Happy froze completely, his large round eyes instantly welling up with fearful tears.
His tiny claws tightly gripped the edges of his costume.
That kind of thing... please no!
"Alright, that's all I'll say. I'm leaving now."
After saying these words, Marco didn't waste any more breath on them.
He put on his mask again and his figure vanished instantly, having teleported directly to the city.
The remaining two humans and one cat looked at each other in bewilderment.
Happy still wore an expression of terror, while Gray looked somewhat worried.
Could Erza really solve this problem?
"Seriously, why test something like this? Why can't we just fight directly?!" Natsu spoke up after a moment of silence, as if he had finally processed this bad news.
He irritably scratched his messy wig, still maintaining his crouching position, though his tone was full of complaint.
"Instead of complaining here, we should hurry back." Gray stood up and retorted at Natsu.
"Go back for what? I can't be of any help anyway. It's not like you can do anything either."
Natsu remained unmoved and sarcastically shot back at Gray.
Natsu had a clear understanding of his own magical research abilities - at least in matters like this he wouldn't pretend to be capable.
Letting him fight was fine, but researching magic books or something...
"Forget it."
"You bastard?! Looking for a fight?! Just because you can't do it doesn't mean I can't!"
Veins bulged on Gray's forehead.
He wasn't like Natsu - although he also spent most of his time on practical combat training, he was at least considerably better than Natsu at magical research.
He had taken plenty of notes during Marco's classes and training sessions, unlike Natsu who never took notes!
"Ha! You're the one looking for trouble!"
As soon as Gray clenched his fist, Natsu immediately responded.
The two immediately began shoving each other, which quickly escalated into a full-blown fistfight.
"At a time like this, you two are actually still..."
Happy, standing to the side with a terrified expression, was extremely angry.
At a critical time like this, Natsu and Gray were still fighting - shouldn't they be thinking of solutions quickly? But looking at the scene before him, Happy could do nothing about it.
He could only pin his hopes on Erza!
"My name... was given by Marco."
Happy recalled what Marco had asked him earlier.
"Marco definitely wouldn't let me be unable to be born, wouldn't let me die like this!"
Happy clenched his fists tightly.
He believed Marco definitely wouldn't truly abandon them.
Having figured this out, Happy relaxed slightly.
His gaze turned to the riverbank below, where little Natsu and little Gray had come at some unknown time and were also fighting on the riverbank.
On the road above the riverbank, big Natsu and big Gray were passionately exchanging blows, already having beaten each other black and blue.
Down on the riverbank, little Natsu and little Gray were also passionately fighting, though with less intensity than their grown-up versions' brutality.
The golden-hued sunset gradually descended, casting the entire riverbank, the path, and the wrestling figures in a warm yet slightly absurd orange-red glow.
A gentle breeze swept across the river surface, making the ripples shimmer, reflecting these two scenes - one above, one below - that resembled mirror images yet were filled with dramatic differences in their "battle" scenarios.
Happy momentarily became captivated by the sight.
His tension and fear unconsciously slowly eased and settled.
"I can't do this! I completely don't understand!"
...
On the other side, inside the stall tent, Erza who had wanted to prove herself ultimately failed in her attempt.
She tugged at her hair in frustration, having completely failed to grasp the contents of the book.
Outside the tent, Lucy—who had just barely escaped the suffocatingly enthusiastic crowd at the guild—hadn't even caught her breath when her gaze froze in terror.
She saw that small figure wearing neat armor, with braided hair and eyes as sharp as an eagle's, standing perfectly straight outside the tent!
'That was... young Erza!'
"This is terrible! Marco didn't mention anything about young Erza being involved!"
Lucy's heart skipped a beat, her mind going completely blank.
This was completely off-script!
Young Erza was actually going to meet Erza!
Marco's script hadn't included this scene at all!
Up until now, Lucy felt she had performed her part flawlessly, following the plot exactly as Marco had described, without the slightest deviation.
In reality, she hadn't been acting at all.
From the moment she entered the guild hall, she had been swept along by the enthusiastic guild members, nearly getting registered as a member by Master Makarov.
If young Marco hadn't rescued her from the situation, she wouldn't have known how to handle it.
Fortunately, she had managed to escape.
Having just finished that part, Lucy thought the most difficult portion of the script was over.
After all, facing the entire "Fairy Tail" guild had been incredibly stressful.
Logically, nothing should be more challenging than that, but this thunderbolt-like development left her petrified on the spot, her hands and feet turning cold.
In this suffocating silence, two clear voices spoke almost simultaneously.
"You there, cat girl."
This was young Erza's voice, carrying curiosity and a barely detectable scrutiny.
"You there, bunny girl."
This was a steady, familiar boy's voice, tinged with a hint of helpless amusement.
Under Lucy's watchful gaze, young Erza had spoken, calling out to the older Erza.
But for some reason, Lucy seemed to hear an echo—a male echo at that.
It turned out Lucy wasn't the only one who heard this voice, as both versions of Erza in her line of sight simultaneously turned their heads with slight confusion, looking in her direction—toward the person behind her.
Lucy also turned around in surprise and indeed saw young Marco.
In that instant, Lucy felt as if she had seen her savior.
'That's right! Now everything makes sense! I can leave the rest to young Marco—my mission is complete!'
Unlike the ecstatic Lucy, Marco watching from the shadows felt somewhat complicated emotions.
Looking at his younger self, numerous thoughts crossed his mind—like keeping some [Royal Demon Rose] as a secret weapon, or telling his younger self about future events.
But these thoughts lasted only for a moment before Marco immediately dismissed them all.
Their past didn't need any changes—he was satisfied with and cherished the current year X784 as it was.
Watching his younger self skillfully dismiss the full-of-questions little Erza with just a few words, then mercilessly expose Lucy and Erza's clumsy disguises with an exasperated expression, Marco's lips curled into a faint smile, feeling nothing but nostalgia.
Because Marco had arranged all of this in advance, Erza and Lucy were merely pushing the plot forward—they had no acting skills whatsoever, simply performing as their true selves.
They were genuinely surprised, genuinely bewildered, and genuinely stunned by little Marco's insight.
Little Marco's performance was so composed, as if he had foreseen everything and specifically came to clean up their mess.
Naturally, Lucy and Erza didn't know that Marco possessed the [Saint System].
Although Marco had forewarned them that his younger self would come to help, when young Marco actually arrived and keenly saw through everything, nearly causing them to spill more about the future, the two were truly astonished.
'As expected of Marco!'
'He's been this remarkable since childhood!'
Marco watched from the sidelines as Lucy, looking as if she had been granted a pardon, hurried off with light steps to find Natsu and Gray.
He saw his younger self easily unravel the mysteries of [Memory of Time] and watched them all run together toward the small river outside the city.
"Heh..."
In the shadows, Marco let out a soft chuckle and shook his head, thinking no wonder he couldn't tell they were acting back then.
Erza and Lucy's genuine reactions—shock, panic, daze, and relief—were completely natural and untainted, without a single trace of performance, perfectly fitting their roles.
Perhaps this is... the highest form of stumbling into success?
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