Chapter 300

Chapter 300: Chapter 300

After Mavis finally tired herself out and went home, a small point of light appeared in front of Marshall.

It was a Life Point, and Marshall knew exactly who it belonged to.

This was the little girl he’d arranged to meet privately.

He extended his hand and carefully channeled Magic Power into the floating point.

As he constructed the necessary magical formulas, light began gathering around it, gradually forming the outline of a human body.

Within moments, a brown-haired little girl stood before him, looking exactly like Mavis’s best friend.

It was Zera.

"Y-You can see me now?" she asked hesitantly.

"Of course. You’re currently using my Magic Power to maintain a physical form, so other people should be able to see you now too, not just me."

Zera stared down at herself in disbelief.

"It... it really worked?"

She slowly raised her hands, turning them over before cautiously touching her arms and face.

"I thought you were lying to me. I thought... I thought I really was just an imaginary friend Mavis had created."

"An ordinary illusion wouldn’t have independent thoughts, much less move around and make decisions on its own." Marshall shrugged. "Zera, you’re simply dead, that’s all. It’s nothing worth making such a fuss over."

"..."

Zera stared at him speechlessly.

Apparently, being told that she was dead wasn’t supposed to be particularly upsetting.

Over the past several days, Marshall had spent most of his time on two projects.

One was constructing his desperately needed robotic maid, while the other was studying Zera’s unusual existence and developing a way to communicate with her properly.

Previously, Zera had existed entirely through Mavis’s Magic Power.

Because Mavis didn’t even realize that her friend was an illusion sustained by her own Magic, she naturally had no idea how to give Zera a tangible body.

Zera’s situation was extraordinarily rare.

She had already died, yet instead of passing on to whatever awaited the dead, something had allowed her to remain in the living world.

More precisely, Mavis had somehow held on to her.

It was partly a coincidence and partly a miracle, and Marshall still hadn’t figured out exactly how she’d accomplished it.

That uncertainty was precisely why he had to approach the matter carefully.

If Mavis discovered that the friend she’d spent five years living with was actually an illusion, Zera might disappear the moment that belief was broken.

Marshall had barely begun studying her.

There was no way he was going to let such an extraordinary research subject vanish before he understood what was happening.

"Anyway, as we agreed, you’ll need to cooperate with my research from now on," Marshall continued.

"In exchange, I’ll keep supplying the Magic Power needed to sustain your existence. That way, you won’t have to spend the rest of your days wandering around like a lonely ghost."

He smiled reassuringly.

"And once I have enough time and the necessary materials, I can try converting you into an Apostle. If that works, you won’t have to worry about dying again."

Zera was still too busy examining her new body to fully appreciate the implications of that offer.

After five years without a tangible form, the simple sensation of touching her own hands was enough to leave her trembling with excitement.

When Marshall had approached her alone several days earlier and started talking toward the empty space where she was standing, Zera had initially assumed he was playing some cruel trick.

He’d told her that if she wanted a genuine physical body, she should come and find him privately once she’d made up her mind.

In return, she would have to agree to become a subject of his magical research.

Zera hadn’t believed him immediately. Instead, she’d spent the following days testing whether anyone else could perceive her.

She’d even approached various small animals, hoping to provoke some kind of reaction.

But none of them could see her.

Apart from Mavis, Marshall really was the only person who appeared capable of detecting her presence.

Zera had no intention of remaining a living ghost forever.

Once she’d confirmed that Marshall’s offer might be genuine, there was simply no reason to pass up the opportunity.

"Um... could I ask you something?"

She looked up at him nervously.

"What exactly am I right now? I... I really did die five years ago, didn’t I?"

"Yes. I don’t know exactly where ordinary people go after death, but I’m reasonably certain they aren’t supposed to remain in this world the way you have. You’re a special case."

"I’m... special?"

"Mm-hmm. Your soul is extraordinarily weak. When I first examined you, I almost couldn’t detect it at all."

"?"

Zera’s expression became increasingly confused.

Marshall continued explaining, apparently unbothered by her reaction.

"Strictly speaking, you’re currently a deceased soul that has somehow avoided completely dissipating. But there’s something unusual about your condition. Your soul no longer exists independently in the way it originally did, and your continued existence depends on Mavis’s Magic Power."

He gestured toward the body standing in front of him.

"Your actual core isn’t even here. It’s inside Mavis."

Zera stared at him for several seconds.

"I... don’t understand."

"Right. Let me put it more simply."

Marshall considered how to explain the phenomenon without burying the girl beneath magical terminology.

"Your original body was destroyed, and your remaining soul is incredibly weak. Mavis is unconsciously sustaining you through her Magic, but because she doesn’t realize that you’re effectively living inside her magical system, she isn’t deliberately supplying you with enough power to manifest physically."

He pointed toward her.

"That’s why nobody except Mavis could see you before."

Zera hesitated.

"Wait... did you say I’m living inside her?"

"More or less. You could call it a form of parasitic existence."

"Parasitic...?"

"It’s similar to something called a bound ghost in stories from my homeland," Marshall explained.

"Mavis is effectively your master, or more accurately, the anchor keeping you connected to the living world."

He paused to make sure she was following.

"You can’t move too far away from her because the two of you are inseparably connected. And the really interesting part is that Mavis herself doesn’t even know any of this is happening."

Zera looked down at her newly formed hands, her excitement gradually giving way to uncertainty.

"Then... now that I have a real body, does that mean I can finally leave Mavis?"

"First of all, this isn’t a real body."

Marshall tapped the magical construct lightly.

"It’s a body created through magical simulation, somewhat similar to my old creation, Guga. I’ve only supplied the Magic Power needed to give you a tangible form. I’m not the one keeping you in existence."

He looked toward the part of the island where Mavis lived.

