Chapter 314

Chapter 314: Chapter 314

Mavis could fly.

That was an important detail, because it meant she’d been able to fight the skeletal dragon possessing Yuri without experiencing any particular difficulty.

Even after unleashing Fairy Law and destroying the enormous creature, she hadn’t noticed anything unusual about herself.

As far as Mavis was concerned, she’d simply cast a powerful spell, defeated an enemy, and saved her friend.

Consequently, she had no idea that her body had undergone a certain irreversible change.

Zera was equally unaware of what had happened, although she was delighted that her best friend had managed to resolve such a dangerous situation.

"...And then Mavis flew into the air and used that new spell she’d developed. It was amazing! She defeated the entire skeletal dragon in one attack!"

After Mavis and Yuri’s group successfully defeated Blue Skull, Zera naturally contacted Marshall to tell him everything that had happened.

Sharing the events of her daily life with him had become something of a habit.

"...Blue Skull killed my father and destroyed our guild, but they finally got what they deserved."

Her voice grew quieter for a moment before she continued.

"Magnolia suffered terribly because of them, though. The people here have been through so much, and I feel really sorry for them. Mavis wants to stay and help rebuild the town, but..."

Zera hesitated.

"I kind of want to go back to Tenrou Island."

Marshall listened quietly as she recounted their adventures, occasionally acknowledging what she said.

His attention, however, was somewhat divided.

Something had happened that concerned him far more than Blue Skull’s defeat.

The magical safeguard he’d placed on Mavis had been triggered.

Marshall had anticipated the possibility that Mavis might suddenly remember Zera’s death, potentially disrupting the extraordinary Magic sustaining her friend’s existence.

To prevent that disaster, he’d secretly placed a protective spell within Mavis’s memories.

If the memories she’d unconsciously suppressed began resurfacing, his Magic would intervene and blur them again before the realization could fully take hold.

Now that safeguard had activated.

And Marshall had a fairly good idea who was responsible.

’Zeref, you bastard. What exactly did you say to her?’

He sighed inwardly.

The problem was more serious than it might initially appear.

His spell could temporarily obscure Mavis’s memories, but its activation proved that she’d already begun remembering Zera’s death.

Once that psychological barrier had been breached, there was no guarantee it would remain intact.

Another breakthrough could occur much sooner than the first.

In other words, Zera’s continued existence was becoming increasingly precarious.

Memory Magic was notoriously unreliable when used as a permanent solution.

Marshall only had to think about Mest to appreciate that. With the right technique, Mest could undo or manipulate memory restrictions with surprising ease.

And Mavis was an extraordinary magical genius.

Someone with her intelligence and talent would eventually notice if her memories had been tampered with, especially once she began questioning gaps in her own recollections.

Previously, Marshall’s protective spell had been concealed behind the barrier Mavis had unconsciously created herself.

That provided a useful buffer.

Her own mind suppressed the memory first, and Marshall’s spell only needed to intervene if that protection began failing.

Now, however, her original mental defenses had already been disturbed.

The traces left behind by Marshall’s intervention were becoming increasingly conspicuous, almost like a stain on an otherwise spotless window.

For someone as perceptive as Mavis, discovering those traces might be only a matter of time.

Which meant Marshall needed to do something about Zera before the situation deteriorated further.

’Looks like I can’t keep putting this off.’

He considered the problem for a moment before deciding that he ought to discuss it with Zera herself.

"Zera, there’s something important I need to tell you."

"Hm? What is it, Marshall?"

"Mavis has remembered that you died."

The lively chatter on the other end of the communication ring stopped immediately.

For several seconds, Zera didn’t speak.

When her voice finally returned, it was trembling.

"S-She has...?"

A painful silence followed.

"Then... does that mean I’ll be pulled back inside Mavis soon?"

Zera struggled to keep her voice steady.

"I-I suppose that makes sense. I shouldn’t have been able to stay in this world for so long anyway. I was already dead..."

"Hey, don’t panic. Listen to me first."

Marshall interrupted before she could frighten herself any further.

