This guy... he's doing it on purpose!
Seeing Roland extend an invitation to Mirajane, Levy pouted her cheeks in jealousy.
I was the one who brought him to the guild, so naturally, I should be the one to guide him!
"Oh my, are you two going to team up?" Mirajane gently pressed a finger to her lips and tilted her head to remind him, "But I remember Levy already has a team, doesn't she?"
"If Jet and Droy find out..."
"Honestly, Mira, don't say things that could cause a misunderstanding. The two of them and I are just ordinary friends!"
Levy subconsciously glanced at Roland beside her. Seeing no change in his expression, she couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
She couldn't let Roland misunderstand something like this.
"I'll explain things to Jet and Droy—compared to them, Roland, who just joined the guild, needs more help, right?" Levy scratched her blushing cheek with a fingertip and explained.
Especially since she was the one who brought this newcomer into the guild, she felt even more obligated.
Faced with the cute blue-haired girl's invitation to team up, Roland naturally accepted with pleasure.
"Well then, if you want to take a quest, you can go to the request board over there. After you've found a suitable quest, just come to me to register it!"
Mirajane reminded him gently.
"Thank you, Miss Mirajane," Roland nodded politely.
"It's nothing. Also, you can just call me Mira. Everyone in the guild calls me that," Mirajane waved her hand.
While they were discussing quest-related matters, the brawl in the guild hall had long since died down.
Most of the guild members were lying around in disarray on the floor, surrounded by broken chairs and barrels. Makarov, the Guild Master, was sitting cross-legged on the second-floor railing, a pained expression on his face.
This guild... is more lively than I imagined.
Roland thought to himself as he glanced at the request board nearby, which was covered with all sorts of quest flyers.
Subjugating Vulcans on Mt. Hakobe, catching precious flying fish, repelling bandits, finding a lost book...
From helping residents with chores to subjugating monsters on a snowy mountain, they had everything.
The rewards for the quests varied according to their difficulty, ranging from a mere 500 J to as high as 600,000 J.
He even saw a few familiar-looking requests on it.
Which meant the start of the main story wasn't far off.
Roland took the quest to subjugate the Vulcan snow monster and couldn't help but think.
"Eh, you're going to take this quest?" Levy stood on her tiptoes, and when she saw the request he had torn off, she couldn't help but advise against it. "Those snow monkeys are social creatures. It'll be easy for the two of us to get overwhelmed."
"I don't intend to take it," Roland looked at the 400,000 J reward listed below and shook his head. "The reward for this quest is too low."
400,000 J might seem like a lot, but in this town, it was only equivalent to two months' rent. After factoring in food and other expenses, it was simply not enough.
"That's quite a lot, though. At least we can rent a..." Levy's words trailed off, then she abruptly stopped.
Looking at Roland standing in front of the request board, she didn't know if it was her imagination, but Levy felt that his demeanor was a bit different.
"Hm?"
Noticing the girl's strange behavior, Roland turned his head slightly, his gaze meeting her slightly surprised eyes.
As their eyes met, Levy realized what was wrong.
Roland's eyes no longer held any gentleness or amusement. Instead, there was a natural indifference.
Arrogant, conceited, and condescending, it was a complete contrast to his previous humble and polite demeanor, as if he had become a different person.
"Ro... Roland?" she called out uncertainly.
"..."
Roland looked at her worried expression, stunned for a moment, then immediately understood.
Has my personality been affected by the sun?
He could feel his power rapidly increasing as noon approached, and he hadn't expected his personality to be subtly changing as well.
Yesterday, when the sun set, Roland had thought his personality wouldn't be affected...
Now it seemed that while he hadn't inherited the timid personality, the arrogant side remained.
"Sorry, it's because of another one of my magic abilities. My personality changes a bit at noon."
Understanding the reason, Roland explained.
"Is it a side effect of your magic?" Hearing his explanation, Levy relaxed a little.
Could magic really change a person's personality?
To make such a polite person so arrogant...
Looking at the arrogant expression in Roland's eyes, an unusual feeling involuntarily rose in her heart.
"..."
Levy quickly shook her head, suppressing the inappropriate emotion that had just surfaced.
What was I just thinking!?
"So, are there any quests with higher rewards?"
Ignoring the infatuated girl beside him, Roland pinched his chin and muttered to himself.
Perhaps influenced by his current state of mind, he felt a strong resistance to taking on such boring and worthless quests.
Just then, a slightly mocking voice sounded from the second floor.
"Just a mere newcomer, and you're already so arrogant!"
Roland calmly looked up at the blond man sitting near the railing on the second floor.
He had a prominent lightning bolt-shaped scar over his right eye, wore a pair of headphones on his head, a black shirt, and a fur-lined coat over it.
"Laxus?"
Levy subconsciously called out the man's name.
"To think they'd even accept a good-for-nothing who doesn't know his own place. Has the guild really fallen this far?"
Laxus didn't bother to reply to her, instead leaning against the railing with a malicious smile. "You want a high-reward quest, don't you? Why don't you take a look on the second floor, newbie!"
"Roland, don't listen to him!"
Mirajane frowned and looked up. "Although Roland is a new member, he is also a comrade of the Fairy Tail guild."
"Ha—who would acknowledge such a weakling as a comrade? There are enough weaklings in the guild already!"
Laxus looked down from above, a disdainful smile on his face.
"Do I really need to consider these weaklings as my comrades?"
His words instantly angered more than half the people in the guild hall.
"Damn it, that Laxus—"
"So arrogant!"
"Bastard..."
...
"Laxus, is it..."
A smile spread across Roland's lips. He ruffled the blue hair of the girl beside him and turned to walk towards the stairs.
It was currently noon, and he was finding it a bit hard to contain the immense power within his body.
He might as well use this guy to test his strength.
"Wait—Roland!"