63rd chapter : the banquet of the ten guilds .

The sudden act of pity towards himself and his own problems, resulted in making Marco meet his own mother. Guided only by his own eyes, Marco was thinking about why he said such words as apologizing, and thinking about it made him categorize the festival as the first thing to finish before turning to his own brain’s problems.

“Are you ok?”.

Shoko asked Marco who was eating breakfast at 6am because he couldn’t sleep like the others.

“yeah, I had something else in mind after what I did but what happened was like a punishment” he answered while drinking his cup of coffee.

“Heeh! That’s unusual, the thing that is more unusual is how you can do that too, you shocked me” Shoko said as she took a seat next to him “Anyway!! I’m glad that you’re awake, I want some help and I couldn’t ask the others, they’re still asleep so help me, please!!?”.

Shoko begged him though she was sure that he’d tag along.

“Fine by me but if it’s something else then I’ll turn back home, understood” Marco sighed as he stood taking his dishes to the kitchen.

“Thank you !! We’ll go after I finish breakfast!”.

Shoko happily answered as she was eating quickly. Marco took a seat on the couch trying to process his latest thoughts, his mind was clear though.

“Are you done yet?” he asked as he wasn’t looking, only hearing her voices.

“Of course I am, let’s get going!! I want to get some ingredients for the wine tonight and some other stuff too!!”.

Shoko was happily wearing her jacket as Marco sighed, knowing it’s gonna be a long walk before returning home.

As they left the house by 7am, the two headed to the merchant district to see if they’ll find what they need, since the island was pretty much prepared especially for the holders of the old generation, along with Shoko’s reputation in the line of work, she was sure she’d fine good ingredients for the blue wine she wanted to prepare.

“Dark levs, frozen lake droplets and darklet crystals, Huffle roots… Isn’t this the same list as the one that Alex senpai gave me back then?”.

Marco was reading the list that Shoko gave him, noticing he’d used these before.

“You noticed! it’s the same but the way that I use them is different, this time they’re not for wine but something else. I may not look like it but the potions that you guys use are all my own work.”

Shoko had a smug face filled with confidence.

“I haven't used any potions since the first time I stepped in any dungeon, but well if you’re saying that means that you have a hard task, thank you”.

Marco crushed her confident smile as he stopped walking and looked behind.

“Is there something wrong?” Shoko asked, wondering why he stopped.

“Nothing interesting but I guess it’s better to hurry up this time,” Marco said as he went ahead.

After finishing the shopping, Marco put down the bags on the ground and looked behind him again.

“Are you sure about it?”.

Shoko asked him again as he told her what was going on and he was getting annoyed by the sense of someone watching him from behind.

“I’m fine with it, as long as no one catches my face I’m good with some quarrels. After all they’re the ones that started it” answered Marco.

Marco was sensing the euro of the person that was following him, in that second, he vanished from sight and instantly caught the person.

“You know, it’s not bad that you’re this far from the district, you saved me the trouble of!”.

Marco spoke not even lifting his guard up therefore he dodged an attack before finishing his words as both fell inside an abandoned building.

The shady person was wearing a mask along with a dark uniform that matches the council. Marco sighed as he was looking around him.

“A woman huh, and a sharp one too”.

Marco spoke, unveiling the bluff while releasing his serment as he saw that woman was flustered after she heard him. She thought she hid her appearance pretty well.

“You’re good!!”.

She spoke but the mask was applying a disturbance on the voice.

Marco looked around him again as he saw that she released her serment. The serment was a long, floating snake around her body, it had dozens of eyes on its back.

“That’s impressive!” Marco responded, instantly guarding an invisible shot.

The shot was fast and strong enough to make him lose balance for a second as the woman swiftly closed the distance with a euro ray ball about to hit Marco with it, therefore Marco pulled some chains restoring his balance, he added a fast swing from the side making the lady pull back.

“Nice moves!”.

He said again as she was preparing for her next attack. Marco sighed as he thought that it wasn’t really a good thing to conserve energy against her.

