Chapter 225

Chapter 225: Chapter 225

Although Erza had accepted Mira’s theory about pure, devoted love, she had never actually brought the subject up with Marshall herself.

Part of the reason was that even after admitting her own feelings, Erza still tended to see Marshall as a child and wanted to wait until he was older.

The other reason was much simpler.

She was embarrassed.

Every time Erza even imagined sitting down with Marshall to discuss something as "adult" as romance, her face turned bright red and she immediately lost her nerve.

And after successfully infiltrating Mira’s girlfriend fan club, Erza discovered that the other girls in the guild were somehow bolder than the last.

She became so busy quietly learning from them that she simply adopted an avoidance strategy whenever Marshall himself was involved.

In short... she chickened out.

Who would have guessed?

The two pillars of Marshall’s girlfriend fan club—the two most imposing queens in Fairy Tail—were both secretly more innocent than anyone else.

It was honestly a little embarrassing.

Right now was a perfect example.

Marshall had merely held Erza’s hand and told her he wanted to marry her someday, and her brain had practically overheated on the spot.

Marshall found her reaction adorable, so he decided not to tease her any further.

Instead, he simply led the dazed Erza through the maze while her eyes practically spun in circles.

Then they realized...they were lost.

Marshall nearly lost his composure.

Who the hell had designed this maze?

Were they actually trying to trap people inside forever?

To be fair, part of the problem was his own fault. He had been paying so much attention to Erza that he barely noticed any of the directional hints along the way.

They might not have been able to use Magic normally, but that didn’t mean Marshall had no shortcuts available.

He simply released a massive amount of Magic Power and spread it throughout the maze.

Once his Magic Power filled the surrounding corridors, he extended his perception through it and quickly located the staircase leading upward.

During the time Marshall spent finding the route, Erza finally managed to pull herself together.

She had always known that Marshall cared deeply about "family," and she could normally feel how much affection he held for her.

But understanding something vaguely was completely different from hearing him say it outright.

At the end of the day, Erza was only nineteen.

She had spent most of her life pursuing strength, so when it came to romance, she knew next to nothing.

What little knowledge she possessed had mostly come from secretly reading some of Levy’s more questionable romance books.

And she hadn’t even dared to read very much.

Still, Erza’s personality made it impossible for her to remain indecisive forever.

Now that the subject had finally been dragged into the open, she forced herself to respond.

"Um... Marshall..."

"Hm? I’m listening."

Marshall looked toward her with obvious interest.

Her face was still bright red, but her gaze had become steady.

"I... I like you too."

Erza tightened her fingers around his hand.

"A lot."

She swallowed.

"And I want to become... real family with you someday."

Marshall immediately smiled.

"That’s great! Then Erza-nee, when I grow up, you have to marry me~"

"Mm..."

Erza suddenly grabbed Marshall’s hand with both of hers and pulled him closer.

Despite how embarrassed she was, a different emotion had begun shining in her eyes.

"Marshall... did you say the same thing to Mira?"

"Yep!"

Marshall nodded without hesitation.

"I like Mira-nee too. Whether it’s Erza-nee or Mira-nee, I want both of you in my family!"

He blinked innocently.

"Is that... not okay?"

"..."

Because Marshall had previously overheard Erza’s conversation with Mira, he already knew something important.

Mira might have successfully convinced Erza to accept her philosophy about relationships, but deep down, Erza herself had never cared much about Marshall wanting a large family.

That was the only reason Marshall dared to say something this shameless directly to her face.

Yes.

He was absolutely taking advantage of Erza’s straightforward nature.

By now, Erza had calmed down considerably.

She had never been particularly competitive or possessive by nature.

As long as she could remain together with the people she considered family, she was usually easy to satisfy.

Still...

hearing Marshall casually say that he liked Mira too, right in front of her, produced a strange little discomfort in her chest.

Maybe she finally understood what Mira had been talking about.

That unpleasant feeling of not wanting to share someone important with anybody else... was probably jealousy.

"Marshall, you can’t."

Erza placed both hands firmly on his shoulders and spoke with complete seriousness.

