Chapter 12: Gift Shopping
The Clover Kingdom's Magic Knights had been training as hard as they could for the impending threat of the Spade Kingdom's Devils. A lot of the Knights had become stronger than they ever had before. Asta and Yuno were now on par with Vice Captain level due to their improvements over the past month. However, the two had been dealt with a huge blow, concerning their family.
Other Magic Knights like the royals; Noelle Silva, Mimosa Vermillion, as well as Leopold Vermillion had improved a lot as well, with the two learning new spells, and new ways of fighting. In general, all of the Magic Knights squads had improved drastically for this fight and it was time to put their improvement to the test.
In the Spade Kingdom…
"So, with those two brats, Asta and Yuno out of the way, I guess we can start our move…" the female voice started laughing menacingly.
"Yes, Lady Vanica. The two Magic Knights are sure to not fight anymore since you disposed of that nun" a servant to Vanica kneeled and assure her.
"I guess I can have a bit of fun now… starting with the strongest Magic Knights squad!" Vanica sneered and giggled, her tongue licking her lips in excitement. "Are you listening, Megicula? You and I are going to have a lot of fun soon… let's start some of our curse work…" her laughter was heard throughout the room, frightening her servants.
Vanica then composed herself, "in a few days, the Clover Kingdom will kneel before the Spade Kingdom…" an eerie smile formed on her face with her eyes widening with excitement.
Over at the Clover Kingdom, life was going on as normal as the repairs from the Elves were finally being done with. The Royal Capital, which was heavily affected, had now been refurbished. All that was left was for the repairs and help with smaller cities such as in the Common Realm and Forsaken Realm.
In the Black Bulls HQ…
Almost everyone was eating their breakfast together on the table. Charmy was busy making seconds for everyone that wanted any with her sheep cooks helping her. However, the only person who really wanted seconds was Asta, he was back to normal again which everyone noticed.
"I'm glad to see you normal again, Asta" Asta turned to where the voice was coming from, and it was Nero sat across from her also enjoying her food.
"Haha, yeah sorry about all that. I'm slowly getting there" he scratched the back of his neck and laughed. All of a sudden, he started screaming from pain as he covered his nose.
"Oi, Cool-Masked Jerk! What do you think you're doing?" Asta turned to Zora. The Ash Magic user had planted a stink bug on his head and Asta's eyes were tearing up and he was reeling from the effects of the stench.
"Shut up you shrimp. It's what you get for acting weird with us!" the red-haired Magic Knight started laughing, looking at how Asta reacted to his prank.
The atmosphere suddenly went from happy and loud, to absolute terror as Captain Yami smashed the wall behind him in anger.
"DO NOT STINK UP THE PLACE WHEN WE'RE EATING" he bellowed as he exerted his mana across the room. "Or I'll kill you" he then took a puff from his cigarette.
All of the Magic Knights were terrified, they felt his ominous, dark mana and sweat dropped from their foreheads. Asta couldn't sense mana, but as he knew how to detect ki, he was scared of his captain too.
As everyone finished their breakfast, they all started to head out when Asta interrupted.
"Vanessa… how's Noelle doing?" the ashen-haired boy asked while looking down at the floor. He still blamed himself for what happened.
Vanessa turned around and patted him on his head "don't worry, Asta. She's just a bit tired. She only had a few scratches on her which I healed up and now she's just taking a rest. Anti-Magic really is something, huh?". She smiled and walked out the door.
The other members had heard from Vanessa about what happened with Asta's Anti-Magic and Noelle being hurt by it. They didn't have anything against Asta, and realised it was just a freak accident.
"I'm glad" he thought to himself. He was about to go visit Noelle and have a chat with her and apologise for what he did but then stopped himself. "Actually… no. I'll let her rest up a bit. Instead, I'll…" he started looking around the room and found who he was looking for. "Finral Senpai!" he ran towards him.
The Spatial Magic User turned to face his teammate. "What can I do for you, Asta?"
Asta replied in a serious tone, trying to act confident "C-can you take me to the R-Royal Capital?" he finally managed to say it, sweat dropping and looking embarrassed.
"Sure, Asta. Make sure you get her something good!" Finral responded which completely shocked Asta.
The boy's eyes widened with shock "H-h-how did he know I was going to get something for Noelle? I knew he said he was good with the ladies, but I figured he was joking" he thought to himself, still feeling embarrassed at the thought that Finral knew what was going on with him. "I guess you know me better than I thought, Finral senpai" he laughed nervously.
