Lucy wiped away her tears.
Everything unfolding before her made her think of her own father.
In the past, her relationship with him had once fallen apart as well.
After her mother passed away, things between father and daughter had grown unbearably strained.
If Master Marco had not appeared, Lucy didn't even dare imagine where her relationship with her father would have ended up.
'I should go back and see him.'
Lucy quietly told herself that.
Hisui, who stood beside her, felt the same.
She wanted to go home and visit her own old father too, though he was probably busy with matters related to the Grand Magic Games right now.
It was easy to imagine that quite a few Fairy Tail members would be taking leave to go home over the next few days.
Of course, being a mage was a free profession to begin with. Whether one worked or not was entirely up to the individual.
There was no attendance sheet to clock into, so anyone who wanted to leave could simply go.
The cruel part was that among Fairy Tail's main force, people like Lucy, who still had a father to visit, were already in the minority.
So there was no need to worry about the guild's strongest members being absent.
That was just how an orphanage-like guild worked.
No need to celebrate Father's Day or Mother's Day!
...
The banquet began soon afterward.
There really were many things to celebrate this time, and the atmosphere quickly grew lively.
The three members of the Thunder God Tribe even made a special trip to call Laxus over.
As for being officially welcomed back into Fairy Tail, Laxus's expression was complicated, but of course he did not refuse.
Fairy Tail was his home, after all.
To be accepted by his family again and return like a wandering son finally coming home was naturally a good thing.
"Now that Laxus is back too, we can defend the championship throne even more easily!"
Natsu shouted at the top of his lungs.
What he was talking about, of course, was the Grand Magic Games.
Over the past few days, the new rules for the Games had also been finalized.
Just as previously discussed, S-Class Mages would now be allowed to participate.
Meanwhile, the previous year's champion would directly become the final boss to be challenged by the other guilds.
Naturally, Fairy Tail would be the defending champion this year.
To make the Grand Magic Games more exciting, allowing S-Class Mages to join was an inevitable trend.
And removing Fairy Tail from the normal bracket was also necessary, because they were simply too overpowered.
They had won championship after championship, forming an outright dynasty.
Marco and Fairy Tail had no objection to these changes.
There was nothing they could do about it. If they kept crushing everyone year after year, eventually no one else would want to play.
Making a few appropriate concessions was also a way to keep the other guilds willing to participate.
Hisui's father, King Toma, had truly poured his heart and soul into the Grand Magic Games.
He had finally managed to obtain the job of host from Marco, so of course he did not want the tournament to slowly decline.
If it died out, where else would he get to continue being the host?
Compared to Marco and Fairy Tail, the tournament's actual founders, King Toma cared about the Grand Magic Games far more.
He even complained often that Marco was too hands-off.
Seeing how passionate the king was, Marco had simply entrusted the entire operation of the Grand Magic Games to the Fiore Kingdom's officials.
Now the venue, resource allocation, final rewards, and all other arrangements were handled by the kingdom.
King Toma no longer needed to build something separate from scratch.
He had directly become the largest sponsor of the Grand Magic Games, giving the tournament genuine official recognition and even turning it into a formal ranking system for mage guilds.
"Hisui, when you go back, tell your father that this rule still needs a slight adjustment."
As Marco spoke, he looked toward Hisui.
Hisui had already come to him earlier to request leave to go home, so he might as well have her pass along the rule change too.
"All right. What should I tell him?"
Hisui nodded seriously, then took a small notebook from her bag and prepared to write everything down.
This was something she had to record properly.
There could not be even the smallest mistake.
"Allowing other guilds' S-Class Mages to participate is fine. The preliminaries, group stage, and battle rounds will definitely become more exciting that way. But our guild still needs to participate as well, just like before, with a team made up of non-S-Class Mages. As for Fairy Tail's S-Class Mages, they can directly form the final boss team."
Marco thought for a moment before giving his plan.
Skipping the competition and appearing directly as the final boss certainly had style, but Fairy Tail was not made up only of its strongest members.
The final boss team did not need that many people.
The S-Class Mages alone would be enough. The others still needed to participate properly and gain experience.
Now that Natsu and Gray had become S-Class Mages, Fairy Tail had lost two major fighters who could take part in the regular rounds.
Meanwhile, the S-Class Mages from other guilds would be allowed to compete directly.
With one side losing strength and the other gaining it, the pressure on the rest of the tournament should ease somewhat.
At the very least, the matches would no longer look completely one-sided.
Surely the other guilds would have no objections to that.
"Got it. I've written it down. Anything else?"
Hisui carefully noted everything, then asked.
"That's all. King Toma is doing very well. Tell him to keep it up."
Marco smiled and shook his head, even offering the king a word of praise.
Love really was the best teacher and the greatest source of motivation.
King Toma, who had no interest whatsoever in governing the country, was now working day and night over the Grand Magic Games with astonishing dedication.
"Father will definitely be very happy to hear Master say that."
Hisui closed her notebook, a smile appearing on her face.
She knew that receiving praise from Master Marco would make her father extremely happy.
After all, a powerful mage like Master Marco was exactly the kind of person her father admired most.
To King Toma, Marco's words carried far more weight than anything said by nobles or ministers.
"..."
Marco shook his head wordlessly.
At this rate, King Toma might as well abdicate early and focus entirely on the Grand Magic Games.
It would spare him the misery of ruling, and handing the kingdom over to Hisui would certainly be no problem.
"Still a little too early."
Looking at Hisui, who had already left and was now chatting happily with Lucy, Marco dismissed the thought again.
Taking on such heavy pressure too early was not necessarily a good thing.
He should let Hisui enjoy a few more years of happy mage adventures first.
After all, that was the kind of life her father could only dream of having.
"Laxus, Erza, Mira, Natsu, Gray. This time, the final boss team will be the five of you."
After deciding the rules, Marco confirmed the members of the final boss team.
Gildarts did not enjoy participating in events like this.
He had no interest in bullying people.
More importantly, his magic was too destructive and generally unsuited for friendly competition.
Only when sparring with the children of his own guild would he put serious effort into controlling himself.
In a tournament like this, he would have to aim for victory while carefully controlling his strength so he didn't injure anyone.
That was simply too tiring and troublesome.
Of course, the most important reason was that the children of the guild were reliable.
Even without him joining, they would definitely be able to win.
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