SPOILERS!
The manga is going strong, but nothing to report.
These chapter's tags:
angst, canon typical violence, inappropriate tone shift, more suffocating, flowers were not hurt in the making of this fic
ENJOY!
Bouvardia Double
(Meaning) Zest for life
Clover Kingdom
Magic Knights' Headquarters
One of the Courtyards
11th Day of the Curse
Morning, Leo just confessed to Asta
"Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh, Oh," was all Asta could managed to say while his mind was going a million miles a minute, panicking. Asta knew his face was bright red, he felt like he was on fire from embarrassment.
Leopold hadn't said anything more, but he was looking at him with a fond expression on his face but expectant eyes. This was worse than the time that Noelle confessed her feelings to him when they were sixteen (Noelle didn't talk to him for a month). It was even worse when Mimosa confessed to him when they were seventeen (Mimosa cried).
It was worse because Asta was the reason why Leopold was hit hard by the Unrequited Love Flower Curse and it sucked. Leo was a great guy. He was strong. He was one of few royals that recognized him as a rival in the beginning of Asta's Magic Knight career. Leo always was up for training or sparing. Leo was not only his rival, but Asta's friend, a reliable, steadfast friend.
It sucked that he was the reason why his friend was hurt. Asta hated that it happened, especially to someone as great as Leo.
"Leo, I," started Asta, but not having anything to say. Asta made a pained face. "Leo, I'm so sorry."
Leo's face fell for a moment, before he smiled, clearly hurt, but not surprised. "You don't have to apologize, Asta."
"Hmm, yeah, I do. Because I unintentionally hurt you. By you having feelings for me, you got stuck with this sucky curse," said Asta, earnestly. "I didn't even know."
"Well, I figured you didn't. You didn't even know that Noelle or Mimosa had feelings for you," said Leopold, pointing out Asta's natural obliviousness to people's love for him.
Asta was able to recognize people in love, certainly. Like he knew that Captain Charlotte loved Captain Yami. But for himself, Asta couldn't even fathom why someone would be in love with him. "You know, three members of the same extended family falling in love with me is strange."
Leopold let out a chuckle. "Yeah, I thought that too. But it's okay, Asta, really. I kind of knew I didn't have a chance."
"Well, I don't know if this helps, but I don't feel that way about anyone right now," said Asta, honestly. Asta was far too focused on becoming Wizard King and protecting the Kingdom and his friends/family.
Leopold gave him a funny look. "We're still friends?"
"Always," said Asta. He stuck out his hand for Leopold to shake. "We'll always be friends. I know that doesn't help now, but I really mean it."
Leopold smiled. "Yeah, I know you do. I mean, it's gonna be weird for a bit but I just need some time to process everything."
Asta nodded. He knew from past experiences with Noelle and Mimosa that only time would heal the hurt. "Don't worry. I'll give you space. When you're ready, you know how to find me."
"Thanks, Asta," said Leopold, gratefully.
Then, Asta noticed something important. "Hey, Leo? You're not coughing anymore! Are you cured?"
Leo patted his chest and then rubbed his throat. He let out a grin. "I'm cured!"
"Awesome, let's get you back so Lady Ruth can clear you," said Asta, bouncing up and down happy for his friend.
"Okay," said Leo, pleased that he was no longer coughing up flower petals. The two headed back inside, when Leo asked, "Hey, Asta? Are you at least a little bit happy?"
Asta blinked, trying to understand the question. "Yeah, I am a bit. Thanks for loving me."
Leopold cursed, laughing. "You suck so much Asta, you know that?"
"What did I say?"
Clover Kingdom
House Vermillion Homestead
Foyer
12th Day of the Curse
Crack of Dawn
Mereoleona herded the girls in the foyer of the Vermillion Homestead. She decided not to ambush her brother right away. Instead, she was going to get her mother on her side, meaning that her father would do what her mother wanted and then Fuegoleon would have no choice but go with Mereoleona's plan.
"I'm home," shouted at the top of her lungs, echoing around the quiet house. The royal servants weren't even up yet.