"Of course, I do. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone" he winked and slapped Asta across the back, which actually kind of hurt him. "Now let's get going, I have a date with Miss Finnes anyway!" he stood proudly as he mentioned this to the boy. Asta was just thinking about what to get Noelle.
The Spatial gate opened and the two walked through. The Capital was buzzing with life as usual and the citizens were going about their business in their normal fashion. Finral said goodbye to Asta and went ahead to meet Miss Finnes, but not before letting him know to meet him back here in a few hours.
The Anti-Magic boy strolled through the Capital, visiting different vendors and shops to get a look at what they were selling. However, nothing really caught his eye. It was then he thought he would go and visit the black market.
"The black market usually sells some cool stuff!" his eyes widened and sparkled in joy. He walked ahead when he heard Liebe's voice.
"Geh, geh. This girl has you all flustered doesn't she… Just remember to be ready whenever you fight with the Spade Kingdom. Don't want you getting distracted" Liebe sneered.
"Shu-shut up! It's not like that" Asta was blushing. "I just want to make it up to her…WAIT" he shouted, much to everyone's surprise. They were still in public and heard some little boy shouting to himself.
"Oops I forgot, other people don't know I'm speaking with you… BUT STILL, I didn't know we can talk like this!" he was bewildered, but kind of happy knowing that he could communicate with Liebe at any point.
"Y-yeah… As part of our contract, we can speak whenever. Just don't go making a habit of it, we're not friends." The Anti-Magic Devil's voice started to fade and Asta no longer heard him anymore.
Asta was happy with that brief conversation, regardless of the fact Liebe didn't want to be friends. He then resumed his walk and entered the black market and started looking around.
The first shop he found was selling some non-magical items such as jewellery and toys. Asta stopped here and looked for anything that caught his eye. After a few seconds the shopkeeper saw that the boy was struggling to find anything and spoke up.
"Looking for anything in particular… perhaps for a special someone?" he smiled warmly. It shocked Asta though.
"Does everyone in this Kingdom know everything about me?" he wondered before responding to the shopkeeper. "Y-yes… I'm looking for some sort of necklace for a friend. She's very special to me and I wanted to surprise her" he laughed nervously and scratched his neck.
"Well… let's see here. What sort of magic does she use? Perhaps a necklace that matches her magic attribute would be good?" he questioned.
"Water Magic, sir!" Asta stated.
The shopkeeper then looked around for a few minutes before returning with a necklace and presented it to him. It was a bright, silver-chained necklace that shined a lot. The sun's rays were beaming and reflecting off of it. This made Asta's eyes sparkle in amazement. The necklace also had a bright blue pendant in the middle, matching the water attribute.
"This pendant shines whenever the person who wears it uses their magic" he smiled and handed it to the boy who was still amazed at how sparkly it was.
"I-I'll take it! How much is it?" he shouted and jumped for joy. He thought he found a great gift for Noelle.
"It's 4000 Yul… sorry about the price, but that necklace is something rare" the shopkeeper paused for a moment "… this particular necklace, according to legend it used to have special, healing properties but no one could make it work so it has just been passed around and sold to different people before landing here" he smiled.
Asta's mouth dropped to the floor in hearing that news. He had plenty of money, more than enough but that price was worth around five months of pay. He thought about it for a while but then gave his answer.
"Here you go, the money" as he handed the coins to the shopkeeper, he couldn't help but smile. Although, in the back of his mind he did think it was a bit too expensive.
"Thank you for your service, young Knight" he replied and went back to serving other customers.
"I-I hope she likes it…" he walked outside from the black market and started to make his way to another destination he had in mind. However, the thought of having to go there made Asta gulp due to how scared he was. Sweat dropped from his forehead and Asta had to calm himself.
"Well… I guess I'll go visit them" Asta said to himself.
He started walking towards the Noble Realm. The streets became cleaner and more attractive to the eye, the further he went in. The people around him were dressed up in formal attire. The houses were bigger than the ones he had seen before. It was almost a completely different area. Eventually, despite the weird looks people gave him, a peasant, he reached his destination.
"I-I'm here… the Silver Eagles HQ" he gulped.
NOTES:
This was a nice, calm chapter too Although Vanica seems to be setting her plans in motion…
Our good ol' Asta shopping for Noelle… I wonder how he thinks about her now?
Also, for those of you wondering why Asta seems cheery here even though I showed him as depressed earlier, he's not actively in a mission or anything. He thinks he'll get better soon but once a battle starts again, who knows how he'll act…