"It isn’t right to divide your feelings among several people. Everyone should have one partner."

Her expression became solemn.

"You need to make the proper choice."

"I already did." Marshall answered immediately.

"My choice is to marry several people and build one big, happy family."

"...But that isn’t fair to the girls!"

"Then does Erza-nee want me to leave you?"

Marshall stared up at her.

"No! I refuse to abandon any of my companions!"

"?!"

"N-No! That isn’t what I meant..."

The instant Erza heard Marshall talk about leaving her, her heart tightened painfully.

For a moment, genuine panic struck her.

’Wait.’

If Marshall really did choose only one person... there was no guarantee that person would be her.

No.

Absolutely not!

She did not want Marshall to leave her.

Not ever.

Then, could Marshall actually be right?

Was refusing to abandon anyone really the only way for everybody to remain happy?

"Erza-nee, there are all kinds of ways for people to live together."

Marshall’s voice softened.

"Who gets to decide which one is absolutely right and which one is wrong?"

He tilted his head.

"The Church? Their god has been gone for ages."

Marshall stepped closer and hugged Erza, affectionately leaning against her.

"I like Erza-nee, and Erza-nee likes me."

He smiled.

"Isn’t that enough?"

"People who care about each other and choose to stay together are already family. Why make it more complicated than that?"

Marshall tightened his arms around her.

"If making a choice only hurts everyone involved, then why can’t refusing to choose be its own answer?"

"That..."

Erza hesitated.

"Erza-nee, could you lower your head for a second?"

"Eh? Mm—"

Before Erza could react, Marshall quickly leaned forward and gave her a brief kiss.

Then he immediately pulled away with a triumphant grin.

"Now that I’ve kissed Erza-nee, you’re officially mine."

Marshall beamed.

"So I’m absolutely never letting you leave me!"

Erza’s mind went hazy again.

She was increasingly convinced that thinking deeply about complicated romantic questions simply wasn’t something she was suited for.

But there was one thing she understood perfectly.

When Marshall kissed her...

she had felt happy.

"Come on, Erza-nee!"

Marshall grabbed her hand again.

"We still have six more floors to clear!"

"O-Okay..."

Marshall deliberately gave her no time to think any further and pulled her onward.

...

The first three floors of the "Tower of Heaven" consisted of the maze.

Floors four through six became a full obstacle-course adventure, forcing participants to dodge traps and push forward through three themed stages: cats, gunslingers, and cards.

Millianna, Wally, and Sho had served as the respective floor designers, and all three had clearly poured a tremendous amount of effort into their stages.

Before long, Erza became fully absorbed in the attraction.

Seeing her former companions successfully integrate into Fairy Tail filled her with genuine relief.

A world filled with Magic made it possible to create incredibly elaborate adventure games.

Marshall had only given everyone a few general suggestions, yet the guild had clearly proven just how creative its members could be.

Even he had a great time.

The seventh floor was themed around rock music.

The eighth was a sword-filled combat zone that Erza herself had helped design.

And the ninth...

was the final battle against Jellal.

At the end of the attraction, Erza punched the Jellal doll serving as the final boss so hard that it went flying across the room.

Immediately afterward, a chibi portrait of Erza appeared on the wall behind it.

Apparently, the final challenge doubled as a physical-strength test.

It measured a participant’s striking power without Magic enhancement and automatically added the result to a public leaderboard.

Erza looked at the rankings.

Her name sat absurdly far above everyone else.

For some reason, seeing that number gave her a genuine sense of satisfaction.

It really felt as though she had conquered the Tower of Heaven one more time.

Erza knew perfectly well that this amusement attraction had largely been created for her.

Marshall had taken something that once represented the heaviest memories of her past and transformed it into a place where people laughed, competed, and had fun.

He had built an entire Tower of Heaven simply so that the original would no longer weigh so heavily on her heart.

"Erza-nee, did you have fun?"

Erza smiled.

Then, without warning, she bent down and quickly kissed the greedy little brother beside her.

"Thank you, Marshall."

Her smile became warm.

"I had a wonderful time."