Immediately, she heard the footsteps. Her mother was running down the flight of stairs, launching herself at Mereoleona. Mereoleona caught her mother in a hug, forgetting for a moment that her mother was so small in comparison to her. Her father Aldebrand came down the stairs, less hurried than Solace.
"I'm so glad you're home, Mereo! Leo's healed! Oh, but some other stuff happened, but I'm sure that Fuego will tell you all about it," said Solace, cheerfully hugging Mereoleona.
Mereoleona smirked, but then realized that Blue, Hanima, and Sabriel were crowding themselves together, completely startled. "Shit. Ugh, so Mother, calm down for a moment. You're scaring the kids."
Solace blinked and let Mereoleona go. She finally noticed the three harried and unfed girls. "Are those magic sealing tattoos?"
"Yeah," said Mereoleona, wincing.
"What did you get yourself into now, daughter of mine," asked Aldebrand, arms crossed, and sighing.
"Well," started Mereoleona, when the Chief of Staff for their household came rushing from the servants' quarters, still dressed in her nightgown. She was rather frazzled when she just woke up, unlike her normal no-nonsense attitude during the day. "Ah, Miss Sharise, can you take the girls to the kitchen and fed them something, while I talk to my parents."
Miss Sharise was a middle-aged woman who worked for the Vermillion family for the majority of her life. She had started off as a cook in the kitchens, but worked her way up to Chief of Staff. She straightened immediately and went to business, no longer frazzled. "Lady Mereoleona, Lady Solace, Lord Aldebrand, I'll take the girls for some food. Should I prepare some tea and morning biscuits for you while you talk?"
"No, that won't be necessary, Sharise, dear. Just get the girls some food," said Lady Solace, waving her off. "We'll eat later when the cooks are up proper." Miss Sharise nodded and went to approach the girls.
"Oh, Miss Sharise, only Blue," said Mereoleona, pointing to the green-eyed, light vermillion-haired girl, "knows any Common, but you have to go slow. They are very wary."
"Understood," said Miss Sharise. The Chief of Staff slowly approached the cowering children. "Hello, dears. You can call me Miss Shari. You want food?" Blue translated something to her two friends. The three girls nodded. "Follow me, then." The three girls gave parting glances at Mereoleona, but nonetheless followed Miss Sharise towards the kitchens.
"Now," said Aldebrand. "Let's go sit in the waiting area and talk. You had better have a good explanation, Mereo."
Following her parents to the area where guests waited to be called upon by the Vermillion family members, they all sat down. "So, I'm adopting them and training them to become Magic Knights," said Mereoleona, coming out bluntly with her plan.
"Dear, you gave me no context, I see, we are winging, are we?"
"Oh," said Solace, clapping her hands together. "My first grandbabies. Al, dear, we must let Mereo adopt them. The girls looks like they need a home and a family. Oh, please, Al?"
Mereoleona smirked. Mother never asked their Father for much, but when she did, Father always caved.
After a moment, her father said, "God, the Vermillion Elders are not going to like this, at all. And I can just imagine that the Magic Parliament won't be pleased about them being foreign. They gave Julius such a hard time about Yami back then. But I won't turn these girls out if this is what you decided, Mereo. We had best get Fuego and Leo in on this and come up with a plan."
"Oh, thank you," said Solace, hugging her husband.
Mereoleona smirked. "I figured that you know the law quite well, Father, so you'd be the best one to get this adoption through, anyway."
"The things I do for you two, my favorite women in the world."
Clover Kingdom
Magic Knight Headquarters
Wizard King's Office
12th Day of the Curse
Early Morning
"And you agreed to this, Mother, Father?" Fuegoleon was staring at his family in front of him in the Wizard King's office. His parents were sitting down, while Leopold was pacing and Mereoleona was standing against the wall, smirking.
"Well, of course, we did," said his mother, incredulously. "Mereoleona knows what she's doing."
