Chapter 114
"Waaah! Marshall! Mystogan cheated!"
Cana clung to him and complained through her tears.
"He created some weird anti-spatial array that sent all my summons back! Otherwise, I definitely would’ve won!"
"..."
Marshall felt as though he had heard something remarkably similar before.
For a moment, he didn’t know how to comfort her.
No—that wasn’t entirely true.
He knew what he should say. He simply felt no sympathy whatsoever and was struggling not to laugh.
Around twenty candidates had entered this year’s S-Class Promotion Trial.
Even without Marshall interfering to make things easier for her, Cana had successfully reached the third round.
Then she lost to Mystogan.
Three consecutive years of entering the trial.
Three consecutive years of crashing and burning on the path to S-Class.
Was Cana’s promotion cursed?
Her magic power had already exceeded twenty thousand. By every reasonable standard, she was qualified to become an S-Class Mage.
Erza had possessed only a little over ten thousand when she passed at fifteen.
So how had Cana still lost?
She had practically charged into battle riding a dragon and somehow managed to fall off before reaching the enemy!
Marshall was genuinely frustrated by her failure to live up to her potential, and his irritation continued building.
It probably didn’t help that Cana looked unusually easy to bully when she cried. Before Marshall could stop himself, his true thoughts slipped out.
"Cana..."
He looked down at her.
"You really are a small fry."
"Waaah—huh?"
Cana’s crying stopped abruptly.
"What did you say?!"
"You were carrying an entire set of magical devices I made specifically for you, weren’t you?"
Marshall crossed his arms.
"Your magic power ranks among the highest in the guild. Even if Mystogan sealed your Summoning Cards, didn’t you have any other cards you could use?"
"How did you lose to someone who doesn’t even possess magic power inside his body?"
"Did you genuinely take this trial seriously?"
"You didn’t prepare properly beforehand, and now that you’ve lost, you’ve come crying to me."
"What kind of attitude is that?"
"My dear Cana-nee, the person who should be explaining herself to me isn’t Mystogan."
"It’s you."
"Waaah!"
Marshall’s words were like a stick driven into a hornet’s nest.
Cana, who had been sobbing pitifully moments earlier, suddenly became fierce.
"Marshall! How dare you call me useless!"
"It was that underhanded bastard who cheated!"
"Angry?"
Marshall smiled pleasantly.
"Why would I be angry with Cana-nee?"
"I merely find a certain hopeless, talentless, overconfident, completely useless piece of small fry slightly unpleasant to look at."
"T-That’s horrible!"
Cana’s anger collapsed almost immediately.
She hadn’t expected Marshall to stab her repeatedly instead of comforting her, but since she couldn’t refute any of it, she only cried harder.
She curled into a miserable little ball, looking as though she wanted to dissolve into the floor.
"Waaah... I’m sorry!"
"I’m useless small fry!"
"I disappointed Marshall! I’m terribly sorry!"
"..."
Marshall was helpless.
He hadn’t felt like comforting her before, but now he couldn’t remain angry either.
Cana was so soft that trying to stay mad at her felt like punching cotton.
Perhaps he had gone too far.
More importantly, Marshall finally understood what her real problem was.
Cana didn’t actually care that much about winning or losing.
What mattered to her was whether she could help him.
Whenever she failed to do so, she regarded it as a personal failure.
Deep down, she even worried that Marshall might decide she was useless and no longer needed her.
Marshall sighed.
Cana truly was exhausting.
Even without him, she was still one of the strongest Mages in Fairy Tail. Couldn’t she show a little more confidence?
When Marshall advised her to reveal the truth to Gildarts, her first instinct had been resistance rather than agreement.
In the end, however, she had still persuaded herself to follow his suggestion.
Cana had once been an indecisive and emotionally conflicted girl, but at least she had possessed a strong independent streak.
Years of living beside Marshall had changed her.
Ever since childhood, she had developed the habit of asking him whenever she couldn’t make a decision.
She claimed to be the big sister who looked after him, yet whenever she faced something she couldn’t resolve, her first thought was always to find Marshall.
She had discovered that listening to his advice meant she no longer needed to struggle with difficult choices.
As long as she followed Marshall, everything became easier.
As long as he remained beside her, Cana felt she could accomplish anything.
Without him, however, she felt incapable of doing anything at all.
That was why Cana believed she could never afford to lose Marshall.
Listening to her sniffles, Marshall’s heart softened.
Had he behaved too forcefully over the years and accidentally caused her to become psychologically dependent on him?
