Fairy Tail: The Uncrowned King of Magic

Chapter 129: Chapter 129

"Not bad, not bad! Lucy, you look surprisingly convincing as a maid!"

"Of course! Nobody understands maids better than I do!"

Marshall nodded in satisfaction as he looked at Lucy in the maid uniform.

Lucy might not behave anything like a sheltered heiress, but there was no denying that she could make almost any outfit look good.

Naturally, Marshall had never intended to send her into that idiot duke’s mansion as an actual maid.

The entire reason he had tricked Lucy into putting on the outfit was for his own amusement.

"Still..."

Marshall rubbed his chin.

"You never worked as a real maid before, right? What if you give yourself away once we get there?"

"How could I?!"

Lucy immediately protested.

"I know exactly what a maid is supposed to do! Relax, there’s absolutely no chance I’ll mess this up!"

"But—"

"If you don’t believe me, then how about this?"

Lucy placed both hands on her hips.

"Until we arrive, I’ll act as your maid! I’ll show you what a real professional looks like!"

"Deal!"

"?"

Marshall accepted so quickly that Lucy froze.

"Then starting now, Lucy is officially my maid."

He smiled brightly.

"Come on. I’ve already prepared our transportation."

"Let’s go~"

"Wait..."

Lucy followed him in a daze.

Something about this felt wrong.

Yet she couldn’t figure out exactly what.

...

"Boss, Boss! Over here, nya!"

Ruby bounced excitedly atop a futuristic-looking magical vehicle.

Lucy’s attention was immediately captured by the strange machine.

"Is that a new kind of magic vehicle? I’ve never seen anything like it."

"Of course you haven’t."

Marshall walked over proudly.

"It hasn’t gone on sale yet. This is a prototype developed by Fairy Tail’s research division."

"It uses both Gravity Magic and Wind Magic arrays."

He opened the door.

"It’s a genuine next-generation vehicle. Come experience the future of transportation."

"Whoa~"

Lucy climbed inside and immediately discovered that the interior was far larger than the vehicle appeared from outside.

It was practically a small room.

Her eyes lit up.

"This is amazing!"

"Marshall, how much will one of these cost when they go on sale?"

"I want one!"

"That’s difficult to say."

Marshall sat down comfortably.

"I personally modified this one. It uses a small Spatial Magic array to expand the interior, but the technology still isn’t safe enough for mass production."

"A normal model would probably start at around five million Jewels."

"Oh."

Lucy considered the price.

"That’s not too expensive."

"Can I reserve one?"

"Of course."

Marshall smiled.

"If Lucy wants one, I can even design yours personally."

"Special treatment available only to you~"

"?!"

"T-Thank you."

Lucy hurriedly sat down and placed a hand over her rapidly beating heart.

Why did she feel as though she had just been effortlessly charmed by someone younger than her?

It had to be her imagination!

"Ruby, let’s go~"

"Yes, Boss!"

Ruby gave an enthusiastic salute before hopping into the driver’s seat.

Lucy stared.

"Huh?"

"You’re letting Ruby drive?!"

Marshall looked genuinely confused.

"Of course. You don’t expect me to drive, do you?"

"Is there a problem?"

"N-No..."

Lucy glanced toward the tiny cat sitting confidently behind the controls.

"I’m just impressed Ruby can do that."

"Obviously!"

Marshall immediately became proud.

"Ruby is a super-cat trained personally by me!"

"She can do laundry, cook, clean, drive, handle basic etiquette, gardening, first aid, housekeeping, accounting..."

He continued listing skills on his fingers.

"Ruby is cute and capable. She’s practically my little daughter!"

"Isn’t that right, Ruby?"

"That’s right! Ruby is amazing, nya!"

The longer Lucy listened, the stranger her expression became.

She cautiously raised a hand.

"Um... Marshall?"

"May I ask how old Ruby is?"

"Hm?"

Marshall thought for a moment.

"Six."

"She’s still pretty young."

"SIX?!"

Lucy whipped around and stared at Ruby with sympathy.

Six years old and she already knew that many skills?

What had this poor cat experienced over the years?!

Lucy planted her hands on her hips and glared at Marshall.

"Marshall, that’s too much!"

"How could you force Ruby to learn all those things? She’s still a child!"

