Chapter 31
"Marshall! Who is she?!"
"Good morning, Cana. Let me introduce you. This is Virgo, the Celestial Spirit I just contracted. She’s one of the twelve Zodiac Spirits—the Maiden."
"A Celestial Spirit? Why is she so tiny?"
"..."
Virgo happened to be in her childlike form that morning.
She had even needed to drag a stool into the kitchen just to make Marshall breakfast.
Another summoner might have been in serious danger of attracting the wrong kind of attention, but Marshall belatedly realized he had nothing to worry about.
He was a child too!
So he put on an innocent expression and asked, "Virgo can change her appearance. I wanted a friend around my own age, so she became a little girl. Is something wrong with that?"
"O-Oh... Is that all?"
"..."
Virgo continued washing Marshall’s clothes in silence.
Cana thought it over but could not find anything particularly strange about it.
Wanting a friend his own age was perfectly normal.
"Anyway, forget about that! Master officially announced today that they’re setting aside a huge area south of Magnolia for the amusement park! Marshall, you’re amazing! You actually made it happen!"
"That outcome was inevitable. There’s nothing surprising about it."
Marshall nodded smugly until Cana pinched both his cheeks.
"You cocky little brat! Your big sister is praising you!"
"I know..." Marshall mumbled through her fingers. "So did you come all the way here just to tell me that?"
"Yes and no. Master said the amusement park is still in the preparation stage, and they’re recruiting a lot of Mages who know Earth and Construction Magic. The pay is supposed to be really good. I was wondering whether I could help."
Cana tilted her head.
"You know those kinds of magic too. Are you going to sign up?"
"...Cana, I’m one of the project’s advisers."
Marshall gave her a strange look.
"Technically, that generous salary would be coming out of my own project funds."
"Huh?!"
Cana froze.
Her hands stopped moving as her expression shifted from confusion to shock, then to complete disbelief.
"Marshall... when did you become that rich?"
"I’m not personally funding the entire thing. I brought in an extremely wealthy investor."
Marshall waved one hand dismissively.
"Explaining all the details would probably be a little complicated. Just remember that I’m unlikely to run out of money ever again."
"I-Is that so?"
At only eleven or twelve years old, Cana could not immediately wrap her head around it.
In her mind, Marshall was still the little boy who had needed her help when he first arrived at Fairy Tail.
She knew he had earned money from writing books, but the scale of it had never felt real.
Now she was suddenly realizing that her little brother had quietly become someone capable of mobilizing the resources of the entire guild.
That was something adults did.
Someone like Gildarts.
To a child, there was usually a very clear line between children and grown-ups. Marshall, however, had blurred that line through sheer ability.
Cana was only just beginning to understand that.
"Marshall really is incredible..."
"You already said that a moment ago~"
Marshall smiled and patted her on the head.
"I know you want to earn more money, but you can rely on me a little more. I’m already rich, and in the future, I’ll probably have more money than I can spend."
He grinned.
"I could support several Canas without any trouble!"
Cana burst out laughing.
"No way! What kind of big sister lets her little brother support her? You might be amazing, but I’m not going to fall behind either!"
She quickly recovered her energy, then suddenly noticed something strange.
"Wait! Since when were you tall enough to pat my head?"
Cana stepped back and stared.
"Hold on—you’re flying!"
Marshall was hovering several inches above the floor.
He planted both hands on his hips and smiled proudly.
"Pretty impressive, right? I use Gravity Magic to cancel out my weight, then Wind Magic to control my movement. That lets me float through the air."
He drifted slightly to one side.
"My control still isn’t perfect, though. It’ll take a while before I can fly freely."
"Will you be able to take me flying with you someday?"
"Definitely~"
Marshall had learned the basics of Gravity Magic from Gildarts, then used Inspiration to force the skill upward.
At Level One, he could only increase gravity within a selected area.
Once it reached Level Two, he became capable of reversing the spell and reducing gravity instead.
The principle was surprisingly simple, yet few people in this world seemed to have considered using it for flight.
Perhaps that was because so many other kinds of flying magic already existed.
