Gildarts is in shock. Who wouldn't be if a little girl suddenly comes in the middle of the night and tells you that you are her father. Most people would be suspicious and think that it must be a mistake, but not for Gildarts.
Unlike in the story where he says some women's names, Gildarts actually hugs Cana immediately. Even Alex is surprised by this because he thought Gildarts would act similar with the story. Yet he actually just hugs Cana and starts to tear up.
"Cornelia, are you Cornelia's daughter?"
Cana just nods slightly while crying, making Gildarts cry too. Alex just smiles while looking at the scene from behind the tree.
He has been saying a lot of things about family to Cana on many occasions to push her and give her courage to tell Gildarts. Now it has been paid off even though he seems a bit too forceful about this.
Though Alex is a bit surprised by Gildarts's reaction to the news because Gildarts should be a womanizer. So it won't be strange if he wonders who Cana's mother is considering how many women he has slept with, just like in the original story.
What Alex doesn't know is that although Gildarts really has relationships with some women since his wife, Cana's mother left him, those relationships were mostly just one night stands.
He also just gets into relationships with other women in 2 or 3 years after Cornelia leaves him because he really loves her, so he couldn't really be with other women for a while.
Then a few years ago, sometime after Cana joined Fairy Tail, he heard the news of Cornelia's death. But he didn't know she had a daughter from her relationship with him.
He was actually very saddened by her death because he truly loves him, so he hasn't seen any women for a while again, just like after Cornelia left him.
Because it hasn't even been a decade since his separation with Cornelia and because he didn't touch any women for a while after she left, Gildarts immediately knows that Cana is Cornelia's daughter considering her age.
In the original story, he couldn't guess Cana's mother immediately because it has been a long time since Cornelia left him, it has been 18 years in the story, so he couldn't remember immediately, but it hasn't even been a decade now, so he realizes it immediately.
Alex leaves the place and returns to his dorm. The father and daughter must have had a lot of things to catch up on. There's no use for him to be there, so he should just leave.
The next day, Gildarts tell the whole Guild that he is Cana's father while carrying Cana on his shoulder. Everyone is surprised to hear it because only Makarov and Alex know about it beforehand.
They hold a big party in the Guild to celebrate the father-daughter reunion with Gildarts paying for everything. He's just so happy that he drinks so much until he gets drunk.
But a drunk Gildarts is very dangerous because he will destroy everything he touches. So Makarov needs to restrain him and even knocks him out with Sleep Magic so he won't destroy things in his drunken state.
Cana thanks Alex for encouraging and pushing her to tell Gildarts. She realizes she has been worried for nothing. Her father actually loves her, he just didn't know he had a daughter before.
"Then, will you live with your dad from now on?"
"Only when he is home. It's better to stay in the dormitory when he is away doing his job. There's no way I can stay alone in that cabin. Besides, it's dirty and messy, so we will need to clean and tidy it up."
Cana happily tells Alex about the things she plans to do with her dad. It makes him glad he pushed her to tell Gildarts the truth after seeing how happy she is.
"Then I guess I'll take easier jobs that I can do alone for a while."
"Eh? Why?"
"I mean you will be busy with your dad, so you won't take jobs for a while, right? Then I will be alone, so I think of taking easy jobs like the ones in town again."
"A-ah, I see. You're right, you still need to take jobs."
"Yeah, besides, the good paying jobs are always taken by the ones trying to join the S-Class exam. So the only options are the easy jobs that don't pay that high."
"Oh, right, I forgot about the S-Class exam. I guess that must be why Gildarts return now, to supervise the exam together with Master."
"Gildarts?"
"I-I mean, d-dad..... I'm still not used to it."
"Pfft! Hahaha, it will surely take time."
But Alex knows it's a much better case now because at least she wants to call Gildarts "dad", because it will be harder to do it if she is older and more used to calling him by his name.