"That would still be Mavis."

Marshall had spent several days examining the bond between the two girls, and although much of its structure remained mysterious, one thing had become increasingly clear.

Mavis wasn’t merely providing Zera with enough Magic Power to remain visible to herself.

She was holding on to the very foundation of Zera’s existence.

"That girl is holding on to you with everything she’s got," Marshall said. "Even with my abilities, I can’t simply take you away from her."

Zera’s condition reminded him somewhat of a Celestial Spirit.

Her true core existed within Mavis, while the figure Marshall had manifested outside could perhaps be considered a kind of Thought Projection.

Then again, the comparison wasn’t entirely accurate either.

Marshall shook his head.

He still hadn’t fully deciphered the phenomenon, so it would be premature to make any firm conclusions.

What he was beginning to suspect, however, was that Mavis’s awakened ability wasn’t really Illusion Magic at all.

Or rather, the illusions might only be the visible expression of something much more profound.

Her genuine talent could be a highly unusual form of Life Magic, one capable of forcibly retaining another person’s Life Point and anchoring it to her own existence.

If that were true, Mavis had unknowingly touched upon the boundary between life and death.

And the underlying principles bore remarkable similarities to the Curse of Ankhseram.

That was the phenomenon Marshall truly wanted to understand.

If he could discover how Mavis maintained control over Zera’s Life Point, perhaps he could eventually apply that knowledge to the countless Life Points accumulated within his own First Origin.

For the first time since receiving the curse, he felt that he might have discovered a genuinely promising direction for his research.

"Is... is that so?"

Zera lowered her head, her expression complicated.

"Mavis..."

She remembered how she’d treated Mavis when they were younger.

Back then, Zera had been anything but a good friend.

She’d frequently looked down on Mavis, mocked her, and joined in making her life miserable.

It wasn’t until the day Blue Skull attacked Red Lizard that things had finally changed.

During the chaos, when everyone was fighting and trying to escape, Mavis had grabbed Zera’s hand and desperately tried to lead her to safety.

It was only then that Zera had truly begun to think of Mavis as a friend.

Unfortunately, she’d died that very night.

From that moment onward, her entire world had consisted of one person.

Mavis.

No other human or animal could perceive her existence. No matter how loudly she spoke or how desperately she tried to attract attention, nobody ever responded.

Only Mavis could see her, hear her, and interact with her.

So when Mavis said that the two of them had depended on each other for the past five years, she wasn’t wrong.

For those five long years, they had been each other’s only source of warmth and companionship.

Their only light.

Until Marshall appeared on the island.

Zera slowly raised her head again.

"Then... what should I do now?"

"Well, the first thing is to make sure Mavis doesn’t discover that you’re already dead," Marshall answered.

"At least, not until I’ve figured out a way to stabilize your existence independently."

His expression grew more serious.

"If she realizes that you’re an illusion and unconsciously stops maintaining you, there’s a very real possibility that you’ll disappear completely. I don’t want to take that risk before I’ve worked out how to prevent it."

"O-Okay. I won’t tell her."

"Good. Next, you’ll need to come here every day so I can examine the condition of your manifested body and replenish the Magic Power sustaining it."

Marshall continued outlining their arrangement.

"I’ll also need your cooperation with various experiments. Nothing too complicated for now, but I want to study the relationship between your Life Point, your remaining soul, and Mavis’s magical structure."

He looked at her.

"You’re all right with that, aren’t you?"

"Y-Yes! Of course!"

Zera nodded hurriedly.

"I agreed to this myself. I’ll cooperate with your experiments!"

Marshall smiled in satisfaction.

He then glanced toward the enormous pile of dirty clothes sitting not far away.

His expression became thoughtful.

’Actually...’

’Couldn’t I just ask Zera to help me with the housework?’

She was already here, after all, and he’d successfully given her a body capable of interacting with physical objects.

In a sense, wasn’t she practically a ready-made little maid?

Marshall had found the idea of asking Fairy Tail’s legendary First Master to wash his clothes rather embarrassing.

But asking the First Master’s best friend to do the laundry somehow didn’t provoke the same immediate reaction.

Then again...

’Wouldn’t that be going a bit too far?’

She was still a little girl, even if she happened to be dead.

Making her do his household chores in exchange for magical assistance sounded suspiciously like employing child labor.

On the other hand, she was technically a child ghost, and Marshall was fairly certain the laws governing child labor didn’t explicitly cover deceased minors temporarily sustained by Magic.

’Does a ghost even have labor rights?’

Marshall was still struggling with this exceedingly important moral and legal dilemma when Zera noticed where he was looking.

She’d been nervously watching his expression the entire time, eager to make a good impression on the person who had given her a physical form.

The instant she noticed the pile of dirty clothes, she understood—or at least thought she understood—what he wanted.

"I-I can help you wash your clothes from now on!"

Marshall blinked.

Zera continued quickly, almost stumbling over her words.

"I can clean your house too! And... and I’ll try to learn how to cook!"

"Huh? Oh, no, that really isn’t necessary!"

Marshall waved his hands with a thoroughly unconvincing expression of embarrassment.

"I couldn’t possibly ask you to do all that. You really don’t have to—"

"I’m volunteering!"

Zera interrupted him with unusual determination.

"You’ve given me a body again, and I don’t know how I could ever thank you enough. Please, let me do something to repay you!"

Marshall looked at her earnest expression.

Then at the mountain of laundry.

Then back at Zera.

He gave a long, helpless sigh.

"Haah... Well, if you’re really insisting, I suppose there’s nothing I can do about it."

He shook his head as though the entire situation were completely beyond his control.

"In that case, I’ll have to trouble you with the housework until I finish building my robotic maid."

And just like that, Marshall’s desperately miserable life without a maid finally showed signs of improving.

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