Chapter 220

Chapter 220: Chapter 220

Marshall figured that after spending so many years painstakingly building up everyone’s affection for him, it was about time he started seeing some returns.

Lucy?

Lucy was a newcomer.

They had only known each other for a few months, so Marshall hadn’t seriously expected her to agree in the first place. Asking had mostly been another excuse to tease her.

He had plenty of other, much better candidates.

"Master, the guild Master sent over a form for you to review..."

Just then, the door opened and the twin-tailed Ultear walked inside.

Marshall’s eyes immediately lit up.

"Ul—Tia. Perfect timing. Come here and give me a kiss."

"?"

Lucy’s eyes widened, confusion flashing across her face.

Ultear, on the other hand, looked absolutely delighted.

Without the slightest hesitation, she threw herself into Marshall’s arms and kissed him.

"???"

Lucy’s mouth slowly fell open.

She stared at the boy and girl kissing right in front of her and suddenly wondered whether she had become old without noticing.

Were young people these days really this direct?!

Could it be...that she was the weird one?

The two of them showed no sign of stopping anytime soon, leaving poor, useless Lucy standing off to the side with both hands covering her face—except for the enormous gaps between her fingers as she openly stared through them.

She looked less like a participant and more like a ridiculous background prop.

Lucy’s thoughts began spiraling.

’Who am I?’

’Where am I?’

’What am I supposed to be doing?’

She had begun questioning the very meaning of her existence.

"Haah~"

Eventually, Ultear pulled away, visibly pleased with herself.

She had already been staying with Marshall for more than a week, and throughout that entire time she had behaved impeccably—obedient, disciplined, and careful not to entertain any improper ideas unless Marshall himself gave her permission.

Apparently, all that restraint had finally paid off.

She knew Marshall would respond to her eventually!

"Marshall~ I love you~"

[Inspiration Points +6,666]

Marshall was equally delighted.

See?

He never should have bothered pretending to be some perfect gentleman.

There were already so many girls in this world who liked him.

How could he possibly betray all that affection by refusing to respond?

Besides, if getting closer to the girls around him helped him become stronger fast enough to protect everyone, then clearly he had no choice.

For the sake of the world, Marshall would simply have to let the girls help him grind Inspiration Points!

"Want another?"

"Yes~"

The two shameless troublemakers were already leaning toward each other for round two when Lucy finally snapped.

"WAIT!"

They both paused.

"Wh-What are you two doing?! Could you at least consider how the other person in the room feels?! I’m still standing right here!"

Only then did Ultear glance toward Lucy in her leopard-print outfit.

She looked her up and down and frowned.

"Then why haven’t you left?"

Lucy was speechless.

"And Master and I were only kissing. Why are you blushing like a boiling kettle?"

"Eh?! N-No, wait! You’re the one who suddenly walked in here!"

Before the argument could escalate, Marshall interrupted them and glanced toward the form in Ultear’s hand.

"Tia, what was that you brought me?"

"Oh, right."

Ultear handed it over.

"Fairy Tail’s Master had someone deliver this. It’s the performance schedule for next week’s Harvest Festival. He wants Master to check whether there are any problems."

"The Harvest Festival?"

Marshall accepted the document.

"It’s already that time of year again?"

Makarov had clearly begun grooming Marshall for greater responsibility, because lately he asked for Marshall’s opinion on practically everything.

And Marshall was already Magnolia’s lord anyway, which meant city events ultimately fell under his administrative authority as well.

He scanned the schedule.

Then stopped.

"Hm?"

His expression darkened.

"What the hell is this Miss Fairy Tail Beauty Pageant?"

He stared at the page.

"Who came up with this garbage? We never had anything like this before."

Marshall immediately became indignant.

"Damn old man. What is he thinking? The girls in our guild aren’t exhibits for strangers to stare at!"

With one stroke of the pen, Marshall deleted the entire event.

Of all the beautiful girls in Fairy Tail, eight out of ten were basically his beloved big sisters.

There was no way he was approving something like that.

Lucy, having already forgotten most of her earlier embarrassment, leaned over to look.

"Eh?! First prize is one million Jewels!"

She stared at Marshall.

"Why are you canceling it?! If this beautiful young lady entered, I’d have that prize in the bag!"

