Chapter 170

Chapter 170: Chapter 170

"Of course! That’s completely fine. If any of you want to take your Apostle home for a few days, go ahead. I’ll order them to listen to you properly."

"Hmph!"

Seven pairs of eyes immediately snapped toward Marshall.

None of the little Apostles said anything, but even without using Information Magic to read their thoughts, Marshall could practically feel the resentment radiating from their side of the table.

For a moment, he actually felt guilty.

Then he caught himself.

’Wait a second. Why am I feeling guilty? I’m their creator!’

The more he thought about it, the more indignant he became.

’Look at how spoiled these little brats have gotten!’

Marshall promptly glared back.

The seven miniature girls held his gaze for several seconds before finally giving in, each responding with varying degrees of reluctance.

Only then did Marshall feel that the natural order of the household had been restored.

Probably.

Wendy, meanwhile, sat farther down the table with Carla and Ruby gathered close to her.

She kept glancing between the originals and their miniature counterparts, still not entirely sure why she had been dragged into this meeting in the first place.

Juvia had simply grabbed her and brought her along.

Unlike several of the older girls, Wendy honestly didn’t mind that Marshall had created an Apostle based on her appearance.

If anything, she found the whole thing rather novel.

Looking at Sloth felt almost like suddenly gaining a little sister—albeit a little sister with a somewhat worrying personality.

Ever since the meeting began, Sloth had been sprawled across the table like a flattened rice cake, too lazy even to sit upright.

She showed no interest in the arguments around her and barely bothered opening her eyes whenever someone spoke.

Wendy gently fussed over her miniature counterpart, studying her with open curiosity.

She knew Sloth was extremely powerful.

In fact, when it came specifically to her Curse-based healing ability, Sloth had already surpassed Wendy herself.

Marshall had initially given Sloth the foundation of Sky Magic, but later incorporated principles from Time Magic into her healing system.

As a result, Sloth no longer merely accelerated natural recovery.

When she touched an injury, she could partially reverse the wound’s personal timeline, effectively making the damage "flow backward" until the body returned to an earlier state.

In theory, if enough power were available, even a severed limb could be restored.

Wendy found that incredible.

More than anything, it reinforced something she had believed for a long time: Marshall-niisan was amazing.

He had created an artificial life-form using a magical system derived from her own abilities, yet that creation had already developed healing techniques Wendy herself couldn’t perform.

That only made Wendy even more confused about why the other girls seemed so bothered by the Apostles.

Lucy was equally uncertain about why she was sitting here.

Well...

That wasn’t entirely true.

She understood the basic reason.

What she didn’t understand was why Marshall had made Greed look like her in the first place.

Lucy considered herself many things, but greedy certainly wasn’t one of them!

More importantly, she had known Marshall for less than a month.

There were plenty of girls in Fairy Tail who had known him for years and were much closer to him.

So why, when Marshall needed a seventh model for the Seven Sins Apostles, had he chosen her?

Lucy didn’t resent it.

Quite the opposite.

Deep down, she actually felt strangely honored.

There were probably plenty of people who would happily volunteer to become the visual template for one of Marshall’s Apostles, yet he had given that final position to someone he had only recently met.

And Greed wasn’t just any Apostle.

Marshall’s strongest and most famous specialty was Spatial Magic.

And Greed’s core ability was Spatial Curse Power.

That was practically his signature field!

Lucy’s thoughts gradually wandered in a dangerous direction.

’Wait...’

’Does Marshall actually like me that much?’

A silly smile started creeping onto her face.

’Hehehe...’

’Maybe I’m more charming than I thought.’

Lucy glanced across the table.

Greed was already looking back at her.

The miniature Lucy smiled.

Lucy smiled too.

Then she began noticing something else.

As the Seven Sins developed stronger personalities, each one had started developing her own sense of style.

Pride—the miniature Erza—liked wearing a tiny crown, as though being merely named Pride wasn’t enough and she needed everyone to understand that she considered herself royalty.

Wrath, who resembled a little Mira, wore her hair in twin tails and somehow managed to make even that hairstyle look aggressive.

Gluttony, the miniature Cana, hated shoes and preferred floating around barefoot whenever possible.

Lust, based on Levy, had grown horns and a tail after gaining access to Life Magic.

Envy looked like a tiny Juvia whose cold expression could probably kill someone by itself.

