Noah had no idea what Loke was imagining, but the envy and admiration in his voice were unmistakable.
Gray immediately bristled.
“Hah? I’m not letting that one slide! You want to see what Ice-Make can really do?”
As a peace-loving man, Noah naturally couldn’t stand by and watch two good friends start fighting, so he immediately stepped in to mediate.
“Don’t get mad, Gray. Loke’s always been the straightforward type. He just has a bad habit of saying inconvenient truths out loud, so don’t take it personally.”
Gray’s expression darkened.
Was that supposed to be mediation?
“So you think Ice-Make is weak too?”
“Ice does melt eventually,” Noah replied, carefully limiting himself to a simple observation of physics.
Gray stared at him.
“What, the things you create can last forever?”
“What kind of stupid question is that? Of course I dismiss them once I’m finished using them. Keeping a construct around indefinitely consumes magic power.” Noah paused, reconsidering.
“Actually, ice does have an advantage there. Once you create it, it stays around without needing a constant supply of magic. Of course, that also means you spend more magic power upfront…”
He nodded thoughtfully before reaching the conclusion he had clearly wanted from the beginning.
“Mm. After comparing everything, mine is still better.”
Gray knew perfectly well he couldn’t beat Noah, so he settled for glaring at him in silence.
The four of them boarded the sailboat and set off toward Galuna Island.
Once they were underway, Loke leaned against the side of the vessel and said, “Come to think of it, there’s something I’ve always wondered about. Your magic is pretty unusual, isn’t it?”
That immediately caught Cana and Gray’s attention as well.
They had known for years that Noah’s Word Magic belonged broadly to the family of Letter Magic, but it was distinctly different from Levy’s Solid Script or Freed’s Jutsu Shiki.
Noah could use words themselves as a form of creation, producing physical objects through magic.
Creating things through words was strange even by the standards of Maker Magic.
“What’s so unusual about it?” Noah replied.
“Maker Magic comes in all kinds of forms. Forget words—I even know of a type that uses memories.”
“That’s right!” Gray immediately agreed, remembering something his master had once taught him.
“Maker Magic is the freest kind of magic!”
Even among Gray, Lyon, and their master Ur, all three used Ice-Make differently.
Ur specialized in plant-shaped creations.
Lyon favored animals, representing the “dynamic” side of Ice-Make, while Gray primarily created weapons and tools, representing its “static” side.
“Besides, creation is only one application of my Word Magic,” Noah continued.
“Actually… rather than Maker Magic, I’d say that part of it is closer to embodiment.”
“Embodiment?” Cana asked.
“What kind of magic is that?”
“A much older, more mysterious, and considerably more complicated form of magic. It belongs to the category of Lost Magic.”
Noah continued, “The Memory-Make Magic I mentioned earlier is also a Lost Magic. It allows the user to create things stored in their memories, including magic itself, and can even combine different spells together. As Maker Magic goes, it’s probably one of the strongest varieties.”
Gray immediately protested, “My Ice-Make is strong too!”
“Elemental Maker Magic is still restricted by elemental compatibility. If you run into a Mage whose magic is a bad matchup for yours, you’re at a major disadvantage. And if they also have more magic power and better physical ability than you, then you’re really screwed.”
Cana gave him a flat look.
“You’ve spent all this time talking just because you wanted us to know your magic can do much more than this, haven’t you?”
“Oh? Very perceptive, Cana!”
“You really know how to make people want to punch you.”
Since Noah had already decided to show off a little, there was a trace of pride on his face as he continued.
“Think about it carefully. How am I able to make so many different Magic Items with completely different effects? Even if we assume my talent for magic is unparalleled, surely I couldn’t conveniently be a once-in-a-generation genius at forging too.”
He spread his hands.
“And even if I were, I spend most of my time studying and improving my magic. Where would I find enough time to master smithing to that degree?”
He grinned.
“Obviously, my ability to make Magic Items is connected to my magic.”
Cana rolled her eyes.
“Hah? I’ve never once seen you seriously training your magic.”
“To be fair, I’ve always wondered about that too,” Loke said.
“How exactly do you make all those Magic Items?”
Gray looked down at the sailboat beneath their feet.
“Don’t tell me you just create all of them with your magic.”
“How could that possibly work?” Noah tapped the railing.
“People would have noticed almost immediately. Besides, like I just said, anything I directly create through magic will eventually disappear unless I continuously maintain it with magic power.”
“Then how do you—”
“All right, enough guessing.” Noah waved them off.
“You’ll get to see it for yourselves during this job.”
A heavy thump interrupted the conversation as the sailboat reached shore.
The trip had gone by quickly.
A moment earlier, the small boat had still been filled with the sounds of cards being slapped down and people arguing over the game.
Now those noises abruptly stopped.
“Hey, don’t even think about running! You lost fair and square, so hurry up and let us stick it on—”
Unfortunately for them, Noah was a man carrying the solemn responsibility of an S-Class mission.
How could such childish distractions possibly hold him back?
“Nonsense! We’re in the middle of a job. How can you people still be thinking about games?”
He delivered the rebuke with tremendous dignity while deftly slipping through the three of them and leaping off the boat before they could grab him.
One smooth motion.
A flawless escape.
“And now he loses and suddenly decides we’re supposed to take the mission seriously?!”
Seeing Noah already preparing to dismiss the magical sailboat, the other three had no choice but to abandon the game and hurry ashore.
Once they were on land, Gray suddenly asked, “Actually… I still don’t know what this job is.”
Loke blinked.
“Neither do I.”
Noah slowly turned toward them.
“What? You didn’t read the request yesterday? We’re here to lift a curse.”
He stared at the three of them in disbelief.
These idiots had been so excited about participating in an S-Class job that they had followed him all the way here without even knowing what the assignment actually involved.
Then again, they were Fairy Tail Mages.
Being recklessly unconcerned about minor details was practically part of the guild culture.
“Lift a curse?” Cana asked.
“How are you planning to do that? Can your Word Magic handle something like this?”
“Who knows?” Noah replied.
“Besides, ‘curse’ is only how the islanders themselves described the problem. An S-Class Mage shouldn’t blindly accept one-sided information as fact. We won’t know what’s actually happening until we investigate.”
He turned toward the interior of the island with considerable confidence.
“So stay behind me and watch carefully. I’ll show you how an S-Class Mage handles a job.”
Following the directions on the map, the four of them passed through the forest covering the outer part of the island and eventually arrived at the settlement inhabited by Galuna’s residents.
By the time they reached the village, Noah understood why the Magic Council had paid so little attention to the island.
The place looked as though it were still trapped in a primitive age.
A crude wall made from wooden stakes surrounded the settlement.
The watchtowers were only three or four stories high, and the guards carried primitive weapons constructed from little more than sticks and sharpened stone.
Everything about the village spoke of technological backwardness.
That was especially striking because throughout Fiore—and indeed across much of Ishgar—magic and technology had developed side by side.
Neither had been left behind.
Granted, much of the world’s technology was built around magic.
Lacrima alone came in countless forms.
Lighting Lacrima were so commonplace that they served as streetlights throughout major cities, while recording Lacrima were standard equipment for reporters working for magazines, newspapers, and similar publications.
Lacrima could be considered among the cheapest and most widespread Magic Items on the continent.
That alone demonstrated how thoroughly technology and magic had become intertwined.
In terms of overall development, this world was by no means inferior to a modern technological society.
And when it came to the highest levels of magical technology, weapons such as Etherion and Face existed.
Compared with the rest of Ishgar, Galuna Island looked as though it had fallen behind by at least three centuries.
End of Chapter 8