Chapter 62
"Stop! What are you doing to Marshall?!"
Just as the older Erza was about to let go of him, a young girl suddenly appeared and startled her so badly that she nearly jumped out of her skin.
It was... Little Erza.
[Oh no! It’s me!]
The older Erza nearly turned to stone on the spot.
The younger Erza immediately pulled Marshall behind her and glared warily at the suspicious woman in the white catgirl outfit.
"Marshall, who is this cat woman? Why is she dressed so strangely?"
’That’s you, sweetheart.’
Marshall hadn’t expected Erza to appear either.
Fortunately, she didn’t seem to recognize her future self.
He scratched his head.
"She’s... a friend of mine. She asked me to help decipher this magical book."
He quickly changed the subject.
"Why are you here, Erza?"
"Oh. She’s Marshall’s friend."
The younger Erza relaxed and gave the older woman a polite nod.
"My apologies."
Then she turned back to Marshall.
"I’m looking for Natsu and Gray. I think I hit them a little too hard during our spar earlier."
"After thinking about it, Mira was probably the one who stole my cake. I accused them unfairly, so I wanted to apologize."
"Do you know where they are?"
Marshall could locate Natsu and Gray simply by checking their coordinates, but he had no desire to complicate matters further.
"No idea. Mira should still be at the guild, though."
"All right! Then I’ll go settle things with Mira first!"
The younger Erza stormed away as quickly as she had arrived.
Only after she disappeared did the older Erza finally relax.
"Was I really that energetic when I was younger?"
She smiled nostalgically.
"That brings back memories."
"You’ve certainly changed a lot from my perspective," Marshall said. "The Erza I know would never wear a catgirl outfit."
"Nonsense! I’ve always liked cute clothes!"
The older Erza crossed her arms.
"I didn’t wear them when I was younger only because they never fit properly!"
"I see. Then I’ll give you a catgirl outfit for your next birthday!"
"???"
Erza stared at him.
"Wait. Is that why you gave me a catgirl outfit that year?"
"..."
"..."
Both of them suddenly fell silent.
The more they thought about it, the more uncomfortable the possibility became.
Erza decided she couldn’t reveal anything else about the future.
Who knew what kind of strange consequences a time paradox might cause?
Marshall also decided to speak as little as possible.
What if Erza realized that the promise he had just made wasn’t quite the one she thought she had received?
So Erza silently began choosing a new outfit while Marshall turned his attention to Remembrance of Time.
"...I see."
He flipped through the pages.
"The principles are extremely complicated, but deciphering the actual method of use is surprisingly easy."
"The person who opens the book is transported to the point in time they remember first."
He continued reading.
"The effect lasts for only... six hours."
"Once those six hours pass, everyone transported by the book will automatically return to their original time."
Marshall’s eyes shone.
"What an incredible spell!"
It took him barely fifteen minutes to understand how the book worked.
By then, Erza had only just finished choosing and changing into a Star Dress she liked.
There was no longer any doubt that the woman before him had come from several years in the future.
Marshall could barely contain his excitement over the existence of such an absurdly powerful spell.
He didn’t know exactly what Erza had misunderstood earlier, but he doubted the mysterious power of time could be altered so easily.
If this Erza had come from the future of the same timeline, then the future Marshall she remembered must also have encountered a future Erza at this exact point in the past.
In other words, the future Erza believed she had changed was probably the same future she had already come from.
Marshall didn’t think she had altered anything.
Her passionate warning had most likely accomplished nothing at all.
Besides, Marshall had only promised to treat people’s feelings seriously.
He had never promised that he would only ever care for one person.
Those two things were not contradictory!
His boundless capacity for affection remained perfectly firm.
"What? Only six hours?"
Erza’s eyes widened.
"We’ve already been here for two! We need to find everyone else immediately!"
She tried to remember.
"The person who opened the book was... Natsu. Yes, I’m almost certain it was him!"
"There’s no need to panic."
Marshall waved dismissively.
"Have you forgotten? Natsu and Gray both carry my spatial coordinates. I can find them easily."
"The only person without one should be that blonde woman..."
He paused.
"Huh. Apparently, she has one too."
"It seems my future self marked everyone."
"You mean Lucy?" Erza asked. "You always enjoyed teasing her, so you placed a mark on her very early."
She immediately covered her mouth.
"...Sorry. I said something I shouldn’t have again."
"Hehehe."
Marshall smiled strangely.
"That’s fine. I think I already understand why I enjoy teasing this particular newcomer."
He spread his hands.
"That makes everything simple."
"When the time is nearly up, I’ll gather all of you in one place."
He looked at Erza.
"Until then, you can relax and enjoy revisiting the past."
Erza stared at him for a moment before smiling and shaking her head helplessly.
"As expected, no matter how troublesome a problem seems, it always becomes simple once it reaches you."
"Thank you, Marshall. You’ve helped your big sister again."
"We’re family after all!"
Marshall casually tossed the book from one hand to the other.
"There’s no need to thank me."
"If anything, you’re the one who brought me an incredibly valuable gift."
"Knowledge about Time Magic is almost impossible to find."
"Well, actually..."
Erza stopped herself.
After a moment, she shook her head.
"Never mind. I shouldn’t reveal anything else."
She looked at Marshall.
"Could you use the Telescope Technique to show me what Natsu and the others are doing?"
"Huh?"
Marshall blinked.
"The... Telescope Technique?"
Erza froze.
"Wait. Don’t tell me you haven’t invented it yet at this point."
"But it’s based on a technique from your own novel..."
She slapped a hand over her face.
"Oh no! I said too much again!"
Erza felt as though she had spent the entire day doing one foolish thing after another.
Marshall’s eyes, however, immediately lit up.
The Telescope Technique.
Wasn’t that the jutsu used with the Third Hokage’s crystal ball?
Of course.
By controlling the refraction of light, he could reproduce something similar.
"Haha! I see!"
Marshall grinned.
"I overlooked another obvious possibility."
"Thanks for the inspiration, Erza."
He formed a circular screen of light in front of himself.
Then, high above the forest, he combined Spatial Magic with Light-Make to create a floating marker capable of bending and redirecting light.
By collecting and projecting those distant images, he could reproduce whatever appeared beneath the marker.
Just like that, the Light Telescope Technique was born!
"...Sometimes I’m genuinely jealous of your talent," Erza admitted.
"Huh? But this spell only exists because you reminded me."
"Never mind. As long as you’re happy."
She leaned closer.
"Let’s see what Natsu and the others are doing."
"Give me a moment. This spell requires some precise control."
Marshall adjusted the angle of the light marker.
"I need to work out how to control the zoom..."
Because he could sense Natsu’s and Gray’s coordinates, locating them was easy.
After adjusting the refraction angle, Marshall soon found them beside a river.
He magnified the image.
There were four people and one cat.
The younger Natsu and Gray were enthusiastically beating each other senseless beside the river.
On the bank nearby, their disguised adult counterparts were also enthusiastically beating each other senseless.
Happy sat to one side, watching all four of them brawl with great interest.
"..."
Erza looked utterly defeated.
"Those two idiots..."
She clenched her fists.
"What are they even doing?!"
"Hahaha! This is incredible!"
Marshall leaned closer to the image.
"Wait. Let me see whether I can preserve this as a photograph."
"Photography is also based on light, so theoretically, I should be able to do it!"
"..."
Erza immediately began feeling guilty.
[Oh no. No one can ever discover that Marshall’s infamous spying spell, Telescope Magic, and his blackmail-producing Snapshot Magic were both inspired by me!]
[No! This entire trip through time has been a disaster!]