Anyway, just as Alex said, he is working alone starting tomorrow. Cana is staying with Gildarts almost all the time. It's more of Gildarts not letting her go and keeps taking her somewhere.
So Alex just takes jobs in the town because as he said, the better jobs are taken by those who want to be S-Classes. They were trying to show that they are eligible to take the exam by taking as many jobs as they can.
Seeing them makes Alex scratch his head. He thinks that they should have taken jobs diligently over the years because Makarov judges their performances all the time, not just before the exam.
"They are like students who study just the night before the exam instead of studying well all the time. Well, I was like that too."
Needless to say, Alex is excited to know who will be chosen to be the S-Class candidates. He doesn't know everyone's strength that well yet, but he has some guesses.
Though well, he doesn't think anyone will pass the exam this year. Unless something happens in the future to the one who passes this year, then there will be no new S-Class this year because the next S-Class is Laxus who doesn't want to join the exam yet.
But before Alex can find out who the candidates will be, something big happens to him. Cana suddenly tells him that Gildarts is looking for him and she takes Alex to Gildarts's house.
"So you are Alex, huh?"
It hasn't been long since Gildarts returned to Fairy Tail, so Alex hasn't had the time to introduce himself. Besides, Gildarts left with Cana the day after the party to visit Cornelia's grave for a few days, so he hasn't talked with Alex yet.
"I am Alex, Alexander Sterling."
Gildarts look at Alex from head to toe, front and back, as if inspecting something in a store.
"Hmm, so you are Cana's teammate."
"Yeah, Master paired us up because we are almost the same age."
"I see, I see. So what's your magic, kid?"
Gildarts start asking Alex a lot of things as if this is a job interview. Cana sighs on the side while Alex just answers whatever he is asked.
"Alright, now show me your skills. I'll see what you got."
"Sure."
Alex knows this will happen since Gildarts called him here. Gildarts must've wanted to see how good his daughter's teammate is, that's why Alex plays along because he also wants to ask Gildarts for advice.
There's no need to hold back against Gildarts, so Alex transforms into his humanoid Shukaku form. He wants to test all his skills and transformations against Gildarts, so he starts it with Shukaku.
Alex takes a deep breath, so deep that his sand raccoon body starts to bloat. Then he slaps his bloating stomach strongly and shoots the compressed air through his mouth.
Gildarts is surprised by this technique because he has never seen anything like this before. But surprising Gildarts is all that Alex can do with this technique.
The S-Class Mage simply raises his left hand in front of him and opens his palm to block the air shot. When the compressed air bullet hits Gildarts's palm, it suddenly breaks into pieces and disappears.
Alex has expected this, but it's still surprising to see his attack get destroyed that easily. It really shows that the gap between him and Gildarts is still very wide.
But it's also a chance for him to learn from one of the strongest Wizards on Ishgar. So Alex makes another attack, now using Shukaku's Earth control ability, or in this world, it's called Earth Magic.
He can control the soil and rocks, but Shukaku's ability is better for controlling sand. Alex slams his big sand hands onto the ground and a yellow magic circle appears there.
"Sand Coffin!"
A lot of sand comes out from the ground where Alex slams his hands. The sand moves very quickly toward Gildarts. It slides on the ground and then climbs Gildarts's body from his feet.
Gildarts's whole body is almost covered by sand in just a few seconds, leaving only his face that will get covered soon. But then, the sand on his body suddenly breaks apart, turning into blocks of sand because he uses his Crush Magic on his whole body.
Surprisingly, Alex still can feel his magic on the blocks of sand. So he raises his hands to control them and the blocks of sand burst. The freed sand covers Gildarts's body again, surprising the S-Class Mage.
"I see, sand is already in a broken state, so I can't break it that easily. You can always learn something new every day. Not bad, kid."
Again, Gildarts breaks the sand that covers his body. But now, the sand gets pushed far away from him.
"Not bad, kid. Then, it's my turn now."
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Ch. 81: Wendy and Carla