A New Life in Fairy Tail

Chapter 352: Contest Results

Ultear and the others smiled and followed behind him."It's so pretty, I almost don't want to eat it," Sorano said as she walked, admiring the sugar painting in her hand.

The sugar depiction of herself spreading her wings was so vivid and lifelike in both expression and posture that she was hesitant to ruin it.

"It's okay. If you like it, I can make you more later," Noah said, looking back at Sorano while his left hand was held by Erza. "But it's better to eat it soon, or it will melt."

"Just eat it. You can always ask Noah to make more later," Ultear said to Sorano.

"True. I'll just have him make me a few more later," Sorano nodded in satisfaction, accepting Ultear's suggestion.

She stuck out her tongue and gently began to lick the sugar painting in her hand.

Ultear and the others followed suit, slowly savoring their sugar paintings, letting the sweet flavor spread through the air.

"This looks good, let's try it!"

"This one seems pretty good too, let's try it!"

"This one smells amazing, let's try it!"

Noah led them toward the food stalls he had noted earlier for having the richest aromas.

The snacks looked fantastic and smelled even better.

Noah and the girls couldn't resist buying a little bit of everything and started tasting them.

"Here, open your mouth. Ah—"

Mirajane held her sugar painting in her left hand and a bamboo skewer in her right. She speared a Takoyaki ball from the container Noah was holding and held it up to his mouth.

"Ah—"

Noah obediently opened his mouth, letting Mirajane feed him the Takoyaki.

"Mhm, it's really good!" Mirajane speared another one, popped it into her own mouth, and nodded in satisfaction.

"It is delicious!" Erza also used her skewer to take a Takoyaki from Noah's container and tasted it.

None of them wanted to finish their sugar paintings so quickly, but that meant their hands were full, making it difficult to hold the new snacks.

So, it became an arrangement where Noah carried all the freshly bought food, while Mirajane and the others used skewers to eat.

Of course, they would also feed Noah, so he got his fair share.

Mirajane and the girls really enjoyed this feeding process, taking turns sharing bites.

It wasn't just Takoyaki; there was also Taiyaki, cotton candy, candied apples, and more. They ended up feeding more than half of what they bought directly into Noah's mouth.

"Wait, don't feed me so much. You guys need to eat too. Otherwise, I won't have any room left for other good stuff later," Noah shook his head, refusing the Taiyaki Ultear was about to put in his mouth.

"But we need to maintain our figures, we can't eat too much," Ultear argued reasonably.

Noah couldn't help but roll his eyes. If you want to maintain your figures, then don't buy so much food!

Seeing that Noah really wouldn't eat it, Ultear regrettably ate the Taiyaki herself.

"By the way, do you want to know the results of the contest?" Sorano's eyes darted playfully as she asked Noah.

"What were they?"

"Why don't you guess?" Sorano grinned mischievously.

"Not guessing. Just tell me the results," Noah refused to play along. He had destroyed his own ballot specifically to avoid making a choice.

"Tch!" Sorano shook her head in disappointment, then looked at a smiling Mirajane. "First place went to Mira. Her Transformation Magic gave her a huge advantage. She changed into several different outfits in a row, leaving a deep impression on everyone. Naturally, she got the most votes."

"Oh my, my~" Mirajane tilted her head, a radiant smile on her face.

"Second place went to Erza. Her Gothic Lolita style was so refreshing and unexpected that it earned her the second-highest number of votes."

Sorano looked at Erza, who proudly stated, "Hehe, that's my true power!"

"Hmph, my vote count was very close to yours, just a few votes less, which put me in third place," Sorano said, looking a bit displeased.

"I'm worse off, I ended up in fifth place," Ultear chimed in.

Noah asked curiously, "Then who got fourth?"

"It was Lucy. But the difference between our votes was only one, and the gap with the others below us was also just one or two votes. It wasn't a big difference," Ultear explained to Noah.

"Yeah, there were a lot of contestants, and the audience wasn't massive, so the votes for the lower ranks were very tight," Sorano added.

"I see," Noah nodded. It seemed Lucy's rent was covered for the time being. The 400,000 J prize money for fourth place would be enough for her to pay rent for at least five months.

They continued to walk and eat, stopping along the way to play various festival games like goldfish scooping, water balloon yo-yos, and ring toss.

Although they had strolled through festivals and played these games together before, doing it now as couples felt completely different.

Because of their relationship, their coordination was much smoother and more natural.

