Seeing Levy smile so happily, Cana raised her head from the side, her gaze shifting between Shane and the Gale-Force Reading Glasses.
Shane's heart skipped a beat. Oops, I only thought the glasses suited Levy at the time and completely forgot about Cana.
Meeting Cana's eyes, which held a hint of expectation and teasing, he had a flash of wit. His face instantly piled up a serious expression, and he reached into his pocket.
"Of course, I also prepared a share for Cana!" Shane said, pulling out a 1,000 Jewel banknote and handing it to her solemnly. "This is a spoil stained with the blood of those Dark Mages from Ghoul Spirit, extraordinary in meaning and unique."
Cana was visibly stunned, looking at the banknote, then at Shane's mock-serious expression. She immediately burst out laughing with a pfft and accepted it generously.
"Then I won't be polite!"
She didn't really want a gift; it just felt a bit strange watching someone else being treated specially in front of her. After all, in terms of friendship, she knew Shane first.
Cana held the banknote up to the light and scrutinized it for a moment. Clearly, it was clean without any trace of "Dark Mage blood," but she acted as if she didn't notice, turning naturally to Levy: "Lend me a book."
She took a thick book from Levy, carefully tucked the banknote inside, her movements gentle.
After doing all this, Cana looked up and asked curiously, "Did you and Erza really take down that Dark Guild single-handedly?"
"Yeah," Shane nodded. He was about to briefly recount the process when two "fleeing" figures squeezed over noisily.
"Hey, hey, hey! Why is the protagonist of the day hiding here!" Macao yelled while affectionately putting his arm around Shane's neck.
Wakaba beside him also leaned over with a grin, stealing a glance at Erza not far away and nervously taking a swig of alcohol: "Exactly! Hiding in the corner is improper; everyone wants to hear how our newcomer showed his skills!"
Without further ado, the two pushed and pulled Shane to the center of the hall.
Instantly, many curious and appreciative gazes fell on this newcomer who had only joined the guild for a few days.
Young but with strength not to be underestimated, plus the achievement of sweeping an entire Dark Guild right after joining, it was enough to arouse everyone's interest.
Shane felt a bit uncomfortable being stared at. Coughing twice, he had to tell the main points. He omitted the irregular details like threatening the client with a sword and neatly killing all members of Ghoul Spirit, only vaguely describing the battle process and result.
Even so, it was enough to make these Mages, who just wanted an excuse to drink one more glass, boil over.
"Beautifully done!"
"Kid's got skills!"
"For Shane and Erza, for Fairy Tail, drink up!"
Cheers and shouts for more wine resounded through the hall again.
In the crowd, Makarov looked at Shane surrounded by everyone, his face blooming with a smile. The guild had gained another child with infinite potential and reliability; he couldn't help feeling sincerely gratified.
"Sure enough, I misunderstood the child yesterday," he sipped his wine. "Shane knows his limits when doing things!"
Shane caught a glimpse of the Master's satisfied expression and could only laugh dryly in his heart. When the Council's letter of accountability arrives in two days, I hope you can still be this happy, old man...
The party went on until very late.
Although Shane didn't touch alcohol, he was filled with juice. It wasn't until midnight that he left the guild with Erza.
Unlike yesterday's embarrassment, the two now had plenty of confidence carrying a huge sum. They went straight back to the inn from last night and unhesitatingly upgraded their room to two adjacent deluxe single rooms.
"Strategy meeting!"
Although they booked two rooms, Erza habitually came to Shane's room first.
The first agenda item was splitting the loot. Shane couldn't be bothered to calculate whose contribution was greater and split the earned money evenly, half for each.
"Here, yours, 1.9 million Jewels." He pushed the bag containing cash over.
Erza wasn't pretentious at all and accepted it calmly. Their relationship was close enough that there was no need for killjoy remarks like "You defeated most of the enemies, you should take more."
"Tomorrow I plan to walk around the streets first, not going to the guild library." Shane organized his share of the money and proposed the second agenda item.
Although 1.9 million might not be quite enough, he urgently wanted to find out about housing prices in Magnolia.
The [Initiation] trial had dragged on for too long; he really wanted to buy a property and settle down.
Shane even considered if he could just build a wooden hut casually in the nearby mountains, but quickly rejected this idea.
He worried that such a crude environment and construction quality would be judged as "unqualified" by the "trial," which would waste more time instead.
"Are you going shopping?" Hearing this, Erza's eyes lit up instantly. Before Shane finished, she immediately stated her position, "I'm going too!"
Carrying a huge sum, her mind stirred! She was still thinking about that coffee shop called "Caffe SSA," just right to spend some money and upgrade equipment while at it.
Result-wise, it was indeed going "shopping." Shane shrugged and didn't object: "Sure, then come wake me up tomorrow morning."
Letting Erza do the wake-up call was just right. Her biological clock was unshakable, waking up early every day steadily, so he could take the opportunity to stay in bed a bit longer.
After agreeing, Erza returned to her room.
The room quieted down.
Shane washed up simply, rubbed his hands, and lay on the bed with slight excitement.
Last night he had successfully seen through Saber's True Name. Theoretically, there was no need to wait for dream guidance anymore; he could try releasing the Class Card directly.
He looked forward to what abilities would appear after Saber's release. It couldn't be another Noble Phantasm that sublimated the physical body to the extreme after release, right?
He concentrated and summoned that dark gold card with a proper sword-holding posture.
Consciousness sank into it, imagining the forge, anvil, broken sword... Then, he confidently whispered that name:
"Okazaki Goro Nyudo Masamune."
...
Nothing happened.
The room was quiet, only the sound of his own breathing. The card lay quietly in his palm, motionless.
Shane was stunned. It shouldn't be. According to his reasoning, this famous Soshu smith Okazaki Masamune should be the correct answer. Could it be... I must wait for the dream to appear to crack the True Name?
A trace of doubt emerged. He subconsciously wanted to try another possibility, the name honored as the ancestor of Japanese swords: "Ama..."
Before the word "kuni" could be uttered, unprecedented severe pain exploded in his mind.
"Hiss—!"
As if a red-hot iron rod had pierced into his skull and stirred ruthlessly, Shane curled up instantly, cold sweat pouring down, his teeth chattering.
Not no reaction, but the answer was wrong!