As the short hand of the clock swept past midnight, the entire Magnolia was filled with the sound of firecrackers.
The time came to January 1, X781.
The outside was crackling and lively, and it was said that it could be set off until dawn, but it didn't affect Noah's deep sleep in the dormitory.
As a salted fish, the most important thing is to be able to adapt to the environment—otherwise, how can one be a slacker.
Unfortunately, someone happened to open Noah's door at this time, walked into his dormitory in a fair and upright manner, sneaked into his bedroom, and stretched their hand toward Noah, who was sleeping soundly... covering the quilt.
Such a strange behavior—it was difficult for Noah not to notice.
How dare you snatch my quilt while I'm sleeping!
What courage! Prepare to welcome the wrath of the King of Laziness!
Opening his eyes, Noah grabbed the intruder's arm that touched the quilt with lightning speed and pulled it hard, causing them to lose their center of gravity and fall on the bed.
Then Noah turned over and rode on top of the other party, holding down their arms with one hand. Clenching his fist with the other, he was about to show this ignorant intruder a little color.
Following the moonlight coming in through the window, the intruder's appearance was fully revealed to Noah's eyes.
"Eh?!!"
"Er... Er... Erza!!"
The scarlet hair was coiled high, and the short black maid's top exposed the vest line and small waist. Under the short skirt that couldn't be shorter was a pair of beautiful legs wrapped in white stockings.
Because of Noah's sudden attack, a high heel had come off the girl's foot.
The four eyes met.
A blush appeared on the girl's delicate face.
Noah also changed from the irritability of getting up just now and became extremely embarrassed.
In the middle of the night, a beautiful girl in an exposed maid outfit sneaked into his room and put her hand on his quilt... She shouldn't be trying to do something wrong to me!
"Erza, I'm not a casual person."
"Of course, if you want to force it, I can only obey you."
Erza punched the man riding on her body off the bed. Erza was ashamed and angry. "You dead potato with a brain full of yellow scrap."
Noah completed the job that Guild Master Roland had hung in the guild for three years, and Erza was here to fulfill her promise to "be Noah's maid for a day."
The previous period was Christmas and the end of the year, and busyness and celebration prevented Erza from coming to Noah in the first place.
After the New Year's Eve celebration with the guild and her companions, Erza immediately changed into a maid outfit and came to Noah's dormitory to fulfill her previous promise.
Because Erza put on high heels that she rarely wore, Noah couldn't hear her footsteps, and he regarded Erza, who was covering him with the quilt, as an unkind guy, which caused the misunderstanding just now.
Noah had long been accustomed to Erza being able to easily open the door of his dormitory. In fact, after several of Erza's violent behaviors, the door lock had already broken.
It's okay to come and be a maid in the middle of the night.
It's just that the girl's maid outfit with an explosive "ecchi degree" makes it difficult for Noah not to mistakenly think that she wants to do something inappropriate to him.
But speaking of being eighteen, Noah remembered that the girl in front of him was exactly eighteen years old this year. "Erza, what month and day is your birthday? I'll prepare a gift for you then."
He thought it was a friendly question, but Erza's just-eased face became a little sad, with a little loss. The girl opened her mouth and said:
"I... I don't have a birthday, and I've never had one."
Noah's heart tightened. Although he was originally created as a "weapon," Faust never missed any of his birthdays.
In the first eighteen years of Noah's life, although he'd never experienced what maternal love was like, he was still "happy" enough under the love of his old father.
There were many children in the new generation of the guild who'd lost their relatives and become orphans, but they all remembered their birthdays.
And Erza... a child without a birthday, how much she must envy other children.
Seeming to realize that her emotions weren't right, Erza quickly hid the loss on her face with a smile.
Sitting up from the bed, she hooked up the dropped high heel with her toes and fastened it, then Erza grabbed Noah's hand and forcibly dragged him out of the dormitory.
"How can you sleep at this point? Let's go—go set off fireworks with me."
Although Noah was a little reluctant to go out, considering Erza's emotions just now, if setting off fireworks could make her happy, then going out wasn't an unacceptable thing.
What's more, there were fireworks to watch.
"You call this toy fireworks!!"
Magnolia's regulations for the fireworks and firecrackers display area.
Looking at the heavy equipment like a cannon that Erza took out, Noah's eyes went dark. He suspected that this girl didn't want to set off fireworks but wanted to bombard Magnolia City.
But Erza looked serious and aimed the cannon at the sky. When she lit the fuse, she realized that she didn't bring fire, so she could only turn her attention to Noah, who was hiding to the side with only half of his body exposed.
"Just setting off fireworks—look at how scared you are. Did you bring fire?"
Noah was also very helpless. Although she was wearing a maid outfit, Erza's tone was as if she was the master.
After repeatedly confirming that Erza didn't want to attack Magnolia, and before Erza asked impatiently, Noah put on his blasting gloves and converted them into fire attributes, and snapped his fingers at the fireworks cannon.
The sparks ignited the fuse. Erza looked excited. "Noah, cover your ears quickly."
Without Erza speaking, Noah had already covered his ears, and he was still thinking that if something went wrong with the fireworks cannon later, he'd take Erza and run away quickly.
