Chapter 13
"Did you hear? Marshall built himself a house by the river east of town."
"Seriously? How does a little kid build an entire house?"
"I went to see it myself. It’s real! He used Molding Magic. Kids these days are terrifying i tell ya!"
"Hahaha! Master said the brat learned the spells after glancing through two magic books. That’s ridiculous!"
"Let’s count... Marshall can use Telepathy, three kinds of elemental magic—Fire, Earth, and Wood—plus Molding Magic and Crash Magic. What kind of tiny monster is he?"
"He’s only been in the guild for a little over two weeks, right? Anyone want to bet on how many spells he’ll know by the end of the month?"
"I’m in! I say ten!"
"Put me down for twelve!"
"Count me in too!"
"..."
Gray stood nearby, listening to the adults argue over their bets with a blank expression.
’What happened while I was busy developing my new spell? When did Marshall become that impressive? Hasn’t he spent every day getting dragged around town by Cana?’
"Oi! Where’s Marshall?"
"The kid has the day off. He’s probably hiding at home and studying magic."
"Where does he live?"
"Near the river by the eastern forest. There’s a house sticking out like a sore thumb—you’ll see it immediately." The man paused. "Hey, Gray, where are you going?"
"I’m going to spar with Marshall!"
"At least put some clothes on first damn it!"
...
Gray ran all the way out of Magnolia and quickly found the house.
Mostly because it was impossible to miss.
The building looked less like a home and more like a watchtower.
It seemed as though Marshall had originally planned to build a single-story cottage, realized it was too small, then shoved another two floors underneath it to lift the original house into the air.
When Gray reached it, he walked around the entire "tower."
’Wait... Where’s the door?’
The ground floor did not have one. The only thing hanging on the wall was a sign that read:
Little Garden — Marshall’s Home
Gray stepped back and looked up. Only the second and third floors had doors.
But...
’Where are the stairs?!’
The entire building made absolutely no sense!
"Hey! Marshall! Are you home?!"
A small blue-haired head appeared through a window on the third floor.
"Oh, Gray? Marshall, Gray came to see you~"
"Levy?" Gray shouted. "Oi, Marshall! Why doesn’t your house have any stairs?"
Marshall’s head appeared beside hers.
"Hey, Gray! Give me a second. I’ll have it ready right away."
Gray watched him raise one hand and snap his fingers.
The stone paving around the tower began to ripple.
Blocks rose from the ground one after another, forming a staircase that spiraled around the building and ended neatly at the third-floor entrance.
"Cool..."
Gray climbed the stairs and stepped inside.
Cana was lying lazily on her side across a thick rug that covered most of the floor, flipping through a magazine.
Levy sat on the sofa beside a low table, pouring tea, while Marshall was sorting through what appeared to be a deck of cards.
A massive bookcase occupied the entire wall opposite the entrance. It was not completely full yet, but already held a respectable collection.
A long sofa sat beneath the window on the left, while a writing desk stood beneath the one on the right.
In the middle of the room were a low tea table and several soft rugs and cushions.
The room was not large, but it felt warm and comfortable—far better than the filthy dorm room Gray lived in.
Then he caught himself.
’Wait a second. Everyone said he was staying home to study magic. What are these three doing?! Why do they look so relaxed?!’
"Perfect timing, Gray," Cana said. "Want to play Fight the Landlord with us?"
"Fight the Landlord? What’s that?"
"It’s a card game Marshall taught us."
"Sure—wait, no!" Gray shook his head. "I came here to fight Marshall! Everyone in the guild says you’ve learned a bunch of powerful magic, so let’s have a match!"
"..."
The room suddenly fell silent.
All three of them stared at Gray as though he had said something deeply disturbing.
Cana threw her magazine at his head.
"What’s wrong with you?! Marshall is only six! Are you seriously here to bully my little brother?"
"Hey, everyone in the guild said he’s already strong!" Gray protested. "This is a battle between men, Cana! Stay out of it!"
"What did you say?! Come over here and spar with me instead—hey! Marshall, stop!"
Marshall hurriedly restrained the furious Cana before she could pounce, then gestured for Gray to come inside properly.
"This is your first time visiting my house, Gray. Sit down and have some tea first."