Unfortunately, since Marshall had raised the skill artificially, his control had been terrible at first.
He regularly drifted in random directions and scraped himself against the ceiling.
Only after raising Magic Power Control to Level Three and combining Gravity Magic with the finer adjustments of Wind Magic did the spell finally become stable.
The refined spell model for Flight Magic was the first completely original magic Marshall had ever created.
That was an important milestone.
Marshall was now capable of writing his own spellbooks.
In this world, a Mage could cast a spell simply by following an established spell model, even without fully understanding its principles.
Because of that, most self-taught Mages possessed only a shallow grasp of magical theory.
Someone like Marshall, who had taught himself and could independently create new magic, was exceptionally rare.
"I’ve already proven that I can create new magic," Marshall said. "So next comes Card Summoning Magic."
He pointed at Cana with a confident grin.
"Look forward to it."
"Mm! I’ve always believed in you."
...
For the next several weeks, Marshall devoted himself to researching Summoning Magic.
With Virgo assisting him, his progress was smooth.
Far smoother than he had expected.
One night, Marshall and Virgo held a much deeper discussion about the nature of Celestial Spirit Magic.
"Virgo, why don’t Celestial Spirits die in the human world, even after receiving fatal injuries?"
"Because Celestial Spirits are not human, Little Master. The version of us that appears after being summoned is similar to a Thought Projection."
Virgo folded her hands neatly in front of herself.
"Our true bodies remain in the Celestial Spirit World. That is why injuries sustained in the human world cannot truly kill us."
"Soul Magic, then?" Marshall frowned. "But I remember you saying you only knew Earth Magic."
"The explanation is somewhat complicated."
Virgo paused before continuing.
"You already know that magic power can possess different attributes. Aside from the common elemental attributes, this world also contains rarer forms of magic power."
"Dragon, God, and Darkness attributes are examples. Solar power, lunar power, and stellar power also belong to that category."
She looked toward the golden key resting beside him.
"Celestial Spirits use stellar power. Strictly speaking, our magic does not belong to the human system of magic."
"That is also why we cannot use our true strength while summoned into the human world."
Marshall’s eyes sharpened with interest.
"Wait. Aren’t you normally using my magic power?"
"The key acts as a converter. Your magic power passes through it and is transformed into stellar power."
Virgo nodded.
"So technically, the energy we use still originates from you."
"Star Magic, Link Magic, and Attribute Conversion Magic..."
Marshall’s expression brightened.
"That explains it..... That explains everything."
He leaned forward.
"Virgo, what would happen if I supplied the key with stellar magic power directly? Would you be able to use more of your strength?"
"Humans generally find stellar power extremely difficult to control—"
Virgo paused.
"You can use Star Magic, Little Master?"
"I know a little."
"Even so, it would provide very little benefit." Virgo answered without hesitation.
"A golden key converts magic power with roughly ninety-percent efficiency. If you convert the energy yourself first, you would merely transfer the burden from the key to your own body."
"That would require more concentration and effort for an inferior result."
Marshall nodded slowly.
"Yes... I can see that now. Celestial Spirit Keys are far more important than I realized."
"Naturally. As the pinnacle of Holder-Type Magic craftsmanship, Celestial Spirit Keys have never been surpassed."
Marshall froze.
"Craftsmanship?"
He stared at the golden key.
"Wait. Celestial Spirit Keys were created by someone?"
"...Little Master, I apologize, but Virgo cannot answer that question."
Marshall’s curiosity only deepened.
"Celestial Spirit Magic really does become more interesting the deeper I dig."
He smiled.
"Thank you, Virgo. I think I finally know which direction to take."
"There is no need to thank me. You are an exceptional Celestial Spirit Mage, Little Master."
Virgo’s normally neutral expression softened almost imperceptibly.
"Very few Mages in the past ever noticed the true foundations beneath Celestial Spirit Magic."
"You are already approaching its genuine form."
"Genuine Celestial Spirit Magic..."
Marshall looked down at the golden key in his hand.
"Perhaps one day, I’ll create a form of Celestial Spirit Magic that belongs entirely to me."
"Then I look forward to that day, my master."