28th chapter : the world that longs to you – 3 –
After finishing the selection and everyone chatting until the end of the party, Rachel felt that she needed to thank Marco for a reason.
“Thank you Marco san!!” Rachel said as she entered the kitchen with Maria.
“Huh, for what?” he replied pretending to not know anything.
“Don’t play the dumb now, since it was thanks to you!!” Maria tried to tease him.
“Is that true? he didn’t tell me anything!!!” Carla responded after entering.
“Thanks to you too, Carla san helped in this party too!!” Rachel was too pure hearted.
Seconds later, the four of them heard yelling in the next room.
“Like I told you!! since she’s the niece of my vice master!! I’m taking her in!!!” the guild master of the Night owls was arguing with Emilis.
“You have plenty of holders!! and she lives in the palm city!!! I can’t let such a good hearted kid go to you!!” Emilis was holding tight to Rachel.
“What’s going on ? ” Marco asked after arriving.
“They’re fighting over Rachel?” Arthur replied.
“Is that so!?” Maria looked aside to see her father getting along with Shoko while drinking.
“They really don’t intend to stop, do they?” another woman said as she appeared between them.
“Annie neesan!!” Ralph said as he was surprised to see Annie.
Ten minutes later after explaining the things to Annie,
“I see!! So Rachel chan is a navigator now!! Congratulations!!!” she greeted her with a head pat “Now may I ask you my dear. What do you think? Which guild do you want to join!?” Annie was the most accountable one.
“Spoken like a good master, finally someone who’s not crazy”.
Marco said on his own not thinking that It might hurt the feelings of the other two guild masters such as Emilis. Rachel was troubled since it was the first time for her to have this number of people wanting to take her in.
“Rachel, if you don’t have anywhere to go. I’ll gladly take you in!!” Annie said out of the blue, breaking the silence “I mean, these two are some airheads that can’t show the best in you!!”.
Her words weren’t of someone who looked to Marco as a responsible person instead she joined the childish part of the argument.
“I take back what I just said” Marco sighed at the current situation.
“Uh, uhm. I would like to refuse any of your suggestions!!” Rachel said with a smile and a bit of embarrassment.
The three masters stopped moving for a few seconds then Emilis looked aside and took a deep breath.
“Look what you made me lose Jeanne!!” he grabbed the night owls’ master as he started shaking her.
“The heck is your problem!! I did nothing wrong!!” Jeanne was also arguing with him.
The rest of the attendees were just watching silently as they thought it was cringe to start arguing too.
“Well , what I wanted to say is I wanna finish my studies first!! I’m a navigator and kinda not really needed in dungeons and stuff, so I’m willing to continue in the path of the non-holders people!!” Rachel explained herself as she shocked Rin and Adelt the most.
“Huh?! Haaa!!?! What do you mean dearry!?!” Adelt asked.
“Don’t worry grandpa!! I’ll always be in Roselle's mansion, I just wanna see the things from different aspects!!” Rachel was as pure as ever as she made them all shocked for a simple reason, “And of course!! I’m gonna stay with Maria and Ralph kun!! they’re my dear friends. So If I got ahead of them and joined a guild they’ll be really sad!!”.
She had a good intention, therefore it didn’t stop Jeanne and Emilis from fighting though Annie had stepped aside because of it.
“The party ended up as a disaster, I guess I’m gonna be in my office sobbing if anyone needs me” Emilis said after everyone leaving the restaurant.
“Man is he really upset because we didn’t get any new members?” Carla said as she was cleaning.
“It seems that our current number is quite really small compared to other guilds” Alice responded as she was holding the sleeping Sophie.
“I see, Compared in strength scale?” Marco asked.
“We are not that weak but not that strong too. There’s a tradition where a guild can declare war on another guild just to raise up in the rank system at the council. If I remember they tried it once we formed the guild” Alex was also helping in the cleaning.
“Oh!! I remember that! because they didn’t believe that Emilis was the strongest they went and tried to attack us many times at night. They tried to ambush us but they ended up losing the war. And since the declared on guild can’t get high ranked if it’s just defending”.
Shoko spoke as she told Marco and Carla, who didn’t know that before, Marco asked again as he seemed to want to know something else.
“Does that mean Alex senpai and the others are the founding members?” He was straightforward with it.
They all looked at him then grinned awkwardly.
“I won’t really say that we are the founding members but the red mermaid has many strong points and a deep history!!” Zack was getting frustrated but kinda feeling relieved that Marco asked.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“At any point, there’s this upcoming festival. If we succeeded in getting the top place!! we may be called the founding members after all, and all of us I guess”. Xavier spoke too and was also getting excited about that simple question.
Upon hearing about the festival Marco didn’t seem to be giving it any interest. They headed home after finishing the whole work.
“Is there something wrong?”.
Alex asked as the two of them were in the kitchen. She was doing some paperwork for the school tomorrow as he was keeping her company while washing the dishes since they were all still staying at his house.
“Nothing, I’m thinking about the festival thing and I figured that it’s kinda weird” Marco responded with a sigh at the end as Alex looked at him.
“Oya, you who have joined us not long ago. Found it weird!?” Alex tried to tease him.
“It’s not about time but rather than that, its situation? in this case it isn’t like the guild master is also allowed to fight?” Marco was ignoring her teasing and spoke in a logical way.
Alex looked at him and found it logical too
“If you look at it, I believe in master’s strength being number one though I never saw it. Therefore it’s kinda harsh not to say that they’ll team up against us”.
Marco said some logical things again as Alex stopped thinking about her work and looked at him with a deep breath moment.
“You know what, I know it’s logic and since master Emilis is strong I don’t wanna say that they’ll team up against us. It might be a royal battle, or a royal hunting but let’s not think about it”.
