Erza crossed her arms, her brows furrowed, the tip of her teeth gently biting her lower lip. She looked like she wanted to say something but held back.
"Even if you look at me like that..." Shane was blocked by her at the door. He spread his hands helplessly, not knowing what the girl was conflicted about.
After a moment of stalemate, she finally relented, her voice muffled: "Fine, what you said makes sense."
She lowered her eyes, the tip of her shoe gently kicking the ground. Shane's points were indeed reasonable; she couldn't find a reason to refute them. But the thought of postponing the trip she had been looking forward to made her feel somewhat unhappy.
Shane nodded, his stomach rumbling at the perfect time. "In that case, let's eat first. I'm starving."
Thinking about it, from arriving at the inn yesterday until now, he had been focused on washing up and researching the Book of Heroic Spirits rewards, completely forgetting to eat. Counting it up, he hadn't eaten for a day and a half.
"Mhm." Erza responded, unconsciously straightening her back. Her simple dress hugged her body with her movement, vaguely outlining the budding curves of a young girl.
"Wait a moment." Shane suddenly remembered something. He stopped and closed his eyes, as if sensing some flow within his body.
"What's wrong?" Erza tilted her head curiously.
He raised his right hand, palm up. In the next second, five dusty cloth strips appeared out of thin air and landed lightly in his hand.
Under Erza's puzzled gaze, Shane skillfully used his left hand to wrap the cloth strips like bandages, meticulously winding them around his entire right arm, from wrist to elbow.
Shane then moved his bandaged right arm, trying to make a fist, and felt that his movement wasn't affected at all. He nodded in satisfaction.
But Erza noticed that although Shane's movements looked easy, fine beads of sweat were inexplicably seeping from his forehead, as if he were enduring something.
"What is this for?" The girl couldn't help asking. "Is it your new magic?"
"Hard to explain," Shane chose his words carefully, the cloth strips on his right arm seemingly heating up slightly. "Consider it a way of training."
He shook his right hand, trying to use a more understandable explanation. "You can understand it as... adding a burden to the body."
This was an inspiration that suddenly struck him last night while testing Saber's Noble Phantasm.
By continuously summoning and maintaining multiple weapons in the physical world, forcing Magic Power and stamina to constantly drain, he triggered the warm flow in his body to continuously repair it, achieving the effect of physical training.
Although the efficiency wasn't as high as pushing the body to its absolute limit, the advantage lay in constantly stimulating the warm flow, accelerating the body's transformation into a Heroic Spirit's physique.
Even better, he could precisely control the load by adjusting the enhancement level of the manifested weapons, keeping the training efficiency always in the most reasonable state.
It was incredibly convenient.
Shane couldn't help but marvel inwardly; maybe he was a genius too.
Erza stood silently by the side, carefully examining Shane, silently memorizing his current state, and nodding as if she somewhat understood.
Although she didn't quite understand the specific principle, she firmly remembered the concept of "adding weight for training."
The two went downstairs together.
The common area on the first floor of the inn also served simple meals. It was already noon, and sunlight shone through the windows, illuminating the dust motes floating in the air. Several tables of guests were dining. They found a seat by the window and each ordered the recommended set meal of the day.
Erza had already eaten, but her appetite had always been large. Shane, because his stomach was growling with hunger, wasn't picky about food at all; he only asked for it to be served quickly.
Soon, the food was brought up. Two sets of grilled fish, served with a bowl of miso soup and a dish of pickled radish.
The skin of the grilled fish was golden brown, carrying the rough texture of sea salt. Gently peeling it open with chopsticks revealed snow-white, piping-hot fish meat, emitting the mixed aroma of the ocean and charcoal fire.
Shane picked up a piece of fish meat and put it in his mouth. Crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, the savory and fresh juices burst in his mouth, and his empty stomach immediately felt a satisfying warmth.
"Woo, this is what real food is!" He was moved almost to tears, recalling the days in the Tower of Heaven. What kind of pig swill had they been eating?!
Just as Shane buried his head to focus on dealing with the food, familiar footsteps came from the inn entrance.
Grandpa Rob walked in holding Millianna's hand; it looked like they had just finished strolling outside. The old man spotted the two by the window at a glance and walked over with a smile.
"Yo, finally up? We were thinking of coming up to see if you were awake," Rob said cheerfully, sitting down at the table with Millianna and ordering two lunches as well.
Shane's mouth was still stuffed with food, so he could only wave his hand and greet them vaguely.
After quickly but politely finishing the last mouthful of rice on his plate, he took a satisfying sip of the drink the waiter served afterward, and only then looked at Rob.
"Grandpa, I have a favor to ask," Shane said, gesturing to the girl beside him. "It's about Erza. I suspect she might have the aptitude to self-awaken magic. I'd like you to try with me to see if we can trigger it."
Erza immediately sat up straight, her eyes full of anticipation, and nodded seriously.
Hearing this, Grandpa Rob showed an interested look, but his tone was hesitant: "I haven't been able to use magic for a long time. I don't know if I can help?"
A rare trace of nervousness flashed across Erza's face. Shane was about to comfort the old man.
Just then, a guest at the next table suddenly exclaimed, attracting their attention.
The man held a newly delivered newspaper, pointing to a section on it and saying to his companion: "Hey! Look! Fairy Tail made big news again! This time they destroyed a small half of Mount Tewolf! It really is... exaggerated as always!"
His companion leaned over to look and clicked his tongue in wonder: "Them again? I remember last month they tore down half a shopping street just to catch some guy from a Dark Guild, didn't they?"
"More than that, I think they destroyed an entire village last year! What was his name again, Gildarts?"
Shane and Erza froze in unison listening to the discussion at the next table. Then they turned their heads simultaneously, their gazes focused on Rob's face with deep suspicion.
"...Grandpa," Shane's tone was subtle, "Are you sure Fairy Tail is really a... um... 'serious' Mage Guild?"
Erza didn't speak, but her staring eyes clearly expressed the same question.
The smile on Grandpa Rob's face instantly became incredibly awkward. He raised his hand and scratched his messy white hair hard, letting out a dry laugh:
"Well... about that... sometimes, the young people in the guild get... a little overly enthusiastic, haha, hahaha... understanding, long live understanding!"
Then, he stood up abruptly, his voice raised an octave: "Alright! Since we decided to help Erza develop magic, let's not delay! While the sun is good, let's find a quiet place to start! Go, go, go!"
Saying that, he practically half-pushed the still somewhat bewildered Erza, winked at Shane to "keep up," and hurried out of the inn.
His agile speed didn't look like an old man's at all.
As if afraid that if he were a step slower, he would be slapped in the face with more of his guild's "glorious deeds."
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