56th chapter : looking down on things .

As things turned bad for Alex’s side, she had to show the school teachers and workers that her work is far more organized than Elise’s, the councilor that was sent for inspection and process of plans for the palm city. Between Alex and Elise, for the ones who are close, it clearly looked like two children fighting over candy.

Elise took quite the shock sensing that single bluffing bloodlust Marco had released which it also signaled the start of the battle, therefore Elise hadn’t moved while Marco took that as an opportunity to seal his serment, then Alex called for him.

“Marco!” shouted Alex, smiling at him, “Don’t kill her!”.

With a smile showing that she was confident, Alex said her words although the teachers got scared by that statement. Elise fell for the words feeling like it was mockery.

“You know that I won’t hold against you right?”.

Elise asked him as she released her serment with the extension sword unleashed furiously. Marco didn’t respond as he fixed his glasses, tying his hair silently without a word back to what she said to him afterwards either.

“Aren’t you done yet, or are you perhaps a little girl trapped in that goofball ass look?! Pfft!!” Elise scoffed at the end of her words.

While the teachers felt like her words were quite harsh given that they know Marco’s circumstances, Alex and the other three bid no worry to those words, instead they suddenly started something else.

“So anyone wanna bet!?” Alex said out of the blue as the teachers were watching, calmly turned to see her with worried expressions.

“Sensei, that’s rude but I’ll bet ten golds on Marco!!” Rachel responded, wickedly grinning as she showed the bad side of hers.

“That’s bad manners but I’ll put twenny, if he doesn’t send her to the hospital” Maria said after them as the teachers were shocked.

“Nah he’s cocky, so I’m gonna bet on the council lady over there!!” Ralph interjected as he only wanted to put on a show.

“Hey!! aren’t you taking it a little bit too far and rude with what you are doing kids?! When you gamble too!!” the sports teacher asked.

“Huh? not really, Red mermaid members always do this when we have a fight or a mission so It makes things better to enjoy!!” Alex responded.

Her words were heard by both Elise and Marco, which pissed off Elise on the spot. From the teachers’ side, they were in disbelief.

“I’m clearly pissed off right now!” Elise roared in anger before leaping straight at Marco with her longsword extension.

“Watch out!!”.

The teachers yelled for him, seeing Marco not moving and how fast Elise was going, therefore their mouths were kept shut as they saw Marco pinning down Elise easily after taking the longsword from her hands.

“You’re not pretty focused when you’re mad, are you?”

Marco asked, jumping to the back to leave some space for Elise to get up. She looked quite speechless aside from the anger that was showing on her face.

“Thanks for the notice but you just caught me off guard!” she stood, wiping the dust off her clothes.

“I guess you had your shot with attacking then I’m gonna head and attack now” Marco said as he looked aside.

Marco cracked his neck before vanishing from their sights for a fragment of a second to appear in front of Elise about to punch her. Elise was late to put her guards up using the sword, Marco quickly switched movements then smacked her on the ground by grabbing her neck, making her lose balance. Thus it was only smack down on the ground, it was hard on Elise as she gasped for air at that moment.

“You’re inexperienced for a B class holder”

Marco said as he let her go after standing up. The teachers stood there speechless as they didn’t expect Marco to move in such patterns and beat Elise within that short time. Elise on the other side, didn’t want to admit as she looked at him with a look of hatred, after all he pinned her to the ground two times easily now.

Marco looked at those expressions of hate on Elise’s face, knowing fully well that she had expressed those out of pure jealousy. While Elise was having those thoughts, Alex was clearly feeling the opposite, she was joyful talking with students and teachers like there was no battle going on right now.

“Uhm, I guess even if you think about it I didn’t want to hurt you so let’s stop it here” Marco said as he reached his hand to help her stand.

“I wasn’t going at full strength, since the ones who reached B rank are bound to limit their usage of euro particles around normal humans. If the data that we have on you is wrong then I guess this will give me the right to unleash more strength”.

Elise was stubbornly talking as she stood without his help, she looked straight at Marco who sighed, averting his gaze away.

“You know that I didn’t release my serment again, right? and so I beat you without even using it so why not drop the hatred mask and apologize” Marco was being blunt.

“Now you mention it we didn’t see the sword on his hand” Sia said as they all looked at his hand.

“I too wasn’t using my full strength so I wouldn’t hurt him!!” Elise responded showing that she was clearly angry.

Marco sighed then looked at Alex who said it’s ok to stop, given that the situation is settled by now.

“Fine, I’ll give you one more chance. Release your full strength or whatever you wanna call it, if you made me release my serment then I’ll make Alex senpai do whatever you ask from her.”

Marco said as it was his way of punishing Alex for using him like a puppet for demonstration. Elise’s mood turned 180 degrees on the spot.

“ Wait, stop!! What are you doing?!” Alex was startled by that statement.

“I like the proposal!! Consider it an honor to witness my full strength!!” Elise regained her enthusiasm eventually.

“What are you doing, idiot!?!” Alex rushed at him.

“That’s what I thought to punish you for using the four of us like this. Although she’s not going to win, even in her dreams, but I’ll take some of the pay from your share for this month”

Marco said, only thinking about money.

“You got a point but I won’t give you my share of money from the guild!! say that again and I’m gonna have Fabia ma beat your ass!!” Alex protested.

She started to play dirty as Elise was also startled to hear Fabia’s name. Elise however was more likely fired up to beat Marco on his own game, hearing his words out loud earlier.

“Let’s start goofball!! I’m gonna cut you down!!” she said in a rush as Alex turned back to her place.

After hearing her words of enthusiasm, Marco sighed and again he didn’t put his guard up or even release his serment as he stood there waiting for Elise to launch her attack. Elise was pretty serious about it too as even Alex saw that her level rose up from a minute ago, Marco didn’t mind that fact and looked at Elise taking a stance with her longsword readied.

She went in full strength as she closed the distance between her and Marco with a blink of an eye, swinging her sword towards him. The attack made an afterwave but that wasn’t the thing that surprised them as they saw Marco stopping the sword before it reached his head.

Marco sighed as he let go of the sword.

“I told you let’s stop it here”.

Marco calmly said as he let her leap to the back , everyone was surprised but filled with excitement at the same time, scenes like these are present only in games for their side.

“Are you mocking me? you’re clearly releasing your serment!!” Elise was mad.

“You are and I’m not, but here we are with your stubbornness” Marco started to enjoy it.

“I’m not done yet!!”

Elise shouted as she looked like she was determined to kill him this time, Marco smiled at her as he addressed her.

“I guess that’s the spirit! but I don’t think you can do it in real life right, after all you’re weak!”

As he said these words, Elise snapped out of it but ended up being knocked down by Marco easily again. Marco did the same as earlier therefore this time he grabbed her from the face, smacking her down onto the ground, letting a fearsome afterwave onto the area.

That was the end of the battle.

By the end of the fight, Marco looked at Alex who had a smug face on her snuggling the money from Ralph before turning to face the teachers.

“And that’s my coworkers, is what our guild newest member can do and I guess the others are no question!! guehee!! ”

Alex casually talked before she would be blown away by Marco’s friendly wind thrust that he threw at her as punishment.

“Miss Van!!”.

The teachers weren’t expecting that.

“Don’t worry she’s stronger than what she looks” Marco said as he approached them after healing Elise a little bit.

“I’m definitely gonna tell Fabia ma about this!!” she complained while being upside down.

“Yeah, still I’m gonna enjoy taking you like that tied in chains to her so choose your favorite way back!!” Marco smiled at her as the others felt like he was threatening her for real.

“I guess we are the ones who came here for nothing” Maria said as she flicked Marco’s forehead to make him stop.

“That’s not exactly true, unlike the other students. Mister principal these four are fluent in the euro society to match a D class holder or higher. So what I’m going to ask you now and what is mostly the decision of the council, to make everyone go on hiatus for now and give everyone who’s present here a vacation. Until the festival comes and until the council prepares a proper manual for the generation of the rising incident it’s better to halt everything.”

Alex said as she pulled Rachel and Maria close to her. Alex’s ability to work with words that she managed to snatch from her surroundings made everyone surprisingly listen to her and so the principal did what she asked.

Either way, Elise was ashamed to wake up, although Marco healed the damage she sustained, she had to say that Alex’s judgment on the situation was right.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“I see. It’s ok!! I’ll let the parents’ know what the councilor said and I’ll put everything on hiatus. Luckily it’s still summer vacation so I bet that anyone would disagree”.

The principal announced, calmly getting the other teachers to agree too.

“I guess It’s a good thing to know that the student council are the ones who can use these things called serments!!” Sia was being optimistic, “And Marco kun too!! thanks for today’s demonstration!!” At the same time she didn’t want to let him down.

“I appreciate it but that would be my work as a red mermaid member. So if you excuse me I guess it’s time to return, Alex senpai!”

Marco greeted them as he saw Alex going on her own trying to run away from him. The teachers saw her running as she dashed with everything she got, Marco smiled at them then instantly went to catch her therefore he made her open a portal instead and flee on the spot.

“Tsk, she’s playing dirty now.” Marco clicked his tongue in complaint.

He said, stretching his arms and legs therefore before going on his own, Elise stopped him as she kept looking to the ground to hide her frowning.

“What do you want?”.

Marco asked, acting like he was pissed off. Elise was startled hearing him as she unintentionally looked up worried that he might scold her, although by the end she gathered some courage to reply to him.

“That’s rude but right now!! I’m in a job to preserve other things than this meeting!! you’re taking me with you to the restaurant!!”.

Elise tried to climb on his back thinking he was going to run away from her after how she replied to his words. She clung into him tightly.

“I understand! but stop trying to cling on me!”.

Marco slammed her down again.

Looking at how the situation has gotten weird, Maria and Rachel felt obligated to speak with the teachers again and take them back inside the school. As for Marco and Elise, they went by foot walking normally. It took them half an hour to reach the restaurant as Elise saw that everyone was on the beach side having a fun time.

“We’ve arrived so I’m not obligated to stay with you, and don’t go and stick around me like that again” Marco said as he went on his own, “The little sister followed you here” Marco said as he popped up behind Alex on purpose.

“Woah !! you sca-!!! -red me!! Goddamn it!! I forgot that you’re coming here!!”.

Alex yelled as she was about to run but Marco caught her with chains. She was going to get horribly punished.

Carla heard him as she asked what he meant by that, therefore she soon got an answer on her own. Elise approached the red mermaid members, the silence was crushing the atmosphere as they were childhood friends that grew together whereas Fabia was raising them. Elise also felt that her presence crushed the moment between them as she instantly got the thought that she was already an outsider. Thus feeling that way, Elise couldn’t show her discomfort as she kept a steady face around them.

“What brings you here?” Alice approached her first as the vice master.

“The introduction isn’t needed, so I’m gonna jump to the main point quickly. My objective is to supervise the order here by a notice from the council. I’ll be looking at the flow of work from all of you and report everything” replied Elise.

Elise looked straight at Alice’s eyes while talking, alas feeling sad about the scene and the way she talked, Elise felt like she can’t speak more than what she did.

“Sigh, acting like strangers when you’re in front of the little sister that admired you for so long a time”.

Fabia said in the middle of that silence. Looking at what Fabia said to break the silence, Elise didn’t want to say anything back so that she wouldn't disturb the scene more than what it was.

“Fabia ma! this isn’t right!”.

Emilis and Vanica said, whispering at her although they ended up getting punched on the head. Elise looked around her as she couldn’t get a glimpse of their faces, rather than that she was only looking down to their feet. The others also felt like they couldn’t say a thing since it would make Elise look more bad than what she’s feeling right now. All in all, it was an utter disaster for them right now.

“You know, I don’t care what you did or how you guys got torn apart but isn’t it better to step out of this and look to the new side. I don’t usually say this to y’all but, always seek the sunny side of the story, everything that happened played a part in what you guys have reached”.

Marco spoke out of the blue as everyone was silent, subsequently his words resonated a lot with them. Hana and Sam sighed as Hana pulled him to her side, saying,

“Idiot!! That’s none of our business to speak about!!”.

She tried to slap him on the head.

“Well I guess, Marco does have a point. More likely, It’s better to start over again!!”

Alice said, smiling joyfully as Elise wasn’t expecting that reaction.

“Been a while Eli!! you’ve grown taller now huh!!”.

Xavier said as he got closer too. Elise looked up to see their faces, seeing the cheerful smile that showed no hostility towards her, Zack and Alex grinned awkwardly at her as they got closer, messing with her hair.

Elise looked around her as she saw everyone getting closer to her and talking like nothing happened during the past. She was convincing herself that what she did to win over the council’s trust back then was unforgivable and so letting a single tear would betray what she worked for by now, thinking it was for the best for her own good, Thus doing that she was barely keeping a steady face as Marco said afterwards.

“Shall I punch you to cry or something?”.

As he was about to ruin the moment, Fabia had to stop him from doing so, while Elise looked at him and how everyone opened up for her.

“You know this is wrong, I can’t return back! And I can’t ask for forgiveness!! That’s why hicc!! I can’t be here with all of you!!”.

Elise let down some tears as she looked down again. Hearing her words made the others in relief as they felt she’s still the same old Elise who was once their little sister.

Rebecca patted her head as they all smiled at her.

“You know that’s not true either, it’s mostly because of that gloomy guy that Fabia ma is scolding right now but he came across everyone and said it like what happened was nothing. Mostly because of him!! Fabia ma had the chance to beat up Emilis too!! So you’re just like me and everyone is ready to get past the things back then and go on!! so it’s ok to cry!!”

Rebecca hugged her as Elise felt a warmth in her words and so the tears didn’t stop until a certain time.

“I’m surprised that most of you are some crybabies,”.

Marco said as he was washing the dishes after dinner, since Fabia forced them to eat all together as Shoko arrived with some wine.

“Say that again and it won’t be only Fabia ma who’s going to hit you hard!” Melu responded to his words, while helping with the dishes along with Marco, Carla and Zack.

“It wasn’t on purpose, but I guess seeing her cry and apologize like a baby gave us that ray of hope that the rest of us might return back home”.

Zack responded as his words were wise as usual.

“How old are you again?” Vanica said, stunned.

She entered with more dishes as they looked at her putting them down calmly. Then, Marco said,

“If we see another person entering with another dish I’m gonna rip them apart”.

“Don’t be that gloomy, it was the last one. Plus I guess it’s time to speak about something so head inside once you finish the cleaning”.

Emilis arrived after Vanica as he put another plate too. Marco and Zack sighed as Melu giggled at them. After that, they finished washing quickly and went back.

After seeing everyone in the room, Emilis took a deep breath then started talking about the upcoming plans he wanted to prepare.

“For now! I guess you guys know pretty much what our objective is” Emilis said.

Seeing Elise’s reaction, most of them knew she jumped into false conclusions and had Emilis to explain everything for her from the start.

“Since our objective is to win the festival and rank up, we have now a month before the start. We will continue the daily patrols and training individually, most of the ordeals are these, but the important notes are. First! I’ll get to report the training months to the council to explain what happened with Vanica san. Second! Nora kun and Minerva chan are one of us now along with Vanica too and that’s something the council won’t disagree with no matter what they say. Third! Sam kun!!” Emilis was enjoying the talk.

“Hai!!” Sam responded as he shocked Elise, since she didn’t notice him until now.

“I talked earlier with Sam kun so no need to really speak about it for now, he’s joined us officially and quitted the council although it was his decision but I’ll back him just in case. Fourth and last!! Eli chan!”

Emilis stopped talking in a childish way as he looked at Elise then at the rest of them. she didn’t know how to respond.

“It’s not something I would force on you but I decided to take you back here to the guild. It’s up to you whether you want it or not, everyone here will love to get you back”

Emilis said as Elise looked at him with a surprised face.

Not knowing what to answer made Elise cry again as she approved without other thoughts.

“Since this is all for now, I hope you guys don’t have any complaints!!” Emilis said as he stepped down from where he was standing.

“Just one question?” Marco asked out of the blue.

They looked at him wondering what he wanted, given that Marco is the type to figure out for himself.

“Actually it’s late and there’s no way that Fabia ma and the other girls can go back home at this hour with no trains outside the city” Marco talked about something logical.

“Oh!! That’s sweet of you to care about our safety!!” Tanya tried to pat his head as he answered her words.

“I’m pretty much concerned about the people you would tear apart when you return home actually” Marco broke all her smiles and even avoided her punch.

“Get back here you little shit!!” Tanya was chasing after him.

“He asked about something logical so who’s gonna have them as guests?” Alice said as they were looking at each other.

“There’s also Elise who’s staying here this week” Carla said as she spoke after Alice.

“It’s not a problem actually,” Sam said, taking their attention. “My house is close to Marco’s house and has enough beds for six people I suppose, also my family was sending someone to clean around once in a while so it’s clean” Sam said as he felt like he did something.

“I guess this settles it. But where are you going to sleep if you accept us there, kid?” Fabia asked him.

