Chapter 273

Chapter 273: Chapter 273

Marshall’s terminal was practically exploding with messages.

Only now did he realize just how long he’d been unconscious, and judging by the sheer number of people trying to contact him, his disappearance had apparently caused quite a commotion.

His immediate priority was to let his family know he was safe.

Unfortunately, there were far too many messages to answer individually, so he decided to send everyone the same announcement.

[I’m fine! I’m calling the Master right now!]

With that taken care of, Marshall immediately used his terminal to initiate a video call with Makarov.

The connection was established in less than a second.

Makarov’s anxious face practically filled the entire projection.

"Marshall?! Are you all right? What happened? Where are you right now?!"

Marshall turned his camera toward the desolate island behind him, making sure to include the half-finished house he’d been constructing out of earth.

"Ahaha... Well, I’m perfectly fine! I’m on a little island out at sea right now. Sorry about that. I ran into a bit of an accident and ended up making everyone worry!"

Before Makarov could respond, his head was practically shoved out of the projection as a crowd of girls fought to get in front of the camera.

"Marshall! You’re not hurt, are you?!"

"What happened to you these past few days?"

"When are you coming home?!"

Everyone started talking at once, leaving Marshall with absolutely no idea whose question he was supposed to answer first.

Apparently, Makarov had been on the guild’s second floor when Marshall called.

Through the projection, Marshall could see more guild members returning one after another, eagerly waving and shouting greetings whenever they noticed him on the screen.

He was genuinely touched.

Having so many people who cared about him was an extraordinary blessing, and seeing everyone so relieved reminded Marshall just how fortunate he was.

Unfortunately, that also meant he needed to come up with a convincing explanation.

"Um... First of all, I’m really sorry for worrying everyone. Nothing serious happened to me. I just got a little carried away with an experiment and ended up losing consciousness. By the time I recovered, I’d completely forgotten that I hadn’t told anyone where I was going."

Marshall gave the camera an innocent smile, hoping he could somehow charm his way through the situation.

"Ahaha! Anyway, everything’s fine over here. My experiments have reached a pretty important stage, though, so I still have a lot of work to do. It’ll probably be a while before I can come home. You really don’t need to worry about me!"

There was absolutely no way he was going to announce that he’d acquired the Curse of Ankhseram in front of the entire guild.

At the very least, he couldn’t discuss something like that in such a public setting.

If word got out and reached the wrong people, the consequences could be extremely serious.

Unfortunately, the members of Fairy Tail weren’t nearly as easy to fool as he’d hoped.

"...Marshall, do we look like idiots to you?"

"Exactly! Something definitely happened, didn’t it?! Otherwise, there’s no way you’d disappear without telling us! Come on, tell us what’s really going on!"

"That’s right! Whatever trouble you’re in, we can all work together to solve it. We’re Fairy Tail!"

"...You guys."

Marshall was genuinely moved by their concern.

Naturally, he refused to tell them anything.

"Anyway, I promise I’m fine! I’ll explain everything else after I get home. That’s all for now. I’m hanging up!"

"Wait! Natsu already went to Hargeon to look for you, and Erza took another group with her. Could you go pick them up and bring them back?"

"Well... I can’t really leave this place at the moment. I’ll apologize to them myself, though. Anyway, I should probably—"

"Hold on! What about the S-Class Promotion Trial? Are you still going to serve as an examiner?"

"I’m skipping it! Just have Gildarts take my place. Look, I’ve still got a house to finish building, or I won’t have anywhere to sleep tonight. I’ve really got to go! We’ll talk when I get back!"

Marshall immediately ended the call.

...

Back at Fairy Tail, the assembled guild members stared at one another.

There was a moment of silence before someone finally spoke.

"There’s definitely more to this. If everything were really fine, Marshall would’ve just teleported home instead of calling us."

"Exactly. We even asked him to pick up Natsu, and he refused. Normally, he’d agree to something like that without a second thought. Whatever happened, it’s obviously preventing him from leaving. He might be dealing with something really serious."

There was no shortage of intelligent people in Fairy Tail, and several members had immediately seen through Marshall’s evasive answers.

Eventually, Makarov stepped forward to settle the matter.

