Landing beside Noah, Cana put away the card she used for flying and circled Noah several times, looking at him strangely.
"Why are you completely unharmed again?"
Noah's expression changed, and he looked at her with dead fish eyes.
Cana, feeling that she had said the wrong thing under his gaze, awkwardly raised her wine bottle. "Look at my mouth. I'll punish myself with a bottle. Don't be angry."
Punish herself with a bottle?
I think that's a reward!
Noah stared at Cana for a long moment, until the drunken girl felt a chill down her spine. Noah still couldn't figure out where she pulled such a large wine bottle from.
Cana looked around. This valley was very secluded; if Doran hadn't told her the location, she wouldn't have arrived so quickly.
On the scene was a broken sword that should be called scrap metal, with faint traces of sinister darkness flowing on its blade. Not far away, more than a dozen Black Magic Cult members lay unconscious.
The ground directly in front of their position had a huge crater blasted into it by some terrifying Magic.
Cana could even still feel the tremor of Magic particles in the air; only Magic with powerful destructive force could carry Magic particles along.
"Noah, what exactly happened here? Where are those two Black Magic Cult Priests?"
Noah was startled. "Priests? Aren't they just a branch of the Black Magic Cult?"
Their eyes met, and looking into the girl's eyes, Noah understood.
So, the two guys who were blasted into dust by Dorma Anim were the Priests who could rival S-Class Mages!
Jerome and Gomon gave Noah the feeling that they had some strength, but not much. If he had a handy Magic weapon, he could have defeated them himself without activating Dorma Anim.
Cana noticed the change in Noah's expression. Although he didn't say anything, Cana had a strange feeling that this guild newcomer had met those two Priests.
"Noah, where are those two people?"
Faced with Cana's question, Noah was a bit at a loss for how to explain. In the end, he looked up at the sky and summarized it in one sentence.
"They are everywhere."
Cana was startled. She pulled out a card and looked around vigilantly. It sounded like Magic that could blend into the environment. In that case, wouldn't those two Priests be very troublesome?
Not understanding why Cana was so nervous, Noah exhaled and slowly spoke the second half of his sentence.
"Don't be nervous, they've already turned to ash."
"Huh?"
Cana's mouth hung open, her face full of disbelief.
Those were S-Class level combatants, dangerous individuals wanted by the Magic Council and various countries, and they didn't even leave behind ash.
What kind of powerhouse could have defeated them?
She didn't even consider Noah. A newcomer who couldn't fight with Magic and relied on Magic items couldn't possibly have fought two Priests and pulverized them.
"A passing expert must have saved you! How lucky, Noah." Cana suspected that some reclusive master had saved Noah and then left after dealing with the bad guys.
The drunken girl's guess was very close to the truth. The only mistake was that there was no reclusive master, because Dorma Anim was not a person.
However, with Cana's self-hypnotizing imagination, Noah could take advantage of the situation. He just needed to fabricate a non-existent person, and this matter could be glossed over.
"That's right, a person in a black robe saved me. He covered his face so I couldn't see his appearance. He used a Magic staff and a single spell to obliterate those two Priests."
Mysterious, black robe, Magic staff.
These three elements were the classic master's attire in popular novels in the world of Edolas. Noah adopted this template without a second thought.
And Cana believed him without any suspicion.
Just as Noah was secretly pleased, he didn't know that Cana, based on his description, had thought of someone else—that person also wore a black robe, was equally mysterious, and also used a Magic staff in combat.
Most importantly, that person was also a member of Fairy Tail, and had even defeated her in this year's S-Class Mage Promotion Trial, becoming the guild's fifth S-Class Mage.
If he had made a move, instantly killing two Black Magic Cult Priests wouldn't be impossible.
Cana looked at the large pit on the ground with complex emotions.
You defeated me in the trial with just Sleep Magic. You truly are terrifyingly strong... Mystogan.
Noah didn't know what Cana was thinking; he just called her to explore the exposed cave together.
"Cana, I heard those two Priests say that this cave is the lair of a deceased Iron Dragon. Let's go see if there are any good things."
Noah rubbed his hands eagerly. From the appearance of Dorma Anim, he knew that the terrifying existence his ancestor imitated when creating Dorma Anim four hundred years ago was a dragon.
