Under circumstances like these, Noah simply could not stand by while everyone slandered Erza.
After all, she was his dear friend, trusted companion, practically a sister-in-arms.
“What nonsense are you people talking about? Erza is obviously the kindest, most generous, and most approachable person in all of Fairy Tail!”
Everyone stared at him.
“Are we talking about the same Erza?”
Muttering among themselves, several guild members quickly reached the same conclusion.
“That’s only true for you.”
“Exactly! She buys equipment from your shop all the time!”
Noah and Erza were both S-Class Mages, yet everyone treated them completely differently.
Most guild members were at least a little afraid of Erza, while hardly anyone showed the same fear toward Noah.
The reason was simple.
Unlike Erza, Noah rarely acted serious or tried to keep everyone under control.
If anything, he was usually the one encouraging fights from the sidelines.
Noah looked offended.
“What are you implying? Are you saying that just because Erza frequently buys magical equipment from me and makes me very happy by giving me money, I’m somehow biased in her favor? Why would I ever do something like that?”
Everyone had the exact same thought.
‘You just said the reason yourself.’
None of them were foolish enough to say it aloud.
Noah suddenly looked past the group.
“Erza, do you think I’m biased toward you?”
A gentle voice came from directly behind them.
“Not at all.”
“!!!!”
Everyone went rigid.
“ERZA?!”
“Why is Erza here?!”
“When did she get back?!”
“Wait… she didn’t hear everything we just said, did she?!”
Half the guild turned pale at once.
Natsu and the others looked as though their souls were trying to escape through their mouths.
“E-Er-Erza… y-you… when did…”
For once, Erza did not lose her temper.
Instead, she smiled at them with unusual gentleness.
“Natsu.”
Natsu stiffened.
“Do you have some kind of problem with me?”
Her tone was gentle.
Her expression was friendly.
The question sounded completely sincere.
Which somehow made everything ten times worse.
Everyone immediately reached the same conclusion.
‘This is terrifying!’
‘She never acts this nice!’
‘She definitely heard everything!’
‘And she saw us fighting!
We’re dead!’
“N-No! Absolutely not!”
Erza’s smile remained unchanged.
“Really?”
Sweat poured down Natsu’s face as his legs trembled.
“Absolutely!”
Seeing how obedient he had suddenly become, Erza turned toward her next victim.
“I see. If it wasn’t you, then…”
Her eyes settled on Gray.
Gray was in even worse shape than Natsu.
Sweat covered not only his face, but practically his entire body.
“No! No way! Erza is the gentlest person in the entire guild!”
Erza’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“Put some clothes on.”
“Y-Yes!”
Gray immediately scrambled around looking for his missing shirt, using the opportunity to retreat toward the corner of the guild hall.
Erza moved on.
“Cana?”
Cana’s hand shook hard enough to make the alcohol in her bottle slosh.
“Gray’s right! Erza is the strongest and most dependable person in Fairy Tail!”
“Loke?”
Loke curled into himself, pulling the collar of his green coat high enough to cover half his face.
“Erza is as warm as the sun itself. She’s my goddess.”
“Elfman?”
“ERZA IS A REAL MAN!”
One by one, everyone Erza called on completely withdrew everything they had said moments earlier.
Erza nodded.
“So none of you have any complaints about me?”
Everyone shook their heads in perfect unison.
“ABSOLUTELY NONE!”
Erza’s smile did not fade.
“That’s strange. I could have sworn I heard someone saying I was frightening.”
She slowly looked around.
“Hmm… if none of you said it, then it must have been…”
Her gaze stopped on Lucy.
“The new girl. Your name is Lucy, right?”
Lucy nearly jumped out of her skin.
“Huh?!”
‘Why is it me again?!’
This guild was exhausting.
Had she forgotten to check her horoscope before leaving home today?
First she had been dragged into a guild-wide brawl, and now she had somehow attracted the attention of a woman who appeared to be Fairy Tail’s resident demon lord.
One second ago, Lucy had been happily watching everyone else panic.
The next, disaster had landed directly on her head.
‘Did I do something wrong today?
Why does it feel like this entire guild is targeting me?’
Erza said nothing.
She merely stared at Lucy with a calm expression.
Unfortunately, to Lucy, that expression seemed to convey a very clear message:
Say one bad thing about me and you die.
Lucy began trembling.
As a newcomer facing the woman who had reduced even Natsu and the other lawless troublemakers to terrified children, she suddenly felt burdened by a level of pressure no girl her age should ever have to endure.
“I-I didn’t say anything…”
Mira finally took pity on her.
Lucy had done absolutely nothing wrong, after all.
“Erza, Lucy was only—huh?”
Mira reached out to take Erza’s arm.
Her hand passed straight through Erza’s body.
Everyone froze.
Natsu and Happy, whose brains operated on roughly the same wavelength, immediately screamed.
“AAAAH! ERZA’S DEAD!”
Lucy stared.
“What happened?!”
Mira, however, had enough experience to recognize what she was seeing almost immediately.
“This isn’t Erza.”
She studied the image more closely.
“A Thought Projection… no, not quite. It’s a magical illusion.”
“An illusion?”
“So Erza isn’t actually here?”
“That was way too realistic!”
“Seriously! I broke out in a cold sweat!”
“Coward.”
“You were sweating too!”
Lucy let out a deep breath of relief.
“So it was only an illusion…”
Then she paused.
“But who cast it?”
Thought Projection was an extremely advanced form of magic, far beyond what an ordinary Mage could casually learn.
According to Mira, this illusion had been convincing enough to resemble one, which meant whoever created it had used an exceptionally sophisticated spell.
What frightened Lucy most was that she had not sensed a single fluctuation of magic power when it appeared.
Someone had created an illusion this powerful without anyone noticing.
There could not be many people in the room capable of that.
Lucy slowly turned her head.
Noah stood nearby with a completely expressionless face, pretending none of this had anything to do with him.
He had been the first person to suddenly call Erza’s name.
And from everything Lucy had seen so far, he also seemed to be one of the strongest people present.
Unlike Lucy, Natsu still had absolutely no idea who had tricked him.
Flames erupted around his body.
“Damn it! Who did that?! Who plays a joke like this?!”
At this point, Natsu might genuinely have been the only person in the room who had not figured it out.
Even Happy knew the obvious answer was Noah, the man notorious for messing with everyone whenever he got bored.
A cat had beaten him to the conclusion.
Gray, Cana, and Loke had even less trouble recognizing the culprit.
Only a few days earlier, they had experienced Noah’s absurdly convincing Deliora illusion firsthand.
All three turned toward him at once.
“Noah, you bastard! You did this, didn’t you?!”
Noah copied Happy’s innocent voice.
“Aye!”
“QUIT PLAYING DUMB!” they shouted together.
Noah clicked his tongue.
“Damn. You figured it out after all.”
“What do you mean, ‘figured it out’? You’re the only person here who would do something like this!”
Noah finally gave up pretending.
“Heh, heh, heh… well, if you already know, there’s no point hiding it.”
He pointed a thumb proudly at himself.
“That’s right! It was me!”
Then he burst out laughing.
“So? Pretty realistic illusion, wasn’t it? Hahahahaha!”
“You bastard! You want a fight?!”
Noah’s grin only widened.
“Oh? You people are confident enough to challenge me now?”
He casually spread his arms.
“Fine. All of you can come at me together.”
His eyes gleamed with anticipation.
“Let’s see whether any of you have actually gotten stronger lately.”
End of Chapter 25