"Listen, son, don't fight it, "said Aldebrand, shaking his head. "I've already got my law assistants looking into adoption laws as we speak. Your mother wants them for grandchildren and if Mereoleona wants to adopt, I'm not going to stop her."
"But," started Fuegoleon.
"Come on, little brother, it's not so bad. Those girls need to be able to use their magic, it ain't right what happened them," said Mereoleona.
"I'm not saying that we shouldn't help them, but do you really want to adopt them, Mereo? Raising children isn't a game," said Fuegoleon.
"I know that, Fuegoleon," snapped Mereoleona. "What? You think I can't do it?"
"I never said that," said Fuegoleon, shaking his head. He didn't want to argue with his sister. "You are capable of anything. But I'm just saying that they need more than someone to train them, especially if they have been mistreated. Two of them can't even speak Common! Not only that, you can't train them until they are healthy enough. It'll be a lot of work, plus your duties as Captain."
"That's not a problem, Big Brother," said Leopold, still in stages of recovering after 11 days in the infirmary. "I'll help Big Sister with running the Crimson Lions, since I'll be Captain of it someday! And Mother and Father will help Mereoleona out with the parenting stuff. We'll be fine. It'll be nice to have some nieces. And even better no baby throw-up and missing sleep."
Fuegoleon sighed.
"See, littlest Brother knows what's up," said Mereoleona, grinning at Leopold. "As long as we work together, everything will be fine."
Fuegoleon smiled. "Yes, you're right. How silly of me."
Clover Kingdom
House Calmreich Homestead
Finesse's Father's Study
12th Day of the Curse
Mid-Morning
"You need to speak to me, Father," asked Finesse, standing in front of her father's desk in his study. She was dressed in a cute new green flowered dress, ready to go and visit Finral in the infirmary. Finesse had been banished home to rest for several days by Lady Ruth and Lady Solace. But now, she was ready to back and take care of Finral, especially as there was only he, Captain Yuno and Vice-Captain Kirsch there.
"I've received some rather distressing news," said her father, Lord Calmreich. "Is it true that you've confessed your love for the disinherited and bastard son of the Vaude house, Finral?"
Finesse breathed in and out. She refused to be intimidated by her father. "Yes. I won't marry Lord Langris."
"Unacceptable," said Lord Calmreich. "Absolutely unacceptable, Finesse. You are going to marry Langris Vaude in a month. I don't care. You must be married by then. You're going too old for this kind of nonsense. I just thank God every day that your step-mother gave me a son to be my heir."
Finesse bit her lip. "Lord Langris doesn't want to marry me, either."
"Nonsense. You're royalty. He's mere nobility," said her father, dismissively. "I won't have you traipsing about the infirmary, doing menial labor either. You are not to see Finral Roulacase again."
"No."
"Excuse me?"
"No. I am a grown woman. I will do what I want."
"Enough foolishness, Finesse. You are a royal woman. There's only one thing you're good for and that's to marry into a good family and give me a good name as a grandfather," he replied. "Gentlemen, come in. Take my daughter to her room, so she may think things over and come to a reasonable and right conclusion."
Suddenly, the room had five men entering, Finesse recognizing them as her father's strongmen. Two grabbed her and they dragged her out of the office. She fought every step, kicking, and biting and screaming profanities she learned recently.
"Let me go. I won't stand for this," said Finesse, near tears.
Then, they threw her in her room and locked her inside, because her father sometime between breakfast and now, had the door reversed so that the lock was on the outside of the room. She landed on the ground when they had thrown her.
And she cried out of pure frustration and hoped that her father would let her out, otherwise she was going to have to find a way to escape. It wasn't the first time he's done this to her either.
"Oh, Finral…I'm sorry…"
Clover Kingdom
Black Bulls' Hideout
Outside Hideout
12th Day of the Curse
Mid-Morning
"Alright, alright, you numskulls, calm down," demanded Captain Yami. All of the Black Bulls, except Finral (still in the infirmary) and Vanessa (on a super important mission), were there for a squad meeting. They normally didn't do these formally but apparently there are missions that needed to be filled.