Had she started treating him like a magical pocket that could produce the answer to every problem?
Marshall considered that thought for a moment.
Then he dismissed it.
Nonsense!
Cana was an independent woman with plenty of courage. She was practically S-Class already!
Marshall intended to become Superman. Why should he demand that Cana become invincible too?
Did he not possess enough strength to protect his own family?
Whether Cana was powerful had never mattered that much.
Marshall had never lacked strong companions.
He had been looking at the problem from the wrong angle.
Taking a deep breath, he allowed his expression to soften. He naturally reached out, took Cana’s hand, and spoke gently.
"I’m the one who should apologize."
"I lost my patience and said some cruel things."
"You didn’t do anything wrong, Cana-nee. Becoming S-Class isn’t particularly important, and I’m not disappointed in you."
"Whether you’re strong or weak doesn’t matter to me."
"What matters is that Cana-nee is happy."
Marshall patted his chest proudly.
"I’m already very strong, so it’s fine if you depend on me a little more."
"I’ll protect you."
Cana stared at him through watery eyes, then pulled him into a tight embrace.
"Waaah... All right."
She continued sniffling quietly as she nodded.
"But I still refuse to give up!"
"This defeat really was an accident."
"Next time—next year—I’ll definitely become S-Class!"
"Yes, yes. Do whatever you like."
Marshall patted her back.
"I’ve already accepted it."
"Even if Cana-nee becomes an uneducated, unemployed shut-in who does nothing except drink all day, as long as you remain beautiful, I’ll support you for the rest of your life."
"Wait!"
Cana immediately released him.
"Why did that become increasingly insulting?"
"And why is staying beautiful a condition?!"
"If your sister becomes ugly, are you planning to abandon her?!"
"Correct."
Marshall answered with complete seriousness.
"Long-term alcohol consumption can make your scalp and face excessively oily, dry out and thin your hair, cause facial swelling and sagging, accelerate aging, and produce a beer belly and double chin—"
"Stop!"
"If Cana-nee continues drinking every day, eventually you won’t even retain your most basic beauty or figure."
"At that point, you’ll have become completely useless, and I’ll be forced to abandon you without mercy."
"I understand! Stop talking!"
Cana covered her ears.
"I won’t drink anymore!"
She hesitated.
"I’ll only drink a tiny bit. A tiny bit should be fine, right?"
"Once a week?"
"Once a month?"
"Waaah..."
...
Cana looked at the other girls in the guild.
Since she intended to become stronger, she felt that everyone else should improve with her.
Was there a way for them all to progress together?
In the end, she went back to Marshall and asked him to help them train.
Marshall didn’t think it was particularly necessary.
If they ever encountered an enemy they couldn’t defeat, they could simply use a card to summon his Thought Projection.
What magic could possibly provide better protection than that?
Still, since Cana had made the request, Marshall naturally agreed.
Training one person or an entire group made little difference, so he gathered all the girls closest to him for a special session.
...
Marshall’s castle, training hall.
Everyone he had practically adopted into his little family had gathered there.
Even his secret secretary, Laki, attended under the public excuse that she was his greatest fan.
"Today, you’ll be receiving private instruction from an S-Class Mage."
Marshall stood before them with his hands behind his back.
"Listen carefully and study properly!"
"Yes!"
The girls answered in perfect unison, their expressions so serious that Cana could only stare.
Marshall turned to her first.
"Cana, I designed an improvement plan specifically for you."
"Your understanding of basic magical principles is still insufficient."
"You’ve focused too much on increasing the power of your cards while neglecting the underlying structure of magic."
"That won’t work."
"Studying Script Magic and magical arrays will help compensate for your weaknesses."
"Even I can’t always stop an array that has already been embedded into the surrounding space and begun activating."
"That’s part of magic’s underlying logic."
"The stronger your foundations become, the stronger you’ll become as a whole."
"All right~ I’ll go study."
Cana obediently accepted her fate.
"Next are Levy and Juvia."
Marshall looked toward the two of them.
"Your greatest problem is your limited magic power."
"There are ways to solve that, but I can’t implement them properly yet."
"So, Levy, I recommend mastering a powerful magical device. That’s the fastest way for you to improve your combat ability."
"Preparing a proper spellbook in advance would also be a good option."
"As for Juvia..."
His expression became stern.
"You haven’t developed even developed the Water Magic’s potential."
"Why haven’t you been practicing properly?"
"You’ve studied for this long and only managed to learn a single concealment technique."
