Lisanna was just as lively and adorable as she was in her childhood.
Having been spared from any unexpected misfortunes, she remained well-protected, like a sunflower growing carefree in a greenhouse.
Mirajane couldn't help but turn her head and glance up at Marco walking beside her.
The boy's face stood out sharply in the hazy night, still breathtakingly striking.
The warm yellow light softly outlined his straight nose bridge and defined jawline.
He wore a somewhat doting smile as he watched the chattering Lisanna, as if looking at a mischievous younger sister.
All of this was thanks to Marco.
It wasn't her who had protected Lisanna's youthful innocence, but Marco who had turned the tide, steadily steering through fate's turbulent currents to save everything they held dear, preserving the peace and laughter beneath this roof.
Mirajane felt deeply reassured, wrapped in a heavy, warm sense of security.
Because Marco would always protect everything about Fairy Tail, guarding their hard-won glittering happy life forever.
Of course, Mirajane herself would also fight with all her might to protect everyone in the guild, including that bitch Erza.
"How wonderful..."
Mirajane couldn't help but murmur softly, her voice as light as a sigh, yet carrying complete satisfaction with everything.
"Yeah, you're home. Hurry inside and rest."
Marco casually responded, having already spotted Elfman's burly figure.
"Marco-nii! You all came back together."
Elfman had seen them too.
The big guy immediately broke into a simple, honest smile, enthusiastically striding toward them with his wooden shoes clacking loudly on the stone pavement.
"Yeah, Elfman, Mira, Lisanna, see you tomorrow."
Marco smiled and nodded, then waved goodbye to Mirajane and the others.
"See you tomorrow~"
The older sister, younger brother, and younger sister replied in unison, waving back at him.
Mirajane's smile appeared particularly gentle under the warm light at the doorway.
Marco didn't linger, turning to continue on his way.
His figure soon melted into the deeper night, returning to his quiet little house.
After a simple wash, Marco went to bed.
With a burden lifted from his heart, Marco believed he would have sweet dreams tonight.
...
The next morning, for the first time in a long while, Marco didn't rise early.
Instead, he slept in until nine o'clock - extremely late by his standards.
Normally by this time, he would have finished his morning training, eaten breakfast, and already be at the guild preparing for work.
"Being lazy occasionally isn't so bad."
Marco wasn't in a hurry.
He smiled and accepted this outcome - after all, it had been his own choice.
If he hadn't wanted this, he definitely would have gotten up early.
Slowly getting out of bed, leisurely finishing his washing up, Marco dressed and headed out, walking toward the guild hall in high spirits.
When Marco finally pushed open the guild's heavy doors, the hall was already bustling with noise and excitement.
Sunlight streamed through the tall windows, illuminating the dust motes dancing in the air.
Everyone had gathered together, chattering away, with Natsu, Gray, Lucy, and Happy doing most of the talking.
"So that really was Lucy?!" Macao exclaimed in disbelief, his tone full of astonishment, because Lucy had mentioned her visit to the guild hall six years ago.
"That's right, it was me."
Lucy smiled and confirmed the answer.
This made many people scratch their heads.
In fact, not many remembered this incident, as it was just a minor episode from six years ago.
Moreover, due to Marco's intervention, that blonde bunny girl had left quickly, and very few truly remembered the details clearly.
"So that's how it was!"
Everyone erupted in an uproar, finding it incredibly unbelievable.
The sound of discussions bubbled like boiling water throughout the guild hall.
Upon seeing Marco enter, many people turned to ask him about it, after all, Marco had known about this since childhood.
"Don't worry about it. It's perfectly normal that you didn't recognize Lucy. After all, she hadn't joined us back then. I only recognized them after meeting the grown-up Erza."
Marco explained, and his reasoning was quite logical.
Besides, the others hadn't seen the grown-up Erza and the others—only Erza and Natsu were the ones who had experienced it firsthand.
As a child, Erza, for some inexplicable reason, hadn't recognized her grown-up self.
