A New Life in Fairy Tail

Arriving at the underground casino and pushing open the grand doors, a wave of boisterous noise washed over them.

Stepping inside, it was hard to believe it was nighttime outside. The lighting was so bright it felt like broad daylight.

The space was massive. A colossal decorative centerpiece dominated the middle of the floor, and a sprawling second level overlooked the main area.

Looking up, a section of the theme park’s roller coaster track actually passed right through the upper airspace of the casino. Every so often, a coaster car would roar past, bringing with it the screams of thrilled passengers.

The dazzling neon lights and incredibly lively atmosphere instantly reinvigorated their spirits, which had mellowed slightly with the onset of the evening.

People were having fun everywhere, their faces glowing with excited smiles.

Of course, there were also those huddled in corners looking utterly despondent. With a single glance, Noah could tell they were likely the ones who had lost control and gambled away their life savings.

After observing the facilities a bit more, Noah was surprised to find that the casino didn’t just offer standard gambling equipment and games. It was also outfitted with numerous regular amusement arcade machines for those who preferred not to gamble.

Noah realized his initial assumption—that the casino only had gambling-related entertainment—was incorrect, meaning his decision not to bring Wendy-kun and the others down might have been slightly misguided. Given the current setup, he could certainly consider bringing the girls down to play the arcade games.

However, there was no rush. He decided to find the others first.

It didn’t take much effort. Before Noah had taken more than a few steps, he heard Natsu and Happy yelling at the top of their lungs in the distance.

”Number 17! Come on! Number 17!” Natsu’s voice boomed.

Happy, sounding equally frantic, cheered beside him, ”You can do it! Number 17!”

Natsu and Happy were standing in front of a gambling machine, furiously mashing the buttons and staring intently at the spinning reels.

Inside a clear dome on the machine, balls with different numbers were flying around rapidly. On the screen in front of Natsu, there were five slots arranged in an ’X’ pattern.

The numbers in the slots flashed rapidly. To win the prize, Natsu needed the three slots forming a diagonal line to all display his chosen number.

The flashing numbers began to slow down, locking into place one by one.

”Ohhh! Number 17 is out!” Happy cheered loudly.

The two outer slots on one diagonal line had both locked onto ’17’. The other two outer slots showed different numbers. Only the center slot was still flashing rapidly.

As the center number slowed down its final rotation, it landed on ’17’ and seemed to stop. Huge grins broke out on Natsu and Happy’s faces.

Suddenly, the center number ticked over one more time, changing to ’16’, and locked in with a final, decisive DING from the machine.

”Ah! Are you kidding me?!” Natsu exploded in anger instantly.

He began slamming the machine’s buttons furiously while yelling.

”Ah! Our Number 17!” Happy wailed beside him.

”S-Sir, please, if you keep doing that, it causes a lot of trouble for us...”

Seeing Natsu taking out his frustration on the machine, an attendant rushed over, sweating profusely, and tried to persuade Natsu to stop hitting the equipment.

”But Number 17 clearly stopped right there! This is too much!” Natsu cried dramatically to the attendant, tears streaming down his face.

”Number 17!” Happy echoed his grief.

”Even if you cry...” The attendant was dumbfounded, staring helplessly at the weeping Natsu.

”Bring Number 17 back!” Natsu and Happy wailed together.

A short distance away, Gray, who was also playing a game, heard the commotion. He looked over with a deadpan expression. ”Good grief. There’s just no helping him.”

”Gray-sama!”

Suddenly, a somewhat familiar female voice called out from beside him.

Gray looked up and was immediately blinded by a flash of golden light. He squinted and shifted his head to avoid the glare reflecting straight into his eyes.

Once his vision adjusted, he realized the golden light was reflecting off a massive, solid gold Fairy Tail emblem.

This emblem was fashioned into a necklace and was currently being worn by a young woman with sky-blue hair, dressed in a form-fitting, dark blue dress.

”Juvia is here too,” Juvia said, fidgeting shyly.

”Oh! You—you’re... from Phantom Lord... Wait, what?!” Gray exclaimed in shock upon recognizing her.

That unique sky-blue curly hair instantly brought back memories of their previous battle.

”Mhm!” Seeing that Gray actually remembered her, Juvia’s face lit up with extreme excitement.

Juvia is so happy! Gray-sama actually remembers me!

”You’re here looking for me, right? Let’s go talk over there.”

When Gray first saw Juvia, he assumed she was still bitter about her defeat and had come for revenge. But seeing her fidgeting and blushing, he knew his assumption was wrong.

Furthermore, he couldn’t ignore the massive, blinding gold Fairy Tail emblem resting on her chest. Approaching him while wearing that emblem clearly meant she had something specific she wanted to discuss.

He pointed toward the nearby bar area. Hearing Gray’s suggestion, Juvia naturally nodded in ecstatic agreement.

”Okay.”

Gray led the way, with Juvia following closely behind.

Arriving at the bar, Gray found a seat, and Juvia quickly sat down right next to him.

They each ordered a drink. Seeing that Juvia was still looking rather tense and reserved, Gray decided to break the silence. ”I heard Phantom Lord was disbanded?”

”Yes.” Seeing Gray initiate the conversation, the nervousness Juvia felt upon approaching him dissipated significantly. ”Juvia is now a freelance mage.”

Because Juvia, unlike many other Phantom Lord mages, didn’t have a long record of malicious deeds and had merely been following Master Jose’s orders, the Council’s investigation and processing of her case had concluded very quickly.

With Phantom Lord officially dissolved by the Council, Juvia was currently unaffiliated and completely free.

”Ah... So, you want to join Fairy Tail?” Gray asked with a helpless sigh, glancing pointedly at the giant golden Fairy Tail emblem hanging around her neck. Her intentions couldn’t be more obvious.

”Juvia wants to join!” Juvia’s voice rose in volume. Her face flushed slightly, but she spoke with absolute earnestness.

”But... considering everything that happened between our guilds... I mean, I personally don’t mind, but I don’t know what the Master will say.”

”Juvia will do anything!” Juvia looked at Gray, her expression intense and determined.

”Don’t say things like that so lightly...” Gray sighed again, overwhelmed by her enthusiasm.

Meanwhile, after Gray and Juvia had left the gaming area, Natsu and Happy were still throwing a massive tantrum in front of their machine.

”Number 17! Give us back Number 17!”

The attendant was sweating bullets, trying in vain to calm them down.

Just as the attendant was at his wit’s end, a voice spoke up from behind him. ”What are you two doing? I could hear you yelling from miles away.”

”Noah!” Seeing Noah approach, Happy immediately flew over to him and complained, ”That machine made Number 17 disappear!”

”Huh?” Noah was entirely confused by Happy’s wording.

Seeing Noah didn’t understand, Happy quickly elaborated. ”The slot right in the middle clearly landed on Number 17, but then it suddenly changed to Number 16! This machine definitely made Number 17 disappear!” Happy’s expression was filled with righteous indignation.

”Give Number 17 back!” Natsu yelled in agreement.

Noah glanced at the machine’s display and immediately understood the gimmick.

The scenario Happy described—the center number stopping on the winning ’17’ before suddenly ticking over to ’16’—was a classic psychological trick used by these types of gambling machines.

It was designed to make the gambler believe they had won the jackpot, sending them soaring with joy, only to snatch it away at the very last second and lock in a losing result.

Naturally, gamblers felt cheated when their seemingly guaranteed win vanished before their eyes. The feeling of plummeting from the heights of euphoria into the abyss of loss was something most couldn’t handle.

The trick made them believe they were just one tick away from winning. This ”near miss” psychology encouraged them to keep spending money, convinced that the next pull would be the successful one.

As a result, their money flowed endlessly into the machines.

It was a standard, highly profitable casino tactic. However, the casino staff had probably never encountered customers who, upon realizing the result had changed, didn’t just keep feeding the machine money, but instead demanded the machine itself change the outcome back.

The poor attendant had absolutely no idea how to handle them.

Looking at the flustered attendant still trying to reason with Natsu and Happy, Noah couldn’t help but smile.

He glanced around and noticed that Natsu’s loud yelling had already drawn the attention of many onlookers. He also saw several casino staff members observing the situation, some even speaking into their communication lacrimas.

He knew they were reporting the disturbance to their superiors. If this continued, it would likely escalate into a physical confrontation with the casino’s security.

Noah had come here to relax and have fun, not to get into a brawl.

He reached out, grabbing Happy out of the air with one hand and slinging his other arm around Natsu’s shoulders.

”Noah?” Happy looked at Noah in confusion, fully expecting Noah to stand up for them and demand justice from the machine.

Natsu also stopped his fake crying and looked at Noah.

”Alright, that’s enough yelling. These machines are specifically designed to do that. They’re built to make sure you don’t win the jackpot and to trick you into spending more money. Let’s go play some other games; there are plenty of fun things to do here.”

~~~

Get early access to 50+ advanced chapters on Patreon!

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