After finishing the juice in his cup, Cain noticed a little girl sitting alone in a corner, quietly playing with a deck of cards.
A small white puppy was running excitedly in circles around her.
Cana noticed Cain looking at her and blinked curiously.
“Hi, I’m Cain.
Cain St.
Syrus.
I just joined the guild today.” Looking at the bright, friendly smile on Cain’s face, Cana couldn’t help but think that this new member didn’t seem hard to get along with at all.
“I’m Cana Alberona.
And this is Shiro.” She gestured toward the little white dog by her feet.
Shiro let out a happy “Woof!
Woof!” as if greeting Cain too.
So this is Cana as a kid!
She’s pretty cute, Cain thought.
He wondered how this adorable little girl eventually grew into the massive alcoholic she was in the main timeline.
He couldn’t help but mentally compare kid Cana with adult Cana.
Ultimately, he concluded that Ultear was still cuter—both as a child and as an adult.
Shiro’s adorable wagging was too much for Cain to resist.
He squatted down and began petting the dog.
In his previous life, he had always loved dogs, but unfortunately, he never had the financial stability to raise one.
Shiro was absolutely thrilled by the attention, its stubby little tail spinning around like a helicopter rotor.
After playing with the pup for a bit, Cain looked over and asked curiously, “What are those cards for?” Mentioning her cards made Cana noticeably excited.
“These are divination cards!
Do you want to try a fortune reading, Cain?” “Sure, why not.” In his past life, Cain never believed in this kind of stuff.
But since he was now living in a magical world, he figured it was worth a shot.
Cana spread the deck out, and Cain drew a card.
Looking at the card in his hand, Cana frowned deeply.
Her expression made Cain a little nervous.
“What is it?
Is it really bad?
J-just tell me straight, I can take it.” “No, this card says you’re going to have good luck.” Cain waited patiently for Cana to say the ‘but…’ that surely followed.
After waiting several seconds in silence, he tentatively asked, “That’s it?” “Yeah, that’s it.” Cain was left entirely speechless.
He had a million sarcastic remarks loaded up in his brain, but he didn’t even know which one to fire first.
In the end, he swallowed his retorts and dropped the subject.
Through their ensuing conversation, Cain learned that Cana had joined the guild last year, and her main reason for joining was to find her father.
Cain obviously knew that Cana’s father was Gildarts Clive, the S-Class wizard universally recognized as the strongest member of Fairy Tail besides the Master.
However, according to what Cain remembered from the plot, Cana never actually revealed her identity to Gildarts until much later in the story.
It wasn’t until the Tenrou Island arc that the two finally acknowledged each other.
Curious, Cain probed, “You said you joined the guild to find your father.
Is your dad a member of Fairy Tail?” Cana hesitated for a long moment before slowly nodding.
“Yeah.
My dad…
is Gildarts.” Cain had originally been plotting how to delicately trick Cana into revealing the truth so he could just go tell Gildarts himself, saving the father and daughter over a decade of unnecessary estrangement.
He never expected her to just straight-up tell him!
He didn’t know exactly why she trusted him so easily, but this definitely made things simpler.
He just needed to find the right opportunity to talk to Gildarts now.
The reason Cana told Cain was that, at this age, she hadn’t yet developed the crippling inferiority complex she had in the main timeline.
Later on, Cana would come to believe she was too weak and completely unworthy of being Gildarts’ daughter.
That’s why she vowed to become an S-Class wizard before finally telling him the truth.
In a way, she was quite similar to Laxus.
The reason Laxus eventually became so rebellious and unhinged was that no matter what incredible achievements he reached, people always attributed his success to simply being ‘Makarov’s grandson.’ Afterward, Cana took Cain to the boys’ dormitory to get registered.
The dorms were actually quite nice, somewhat resembling a college dorm from his previous life.
Except, instead of cramming six people into one room, the Fairy Tail dorms provided individual single rooms.
The rent was also incredibly cheap—only 500 Jewels a month.
Furthermore, for children like Cana and Cain who couldn’t currently afford it, the guild allowed them to rack up a tab.
They could just pay it back slowly once they started earning money.
Cain also learned from Cana that, right now, he was only allowed to take on simple, non-combat jobs within Magnolia city limits.
Things like running errands for shopkeepers, making deliveries, clearing out clogged rivers, or picking up trash.
Taking requests outside the town was strictly prohibited; the Master would never approve it.
If he wanted to take on subjugation quests or combat missions, he had to be at least 12 years old, and his strength had to be personally acknowledged by the Master.
Cain didn’t remember this rule existing in the anime, but then again, the anime couldn’t show every single mundane detail of guild life.
It made sense.
Even in the ninja world next door, Genin typically started taking real missions around age 12, and even then, they had an elite Jonin babysitting them.
And that was during a time of relative peace, not an all-out war.
Upon returning to the guild, Makarov learned that Cana had already helped Cain get settled in the dorms and praised her thoroughly.
Suddenly remembering something, Makarov turned to Cain.
“Cain, take these next few days to familiarize yourself with the guild and the town.
After that, I’m going to take you to meet someone.” Cain was a bit curious about who the Master wanted him to meet.
But seeing the old man acting all mysterious and not volunteering a name, Cain decided not to ask.
That night, after taking a hot shower, Cain collapsed onto his soft bed and fell asleep almost instantly.
It was the deepest, most comfortable sleep he’d had since his memories awakened.
The next morning, Cain started his day by jogging an entire lap around Magnolia before heading to the guild.
When he walked in, all the members enthusiastically greeted him.
Seeing Cain completely drenched in sweat, Cana asked, puzzled, “Cain, why are you sweating so much?
Is it really that hot outside?” “Haha, no, it’s not hot.
I just woke up and ran a lap around Magnolia, so I’m a bit sweaty.” Hearing Cain’s casual response, Cana’s jaw dropped.
“Wow…
that’s amazing.” Scanning the room, Cain quickly spotted Makarov sitting at the bar, nursing a drink.
He walked over and asked, “Master, if I start training with heavy weights right now, will it put too much strain on my body and stunt my growth?” Hearing Cain’s question, Cana, who had tagged along, couldn’t help but complain internally, Is he trying to make the rest of us look bad?!
Hic!
Letting out a small alcoholic hiccup, Makarov seemed to sober up a bit.
He set down his mug, fondly ruffled both kids’ hair, and said, “You…
when it’s time to rest, you need to actually rest.” “But Master, I did rest!” Seeing Cain’s determination, Makarov didn’t argue further.
Besides, with him keeping a watchful eye, what could possibly go wrong?
“At your age, carrying about six to eight pounds of weights won’t stunt your growth.
However, I don’t recommend you start using weights just yet.” “Wait a few days until we go see that person I mentioned, and we’ll see what they say.
For now, just stick to normal bodyweight exercises.” “Understood, Master.” Cain walked over to a quiet, empty booth with Cana.
Watching her shuffle her deck of cards, he suddenly remembered his most glaring weakness: he was completely illiterate in this world.
“Hey, Cana,” Cain asked, “do you know how to read?” Although she wasn’t sure why he was asking, Cana nodded.
Seeing this, Cain’s eyes lit up with excitement.
“Cana, please teach me how to read!” “Eh?!”