Chapter 89
"By the way, why isn’t your surname Heartfilia, Miss Lucy Ashley?"
"Because I don’t get along with my mother, obviously! I use my father’s surname."
Lucy glanced at him.
"What about you? What’s the surname of my little brother from another world?"
"Its... Mathers." Marshall answered calmly.
"And I’m not actually your brother in my world."
"What?! Then you tricked me into helping you for nothing?! I’ve been scammed!"
"Oh, my dear Lucy, how could you say that?"
Marshall placed a hand over his heart.
"Aren’t we friends?"
"..."
Lisanna watched Marshall laughing and chatting with Lucy, her expression dimming.
An entire week had passed, yet Marshall hadn’t spoken to her once.
Even when she shamelessly tried to approach him, he ignored her and continued researching some incomprehensible magical problem.
The two of them had become like strangers who happened to know each other.
Lisanna felt miserable.
But she also understood that her selfish decision had placed Marshall in an impossible position.
She had no right to demand anything more from him.
He must have desperately wanted to bring her home and make Mira happy.
’What a selfish person I am...’
’Fine.’
’This is what I deserve.’
Just as Lisanna sank deeper into self-pity, someone tapped her on the head.
"Come outside with me."
It was Marshall!
Lisanna’s eyes immediately lit up, and she eagerly hurried after him.
A moment later, she realized she was being far too obvious and began pretending to admire the scenery instead.
The two left the guild and stopped in a secluded area.
Lisanna tried her hardest to sound casual.
"Why did you call me out here? Is something wrong?"
"I’m leaving soon."
Marshall held out several objects.
"There are a few things I need to give you before I go."
He handed her a pair of gloves, a pair of boots, a belt, and what appeared to be...
A phone.
"These are magical tools I threw together after studying Edolas’s magical technology. Most of them were made from leftover materials I had lying around."
Marshall began introducing them one by one.
"The gloves and boots are designed to work together. The gloves can generate catlike claws, while the boots enhance your movement and agility."
"As long as you keep them supplied with Lacrima, you can use them for quite a while. Their energy consumption is extremely low."
"The belt is a defensive magical device. It can block one fatal attack carrying up to roughly ten thousand Edea of power."
"As for this phone—no, this magical communication terminal—this is the truly impressive one."
Marshall proudly held it up.
"It combines nearly everything I’ve learned about crafting magical items."
"Pay attention to the signal icon on the screen. Whenever it receives a signal, it should be capable of communicating directly with Earth Land."
"That means you’ll be able to speak with Mira."
"When I get home, I’m going to start a company specifically to manufacture these things. I’ll completely overturn the communication Lacrima market!"
"If everything goes well, I’ll make a fortune! Hahaha—ow! What are you doing?"
Marshall hadn’t even finished speaking when Lisanna threw herself around him.
Her slender body trembled against his.
"Marshall... Were you spending the past few days making all of these for me?"
"Huh? What do you mean, ’for you’?"
Marshall immediately looked away.
"I was merely worried that I wouldn’t be able to explain this disaster to Mira!"
"Besides, these were all made from obsolete materials I had already discarded. I only reused them because wasting perfectly good resources would’ve been foolish!"
Lisanna burst into laughter through her tears.
"Marshall, thank you!"
"Mwah, mwah, mwah!"
"I-I really do love you most, Marshall!"
"I’m sorry! I promise I’ll never make you angry again!"
"Will you forgive me?"
"..."
Marshall felt a little guilty.
He hadn’t actually been that angry in the first place.
Most of it had been an act meant to give Lisanna the cold shoulder and teach her a lesson.
Looking at her now, however... had he taken it a little too far?
’What do I do?’
’I wasn’t trying to raise Lisanna’s affection!’
’One white-haired is enough when I already have Mira!’
’Lisanna, stop looking at me like that! Mira is going to kill me!’
"All right, all right. Stop crying."
Marshall awkwardly patted her back.
"I’m not angry anymore."
"And these things aren’t free gifts."
"Since you’ve decided to stay in Edolas for a while, you might as well do some work for me. Consider this equipment your payment."
"So stop getting emotional over nothing!"
"What do you need me to do?"
Lisanna immediately released him and stood at attention.
"Leave it to me! I promise I’ll complete the mission!"
"First, let go of me and take out the magical communication terminal."
Marshall took the phone-like device and began explaining its functions.
"You’ve seen the communication Lacrima inside the guild, right? They allow people to speak over long distances."
"This works on a similar principle."