Looking at Marshall, who was a full head shorter than him, Gray began to feel as though challenging him really did look a little unfair.
He awkwardly looked around the room instead.
"Uh... Your house is pretty nice, Marshall. It’s... kind of pretty."
"Don’t remind me! I didn’t realize how small it was until I finished building it. There wasn’t even enough space for everyone to sit whenever the girls came over, so I had to remodel it and move the bedroom and bathroom onto the lower floors."
Cana shook her head repeatedly.
"This place still needs a lot of work. You don’t have a fireplace, so you’ll freeze in winter. There’s no kitchen either, and you haven’t built my room yet. You should’ve asked your big sister before you started!"
Levy laughed.
"Haha! I think Marshall has already done an amazing job. He can improve it little by little. It’s comfortable enough for now, and once I bring some of my books over, this can become our secret base."
Gray picked up a small cake and took a bite.
"Why did you move out of the dormitory anyway? Living all the way out here has to be inconvenient. It’s far from the guild, and without guards patrolling nearby, thieves could show up."
Marshall’s mouth twitched as memories of the dormitory flashed through his mind.
Compared to that suffering, any inconvenience was tolerable.
"It’s mostly so I can practice magic more easily. This is the edge of town, so nobody cares how much noise I make. As for the other problems... I’ll deal with them eventually."
Marshall clearly had no interest in sparring, and Gray was not unreasonable enough to force him.
He was not nearly as eager to start fights as Cana claimed, so the four of them settled down and began chatting instead.
"By the way," Gray said, "everyone in the guild says you learned Molding Magic. What about Ice Magic?"
"Not yet. Most of the spells I know are extremely basic, so I don’t have much fighting ability. Crash Magic is the only one with any real destructive power, and I can’t control it properly. That’s part of why I needed somewhere isolated to live."
That was the truth.
Marshall had learned a wide variety of flashy spells, but almost all of them were only Level One.
He had barely moved beyond the beginner stage.
His most reliable combat technique was still using Telepathy to scream for Makarov’s help.
It was difficult to call that real fighting strength.
For now, Marshall was still in the stage of quietly gathering power. He had no desire to volunteer as someone else’s punching bag.
Cana moved behind him and gently pinched his cheeks.
"You’re already amazing, Marshall! I hadn’t even started learning magic when I was your age. Only a shameless idiot like Gray would come all the way here to bully a child."
"Hey! I wasn’t bullying him!"
"Well, since you’re already here, you might as well play cards with us. Marshall’s game is actually really fun."
Marshall quickly escaped Cana’s hands and moved over to the writing desk.
"You three can play. I have some things I need to think through."
He truly did need to decide what his next priority should be, especially when it came to improving his strength.
Now that his novel was being serialized and he had built his own house, money was no longer an urgent problem.
He could put earning more aside for the moment.
His next goal was becoming stronger as quickly as possible.
After all, Marshall would never have moved out so soon if he had not found the dormitory completely unbearable.
He was still deeply insecure about his own safety, and this world was far from peaceful.
Powerful Magical Beasts wandered the wilderness, dark guilds operated in the shadows, and he had even heard rumors about demons.
If Marshall were not confident in how quickly he could call for help, he would never have dared to live out here alone.
Powerful Magical Beasts roamed the wilderness, dark guilds operated in the shadows, and there were even rumors of demons.
In the end, strength ruled this world. Even nobles were careful not to provoke powerful Mages.
There was no disadvantage to becoming stronger as soon as possible.
As for how to do that, Makarov had already given him some advice.
First, he needed to find a powerful type of magic that suited him.
Second, he had to increase the amount of magic power inside his body as much as possible.
Finally, he needed real combat experience.
Marshall was currently stuck on the first step.
He still had not found the magic that suited him best.
He had learned plenty of spells, and Crash Magic was certainly powerful, but it did not truly feel compatible with him.
According to Marshall’s own theory, the magic most suited to him should be the one whose experience increased fastest while he studied it.
At present, Requip Magic had been the easiest for him to learn, but it did not exactly look like a combat-oriented ability.
So his next course of action was clear.
Marshall would study as many different forms of magic as possible until he found the one that suited him best!
Once he discovered it, he could devote himself to grinding its experience.
Which meant...
’Everyone in Fairy Tail, I’ll be counting on you!’