Hi again! This is one of the three sequels to Gladiolus.
Yes, I know, it's featuring Original Characters, so a lot of people may not read this story in comparison to the other installments which will featuring Black Clover characters more. I just really wanted to write the story, even if no one reads it. I think it's a story worth telling and fits in the vein of the themes of Black Clover.
Clover Kingdom
Forsaken Realm
Rayaka
One Month after Family Day
Day of the Magic Knights' Entrance Exam
Today was the day her life changed. Aubrey Waters had been waiting for this day since she was a little girl. She was grateful that she just turned 15 three months ago, which gave her enough time to get a few spells and train in time for the Magic Knights' Exam. Her magic affinity was sand, not a super powerful affinity in her opinion and definitely not flashy like fire or water, and her mana was average especially for someone in the Forsaken Realm, but she was a hard-worker. Since her honorary big brother, Magna, became a Magic Knight, Aubrey knew that she was going to be able to do it too.
"Yer all jittery, kiddo," said Miss Shula, Magna's mom. Miss Shula and Aubrey's cantankerous grandmother, Aru, were standing in the town center waiting for Aubrey's ride to the Capital. Due to the travel bans, Aubrey and the other examinees for the Magic Knights' Exam had be picked up by a member of the Magic Knights. She knew that Big Bro Magna and Mr. Finral were coming to pick her up because Miss Shula was friends with the Wizard King these days.
"I'm just excited," said Aubrey, hopping up and down in place. She had so much excess energy. Miss Shula stopped from her bouncing off. Aubrey let Miss Shula fix her dirty blond hair that came undone from her ponytail.
"Don't get your hopes up, Aubrey," said Grandma Aru, arms crossed and scowl on her face. Since Aubrey's parents traveled to another bigger town nearby every day for work, Aubrey was raised by Grandma Aru. "I'll have plenty of chores for you when you come home cryin' that you failed."
Aubrey didn't respond. She found it was easier to not argue with her grandmother about anything. As long as Aubrey did all her chores, schoolwork, went to Church on Sundays and did her three-hours at the grocery in the afternoon, Aubrey was able to do whatever else she wanted without much complaint from Grandma Aru. It was how she found time to train her magic.
Miss Shula frowned at Aubrey's grandma and said, with enough respect in her voice not to sound rude. "Now, Misses Aru, Aubrey's been working real hard to take the exams since she's been able to walk."
Grandma Aru cut off Miss Shula and snapped, "Just because your son somehow got into one of the squads doesn't mean Aubrey has a chance. She's small for her age and her magic is nothing special."
Aubrey tuned her grandmother out when she got in her beast mode, but she saw that Miss Shula was getting angrier and angrier. "Ah, Miss Shula! Do you think that Big Bro and Mr. Finral are gonna be late?"
"Nah, they'd better not be," said Miss Shula, attention diverted from chewing out beast mode Grandma Aru. "This is their damn punishment for the stunt they pulled months ago, those brat."
On cue, a spatial magic portal opened up and out stepped was Big Bro Magna and Mr. Finral. Aubrey was super happy to see them both again. The Black Bull members stopped by a lot when they were doing nearby missions to visit Miss Shula—Aubrey had met them all except Captain Yami, Mr. Henry, and their wanderer-at-heart Mr. Zora.
"Big Bro!"
"Hey, Little Aubrey. You ready to kick some ass today?!" Big Bro Magna gave her a big bear hug and picked her up. His hugs were always warm due to his magical affinity.
"You bet," said Aubrey, pumped up at the encouragement from her Big Bro. "Hiya, Mr. Finral!"
"Good luck today, Aubrey," said Mr. Finral, kindly. "We had better get going, we need to get her on that line for check-in immediately."
Big Bro Magna put her down on the ground and gave her an appraising look. "You look ready! Great, say goodbye to Misses Aru and my Ma."
Aubrey gave Miss Shula a hug and quickly hugged her grandmother. "See you soon!"
