Chapter 122
Ultear had been missing for quite a while, so to avoid attracting unnecessary suspicion, Marshall teleported her back to the Magic Council first.
He wasn’t worried about her turning against him again.
Now that he understood what she truly wanted, keeping her under control was easy.
Besides, Marshall had left both a spatial marker and a spell capable of remotely monitoring her thoughts.
If Ultear developed any troublesome ideas, he could immediately teach her the true meaning of ultimate terror.
After sending her away, Marshall began sorting through everything he had learned about Grimoire Heart.
Then...
He fell silent.
Once he untangled the relationships surrounding the guild, he discovered that Fairy Tail’s background was practically invincible.
Its First Guild Master was Mavis Vermillion.
Its Second Guild Master was Precht Gaebolg.
Yuri Dreyar, the father of its Third Guild Master, had been one of its founders.
And another founder, Warrod Sequen, was also one of the Ten Wizard Saints.
Still unwilling to believe what he was seeing, Marshall specifically investigated how much influence Grimoire Heart actually possessed.
Then the last of his optimism died.
He counted everything on his fingers.
Fairy Tail—one of Ishgar’s foremost legal guilds, led by Makarov Dreyar.
Grimoire Heart—one of Ishgar’s foremost dark guilds, led by Precht Gaebolg.
Fairy Tail occupied two seats among the Ten Wizard Saints.
Even among the Magic Council’s ten councilors, somehow there were people connected to Fairy Tail everywhere he looked.
At this point, Ishgar might as well change its surname to Fairy Tail!
Did anyone else understand how ridiculous this was?
Since when had his guild possessed such an absurd background?
They had influence in both respectable society and the criminal underworld.
How was anyone else supposed to compete?
And what exactly was that old man Precht thinking?
If Marshall hadn’t been certain he’d been reincarnated into a real world, he might have suspected that all of this was an elaborate scam aimed at deceiving its honest and innocent inhabitants.
There was simply no reasonable explanation.
Grimoire Heart called itself a dark guild, yet half the important figures involved seemed to be members of his own extended guild family!
Who would believe something this ridiculous?
Marshall felt completely speechless.
He had thought he’d merely joined a cheerful, noisy family filled with sunshine and laughter.
Instead, he had apparently walked straight into the headquarters of the greatest hidden power in the world.
Then again, Marshall wasn’t exactly a saint himself.
It probably wasn’t a serious problem.
He briefly considered informing Makarov that Fairy Tail’s Second Guild Master had spent years "training abroad," only to become the leader of the continent’s strongest dark guild.
However, after some thought, there seemed little point.
It would only give the old man another unnecessary headache.
Precht was an extraordinarily powerful Mage.
Since he had consciously chosen a road that rejected everything he once stood for, a few emotional appeals were unlikely to change his mind.
Marshall would need some way to prove that the so-called Great Magic World was nothing more than a ridiculous fantasy.
Unfortunately, while he personally looked down on the idea, he couldn’t actually prove that Precht was wrong.
The main problem was that the current magical world was fundamentally divided.
Its chaotic state wasn’t caused solely by the Magic Council’s incompetence.
Powerful Mages possessed strength far beyond ordinary people, yet rarely used it to improve society.
Even the Ten Wizard Saints generally turned a blind eye to the world’s problems, occasionally emerging to issue a condemnation or approve a largely symbolic arrest warrant.
Marshall almost wanted to grab one of them by the collar.
’Say something, damn it!’
Someone with power far beyond ordinary imagination could change countless things with ease.
Yet Zeref had done nothing.
Or rather, the world’s current chaos might be exactly what he had deliberately allowed—and perhaps even wanted—to continue.
No wonder he was known as the most evil Black Mage in history.
The title suited him perfectly.
Still, Marshall wasn’t the sort of person who blindly accepted his first conclusion.
Without emotional bias clouding his judgment, he could generally remain objective.
Until he had seen the entire truth, he wouldn’t pass final judgment.
After confirming that Ultear’s information was largely credible, Marshall immediately went to see Erza.
He found her inside Fairy Tail’s Duel Hall, where she was training—or more accurately, beating the life out of—Natsu and Gray.
She appeared to have regained her composure. None of the vulnerability she had shown before remained on her face.
That fragile expression had never suited Erza.
The strong, determined knight standing before him was far more pleasing to see.
’Jellal, you really deserve to die.’
"Marshall?"
Erza noticed him approaching.
"It’s nothing important. I just wanted to see how you were doing."
The two chatted for a while.
When Erza mentioned Jellal, Marshall could still detect the killing intent and powerful desire for revenge lingering in her eyes.
Her resolve was as hard as stone.
One day, she intended to end that painful Chapter of her past with her own hands.
Now that she knew Jellal might be secretly planning something even more sinister, she believed she had no choice but to stop him.
Marshall revealed nothing.
Ultear had already told him Jellal’s entire plan.
The Tower of Heaven was only a few months away from completion.
Once it was finished, Jellal intended to use Erza’s childhood companions to lure her back to the island.
The R-System required a sacrifice with an exceptionally powerful body.
And Jellal had chosen... Erza.
When Marshall learned that, he nearly laughed from sheer fury.
What had his Erza ever done to deserve this?
She had saved Jellal’s life, yet he repaid her by driving her from the island and nearly getting her killed.
Afterward, he had apparently spread lies behind her back, convincing the other victims imprisoned in the tower that Erza was the traitor who had abandoned them.
Apparently, not a single blue-haired bastard named Jellal could be trusted.
This one had certainly committed every crime imaginable.
Even the most patient person eventually reached a breaking point.
Jellal should prepare himself to experience true despair.
How much hatred did someone need to build an entire plan around sacrificing the person who had once saved them?
Marshall had initially worried that Jellal’s threats might complicate matters.
Now, however, he saw the man as nothing more than a pathetic clown.
Marshall didn’t even need to fabricate evidence against him.
Jellal had already made himself impossible to redeem.
Erza merely needed to witness his true intentions.
Once she understood what kind of person he had become, her remaining faith in him would collapse naturally.
And there was no place more suitable for revealing Jellal’s true face than the Tower of Heaven itself.
This would be the perfect opportunity.
Marshall began setting his plan in motion.
[Erza, I’ve already uncovered Jellal’s plan.]
Erza froze in the middle of parrying Natsu’s attack.
[What?! How did you learn that?]
[Do you remember the woman accompanying him at the Magic Council? I captured Ultear, and after being moved by my sincere efforts to guide her back onto the right path, she agreed to become my informant.]
"Huh?!"
Erza stopped fighting entirely.
For some reason, Marshall’s explanation gave her an immediate sense that something deeply questionable had happened.
But since it was Marshall...
She decided to trust him for now.
[How much did you discover?]
[Everything. The Tower of Heaven is nearly complete. Jellal infiltrated the Magic Council because he intends to activate the R-System.]
[Damn it! So my suspicions were right. I have to stop him!]
[Calm down, Erza. If we act too early, Jellal may kill the hostages. But right now, we have an opportunity...]