On July 1, X784, Roy crossed over to the world of Fairy Tail and joined the Fairy Tail Guild.
Although he learned the date from Erza, Roy could no longer clearly remember the plot of the Fairy Tail anime. Thus, he had no concrete sense of his current point in the timeline.
However, he still recalled the beginning of Fairy Tail's storyline.
The original protagonist, Natsu, heard about the whereabouts of a fire dragon from other guild members and set off to find the dragon in Hargeon. There, Natsu encountered Lucy and brought her back to the guild. From this point, the story of Fairy Tail officially began.
With this in mind, when Mira was helping Roy with his membership paperwork, he asked her about Natsu's whereabouts. He wanted to confirm if he had arrived before the start of the main storyline or if the events had already begun.
Then, Roy learned that Natsu had already left for the port city of Hargeon today, talking about searching for news of Igneel.
At this point, Roy was able to confirm the timing of his arrival—it was right before the beginning of the storyline.
After Mira finished Roy's membership registration, she informed Erza that there was an urgent S-class mission specifically for her and that she needed to leave right away.
So, after expressing her apologies for not being able to accompany him, Erza left the guild in a hurry.
"She's really dedicated to her work, isn't she? Erza."
Standing beside Mira at the guild entrance, watching Erza's figure disappear into the night, Roy sighed.
She had just returned to the guild and hadn't even had time to rest before setting off on another urgent mission. Such dedication to work made Roy, who was accustomed to slacking off at his previous job, feel a bit ashamed.
"There's no other way. Among the S-class wizards in the guild, Erza is the one who spends the most time here, and she's also the most responsible. So, she's the one who has to shoulder this burden."
Mira watched Erza's receding figure with a hint of heartache in her eyes, and her voice carried a trace of guilt and self-blame.
She felt guilty for Erza's heavy workload and blamed herself for not being able to help.
Roy, hearing the self-blame in Mira's tone, roughly understood its source.
Mira had once been one of Fairy Tail's S-class wizards, known as the Demon for her mastery of the Take Over: Satan Soul magic. She was extremely powerful and on par with Erza, with whom she often competed.
At that time, Mira had a fiery personality, like a little delinquent, and was constantly at odds with Erza as they grew stronger together, neither willing to back down.
In their teenage years, they both rose to S-class, becoming the legendary duo of Fairy Tail.
However, two years ago, after the "death" of her sister, Mira lost her ability to fight and stepped back from the front lines, taking up roles as a receptionist and waitress at the guild.
This was why Mira felt guilty about Erza's busy workload.
If she hadn't lost her combat abilities, she would have been able to share this burden with Erza.
"No need to blame yourself; Erza is very strong! A small matter like this won't trouble her."
Just as Mira's spirits were beginning to dip, Roy's clear voice reached her ears.
Surprised, she looked up at Roy, her heart filled with curiosity.
How did he know what I was thinking?
Then, under the moonlight, she saw Roy's smile, softly glowing with a faint radiance. "Besides, I think Erza wouldn't want to see you looking guilty, right?
Cheer up. Someday, you'll be able to help her again, won't you?"
Mira sniffled slightly, nodded, and pushed away the lingering sadness.
Then, perhaps feeling a bit embarrassed to be comforted by Roy—a newcomer to the guild who had only joined that day—she gave him a shy smile.
If anyone else in the guild had seen this scene, they would have been astonished.
The usually cheerful Mira, who had always shown a warm and sunny smile since her sister's death two years ago, was actually showing such a bashful expression?
But, at this moment, only Roy was there to witness this.
Roy's impression of Mira was purely based on what he had seen on TV.
Thus, he didn't feel much sentimentality about it; he simply thought that this girl's smile was very beautiful.
Shortly after, Mira composed herself, showing Roy her usual bright and warm smile.
"Now then, let me arrange your accommodations for tonight!"
"Thank you very much!"
"This is what I'm here for, hehe!"
Afterwards, Mira arranged for Roy to stay in the men's dormitory of Fairy Tail.
Earlier, Roy had asked Mira to retrieve some materials from the guild's library on methods for refining magic power and magic scrolls he could study.
Roy knew that, although he had a powerful knight transformation card system, which made him extremely strong in his transformed state, his original body was still that of an ordinary person—completely incomparable to the wizards of this world.
Because the magic system in Fairy Tail was quite different from other worlds.
As wizards in this world practiced magic, their physical capabilities would also improve greatly as they grew stronger.
Unlike the typical frail mages described in traditional Western fantasy novels, wizards in this world could, once they reached a certain level of strength, even tear apart dragons with their bare hands.
They could essentially be considered magic warriors.
Therefore, even though Roy's main combat strength came from his knight system, he didn't mind training his magic power and learning a spell or two.
After all, strengthening his original form would also greatly enhance his transformed self!
So, practicing magic was absolutely necessary for Roy.