"Give it your all," cheered Miss Shula.
"I'll have supper ready," said Grandma Aru, bluntly.
Aubrey ignored the statement, as Magna guided her to the new portal that Finral opened for them. She walked through the portal, one more step to her goal.
Clover Kingdom
Noble Realm
Capital
Magic Knights' Headquarters—the Stadium
Day of the Magic Knights' Entrance Exam
"Wow, wow," said Aubrey, once she was out of the portal. It was her first time outside of Rayaka. The Capital was huge! There were so many buildings. And there were so many fancily dressed people. She wondered why kind of places were in the stores. There was just so much to see. When she got into the Magic Knights, she was going to see so many places, but the first sight of Clover's Capital was going to be in her head for the rest of her life.
Big Bro Magna and Mr. Finral were chuckling at her. Big Bro Magna said, "I know. It's pretty wild, right? But you have time to gawk later."
Aubrey almost forgot about the Magic Knights' Exams by being caught up in the excitement. "Oh, right! Where do I have to go?"
Finral took out some papers from his side pouch. "This is your paperwork that you'll give to the person at the desk in front. He'll assign you a number and then, you just wait for instructions." He handed them to her. "Don't lose them."
"I won't," said Aubrey, realizing that this was the application to enter the Magic Knights' Exam that every town in the kingdom received months ago. The travel ban for non-Magic Knights or non-nobility was annoying. She clutched the papers.
"That's the line, kiddo," said Magna, pointing to the string of 15-17 years who were lined up, leading to the Magic Knights' Stadium, where the Exams always took place from what Aubrey had been told. "Good luck, Little Aubrey. Whatever happens, I'm proud of you."
Aubrey grinned, trying not to tear up. "Thanks!"
Since they had to leave to handle their Magic Knight duties, Aubrey was left in the line. There were a lot of examinees. Aubrey had been prepared for some stiff competition, as the Magic Knights were an elite military force. Others around her age and a bit older lined up behind her too. Thankfully, Aubrey was prepared for a long wait, as she didn't know the exact details about the Exam.
Like Big Bro Magna, Aubrey enjoyed adventure stories. Church may have been boring, but the nuns and the priests did teach everyone how to read and write. Aubrey's handwriting was passable at best, but Aubrey loved reading. Big Bro Magna sent her books all the time that she stored at Miss Shula's house because Grandma Aru didn't want "that nonsense cluttering up the house." She only brought her favorite series with her, because she knew from Big Bro that whatever squad picked her, she was going right to their headquarters to get settled. While she waited in her life, she read some chapters in the latest installment of her favorite series The Adventures of Lady Astoria, written by Professor Viola Lunette.
She got a 1/3rd of the way through the book by the time she reached the table where a blond haired serious-looking man sat.
"Next! State your name."
Aubrey hurried to the table. She gave him the paperwork. "I'm Aubrey Waters, sir."
"And I'm Marx, the advisor to the Wizard King. You are number 336," said Marx, handing her a paper with her number on it. "Follow the others to the waiting area and then you'll get your instructions. Next! State your name."
Aubrey moved to where she saw everyone else headed. She followed quietly. Aubrey knew she wasn't particularly shy but she grew up in a small village where everyone knew each other and it was her first time in such a big place. In her hurried excitement, she almost ran into another girl, but Aubrey stopped herself from slamming into the other girl just in time.
The other girl had long bright blonde hair that had a shade of red to it and grey eyes. She sneered. "Watch it, peasant."
Aubrey recoiled quickly, apologized stiffly and ran off with the rest of the crowd. Big Bro Magna did warn her that some royal and noble kids didn't know how to talk politely to other people. He also told her that they weren't all like that, but due to their status, they thought they were better than everyone else.
Granted, Aubrey should have shouted at the other girl in her own defense, but the last thing she needed was to anger a royal before the exams even started.
