Fairy Tail: The Uncrowned King of Magic

Chapter 143: Chapter 143

Lucy came to the guild today with absolutely no intention of doing anything productive.

It wasn’t that she lacked ambition.

Marshall had simply run her ragged for the past two days, and she desperately needed a break!

At first, Lucy had assumed that serving as Marshall’s maid for three days—technically only two full days, in practice—would be easy enough.

Sure, Little Garden had an absurd number of household rules, but as long as she paid attention, none of them seemed especially difficult.

Two days later, she realized just how wrong she had been.

Only on the second morning did Lucy discover that Marshall wasn’t merely fussy about cleanliness.

He also possessed a bizarre insistence that the maid assigned to him personally should handle practically everything herself.

And beneath the gentle, well-behaved image he presented to outsiders...

Marshall was nowhere near as easy to deal with as he looked.

Lucy finally discovered that "sweet little Marshall" had an almost endless collection of irritating habits.

For one thing—

He was lazy.

Virgo had warned Lucy about that from the beginning, but she hadn’t taken the comment seriously.

Now she understood exactly what Virgo meant.

On her second day, Lucy had been ordered to arrive at Little Garden early in the morning.

Marshall imposed strict rules on himself: he had to get out of bed at seven, and by seven-thirty he expected himself to be fully awake and capable of working.

The problem was that Marshall was far too lazy to actually wake himself up.

So naturally, he delegated that responsibility to his maid.

That meant Lucy had to arrive sometime after six in the morning, enter his room at seven, and somehow force him out of bed.

Marshall, of course, had no desire whatsoever to wake up.

That was where the maid’s real battle began.

Lucy had to haul the half-asleep boy upright, guide him through washing up, fix his hair, help him get dressed, and make sure he looked presentable while he sleepily cooperated with whatever she told him to do.

If she was lucky, all of that would finally wake him up enough to eat breakfast by himself.

Lucy had not been lucky.

For both mornings she served as his maid, Marshall remained barely conscious through breakfast, leaving Lucy to keep reminding him to eat and practically supervise every bite.

Lucy had grown up as a wealthy heiress herself, and even she had never demanded this much attention from servants.

’This spoiled brat is way too feudal!’

And breakfast was only the beginning.

Once Marshall finally woke up properly, he became perfectly capable of speaking and working.

If he wasn’t going to the guild, he generally stayed home handling his research.

Lucy assumed that meant she would finally get a chance to relax.

Once again, she was wrong.

Marshall frequently developed sudden cravings for some particular snack that wasn’t available in the house, which meant his maid had to go into Magnolia and buy it.

Virgo had been doing things like that for years and knew every shop in the city.

But Lucy barely knew Magnolia at all, so she got lost several times.

If Cake Tower hadn’t been tall enough to see from half the city, she might not have found her way back.

Then Marshall would get tired from working and want to rest.

That meant shoulder massages.

If he was thirsty, tea and water.

If he was exhausted, he wanted somewhere comfortable to rest while continuing to think.

If he was hungry, he’d casually ask the maid to bring him something.

There was always something.

And if Lucy did a poor job, Marshall didn’t yell at her.

That would have been easier.

Instead, he would smile sweetly and make some sarcastic little comment about how "surprisingly difficult" such a simple task apparently was for Lucy-nee.

Lucy would rather have been shouted at.

Being called hopeless by that smug little brat was infinitely more infuriating.

After two days of this, Lucy’s image of Marshall had been thoroughly shattered.

He had so many annoying habits!

Lazy.

Vain.

Sharp-tongued.

Petty.

Fussy.

Completely incapable of taking proper care of himself when someone else was available to do it for him.

Normally, nobody noticed any of those flaws because Virgo and the others quietly handled everything before it ever became a problem.

Serving this spoiled young master was exhausting!

Lucy swore to herself—

Even if she had to jump from the top of Cake Tower...

Even if she died outside...

She would never volunteer to become Marshall’s maid again!

She was starting to feel sorry for Virgo.

How that woman managed to look genuinely happy while dealing with him every day was beyond Lucy’s comprehension.

After being thoroughly exhausted by Marshall, Lucy had transformed into a human puddle.

She didn’t want a job.

She didn’t want adventure.

She didn’t want anything.

She simply wanted to sit around the guildhall and do absolutely nothing.

Marshall, after taking a few days off himself, had also decided to visit the guild today.

Lucy strongly suspected that he had deliberately spent those two maid days tormenting her for his own amusement.

Unfortunately, she had no evidence.

So all she could do was sit in a dark corner and stare at him with an intensely resentful gaze.

Marshall’s skin was thick enough that he didn’t care in the slightest.

What Lucy failed to notice was how many other pairs of eyes were now watching her because she had been staring at Marshall for so long.

"Hey, Lucy!"

Natsu suddenly appeared beside her.

"Long time no see! Want to team up and take a job?"

"No."

Lucy answered without hesitation.

"I’m resting for two days. I’m not going anywhere."

Just then, the guildhall doors burst open.

A group that looked completely out of place inside Fairy Tail marched in like a squad of suited enforcers.

Four people led the formation, with more than a dozen others following behind them in matching outfits.

Each wore a long coat and dark sunglasses.

The Fairy Tail emblem was displayed prominently on the chest, except their version had an additional lightning-shaped scar cutting across it.

They were Fairy Tail’s own little "guild within the guild."

[Laxus Dreyar’s Thunder God Tribe.]

Lucy blinked and leaned toward Natsu.

"That’s the Thunder God Tribe, right?"

"I heard they’re the team outsiders actually recognize as Fairy Tail’s Strongest Team."

"Apparently there’s practically no request they can’t complete, and they’re famous throughout the industry."

She smiled innocently.

"They’re way more famous than that ’Strongest Team’ with you and Gray."

Gray, who happened to be standing nearby, immediately turned around.

"Huh?!"

"What Strongest Team?"

"Don’t say something ridiculous like that!"

"I’d never willingly form a team with that flame-brained bastard."

He scowled.

"Who came up with such an irresponsible nickname anyway?"

Mira happened to be walking past.

She smiled.

Then smiled some more.

Then suddenly covered her face and ran away, apparently "crying."

Gray stared after her in horror.

"...Huh?"

Several nearby guild members immediately turned on him.

"You bastard, Gray!"

"You made Mira-san cry!"

"Prepare to die!"

"Demon Maid Squad—assemble!"

Before Gray could explain himself, a mob descended on him, tied him to a wooden cross, and hoisted him upright.

Natsu eagerly stepped forward with flames already gathering in his hand, clearly delighted by the opportunity to roast Gray.

Then a mocking voice interrupted them.

"Natsu."

Laxus walked past with his hands in his pockets.

"You’re still wasting your time with these childish games?"

He gave Natsu a contemptuous look.

"You really haven’t improved at all."

"If you keep hanging around with losers who have no ambition, you’ll never catch up to me."

His gaze swept across Mira’s fan club and the other members fooling around nearby.

The disdain in his eyes wasn’t hidden in the slightest.

"With parasites like this filling the guild, how is Fairy Tail supposed to improve?"

"If it were up to me, I’d throw every useless bastard among you out."

Natsu immediately exploded.

"What did you say?!"

He spun around and punched at Laxus.

"You bastard! Fight me!"

Laxus answered with a merciless kick.

Lightning erupted on impact, and Natsu was launched across the guildhall.

Before he could crash into the people behind him, Marshall suddenly appeared and caught him, dispersing both the momentum and the electricity so Natsu wouldn’t slam into Mira.

Marshall lowered him to the floor.

"Laxus."

His expression cooled slightly.

"That was a bit too much."

Laxus looked Marshall up and down.

Then, unexpectedly, he broke into a broad grin.

"Well, if it isn’t my dear little brother Marshall."

"It’s been a while."

He studied him with obvious interest.

"You’ve improved quite a bit."

"You’re almost catching up to me!"

Laxus spread his arms.

"So?"

"Want to reconsider joining your big bro’s Thunder God Tribe?"

"If the two of us work together, there won’t be anyone left in this guild capable of challenging us."

Marshall raised an eyebrow.

Something about Laxus immediately caught his attention.

His magic power had skyrocketed.

It was already approaching two hundred thousand units.

They had only been apart for a few months.

’No wonder he suddenly became this arrogant.’

Marshall examined him more carefully and quickly formed a theory.

Laxus had most likely awakened his Second Origin by accident, causing his magic reserves to surge dramatically.

’Damn it.’

’Did this guy suddenly activate cheat codes or something?’

Still, Marshall gave the invitation exactly as much consideration as it deserved.

"No."

"I’m not interested in joining a team made entirely of huge musclehead bros."

Evergreen’s eyebrow twitched.

"Hey!"

She pointed at herself.

"Look properly!"

"Do I look like a man to you?!"

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!