"Normally, communicating across different worlds is extremely difficult. Since you’ll be staying in Edolas, information can only pass between us whenever Anima creates a connection."
"Real-time communication is only its most basic function."
"I’ve permanently installed several useful spells inside the terminal. First, there are the photography and recording functions."
Marshall raised the device and pointed it at Lisanna.
"Come on. Tell Mira and Elfman everything you want them to know."
"Explain what happened, apologize, and clearly describe your situation."
"When I return, I’ll show them this recording and let them see exactly how determined you are not to come home."
"They deserve to know what an ungrateful little sister you are."
"Hey! Marshall, why do you have to phrase it like that?"
Lisanna puffed up her cheeks.
"I’m not ungrateful!"
"Just a reminder—the recording has already started~"
"W-Wait!"
Lisanna hurriedly straightened her clothes and touched her hair.
"Do I look all right on camera?"
It took Lisanna more than half an hour of stumbling, restarting, and reorganizing her thoughts before she finally finished explaining everything.
Marshall nodded in satisfaction at the meaningful recording.
He immediately saved a copy to his own terminal for permanent storage.
This was valuable blackmail material.
"Next is the actual assignment I’m leaving you."
"You’d better sit down and listen carefully."
"I’m ready!"
"The magical system of Edolas is extremely unusual. Even people in Earth Land could learn a great deal from it."
"Unfortunately, there’s far too much knowledge here for me to record everything during such a short visit."
"That’s why I’m entrusting the task to you."
Marshall pointed toward the terminal in Lisanna’s hands.
"Use photographs, video recordings, or written notes to document everything useful you encounter, then transmit it to me."
"Any kind of knowledge is acceptable."
"Magical technology, magic circles, crafting methods—even novels and other literature from this world."
"Record all of it and send it back in large batches."
"You don’t need to worry about running out of magic power."
Marshall pointed toward a large Lacrima nearby.
"That crystal was formed from the magic power inside my Thought Projection. I’m leaving the whole thing with you."
"It should contain enough energy to operate your equipment for an entire year."
"If it still isn’t enough, I’ll find a way to send more later."
"Any questions?"
"...No."
Lisanna hesitated.
"But Marshall, why does this feel as though we’re doing something bad?"
"Nonsense!"
Marshall looked deeply offended.
"This is clearly a wonderful deed!"
"Think about it. Earth Land will gain countless valuable advances in magical technology, while our people will receive an entire world’s worth of moving literary works to enjoy."
"And... I might make an enormous amount of money from all this information."
He spread his hands.
"Which part of that sounds bad?"
"Oh... I see."
Lisanna nodded uncertainly.
"As long as it isn’t something bad..."
"Exactly."
Marshall gave her a serious look.
"Remember, you are only responsible for stea—"
He coughed.
"You are only responsible for recording and transmitting the information."
"Leave every other issue to me. Understood?"
"Yes! I guarantee the mission will be completed!"
After successfully tricking Lisanna into becoming his unpaid field operative, Marshall remained in Edolas for several more days.
Once he had explained everything and completed his preparations, he formally said goodbye to her and traveled alone toward the royal capital.
Super Archive contained a few scattered records about Edolas, but it couldn’t provide him with detailed geographical information from another world.
As a result, Marshall still had to perform several shorter teleports during the journey.
He replenished the magic power consumed by absorbing Lacrima.
As for where those Lacrima came from...
It was better not to ask.
After entering the royal capital, Marshall secretly gathered information and discovered that although Edolas suffered from an extreme shortage of magic power, the Royal Army still possessed a considerable stockpile of Lacrima.
They were even willing to burn through enormous quantities of it to maintain the palace’s magical security barriers.
Unfortunately for them...
Those barriers were useless!
Marshall’s Level Four Spatial Magic allowed him to seize complete control over the space surrounding the palace.
None of the magical detection arrays could react to him.
He casually strolled into the royal palace.
Then he casually copied the complete spell model for Anima.
Afterward, he casually walked straight back out.
He even had enough free time to greet a woman who appeared to be this world’s Erza.
Now that Marshall could freely cast magic again, there was almost nowhere in Edolas that a Spatial Mage of his level couldn’t enter.
Two days later, the kingdom officially activated its next small-scale Anima test.
Marshall followed the spatial currents until he located the subspace convergence point.
Inside the distorted spatial field, he easily found the energy-transfer coordinates leading back to Earth Land.
Then, with a single teleportation spell, Marshall ended his month-long journey through another world.
At last, he returned to his faithful Earth Land!