"Huh?"

Marshall blinked.

"I never forced her."

"I usually let her train alongside Wendy. Ruby just learns ridiculously quickly."

"You can hardly blame me because she picks everything up immediately."

"Eh?"

Ruby nodded enthusiastically from the driver’s seat.

"That’s right, nya! Ruby learns things super fast, nya!"

"Uh..."

Lucy’s righteous fury vanished.

"Sorry. I jumped to conclusions."

She remembered her own childhood, when tutors had forced her through endless lessons in etiquette and academics.

She had always considered those lessons unbearably difficult.

Yet apparently this cat could learn the same things almost immediately.

Lucy slowly sank toward the floor in despair.

’Am I... less capable than a cat?’

’Could it be...’

’Am I actually an idiot?!’

While collapsing dramatically, Lucy completely forgot about the maid skirt she was wearing.

"Lucy."

Marshall politely looked away.

"Your skirt rode up."

"Eep?!"

Lucy immediately jumped to her feet and yanked it back into place.

Then she remembered that Marshall was younger than her and decided there was no point making the situation even more embarrassing than it already was.

"Sorry about that... Master."

"Hm?"

Marshall looked at her.

Lucy coughed.

"Aren’t I supposed to be practicing as a maid?"

"I’m getting into character early!"

Marshall smiled and pointed toward the small refrigerator built into the vehicle.

"In that case, Maid Lucy, please pour me a glass of milk."

"Of course, Master~"

Lucy decided to commit to the role.

To her own surprise, she was actually having fun with it.

Her personality was remarkably easygoing—perhaps even more carefree than Cana had been when she was younger.

Lucy returned with a glass of milk and found Marshall holding out a small box.

"What’s this?"

"A little gift."

Marshall handed it to her.

"Consider it something to commemorate our first job together."

"It isn’t anything particularly valuable."

Lucy opened the box.

"Oooooh!"

Inside of it was a delicate necklace.

"It’s beautiful!"

"Marshall, are you sure I can take this?"

"I made it myself."

Marshall waved dismissively.

"It’s a magical item with a simple Light Magic array engraved into it."

"Its only function is preventing embarrassing wardrobe accidents."

"I originally made one for Erza years ago because she uses Requip Magic so often."

He glanced meaningfully at Lucy.

"But judging from today, you might need one too."

"?"

Lucy stared at him suspiciously.

Was he insulting her?

She genuinely couldn’t tell.

Still, Marshall was unexpectedly generous.

No wonder he was so popular with the girls in Fairy Tail.

"Then I’ll shamelessly accept it."

Lucy happily put the necklace away.

"Thank you, Marshall~"

"Wasn’t it supposed to be ’Master’?"

Lucy’s mouth twitched.

"Thank you, Master~"

"Much better."

Marshall leaned comfortably into his seat.

"Now then, Maid Lucy-chan, come massage my shoulders."

"...Yes, Master."

She had received a gift, after all.

Doing a little work in return seemed reasonable.

Unfortunately, Lucy soon discovered that Marshall had no intention of stopping there.

For the rest of the journey, he constantly ordered her around.

Pour some tea.

Bring some water.

Massage his shoulders.

Help stretch his legs.

Then, under the excuse that "a proper maid must understand immersive role-playing," he even made her clean the interior of the vehicle.

Except—

The vehicle was already spotless!

What exactly was she supposed to clean?!

By the time they reached their destination, Lucy had spent the entire trip hurrying back and forth through the expanded interior like a genuinely overworked maid.

She was almost sweating from exhaustion.

’Wait...’

’How did I actually become his maid?’

’Something about this is definitely wrong!’

’Did Marshall trick me again?!’

"Boss! We’re here, nya!"

"Mm-hmm~"

Marshall stretched lazily.

"We’ve arrived, Lucy."

He finally seemed to notice her exhausted state and immediately put on a concerned expression.

"Oh, sorry!"

"I was so comfortable that I completely forgot to check how you were doing."

"Do you need to rest for a while?"

Lucy studied his apparently sincere concern.

She couldn’t find even the slightest flaw in his expression.

Maybe...

Maybe she really was imagining things!

Her mouth twitched.

"N-No need."

"Let’s go meet the client now."

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