Chapter 163: The 100-Year Quest
"Hahaha, that tickles, Cana-nee!"
Wendy and Yukino were giggling from being nuzzled. Noah smiled from the side. "Let's all go inside."
Cana stood up, taking one of them by each hand. She then looked at the girl beside them. "Is this a new member?"
"Mhm. This is Meredy. She just joined the guild a few days ago," Wendy answered.
Cana said softly to her, "Hello, Meredy. I'm Cana."
"H-hello, Cana-nee. I'm Meredy," she replied, a little nervous.
Seeing this, Cana smiled. "Don't be nervous. We're all comrades here. I'm happy you joined." Hearing her words, Meredy relaxed.
"Whoa, is that you, Noah?! You've grown!" Gildarts said, looking at him with amazement.
Noah just rolled his eyes. "We haven't even been apart for that long. Let's just get inside. The others are waiting."
The father and daughter walked with Noah's group through the main gate. Cana saw the tables, chairs, and umbrellas in front of the guild building, the new souvenir shop, and the completely changed guild hall. "Did the guild get rebuilt? It's changed so much!"
"You could say that. We made a lot of changes. You'll see when you go inside."
The moment they entered the guild, they heard Natsu's loud voice. "Gildarts! Fight me!" With that, he leaped up and charged.
Gildarts just slightly turned his body and, with a light tap, sent Natsu crashing to the floor, cracking the ground beneath him.
"Next time."
Natsu took a moment to recover, then climbed to his feet, his expression ecstatic. "Gildarts is so awesome!"
Gildarts looked left and right. "The guild really has changed a lot!"
"Mhm. You and Cana can look around later. We made a lot of changes," Noah said from his side. Cana had already taken Meredy and Yukino, with Wendy following, over to where Erza and the others were, and the girls' chat had begun.
"Gildarts!"
"Oh, Master!" Seeing Makarov call him, Gildarts walked over.
"How did the job go?"
"It's all done."
Gildarts then began to report the details of his mission to Makarov. Noah stepped to the side and continued reading his book.
After Gildarts had finished his report, he said something else to Makarov that made the Master's expression turn serious. He thought for a moment, then called out, "Noah, come over here."
"What is it?" Noah put away his book and walked over.
"Gildarts wants to challenge a 100-Year Quest. I wanted to ask for your opinion."
Noah looked at Gildarts, who explained, "I feel like my own growth has reached a certain limit. My progress has been much slower than before; I can barely feel it. And Cana is all grown up now, so I can go out and challenge myself without worrying." He looked gently at Cana, who was chatting with the other girls.
"Have you talked to Cana about this? What's her opinion?" Noah asked.
"I've already discussed it with her. Although she's very worried, she still supports me."
"You're not going to do some SS-Class or 10-Year quests first?"
"I've already done all of those. They're not much of a challenge for me anymore," Gildarts said with an incredibly arrogant tone, though he was just being nonchalant.
Noah was speechless. "In that case, you do need a stronger mission and greater pressure to break through." He thought for a moment. "But let's have a fight sometime. I want to see how my strength compares to yours."
"Oh? You're pretty confident in your own strength," Gildarts said, his gaze instantly sharpening.
A confident smile appeared on Noah's face. "Of course. The last time we fought was for my S-Class trial. That was more than eight years ago. I've made a lot of progress since then."
"You've improved, but I haven't been standing still either."
"Mhm. I should be able to give you some pressure."
"Ooh, I'll be looking forward to that," Gildarts said, his own face full of anticipation. He had witnessed Noah's growth; it was indeed incredibly fast. He was looking forward to seeing what kind of surprise Noah had in store for him.
Makarov, seeing that they had decided to fight in just a few sentences—and that it was the two strongest members of his guild—felt his vision go black. He said very seriously, "You can't fight here! If you're going to fight, go do it out at sea!" He didn't dare let them fight in the mountains or the forest, because he was sure a few mountains or an entire forest would disappear.
"What? Noah, you're going to duel Gildarts?" Natsu, who had been listening in, shouted, immediately catching the attention of the entire guild. Everyone turned to look at the counter.
"Mhm. I haven't sparred with Gildarts in a long time, so I want to have a fight with him. But not right now, so you don't have to get so excited," Noah said, looking at the crowd that had immediately gotten worked up at the mention of a fight.
"You have to let us watch! You can't go off and fight without us!" Natsu shouted, pouncing at Noah.
"Yeah, yeah! You can't leave us out!" Gray and the others also chimed in. The girls, led by Erza and Mirajane, were also staring intently at Noah.
Noah put a hand on Natsu's head, stopping him. "Of course, I'll let everyone watch. Let's wait a few days, until Laxus and the others who are out on requests have returned. How about that?"
Noah looked at Gildarts, who just shrugged. "Fine by me. Your call."
"Then it's settled. After Laxus and the others get back, we'll go out to sea and have our spar."
With the time set, the guild members began to excitedly discuss the upcoming duel, all of them guessing what the result would be. Most of them thought Gildarts would win, but Erza and the others believed Noah wouldn't lose, and could at least fight him to a draw. The two sides couldn't agree, and they almost started fighting again.
Noah ignored the noise and asked Gildarts, "Have you taught Cana your Crash magic?"
~~~
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