She reached area where everyone was bunched together. Aubrey didn't like the idea of the crowded space, but she focused her attention to the viewing seats where the Captains and their Vice-Captains sat already. Aubrey spotted Mr. Finral standing next to Captain Yami (he was just as the rest of the Black Bulls described).
Aubrey had to stop herself from gasping because she saw Captain Charlotte Roselei and Captain Dorothy Unsworth, two of her favorite Magic Knight Captains. Captain Charlotte was in mid-conversation with what looked her Vice-Captain and younger sister. Captain Dorothy was sleeping, but she had her Vice-Captain Kirsch Vermillion at her side (he was kind of blindingly pretty). The Blue Rose and the Coral Peacocks were two of the squads that she hoped chose her. She didn't want to join the Black Bulls because she knew them and all of them would be too overprotective.
And as she stood there, her nerves finally were on edge, surrounded by a bunch of other hopeful Magic Knights. Was she ready? Did she train enough? Did Grandma Aru have a point about her dreaming outside the realm of possibility? She was the shortest person here, oh my God, what was she thinking?
"Stop," she whispered to herself.
She breathed in and out, calming herself down from panicking.
Thankfully, once it seemed everyone was checked in, the Wizard King stood from his seat. Normally, she heard that the Wizard King didn't make appearances at the Exams, but neither did the King of the Clover Kingdom, who was also sitting in a special seat.
"I thank you all for coming," said Lord Fuegoleon. "Today I hope we find the next group of Magic Knights to protect the Clover Kingdom from its enemies, inside and out. I wish all of you good luck. Royal Knights Captain Asta will explain the exam rules for you."
Aubrey smiled when she saw Asta. Asta was so cool; he taught her some good training tips to fight without magic.
"Right! Thanks, Captain, I mean, Lord Fuegoleon," said Asta, grinning. And everyone heard him because he was so naturally loud. Maybe that was why he was chosen to do the announcing. "We have 402 applicants, so the Exams will be in two rounds. The first round you will show us your best spell while also defending yourself against an "attacker." If you pass that round, the second round will be one-on-one fights amongst the remaining applicants. Losing your match doesn't immediately disqualify you, however! So do your best. Once those two rounds are done, you'll come before us and you either will be picked by one of the Captains or not. Applicant #1 step forward and let's begin!"
Aubrey nearly groaned. She had another long wait of ahead of her, but as she watched the first applicant nearly get electrocuted, it was probably a good thing to not go first. It gave her advantage to see what the other applicants had to face, so she'd be able to think about what she was going to do to impress the Captains.
And it helped that Aubrey recognized the magic affinities of all of the Black Bulls, except Asta, Mr. Finral and Captain Yami (who were watching). She felt bad for the applicants who got stuck dodging Big Bro Magna's fire balls and Luck's lightning. They didn't know the meaning of "going easy."
Eventually, they got to her number (noticeably some people left after watching the first 10 people fail). Aubrey stepped forward. She had her grimoire at the ready. In order to quicken her attacks, her side pouches were filled with sand, since drawing sand from the ground took too much time for her at the moment. She wondered which one of the Black Bulls she was going to have dodge.
Nothing happened for a few minutes and Aubrey started to get nervous, when she smelled something terrible.
Stink bugs.
"The attacker" was Mr. Zora. She had never met him, but she heard the stories. He had trap magic and use of stink bugs to irritate his enemies. Aubrey didn't move on purpose because Mr. Zora would have laid traps down and she activated one of the magic circles it was all over.
While she stood still, she let the sand from her pouches drip down to the ground, while she performed her best defensive spell in the meantime. "Sand Magic: Sand Shield!"
A wall of appeared around her to encircle her from a 360 degree angle attack, but not from above (it was a work in progress her defense) and she couldn't see what was happening. The sand she let go from her pouches she was making it travel through the ground. The plan was have it activate the traps.
Thankfully, she heard several large cracks.
And she heard Big Bro Magna screaming from wherever he was, "Damnit, Zora! That's too much even for us!" Aubrey flushed.
