After Cancer had brought Noah and the Heartfilia family back, he vanished in a flash of golden light.
Once they had returned, Layla set the sleepy Lucy down on the floor. Then, as if on cue, they all let out a collective sigh of relief, their bodies relaxing completely. In the Celestial Spirit World, they had been captivated by the beautiful scenery and had then been swept up in the lively atmosphere of the feast, singing and dancing with imnse excitent.
Now that they were ho, a feeling of safety and relaxation washed over them, and the accumulated fatigue hit them all at once. A look of exhaustion was on everyone's face. Lucy grabbed Layla's hand with her left, covered her mouth with her right, and let out a big yawn. With tears in the corners of her eyes, she said, "Mama, I'm so sleepy. I want to go to bed." She had played so hard that her stamina was completely drained. Now that the excitent had worn off, she was so tired she could barely stand.
"Let's all go take a bath and go to sleep," Layla said. "We can talk about everything else tomorrow."
As it was already nightti, they all went to their own rooms, and the night passed peacefully.
The next day, when Noah woke up, he asked a servant and learned that they had been gone for over a month. Jude had already left early in the morning to go to his company and deal with all the business that had piled up during his long absence.
When Noah ca to the parlor, he saw that Layla and Lucy weren't up yet, so he ate breakfast by himself and then went to a nearby clearing to train.
When he returned to the parlor after his workout, he found Layla and Lucy sitting there eating breakfast. Lucy's head was still nodding, her expression weary; she clearly hadn't recovered her energy yet.
Layla beckoned Noah over. "How did you sleep last night?"
"Very well. My wish to visit the Celestial Spirit World ca true, so I slept soundly."
"Tell about that senior you ntioned before, the one who helped you improve your Thought Projection. I don't think I've heard you talk about him."
"Actually, it was only a short while ago that I was able to improve the spell with his help."
Noah then told Layla the story of Roubaul and the Nirvit tribe. After he finished, Layla was lost in thought for a long ti. "The senior's intentions were good, but the result was tragic," she finally said. "I don't know how to judge it. But if you need anything in the future, like with publishing his story or anything else, just let know. Consider it a small token of my gratitude."
"Then thank you, Sister Layla."
"There's no need for thanks between us. By the way, what do you plan to do now?"
"I plan to go back to the guild and take so requests. I left a lot of my equipnt with my projection in the Spirit World, so I need to restock."
Noah glanced at his own personal treasury and found that his funds were running low. As his strength and magical knowledge grew, he could finally begin to conduct so of his own magical research and experints. But he had given a large amount of the equipnt he had "acquired" from the Magic Developnt Bureau to his projection to use for research in the Spirit World. He didn't have much left on hand and would need to purchase more.
"If you need anything, you must tell and Jude. We will do what we can to help you."
"Mhm, I won't be a stranger." Layla didn't like it when Noah was overly polite, so he dropped the "thank you."
Layla smiled when she heard his reply. She had always felt that Noah was too formal with them, which made her feel like they weren't very close. Now that he had changed his way of speaking, she felt much better. "That's more like it. You have such a good relationship with our family; there's no need to be so polite. You should think of this place as your ho too."
"Mhm, I will," Noah nodded. Just then, Lucy finished her breakfast, having recovered a bit of her energy, and Layla decided to take her to train. Noah said his goodbyes and returned to the guild.
The guild was as lively as ever. Noah privately found Makarov and told him about his trip to the Celestial Spirit World. Then he went up to the second floor of the guild hall and took several S-Class requests. As he was coming down, Makarov called out to him.
"Noah, when you get back, go find Laxus. I've noticed sothing is on his mind, but he won't tell what it is when I ask. You should ask him."
"Okay, Gramps. I'll ask him what's bothering him when I see him."
Noah agreed, registered the requests with Makarov, and then left the guild to complete them. The S-Class requests Noah took were all subjugation types; all he had to do was reach the destination, find the target, and kill it. These kinds of requests were quick and the pay was high, perfect for soone like Noah who was powerful and didn't want to waste ti.
With a combination of teleportation and detection magic, he could find his targets very quickly. Then, if there were multiple enemies, he would use Fairy Law. If it was a single target, he would use Fairy Glitter. Noah was using Fairy Tail's Three Great Magics as if they were his normal moves. Although the magic consumption was high, the results were remarkable. He would often only need to charge for a few seconds, the enemy would be annihilated, and the request would be complete. The only issue was that he would sotis fail to control the power, and Fairy Glitter would leave a giant crater.
Once, the S-Class monster he was supposed to subjugate turned out to be a specialist in illusion magic. Not having encountered it before and seeing its massive size, Noah had assud it was a physical brawler. He had unleashed Fairy Glitter with the force he would use for a physical-type S-Class monster, and the creature was instantly vaporized. He had been completely unable to retract his power in ti, and the entire mountaintop was obliterated by the spell. Thankfully, no one was around. In the end, Noah had to pay a hefty sum in compensation, which ant he had done the subjugation request for free.
After rushing to complete all the requests, Noah's personal treasury was once again solvent, and he could go and purchase the equipnt he needed. He took the money and found Jude, asking for his help in procuring so common equipnt. Jude didn't want to take his money and offered to give him the equipnt as a gift, but Noah repeatedly refused. In the end, unable to refuse Jude's insistence, Noah accepted his goodwill, but not for the equipnt. Instead, he asked Jude to help him buy so dicinal ingredients.
A sudden idea struck Noah. With his help, the Heartfilia family could try to enter the pharmaceutical industry. It was an extrely profitable business. He could provide the formulas as a technical investnt, and the Heartfilia family could be responsible for production and sales. This way, he would also have a sufficient source of funding for his research. Even though the rewards for S-Class requests were high, they couldn't compare to the funds needed for research. Even after buying just the common equipnt this ti, the money he had earned from his recent S-Class missions was almost completely spent.
~~~
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