“I don’t know why but I guess since I’m a red mermaid member this is understandable. I’m not holding back”

Marco responded to the calm deadly vibe that she was releasing then instantly leaped behind her , he was close to slash her but the eyes on her serment spotted Marco and guarded the slash from his dark sword. Marco took a step to the back then was about to pierce through her defense as the lady was also about to attack him with the same attack like before, he took the chance and unleashed a wind thrust through the sword, letting the impact put some space between the two of them while the chains guarded the attack from behind, making again a space for him to use another wind thrust, blowing the lady away.

“Nice defenses.” he said as he was walking towards her.

“I’m the one who should say that” she responded as she stood.

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“Yeah yeah, let me hear your real voice after I break that mask of yours,” said Marco.

Marco responded as he threw the sword at her, boosting it with a wind thrust. The lady thought the hit was easy to deflect. The black sword was too heavy for her as it almost pierced through her barrier, however, she wasn’t ready for Marco to attack from the left side.

He was about to take the mask off of her therefore the lady released an instant second release blowing Marco away. Marco was quick enough to hit her with a wind thrust also blowing her to the other side. The mask’s durability was hard as the lady showed her satisfaction but the mask cracked as one eye of hers was revealed.

Marco stood as he saw part of her face was unveiled.

“A third is revealed, only two parts left”.

Marco stated before starting to stretch his arms and legs. At that moment the lady kept silent after realizing that the voice changer was also destroyed with that hit.

“Aren’t you going to talk? I wanna hear your voice,”.

Marco said, provoking her again as he was about to attack but he guarded a hit from the left and used the chains like a barrier to the second attack that blew a euro ray at him.

The hit made a fuss, so the councilors deployed themselves towards the building as fast as they could, therefore, neither Marco nor the lady were still inside the building by the time they arrived at the scene.

After escaping with no casualties, Marco returned to where Shoko was waiting for him.

“Are you ok, I saw that euro ray, was that you?” Shoko was asking him because she saw that his jacket was a little burned on the sides.

“I’m ok, I guess I won’t be wearing this jacket anymore though, and she thought I won’t notice that she marked me with something” Marco said as he was checking on his body.

“What do you mean?” Shoko was waiting for him to respond.

“Look here, it’s not the same but I confirmed that she’s from the council so I don’t need any other thing to look at, I’ll just erase it”.

Marco answered as he calmly erased the mark that the mysterious lady put on him. Shoko was quite puzzled about what Marco meant just a moment ago, although his acts right now pretty much calmed her.

“You sure that you don’t wanna talk about it, I mean you fought against someone from the council, it could give us some credibility?”.

Shoko asked worriedly as she saw him throw the jacket in the trash.

“Huh? no need for that. Let’s just get going so we can get prepared for tonight,” Marco took the bags from Shoko’s arms and went ahead.

“Just wait! Are you really ok with that?!” She insisted for a moment.

“What are you talking about? In the first place, if I wasn’t sure that I’m ok with that I would’ve just ignored it, you know that right?”.

Marco responded logically as Shoko fell silent, getting his words.

The two continued their way back to the mansion without any more thoughts about what just happened.

While they were walking Shoko was calm looking around her trying to see any other threats, not seeing ahead of her, she bumped into an old man.

“My apologies!!”.

The guy said and continued on his way, therefore, Marco caught what he tried to steal with chains and pulled him back, making him fall to the ground.

“I’m sure that the council hates us but stealing here is kinda lame, am I wrong sir?” Marco said, standing in front of the man.

“Ahaha!! the test was pretty much lame in front of you I guess!! Well I can say, no long time no see Shoko san! Marco kun!”

The guy said as both were surprised to see a familiar face.

“Dalian san!! Man! I was waiting to meet you somewhere around this place but for you to pull this kind of prank, you’re still doing that!!”.

Shoko helped him to get up as Marco sighed and removed his chains.

“More or less, What’s a council elder doing in the middle of the merchants district?”. Marco asked, looking at Dalian who startled for a second then pulled a smile.

“What do you mean?”.

Dalian asked as he saw Marco’s pale expressionless gaze slicing his nerves out.