Now seeing a dragon's lair, even though it was very likely not the lair of that "terrifying dragon," Noah was still very excited.
Cana actually also wanted to know what a dragon's lair would contain, but she still stopped Noah. "Let's wait for Old Man Doran and the others to arrive. Those Mage blacksmiths gathered under Iron Furnace Ridge precisely for the Iron Dragon."
Noah raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised, but still chose to wait.
Half an hour later, two teams of people approached the valley from a mountainside of ore.
One team consisted of soldiers stationed at the market, while the other team was much more diverse.
Rugged blacksmiths carrying hammers, tailors holding needles and thread, tool maintenance specialists wearing monocles... they all shared a common title: "Mage Blacksmiths."
The Mage blacksmiths advanced rapidly, leaving the soldiers far behind. Doran, who was leading, moved like a swift runner, widening the distance from his clansmen behind him.
"Hey! Old Man Doran! Over here!"
Even without Cana's call, Doran saw them. Seeing Noah and Cana both safe and sound, the stone weighing on his heart dissipated.
It's good that they're alright.
Watching Doran stop without even a gasp, Noah realized this blacksmith was extraordinary. How many old men could run freely in a mountain of ore enveloped in high temperatures?
Cana, in her own embellished way, described what she believed had happened in the valley to Doran.
"Old Man, tell us, how do you plan to compensate us?"
"I'm telling you, the combined mental distress fees for Noah and me are no less than 5... no, no less than 100,000 Jewels, or we won't discuss it."
After being haughtily rebuked by Cana again, Doran, knowing he was in the wrong, readily agreed and also promised to gift Noah a Magic weapon.
Seeing Cana finish her haggling, Noah spoke. "Senior, I heard Cana say that you are related to the dragon that once lived here?"
Doran looked at the huge cave exposed beneath the Darkness Sword and nodded heavily.
"Young man, do you know about the Dragon Civil War four hundred years ago?"
Clearly, Noah didn't know, and not just him. Even Cana only knew that the war ended with the near-extinction of the Dragon race, but the details of the process had never been made public.
Doran sighed and continued, "It's alright if you don't know. More than four hundred years ago, the Dragon race was divided into two factions based on their attitude towards humans."
One faction detested humans, while the other, a minority, believed they should coexist peacefully with humans.
The dragons who detested humans started a war. Humans at the time found it difficult to resist; it was almost a one-sided slaughter.
Fortunately, the friendly dragons came to their aid. The friendly dragons were a minority within the Dragon race, but their leader was Igneel, the Fire Dragon King, one of the Dragon Kings.
Although the leader of the evil dragons was also one of the Dragon Kings, he slowed the pace of the war out of fear of Igneel's power, giving humans a chance to breathe.
The friendly dragons sheltered humans everywhere. Doran's ancestors were saved by Metalicana, the Iron Dragon, from the clutches of the evil dragons and later moved to live near Iron Furnace Ridge, protected by the Iron Dragon.
After nearly eight years, Dragon Slayer Magic emerged, sounding the horn of human counterattack. However, two years later, the Iron Dragon suddenly forcibly expelled Doran's ancestral clan.
According to the accounts passed down by Doran's ancestors, a terrifying Black Dragon sought out the Iron Dragon, and since then, the Iron Dragon has never reappeared in the world.
Doran's ancestors were unwilling to believe that their benefactor had simply vanished, so they passed down a message instructing their descendants to return to Iron Furnace Ridge and await the return of Lord Metalicana.
More than a hundred years ago, Doran's father, following his ancestors' dying wish, after countless hardships, finally gathered the scattered clansmen and returned to Iron Furnace Ridge in batches, making a living by crafting Magic items.
No one would have thought that the skilled Mage blacksmiths in the market were gathered under Iron Furnace Ridge to await the return of a dragon.
Because they had been saved once, and then for the next four hundred years they awaited the return of the Iron Dragon, Noah couldn't help but feel admiration for Doran's clan.
"Senior, may I know the name of your clan?"
Doran laughed aloud. "In this era, who still calls themselves a clan?"
Doran's ancestral clan, after leaving Iron Furnace Ridge, was caught up in wars due to their excellent craftsmanship in making Magic items, forced to scatter and live under assumed names.
A hundred years ago, Doran's father was able to reassemble most of his clansmen by relying on their family name.
Redfox.