Zora had attempted to escape before he got wrapped up in the meeting, but Captain Yami grabbed him first. Now, he was waiting for the news that he was going to be put on some stupid mission when he would rather be doing his own thing. And maybe, he wanted to be researching curses along the way.
"Asta, Secre, you are to go see Fuegoleon this afternoon. He's got an important mission for you," said Yami, with a sigh. "Noelle, Magna, Luck, Gauche, you four are headed to Nean. They have a problem with bandits. Grey, Gordon, you two are going to stay with Henry and help him with the expansions of the hideout. Charmy, you're with me today and tomorrow. We got some stupid tasks to do. And Zora, you are to meet Mereoleona in the royal capital no later than this evening."
Gauche immediately began bleeding from his nose like a weirdo. Magna and Luck got pumped up for a mission by immediately sparing. Noelle sighed, shaking her head.
"Ugh, what does that crazy woman want from me," complained Zora. He respected Mereoleona as a Magic Knight, but she was bad for everyone's health.
"Oooh, since you are going there, drop this basket off for me for Finral, Yuno and Kirsch," said Charmy, shoving a large basket of food at Zora before he could think to protest.
"I'm not a delivery boy, Charmy!"
"Please and thank you, Zora," giggled Charmy. Then, she became deadly serious. "Tell those three that if they don't eat, I will know and my wrath will be swift and brutal." Zora rolled his eyes, and she somehow took that as agreement.
"Come on, Zora, you can come with me and Secre, since we three have to be in the capital," said Asta, cheerfully. Secre nodded, quietly.
Zora scoffed at Asta. He had been kind of worried for Asta, since his childhood friend got hit with the curse. Asta was a guy who had his heart on his sleeve, so everyone knew that Asta was distressed over the situation, despite his best efforts not to lose his spirit and hope. "Great."
He really needed to work on his sarcasm.
"Oh, before you all go! Once this curse shit is done, we're having a barbeque, where you all will show up," said Yami, loudly. "And Prickly Queen will be joining us!"
That was news, Zora thought amused to himself.
Captain Yami was so obvious.
Clover Kingdom
Magic Knights Headquarters
Wizard King's Office
12th Day of the Curse
Just After Noon
Asta sat, nervously as ever no matter how many times he had been invited in here, in a chair in front of the Wizard King's desk. Fuegoleon looked as calm and cool as ever. Asta could only hope to be as cool a guy as him. Asta also hoped that Leo hadn't told his brother what happened. But he doubted Fuegoleon would do anything to Asta, since Fuegoleon always let Leo fight his own fights, so to speak.
"Thank you coming, you two. Secre, how did you enjoy your first co-op mission," asked Fuegoleon.
"It went very well, sir, thank you," said Secre. Even though most of the time, Secre was attached to following Asta, everyone agreed that it would be better to help Secre feel more included, if she met new people and tried new things. Secre just went on her first cooperation mission recently, without a Black Bull on the team. Thankfully, it was only an intelligence gathering mission. "What can Asta and I do for you?"
"Right. So, as you know recently the team of Magna Swing, Nebra Silva, Mackenzie Ruford and Fragil Tormenta ran into trouble at the most recent appearance of a dungeon," said Fuegoleon. Asta and Secre both nodded. "I fear that it may have been a trap by the Spade Kingdom assassins they ran into there. However, there are no known magic users that can make a dungeon appear. It's very suspicious."
"Ah, you need us to investigate," said Secre, nodding along as Fuegoleon spoke.
Secre was so smart and cool, Asta thought. Investigations was not Asta's strongest suit. "Uhh, no offense, why am I going, sir?"
"To protect Secre, of course. Secre has deep knowledge of the eclectic magic and she is the best to investigate this particular situation," responded Fuegoleon.
"Oh, no problem, I can do that!"
"Of course. Also, Asta. Captain Dorothy told me that you are invited to her Sunday dinner parties anytime for taking such good care of her squad while she was out of commission," said Fuegoleon. "You did great work, Asta. I'm very proud of you."