"You clearly haven’t been focusing on your lessons!"
"Yes~"
"Waaah... Juvia understands~"
Marshall then turned toward the others.
"Ruby, your talent lies in analyzing elemental properties."
"Focusing on activating your Second Origin isn’t wrong. Awakening more magic power gives you a stronger foundation."
"But once that foundation exists, the important part is increasing the speed at which your reserves grow."
"Then there’s Wendy."
He looked toward the two younger girls.
"You have exceptional talent for Enchantment Magic. You should make that your primary focus."
"If there’s anything you don’t understand, I can teach you."
"However, your body is still too weak."
"I’ll design a Body-Conditioning array specifically for you."
Wendy nodded earnestly.
"As for Laki, your fundamentals are relatively solid, but Wood-Make requires more magic power than you currently possess."
"You could study Earth-Make Magic as a secondary discipline."
"Yes, Senpai!"
Finally, Marshall looked toward Mira and Erza.
Both girls blinked as Mira pointed at herself.
"I have to train too?"
"Of course."
Marshall stared at her.
"Did you honestly believe you were already strong enough?"
Erza nodded solemnly.
"Marshall is right. We still have a long way to go."
"However, ordinary training has become less effective for us."
"Do you have any suggestions?"
"Your goals can’t remain one-dimensional."
Marshall explained.
"You need to keep increasing your magic power while also learning to use it more efficiently."
"Your current methods may have reached a bottleneck, but that doesn’t mean you can stop improving your reserves."
Marshall had managed to open his Second Origin so early partly because he was still young and his body had been developing rapidly.
Mira and Erza were already physically mature, so forcing open that door had become much harder for them.
And that wasn’t their only problem.
"Both of you rely too heavily on raw power."
"Your fighting styles have very few complicated mechanisms. Most of the time, you simply overwhelm opponents by being stronger and hitting harder."
He turned toward Mira first.
"The demon you currently receive can no longer keep pace with your growth."
"That demon possesses a limited level of strength, and you absorbed everything it could offer long ago."
"The increase you gain from transforming into it has already fallen considerably."
"There’s nothing I can do about that."
Mira spread her hands.
"Where am I supposed to find a stronger demon to receive?"
"It may not necessarily need to be a demon."
Marshall considered her.
"In theory, couldn’t you receive a Guga?"
"Huh?"
Mira stared at him.
"Why would I receive one of those little things?"
"It wouldn’t improve my combat ability."
"An ordinary Guga wouldn’t."
Marshall nodded.
"But it points toward another possibility."
"I’ve always suspected that demons, Celestial Spirits, and Gugas are fundamentally the same category of life."
"If you can receive a demon, then you may also be capable of receiving the other two."
"I’d rather not let you experiment on a Celestial Spirit yet. There’s a chance the spirit could reverse the process and absorb you instead."
"Artificial magical life would be the safest direction."
Although Mira’s combat style was straightforward, the idea opened an entirely new path for her.
Even if the target was artificial, finding a sufficiently advanced magical life-form could give her countless ways to improve.
"Think about what kind of ability you’d want if you obtained a new form."
"All right."
Mira fell into thought, already imagining the possibilities.
Marshall then faced Erza.
"Finally, Erza."
"You’ve been training in the correct direction, and your strength has continued rising steadily."
"However, you practice too many different weapons."
"That divides your attention and slows your progress."
"I think you should choose one weapon to specialize in."
"There’s also no need to complete so many jobs. They’re no longer contributing much to your growth."
"You’d benefit more from withdrawing for a while and focusing entirely on training."
"What do you think?"
Erza was undoubtedly a genius.
Her spear, sword, saber, and shield techniques had all reached Level Three. Her Reinforcement Magic and Magic Control were also Level Three.
Only her Spatial Magic lagged behind at Level Two.
The problem was that she had spread herself too widely and had yet to push any single ability to Level Four.
Her various magical armors were powerful and compensated for weaknesses in her fighting style, but against truly overwhelming opponents, constantly switching equipment could become more of a burden than an advantage.
At that level, directly reinforcing her body and overpowering the enemy might prove more effective.
The quickest method of making Erza stronger would be to build her magical armor comparable to a Level Four spell.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t currently realistic.
Encouraging her to specialize in one weapon and push that skill to Level Four would be far more practical.
"I understand."
Erza drew her sword.
"Then, Marshall, practice weapon techniques with me."
For the sake of his female friends’ progress, Marshall was truly working himself to the bone.