Several men came running at me, but I let my arms to to my side, my whole body glowed with green wind magic. "ELEMENTAL ENCHANTMENT: DIVINE GALE!" I shouted as a tornado erupted from my body tearing apart the bandit camp throwing the men around like ragdolls. "YOU DON'T MESS WITH A MAGIC KNIGHT!" I shouted as I rushed Argentum. Lightning and flames engulfed my hands as I decked him throwing him through a tree that fell on top of him. A scream was cut short as I looked at his grimoire burning away in a silver flame from a hole in the center. I looked to the girls trapped in the cages and I ripped the doors open and then went to find their grimoires.

"Helen!" I looked up as Sol came down on her broom The two men who captured me in a earth prison. She had a smile on her face until she noticed the state of my clothes. "Helen!" She ran over to me, concern in her voice.

"I'm fine." I said as I backed away. "They were led by a Diamond mage. What's left of him is under that tree." I pointed out.

"Helen, what happened?" She tried to reach out.

"I don't want to talk about it!" I shouted at her as I walked past her. 'Being that... helpless... never again...'


Chapter 14: Resolve

I lifted the tree that had crushed Argentum, underneath was a bloody mess that made me want to vomit, his charred corpse had a tree branch stabbed through his heart, a mess of blood and bone breaking through his skin around the wound. "Ugh, nasty way to go." Sol said as she glared at the hogtied men. "We need to bring him back to the capital. Bastard got off lucky." Several of the girls had told us what the bandits did to them, I wanted to burn the whole camp down but Sol had to gather several things.

"I... didn't mean to kill him." I said looking away from her pulling my dress closed with my Blue Rose's robe over top. "He was the Diamond Mage." I said.

"That would mean that these bandits are also from the Diamond kingdom. To think that an entire band got in our borders." Sol said.

I huffed, "Well the Nobles usually have Magic knights guarding them and not the border leaving the untrained town's people to defend themselves." I say was we shove his body in a sack.

"Can't say you are wrong on that." Sol admitted. "Well we'll bring these to the local towns guard to hold them for the night."

"What do we do about the body?" I asked as looked down at the sack.

"Tie it to my broom, I'll have it out of town until we leave." Sol said. I gulped before nodding as we got on our broom, Sol using her Earth magic to create a path from the camp to the road, we led the captured women to the Town after leaving the brooms in a tree. "Helen... I'm sorry that I made you go through that."

I hadn't told her what had happened, but... I didn't have to. "How... can anyone do something so... vile?" I felt sick just thinking of it.

"Hey, drinks on me when we get back alright. If you need to talk about it, I'll be there." Sol said as we reached the town, several towns folk waiting for us including the church. For them I put on a smile.

"I knew your first mission would be a success!" Father smiled.

"T-thank you." I said, my voice hitching in my throat.

And he leaped on it. "WHAT'S WRONG!" He yelled shaking me.

"I'm fine." I grabbed his hands. "Just... shaken up is all." I hated lying to him.

"Oh, okay." His soft smile tried to warm me up, but... I felt betrayed somehow. I knew it was stupid.

"I'm guessing you two are off in the morning... oh where's your brooms?" Sister Lily asked, and I looked away from her.

"Hey kids, why don't you run ahead and get things ready?" Sol pushed them along. "The adults have to talk."

Nash just rolled his eyes but listened, he took the younger kids with him.

"About that, something did happen, Helen... defeated a Diamond Kingdom mage... for good." Sol said.

"For good?"

"I... killed him." I said, swallowing hard. 'I know that this isn't first time... but I was in control of myself. Unlike... then.'

Both of them stopped, then Father hugged me. "Helen, you know this was going to happen at some point, it is your job as a Magic Knight to defend the Kingdom to your full ability. Just don't start liking it."

Sister Lily had a sad smile, "If you need time to come to terms with it, feel free to stay as long as you can." I just nodded as we got inside the church. I just went to sit in a pew as the others went to cook.