Asta blushed. "Thank you so much, sir! It was interesting to see how other squads were managed. So, when do you need us to leave?"
"Tonight, please," said Fuegoleon. "If find anything, report it to the nearest outpost, but if you don't then return as soon as possible. I'm probably going to need you two again soon."
Clover Kingdom
Magic Knights Headquarters
The Infirmary
12th Day of the Curse
Afternoon
Finral was bored out of his mind. It was better when there was more people in the infirmary. Lady Ruth was on shift while Lady Solace was busy with her new grandchildren (that apparently Captain Mereoleona picked up in the neutral zone). Yuno did not talk much unless forced or provoked. What's worse was that Kirsch had gone into a depressive state and stopped yammering so much. He hadn't even called himself beautiful once today.
He was also worried because Finesse told him that she would visiting today, since she was rested, in the note she sent last night. But she hadn't arrived yet. He hoped that she hadn't taken ill again.
Sighing, he missed home. He was sure that his friends were all off on missions or having fun. "Ah, this sucks. Cough"
The door to the infirmary opened and in came Mimosa Vermillion, but she didn't move to go to Yuno or Kirsch. "Hey, cough Mimosa!"
"Hi, Finral," said Mimosa, coming over to the bed. "I have this for you."
She handed him a small, burgundy book.
Confused, Finral asked, "Is this a copy of the Littlest Prince?" The Littlest Prince was a fairy tale based on a tale from the Royal Family from 300 years ago. Finral loved that book when he was a kid. He actually admired the main character, a lot, hoping to be free and go on adventures.
"Yeah," said Mimosa, smiling gently at him. "It's from the Vice-Captain."
Finral startled and stared at her. She was not the type to lie. She was like Noelle in that way, honest to a fault. "Really?"
"Yeah. He just said handed it to me before I left HQ and just said your name before walking away all broody," said Mimosa, rolling her eyes. "He does care about you, in his own way, I think. If you want, I'll drag him here by his ears so you two can finally talk."
Finral laughed, but also cried a little. "Thanks, but I cough cough cough don't want to force him cough cough cough to talk to me. Vanessa already offered the same, cough cough so did Charmy, cough Noelle, and every one of my squad-mates. Cough cough cough cough Go and visit your captain and your brother, Mimosa. Cough Thanks for delivering it."
Mimosa shook her head. "You two are so strange." She, however, did go over to talk to Yuno. Yuno looked a bit happier to see her. Finral was glad that Asta wasn't Yuno's only friend anymore. Secretly, Asta told Finral once that he was worried that Yuno hadn't been making any new friends in the Golden Dawn. Asta was thrilled when Mimosa and Yuno seemed to be close friends, same with Yuno and Klaus.
Shaking his head, he opened the book, gingerly. When was the last time he read this? Finral honestly couldn't believe that Langris even remembered that this was Finral's favorite book. Whenever Finral had tried to read to Langris back when they were much, much younger, Langris always didn't want to hear it.
Was this gift just because Langris pitied his weak, older brother? The petals came pouring out of his mouth the moment he thought the question.
"Damnit, Finral," said Lady Ruth, rushing over to him. She rubbed his back and used a calming spell. "I swear, you two just need to talk. You are torturing yourself like this, Finral."
"I'm fine."
Lady Ruth just gave him a hard look.
Yellow Hyacinth
(Meaning) Jealousy
Clover Kingdom
Magic Knights Headquarters
The Infirmary
12th Day of the Curse
Evening
Yuno was going to escape once Lady Ruth left for the evening and Lady Solace took this night shift. Bell was already making sure things were clear. He needed to get back to the Golden Dawn and get back to work. This was no time to be lying about in bed. Of course, he was dying and spitting up flowers everywhere, but he was not going to let it stop him from doing his job as a Magic Knight Captain.