And as for young Natsu, his memory was only filled with those "monsters."
It couldn't be helped—little Natsu had it the worst, being the one who got beaten up.
It was only natural that he didn't pay attention to other trivial details, and he had never been a meticulous person in his daily life.
"Marco really knows how to keep his mouth shut! I definitely couldn't do it!"
"Right! He kept it hidden for six years!"
Everyone continued to discuss, deeply impressed that Marco had kept this matter buried in his heart for so long.
"This proves that I'm someone who can keep a secret."
Marco laughed and boasted a little, which made everyone agree.
At least in this matter, no one could question Marco's ability to keep secrets.
After the guild members had made a ruckus for a while, the enthusiasm for discussion gradually faded, and the noise slowly died down.
Everyone began to focus on their own tasks—forming teams, checking missions, or continuing to drink and chat.
Natsu, with a twisted mouth and a displeased expression, walked up to the mission board.
His frustration stemmed from not having gained everyone's approval earlier.
It couldn't be helped—during this incident, he hadn't been of much use.
Instead, he had been constantly teased by Erza, Gray, and Lucy.
The most frustrating part was that Natsu couldn't even defend himself, because he had indeed been passive.
Aside from beating up his younger self, he hadn't been of any help in other matters.
He was even confused about how he had returned.
"Hmph! I'm going to pull off something big!"
Natsu angrily flipped through the mission requests on the board, his fighting spirit blazing so intensely it seemed he might burst into flames.
This made Nab, the "fixed NPC" guarding the mission board, worry.
He was afraid Natsu would burn the board down—if that happened, Natsu would surely get another beating.
"Huh? What kind of mission is this? It's all dark and weird."
Natsu's attention was drawn to a mission request with an unusually dark color.
He took it down, brought it close to his eyes, and examined it carefully.
His rough fingers traced the paper, and he immediately broke into a wide grin, his eyes sparkling with excitement.
"500,000J! Just decipher the meaning of these words? It's that simple?!"
Natsu exclaimed loudly, immediately drawing the attention of everyone around.
Half a million J wasn't an enormous amount, but it wasn't small either.
What made it special was the unique nature of the request - simply interpreting the meaning of some text.
No need to travel around, no life-threatening battles, just easily earning 500,000J - that was quite appealing.
Many people gathered around, craning their necks to get a look.
"This is indeed a very unusual request."
Gray came over and looked at the writing on the request, then immediately showed a troubled expression.
He couldn't help but complain: "Isn't this ancient script? Who could possibly decipher this?!"
The commotion attracted everyone's attention.
Marco also came over curiously to look at the strange request form.
"Ancient script..."
Looking at the ancient writing on the request form that resembled ghostly scribbles, Marco's mouth twitched.
This was genuine "ancient script" - it looked somewhat like symbols carved on stone tablets, exuding an ancient and mysterious aura.
"Marco? Do you understand it?" Natsu asked curiously.
He couldn't make heads or tails of it himself.
"This kind of writing is quite rare, but I do have some impression of it. It seems to be ancient Wimperan, a rather magical language."
Marco frowned and thought carefully.
He had actually seen related materials in the library. His fingers traced above the strange symbols as if recalling the strokes.
It had to be said, Fairy Tail's library was truly a treasure trove - who knew how many undiscovered treasures were still hidden inside.
Mainly because the scope covered was so broad, with all sorts of miscellaneous books.
Unless you were specialized in that particular field, it was hard to recognize their value.
As for these books involving "ancient script" research, aside from true enthusiasts like Levy, only someone like Marco who enjoyed reading a bit of everything would delve into them.
"What about Levy? Let's have her take a look."
Marco scanned the area but didn't see Levy.
It seemed she was out on a mission.
This was really unfortunate timing - missing this money-making opportunity.
This task seemed tailor-made for her.
"She's been out for several days already. She should be returning soon - it was just a mission nearby." Cana spoke up.
She knew what mission Levy had taken, so she could roughly estimate when Levy would return.
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