Cana already reeked of alcohol, but Noah had no doubt she could keep drinking until nightfall without slowing down.
Since her head was probably a little fuzzy right now, this was the perfect time to talk business.
If he was lucky, she might get carried away and agree before her common sense caught up with her.
Like Erza, Cana was one of Noah’s regular customers.
She might not qualify for VIP treatment, but as a responsible shop owner, Noah believed firmly in treating every customer with enthusiasm and giving them every possible opportunity to spend money.
And if an opportunity did not exist, then it was the merchant’s job to create one.
Erza’s armor was hardly the only thing Noah supplied to Fairy Tail.
Over the years, a large portion of the guild’s Magic Items—including Lacrima, magical weapons, Magic Pens, and plenty of other odds and ends—had come from Hope Cottage.
Perhaps it was another perk of being reincarnated, or perhaps Noah simply had the talent for it, but several years ago he had discovered that he possessed an exceptional gift for creating Magic Items.
His skill became even more impressive once he learned to combine traditional crafting techniques with his Word Magic, allowing him to produce all sorts of strange and unusual objects.
Among his smaller and less impressive creations were Speed Boots, telekinetic throwing knives, divination cards, and Lucky Dice.
His more substantial work included armor, staffs, rings, and similar equipment.
At this point, Hope Cottage was practically Magnolia’s magical department store.
Cana used Card Magic, which naturally meant she needed enchanted cards in battle.
And making a set of Magic Cards was almost insultingly easy for Noah.
Cana slammed one of her small barrels onto the counter and complained through the haze of alcohol, “That again? I already told you—the problem is your prices! How am I supposed to afford them?”
“What kind of thing is that to say?” Noah replied as though she had personally insulted his honor.
“You get what you pay for. You know how good my cards are. A properly made Magic Card can last you for years.”
He gestured at the barrels in her hands.
“Besides, your money isn’t really leaving you. It’s simply changing form and staying by your side as something useful. That’s a much better investment than those two barrels of alcohol.”
Noah said this with a completely straight face.
“But they really are expensive…” Cana hesitated.
She knew perfectly well how powerful Noah’s Magic Items could be.
“It’s not like I’m an S-Class Mage like you or Erza.”
“Holder Magic already depends on strong magical equipment. If you want to get stronger, obviously you’re going to have to invest something into it. Once you become S-Class, you can take a few high-paying jobs and earn the money right back.”
Magic in this world could broadly be divided into two categories: Holder Magic and Caster Magic.
Holder Magic required the user to channel their spells through some kind of magical item or external medium.
Celestial Spirit Magic was arguably one of the highest forms of Holder Magic.
Powerful Celestial Spirits inhabited an entire world of their own, and Celestial Spirit Mages used corresponding keys to summon them into battle.
Beneath the Celestial Spirit King stood the Twelve Zodiac Gates, each linked to one of the twelve exceptionally powerful Zodiac Spirits and opened with the rarest kind of key: a golden key.
Below those were silver keys.
Whether there were any other classifications beyond that, Noah honestly had no idea.
Because Celestial Spirit Mages relied so heavily on their summoned Spirits for combat, their own direct fighting ability was usually among the weakest of all Mage types.
At least, that was generally true until someone learned how to use Star Dress.
Requip Magic, on the other hand, sat almost at the opposite end of the spectrum.
Requip Mages fought personally by equipping powerful weapons and armor, so they usually developed far stronger bodies than most Holder-Type Mages.
Their equipment could take many different forms.
Erza specialized in armor and weapons, while Bisca and Alzack relied primarily on firearms.
Card Magic was also a form of Holder Magic, but compared with the stronger branches of the category, it had never been particularly outstanding.
There were three major reasons for that.
The first was that a Card Mage’s cards were generally inferior to Celestial Spirits, while the Mage using them usually lacked the physical ability of a dedicated Requip Mage.
Card Magic occupied an awkward middle ground without reaching the strengths of either extreme.
The second problem was the cards themselves.
A Card Mage did not necessarily know how to cast the spells sealed within their cards, nor could most of them create those cards personally.