Sloth resembled a miniature Wendy who had somehow transformed into a permanently sleepy rice dumpling.

And then there was Greed.

Lucy tilted her head.

Greed had... nothing.

No crown.

No unusual hairstyle.

No strange clothing preference.

No horns, tail, icy aura, or permanent state of near-unconsciousness.

She simply looked exactly like Lucy had as a child.

Even her behavior showed almost none of the obvious "greed" Lucy would have expected from someone literally named after the sin.

Compared with the other six, Greed almost looked like someone who had received her position through connections and then forgotten to develop a gimmick.

Which was another reason Lucy had never really objected to her existence.

She had only attended this meeting because Juvia had dragged her here along with everyone else.

Come to think of it...

What exactly had this meeting been for?

Lucy was still pondering that question when Erza stood up.

"Well, then."

She looked toward Pride.

"I’ll take ’myself’ with me. I’ve been interested in that sword-control technique of hers for a while, and I’d like to test it personally."

Pride lifted her chin but did not object, evidently remembering Marshall’s command.

Mira rose next, smiling pleasantly toward Wrath.

"Then Wrath can come with me~"

Wrath immediately looked suspicious.

"Marshall mentioned that I might be able to try using Take Over on you someday, so I hope you’ll cooperate nicely."

The sweetness in Mira’s voice somehow made Wrath sit a little straighter.

Erza and Mira soon left with their miniature counterparts.

Juvia was next.

She and Envy had spent the entire meeting glaring at each other with such intensity that everyone else had begun instinctively avoiding the space between them.

Juvia abruptly stood up.

"Juvia’s going to teach you what proper manners look like!"

Before Envy could react, Juvia scooped her up and hurried from the room with her miniature counterpart tucked firmly under one arm.

Levy followed soon after.

She turned toward Lust with a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.

"I also have a lot of things I’d like to discuss with... Lust."

Lust stared back suspiciously.

Levy took her by the hand anyway.

"Come along."

The two disappeared through the door.

The meeting room emptied with surprising speed.

Before Lucy knew it, only Cana, Wendy, and herself remained among the originals.

And that was when she finally remembered the actual objective of the gathering.

They had come here to separate the Seven Sins Apostles from Marshall for a while.

That had been the plan.

Somehow... it had worked almost absurdly easily.

Wendy, meanwhile, approached Sloth with genuine enthusiasm.

She crouched beside the miniature girl and spoke gently.

"Um... Sloth? Shall we go too?"

Sloth remained melted across the tabletop.

"No wanna move~"

She slowly lifted both arms toward Wendy.

"Carry me~"

Wendy’s face immediately softened.

"All right, all right. This big Sis will carry you."

She carefully lifted Sloth onto her back.

Sloth settled there almost instantly, wrapped her arms loosely around Wendy’s shoulders, and appeared ready to fall asleep before they had even reached the door.

Wendy looked happier than anyone else in the entire meeting, practically glowing with newly discovered big-sister energy as she carried Sloth away.

Soon, only Cana and Lucy remained.

Cana still hadn’t moved.

Instead, she sat with her arms folded and studied Gluttony, who had spent nearly the entire meeting quietly reading a book.

"Now that I think about it..."

Cana glanced toward Marshall.

"Gluttony doesn’t seem particularly interested in food."

She pointed at the miniature version of herself.

"So why is she called Gluttony?"

Marshall spread his hands.

"Because ordinary food isn’t what she eats."

Cana raised an eyebrow.

"She feeds on emotion."

Marshall nodded toward Gluttony.

"Her Curse Power reserves are the largest of all seven Apostles. In fact, how far the Seven Sins can eventually develop depends heavily on how much emotional energy Gluttony can process. She’s one of the most important pieces in my entire artificial-life research."

That caught Cana’s interest.

Marshall continued, "She’s also the calmest of the seven, which probably makes her the one whose personality differs most from her original."

He gestured toward the book.

"If you want proof, we’ve been holding this meeting forever and she’s spent nearly the entire time quietly reading."

Gluttony finally lifted her eyes from the page.

"I like... knowledge."

Marshall immediately gave her an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

"See? Gluttony is also the smartest of the Seven Sins."

He nodded proudly.

"You could probably call her my most perfect creation."

Cana considered that for a moment.