"Pass," declared Fuegoleon, nodding.
Aubrey let out a sigh of relief, deactivating her shield, remembering to get some sand in her pouches for her one-on-one match.
Clover Kingdom
Noble Realm
Capital
Magic Knights' Headquarters—the Stadium
Day of the Magic Knights' Entrance Exam
"Look at all the different kinds of magic, Jules! Isn't it grand," said Uncle Julius, with stars in his eyes at watching the display. "I really like some of those spells."
Jules (Prince Julian Eldan Theodore Nova Heart I, the Crown Prince of the Heart Kingdom) rolled his eyes and replied as deadpan as possible, "Thrilling."
"Don't be like that," said Julius. "Isn't nice of Fuegoleon to let you, the heir to the Heart Kingdom, watch the Magic Knights' Exams? Con did really well, don't you think?"
"Yeah, of course, he did," said Jules, running his hands through his black hair out of nervousness for his cousin.
He and his godfather/surrogate uncle Julius Novachrono, who had the body of a 16-year-old but the mind of a 45-year-old man, were sitting in one of the additionally viewing balconies. They were close enough to watch and hear but far enough that the examinees didn't see them. The only reason why Jules spent the last two months in the Clover Kingdom was to help his cousin Con, the Crown Prince of the Clover Kingdom, to train for the Magic Knights' Entrance Exam.
While Jules didn't mind the staying in the Clover Kingdom, as everyone was really nice and helpful to him especially in the Purple Orcas (the squad where he was staying), Jules found that he really missed the Heart Kingdom. Maybe it was just growing up in a kingdom with ample access to natural magic from the earth itself but Jules felt stifled here in Clover. He suspected that if he had been in Spade or Diamond he might feel even worse as those two kingdoms used unnatural means to gain more mana. He also missed his mother and he was worried about her like always. But Jules was there for Con's sake. He promised.
Con was his favorite cousin and he knew he shouldn't play favorites. Jules had a number of cousins through his father's side of the family and he had one cousin from his mother's brother (Cousin Lolopechka was alright, to be fair, but she was a few years older than him and treated him like a kid). Jules found his Kira Clover cousins to be spoiled brats, all but his cousin Con.
"There are some really talented young people," said Uncle Julius, nodding.
"I still don't understand why Clover just doesn't take them all," said Jules, crossing his arms, watching the last person of the first part of the exam fail. "Heart Kingdom has the Army for anyone who wants to join; it's also how to combat poverty and give people skills that don't necessarily involve fighting. The Special Forces are exactly that—the specialized force, depending on the level of mana and skills in a wizard."
Uncle Julius made a disgruntled sound. Jules was standing close enough to hear his godfather mutter under his breathe, "Because they've got damn ignorant and biased fools running the Magic Parliament."
Jules grinned.
Then, they heard Asta say/yell, "Looks like we've got 56 applicants left! Now, we're going to one-on-one matches! While we set up the spell to randomly pick the matchups, please see the medics to restore your mana."
"He's really good at this shouting instructions at everyone," said Uncle Julius, smiling.
"Mr. Asta is the loudest person I've ever met," said Jules. Asta was a really interesting guy. Jules never met anyone without any magic whatsoever. Not to mention, Asta was using the powers of the anti-magic demon without much consequences. Asta was impressive. "From the 56 left, how many will be asked to join a squad?"
"Generally, the passing rate every exam ranges between five-to-fifteen percent depending on the pool of applicants. Naturally, Prince Con and Princess Theodora will automatically in squads, but this is just for show," said his uncle. "I suspect we'll be on the higher end this time around, so about 9 or 10 new Magic Knights."
Jules shook his head. "Immediately discounting my two cousins, that's only 8 new ones. That's pretty foolish."
"Oh, no," said Julius, suddenly looking at the one-on-one board that appeared above the Magic Knight Captains. "See the last matchup, Jules?"
