Chapter 75
"Marshall! Are you hurt anywhere? Natsu and Gray went way too far! Ganging up on a little kid like that!"
After hearing what had happened, Juvia immediately pulled Marshall into her arms and anxiously checked him from head to toe, completely ignoring the two people lying motionless on the ground.
Natsu and Gray: "???"
Juvia’s double standards were almost impressive!
Marshall fought back a laugh.
"I’m fine. Wendy, could you heal those two instead?"
"Okay! All done~ Neither of them was seriously hurt."
"Then why aren’t they getting up?"
"They might be pretending to be dead while questioning every decision that led them here."
"..." ×2
Natsu and Gray remained silent and refused to lift their heads.
They had just been completely overwhelmed in a head-on fight by someone four years younger than them.
Facing the others again was simply too humiliating.
Worse, they genuinely couldn’t beat him!
Fighting Marshall had given them the same crushing sense of helplessness they felt against Erza, which only made them less willing to speak.
"Boss defeated both Gray and Natsu! You’re amazing, nya!"
Ruby landed on Natsu’s head, raised one paw in a victory sign, and used the instant-photo card Marshall had made for her to snap a picture.
"Natsu’s commemorative defeat photo! This is for you, Happy, nya!"
"...Aye."
Was defeating him not enough? Did they have to destroy his dignity too?
As expected of Marshall’s cat!
They were both cat owners, so why was the difference between them this enormous?
Even the dried fish in Happy’s paws no longer tasted good.
Erza grabbed Natsu and Gray by their collars, dragged them together, and demanded.
"Why were you bullying Marshall?"
Gray finally snapped.
"Who was bullying whom?! Who could possibly bully that monster?! We’re the ones who got beaten up!"
"That’s a separate issue," Erza replied sternly. "I know Marshall’s personality better than anyone. He would never start a fight with you without being provoked."
"The fact that you weren’t strong enough to win is your own problem. Apologize to him!"
Gray stared at her, opened his mouth, then closed it again.
He couldn’t think of a response.
They had admittedly started the whole thing, but why did he still feel so horribly wronged?
And was Erza truly sure she understood Marshall’s personality?
Marshall quickly stepped forward to smooth things over.
The prank had gone far enough. He had never intended to cause Natsu and Gray any real trouble.
"It’s fine, Erza. I was only joking earlier."
"I was the one who officially proposed the spar, so it wasn’t Natsu’s or Gray’s fault."
"What a considerate child you are, Marshall..."
Erza affectionately patted his head, then turned back toward the other two.
"Look at him! A ten-year-old is more mature than either of you!"
Natsu and Gray: "@@#@#@#@#@#@$@%$%!$!$@%#$%&?!"
Natsu dejectedly picked up Happy and muttered in a hollow voice,
"I’m sorry, Happy. I’m lower than a worm. I couldn’t even beat Marshall... I’m completely useless..."
That.... was bad.
Marshall hadn’t meant to leave the poor boy traumatized.
Being the kindhearted person he was, he immediately stepped forward to comfort him.
"Don’t be discouraged, Natsu. I was simply born with unusually strong magic power."
"As long as you keep training, you’ll definitely have a chance to catch up. Keep working hard!"
Tears welled in Natsu’s eyes.
"Marshall!"
He grabbed Marshall’s shoulders.
"You’re a real ni-a true bro! Well said!"
"Just wait for my next challenge!"
Gray felt that something was wrong.
Sure enough, Marshall continued with a sweet smile.
"I’m afraid you can’t challenge me yet."
"If you want another match, you’ll need to defeat Gray first. That was our agreement, remember~?"
"Oh! That’s right!"
Natsu immediately turned toward Gray.
"Then prepare yourself, Gray!"
Gray: "???"
’Damn it! We fell into a trap!’
’Does this mean that fireball idiot is going to harass me every single day from now on?’
’Marshall, you scheming little bastard!’
Marshall rolled his eyes.
As though those two hadn’t already been fighting every day before this happened.
"Erza, look at how enthusiastic Natsu and Gray are."
Marshall smiled innocently.
"I can practically feel their burning desire to become stronger. Could you help them?"
Erza nodded seriously.
"You’re right. A desire to improve should be encouraged."
"In that case, I’ll set aside more time to give both of you additional training from now on."
"No need to thank me."
"?!"
All the color drained from Natsu’s and Gray’s faces.
What had Marshall just done to them?!
Erza frowned.
"What’s wrong? You don’t want to train?"
"Marshall’s strength is already close to mine. If you don’t start working harder now, how are you ever going to defeat him?"
"W-We want to..." they answered weakly.
Natsu and Gray looked utterly lifeless, as though every remaining hope had been stripped from their world.
Then they saw Marshall raise two fingers in a smug victory sign from a corner where no one else was looking.
His mocking voice echoed directly inside their heads.
[Hahaha! That’s what you get for bringing an entire gang to corner me. Regretting it now, losers~? Pathetic little losers~]
"??!!"
"Marshall, you bas—"
Erza glanced over.
"Hmm?"
Natsu’s and Gray’s eyes turned red with rage, but with Erza standing beside them, neither dared finish the sentence.
They nearly suffocated from holding it all in.
How could one child be this wicked?!
"Just you wait, Marshall! I’ll come back for revenge!"
Natsu grabbed Happy and fled at full speed, afraid he would lose control if he stayed any longer.
"Same here! You’ll pay for this, Marshall!"
Gray ran after him, already planning to train like a madman until he could reclaim his dignity.
Mira watched them leave, then looked thoughtfully at Marshall.
"Did you say something to them at the end? They seemed awfully angry."
"Hehe, nothing important."
Marshall smiled innocently.
"I merely offered a few encouraging words to awaken their fighting spirit."
"Young men should be filled with passion. We can’t allow them to lose confidence after one defeat~"
"You’re a young man too," Mira pointed out. "I’ve never seen you show that much enthusiasm for anything."
"That’s because I’m a beautiful young man."
Marshall brushed a hand through his hair.
"My only responsibility is to remain beautiful!"
"You’re so full of yourself!"
Cana rolled her eyes and began listing his faults with one finger pointed at him.
"We buy all your clothes, you never bother taking care of your hair, you don’t do any housework, and you can’t even cook."
"I don’t want to imagine what your life would look like without Virgo taking care of everything!"
Rather than feeling ashamed, Marshall proudly lifted Ruby into his arms.
"I still have Ruby. Ruby will take care of me."
"That’s right, Boss! Ruby has already learned how to cook, nya!"
"..." ×Everyone
Even Erza couldn’t overlook that one!
"Marshall, Ruby is only two years old..."
Cana immediately grabbed him by the ear.
"You rotten little man! How can you shamelessly make a cat take care of you?"
"You’re clever enough to invent new magic, so at least learn how to cook!"
"Ow! That hurts!"
Mira slapped Cana’s hand away, pulled Marshall into her arms, and stuck her tongue out at her.
"Marshall doesn’t need to learn any of that!"
"I’ll take care of him from now on. I’ll make sure he never wants for anything."
"If the rest of you don’t like it, you’re free to leave. There’s no need for any of you to concern yourselves with him~"
Cana’s pupils contracted.
Mira’s words had clearly struck a sensitive nerve, and Cana’s reaction was immediate.
"Hah?! You only joined later!"
"I’m the one who’s been taking care of Marshall all these years, and I’m the one who’ll keep doing it!"
"What right does an outsider like you have to interfere?!"
Mira hadn’t expected such a fierce response, but she was hardly the type to back down.
"What did you say?!"
She glared at Cana.
"You want to fight, you drunken idiot?"
Realizing the situation was about to explode, Levy hurriedly forced herself between them.
"Come on, don’t fight!"
"Didn’t we buy Marshall some new clothes? Marshall, let’s hurry back and see which ones look best on you!"
"O-Okay!"
Marshall had already broken into a cold sweat.
How had the situation deteriorated this badly in a matter of seconds?
He immediately began damage control.
First, he reached out and took Cana’s hand.
"Marshall would never leave you Cana."
"You know I’m terrible at taking care of myself, so I’ll still need my big sister’s help in the future."
Then he pulled Mira closer.
"Mira, please don’t fight."
"If my sisters started hating each other because of me, I’d be really sad."
"Hmph! I wasn’t trying to fight," Mira said. "She was the one who overreacted first."
Cana had also regained her senses and realized that her response had been excessive.
She took a slow breath.
"Sorry, Mira. That was my fault."
She handed Marshall a bag.
"Marshall, these are the clothes I picked for you."
"I just remembered something I need to do, so you girls can go ahead without me."
Cana practically fled.
The remaining girls exchanged uncertain looks.
Mira pursed her lips.
"Don’t look at me. You all knew I was joking."
"Cana has been acting strangely lately, hasn’t she?"
Erza frowned.
"I know she’s been secretly drinking. I’ve already warned her several times."
Levy rubbed her forehead.
"I spoke to her about it too, but she promised she wouldn’t drink much, so I let it go."
"It seems she really does have something troubling her."
Marshall scratched his head.
He had a general idea of the reason, but Cana’s personality was so stubborn and awkward that he couldn’t think of an easy solution.
"Don’t worry. I have an idea."
"I’ll take care of it."
He glanced at the bags they were carrying.
"For now... shall we go back to my house?"
Juvia had remained hidden in a corner throughout the entire exchange, secretly observing everyone and filling page after page of notes.
Her mind was racing so wildly that even Marshall couldn’t make out what she was thinking.
He sighed.
As the girls grew older, their thoughts became increasingly complicated.
Keeping this group together was becoming harder every year!