"Laxus, he..."
Whenever Laxus was mentioned, Makarov's expression would always be very helpless.
There was one thing he had to admit - his education had indeed failed.
"He's still the same as always."
Marco stepped forward and kicked the small light ball.
The ball bounced up and fell back down, just like a soccer ball.
Marco kicked it repeatedly like juggling a ball.
The light flickered up and down in the shadows and the shadows of the grandfather and grandson kept changing accordingly.
Marco could say with certainty that Makarov bore some responsibility for Laxus becoming the way he was now.
He had failed to protect Laxus' growth environment, allowing that child to be burdened by his fame.
The act of driving away Laxus' father became the last straw that broke Laxus.
"..."
Makarov was at a loss for words.
On this matter, he truly didn't know how to handle it.
It's hard for an outsider to judge family affairs.
He had put all his energy into guild matters, and indeed hadn't paid enough attention to his family, resulting in his son being expelled from the guild and his eldest grandson developing a twisted personality, barely speaking to him.
Looking at Marco, Makarov felt some consolation in his heart.
'At least my younger grandson is excellent enough, mature enough and worry-free enough'
Makarov thought this way.
Marco's existence prevented him from feeling too distressed, from bottling everything up inside.
He could occasionally discuss with Marco how to correct Laxus' personality.
Marco had indeed helped share a lot of his burden.
But the fact was, Marco's current personality had nothing to do with Makarov.
This was Marco's inherent factory settings.
Of course, Marco would never tell Makarov this.
Let Makarov take comfort in this.
They soon arrived home.
Makarov returned to his room on the first floor, while Marco went up to the third floor.
He walked to the door of Laxus' room.
The room that had its lights on just now immediately went dark.
"..."
Marco shook his head and returned to his own room.
****
"Ding ding ring ring!"
In the morning, Marco was woken up by a series of urgent bell chimes.
After being dazed for a moment, Marco immediately threw off his blanket and lay down by the window.
This bell chime wasn't his own alarm clock, but the sound from the big clock tower in Magnolia City.
"Is Gildarts back?!"
Hearing the urgent rhythm of the bell chimes, Marco immediately realized it.
This bell rhythm had a very special meaning in Magnolia City.
This bell chime was telling the citizens that the city was about to activate "Gildarts Mode", because that man was back!
The strongest mage of the "Fairy Tail" guild, Gildarts!
"Warning! Warning! Magnolia City will switch to Gildarts Mode! All citizens please quickly proceed to designated locations!"
Magic loudspeakers with small wings flew around in the air, continuously broadcasting the news loudly, notifying all citizens.
Then, under Marco's gaze, the entire city began to shake.
'Rumble!'
The entire city split open.
Yes, literally split open.
Starting from the entrance of the city, ending at the "Fairy Tail" guild hall, all the houses in the middle of this line shifted to both sides, clearing out a road.
On both sides of this road, the foundations of the houses rose up, as if building two city walls.
There were even direction-indicating symbols drawn on the ground of the road, as if afraid that man would go the wrong way.
"This scene, no matter how many times I see it, still feels spectacular."
Leaning at the window and watching all of this happening, Marco sighed.
The terrifying nature of Gildarts could be seen from Magnolia City's reaction.
That man's destructive power was too great.
Gildarts used a super high-level destruction magic called "Crush".
The "Super Magic" that others treated as trump cards was the most basic magic in Gildarts' hands.
This "Crush" magic could completely pulverize things it touched.
It was a very terrifying magic.
And Gildarts had an absentminded personality with the quirk of often zoning out.
If he entered a dazed state, the Crush magic would unconsciously destroy surrounding buildings, like a walking bulldozer.
After experiencing some losses, Magnolia City learned its lesson the hard way and remodeled the main street into "Gildarts Mode" to prevent Gildarts from recklessly destroying the streets and civilian houses.
The result of the remodeling was what it looked like now.
****
"That old man is back!"
"Gildarts is back!"
Hearing people's shouts, Marco quickened his pace, rushing quickly to the guild hall.
He had to go open the door, otherwise Gildarts might tear down the guild hall.
"Click!"
Opening the main door, Marco breathed a sigh of relief.
Then he didn't go in, but just waited outside the door.
Because if no one waited outside, if no one reminded Gildarts, that old man wouldn't use the door even if there was one!
Marco had been in the guild for so many years now and was very clear about the personalities of the guild members.
Let's put it this way - not only were the young ones unreliable, the adults and elders were equally unreliable!
This was also why "Fairy Tail", as the only legal mage guild in Magnolia City, was viewed by everyone as both a source of pride and as dangerous elements.
Marco waited at the entrance, and soon saw "that man".
Gildarts had a robust build, with orange slicked-back hair and stubble on his chin.
He wore a dark green cloak, with a dark vest underneath.
He had a wide belt around his waist, dark blue trousers, and brown boots.
As Gildarts approached, Marco could see clearly that the bottom hem of Gildarts' cloak was severely worn, looking tattered.
His whole body gave off an unrestrained, hearty feeling, very masculine, very "uncle-like".
"Uncle Gildarts!"
Marco shouted loudly, because if he didn't shout, that man would have crashed straight into the outer wall of the guild!
Marco wasn't worried about Gildarts getting hurt from the crash.
He was worried about the wall getting damaged!
This kind of thing had happened more than once!
"Huh?"
Marco's loud shout startled Gildarts awake.
"Hmm? Marco? Why are you standing here?"
Gildarts looked at Marco strangely, seemingly puzzled why Marco was here.
"Of course I'm here to welcome you."
Marco couldn't help but cover his face.
This was the strongest mage of Fairy Tail ?
"Oh, so we've already reached the guild!"
After reacting for a moment, Gildarts suddenly realized this point.