Jules's stomach dropped at the names. The last match would be Constantine Kira Clover and Theodora Kira Clover. Clearly, it was on purpose to have the last match between the Prince and Princess of Clover—it was too obvious. Jules and Con trained enough but Jules didn't know if Con was quite up for fighting his twin sister. Theodora was intense and angry all the time.
"If worse comes to worse, they'll stop the match," said Julius, not convinced that it'll go well.
"I'll stop the match," said Jules, feeling rather overprotective.
"Well, let's see. First match should be interesting," replied Julius, "a sand affinity user and a water affinity user! What a neat match."
Jules watched as the small village girl with sand magic and the daughter of a merchant with water magic go to the center of the field for their match. The water wizard had more mana, but the sand wizard was more innovative, if her earlier display was any indication. Jules leaned against the railing and watched.
Clover Kingdom
Noble Realm
Capital
Magic Knights' Headquarters—the Stadium
Day of the Magic Knights' Exam
Once Aubrey saw the matchup against the water wizard girl, she had a plan. Water against sand should win, but Aubrey learned about type advantages and disadvantages from Miss Shula when she was seven. She knew a few ways to combat magic that went against her magic affinity, especially after getting a few pointers from Lady Noelle. Aubrey was pumped after passing the first round in the exams, so she had a boost of confidence going into the match.
"Let's have a good match," said Aubrey, to the other girl. The other girl with blue-tinted black hair and blue eyes, who dressed in much nicer clothes than she had ever owned, blankly looked at her like Aubrey didn't even exist. This was the second girl to look right through her like Aubrey was an ant. Making friends was going to be hard in the Magic Knights.
"Match begin," shouted Asta.
The water wizard moved first, shouting, "Water Magic: Titan's Tidal Wave!"
Most affinities users, Aubrey noticed, who had one of the four basic affinities (i.e. earth, fire, water, and wind) were really good at big flashy moves. Only the exceptional wizards were able to have such mastery over the big elements.
A torrent of water came rushing towards Aubrey. "Sand Magic: Sand Surfer!" This was one of Aubrey's newest spells, but it let Aubrey create a disk of sand and allow her to go airborne. She was able to dodge the water.
The other girl seemed surprised. "Water Magic: Bullet Barrage!"
Aubrey was ready for that type of an attack. After all, her Big Bro Magna had a similar move. While she dodged the water balls in the air with her sand surfer spell, she dripped sand out of her pouches for her next move.
Thankfully, the water blue girl seemed to be more worried about winning fast and not too much about accuracy.
She needed about five minutes for her next spell to work, so she zipped through the air, slightly getting wet from the blow back of the other girl's water magic.
"Water Magic: Bullet Barrage Extreme!"
"Nuggets," she cursed, as even more water balls came careening towards her. She told herself to concentrate, her next spell always took too long to get ready. Aubrey took a page out of her Big Bro's playbook, and taunted, "Is that all you got?!"
More water came towards her, as her opponent got frustrated. Aubrey was lucky that she was so tiny and her speed on the surfer was really quick.
Estimating that she didn't have more time, she had to do her last move before she ran out of mana. "Sand Magic: Sand Serpent!"
A medium-sized sand serpent burst from below her enemy, swallowing her whole, but after a few minutes spit the girl out, who was now unconscious from the brief lack of oxygen in the pit of sand serpent's stomach. Aubrey flew herself to the ground and dispelled her sand surfer and sand serpent spells.
She felt her body tire from the amount of mana she used to win the match. She promptly sat on the ground, exhausted.
"Victor of Match 1: Aubrey Waters of Rayaka," called Lord Fuegoleon.
Within moments, she and her opponent (whose name turned out to be Maylan Naylor) were fetched off the field by one of the medics, a Magic Knight by the name of Mimosa Vermillion. Off to the side, both girls were getting healed up, while the next match was called.
Maylan finally said something to Aubrey, "Good match." It was grudgingly said but Aubrey would take it.