"My protective spell activated, so Mavis shouldn’t remember what happened for the time being. I’ve obscured those memories again, but that doesn’t mean you’re safe."

He continued in a serious tone.

"I could reinforce the memory seal, but as long as you remain beside Mavis, your presence could keep triggering the memories she’s trying to suppress."

Zera swallowed nervously.

"Marshall... do you have a way to fix it?"

"There is a way, at least in theory. The only permanent solution is to extract your Life Point from Mavis and establish your existence independently."

Marshall paused.

"But nobody’s ever done anything quite like this before, and I don’t have enough experimental data to predict the consequences. Besides, Mavis is holding on to you incredibly tightly. Trying to forcibly separate you would be extremely dangerous."

He considered how best to explain the situation.

"The real problem is getting Mavis to loosen her hold on you without accidentally destroying the Magic that’s keeping you alive. My techniques aren’t sufficiently developed yet, either. We need more time."

Marshall raised two fingers, although Zera couldn’t see the gesture through the ring.

"For now, I’ve come up with two possible approaches. Neither is perfect, so I want you to understand the risks before deciding."

"Okay..."

"The first option is to take a gamble."

Marshall began explaining.

"I would prepare a sealing spell around your Life Point, then allow Mavis to recover her suppressed memories naturally."

"Once she remembers your death, she’ll probably pull your remaining existence back into her First Origin. But if my seal works as intended, it should keep you from disappearing for a short time."

He paused.

"Then I’d try to persuade Mavis to cooperate with me so we could extract your Life Point and restore you to an independent existence."

The idea was straightforward enough, but Marshall didn’t want Zera to misunderstand how dangerous it would be.

"Unfortunately, there’s a lot of uncertainty involved. I don’t know exactly how Mavis will react when she remembers, and I can’t guarantee that my seal will protect you long enough for us to finish the procedure."

His voice became firmer.

"If something goes wrong, you would be the one paying the price."

"..."

Zera remained silent for a while.

Then she answered softly.

"I trust you and Mavis, Marshall."

She took a breath.

"Even if something really does happen to me, I wouldn’t blame either of you. After all, I’ve been dead for years already..."

"Don’t make your decision yet. I haven’t explained the second option."

Marshall didn’t particularly appreciate how readily she seemed willing to accept disappearing forever.

"The second approach is much safer, although it would require some sacrifices."

He continued, "I could completely seal away every memory Mavis has of you. Then, as long as you stay out of her sight and avoid interacting with her, there shouldn’t be anything to trigger those memories again."

Zera listened intently.

"Over time, Mavis’s unconscious hold on your Life Point might gradually weaken. That would give me an opportunity to improve my techniques until I could safely separate you from her."

Marshall explained the remaining complication.

"Of course, you still can’t travel too far away from Mavis. That connection hasn’t changed. So you’d have to remain somewhere relatively nearby without letting her see you."

He sighed.

"Basically, you’d have to live alone for a while."

Zera hesitated.

"A while...?"

"How long would that be?"

"Possibly several years."

"..."

There was another silence.

Then Zera asked a question that Marshall hadn’t expected.

"Would you come and visit me?"

"Of course."

He answered without hesitation.

"We’re good friends, aren’t we? Naturally, I’d visit you whenever I could."

"Okay!"

Zera’s voice brightened immediately.

"Then I trust you, Marshall!"

"So you’re choosing the second option?"

"Mm-hmm! The second one!"

Marshall wanted to make absolutely sure she understood what she was agreeing to.

"Living alone can get pretty lonely, you know. You won’t be able to spend time with Mavis anymore, at least until we’ve solved this problem."

"That’s all right!"

Zera sounded remarkably cheerful now.

"I’ll still have you, won’t I?"

Marshall smiled faintly.

"Well, if you’re sure."

What he didn’t know was that Zera was already celebrating privately.

’Marshall’s going to come and visit me!’

If she lived somewhere alone and Marshall regularly came to see her, wouldn’t that mean she could spend time with him without Mavis constantly interrupting?

The more she thought about it, the more excited she became.