"Don't even dare," said Asta, suddenly came rushing into the infirmary. He had the little Wind Spirit in his hands. Secre was following close behind Asta, as usual when they were together. Bell was biting Asta's hands and cursing at him, calling him stupid. Asta put Bell on Yuno's shoulder. Bell huffed. "You stay in this infirmary, you hear me?!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Yuno, blankly.
Asta glared at him. "If I come back from this mission and you escape to go back to work when you're sick, I will bring Sister Lily here to watch over you."
"…"
"Oh, okay, we're doing this," said Asta, completely petulant. "Lady Ruth!"
"What, kid?" Lady Ruth was at the desk, writing up reports.
"If Yuno is a bad patient, send someone to Hage Village in the Forsaken Realm to get Sister Lily. She'll be able to handle him while I'm gone," said Asta, arms crossed.
Yuno could not believe Asta was going to do this to him. Asta knew full well that Yuno would never, ever disobey Sister Lily.
"Oh, that's sounds like a good idea," said Lady Ruth, smirking. "Thanks for the info, kiddo."
Glaring at Asta, Yuno said, "You're leaving?"
"Mission," replied Asta. "Me and Secre will be gone for a bit."
"Just you two?"
"Yep, but we'll be fine," said Asta. "Please, please, think about the thing we talked about and I hope you'll be better by the time I get back."
"Whatever," Yuno, coughing into his hands. "Don't worry about me. Focus on your mission."
Asta gave Yuno a hard stare before placing his hand on top of Yuno's head. "I'll be back before you know it."
"Later," whispered Yuno. He batted Asta's hand away. "I'm a not kid."
"Coulda fooled me," said Asta, grinning. "But later, me and Secre got to go."
Asta and Secre left the infirmary to head out for their mission. Yuno felt a familiar feeling in his chest. This happened the last time the flowers changed. And this time when he vomiting flowers, they were yellow ones. Yuno couldn't even look Lady Ruth in the eyes when she came over to check on him.
Yuno really needed to get out here.
Clover Kingdom
Magic Knights Headquarters
The Infirmary
13th Day of the Curse
Morning
Dorothy entered the infirmary. Today was a good day. She was cured. Her little siblings at the Coral Peacocks were absolutely darling and kept everything running smoothly. But they all missed Kirsch. Dorothy was going to help Kirsch and get him cured.
"Hello, Finral, Yuno. You both look terrible today," she told them.
"Captain Dorothy," replied Yuno, with a nod of his head in greeted. He looked to be eating some food from one of Charmy's gift baskets.
"Captain Dorothy, it's cough good to see you in good spirits," said Finral, coughing into his hand. Finral had a book in his lap. "Hopefully, cough cough cough, you'll be able to cough do something about that guy." Finral pointed over to where Kirsch looked to be molded to the bed.
Dorothy shook her head. "I'll do my best!" She went over to the lump that was Kirsch. "Kirsch, time to get up! Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey!" She shook him. When he didn't move, Dorothy huffed. If this was how he was going to be, Dorothy ripped the covers off of him. She grabbed his arms and forced him to sit up.
"Nooo, Captain, cough leave me to die, cough beautifully, cough here," said Kirsch, in the most pathetic tone ever. He slid himself back to lie down.
Dorothy scolded. "None of that nonsense, Kirsch!" She made him sit up again.
"Nooo," whined Kirsch.
"You are a grown man, Kirsch Vermillion, stop acting like a child. And your juniors are all very worried about you and miss you. You don't want to let them down do you as the Vice-Captain of the Coral Peacocks," said Dorothy. She pulled out from her purse an envelope. "For you."
Kirsch sighed, unhelpfully, but took the envelope from Dorothy's hands.
Dorothy had been surprised when it was Levi to have made a get-well-soon card and got everyone in the squad to sign it. Naturally, he had left it for Asta to give to Kirsch and Asta left it on Dorothy's desk in her office. She signed it herself and knew it was something that would cheer Kirsch up, if only a little.
She watched him read it—the kind messages from his juniors in the squads, who depended on Kirsch to be reliable and stable when Dorothy was being, well, herself.