If they already knew the magic inside a card, there would be little point in adding the extra step of channeling it through one.
That meant most Magic Cards had to be purchased.
They were expensive, and their quality was inconsistent.
Unless there were unusual circumstances, the craftsmen making the cards were rarely powerful Mages themselves.
After all, if someone already possessed overwhelming magical strength, why would they spend their days producing cards for other people?
And if the creator was not especially powerful, producing cards capable of containing truly high-level magic was difficult.
The third problem was simple.
Most cards just were not that powerful.
Card Magic was versatile, but versatility came at the cost of specialization.
Without some exceptional advantage to compensate for that weakness, the system had an obvious ceiling.
Noah himself was living proof of what happened when someone received exactly that sort of unfair advantage.
It was also why Cana had eventually been given Fairy Glitter in the original story.
Relying on Card Magic alone, her raw combat ability simply was not impressive enough for someone who would later stand among Fairy Tail’s B Team.
Forget Lucy—even Levy might have surpassed her in a straightforward fight.
At this point in the timeline, though, Cana had not yet been left behind by walking cheats like Natsu and Gray.
Noah estimated that her current strength was probably somewhere around Loke’s level.
But who exactly was Loke?
He was Leo the Lion, one of the Twelve Zodiac Celestial Spirits.
The only reason his current strength seemed comparable to Cana’s was that he had remained trapped in the human world for three years, which had weakened him tremendously.
Once Lucy arrived and restored his status as a proper Celestial Spirit, allowing him to return to his peak condition, Cana would be the one left behind.
At the counter, Cana fell silent, clearly wavering.
Noah continued his passionate sales pitch with the righteous indignation of a man deeply offended that she was refusing to become stronger.
Gray stood nearby and watched the entire performance with growing disgust.
‘What a damn con artist.’
Seeing Cana begin to waver, Noah immediately pressed his advantage.
“This new set took me an entire week to finish, and the effects are seriously powerful. If you don’t want them, I’ll have no choice but to sell them to someone else.”
Then he abruptly changed tactics and went straight for emotional manipulation.
“Honestly, you know what I’m like. How many Card Mages do I even know? Who do you think I made these cards for?”
Noah slapped the counter to pull Cana’s attention fully back to him, then pointed at Gray, who had been happily watching the show until that moment.
“If we’re talking friendship, you and I have known each other for more than ten years. I knew you before I even knew Gray. If we’re talking reputation, half the people in this guild have bought Magic Items from me. Have you ever heard a single one of them complain about the quality?”
Gray frowned.
Why was he suddenly part of the sales pitch?
“We’ve done plenty of business together already,” Noah continued.
“Every Magic Card I’ve ever made for you has delivered exactly what I promised.”
His voice grew increasingly passionate.
“Ever since you joined Fairy Tail, you’ve worked toward becoming an S-Class Mage. I’ve seen all of it. But think about this, Cana. You’ve been in the guild for twelve years. Five S-Class Mages have already emerged, and somehow you still haven’t become one.”
He leaned forward.
“Is it because you don’t have talent?”
Cana’s expression tightened.
“Is it because you haven’t worked hard enough?”
Her grip on the barrel slowly tightened.
“No!”
Noah slapped the counter again.
“You have tremendous magic power! Your fighting experience is excellent! And your intelligence is miles ahead of Natsu and Gray!”
“Hey!” Gray snapped from beside him.
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Noah ignored him completely.
“The only thing standing between you and S-Class is a truly powerful set of Magic Cards!”
His voice carried across the bar with such conviction that he might have been delivering an inspirational speech rather than trying to empty Cana’s wallet.
Yet to Cana, every sentence sank in like a devil whispering directly into her ear.
‘S-Class.’
‘Become S-Class.’
‘Become S-Class!’
‘I’m going to become—’
“One set contains ten cards,” Noah said.
“Five hundred thousand Jewels.”
Gray’s eyes widened.
“That’s insanely expensive!”
Cana’s rising determination shattered instantly.
“I’m going to become my ass! You goddamn scam artist—go die!”
End of Chapter 4