Marshall gave her a flat look.

"What kind of fantasy are you living in? You’re not even as popular as Wendy."

"Nonsense! I’m plenty popular!"

Ultear suddenly slipped behind Lucy and gave her a sharp swat on the backside.

"Ah!"

"Know your place, pet."

Ultear crossed her arms.

"How dare you act so arrogantly in front of Master? Who said you were allowed to interrupt?"

"Y-You people!"

Lucy clutched her dignity with tears in her eyes.

"Why is my life so miserable?!"

Lucy became angry.

And then...she was simply angry.

Unfortunately, bullying Lucy was basically the emotional equivalent of punching a sponge.

There was no satisfying resistance whatsoever.

Lucy had now discovered the horrifying truth that she occupied the absolute bottom of Cake Tower’s hierarchy.

Being a pet sucked.

Marshall ignored her suffering entirely.

Instead, his attention remained on the Harvest Festival.

This might actually be a great opportunity.

He could replace the canceled Miss Fairy Tail pageant with a new event, invite some of the girls to participate with him, turn it into something resembling a date, and hopefully harvest a large batch of Inspiration Points in the process.

Ideally, it should involve pairs.

Something cooperative.

Maybe a bit frightening too, so the tension naturally pushed teammates closer together...

A haunted house?

Too simple.

An escape room?

Better.

What if he added obstacle-course elements and a full adventure scenario?

Marshall suddenly had an idea.

Why not recreate the Tower of Heaven?

He could turn Erza’s victory over a Wizard Saint into an interactive adventure attraction for everyone to experience.

A maze combined with a haunted house, escape-room puzzles, team-based exploration, and challenge stages.

Perfect.

Then Marshall could invite the girls to clear it together with him and conveniently create plenty of opportunities for inspiration along the way.

’Hehehe.’

’All according to plan.’

"I just thought of something good."

Marshall stood up.

"I’m heading to the guild. You two entertain yourselves."

Then he disappeared.

Lucy and Ultear were left staring at each other.

Ultear already disliked Lucy.

In her mind, this shameless woman had gone so far as to become Marshall’s "pet" just to get closer to him.

Absolutely disgraceful!

Naturally, Ultear attacked first.

"What are you staring at, shameless little pet?"

"?"

Lucy’s brain briefly stopped working.

Who exactly was supposed to be shameless here?!

Ultear had walked through the door, thrown herself at Marshall, and started kissing him without even acknowledging anyone else!

Were children these days just completely devoid of manners?!

And why did everybody specifically enjoy bullying her?!

"You’re the shameless one!"

Lucy pointed indignantly.

"If you’re going to do embarrassing things, at least wait until nobody else is around! Young people these days have absolutely no sense of propriety!"

Ultear laughed coldly.

"Well, well. Little Leopard Lucy..."

She gave Lucy a pitying look.

"Don’t tell me you’ve never even had a boyfriend before."

Lucy stiffened.

Ultear’s smile became more contemptuous.

"Figures. You don’t exactly look very popular. The kind of girl nobody wants, huh?"

Lucy instantly overheated.

"Y-You’re talking nonsense!"

She began waving her arms furiously.

"I-I’ve had three—no, five boyfriends before! I’m extremely popular!"

Ultear gave her one dismissive glance.

"Scrub."

Her time spent studying Marshall had clearly paid off.

Ultear had completely mastered his essence.

With a contemptuous little smile, she turned and walked away.

Just before reaching the door, however, she glanced back and delivered one final blow.

"You’re obviously an inexperienced little virgin. Trying so hard to pretend otherwise is just embarrassing."

"...Crack."

Lucy petrified.

Ultear disappeared down the hallway.

It took Lucy quite a while to recover from the devastating emotional damage.

Eventually, she collapsed to her knees.

"Uwaaah! I hate kids!"

She buried her face in her hands.

"I hate them!"

Children these days were terrifying.

Somehow, Lucy—a rebellious heiress who had literally run away from home—had ended up feeling like the conservative old woman in the room.

After suffering blow after blow, she once again began questioning herself.

’Are kids nowadays all this precocious?’

’Why are they so ridiculously confident about it?!’

Lucy slowly sank lower.

’Could it really be...’

’that I’m the abnormal one?!’