"Erza, I bet Gray and Natsu are by the river. You should check there."
Despite his exasperation, Marco made the right call—he needed to get little Erza out of the way first.
"Right! Why didn't I think of that?! Thanks, Marco!"
Little Erza clapped her hands, looking convinced.
Natsu and Gray were always duking it out by the river in town—if she went there, she'd definitely find them.
After thanking Marco, little Erza dashed off.
She'd been searching for those two troublemakers forever, and now she was finally close to finding them!
"..."
Watching Marco's actions, Lucy and Erza exchanged uneasy glances.
Though little Erza had been sent away, they didn't feel relieved—if anything, their worries deepened.
"Ladies, the guild marks on you... I really can't pretend I didn't see them. They don't look like they were just drawn on."
Under the worried gazes of Lucy and Erza, Marco slowly spoke, uttering words that left both of them stunned.
"Hmm."
Erza's gaze fell upon the pink emblem on the back of Lucy's right hand.
"Hmm."
Lucy's eyes landed on the dark gray emblem on Erza's left shoulder.
"Would you mind explaining this? This concerns the reputation of the Fairy Tail. Using Fairy Tail's name for wrongdoing carries severe punishment."
Marco continued speaking slowly, giving Lucy and Erza ample time to think.
'Go ahead, make something up. Let's see what ridiculous story you can come up with.'
Marco thought to himself, curious to see what outrageous tale the two would spin.
"Sorry, Marco! Both of us are huge fans of Fairy Tail! That's why we made these guild marks—we didn't mean to impersonate guild mages!"
Under Marco's scrutinizing gaze, Lucy immediately bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle, offering a sincere apology.
But the words she blurted out in her panic made Marco's expression crack.
"..."
Beside her, Erza looked utterly defeated.
There was no denying it—habits were hard to break.
She and Lucy had already slipped up several times just moments ago.
When Lucy realized what she had just said, her face instantly turned ashen.
"You two... especially you..."
Marco opened his mouth, then finally turned his gaze to the catgirl Erza.
There was no helping it—he genuinely didn't recognize the other one.
"Are you... Erza?" Marco's question seemed to freeze the air.
Both Lucy and Erza wore expressions that screamed, 'Of course' 'Just end me, I'm tired' and 'It'd be weird if we weren't exposed'.
Their emotions were a tangled mess—shocked, yet feeling like this was inevitable.
"An older version of Erza? That's right, isn't it?"
Marco pressed on, deciding to lay all his cards on the table.
Honestly, to complete this mission, he couldn't see any other way than exposing their true identities.
He couldn't just sit around doing nothing, could he?
He'd rather make a mistake than do nothing at all.
In comparison, doing nothing would definitely leave him with more regrets.
"W-why would you say that?!" Erza stammered, still desperately trying to cling to her cover.
She wasn't ready to admit her identity just yet.
"Well, first, you look just like her—isn't that obvious? Second, with all those slip-ups in your answers... I really don't know how else to interpret it."
Marco couldn't help but complain.
He genuinely hadn't expected Erza, even as an adult, to still be as scatterbrained as she was as a kid.
Every little thing about her screamed unreliability.
Of course, maybe it was just the suddenness of the situation.
Given enough time to prepare, she might not have been like this.
The future Fairy Tail seemed to have maintained its usual atmosphere, with Erza's personality almost unchanged.
Clearly, she hadn't gone through any major trauma.
"..."
Once again, Erza and Lucy fell silent.
They exchanged glances, both seeing resignation in each other's eyes.
"Only you, Marco." Erza sighed, as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
She couldn't help but feel emotional—Marco was still the same Marco.
"As expected of the author of The Great Detective!"
Lucy couldn't resist adding, inadvertently saying something that made Marco's eye twitch.
"The Great Detective... That's the title I gave it?" Marco asked with a deadpane expression.
Marco had to admit that he was indeed working on writing a book now and it was indeed a modified version of Sherlock Holmes' story.
However, the title "The Great Detective" still made him feel a bit awkward.
Upon further reflection, Marco realized this title might actually be quite good.
It was primarily for his own amusement anyway—others wouldn't be able to appreciate the story hidden within this book title.
"Ah?!"
Lucy covered her mouth in shock.
"You haven't finalized the title yet?!" Lucy asked with a pained expression.
She genuinely hadn't meant to—she thought Marco had already decided on the title.
"Well, no need to apologize. I think this title is great."
Marco smiled as he gave an answer that surprised Lucy.
'Could it be... that I was actually the one who came up with 'The Great Detective' for his book title?!'
Lucy's face froze as her emotions surged wildly.
She fell into a strange state, her mind completely occupied by this thought.
"Lucy! Snap out of it! Have you forgotten what I said?! We can't excessively interfere with past events!"
Only when Erza shook Lucy vigorously did she gradually come to her senses.
Her excitement slowly subsided, replaced by a wave of fear.
"I—I didn't mean to!" Lucy clutched her head, looking as if she'd committed a grave mistake.
"No need to be so nervous. This is indeed the kind of title I'd come up with."
Seeing Lucy's state, Marco comforted her.
He wasn't joking—this was clearly the sort of title only he would think of.
"So you two really are from the future, aren't you?"
After calming her down, Marco continued.
Now they could finally have a completely open and honest conversation.
------------------------------
Read 40 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator