68th chapter : taking it easy .

After winning in a royal mechanism game, the red mermaid took their time and returned to their mansion to take a rest, mostly to meet the rest of their comrades too.

“Woah!! That was an outstanding win!! You guys really have it all over everyone!!” Rachel said.

Rachel exclaimed alongside Arthur as they met up with the seven outside the house.

“Ahaha!! Thank you Rachel chan! Arthur kun too! Sorry for taking a long time to return home!” responded Xavier.

Xavier and the others said as they weren’t tired because of the fights, but mostly the exhaustion of making a sudden move right after eating food.

“You guys had a great match, I’m jealous of how you won though!” Rebecca said as she served them some refreshments.

“Don’t be that nasty Rebecca. They did their best and mostly this win showed how much they were prepared for this more than anyone else” Fabia said as she smiled at them.

“Thank you Fabia ma”.

The seven of them bowed to her as they felt like their mother was praising them, Fabia’s words were a good reward for those cramps they were feeling, is what they thought.

“Mostly it’ll be for the best now if you guys take it easy and rest a little, nevertheless something might appear out of nowhere and you gotta be prepared for that” She answered their thanks then told them to go to bed straight.

“It’s not only for entertainment though, this next month will be the time where we get more customers for our restaurant!!” Emilis said, entering as he closed the door after him.

They all looked at him.

“That’s not the talk of this hour, Emilis!!” Milize said as she was trying to make them go to their rooms.

“That’s exactly the time actually!! Besides the Gray lions and the wooden bells who are working in hotels and bars, it's up to us to work too!! Gaining some customers will give us more credibility actually!! With me around too, the Grey lions can lose even in a battle of drinks”. Said Shoko.

Shoko was backing Emilis’ standing as Fabia looked at the two of them and sighed.

“For now let the others get a rest. I’m not against this idea since my restaurant is also the origin of all this red mermaid restaurant stuff too. So take a rest and we’ll talk tomorrow!!” Fabia said with a soft smile.

The next day, Wednesday 18th October 19xx,

After getting a good amount of sleep, everyone got up to eat breakfast in the living room together.

“Good morning!!” Sophie said as she was racing to reach the table with Miha. “Good morning Sophie !! What do you wanna eat for today?”.

Fabia greeted her back as she was one to cook the breakfast for them, although she forced Emilis to help too.

“Good morning!! I smell some delicious aroma!! Fabia ma is cooking!?” Alice said alongside Hana as they arrived after Sophie.

“Seems like everyone is in a good mood so for now you guys have it easy and go make your tours around the island!!” Tanya said as she served them some juice.

“Ooh!! I wanna see the waterfalls!! I heard a lot of people talking about them!!” Sophie said out of the blue as her bunny ears appeared, showing that she really wanted to see them.

“You’re pretty enthusiastic for the morning Sophie, we are going there later so don’t worry” Marco said as he patted her head after sitting next to her.

“You little man !! are gonna stick around cause I need you!!” Rebecca said as she served Marco his breakfast.

“Huh? What for?” Marco was surprised.

She smiled at him as she didn’t want to respond yet.

“Sorry but I’ll decline whatever you want from me, my little sister here wants to see the waterfalls and I’m taking her there”.

Marco responded as he was eating calmly. Hearing his answer made Rebecca a little mad as she kept smiling while glaring at him.

In the end, all of them forced him to stay around the mansion as Vanica, Minerva and Nora took Arthur and Sophie along with Hana and Sam to the waterfall’s side. As for the rest of the members, they went on their own ways to have fun, leaving only Marco and Carla inside the house with Rebecca and the other four girls.

“I’m glad that you want me to help with the seasoning, but isn’t this a little bit exaggerated?” Marco said as he looked at Tanya slopping around the couch while watching TV.

“You guys really don’t need us, so why are you making us do this?”.

Carla also was wondering why they kept her too as Rebecca kept smiling and nodding without saying a word to the two of them.

“Sighsss, I’m done with the seasoning so I’m heading out” said Marco.

He made the fire at a low degree as he took off the apron then he pulled his jacket with chains.

“Wait, stop!! I need something else!!”.

Tanya blocked the way for him.

“Get it yourself! I’m sure that you want me to work as an errand boy like the time I spent in Mustfit with you all!!” Marco said as he returned some steps to the back.

“So you were staying at their place that time!! I’m surprised that you did what they said!”.

Carla said as she was looking at him trying to find a way to go outside.

“Yeah, and it was a hella one of a thing to do! when she starts to laze around I get more work! Do your things on your own! Tanya nee!!” Marco growled as he leaped to the upper floor.

“Tanya ! let them go now as long as these two will be together then there’s no problem!!” Melu said as she slapped Tanya on the head.

“You’re one heck of a pack of girls you know that”.

Marco said, coming down the stairs and heading towards the door as Carla followed him too.

The atmosphere became too calm after the two left and Tanya got scolded a lot after that.

The two of them got out as Marco sighed a deep breath.

“You know that they got mad because you’re too friendly with Layla san, right?” Carla said as she was walking with him.

“Am I supposed to be apologizing here? She’s still one of my old friends” Marco responded as Carla looked at him being calm about it.

“You know!! since it’s a day off like that!! Let's go on some rounds!! I bet there are a lot of things to experience here!!”.

She said as she took his hand and started to walk forward.

At that moment, Marco realized the reason for the others to not let him do what he wants as he felt that Carla was trying to put her uneasiness away after seeing Marco acting that way with Layla. He sighed then made her stop walking.

“If you’re mad about something then say it idiot, I’m still your partner after all” Marco said as he patted her head then walked ahead of her. “Let’s get going. I wanna see what kind of smoothies they would serve here”.

Marco smiled at her then went ahead. Seeing him smile like that Carla looked relieved as she smiled back then she caught up with his pace, walking together.

Their small time off started calmly as the two of them noticed several cafes around, food stalls and many other relaxing spots for the visitors that came to the island. In other words the entire world became an entertainment land for the festival traditions.

“On second thought, I admit that it was a bad idea to try these smoothies, hurry up and erase them from my tummy!!”.

Carla said as she tried the surprise option in the menu of the café they visited first. She ended up with something weird entirely not to her taste.

“Hai hai, That’s why I told you not to rush things around” Marco patted her head, erasing the pain then eased it with euro particles healing.

“Fuweeeh!! That’s better but I kinda don’t dislike this kind of excitement!!” Carla said as she tried to take his cup.

Marco saw her trying so he slapped her hand as at the same time as Carla’s complaining, another voice was heard. The two of them looked behind their table to see Cor and Ruby sitting next to them.

The two pairs weren’t expecting such a coincidence like meeting there as Carla and ruby waved at each other with an awkward smile.

“Huh?! Tsk!! Deca!!” Cor said out of the blue as the people around looked at him.

“You got a problem with me Cor kun!!” Marco on the other side was annoyed too but he chose to tease him with a calm smile.

“Carla chan is here too!! This is our lucky day!!” Ruby said as she went and hugged Carla.

“Say!! Marco!! Cor kun!! Let’s enjoy the day together!!”.

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

Both Carla and Ruby said out of the blue as they looked at Marco and Cor with the puppy eyes expression.

Thus it didn’t work on Marco, it worked on Cor as he couldn’t refuse a proposal from Ruby who smiled at him after that with a victory peace sign.

The tour started again. It wasn’t that long until they met with another familiar person to both Marco and Cor.

“Aah!! What a coincidence!! Cor kun is here!! Good day!!” Ryu said as he was waving at Cor who heaved a sigh from exasperation.

Ryu rushed ahead as he tried to hug Cor who avoided him twice.

“Also good day to you too!! Marco kun!!” added Ryu.

Eventually he turned to Marco who also avoided getting hugged by him.

“Wait!! Ryu kun you’re so fast!! Wait for me at least!!” A girl said as she was catching her breaths after running a little bit.

Ruby and Carla stayed silent as they were waiting for an explanation to this small charade.

“Ah!! Carla Fullblack and Ruby Vonbismuth, right?!” Ryu turned to Carla and Ruby who were surprised that Ryu knew them, although they didn’t know him.

“Ryu kun you’re being too clingy, let them have some personal space already” The girl said as she pulled him to her side.

“This is Ryu Fanalis, a Gray lions member and one of the customers who comes once in a while for the Grey lions business at our market” Cor presented him quickly.

“Glad to meet you all!!” Ryu said in a cheerful way.

“And this girl is?”.

Carla asked as the girl didn’t introduce herself yet, she was still catching her breaths.

“Ah, this is Sania Fanalis!! She’s my fiancée!!” Ryu introduced her instead as Sania bowed to them after that.

Carla and Ruby smiled as the cold sweat was stabbing through Marco and Cor who had the whole bloodlust of these two girls on their backs.

“Ah, we see. Glad to meet you Ryu san and Sania chan too!! I hope we can be friends!!”.

Carla and Ruby said as the two girls were still glaring daggers at Marco and Cor.

After that awkward meetup, the girls took the lead of this small day off whereas Marco and Cor were the only ones not enjoying it.

“Why is it that each time I wanna take my time to rest I meet one of you two!?!” Cor muttered, regretting going out of their mansion.

After getting to know Sania more, Carla and Ruby forced the three of them to stick together for the rest of the day, visiting all kinds of stalls around the area before getting a table in one of the open space family restaurants.

“You guys are really that close!! So who proposed first!?!” Ruby said as she brought the love talk.

“Ehehehe!! Actually it was me since I kinda was always so close to her that I wanted to take the first step!!” Ryu responded, blushing about his response.

Cor and Marco had a blank reaction as Cor said what he had in mind, scrapping some hits on Ryu.

“ Why are you blushing!? you’re making us go through hell here goddamn it!!”.

“Ah, this really won’t be erased from my memory for a long time now,” Marco said after Cor as the waitress served them food.

Even though they finished quickly and planned to ask for more food, the three of the girls said that they wanted to check some clothes first but forced the boys to stay around the table till they would return.

“So I’m not good with you two but I can only do this for the sake of Ruby!” Cor said so suddenly as he took a sip of his drink.

“I don’t really care about whether I spend my time alone or with the two of you so beat the bush around it already. What about you Ryu? In the first place isn’t it forbidden for the underage to work in bars?”

Marco said as he wanted to start a conversation for a change.

“I get that a lot but I guess it’s not that bad when you’re one of the subfamilies!!” Ryu responded, smiling cheerfully.

“Subfamilies?” asked Marco.

Marco didn’t know about the system of the euro society until about a year ago so he was still learning about them to this day for a reason, he wasn’t interested in that stuff seriously.

“I forgot that you're one of the people who doesn’t know a lot about our society. Just like the main fourteen royal families, there are the subfamilies. They don’t have the same name but they’re kind of related by blood, or through adoption” Cor explained shortly.

“So, more like they’re the second family!! Every subfamily is related to a main royal family of the fourteen. I joined the Grey lions because my family is aligned with master Hishin’s family!!” Ryu continued adding some other facts to the conversation.

“I see, well that’s a new thing to learn about then, do most of the known subfamilies have alignments with their main families?”

Marco asked as he was waiting for an answer, however the girls returned getting their attention first.

“What you said is kinda right but it also shows how wicked most of the men in the main families are, there’s some cases where it’s seen by the fourteen families as a slaving pact instead, sigh. The euro society isn’t pure you know that well”

Cor said as he was walking with Marco behind the rest of the girls.

After hearing what Cor had said, Marco had it coming as he also noticed the glares of disgust around him. It wasn’t a pleasant thing to notice given that he was trying to enjoy his day.

Cor and Ryu also felt it although they didn’t mind it and kept walking with the other girls so they would enjoy their day.

“Say!! Say!! This is a game for the fastest one right!! why not participate!?! I wanna play a game!!” Ruby said, pointing at the attraction park on their way back.

“You know that we don’t have money for that!!” Cor said as he was pulling her to his side. “It’s ok!! Marco is the one who’s gonna pay!!” Carla said as she pulled Sania and Ruby to her side.

“Ha? like hell I would pay for four more people!”.

Marco responded as Carla smiled at him with a calm smile, in other words she was threatening him.

“If you don’t, I’ll tell Rebecca nee and the other sisters that you refused to pay!! Fabia ma will be mad!” said Carla.

Marco looked at her with disgust glare, knowing that Carla realized he didn’t want to deal with their scolding later.

“Tsk, it’s like blackmailing at this point. Goddamn it.” He paid and entered first.

“You’re scary from time to time you know!! Thank you!!” Cor and Ruby said as they followed after Carla who was happily humming in response.

“Well!! That’s a good thing that all of us can enjoy all of this!!” Sania said as she tried to cover for Carla who giggled after hearing her.

They ended up choosing one game to play though as Marco threatened Carla with the same card she played on him.

“I can’t believe we’re going to try this.”

Marco said as he was stretching his arms and legs. Along with Ryu and Cor too, the three of them were forced by the girls to try the speed tag game. They only needed to reach the finish line as well as destroying most of the targets that would appear in their way.

“ladies and gentlemen!! Here we are with another three participants!! It’s a game of speed and strategy!! Until now!! no one had ever stepped out the great record of one minute and seven seconds!! What’s your name dear customer!!” said the Host of the game.

The parc was a show of its own as there were several people who paid to watch others playing instead of trying these games, so at best it was like most of these games were broadcasted to an actual televised show.

The show’s host approached Marco first.

“huh, I thought most of the people here know who we are by now?” Marco said as he looked at Ryu grinning awkwardly.

“Ahaha, not really. We finished the first game recently so no one really paid attention to holders other than the vice masters” Ryu responded as he was about to go first instead of Marco.

“Well they’re the public figures of the ten guilds now after all, hurry up and let me pass my side anyway!” Cor said after him as his face showed that the three of them were kinda hasty to go away.

The hosts looked aside as they felt some strange vibe roaming around their standing.

“Sorry for my friend’s not answering your question earlier! I’m Ryu Fanalis! From Gray lions!! And it’s ok to use our serments, right? That’s what was written on the form on the entry back there.”

Ryu said as he was preparing himself. One of the hosts looked at him as she flustered at how his aura was rather warm unlike the other two.