Living alone suddenly didn’t seem nearly as frightening as it had a few moments earlier.

In fact, she was beginning to look forward to the arrangement.

"All right," Marshall said. "Tonight, find an excuse to get Mavis somewhere private. I’ll meet you there and seal her memories."

"Okay! I’ll see you tonight!"

...

"Marshall, did it work?"

Removing every trace of one person from another person’s memories was a complicated procedure, but it wasn’t beyond Marshall’s abilities.

He’d learned a great deal from studying Mest’s Memory Magic, and he understood the principles involved well enough to reproduce a similar effect.

That evening, in a forest east of Magnolia, Zera lured Mavis away from the others under a harmless pretext.

Mavis had no reason to suspect anything.

When Marshall appeared, she was completely unprepared for him to use Hypnosis Magic on her.

The procedure went smoothly.

"Yes, it’s done."

Marshall examined the results of his spell.

"She’s forgotten about you now. Go find somewhere to hide. She’ll be waking up in a moment."

"Okay!"

Zera nodded and hurried deeper into the forest.

She concealed herself among the trees, then glanced back toward Marshall and Mavis.

What she saw made her stop dead.

Mavis had awakened.

And the first thing she did upon seeing Marshall was throw herself straight into his arms.

"Marshall!"

She hugged him tightly, her face glowing with happiness.

"You came to see me! I’ve got so many things to tell you!"

Her eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Did you know I defeated a huge dragon with my Magic?!"

Zera stared.

’...Huh?’

’What’s going on?’

’Why is Mavis suddenly acting so affectionate toward Marshall?!’

Something about this situation seemed terribly wrong.

Marshall, meanwhile, understood what had happened almost immediately.

’Oh.’

’Right. Of course.’

By removing Zera from Mavis’s memories, he’d fundamentally changed how she remembered her childhood.

As far as Mavis was now concerned, she’d spent five years living completely alone on Tenrou Island after Red Lizard was destroyed.

Then Marshall appeared.

He was the first person she’d properly gotten to know after those five lonely years, and they’d spent the next two years living on the same island, regularly spending time together.

Without Zera occupying such an important place in her memories, Marshall had effectively become the person most closely associated with the end of her long isolation.

Naturally, Mavis would feel especially attached to him.

From her altered perspective, he had been the first friend she’d made after enduring years of loneliness.

Her excitement at seeing him again was entirely understandable.

Unfortunately, Marshall suddenly found the situation rather awkward.

’Oh, crap.’

’Why does this feel like I’ve stolen Zera’s best friend?’

He’d only been joking about the hypnosis!

He certainly hadn’t intended to replace Zera in Mavis’s memories and become the center of her attention.

’This isn’t what I was going for!’

For once, Marshall found himself genuinely flustered by the consequences of his own Magic.

Mavis, however, noticed nothing unusual.

With Zera’s existence erased from her conscious memories, some of the emotional complications she’d previously experienced had vanished as well.

She no longer felt the same need to divide her attention between her two closest companions, and her affection for Marshall came through far more openly.

Still holding on to him, Mavis looked up with an enormous smile.

"Marshall! There’s something really important I want to tell you!"

"Oh? What is it?"

"I’ve decided to start a new Mage Guild with Yuri and the others!"

Her excitement was infectious.

"And I’ve already come up with the perfect name!"

Mavis released him just enough to gesture enthusiastically as she explained her idea.

"Nobody knows whether fairies actually have tails, right? Maybe they do, or maybe they don’t! It’s one of those wonderful mysteries nobody’s ever managed to solve!"

She grinned.

"So I’m going to call our guild Fairy Tail!"

Mavis spread her arms, almost seeming to embrace the entire world with her excitement.

"It’s a name that represents endless mysteries and adventures! There’s always something new waiting to be discovered, and I want our guild to keep searching for those wonderful possibilities!"

She looked directly into Marshall’s eyes.

"It’s a great name, isn’t it?!"

Then, with barely a moment’s pause, she asked the question she’d been wanting to ask him for so long.

"Marshall, will you join Fairy Tail?!"