Erza widened her eyes and crouched down beside Moen. She wasn't anxious at all, which made Moen have no choice but to explain things to her.
"I'm responsible for determining who the top nine are."
Moen spoke, and this made Erza suddenly understand. She had thought that Moen was waiting here for the people behind them so they could set off together.
"The Master really has a lot of confidence in you."
There was a hint of emotion in Erza's words. The fact that Moen could be responsible for this made the implication obvious, he was already taking on part of the examiner's duties.
"Don't you have confidence in me?"
Moen stopped playing with the crab, turned to look at Erza, and asked with a smile.
Erza was wearing black armor decorated with white cross patterns, with bat-like wings on her back, and she held a one-handed sword in her hand. Her red hair was tied into a ponytail.
This girl's "Requip Magic" was truly a real "one-click outfit change"—even her hairstyle changed along with it, just like a magical girl transformation.
"Of course I have confidence in you."
Faced with Moen's question, Erza answered without hesitation. She also believed that Moen would definitely pass the S-Class exam.
"But unfortunately, I don't have much confidence in you."
Moen gave a teasing smile. These words directly made Erza, who had been smiling, freeze. The girl became a little annoyed.
"Do you think I don't even have the strength to gain Laxus's recognition?"
Erza put her hands on her hips and spoke very unwillingly. She didn't dare say she could defeat Laxus, but just gaining recognition, she felt she could still achieve that.
"If it were next year, you would definitely be able to gain his recognition. But this year, it's his first time acting as an examiner, so his standards will be especially high. They might even be higher than Gildarts's. If you don't pass, it's not your problem, it's Laxus's problem."
Moen shook his head. If Gildarts were still the examiner this year, Erza's chances of gaining recognition would be a bit higher.
But with Laxus acting as an examiner for the first time, unless Erza could directly defeat him head-on, it would be impossible for her to gain recognition.
Those guild members who thought Laxus would have lower standards than Gildarts were clearly overthinking things.
Laxus already hoped that the guild's members were all strong, and the title of "S-Class Mage," which only the strongest of the strong could obtain, was something he would never lower the standards for. He would definitely use the standards Gildarts used on him to judge others, and might even raise them further.
"…"
After hearing Moen's words, Erza froze in place. She had never thought of this before, so… would Laxus deliberately make things difficult for them? Would he just refuse to let them pass?
"How is that making things difficult? This is simply the rule. If the S-Class Mage acting as examiner thinks you're not qualified to become an S-Class Mage, then either defeat him directly, or accept it. It's that simple."
Moen shook his head. This really couldn't be considered making things difficult. He was just acting within the rules, and recognition itself was inherently subjective.
Why were there so few S-Class Mages in the guild? Wasn't it because Gildarts had extremely high standards, and the old man had tacitly approved of it?
The old man was very strict about S-Class missions. If you weren't S-Class, you weren't even allowed to go to the second floor, precisely because he was afraid that the mages below would secretly take those missions.
Failing to complete them and damaging the guild's reputation was one thing, but the danger level of S-Class missions was extremely high. If guild members lost their lives because of it, that would be even harder to accept, something that could have been avoided.
Gildarts spent most of his time outside, constantly taking on S-Class missions. He enjoyed it and didn't feel like he was being overworked. He already loved traveling, so doing S-Class missions everywhere was just like traveling for him.
With such a capable "workhorse" like Gildarts, having fewer S-Class Mages in the guild wasn't really a problem. It just somewhat affected the confidence of those members who repeatedly participated in the exam.
As for Laxus, after becoming S-Class, he also frequently went out on missions and was likewise a "workhorse." It could only be said that the two of them were qualified to raise the standards after all, they got the job done.
"I'll work hard! And I've also prepared a special armor to deal with Laxus!"
After hearing Moen's words, Erza did not give up. After learning that her opponent would be Laxus, she had made preparations—she prepared a set of "Lightning Empress Armor," specifically designed to counter lightning-type mages.
"Do your best! Show Laxus what you've got!"
Seeing Erza's stubborn and unyielding expression, Moen naturally wouldn't continue to discourage her and instead encouraged her.
Of course, in his heart, Moen still didn't believe that Erza could defeat Laxus.
Erza still needed to continue growing. The four-year age gap indeed required time to catch up. Laxus had already entered a period of rapid improvement, while Erza was just beginning to show her potential. There would still be a gap between them for quite some time in the future.
"What are you two talking about?"
While Moen and Erza were talking, Mirajane also reached the finish line. She landed beside them and asked with a suspicious expression.
"We were talking about Laxus."
Moen looked toward Mirajane. She was currently in her demon form, which actually looked quite cool, giving off a fierce aura.
However, Mirajane clearly had not yet fully brought out the power of this demon. She needed even more time to grow than Erza. After all, the time Mirajane had seriously begun learning magic was even shorter than Erza's. No matter how good one's talent was, it still needed to be developed.
"Hmph! Don't underestimate me! I'll go defeat Laxus right now and show you!"
After learning that Moen was not optimistic about the two of them at all, Mirajane reacted more strongly. She immediately spread her wings and flew toward the forest of Tenrou Island. Beneath the towering giant tree was a dense forest, and Laxus was within it.
"Then I'm leaving too!"
Seeing Mirajane take the lead and fly toward the forest, Erza also reacted. After saying goodbye to Moen, she immediately chased after her. She could accept Moen being ahead of her, but she absolutely could not accept Mirajane being ahead of her.
It seemed that Mirajane's direct "false start" was also due to this mindset. Regardless of whether she could defeat Laxus, as long as she found him before Erza, it would count as her victory!
After all, Moen had said that both she and Erza would find it difficult to gain Laxus's approval, so winning back a point in this aspect was also a victory!
Whenever Mirajane and Erza encountered each other, Mirajane's competitive spirit became extremely strong. Even secretly eating the cake Erza had saved for herself could count as one victory, let alone getting ahead of Erza in the exam. That could even be counted as two wins!
Watching the two girls fly off while competing with each other, Moen smiled helplessly. The two of them were even more intense than Natsu and Gray.
Speaking of Natsu and Gray, after Erza and Mirajane had left for a while, Gray finally arrived, sliding over on ice all the way. He could be considered to have a bit of home-ground advantage, arriving at the finish line in fourth place.
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