"What about you, Marco?" Natsu asked in surprise.
Then he immediately took a flick to the forehead.
Marco sent him tumbling to the floor with one finger and replied irritably, "This time, I'm obviously participating as the Guild Master. What kind of guild has its Guild Master personally step into the arena?"
Only after Marco said that did Natsu remember.
The current Guild Master of Fairy Tail was already Marco.
"Haha! Serves you right!"
Seeing Natsu get smacked, Gray laughed happily.
Natsu absolutely deserved it.
The old man had only just announced that he was passing the position of Guild Master to Marco, and Natsu had already forgotten after just a short while.
If he didn't get hit, who would?
Of course, Gray himself had not reacted right away either.
He had only been a step slower.
Otherwise, the one getting hit would have been him.
"Gray, you bastard! Are you picking a fight?!"
Gray's mockery naturally infuriated Natsu.
After being flicked by Marco, he temporarily lacked the confidence to challenge him and could only swallow it.
But if Gray dared laugh at him, then Natsu absolutely could not let that slide.
He had to teach this guy a lesson.
"What? You did something stupid, and now people aren't allowed to laugh?"
Gray was not afraid of Natsu in the slightest and immediately pushed back.
He didn't think he had said anything wrong either.
Natsu had deserved to get hit!
Was he allowed to act dumb, but no one else was allowed to laugh at him for it?
"Damn it!"
Natsu roared and immediately prepared to throw himself at Gray.
Bang!!!
However, Erza stepped forward and, as always, dealt with them both with one punch each, smashing them to their knees and instantly making them behave.
"Look at yourselves. What kind of behavior is this? You're both S-Class Mages now, yet you're still making trouble like children. Aren't you ashamed?"
Erza's face was dark as she scolded Natsu and Gray.
This time, she was genuinely serious.
S-Class Mages could absolutely be considered the face of a guild.
Many major commissions were even requested by name, and what mattered most was reputation.
For example, Laxus might have had all sorts of issues within the guild before, but his work record had never been a problem. Important clients often specifically requested him by name.
That was because the professionalism of an S-Class Mage had been recognized.
An S-Class Mage was supposed to be a top-tier professional, the kind of person who never failed a commission.
But looking at Natsu and Gray?
Forget top-tier professionals.
They looked more like two walking disaster bombs.
Not reliable at all!
Completely unfit to be shown off.
"Don't be so strict, Erza. They only just got promoted, so they still don't really understand what being S-Class means. Give them some time. They'll grow into it."
Marco smiled and stepped in to stop Erza, who had continued scolding them.
When Erza went all out with that stern, serious lecture, Natsu and Gray didn't even dare make a sound.
But these two were not the sort of people who would truly learn just because they got yelled at a few times.
They still had to experience things and understand it for themselves.
"If we don't discipline them properly, they'll really start thinking they can do whatever they want."
Erza gave Marco a deeply dissatisfied look for speaking up on Natsu and Gray's behalf.
When the old man had been Guild Master, he had always been like this.
Now Marco had only just become Guild Master, and he was already starting too.
Was there something wrong with the position of Guild Master itself?
"You're right. If they need scolding, then of course they should be scolded."
The moment Erza glared at him, Marco immediately smiled and agreed.
At a time like this, the only sensible choice was to smooth her feathers. Otherwise, he would be lectured right alongside them.
Even when the old man had been Guild Master, Erza had never held back when she had something to say. Now that it was Marco, she had even fewer reservations.
"Marco, as Guild Master, you need to shoulder your responsibilities too. You have to properly manage these two. You can't keep letting them run wild."
Before Marco could say anything else, Mirajane stepped forward to support Erza.
Her face was full of righteous seriousness, but the smile in her eyes was impossible to hide.
Marco spread his hands and gave a helpless smile.
Then he could only glare fiercely at Natsu and Gray.
All he had done was speak one word in their defense, and the two "queens" had immediately seized the opportunity to turn their fire on him instead.
"Then you two can continue lecturing them."
Marco raised both hands and chose to sell out his teammates directly.
Natsu and Gray were tough anyway. Getting beaten and scolded was already part of their everyday lives.
They might as well draw the fire for him.
"Marco?!"
Natsu and Gray immediately stopped pretending to be dead and stared at him in shock.
Wasn't his change of position a little too fast?
He had been speaking up for them just a moment ago, and now he had sold them out in the blink of an eye.
"That's more like it. If they make mistakes, they should take responsibility. You can't blindly protect them. When punishment is necessary, they must be punished. Only then will they remember the lesson and avoid making the same mistake next time."
Seeing that Marco was no longer stopping her, Erza was satisfied.
However, after Marco's interruption, her earlier anger had mostly faded, so she no longer continued hunting Natsu and Gray down.
She let them off for the moment.
"..."
Marco silently thought that Natsu and Gray had not even really made a mistake this time.
They had only been bickering a little.
Erza truly was Fairy Tail's disciplinary committee chair.
Whenever she was around, everyone somehow became much more normal.
Of course, it was not because they were afraid of her.
Probably.
Still, for someone in a position of authority, having a "disciplinary officer" like Erza around was actually rather useful.
As long as you could tolerate her correcting you too, she was absolutely a capable partner who made the guild much easier to manage.
As for Mirajane, on the other hand, she was even more crucial to the guild's operation.
Over the past few years, Mirajane and Lisanna had completely taken over the front desk, check-ins, job registration, and reward settlement.
Without the sisters, the guild might genuinely stop functioning.
As Guild Master, Marco would still need to rely heavily on Erza and Mirajane.
Fairy Tail could not do without those two.
And neither could Marco.
Sitting off to the side drinking, Makarov watched Marco handle guild affairs and get glared at by Erza and Mirajane.
The old man was enjoying himself immensely.
At last, it was his turn to sit back and watch the show.
Did Marco really think being Guild Master was so easy?
There were plenty of hidden difficulties involved. Even ruling by delegation did not mean throwing both hands up and doing nothing at all.
The other person enjoying the scene quite a bit, naturally, was Laxus.
In the end, Marco had truly become Guild Master. Laxus had nothing he couldn't accept about that. Marco really was suited for the position.
Watching Marco suffer a little, however, made Laxus feel like this was exactly what he deserved.
If Laxus had become Guild Master instead, would Erza and Mirajane dare lecture him like that?
No, surely they wouldn't...
Probably.