Every normal game they played had a sign next to it saying "No Magic Allowed."

There were also games that incorporated magical items, allowing normal people to experience magic-themed games. However, these stalls had signs stating, "Mages are Prohibited from Using Magic."

When playing these games, Noah and the girls completely acted like normal people, not even relying on their enhanced physical abilities. They just played the games normally and happily.

After all, doing it this way brought them more joy.

While playing the goldfish scooping game, Erza tore through over a dozen paper scoopers. She was so frustrated she was ready to stand there and keep playing until she won, but Mirajane eventually dragged her away.

"Damn it! Let me play one more time! I'll definitely catch one this time!" Erza protested indignantly as she was dragged off.

"Alright, alright. There are plenty of other fun games to play. Let's go try something else," Noah comforted her.

He looked around and spotted Bisca, Lisanna, and Edolas Lisanna at a nearby shooting gallery stall where you could win prizes by shooting balloons with an air rifle.

Bisca was hitting the bullseye with every single shot, making the stall owner look like he was about to cry.

Noah glanced around their vicinity but didn't see Alzack anywhere. It was obvious the poor guy still hadn't mustered the courage to invite Bisca out. How pitiful.

They went over and played a few rounds. Erza successfully won a prize, which finally lifted her spirits.

Under the amused gazes of Lisanna and Edolas Lisanna, Noah and his group said their goodbyes to Bisca and continued their food and game tour down the street.

"Where's the sugar painting stall you mentioned? I don't see it," Erza finally asked Noah after they had walked a bit further, eaten more snacks, and played more games. She had finished her sugar painting and was eager to try making one herself.

"It's close, not much further," Noah smiled.

After buying a few more snacks and souvenirs, Noah led Ultear and the others to a stall.

"Boss, I'm back."

"Oh, welcome, welcome!" The stall owner's face lit up with a pleasant surprise upon seeing Noah.

He was deeply impressed by this young man who had created such lifelike sugar paintings at his stall earlier.

"Is this the place? How do you make them?" Erza asked Noah, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

"Yes, this is it. This is where I made the sugar paintings for you earlier." Noah nodded with a smile, then turned to the stall owner. "Boss, my friends here would like to try making some sugar paintings. Would that be alright?"

"Of course! You already tried it earlier. The tools are right over there, you can go ahead and make them yourselves," the stall owner said cheerfully to Noah and his group.

Noah nodded, paid the owner, and led Erza and the others to the side table.

Other customers approached the stall to buy sugar paintings. The owner fulfilled their requests while keeping an eye on Noah's group out of the corner of his eye. He wanted to see Noah make sugar paintings again.

That young man was truly skilled. He had barely learned how to do it, yet his level was already comparable to the stall owner, who had been making them for decades.

"Alright, first you melt the sugar block. Then, you use a small spoon to scoop up the melted syrup and draw on the marble slab. You have to do it in one continuous motion. That's how you make a sugar painting," Noah demonstrated, and a Fairy Tail guild mark sugar painting quickly appeared on the slab.

"Let me try!"

Erza took the spoon from Noah, eagerly starting her attempt.

After several tries, Erza still couldn't draw the pattern she wanted.

Aside from the initial difficulty of learning the technique, Erza had ambitiously tried to draw complex patterns right from the start, just like Noah.

Naturally, it ended in failure. Furthermore, Erza's inherent "unique" artistic sense made it difficult for her to draw the patterns she envisioned.

"Let me try!"

Seeing this, Sorano excitedly snatched the spoon from Erza and began her own beginner attempts.

Erza crouched on the side, drawing circles on the ground in a state of utter depression.

Learning from Erza's mistakes, Sorano practiced a dozen times before successfully drawing some simple patterns.

"I'll give it a try too."

Ultear took the spoon from Sorano and started her attempts.

Like Sorano, after a dozen or so tries, she managed to draw some relatively simple patterns that actually looked quite good.

"Let me try."

It was Mirajane's turn to take the spoon from Ultear. She began her attempts just like the others.

However, after trying a dozen times, she found that while simple patterns were manageable, any attempt at something complex ended in complete failure.

"Your drawing skills are definitely on par with Erza's," Sorano commented, watching Mirajane struggle with a more complex design.

No wonder those two were rivals in the guild. It wasn't just in strength; their artistic abilities were equally "matched."

~~~

Get early access to 50+ advanced chapters on Patreon!

https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn