Chapter 66
Marshall didn’t make any drastic changes to his Thought Projection, nor did he actually transform into a girl.
He merely softened the lines of his face and made his build a little slimmer.
That was already enough for him to pass as female at a glance.
Makarov had said no one cared about the sex listed on his documents, so there was no reason to go as far as transforming into a woman.
All Marshall needed to do was claim he was one.
The only real problem was that he had allocated nearly eighty percent of his magic power to the projection, leaving his real body feeling unusually weak.
Still, his main body would mostly remain in Magnolia and focus on physical training, so having less magic power wouldn’t interfere much.
If anything, possessing only around a thousand magic power made him look far more like an ordinary nine-year-old.
"Marshall, since you’ll be traveling so far by yourself, remember to take care of yourself..."
In a secluded corner of Magnolia, Marshall prepared to send his Thought Projection away in secret.
Only Makarov had come to see him off.
"Oh, spare me. You’re the one throwing me out!"
Marshall folded his arms and snorted.
"Just wait. Once I establish myself within the Magic Council, I’ll eventually come back and take revenge on Fairy Tail!"
The Thought Projection carried no guild emblem, so technically speaking, it wasn’t a member of Fairy Tail.
"Honestly, I did begin regretting this afterward," Makarov admitted. "You’re still only a child. Sending you away simply to prove a point may have been a little..."
Marshall narrowed his eyes.
"Prove what point?"
"Ahem. Nothing important."
Makarov glanced away.
"You remember how I fought Jose of Phantom Lord near the end of last year?"
"That bastard called Fairy Tail a guild full of illiterate barbarians! Was I supposed to tolerate that?"
"So I taught him a lesson, naturally. But defeating him through brute force didn’t feel satisfying enough."
"That’s why I decided to send you into a Magic Council academy and humiliate him properly on the academic front."
"Huh?"
Marshall stared at him.
"But no one will know I’m from Fairy Tail."
"That part isn’t important. As long as you don’t have a guild emblem, the arrangement remains technically acceptable."
Makarov grinned.
"As for how we reveal everything later and rub it in Jose’s face, leave that to me!"
Marshall blinked.
So this wretched old man intended to keep all the satisfying boasting for himself while dumping the actual work on Marshall?
He would remember this grudge.
"All right. You don’t need to treat me like a child. I’m perfectly capable of looking after myself."
Marshall suddenly stiffened.
His projection wouldn’t have Virgo or Ruby with him.
Come to think of it...
Perhaps he wasn’t entirely capable of looking after himself.
Never mind. It wasn’t a serious problem.
Once he placed a spatial coordinate inside the academy, he could dismiss the Thought Projection whenever necessary and teleport a new one back there.
"I’m leaving, old man!"
"Call me Master! Show some respect you brat!"
"Bleh!"
The Thought Projection slipped quietly out of Magnolia.
...
The Magic Council Academy was also located within the Kingdom of Fiore.
In fact, it had been built near the capital, Crocus, the City of Flowers.
After all, a conveniently "loyal" neutral kingdom like Fiore made an excellent base for the Magic Council.
Marshall first had to take a train to the capital.
Why use a train instead of teleporting?
Because he hadn’t unlocked that part of the map yet and possessed no coordinates in Crocus.
Even after arriving in the capital, he still had to follow the magical directions within his acceptance letter to locate the academy.
Marshall couldn’t understand why they had hidden the place so thoroughly.
After wandering through several villages and dealing with a few Magical Beasts along the way, he finally reached the academy.
"New student?"
"Yes."
"Name?"
"Hanna Marshall."
"Let me see your acceptance letter."
The clerk glanced through the document.
"Regional recommendation, originating from Magnolia... Everything appears to be in order."
He handed Marshall a card.
"This is your student identification. Keep it safe. Proceed to the first academic building for your magic-power assessment. Continue straight ahead from here."
"...Thank you."
Marshall passed the first inspection with almost insulting ease.
So easily, in fact, that the experience felt strangely unsatisfying.
’Excuse me, sir.’
’I’m not even wearing a skirt.’
’Does my listed sex not deserve the slightest scrutiny?’
Then he heard the clerk’s thoughts.
[Another pretty girl. The quality of this year’s new students is excellent! Shame she doesn’t have much of a figure.]
(Note : The author got bashed a lot cause of this, guess the chinese readers has enough of MC’s looking so beautiful that he looks like a jade lmao)
"..."
Marshall hadn’t even begun deceiving anyone, yet somehow he already felt as though he were the one being deceived.
This was nothing like the scene he had imagined!
The examiner was supposed to approach nervously and ask about his sex.
Marshall would smile calmly, introduce himself as Hanna, then walk away beneath the examiner’s stunned and existentially confused stare.
Wasn’t that how the script was supposed to go?
Why had none of it happened?
Could the problem perhaps not be everyone else?
Could the problem be Marshall?
He walked woodenly into the academy’s first academic building.
Numerous new students were already lining up for their magic-power assessments.
The procedure matched every stereotypical magical aptitude test Marshall had ever seen.
An instructor called a name, the student stepped forward and touched a crystal sphere, and the brightness of the resulting light determined their magical potential.
"Siegrain Fernandes!"
A blue-haired boy with a strange marking over the right side of his face stepped forward.
The crystal sphere erupted with dazzling light.
"S-Class aptitude! Class One!"
Marshall raised an eyebrow.
What a crude sorting system.
If he had designed it, he would at least have included a talking hat.
"Ultear Milkovich!"
A beautiful girl of around fifteen, with long straight black hair, approached the crystal.
The light she produced was even brighter than the boy’s.
"S-Class aptitude! Class One!"
The surrounding students immediately began whispering.
Students with S-Class aptitude were extremely rare, yet two had already appeared among this year’s new arrivals.
Marshall quietly measured their magic power.
The blue-haired boy possessed slightly less than Erza, probably around six thousand.
But the black-haired girl’s magic power was nearly equal to Erza’s.
Were geniuses really this common?
"Hanna Marshall!"
Marshall’s turn arrived soon afterward.
The result was exactly what he expected.
"S-Class aptitude! Class One!"
The whispers grew even louder.
Even the instructors began discussing the result among themselves.
"Three S-Class students in a single year?"
"Students with S-Class aptitude can often enter a Council institution immediately after graduation. One of them may even become a Councilor someday."
"This year’s class is extraordinary."
"And two of them are beautiful girls. The other students are certainly fortunate."
"..."
Marshall turned and walked away with an icy expression.
From watching the previous tests, he had already determined that anyone with more than five thousand magic power would receive an S-Class rating.
The result itself didn’t surprise him.
What surprised him was that not a single person found anything strange about pairing his appearance with the identity Hanna Marshall.
Damn it!
Were all of them blind?
Marshall could no longer enjoy this joke!
The dormitory assignment brought him even greater disappointment.
He had expected to share a bedroom with a beautiful girl.
Instead, the academy was so wealthy that every pair of students received a luxurious apartment containing two private bedrooms and a shared living room.
He did get a female roommate, but they wouldn’t actually be sleeping in the same room.
And his assigned roommate was none other than the most talented student of their year—the black-haired beauty, Ultear Milkovich.
"Hello. I hope we’ll get along well over the next few years."
"...Hello."
Marshall shook Ultear’s hand.
She maintained a graceful smile throughout their introduction and showed no sign that she found anything unusual about him.
Marshall finally swallowed his embarrassment and asked directly,
"Um... Don’t you think there’s something strange about me?"
Ultear examined him from head to toe.
Then she smiled.
"You’re very pretty, Hanna. I’m delighted to have you as my roommate~"
"..."
Something inside Marshall died.
He stared at her without expression.
"I’m a boy! There was an accident with my registration, so my student identification lists me as female."
Ultear froze briefly.
She studied Marshall more carefully, then gave a delicate laugh.
"Haha~ That isn’t a very convincing joke, Hanna."
"But don’t worry. I won’t interfere with your personal interests or how you choose to present yourself~"
[She’s an adorable roommate! It’s unfortunate that she seems a little confused in the head.]
"..."
Marshall no longer wanted to attend school.
He wanted to go home!