A roar went straight into the sky, and then a dazzling firework rose and burned ring by ring, and finally turned into a "flying firework Fairy Tail," making all the fireworks blooming in the sky above Magnolia pale in comparison.
"Look, Noah! Macao and Levy made these fireworks with great care. They're beautiful."
However, even the most dazzling fireworks will eventually fade. The guild's special fireworks quickly overlapped with other fireworks launched from the city and gradually died out.
Fortunately, Erza had prepared many more. She continuously took out all kinds of fireworks from her Magic space, and their shapes were no less shocking to Noah than the firework cannons.
Rocket launcher fireworks... Gatling fireworks... and so on... What's with this landmine firework!
Don't light it!
One firework after another bloomed, the girl pulling the boy, her face full of childlike excitement. Her cheering appearance looked extremely happy.
After about an hour, Erza's arsenal... ah, no, the fireworks she prepared were finally exhausted.
However, the girl suggested that Noah take a stroll through the market, and Noah didn't refuse.
Because it was New Year's Eve, even the whistling sound of fireworks soaring into the sky couldn't cover up the lively noise of the all-night market.
Although Erza in her maid outfit was very eye-catching, most of the passersby's attention was still on the family or friends they were out with.
Along the way, Erza bought many souvenirs that looked very cute, as well as various scattered snacks and pastries.
Where did your responsibilities as a maid go?
Although I only have usage rights for one day, is it really okay to make me, the master, a porter...
Noah, burdened with bags big and small, followed behind Erza, constantly complaining in his heart about the problem of suddenly becoming a porter.
It wasn't until they were in front of a cake stall that Noah stopped and looked at Erza, who was unaware of anything in front of him. He took out his payment Lacrima and made his first purchase of the day.
After another half an hour of strolling, Noah was finally allowed to return to the dormitory under the grace of the maid.
"Rest early, Noah."
Holding a bed of bedding, Erza was about to make a bed on the floor of the dormitory. Having agreed to be a maid for a day, she naturally had to stay at the "master's" house.
But Erza didn't hear Noah's response.
Is he tired from accompanying me shopping? Or didn't he hear me?
Erza took off her high heels and gently pushed open Noah's bedroom.
The bedroom was dark, with only a little light from the moonlight shining through the window.
He even turned off the lights. It seems he really fell asleep.
Just as Erza was tiptoeing to close the door and exit, the lights in the room suddenly turned on, and Noah jumped out from behind the door holding something.
"Surprise!"
Erza wasn't frightened, but looked at the cake with a candle in Noah's hand with confusion. "So this is your New Year's gift to me?"
Noah shook his head and said something that surprised Erza.
"Erza, this is my birthday gift to you."
Looking at the beautifully decorated cake, Erza was stunned.
She knew that she was born in X765, but didn't know the specific month or date, because she was an orphan who'd never seen her parents and grew up eating food from many families in a small village.
In her childhood, Erza had always envied the children of other families who could celebrate their birthdays, because they had sweet cakes to eat.
After that, her childhood was filled with hardship and displacement, but Erza didn't forget her childhood wish.
After joining Fairy Tail, after working hard to get her first reward, Erza couldn't wait to run to the cake shop and buy a piece of birthday cake that she'd dreamed of.
Although it was delicious and sweet.
But that taste was missing something.
Erza knew the reason—because a birthday cake without blessings wasn't perfect.
From then on, Erza never longed for birthday cakes again. No relatives, no birthday... What reason did she have to expect to receive a "Happy Birthday"?
Although Guild Master Makarov and many of her companions in the guild would definitely be willing to send her blessings, Erza didn't want to trouble everyone because of herself.
So even if Makarov asked her what day her birthday was, Erza would pretend that she didn't need it, saying that she was grown up and didn't need to celebrate childish birthdays.
There were too many guild affairs, so Makarov never asked again.
But Erza's heart was still longing for it.
Looking at the not-too-big birthday cake in Noah's hand, Erza hesitated, her voice even stuttering. "Don't... don't make fun of me... Noah, you know I don't have..."
"Then let today be your birthday."
Noah's face was smiling, and he forcefully interrupted the girl's emotional remarks. "Who said you can't celebrate your birthday if you don't know your date of birth? I think today is pretty good."
"From now on, the first day of every year will be Erza's birthday. Look, the entire Magnolia, and even many places in this world, are celebrating for you."
"Happy birthday, Erza."
In her life, Erza heard this blessing for the first time.
Is this what it feels like to celebrate a birthday? So happy.
But... why do I want to cry so much.
Tears were swirling in her left eye socket, and Erza tried hard to restrain them, but still let those touching tears roll down her cheeks.
Noah understood the girl's mood, but still urged her in a gentle tone, "It's time to make a wish and blow out the candles. Otherwise, if the cake candles burn out in a while, the wish won't come true."
Although she knew that making a wish was to deceive children, Erza still hurriedly closed her eyes, clasped her hands together, and sincerely made a wish in her heart.
I hope Fairy Tail will always be happy.
I hope Guild Master Makarov lives a long and healthy life.
I hope Noah is happy.
I hope...