Chaos & Salamander

Chapter 69 - Hell of Books

Natsu's POV

I groaned as I picked up a small pile of thick books off the floor and placed them on the shelves in alphabetical order. Lucy picked a job helping the Magic Library. I know she loves books and I let her choose the job because I've kept her couped up at the guild but this is so boring! Why didn't she pick a fighting job or something? That would be way more fun.

Another groan escaped my lips. "Stop groaning over there. This is your punishment for hiding things from me and going on jobs without me" Lucy explained, while standing on a ladder and putting books away on another shelf a couple of metres away. That explains why she chose a boring job, but I guess I accept this punishment from my mate.

As I continued to put books away, I noticed Lucy began to wabble on the ladder. I quickly ran towards her and just as I stood underneath her, she fell backwards off. She landed in my outstretched arms with books scattering around us. "Thanks Natsu" she said and then looked around at the mess she made. "Argh! This is going to take forever to clean up" she complained. "It's your fault for picking this job Lucy" Happy snickered and I chuckled. He's not wrong.

Lucy glared at him and jumped out of my arms, but I wrapped my arms around her waist. She struggled in my arms, kicking and flailing her arms while Happy stayed at a safe distance. "Let me hit him! Just once!" she said but I knew she wouldn't stop at just one. Her violent wiggling knocked me into the bookshelf and a heavy book hit the top of my head. It fell to the floor and I glared at it for a moment before noticing the title. "You ok Natsu?" Lucy asked as she stopped struggling. Since she wasn't trying to beat Happy up anymore, I let her go and went to pick the book up.

The title of the book that caught my eye was 'Lost Magic: The Art of Monsters'. Who knew I would find information about that mystery man's magic in a magic library. During my search for the mystery man's group, I figured out the mystery man was responsible for creating the random monsters and that his name is Nobu. He was more well known in the north, especially by dark guild members. I had to beat up a lot of dark guild members to even get one person to spill his name. Most of them feared him almost as much as they feared me.

"What is it Natsu? Never thought I'd see you interested in a book" Lucy asked as she looked over my shoulder to look at the book. Happy held back his laughter, probably because he knows I will drop kick him out of the building if he did. Ignoring Lucy's obvious jab at me, I tilted the book towards her so she could read the title. "It's the Monster Man's magic" I stated, deciding to create a nickname for him.

"The leader of the group you mentioned?" she asked and I nodded. On the way here I filled her in on the information I've kept from her for the past few weeks. "Read it" I said as I handed the book to her. She's better at books than me so she should be the one to read it. With a light glare, she grabbed the book. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her Gale-Force reading glasses so she could flick through the pages faster. "Interesting" Lucy commented and both Happy and I leaned closer. "What is it" Happy asked.

"It says here: a monster's strength is determined by the willpower of the wizard at the time of casting. The stronger the willpower, the stronger the monster. However, they do have a weakness no matter how strong they are. Each monster has a core, or in other words a soul, in the centre of its body. If an opposing wizard has stronger willpower, their magic will pierce through the monster's body easily" Lucy reads out loud.

She turned to me and asked, "so what gave you so much willpower to defeat the monster we fought?" I remembered how angry I became when Lucy went unconscious and became embarrassed. That explains why my last attack went through the monster compared to our other attacks.

Happy snickered, "might be when Natsu held your unconscious body in his arms" he laughed. Looks like Happy has chosen violence today. I grabbed the end of his tail and dropped kicked him all the way to the top of the library which was several floors high. "Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed. Soon I heard a small bang and then Happy came tumbling down. Lucy used her Flames of Emotion to make a giant hand of flames to catch Happy before he fell to the ground. She pulled Happy towards her and hugged his face to her chest. Lucky cat!

"What have I told you about throwing him around" she scolded me. "Technically I kicked him" I stated. "Still doesn't mean you should do that" she shouted. A chuckle escaped my lips, 'she's cute when she's angry' I thought.