Alex was running from the assumption that it might be true or else the assumption of what level that Emilis can hold during the period of the festival. Alex soaked in her thinking bath for a good couple of minutes trying to process what Marco was trying to deliver as an opinion.
The moment she looked down Marco said,
“I have a suggestion but I guess master will approve it to a certain extent based on his skills”.
She looked up to him then asked about his suggestion, however Marco refused to answer, telling her that she needs to focus on her work and go to sleep since she has a hard day of work tomorrow after skipping the work on the anniversary day.
The next day at midday,
“This is the second time in a row senpai. Start using me as an errand boy and I’ll kick you out of the house”.
Marco complained as he had to deliver the lunch for Alex again, finding himself not only bringing food but also test papers that she forgot at the house.
“Ahaha!! Really sorry!! You know I’ve been really mixed up with two works at a time!!” She tried to laugh out the problem.
“oh, Marco kun came again!” Sia said as she entered the room of teachers to find Marco sitting on Alex’s side who was eating her food.
“Marco, Are you willing to return to school?”.
Sia asked all of a sudden since it’s Marco’s second time for a while to enter the school. Looking to how Alex reacted as she heard the question Marco sighed and looked aside responding with a no, saying that he still needs to look after his family.
“I see, well I’ll be glad if you give it a thought!!” Sia was trying to get him back.
As Marco understood their game, in the end it wasn’t only the idea of Sia but also Alex, Alice and the rest in the guild. They didn’t want him to see this kind of life like the way they’re living.
Seeing how Alex reacted, Marco sighed and took his leave.
“Marco kun!! Good day!!” Rachel said as she came from behind after seeing him go out from the teacher’s room.
“Good day, how’s school?” Marco greeted back as he asked after that.
“Nothing new is happening!! I’m too bored and classes didn’t end well on my side!!” she snorted a sigh.
Rachel was complaining straight in his face as Marco found it kind of strange, thinking that he never accepted her as a friend or that kind of thing.
While walking Marco noticed that many people recognized him since he wasn’t wearing his work outfit and not even fixing his hair like the way Shoko did it to him. Considering that he wasn’t in the mood too, Rachel smiled at him.
“Say!! want me to brush your hair!! since lunchtime hasn't ended yet!! the others are waiting in the student council’s room!! Tag along with us again!!”.
Marco looked at her and sighed.
“Listen, I helped you but I don’t really consider you as friends you know. I just thought it was the right thing to do, that’s it” Marco said as he was being pushed by her.
Though he said all that, Marco ended up sitting for her and getting his hair done the way she likes it. Maria thought it was fun and tried her side too and Marco got his way of staying around reading books from the room, along with Yuna as the three of them went to their classes.
“a call from Alex? again?” Marco said as he took out his phone “hey?” he said, picking up his phone.
“You picked up!! Marco I need your help!!”.
Alex said then instantly stopped talking as Marco hung up the phone in her face.
“He hung up?!?! he hung up!!!” Alex said as she was talking in the middle of the teacher’s room.
She wasn’t alone as Sia and other teachers were with her.
“Sigh, I’m late for the night shift and they’re trying to lure more work on me. Well, things are good that I went out on my own” Marco said as he was in the front yard of the school walking his way out.
Later that day he got scolded by Alex and scolded her for what she did though both of them had to hear Alice roaring at them for their childish act.
And again the two found themselves again sitting on the same table after dinner while everyone was sleeping.
“Well?” she said, starting the conversation.
“Don’t -well-me? you know I hate that. Anyway it’s not what you guys think” Marco sighed as he put a cup of coffee for her.
“What do you mean?” she asked after drinking.
“I’m not running away from school but I just don’t feel like my place is there, I’m just more compatible with work and the restaurant more. Even if I didn’t meet you guys I’ll end up the same way, while doing it for me, I’d rather send Carla instead. Unlike me she only studied at home from the beginning due to her knowledge about the euro society, she didn’t really get real friends because of that” Marco said as he pointed at a good logic point again.
“You have a straight point again” Alex admitted in the end.
“I’m sure she’ll love going to school like any other normal person, I’m also sure that you guys are desperately trying to run away from the euro society” Marco took a sip of the coffee too.
Alex heard him clearly and felt uneasy
“we are…”.
She tried to clear her intentions therefore Marco sighed, stopping her.
“Whatever you guys passed through, I’ll respect it but if you won’t make any good decisions you might end up being not only discriminated against. Rather than that we all will end up in some place that we really hate” Marco interjected as his eyes were showing more than what he said.
Alex saw the bloodlust in his dead eyes and laughed a little, avoiding to reply to his words. Marco sighed and didn’t really want to make it worse but looking to how she reacted he figured that she won’t be calling for him no matter what happens, taking in account that she ended up seeing him kill a bunch of people with no meekness.
“Senpai, don’t think too much about what I said. I just kinda feel like no matter what I’ll end up dying in a crawling dark place alone, It’s not the same for you guys though, you have lives you need to cherish, need to live and protect, that’s why no matter what keep going!!”
Marco had to smile through his talk.
As a result Alex noticed that even if it was a fake one it was the last scream of his dead soul. At the end, she had to return that anxious smile.
“Ah, you really are a thoughtful person. I dunno how your thinking goes too but I’ve made up my mind!! Even if It’s the last thing I do, I'll make you long for the world that will long to you at some certain point. Not as your senior in the guild and not as your teacher in school. I’ll do it as the big sister that wants to protect her little brother” Alex responded to his words as she smiled at him.
Marco noticed that it was her own white soul crying in her arms.
In the end, he didn’t want to make her think she was wrong and smiled, sighing though it was a satisfaction smile that one only time.
………………..……………………………………………