"Helen." Sol said.

"I- I'll be fine... just... it was a strike of bad luck is all. You were right, there is evil men out there."

I didn't eat or sleep that night, I just sat there, alone in the dark as tears ran down my face.


I flew alongside Sol, we had left before the kids had woken up, and we flew in dead silence. "You did well, given the... mishap." Sol's words danced around the truth.

"I don't want to think about it, the sooner we get rid of that sack, the better." I said. "I just want this all behind me." I felt better back in my armor. As we flew the sun arched over us.

"Well, I'm glad you are moving forward." Sol said, but I could hear the worry in her voice.

We flew like that for hours, in silence. Until I noticed something coming our way, as it came closer I realized it was a flaying chariot, and two brooms. On one was a orange haired girl, in fine royal robes, in the chariot was two people, a strict looking man and... Salim Hapshass. And the second broom was Yuno.

"Yuno!" I smiled and waved at my brother as we flew closer and stopped midair.

"You dare speak to a member of the Golden Dawn like that?" The man said but I ignored him.

"Helen what are you doing out here?" Yuno asked.

"We just finished her first mission, clearing out a slaver bandit camp near Hage. They were led by a Diamond mage." Sol said.

"Did the infiltrator escape?" The mans tone completely changed.

"Is... that blood dripping from that sack?" Salim asked pointing at the sack.

I just nodded as I looked away from Yuno who just sighed. "Don't blame yourself." He said.

"A recruit defeated a Diamond Mage on their own."

"With out her grimoire as well." Sol praised me.

"That's impossible." The man said.

"Klaus, I would like to see her power. After all this commoner became a magic knight and I didn't." Salim said.

"We have a schedule to keep." Klaus looked back at the noble.

I just sighed as my tail curled in disgust. "I'm not a monkey that dances for nobles." I turned to Yuno. "Father and sister Lily say hi. We have to get going." I smiled at my calm brother.

He just nodded. "Have you been payed yet?" He asked.

"No, we left the day before payday, so her fist pay check is waiting for her." Sol said.

"Right. Don't worry, I'll send some back home, by the way, Asta sent more then you." I said as he gave me a smile. "I'll see you around Yuno." Sol and I flew past them.

"Your brother seems... reserved." Sol said.

"Yuno was the responsible one of us the three oldest, Me, Yuno and Asta." I said. "Although they have been at the church the longest, since they were babies arriving on the same day. We believe I'm older then the two of them, but not by much." I smiled thinking of my brothers. "And you met the little ones, Nash means well, just... a bit of a stick in the mud."

"I see, also I've been meaning to ask you, you were in Hage when that beast the Wizard king fought years appeared, what was it like seeing the Wizard King in action?" Sol asked.

"Um... it was so long ago that I can't remember all the details." I said, lying through my teeth.

"Oh, well you would have just been a kid back then, so I guess that makes sense." Sol said dropping it much to my relief. We made small talk all the way back, Landing at the royal Palace where Charlotte was waiting for us.

"I'm glad to see you two made it back in one piece." She said as the stars shone above us. "Was the mission a success?" She asked.

We just looked at each other. "Well the Bandits were defeated, and there was a Diamond Mage." Sol tilted her head to the sack. "Helen over achieved on this instance."

"Very. Let's debrief the mission quickly and get you to bed. You must be tired after this ordeal."

We spent the next hour detailing the plan, the intentional capture and being brought to the camp. "Argentum was selling them as sex slaves." Sol said.

Charlotte just nodded. "Had I known it was such a despicable felon, I would have handled this mission myself. Sol, keep her company tonight, you earned this." Charlotte placed two large coin purses.

I just stared at the size of it in shock. "H-how much is this?" I asked.

"Six hundred thousand jule." She said. "The higher ranked a squad is, the higher the starting pay." She explained.

"Be sure to send money back to your church." Sol said with a smile.

I just swallowed hard. "I will."


Hey. I would make it longer, but it's late. I have work in the morning and I am tired.