Chapter 98
Several days later, Marshall lured all the girls closest to him over to his house by announcing that the gifts he had promised them ages ago were finally ready.
That’s right.
Marshall had prepared an entire pile of little Gugas for them!
Not only would this allow him to plant a spy beside each girl, but it also saved him the trouble of preparing separate gifts.
A perfect win-win situation!
Thus, when Erza and the others arrived at Marshall’s house, they found dozens of tiny penguins running and jumping everywhere while producing an endless chorus of "Gugu-gaga."
The sheer noise made their heads buzz.
Then they took a closer look at the little creatures’ faces.
Wait.
Weren’t those their faces?
Had Marshall turned all of them into penguin people?!
"Marshall, what exactly are these...?"
"These are Gugas! They’re Boss’s subordinates, nya!"
Erza’s eyes immediately became as round as a cat’s.
Clearly fascinated, she picked up a Guga with Mira’s face and subjected it to a thorough round of squeezing and pinching.
"Huh? Why is there a Guga that looks like me too?"
Mira puffed out her cheeks unhappily.
Watching Erza manhandle the creature felt almost as though she were being bullied personally.
"Remember when I took pictures of all of you a few days ago? This is what they were for."
Marshall spread his arms proudly.
"These are magical pets called Gugas—my latest creation."
"They don’t die, require no food or daily care, and can survive as long as you give them a little magic power."
"Choose whichever one you like and take it home."
Juvia searched through the crowd of Gugas several times, but couldn’t find the face she wanted.
Her shoulders drooped in disappointment.
"Marshall, why isn’t there a Guga that looks like you?"
"Why would I make one with my own face?"
Marshall immediately refused.
"Watching someone else carry around a tiny version of me would feel incredibly strange!"
"You know it would be strange, yet you still used our faces?!"
"Well... anyone who doesn’t like their own model can take a Lisanna version instead."
Marshall gestured toward a large group of identical white-haired penguins.
"I made plenty of those. They’re fun to play with."
"No need. I’ll take this Mira one."
Erza tucked the unfortunate Mira Guga under one arm and raised her thumb in satisfaction.
"Boss, then Ruby wants an Erza Guga too, nya!"
Cana picked up a Levy Guga and examined it curiously.
"What can these little things actually do?"
"They can scout for traps, keep watch, and deliver information."
Marshall began counting off their functions.
"They’re physically weak, but they’re strong enough to clean rooms and handle simple chores."
"They aren’t stupid either, so you can use them as little maids."
"That’s..."
Levy’s expression became complicated.
"I can’t shake the feeling that creating these things with our faces involved a lot of malicious amusement."
Cana, on the other hand, quickly accepted the idea.
She lifted the Levy Guga and smiled.
"This little thing reminds me of a puppy I used to have."
"I’ve decided. I’ll keep this one."
"Huh? Cana, what is that supposed to mean?!"
Levy became increasingly irritated.
"Fine! Then I’m taking one of you too!"
She angrily picked up a Cana Guga.
After rubbing its soft body for a while, she had to admit that it felt surprisingly pleasant.
Curious, Levy tried pulling open the "costume" to look inside.
Unfortunately, she discovered that the penguin suit was simply part of the creature’s body.
There was nothing underneath.
Her disappointment was immeasurable.
Juvia couldn’t find a Marshall Guga, so she reluctantly settled for one modeled after herself.
Wendy also chose a Wendy Guga.
Once everyone had finished picking, they stared at the dozen or so remaining creatures still running around and shouting at one another.
None of them knew quite how to describe the scene.
"Marshall, why did you make so many of them?"
"Because I discovered they’re actually fairly useful."
Marshall gestured toward the noisy group.
"They may have almost no combat ability, but since I personally created their souls, their intelligence is surprisingly decent."
"I’ve decided to use the extras as laboratory assistants."
"They can handle simple records, monitor experiments, and perform repetitive tasks."
Marshall felt as though he had accidentally created an army of Minions.