Aubrey smiled. "Thanks. You too!"
The matches went on and things got a bit monotonous. Some of her mana was back after a good healing from Lady Mimosa. She found herself standing next to Maylan watching the other prospective Magic Knights. Maylan muttered under her breathe about what they were doing wrong or right, so Aubrey just listened.
Eventually, Match 28 was called. It was a nervous-looking vermillion haired boy and the girl Aubrey almost run into earlier. The two kind of looked alike and Aubrey instinctively had a bad feeling.
The match began and it seemed both had light magic.
"What a strange match-up," muttered Maylan.
"Yeah," agreed Aubrey, getting more worried as the boy (Constantine that was his name, she thought) gave it his all to go on the offensive against the girl (Theodora, maybe that was her name). Aubrey was really bad at names until she got to know people. However, it badly because the girl was brutal.
She looked up at the Magic Knight Captains and Vice-Captains, who were just watching with interest at the match. None of them looked ready to move, even Asta or Mr. Finral.
Aubrey bit her bottom lip.
Should she stop the beat-down of that poor boy and risk angering the captains?
It shouldn't even be a question, thought Aubrey to herself, as she moved towards the field to help.
Clover Kingdom
Noble Realm
Capital
Magic Knights' Headquarters—the Stadium
Day of the Magic Knights' Exam
It devolved faster than Jules expected. Theodora got a lot stronger than he or Con had anticipated. Her drive to be seen as the best Kira Clover was really giving her an edge. Thankfully, the small girl with sand magic jumped forward when it looked like Con was about to get skewered by Theodora's light dagger spell. She had her sand shield up, barely stopping most of the light daggers, but she just had a big fight earlier.
"Go ahead," said Uncle Julius, watching Jules not jump into stop it. "Oh, it looks like the other one is getting involved." Jules watched merchant water girl throw a water ball at Theodora to try to distract her or cool her down.
Jules opened his grimoire and said, "Mist Magic: Shimmering Light." He jumped over the balcony banister and ran towards the field. His shimmering light spell allowed him to almost be invisible (it's supposed to make him completely invisible to the naked eye, but he's still working on it). He was unseen enough to manage to catch soaking-wet Theodora off-guard.
Jules pounced on her, grabbing her hands and putting them behind her back. "That's enough, Theodora!"
"Get off me, you Heart wimp," snarled Theodora Kira Clover, struggling against Jules' hold. He knew how to hold someone from fighting back after suffering in his training against the men and women of the Heart Kingdom's Special Forces.
"Calm yourself, cousin, "said Jules, sternly, as possible. He released his mist magic, while the sand girl and water girl both released their magics. "You went too far."
Then, Jules let her go. Con was shaking like a twig in a rainstorm on the ground with the two girls who helped him. Jules went over to them, while Theodora stalked off somewhere.
"Con, can you stand," asked Jules. Con didn't respond.
"I think he's mostly fine," muttered the water girl, her hair was more blue than black up close. "Just in shock from almost dying. We should get him to Lady Mimosa."
"Let's give him a few minutes, Maylan," said the sand girl, who had warm brown eyes. The two weren't touching Con, but kneeling by him in case he needed something.
Jules sighed. "Con, I'm gonna touch you and help you stand. We'll get you to Lady Mimosa to check you over, okay?"
Con nodded, so Jules took his cousin's arm with two hands and helped him up. Con's legs almost gave out where Jules was not supporting him but sand girl took Con's other arm to steady him. It was kind of weird having someone so short do it, but it was help.
"This is Con Kira Clover. I'm Jules Nova Heart. And you are?"
"Aubrey Waters," replied the brown-eyed girl, Aubrey. "She's Maylan Naylor." Aubrey gestured to the blue-and-black-haired girl, Maylan, who was already talking to Lady Mimosa.
"Thank you for helping him out," said Jules, honestly.
"It's no problem," said Aubrey.
