Hearing Cana say the boy’s name was Gray, Cain couldn’t help but freeze.
If Gray had joined Fairy Tail, it meant that Ur had already cast Iced Shell, transforming her own body into ice to seal away the demon Deliora.
This realization inevitably brought Cain’s thoughts back to Ultear, and his expression instantly darkened with sorrow.
Cana noticed the sudden shift in Cain’s mood and asked with concern, “Cain, what’s wrong?
You don’t look so good.” “Oh, it’s nothing.
I just remembered something sad.” Seeing Cain brush it off, Cana didn’t press the issue.
Across the room, Makarov stamped the Fairy Tail guild mark right onto Gray’s chest.
Watching this, Cain couldn’t help but complain internally.
Who in their right mind puts a guild mark on their chest?
If someone asks what guild you’re from, you literally have to rip your shirt open to show them.
No wonder everyone calls Gray an exhibitionist.
Then again, Gray wasn’t the only weirdo in the guild.
Cain vaguely remembered another guy who got the guild mark stamped directly onto his tongue.
He couldn’t quite remember the guy’s name, but he knew he was a member of the Thunder God Tribe who fought using dolls.
That guy hadn’t joined the guild yet.
After the stamping, Cana and Cain took Gray on a tour to familiarize him with the guild hall.
Watching Cana passionately introduce everything to Gray, Cain was reminded of his own first day when she did the exact same thing for him.
He couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle.
Gray, however, caught Cain’s smile.
He immediately assumed the blond kid was mocking him for being a clueless newbie.
Having just gone through a massive, traumatizing life change, Gray was still highly sensitive and on edge.
He glared at Cain and snapped aggressively, “Hey!
What are you laughing at?” Cain was a bit confused as to why Gray was suddenly so angry, but he calmly explained, “It’s nothing.
I just thought of something funny.” Gray took this to mean Cain was laughing at how he was nervously looking around just a minute ago.
This only pissed him off more.
“Damn it, you wanna fight?!” The moment the other guild members heard a rookie challenging one of their own, they instantly perked up.
“Yeah, newbie!
I’m rooting for you!
Take Cain down!” “Come on, Cain!
The new kid’s getting cocky!
Show him who’s boss!” “Stop talking and just hit him already!” The roaring cheers from the surrounding peanut gallery only fueled Gray’s determination to beat the crap out of this smug blond kid.
Looking at Gray squaring up, and hearing the rest of the guild chanting for blood, Cain felt a headache coming on.
“By the way, if you want to fight me, why did you take your clothes off?” “Ah?!
Since when?!” Gray, who had been fully prepared to strike, looked down.
Sure enough, without him even realizing it, he had stripped down to nothing but his boxer shorts.
Cain had to admit, that stripping speed was practically a magical skill in its own right.
Cain’s weirded-out stare made Gray flush with embarrassment and rage.
“Damn you!
Ice-Make: Floor!” Gray slammed both hands onto the ground.
A wave of frost rapidly surged toward Cain, threatening to freeze his feet to the floorboards.
Smack!
A crisp sound echoed as something lightly flicked the top of Gray’s head.
Gray froze.
He finally realized that at some point, Cain had completely bypassed his ice, closed the distance, and tapped him on the head.
“Alright, you lose this time.
Come on, let me show you to the boys’ dormitory.” With that, Cain gestured for Gray to follow him.
Seeing the fight end before it even began, the rest of the guild members groaned in disappointment.
A few tried to instigate another round, but Cain, fully aware of what kind of chaotic degenerates he lived with, had already dragged Gray out the door.
On the way to the dorms, Cain noticed Gray looking utterly defeated and sulky.
“The guys in the guild just love to hype things up and cause a ruckus,” Cain comforted him.
“You’ll get used to it once you’ve been here a while.” Cana nodded in agreement.
Hearing this, Gray finally realized that Cain genuinely hadn’t been mocking him earlier, which made him feel incredibly guilty.
“I…
I’m sorry.” Gray’s sudden apology caught Cain off guard.
“Oh, you mean for challenging me to a fight?