Gugas could actually perform a surprising variety of jobs.
Besides, his castle was enormous.
Leaving Virgo and Ruby responsible for managing everything was far too much work for the two of them.
His maid corps desperately needed to expand!
"Oh... So that’s why."
Levy quietly muttered something under her breath.
Marshall grew curious and accidentally caught the increasingly inappropriate direction of her thoughts.
After hearing them, his entire expression collapsed.
No matter how desperate he became, he would never do anything like that with a group of Gugas!
Teenage girls were terrifying!
He definitely needed to give Levy more work before her imagination became even worse.
After choosing their Gugas, the girls gradually left.
Two of them, however, seemed to have something they wanted to discuss with Marshall.
The first was Carla.
For the past several days, the white cat had repeatedly looked as though she wanted to ask him something, yet she never found the courage to speak.
Marshall suspected that even Carla hadn’t sorted out her own thoughts, so he didn’t press her.
Just as before, the moment she saw Cana remaining behind, Carla lost her nerve and left with Wendy.
Cana never bothered behaving like a guest.
She stayed in Marshall’s home as naturally as though she already lived there.
"Marshall, I heard you’re participating in this year’s S-Class Promotion Trial too."
She sighed dramatically.
"Doesn’t that mean I have no hope of passing again?"
"I wasn’t originally planning to enter."
Marshall scratched his cheek.
"But Mystogan is participating this year, so I thought I could defeat him first and then deliberately lose to you."
"Marshall!"
Cana gave him an exasperated look, clearly having expected exactly that answer.
"I knew it."
"You’re not allowed to do that."
"You’re stronger than I am, so you deserve to become an S-Class Mage."
"If you deliberately lose and hand me the position, I will never accept it!"
"Huh? But you know I’m not particularly interested in becoming S-Class."
"Don’t you want to study Fairy Tail’s Three Great Magics?"
"Well... I already have more experiments than I can finish."
"Either way, I absolutely refuse to let you hand me the position like that."
Cana crossed her arms firmly.
"If you genuinely try it, I’ll withdraw from the exam myself!"
"..."
Marshall sighed helplessly.
There was nothing he could do with her.
"I only wanted to help you."
"You already possess the strength of an S-Class Mage, and you need the title far more than I do."
"If Marshall truly believes I’m strong enough, then trust me to earn it with my own strength."
"Fine. I understand."
Cana’s stern expression immediately turned into a cheerful smile.
"Still, if Marshall really wants to help me, I do have one small request~"
"What is it?"
"Marshall, i’m almost sixteen now."
"Mm-hmm. So?"
Cana blinked innocently.
"So I’m getting a little too old to continue living at the church."
"Marshall~ Could I move here and live with you?"
"That’s all?"
Marshall stared at her.
"You’ve already spent more time at my house than at the church this past month."
"I thought you had moved in ages ago."
"My home is enormous, so do whatever you like."
"Hehe! Then I’m going back to pack my things right now!"
Cana left in complete satisfaction.
During the month Marshall had been missing, Cana had suffered terribly.
She had always believed he would survive. No one understood Marshall’s strength better than she did.
But merely considering the possibility that she might lose him had nearly overwhelmed her reason.
Cana had vaguely sensed that her feelings weren’t entirely normal, and that realization had only confused her further.
To understand herself properly, she had decided that she needed to become even closer to Marshall.
Her decision to move in had been planned from the beginning.
As for how Marshall viewed Cana’s actions?
He would simply wait and see.
What else was he supposed to do?
He was still a little brat who hadn’t even entered puberty.
There was nothing he could do about any of this.
Rather than filling his head with complicated nonsense, he might as well spend that time researching magic and grinding more experience.
However, Marshall soon realized that he might have made one mistaken assumption.
He might not have grown any body hair yet because he was still young...
But with the way Body-Conditioning Magic had refined his constitution, there was also a very real possibility that he simply wasn’t going to grow much at all.