Clover Kingdom
Noble Realm
Capital
Magic Knights' Headquarters—the Stadium
Day of the Magic Knights' Exam
Aubrey was trying not to freak out because Maylan just told her that the fight Aubrey just interrupted was between Crown Prince Constantine and Princess Theodora, (AKA Clover's Prince and Princess). The boy who stopped Princess Theodora's rampage was the Crown Prince of the Heart Kingdom, who had been visiting Clover to spend time with his cousins. She hoped she didn't mess up her chances at joining the Magic Knights by interfering with a royal matter.
"You're all good, Prince Con," said Lady Mimosa, giving him a kind smile and patting his head.
"Thank you, milady," said Prince Con, softly. He turned to look at Aubrey and Maylan, who both were standing awkwardly off to the side as not to get in the way. "Thank you both for aiding me. It was unnecessary but thank you."
"Thanks to you all," said Jules. Prince Jules was a lot more confident than his cousin. (He was kind of handsome this Heart Prince, Aubrey thought briefly before shutting that thought down immediately). The Heart Prince respectfully nodded at them. "I'll take him back home. Let's go, Cousin."
"Okay, Cousin Jules," replied Con, more comfortable talking to his cousin than two strange girls. The two Princes walked off, with the Heart Prince walking protectively by the Clover Prince.
Lady Mimosa giggled. "They're both such good boys. Oh, but! Miss Aubrey, Miss Maylan, you need to get to the field, they'll be calling the numbers and choosing new Magic Knights shortly."
Once Lady Mimosa said it, everyone heard Asta declaring that the remaining 54 examinees come to the field and wait for their number to be called to be given their final assessment by the Magic Knight Captains. Aubrey, followed by Maylan, rushed to the fields.
"Good luck, Maylan," said Aubrey.
"You too," said Maylan, nodding.
Aubrey was going to be one of the last few to be called due to her high number. She noted that it was possible that Prince Con and Princess Theodora were already given their choice of squads and only did the Exams to show off their magic spells. Aubrey watched as a few people weren't chosen at all until Maylan (she was number 47) was called before the Captains.
She crossed her fingers for her opponent/rival/maybe friend, as Maylan got offers from the Golden Dawn Captain Yuno, the Blue Rose Captain Charlotte, and the Crimson Lions Captain Mereoleona. Aubrey was impressed. Maylan may have lost the match but her water magic was quite impressive.
Naturally, after knowing Maylan for a couple of hours, Aubrey knew what squad she was going to pick.
"I chose the Golden Dawn," said Maylan. Captain Yuno stared down at the girl impassively and she stared back.
Aubrey was happy for Maylan. Certainly, she'd be able to hone her skills well in the Golden Dawn. Maylan was shuffled off to where Lady Mimosa (who was the Vice-Captain of the Golden Dawn, actually) waited. Now, all Aubrey had to do was wait her turn.
She noted that many who won their matches weren't necessarily picked for a squad. Less people were chosen than Aubrey expected, but it was the Magic Knights, only the best should be picked amongst prospective wizards (and witches). But she was starting to get nervous again. Maybe, Grandma Aru was right and this was a mistake.
"Number 336 Aubrey Waters, please step forward," called Asta. Aubrey moved to the center to stare up at the Captains.
The Wizard King, Lord Fuegoleon, stated, "Who will want her for their squad?"
It was the longest minute of her life at that moment, as the hands of Captain Charlotte, Captain Yami, Captain Kaiser, and Captain Dorothy (who was still sleeping) raised their hands.
"Four good choices," said Lord Fuegoleon, nodding. "And which squad will you pick, Aubrey Waters?"
Breathing in deeply and letting it out, Aubrey immediately knocked off the Black Bulls for obvious reasons. Her dream squad was the Blue Rose squad. Her second choice was always the Coral Peacocks. The Purple Orcas was a squad that hadn't even been on her radar, but she always heard decent things about the squad since Captain Kaiser took it over.
She mulled it over for a few minutes.
"I choose…"
Ch. End