Then nodded with complete seriousness.

"Not bad."

She took a drink.

"Very much like me."

Lucy stared at her.

’WHERE DOES SHE LOOK LIKE YOU?!’

She desperately wanted to know which part of this quiet, book-loving genius Cana believed resembled herself!

Before Lucy could ask, Cana turned toward her.

"Lucy."

"Hm?"

"Why are you still here?"

Lucy blinked.

"What do you mean? Cana, you haven’t left either..."

Cana stared at her.

"I live here."

"..."

Lucy’s face slowly turned red.

Right.

Cake Tower.

Cana’s home.

Of course.

"S-Sorry!"

Lucy shot to her feet.

"I’m leaving!"

She hurried from the room before the embarrassment could get any worse.

...

Only after leaving Cake Tower did Lucy finally realize there was still someone following her.

A tiny set of footsteps had remained behind her the entire way.

Lucy stopped and slowly turned.

And found a miniature version of herself standing there.

Greed smiled brightly as Lucy’s face stiffened.

"Oh!"

She had genuinely forgotten about her.

"S-Sorry! Sorry! I almost left you behind."

Lucy hurriedly tried to recover.

"Um... I’m Lucy. Let’s get along from now on, okay?"

Greed giggled.

"I know that already, other me."

Lucy blinked.

The little Apostle placed both hands behind her back.

"But I don’t have a proper name, so you can just call me Greed."

Lucy’s expression became awkward.

Calling a child who looked exactly like her younger self Greed every day felt incredibly strange.

"Uh... maybe not."

She thought for a moment.

"How about I call you Little Lucy instead?"

Greed smiled immediately.

"Sure~"

Lucy relaxed.

"Great. Little Lucy it is."

They continued walking.

After a few steps, Lucy noticed something unusual.

"Hey, Little Lucy."

"Yes?"

"You speak way more fluently than the others."

The other Apostles could communicate, but most still spoke in simple sentences and occasionally stumbled over unfamiliar words.

Greed’s speech sounded almost completely natural.

The little girl nodded enthusiastically.

"Mm-hmm! Because I’m very greedy, so I worked really hard at learning how to talk. Everyone else will slowly get better at it too."

Lucy stopped walking.

She scratched her head.

"Wait."

Greed looked up.

Lucy frowned in genuine confusion.

"What does being greedy have to do with studying harder?"

The miniature Lucy smiled.

"Other me."

"Hm?"

"What do you think greed actually is?"

Lucy opened her mouth.

Then closed it.

She thought very seriously.

"Well..."

Her knowledge of the Seven Sins was hardly scholarly.

"I guess it’s someone who already has tons of money but still keeps squeezing ordinary people for more? Like some greedy noble who can never have enough wealth, status, land, food, and ends up getting ridiculously fat?"

Greed giggled.

"That’s the greed of ordinary people."

She walked beside Lucy with her hands clasped behind her back.

"Ordinary people often crave money, power, and status because those things are valuable to them."

Her expression became strangely thoughtful for someone who looked so young.

"But my lord—the great creator who made us—isn’t an ordinary person like that."

Lucy listened more carefully.

"We were created by my lord, so the foundations of the way we think come from thoughts and concepts that already existed within him."

Greed tapped her own chest.

"My lord doesn’t particularly care about money, authority, or social status. Because he doesn’t strongly desire those things, the ’greed’ inherited by me naturally wouldn’t focus on them either."

Lucy’s eyes widened slightly.

"Ohhh..."

That actually made sense.

"Marshall really doesn’t seem obsessed with money."

She thought about it.

"He likes making money when it’s convenient, but mostly because it funds whatever insane project he wants to build next."

Greed nodded.

"Exactly."

Lucy became increasingly curious.

"Then what does Marshall want most?"

She began counting possibilities on her fingers.

"Knowledge?"

"Research?"

"New kinds of Magic?"

Greed shook her head.

"No."

Lucy blinked.

"Really?"

"To my lord, knowledge is more like food."

Greed smiled.

"It is something he constantly consumes because he needs and enjoys it."

She lifted one finger.

"That domain belongs more naturally to Gluttony."

Lucy stared at her.

If knowledge itself represented Gluttony...

Then what could possibly represent Marshall’s Greed?

Greed’s smile became a little more mysterious.

"My lord’s true greed is..."

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