After safely returning Noah and the Heartfilia family, Keisha shimmered into golden light and quietly vanished.
As everyone arrived back home, Layla gently set Lucy down from her arms. A collective sigh of relief passed through the group they finally relaxed.
Back in the Celestial Spirit Realm, they'd been swept up in the beauty of the surroundings, carried away by its otherworldly charm. And once the banquet began, the joyful atmosphere had only grown stronger. Everyone had sung and danced without holding back, laughter echoing through the stars.
Now that they were home, the spell of the celebration faded. The moment they stepped back into familiar walls, the tension and excitement they'd been riding on seemed to dissolve and in its place came exhaustion. Heavy-lidded eyes and slow movements showed just how drained everyone really was.
Lucy clung to Layla's hand with one of her own, rubbing her sleepy eyes with the other. A yawn escaped her, tears welling slightly in the corners of her eyes.
"Mom… I'm so sleepy. I wanna sleep," she mumbled, swaying slightly where she stood.
She had run around far too much during the party, laughed too hard, eaten too many sweets, and used up every bit of energy she had. Now, her body had caught up with her.
Layla smiled softly and turned to everyone.
"Alright, let's all take a bath and head straight to bed. Anything else can wait until tomorrow."
They had returned just as night had settled over the estate, so no one argued. One by one, they slipped off to their rooms, silent and content, not a single word spoken for the rest of the night.
The next morning, Noah woke early.
After checking in with the Heartfilia staff, he found out that more than a month had passed since they first entered the Celestial Spirit Realm.
Jude had already left early that morning to return to the company, needing to deal with everything that had piled up during his long absence.
When Noah entered the living room, Layla and Lucy were still nowhere to be seen. So he enjoyed a quiet breakfast, then stepped out into the estate's courtyard for his morning training.
By the time he returned, the two had come downstairs and were seated at the table having breakfast. Lucy was clearly still half-asleep, nodding between bites, her hair slightly tousled and eyes hazy. She hadn't fully bounced back yet.
Layla looked up and waved Noah over.
"Come sit. How did you sleep last night?"
"Great," Noah replied with a grin as he pulled out a chair. "I finally got to visit the Celestial Spirit World. That dream came true, so yeah, I slept really well."
Layla gave him a curious glance. "That senior you mentioned the one who helped you improve your thought-body I don't think you've told me about him before."
"Ah, right." Noah leaned back slightly. "Actually, I only met him recently. He really helped me optimize the structure of my thought-form."
He then shared the story of Robalu and the Nilubit tribe their methods, their fall, and the knowledge they passed on.
Layla listened closely, then fell into thoughtful silence for a moment.
"Their intentions were noble… but the outcome was unfortunate," she said at last, her voice soft. "It's hard to judge people like that in simple terms."
Then she added, with a gentle smile, "But if you ever need help publishing something, accessing certain resources, or anything else just come to me. That's my way of saying thanks."
"Thanks, Sister Layla."
She shook her head with a little laugh. "No need for thanks between us. So, what's next on your plan?"
"I'm thinking of heading back to the guild and picking up some commissions. I left most of my gear with my thought-body in the Celestial Spirit Realm, so I need to restock a few things."
Noah had peeked into his personal funds that morning and what he saw wasn't encouraging. His treasury was running low. Way too low.
Now that his magical abilities were growing and his understanding of arcane theory was improving, he was ready to begin some real magical research and experimentation. But that meant spending.
A lot.
Many of the instruments he had taken from the Magic Development Bureau had already been handed off to the thought-body for study back in the Celestial Spirit Realm. Which meant his current inventory was… not exactly research-ready.
He needed new gear.
"If there's anything you need, just tell me or Jude," Layla said kindly. "We'll help however we can."
"Alright. I won't be shy." Noah smiled.
Layla gave a small nod of approval. She didn't like when he was overly formal, so this was just right.
Layla laughed warmly at Noah's reply. She had always thought he was a little too polite with them, and she didn't like that kind of formality it made their relationship feel distant, like guests instead of family.
But now, Noah's way of speaking had changed. He sounded more relaxed, more natural.
Layla felt much happier because of it.
"That's better," she said with a satisfied smile. "You're already so close with our family no need for such polite talk. Treat this place like your home."
"Yes. I will." Noah nodded sincerely.
Lucy, who had just finished her breakfast, looked more lively now. She'd recovered some of her energy, and Layla planned to take her out for a bit of training.
Seeing that, Noah said goodbye to the two of them and headed back toward the guild.
The Fairy Tail guild was as lively as ever.
Noah quietly made his way to Master Makarov's office and shared the story of his journey to the Celestial Spirit Realm in private.
After that, he went up to the second floor of the guild to browse through a few S-Class commission requests. Once he'd picked out several suitable ones, he started heading downstairs.
As he reached the steps, Makarov called out from behind him.
"Noah! When you come back, find Laxus. I've been watching him he's got something weighing on his mind, but he won't talk to me about it. Maybe he'll open up to you."
"Got it, Grandpa. I'll check in with him when I return."
Noah handed the request slips to Makarov for registration, then left the guild to begin work on the S-Class commissions.
The jobs Noah picked were all elimination-type commissions. Straightforward: travel to the target location, locate the threat, eliminate it. Mission complete.
These kinds of jobs didn't take long, and the pay wasn't bad either. For someone like Noah who had strength but didn't want to waste time they were ideal.
With his combination of instant teleportation and detection magic, he could quickly lock onto his target.
If the threat turned out to be a group of enemies? He'd unleash Fairy Law.
If it was a single target? Then Fairy Glory was more than enough.
By now, Noah had practically turned Fairy Tail's three legendary Grand Magic Spells into part of his regular toolkit. They still consumed a large amount of magic, but the payoff was massive. In most cases, a few seconds of charging was all it took to wipe out the enemy and complete the job.
Although… he still had some issues with control.
There was one mission in particular: he'd accepted a job to subdue an S-class monster. What he didn't know was that the creature specialized in illusion magic. Noah had never encountered a monster like it before and when he saw its gigantic size, he mistakenly assumed it was a close-range brawler.
So, naturally, he used a full-powered Fairy Glory, expecting a tough fight.
But the moment the spell was released, the illusion shattered. The monster was obliterated in an instant, reduced to ash.
Noah didn't even have time to pull back his magic. The attack tore through the surrounding landscape and completely flattened the entire hill.
Luckily, no one else was nearby.
But in the end, he had to pay a huge fine for the destruction, and the commission ended up being a loss anyway.
After traveling around and completing all the missions, Noah finally returned.
The good news? His personal treasury had been refilled. At last, he could purchase the research equipment he needed.
He took the reward money and went to find Jude, asking for help buying some standard magical equipment.
At first, Jude waved him off he had no intention of accepting Noah's money. He planned to provide the gear himself.
But Noah stubbornly refused the offer.
After some back and forth, Noah finally gave in to Jude's generosity but with a condition. He wouldn't use the money to buy equipment. Instead, he asked Jude to use it to purchase medicinal herbs.
Because Noah suddenly had an idea.
With his help, the Heartfilia family could enter the pharmaceutical industry a business with extremely high profits.
Noah would provide the formulas and magical knowledge as a form of technical investment. The Heartfilia family would be responsible for production, logistics, and sales. That way, he'd have a stable, long-term source of income to fund his magical research.
The truth was, even though S-class commissions paid well, the income wasn't enough to sustain large-scale magical research.
Even the recent round of missions after covering the costs for some common instruments and magic tools had already drained most of his earnings.
He needed a more sustainable path forward.
...
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