"All right, that’s enough. At least we know Marshall isn’t in any immediate danger. As for everything else, we’ll ask him when he gets home. Now, everyone, get back to whatever you were doing!"

With that, he began dispersing the crowd.

...

Unfortunately for Marshall, ending the guild’s video call was only the beginning of his problems.

He hadn’t seen any of the girls closest to him during the conversation, which probably meant they were all accompanying Erza’s search party toward the coast.

Presumably, Cana’s Divination Magic had managed to identify his approximate location.

Her divination was admittedly a little mysterious, but it could be surprisingly accurate sometimes.

Just as Marshall was thinking about that, his terminal rang again.

Incoming call: Erza.

Marshall sighed helplessly before accepting.

"Marshall! Thank goodness you’re safe."

The instant Erza saw his face, her entire expression relaxed. Judging by her reaction, she hadn’t had a particularly pleasant couple of days.

"Sorry, Erza. I made you worry."

Marshall glanced past her toward the background of the projection.

"Are Cana and Mira with you?"

"Yes. They received your message just now, so everyone’s feeling a lot better. I imagine they’re all waiting for a chance to talk to you privately."

Erza smiled.

"Looks like I got lucky and managed to reach you first."

"..."

Marshall rubbed his forehead and sighed.

The thought of all the video calls he was inevitably going to receive was already giving him a headache.

"This time really was my fault. Something unexpected happened during my experiments, although looking at the situation now, I suppose the outcome hasn’t been too terrible..."

Erza immediately seized on that admission.

"So something did happen. Marshall, what exactly are you dealing with? And where are you now?"

"An uninhabited island in the southern sea. I’m planning to build a new laboratory here, and I’ll probably be staying for quite a while. I’m afraid I’ll have to leave the guild and everything at home in your hands for the time being."

Erza’s expression grew serious.

"What happened, Marshall? If you need my help, just ask. You know there’s no need to be shy with me."

"..."

Marshall fell silent for a moment before shaking his head.

He didn’t particularly mind telling Erza about the Curse of Ankhseram. She was someone he trusted completely.

But revealing everything right now would only give her another reason to worry.

He’d rather wait until he understood his new power and had developed some means of controlling it before explaining the situation properly.

"It’s a little complicated. I wouldn’t say it’s something terribly serious, but I can’t pretend it’s a minor problem either. The main issue has to do with my body, so there’s probably not much any of you can do to help."

He offered her a reassuring smile.

"Let’s talk about it the next time we see each other, all right?"

Erza studied him for a moment.

Then she nodded.

"All right. I trust you. Is there anything else you need me to do?"

That was one of the things Marshall appreciated most about Erza.

She was mature enough to understand when someone needed space, and once she’d decided to trust him, she didn’t insist on interrogating him any further.

Instead, she simply asked what she could do to help.

Marshall proceeded to discuss several miscellaneous matters concerning the Cake Tower, leaving her with a few things to take care of in his absence.

Strictly speaking, he could have arranged everything himself without any difficulty.

But giving Erza something to handle would at least help reassure her that he wasn’t shutting everyone out completely.

After going over the arrangements, Erza returned to the subject that had been bothering her.

"So... you really won’t be coming home for a while? Not even for the S-Class Promotion Trial?"

"Yeah. There’s not much I can do about it. This whole situation came out of nowhere, so I’ll have to leave everything to you guys."

"I don’t mind taking on the extra responsibilities, but Cana might not be particularly happy. She’s been working incredibly hard this year because she’s determined to become an S-Class Mage."

"Ahaha..."

Marshall could practically imagine Cana’s reaction.

"I’ll talk to her privately in a little while."

Erza nodded.

Before ending the call, however, her expression softened, and she offered him one final reminder.

"Marshall, if you encounter a problem you genuinely can’t solve, promise me you’ll tell us. We’re all here for you, and you know we’ll always have your back."

Marshall looked at her for a moment before smiling.

"...Yeah. I promise."

Erza finally ended the video call.

Marshall barely had time to lower his terminal before another incoming call appeared on the screen.

This time, it was Levy.

He stared at her name and sighed.

There was no question that she wouldn’t be the last person calling him today.

Apparently, having too many girls worried about you wasn’t always a good thing.

At this rate, Marshall was going to spend the rest of the evening answering his terminal.