcomers in Fairy Tail? I’m disappointed in all of you!”
Everyone ignored Noah.
Mira, however, was another matter.
The culprits all lowered their heads apologetically and fell silent.
Inside Horologium, Lucy felt a little relief.
‘Okay… there are normal people in this guild.’
‘Sorry, I really shouldn’t have doubted—’
Noah crossed his arms.
“Seriously, after all this time, this is all the stronger you’ve gotten? Weren’t you people supposed to be training with me as your goal?”
“…”
Lucy’s face went blank.
‘Nope.’
‘He’s just an awful bastard.’
“That’s enough, Noah!” Mira snapped.
“Lucy was actually in danger just now!”
Noah blinked as though the thought had only just occurred to him.
“Huh? Lucy, are you okay?”
Concern instantly flooded his face.
“I get it now. These idiots were way too rough with you.”
He started taking off his magic robe.
“Don’t worry. I’ll teach them a lesson personally.”
Lucy stared at him.
“…”
Mira’s smile disappeared.
“If you keep this up, I really am going to get angry.”
Noah immediately decided he had pushed his luck far enough.
“All right, all right.” He laughed awkwardly.
“Lucy looked completely terrified, so I was just trying to lighten the mood a little. Don’t take it so seriously.”
Lucy stared through Horologium’s glass.
‘That did not look anything like trying to lighten the mood!’
Noah walked over and tapped gently on the glass.
“Lucy, it’s safe now. You can come out.”
With another chime, Horologium returned to the Celestial Spirit World, leaving Lucy standing there again.
Noah studied her expression.
She looked about forty percent frightened, forty percent angry…
Noah paused.
‘Satisfied?’
‘Lucy, what exactly were you enjoying just now?’
He waved toward Natsu and the others.
“You lot. Get over here and apologize to Lucy.”
Natsu looked genuinely confused.
“Why? Lucy looked like she was having fun too.”
Lucy’s eye twitched.
‘I absolutely was not!’
Still, now that Noah had ordered everyone to apologize, Lucy suddenly became a little embarrassed.
“It’s fine! Really! I know everyone was only joking around. Nothing actually happened to me…”
Noah stared at her.
‘Wow.’
‘She really is easy to deal with.’
Still, something bothered him.
Why did she not look like someone who had narrowly escaped disaster?
If anything, she almost seemed a little reluctant for it to be over.
Noah narrowed his eyes.
‘Don’t tell me… she actually enjoyed that a little?’
“Ahem.
Anyway,” Noah said, “I’ll apologize on their behalf.
Please don’t hold their rough behavior against them.”
Hearing that, Lucy’s opinion of Noah improved again.
Maybe he was not quite as terrible as she thought.
She gave him a friendly smile.
“No, it’s okay. I understand.”
“And if you ever do have a complaint…”
Noah smiled pleasantly.
“Wait until Erza gets back and tell her everything. She can punish them for you.”
Before Lucy could even ask who Erza was, Natsu, Gray, Cana, Elfman, and Loke instantly lined up.
Then they bowed in perfect unison.
“WE’RE SORRY, LUCY! PLEASE DON’T TELL ERZA WHAT JUST HAPPENED!”
Lucy stared at them.
‘That change was way too fast!’
“Uh… who exactly is Erza?”
Natsu shuddered.
“The scariest…”
Lucy blinked, waiting for him to finish, but Gray immediately agreed.
“He’s right. She’s basically a walking nightmare.”
Cana nodded.
“If Erza finds out about this, we’re definitely in trouble.”
The speed with which everyone’s attitudes had changed left Lucy even more confused.
“What? Is this Erza person really that terrifying?”
Happy nodded enthusiastically.
“Aye! Everyone’s afraid of Erza!”
Lucy slowly looked toward Noah.
‘Everyone’s afraid of Erza?’
‘Is she even stronger than Noah?’
None of these people seemed particularly afraid of him.
As though somehow sensing the direction of Lucy’s thoughts, Noah immediately felt offended.
‘Erza?
Stronger than me?’
‘Please.’
End of Chapter 24