Don’t worry about it.
Fighting in the guild is basically a daily routine.” Seeing that Cain truly didn’t mind, Gray dropped the subject.
Soon, with Cain and Cana’s help, Gray was successfully moved into his new room in the boys’ dorm.
The following days were peaceful but fulfilling.
Cain managed to learn a few more spells from the library, and his custom order finally arrived at the magic equipment shop: a fully adjustable gravity-weight vest.
However, after paying for the incredibly expensive gravity vest, Cain’s savings were completely wiped out.
This forced Cain to consider taking on actual guild requests to earn some money.
He approached Makarov and brought up the idea.
Makarov pondered Cain’s current strength for a moment before deciding, “You can take on escort or gathering requests in Magnolia or the directly neighboring towns.
But absolutely no subjugation or combat quests.” Cain understood that Makarov was just trying to protect him, while also being responsible to the clients who posted the jobs.
Being allowed to take on any official requests outside of running errands was already a huge win in Cain’s book.
Cain walked over to the request board to see if there was anything suitable.
“Escort a merchant caravan to a neighboring town.
Duration: about one month.
Reward: 100,000 Jewels…
Nah, a whole month for that much?
Not worth the time.” “Looking for a model for a photo shoot.
Must be good-looking.
Reward: 50,000 Jewels.” Cain’s eyes lit up at the easy money, but then he read the fine print requiring a female model.
He clicked his tongue and kept scanning.
Finally, he found a request that perfectly fit his needs.
Gather Mystic Wisteria Flowers.
Quota: 10 flowers.
Base Reward: 50,000 Jewels.
Bonus: 5,000 Jewels for every additional flower.
Cain remembered seeing those exact flowers in the deep forest bordering Magnolia.
After registering the request at the front desk, Cain headed straight for the woods.
Mystic Wisteria was a vibrant purple flower that bloomed on magical vines.
Perfumes crafted from its petals possessed a rich, layered fragrance that lingered for days without fading.
Because of this, it was incredibly popular among noblewomen and high-society ladies.
However, Cain also knew from his reading that Mystic Wisteria could be synthesized into powerful, illegal hallucinogens.
Whether the client was using them to make high-end perfume or illegal drugs wasn’t really his problem.
Though, he thought mischievously, if I find out they’re making drugs, I can just report them to the Rune Knights and bag a bounty reward too.
Double the profit!
“I’m pretty sure it was right around here…” Cain looked around, trying to jog his memory.
The only reason he knew this spot existed was because Laxus had dragged him and Cana out here to play ‘explorer’ a few months ago.
When Makarov found out they had wandered so deep into the woods, he had furiously scolded all three of them.
“Found it.” Cain quickly spotted a cluster of vivid purple peeking out from beneath the dense green canopy.
“One, two, three…
ten.
Nice, exactly ten flowers.” Happily, Cain carefully plucked the ten Mystic Wisteria flowers and stored them in the preservation container he had brought along.
Just like that, in less than an hour, he had made 50,000 Jewels.
This was great!
Now, all he had to do was deliver the flowers to the client, get the completion certificate signed, and the request would be officially done.
Easy money.
Following the address on the request flyer, Cain arrived at a high-end shop named Madame’s Perfumery.
Walking through the doors, Cain got straight to business.
“Hello, I’m a wizard from Fairy Tail.
I’m here to turn in the gathering request for the Mystic Wisteria flowers.” He showed the clerk his golden guild mark on his arm, followed by the container of freshly picked flowers.
The clerk had initially looked a bit skeptical given Cain’s young age, but seeing the official Fairy Tail insignia and the pristine condition of the magical flowers, all doubts vanished.
After inspecting the Mystic Wisteria and verifying their quality, the clerk happily stamped and handed over the completion certificate to Cain.
Returning to the guild and handing the certificate to the staff, Cain successfully received his very first major paycheck.
To celebrate his first real earnings, Cain treated Cana and Gray to a massive, delicious feast that night.
It was a shame Laxus was currently out on a mission of his own, otherwise having all four of them together would have made the celebration even better.