“Huh, Yeah!! Here he goes!! Our first participant!! Fanalis Ryu kun!!” She said before launching the signal of the start.

In that second, Ryu grinned taking a deep breath then he instantly leaped to the first target, crashing it with one punch onto the ground. Ryu’s movements were swiftly tangled, making everyone feel like they were seeing an ancient dragon devouring his prey.

He captivated them all with his stunning performance.

Ryu reached the finish line after seventeen seconds, to shock everyone including Yuna who was watching on Marco’s side. The show hosts were unable to realize what happened as they weren’t expecting that.

After being stunned about what they had just witnessed, they stood their spacing out and thought about how Ryu was able to destroy most of the targets and get there in seventeen seconds no more no less.

“Uhm, miss. I’ll be heading now, my name is Marco Deca” Marco said as he passed through her after being surprised.

“Ha!?! Yeah!! What an outstanding speed!! Ryu Fanalis kun has just shown us an enormous performance and stunning moves!! What can Marco Deca kun, our second participant do about that!?!”

The second host said her words as the shock didn’t leave their hearts yet.

“Sigh I prefer not to do this but I guess this is the best”.

Marco said as he was stretching his arms and legs before the count would start. In that second, Marco instantly crossed half of the way as he broke most of the targets by pulling a quick chain swing at the neck of the targets. Most of the targets were spotted by his senses, whereas he destroyed them easily and leaped to the finish line in less than nine seconds.

Again another young participant shocked them as the words left their mouths to make them speechless in front of the people watching.

“N-N-N-N-NO WAY!!! ten seconds!! In less than ten seconds!! The participant, Marco Deca broke The record for speed!!” The host said as she snapped out of it after feeling some excitement.

“Marco kun is really strong!!” Ruby said cheerfully, watching with Carla and Sania.

“Ahahaha!! he tends to show off sometimes so he did his best to get to that speed” Carla said as she saw that Ruby acted strange for a second.

Without leaving any comment. Cor took the second place with fourteen seconds by slashing every target that came his way.

“That was easy enough for a game, sigh” Cor said as he met up with Marco and Ryu at the exit.

“You got a point!! I mean I wasn’t going full since I didn’t want to burn the toys around!!” Ryu said as the three were looking at the audience not commenting on anything anymore.

“Weren’t like there’s a prize for the one who beats the highest record?” Marco said as he was addressing the host.

“Huh!? oh yeah but unfortunately we can’t prepare it now so suddenly because-”.

Before the host would finish her words, another record was taken as it was for eleven seconds, taking the second place from Cor.

“Huh?!” Everyone looked behind as they saw Ruby by the finish line with a smug face and victory sign.

“Are you guys a bunch of monsters!! What’s with these people!?!” the manager said as he came rushing to meet with them.

“Seems like you got used to using your serment” Marco said as he looked at Ruby smiling full heartedly.

“Yeah!! I trained so hard so I kinda am satisfied with the current result!!”.

Ruby responded with the same devious smile as both Marco and Ruby had felt hostility against each other for a second, remembering that Ruby was about to start a nonsense battle the second she got her serment at that time.

“Marco!! We’re leaving now!! So let go of the prize for now!!” Carla said as she was waving at him. Marco looked at her as he sighed.

“Seems like we’re getting apart from this point, thanks for today” Marco said as he bowed to the four of them as a thanks for spending the day with them. Carla did the same after she caught up.

“You enjoyed the evening now?” Marco said as he was talking with Carla while walking.

“Hmm, not sure if I did fully enjoy it! I wanted to try more stuff but since we’re staying around this island for a while, I’ll check them later” Carla responded as her eyes showed that she wasn’t satisfied yet.

Marco sighed as the atmosphere was calm by now although Carla was feeling like something was left undone.

“Do you wanna go somewhere away from the crowd?” Carla said, watching Marco calmly walk as he was avoiding people around.

Ignoring the people was the reason that a thought came to Carla’s head about Marco’s current acts as she was only thinking about places to make him feel comfortable earlier, but didn’t work quite well either. And seeing, he just followed without complaint all the time, had Carla’s nerves relaxed so she giggled a little then patted his shoulder.

Marco turned in a haste not understanding what Carla’s giggle meant though, he knew that she was waiting for an answer to her question.

“I’m ok as long as I can return home by dinner time” Marco said.

His response was out of concern about his siblings although he knew that Vanica and Minerva can take care of these two easily, so after looking around the map for a while, he and Carla found a good spot that no one was able to go to by foot.

Carla’s decision was based on the current strength both of them have, as she had sparkling eyes like a puppy so Marco would accept her idea. By the end of it, because of his own promise to himself that he won’t really refuse any proposal that Carla asks, Marco took the lead on the way to their next destination.

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