Fairy Tail: The Uncrowned King of Magic

Chapter 140: Chapter 140

Setting aside Lucy’s unusual experience as a maid in Marshall’s home, Marshall himself was busy showing Erza the latest result of several months of research.

His new Warrior Armor.

He had developed it specifically to increase Erza’s combat strength in preparation for eventually dealing with Jellal.

Unlike the medieval-style knight armor Erza normally wore, this was a fully enclosed suit with a distinctly futuristic appearance.

Marshall had drawn inspiration from things like Iron Man and Kamen Rider, giving the entire design a technological feel far beyond anything commonly seen in this era.

Marshall proudly introduced his latest masterpiece.

"This is the Crimson Armor!"

"It doesn’t have a dozen flashy abilities. I focused on functions that would actually help you in battle."

"It provides solid protection while increasing mobility and accelerating magic recovery. More importantly, it greatly enhances your environmental awareness."

"All the information it gathers is processed automatically and projected directly into your field of vision as a combat interface, helping you analyze the battlefield in real time."

Erza was currently wearing the crimson armor from head to toe.

Despite its close-fitting design and complete coverage, she moved her arms experimentally and seemed genuinely surprised.

"It’s incredibly light."

"It almost feels like ordinary clothing."

"It’s made from a mithril alloy."

Marshall sighed.

"It’s the lightest suitable metal I can produce with current technology. Materials science is incredibly difficult to advance, so even I can’t improve it much further in a short period of time."

"No. This is already remarkable."

Erza examined one armored hand.

"And I assume these materials weren’t cheap?"

"Pretty expensive."

Marshall answered casually.

"About a hundred million Jewels altogether."

"A suit like this has to be custom-built. Mass production isn’t remotely practical."

Erza smiled.

"Looks like you’ve become my creditor."

"I certainly can’t produce a hundred million Jewels anytime soon."

"Who cares?"

Marshall waved dismissively.

"It’s not like I need the money!"

His face was practically glowing with satisfaction.

For once, he wasn’t excited because the armor represented some profound magical breakthrough.

He was simply delighted that he had personally built a transforming suit of armor.

Like an actual kid realizing one of his childhood dreams.

"There’s one more important feature."

Marshall eagerly pointed toward Erza’s waist.

"You can’t always guarantee that you’ll have enough time to Requip the right armor during a surprise attack."

"So I used spatial-compression technology to store the Crimson Armor inside this belt."

"I recommend wearing it normally. It won’t interfere with Requipping any of your other armor sets."

And more importantly—

The transformation sequence was unbelievably cool!

All Erza had to do was shout, "Henshin (Transform)!"

The belt would activate, and crimson armor would spread outward piece by piece until her entire body was covered.

Marshall had personally fine-tuned practically every instant of the transformation effect.

He had spent more than a month on the animation alone.

If he weren’t still growing and constantly changing height and build, he would have made one for himself already.

Erza deactivated the armor.

The entire suit rapidly compressed and withdrew until only the belt remained around her waist.

Then, with another Requip, she changed into a cat-eared maid outfit.

"All right."

Erza smiled.

"I’ll gladly accept such an expensive gift."

"Today is also the day I promised to serve as your maid, so I should take the role seriously."

"If there’s anything you want, just tell me."

"It’s fine~"

Marshall looked perfectly content.

"Just having you wear the maid outfit and keep me company makes me happy."

Erza looked adorable in it.

Marshall was quite satisfied already, though part of him couldn’t help thinking that he had probably cashed in this particular reward a few years too early.

"Is there really nothing special you want me to do for you?"

Marshall immediately looked away.

Why did she have to ask that so seriously?

"Then..."

He hesitated.

"Can I get a hug?"

Erza reached down and gently ruffled the hair of the boy who was now only half a head shorter than her.

"That hardly counts as a request."

She smiled fondly.

"You’re remarkably easy to satisfy."

"Still, you’ve grown quite a bit. You really are becoming a big kid now."

Marshall happily accepted his hug.

Fortunately, the protective spatial underlayer built into his equipment prevented awkward wardrobe mishaps during close-contact combat or Requips, so there was nothing for him to worry about.

"A-All right."

Marshall stepped back.

"I still have an important experiment to work on today."

"I’m going to get started. Erza-nee can relax and do whatever she wants around the house."

He silently regretted his timing!

He should have saved the maid-day reward for the future.

Using it now felt like a terrible waste.

Well...

There would always be other opportunities.

"I’ll bring you some snacks later," Erza said.

She had no real idea what a maid was supposed to do, but if she had promised to play the role, she intended to make a proper effort.

Marshall, meanwhile, desperately needed something intellectually demanding to occupy his attention.

Fortunately, he already had the perfect research subject.

...

The demon Lullaby had been sealed inside a specially constructed "black box."

The device was essentially an information-gathering apparatus that used Information Magic to reverse-engineer magical structures and reconstruct their underlying models.

Magic wasn’t an entirely inexplicable miracle.

Everything left traces.

Everything followed principles.

If Marshall placed an ordinary spell or magical construct inside the black box, the device could gradually produce something resembling a complete written magical program describing how it functioned.

Lullaby, however, had already spent an entire day inside.

And most of the "text" produced by the analysis was still unreadable garbage.

Those corrupted sections represented gaps in Marshall’s own knowledge.

The device couldn’t explain magical principles its creator himself had no conceptual framework for understanding.

If this were a purely scientific world, Marshall might have been stuck staring helplessly at incomprehensible data.

Fortunately, this was a magical world.

And although Lullaby was an artificial magical life-form...It could talk.

So Marshall decided to ask.

[Lullaby, are you dead yet? If you’re alive, say something.]

A furious voice immediately answered.

[BASTARD! What have you done to me?! Let me out of here!]

[It hurts! It hurts so much!]

[I’ll tell you anything! Whatever you want! Just let me out!]

Could a soul actually feel pain?

Marshall genuinely wasn’t certain.

His black-box spell was essentially an altered application of Telepathy Magic.

It constantly scanned, separated, compared, and reconstructed information within whatever had been placed inside.

The process relied on exhaustive mechanical interaction to obtain tiny fragments of usable data.

If Marshall absolutely had to describe it, it was something like forcing a monster to sit in the middle of several thousand monks chanting scriptures at it nonstop, then reconstructing its entire criminal history from every fragmented confession it accidentally blurted out.

Magic was strange.

Sometimes even Marshall could only accept that a method worked before fully understanding why.

[Stop screaming.]

[Answer a few questions and I’ll make the process less unpleasant.]

Lullaby responded instantly.

[ASK! ASK ANYTHING!]

Marshall started with the most important question.

[Where is your true body?]

Only after acquiring the flute had Marshall realized that it wasn’t actually Lullaby’s complete original body.

That explained why the black box was producing so much unreadable information.

[On Underworld Island.]

[That is where Tartaros has its headquarters.]

[It is also where Zeref’s Bookshelf is located.]

Marshall raised an eyebrow.

[Wow. You’re surprisingly cooperative.]

[You’re just going to tell me everything honestly?]

[WE ARE NOT ENEMIES!]

Lullaby answered with extraordinary enthusiasm.

[If there is anything you want to know, simply ask!]

[I will tell you everything!]

Marshall was genuinely surprised.

This demon had absolutely no backbone.

More importantly, he had never seriously considered the question of why Zeref’s demons had been created in the first place.

So Marshall asked.

[Then tell me this.]

[What is your purpose?]

Lullaby answered without hesitation.

[DESTRUCTION!]

[BECOME STRONGER!]

[ABSORB MORE NEGATIVE EMOTIONS UNTIL I HAVE ENOUGH POWER—]

[AND THEN KILL ZEREF!]

Marshall froze.

[Huh?]

That answer had not been anywhere on his list of expectations.

[What do you mean?]

[Isn’t Zeref your creator?]

[YES.]

Lullaby continued.

[I was one of Zeref’s earlier experimental creations.]

[When he created me, he engraved my purpose directly into my soul.]

[Zeref continued creating demons because he wanted to create something capable of killing him.]

[That is the truth.]

[I have no reason to deceive you!]

"..."

Marshall stared silently at the black box.

He had the distinct feeling that he had accidentally uncovered another enormous secret.

His interest immediately skyrocketed.

[What exactly is Zeref’s Bookshelf?]

[Why does Zeref want to die?]

[And what do you mean when you say you absorb negative emotions?]

Marshall leaned forward eagerly.

[Start from the beginning.]

[I want details!]

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