“You’re an elder of the council?!” exclaimed Shoko.

Shoko was surprised to see Dalian pulling both of them to the side of the road, asking for it to be a secret.

“But how did you figure out my position in all of this?” Dalian asked Marco who was looking aside at the people around, ignoring both of them.

“Shoko san, master is waiting so why not heading back”.

Marco said as he confirmed that he ignored Dalian’s question.

“You’re ignoring me huh?! Well, see you at the banquet tonight then, later!” said Dalian.

Dalian was about to go on his way but then stopped looking at Marco who had to respond, after thinking it’ll be a problem if they suspect his current state.

“I had to beat that old man Eyezar so he would give me info. After all you two were also close friends, and not just with him but with my grandpa too. Anyway see you tonight at the banquet”. Marco said, turning to leave.

Shoko had to smile awkwardly while following him too. More or less, Yuna confirmed for Marco that Dalian was smiling vigilantly at what he said, showing that he was satisfied with that answer.

Later that night ,

“I can’t believe that one of the council punks tried to attack you, are you sure?”.

Carla asked as she was helping her mother, brushing Marco’s hair.

“I’m not lying though, it was a dark uniform. Although Sam said that the high ranked councilors can get a customized uniform for themselves and for the unit they work with if they want, I’m sure that I’ll meet her tonight”.

Marco said as Vanica pulled his hair harder the second he mentioned that it was a lady not a guy.

“We’re heading first to meet with Phillip san and the others!! so don’t get late!!” Alice said as she went out with Alex and Fabia’s girls.

“Ok!! we’ll follow once we are done too!! It’s weird, but it has been a while since the last time I wore a dress!!” Hana said.

Hana responded as the only ones who were inside the house were the Deca family, Hana, Sam and Shoko. They took their leave after closing the doors of the house.

“What do you think they’ll do after this?” Hana said as she was walking with Sophie who was filled with joy.

“Hmm, I’m not sure but I guess it’ll be like a normal feast. Some talk after announcing to the whole world that we are officially the guilds who will be helping the world to grow more under the council’s supervision,” Sam responded as they all looked at him.

“A typical classic talk for a bunch of royalties then, sigh” Marco complained.

“We hate that type of thing but we can’t really do a thing about it. Let’s just head there mainly for food!!”.

Hana was only thinking about dinner as Marco and Sam flicked her forehead because of that.

They took over twenty minutes to reach the location since the mansion was far. However, since Emilis told them to move a little earlier, they were just in time before the start of the event.

Mostly, the event was broadcasted all around the world with the help of the council as it was their own problem to deal with. And with calling all the guilds to the island, it was up for the councilors to do the work where most of them were deployed around the world for that day to keep things calm as much as they can.

“Seems none of them have arrived here after all?” Sam spoke as they all took a seat.

“What do you mean?” Marco asked.

Marco started to eat even before anyone else as he felt hungry.

“I’m talking about the other nine, you do remember that I was one of the top ten ranked councilors right?” Sam said as he was also eating.

“Seems like they’re out for work, that’s the least thing that the council would do to keep the festival going. At least not so they won’t be calling for us masters to help during this past month” Emilis responded, smiling smugly.

“Please do not talk about the past month cause you worked us up like hell,” Alice interjected over the statement which Emilis had a pouting reaction.

“She’s got a point you know that right!!” Xavier added.

“Not only that but we had to deal with a mess that was about to escalate faster if we hadn’t approached it safely”.

Marco responded afterwards as Emilis dropped the smiles off his face, heaving a big sigh.

“You guys always say that but then why the hell did I agree to train y’all in the first place, be happy for that!!” Emilis responded furiously.

The red mermaid members looked at him as Alex was about to respond but the lights turned off out of the blue.

“Welcome!! Ladies and Gentlemen!! The people who are watching us from their homes!! And the presidents of this world!! Everyone who happily joined us for this long awaited day!! I shall declare the start of the banquet of the euro society festival!!!”.

Dalian appeared on the stand as he was holding the mic to talk. Typically, a lot of applause came after he stopped talking with a good smile directed towards the cameras.

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