“Hmm, Marco’s house”.

Sam answered honestly and without thinking twice.

Hana heard Sam clearly so she also decided to stick with him saying that if Sam is going to spend the night there she will do too, Marco didn’t even care to reply to her words.

“I guess that’s not something I would complain about if the owner of the house didn’t mind it,” Vanica said, welcoming them.

“You two really love our house” Arthur said, heaving a sigh, although he was already enthusiastic about them spending the night.

“Looking at how things changed, I want some time to challenge you in games like we used to do! Right!” Sam convinced Arthur easily as Marco exasperated towards that.

“I guess it’s time to go home then. For now everyone should take a rest. If Fabia ma agrees!! we’ll get her help in the restaurant here and for some time maybe a week too!!”.

Emilis was putting his hopes high but he wasn’t wrong either. After settling with Fabia and her girls using Sam’s house, Elise went to where Alex and the other three are living to stay up the night, Emilis stayed behind as he was the last one to leave the restaurant after turning off the lights.

“You’re pretty much lonely for a guild master” Fabia was waiting for him outside.

“I don’t have a lot of things to do, aside from that! most of them have private lives, I don’t wanna ruin their moods with my presence”

Emilis responded as the two were walking together towards Sam’s house.

“You can build a house but you still decide to stay back in your old house in Mustfit” she said out of the blue.

“And so you know that I won’t betray what was once the only home for me” he responded with a smile.

“You say that but you clearly can’t let the things go” she said to him as they reached the house.

“I won’t really say that I can’t let things go but it’s like my own punishment for what I did actually. more or less, so that I would always remember, I guess.” responded Emilis as he sighed after that.

“You should’ve asked forgiveness!” she slapped his head.

“That’s not how it works, Fabia ma. After all, I’m still the world war criminal holder, Emilis Vengeance”

Emilis responded to her then opened a portal on his own. Fabia saw him go ahead on his own as she let out a sigh because of what he said, for her it was unbearable to watch him atone for past deeds as well as for the sake of safety of his members. Fabia was sorry for Emilis.

At Marco’s house,

“Ahem!! Don’t you think it’s time to sleep, the three of you!!”.

Vanica said as she was trying to convince Arthur, Hana and Sam to go to bed. Next to Sophie, the three were enjoying the video games while Carla was having her time with Minerva on choosing some stuff in magazines.

“Vanica san!! sorry!! we will sleep after this!!” Sam said as he was totally immersed in the game.

“It can’t be helped, our pride is on the line here!!”.

Hana spoke as if she was in war. The three were playing an rpg multiplayer game that Arthur newly got a few months ago.

“I’m at beat here, Marco please do something about it”. Vanica pleaded with a pouty face as if she was trying to scold her rebelling children.

“I actually wanna finish reading something so you gotta deal with them on your own, although Hana will be the one winning this time”.

Marco responded as he was actually paying attention, after all he had all of his childhood friends coming back to his house, next to new family members, he felt that it was a blessed moment, something that he does wanna experience more.

“By the way, since tomorrow will be an all-out day, where will Sophie stay?” Nora asked Marco directly.

“Huh? I guess around the restaurant. Fabia ma’s girls will take care of her, Arthur also does have to go now, besides , I’m sure that this month will be the busiest in our trial as a guild I guess”.

Marco responded calmly as he stopped Nora from lighting up a cigarette inside the house, the two went out of the house to the front door.

“So it was actually something that you wanted to ask out of curiosity or just a way to speak with me?” Marco asked.

“If you understood me that much then I can’t really say a thing, I’ll say it once again. I’m grateful to what you did for us, and thanks for sheltering us, it’ll be concerning to my side that I called you here actually, so…”

Nora answered the question as he continued to speak after that, nevertheless Nora’s words got stopped before he would continue, Marco interjected on that point.

“I will eventually have my research about you two’s backgrounds so take it easy. Unlike master, I’m better at getting information from anyone, yet I won’t be doing that any time soon. You are family now and mostly Arthur will also try and get that into his head from now on. I hope you’ll be present for him in my place on some occasions” Marco said with a calm look gazing down at the city.

Nora looked at him as he chuckled, he knew that arguing now won’t lead to anything and so it would be better to only respond with a yes and accept this new life.

It was somewhat the perfect setup to start anew.

………………………………………………………………………………………………….