A New Life in Fairy Tail

Anna’s face was full of confusion, but seeing Noah’s grave expression, she agreed. ”Then I will collect the relevant information. Before that, I will not mention my partner to anyone.”

”That’s for the best. I would hate for you to have paid such a great price, only to fail because of some other matter. By the way, let’s exchange contact information. This is a communication lacrima. You can use it to contact me. If you have any problems, I can help.”

Noah took out a communication lacrima from his coat and handed it to Anna, who accepted it and put it away.

Seeing that he had said all he needed to say, Noah dispelled the magic that had been surrounding them. Layla and King Toma didn’t ask what the two of them had discussed.

Anna said to Layla, ”I still have things to do, so I must be going. I hope that you and your family will live happily.”

”Mhm—”

Layla, Noah, and King Toma walked Anna to the palace exit. ”Anna, what are your plans now?” Layla asked.

”Everything must be done in order. I’m going to find the children first. Before I can tell you everything, I must ask you—”

”Mhm, I understand,” Layla nodded. ”Until then, everything must be kept secret.”

Anna then turned to King Toma. ”Your Majesty, could you have that gate destroyed?”

”Mhm—alright—”

Anna waved to them and turned to walk away into the distance. Noah and the others waited until she had completely disappeared from sight before they returned to the palace.

The moment they were back in the parlor, Princess Hisui ran up to her father. ”Father! There were meteors just now! Five meteors flew up into the sky!”

King Toma knew immediately what she was talking about. ”Hisui, can you tell Father what it looked like? I’d like to know too.”

Princess Hisui excitedly began to recount the scene she had witnessed, with her guard adding details from the side.

Jude, seeing Layla and Noah return, asked, ”How did it go? Is everything resolved?”

”Yes, it’s all resolved. The long-standing mission of the Heartfilia family is complete. Lucy no longer has to bear this burden.” Layla looked at Jude with a relaxed expression. He smiled back. Hearing the good news from his wife, all the hard work of the past two years felt worth it. He gently hugged her, and she rested her head on his shoulder, her body and mind finally, completely at ease, enjoying this quiet moment together.

Seeing that King Toma and Layla were with their families, Noah didn’t disturb them. He used his teleportation magic to go and retrieve the nearby backup data lacrimas. After he had collected all of them, he returned to the palace. Seeing that they were still chatting, he found a corner to sit down and began to check his recovered equipment and data.

He discovered that while many of the devices looked fine on the outside, they had been damaged internally. He didn’t know if it was because of the immense magic from the gate’s opening or the dragon’s roar. But thankfully, he had still collected a great deal of data. All that was left was to go back and organize it.

Just as he was starting to process the data, someone came from King Toma’s side to invite him to a banquet, a private affair with just the royal family and the Heartfilia family.

Noah packed up his things and went to the dining hall. At the banquet, everyone tacitly avoided talking about the gate. Instead, King Toma began to discuss a partnership with Jude. Over the past year, thanks to Noah’s excellent formulas, Jude’s pharmaceutical company had produced highly effective and reasonably priced potions. The company had grown rapidly and had already made a name for itself in Fiore and the surrounding countries. Now, the royal family wanted to partner with him. Jude was, of course, delighted. As long as the control remained in his hands, a partnership with the royal family was an overwhelmingly positive opportunity.

”I was wondering who invented your company’s potions. Would it be possible to meet them?” After chatting for a while, King Toma finally asked his question. Seeing Jude’s troubled expression, he quickly explained, ”I merely wish to ask this master to give myself and Hisui a check-up. After all, if his potions are this effective, his medical skills must be superb.”

Jude didn’t know how to answer. He caught a glimpse of Noah slightly shaking his head and immediately knew what to say. ”My apologies, Your Majesty. When that person gave me the formulas to manage, their face was concealed. I do not know who they are. We only agreed on the profit-sharing and delivery methods. I only put the formulas on the market after extensive testing confirmed there were no problems. Since the effects are so good, I don’t want to risk investigating their identity and souring our relationship, which could end our partnership.”

Hearing this, King Toma could only shake his head in regret and move on to other topics.

Noah had no desire to treat the king and princess, not even just for a check-up. Due to the explosive sales of the potions, the identity of the formula’s provider had become a hot topic. Thankfully, right at the beginning of their partnership, Noah had asked Jude to keep his identity a secret, and Jude had protected it well. Although King Toma was a good king, what about others? What would other people who learned this news do? The royal court was a vortex of trouble, and Noah had no desire to get sucked into it. He was already busy enough as it was. With Jude helping him earn money, all he needed to do was focus on his own work.

Noah ate quietly while Princess Hisui and Lucy chatted. Layla would also occasionally join their conversation. The three of them were talking very excitedly, without a pause. On one side was a business discussion, on the other was a lively chat between the ladies, and Noah was just in the middle, quietly eating his meal.

After they had finished, Lucy and Princess Hisui exchanged contact information, promising to stay in touch.

King Toma had them stay the night in the palace guest rooms. The next day, Noah and the Heartfilia family finally left the capital.

When they had all returned to the Heartfilia estate, Noah returned the twelve Zodiac keys to their respective owners, and Jude gave each of them a generous sum of money as thanks.

Grammi, Solideo, and Spetto, knowing that Lucy was now on the path to becoming a wizard, wanted to give their keys to Layla for her. Layla tried to refuse several times but was unsuccessful and had no choice but to accept. However, Solideo said that he would need a little more time before he could return his key, as he needed to learn another type of magic to replace his Celestial Spirit magic.

~~~

Get early access to 50+ advanced chapters on Patreon!

https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn