"And who might this beautiful lady be?"
Ichiya stepped forward, addressing Erza with his question.
"Huh? I'm Erza."
Caught off guard by the sudden question, Erza was momentarily stunned before answering.
"Greetings, Miss Erza. I am Ichiya, born for you—shining!"
The previously normal-acting Ichiya suddenly struck a bizarre pose with an odd expression, seemingly trying to look cool?
"...Eek!"
After a brief pause, Erza shuddered violently.
At that moment, Erza fully understood what "numbness" felt like.
She immediately sidestepped behind Marco, peeking out cautiously with just her head as she eyed the weird fellow warily.
"W-what do you want?" Erza asked guardedly, her expression remained wary.
"..."
Seeing Erza pressed entirely behind Marco with only her head peeking over his arm, Ichiya was momentarily taken aback.
"I see. My apologies."
After a brief pause, Ichiya promptly bowed in apology.
His expression suggested sudden understanding and the thirty-something man began winking exaggeratedly at Marco.
"..."
Marco was speechless.
This "Blue Pegasus" guild... truly lived up to their reputation as "eccentrics," always managing to pull off something utterly bewildering.
Erza remained utterly confused, unable to fathom what Ichiya was playing at or why he'd suddenly started apologizing.
Ichiya, however, wasted no time shifting his attention to Mirajane beside them.
"Whoosh!"
Before Ichiya could speak, Mirajane had already darted behind Marco's other side, mirroring Erza by peering out cautiously with just her head.
"...Huh?"
Ichiya froze, unable to suppress a baffled noise coming out of his mouth.
His gaze at Marco gradually filled with astonishment.
"As expected of the Star Rose God, the youngest S-Class Mage of Fairy Tail. Marco, I yield."
Facing Marco, Ichiya spoke with genuine admiration.
This was no empty praise—if he'd previously been impressed by Marco's strength, he was now completely awed.
This boy was the real deal!
"..."
Marco remained silent, never having felt this exasperated before.
Just what exactly had Ichiya yielded to?!
"Let's go, Ichiya." Makarov called out to Ichiya, signaling him to lead the way.
"Right away, master Makarov."
Seeing that both lovely ladies were Marco girlfriend, Ichiya promptly departed, guiding Makarov to find Bob and Goldmine.
"That guy is seriously weird."
After Ichiya left, Mirajane couldn't help but complain.
She felt relieved she'd dodged quickly—otherwise, would that guy have tried to "shine" at her too?
The thought alone made her shudder; it was truly cringe-worthy.
Watching Erza who seemed to be itching all over, Mirajane silently thanked their lucky stars for Marco's presence.
Without him, even someone as tough as Erza would probably have suffered dealing with that guy.
"Actually... Ichiya isn't really a bad person." Marco said helplessly, his words fair and objective.
Though Ichiya might seem weird, he was genuinely decent at heart.
Over the past few days, Marco had noticed some redeeming qualities from him.
That guy Ichiya often flirts with young women, but if they have boyfriends or clearly show interest in someone else, he won't persist.
In fact, his advances are always measured and never cross the line into offensiveness—at most, people just find him a bit annoying.
This "annoying" feeling is largely tied to Ichiya's rather 'apologetic' appearance.
If he had the handsome looks of other members from "Blue Pegasus," he probably wouldn't be so off-putting.
Appearance does affect every aspect of a person's life after all—it's the first impression one leaves on others.
"Regardless, his sudden behavior was quite startling and very impolite."
Erza had recovered, though she still seemed displeased.
But there wasn't much she could do about someone like Ichiya—he had observed all the formalities and hadn't overstepped any boundaries.
You couldn't just beat someone up over something like that, could you?
"Don't worry, he definitely won't pull that on you two again." Marco chuckled and shook his head.
Though it had been a misunderstanding, judging by Ichiya's attitude, he wouldn't try that routine with Erza and Mira again.
In a way, this had solved a problem for the two girls.
"..."
Neither Erza nor Mirajane responded.
They were slowly piecing it together—Ichiya's sudden change in behavior earlier seemed to stem from some kind of misunderstanding.
"Marco, is this Magic Beast Tide really that terrifying?" Mirajane spoke up, changing the subject immediately.
Unlike Erza, she hadn't suddenly 'overheated' like a boiling kettle—who knew what was going through that girl's head?
Actually, Mirajane had noticed that Erza didn't seem very pure-minded at all, often inexplicably "heating up" like that.
To better understand her rival, Mirajane had been investigating the matter but hadn't found the reason yet.
"In a normal battle scenario, it's definitely terrifying. The sheer number of magic beasts is overwhelming, and they come in all kinds of bizarre forms. Imagine a horde of creatures like the ones on Sirius Island charging at you—how horrifying would that be?" Marco explained.
Though he had held back the first wave of the tide, he didn't underestimate the threat posed by the Nord Forest's beast surge.
Only someone like Marco could face such a tide head-on.
Anyone else would have no choice but to flee—this wasn't something an individual could stop through sheer strength alone.
"Yikes—"
Marco's description made Erza and Mirajane freeze for a moment, both shuddering at the thought.
If a swarm of beasts like those on Tenrou Island came charging, they'd have no choice but to run too.
"Marco! Hurry! They're really holding a meeting!"
While the three were talking, Bacchus returned with news—the Magic Council had called for an emergency assembly.
"Let's go check it out."
Marco nodded and led Erza and Mirajane over.
He had already anticipated that a strategy meeting might be convened.
By the time Marco and the others arrived, nearly everyone was already gathered.
But without Marco present, the meeting couldn't possibly begin—his presence was that crucial now.
"Good, everyone's here. Let's discuss how to deploy our forces."
Presiding over this meeting was Councilman Org, the representative of the Magic Council, with Yajima assisting him from the sidelines.
"Marco-kun, is the 'Wall of Ishgar' truly incapable of withstanding the next impact?"
Someone spoke up first and judging by the tone, it was clear they had already been completely convinced by Marco's 'Crystal Wall'.
Marco glanced at the speaker as a smile appearing on his face.
The speaker was the guild master of a Magic Guild located in the northern part of the continent—a burly man with a wild appearance, a powerful mage known by the epithet 'Wrath of the North'.
When this guy first arrived, he had been skeptical of the 'Crystal Wall', utterly unconvinced, and insisted on challenging it.
The outcome was self-evident, as evidenced by the bandages still wrapped around the right hand of 'Wrath of the North' Raston.
After that challenge, despite suffering significant injuries to his right hand, Raston had clearly become quite deferential to Marco and was now full of confidence in his 'Crystal Wall.'
"I don't know, but we must prepare countermeasures. If it doesn't hold, we'll still need to withstand the impact of the magical beasts."
Org whose speech had been interrupted, frowned slightly before explaining to Raston.
He didn't pin his hopes on Marco's "Crystal Wall."
He believed the second wave of impact would undoubtedly be stronger than the first, and Marco would surely fail to block it.
In the end, they would still have to rely on the united forces of the mages to handle the aftermath.
"That's true—we should prepare in advance."
Raston nodded and didn't raise any further objections.
Whether they would be of use or not, preparing ahead of time was never a bad idea.
And Marco, of course, had no objections to this either.
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