Kirsch's eyes welled with tears, snot dripped out of his nose, the rims of his eyes grew red from trying not to cry and the irritation of the salty tears. Kirsch was always an ugly crier, even if he didn't know. "They love me! Cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough" Kirsch cried.
Dorothy smiled. She patted her silly Vice-Captain on the head, to comfort him. "Of course, they do, Kirsch. Now, you and I are going to figure this out together. I won't sleep until we get you cured!" Kirsch kept crying.
Dorothy sensed another person entering the infirmary to find Zora Ideale strolling in, without a care in the world, holding a large basket. "Yo, more food from Charmy, you dumbasses." Dorothy also noted that he had a large welt on his forehead that only could mean that he had run into Mereoleona.
She watched Zora scan the room. Naturally, he checked on Finral first because they were both Black Bulls. Then, Zora observed Yuno for a moment, probably for Asta's sake.
"Damn, royal, you are an ugly crier," said Zora, rolling his eyes.
Dorothy winced because no one but Mimosa dared tell Kirsch that fact.
"I am not, Zora! Cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough I'm beautiful in anything I do. You're mean!"
"Riiight…Anyway, Charmy says that you had better all eat up or she'll know and her wrath will be swift and brutal," said Zora, brushing off Kirsch's complaints, though Zora looked a bit worried at how much Kirsch had been coughing. "Later. Hope none of you die." He left the room.
Dorothy felt that Zora was a very strange person, but a good person nonetheless. She looked back at Kirsch to find him crying even more. And spitting up even more flowers, red carnations.
She blinked a couple of times. Dorothy knew for certain at this moment who Kirsch harbored feelings for, especially after her own experience with the curse, and she was very confused.
Kirsch and…Zora?! Who knew?
Dorothy had her work cut out for her. Either Kirsch had to realize that Zora was not interested or Zora had to find out so Kirsch could have a chance. Dorothy patted Kirsch's head some more, letting him cry. No wonder her poor Vice-Captain was crying!
How was she going to help him was the question of the day.
Clover Kingdom
Common Realm
Town of Nean
13th Day of the Curse
Mid-Morning
"Wow, that sounds rough, Noelle," said Rebecca. Noelle was talking with Rebecca. The older woman was busy sweeping outside of the restaurant in the town of Nean in the Common Realm, just so they could talk without Rebecca's boss scolding her. "Well, I hope your teammate gets better along with the others!"
Naturally, Noelle had to give Rebecca a run-down of events. After they first met, Noelle was a bit jealous because Rebecca liked Asta too, but what it came down to was that Noelle wanted more friends, so Noelle put her jealousy aside. Noelle stopped by every once in a while to visit, sometimes Asta and Gauche come with her to visit the kids and Rebecca.
"Thanks. Now, we're here to help you guys with the bandit situation," said Noelle, confidently. "Just leave it up to us."
Rebecca raised an eyebrow. Gauche immediately went to the orphanage and he was busy playing with Marie, despite Sister Teresa scolding him to do his job. Luck was attempting to pick fights everyone who looked strong. Magna was eating. "I, at least, feel safe when you're on the job, Noelle. Too bad Asta wasn't assigned to this mission."
Noelle snorted. "They're stupid, but they're reliable when push comes to shove. And I told you that Asta's not interested in girls like that, Rebecca. Give it up."
"Hey, I know, I know, but if he was here, I'd feel extra safe," said Rebecca, grinning.
Noelle laughed. "Yeah, that's true. So, what do you know about the bandits?"
"Not much really. They attack randomly, no set hour," said Rebecca, with a sigh and a shrug. "The town's men tried to fight them off when they come but they're too strong. They steal mostly anything that's not nailed down."
Frowning, Noelle thought to the recent reports in the upswing of banditry and thieving in the Forsaken and Common Realms, especially since there was no fear of the Eye of the Midnight Sun or any major attack coming from enemy kingdoms. There were no discerning patterns of traffic.
"Noelle's training to become the investigator Magic Knight for the Black Bulls squad," said Magna. Noelle was glad that Magna was finished with his food. Since he was recently hurt, she hadn't scolded him for taking a break to eat. She wanted to make sure that he was in top shape. He came over and slung his arm over Noelle's shoulder, and gave her a noogie. "She's becoming quite the detective!"
"Hey, watch it," said Noelle, half-heartedly complaining. She had long since gotten used to the casual affection of her Black Bull teammates. Now, only if she could get a hug from her big brother Nozel one of these days, she'd be set in happiness.
"That's so cool, Noelle. I'm sure you'll get it! You're super smart," said Rebecca, grinning.
Noelle shrugged, blushing lightly. "It's just a title. Technically, every squad is supposed to have specific roles filled, like investigator, but Captain Yami never got around to assigning them. Finral still doesn't know that he's the Vice-Captain."
Magna laughed. "And he's always so confused when he's stuck in the Vice-Captain meetings, too."
"Still that's awesome," said Rebecca, impressed.
Then, screaming started, someone yelling that it's the bandits and to get the Magic Knights-and the four members of the Black Bulls went into action immediately.
Between the four powerful affinity magics, three elemental and one that could enhance said attacks, the bandits stood no chance. Noelle knew that it was a show of power to send all four of them into the field since banditry was becoming a problem again.
"Let's get them," cheered Luck, electricity already sparking around him.
"Don't kill anyone," ordered Noelle, mostly to Gauche and Luck. "We can get information from them!"
They all raced to the where the screaming in Nean was the loudest to find a dozen men and women on horseback, harassing the townspeople.
"Hey, knock it off," yelled Magna. He and Luck rushed forward to rescue the civilians. Gauche rushed to start fighting the enemies.
Noelle raised an eyebrow. These bandits had average mana and they were all bunched together. Were they that stupid for criminals? She had a quick plan that would surely work. She opened her grimoire and shouted to give her teammates enough time to move. "Water Magic: Neptune's Prison!"
Water sprung from her grimoire powered by her mana, capturing all the enemies in one fell splash.
"Aww, man, Noelle, you really do make this battles a K-O these days," complained Luck.
"Well, let's wait until they pass out them, we tied them up and then interrogate them," said Noelle, flipping her hair. The mission was a success and no one got hurt.
Clover Kingdom
Coral Peacocks Headquarters
Tea Room
13th Day of the Curse
Afternoon
"William, Patri, happy to have you here," said Dorothy, welcoming them into her Tea Room. After her morning of unsuccessfully attempting to get Kirsch to talk to her about his feelings for Zora, she retreated to the Coral Peacocks headquarters. William, along with Patri, sent a message that he'd like to visit. Of course having one of her best friends visit, Dorothy thought would be nice, so of course, she agreed.
"Thanks for having us. How have you been feeling since the curse went away," asked William, taking a sip of chai tea.
"Much better. I have a lot of energy that I need to expend before I got back to sleep, but I want to make sure that Kirsch is all cured before I do," said Dorothy, sighing. "He doesn't want my help. I know I can't force him, but he won't talk to his mother or father or Miss Mimosa about it."
William nodded. "I'm having the same issue with Yuno. He's being particularly stubborn."
"Humans," scoffed Patri. "It would be just easier if you all just admitted your feelings instead of hiding it."
"That's not how it's done in society, Patri. I've explained this," said William, gently.
"Well, also you don't want to burden someone else with your feelings, at least that's the way I felt, especially when you know it's not returned," said Dorothy, bluntly. "But Kirsch and Finral, especially have a chance to be cured simply if they talk to the person. Yuno, on the other hand, only has that option."
William sighed. "Yuno's a good Magic Knight. A good Captain. He'll make an excellent Wizard King someday. But he's not good with feelings."
"To be fair, none of us are," said Dorothy. She absentmindedly stirred some sugar into her tea. She picked up a macaroon before putting it down again. "I think most of us Magic Knights tend to be more focused on training and protecting the kingdom than whether or not we can maturely handed our interpersonal relationships outside of the battlefield. It's easy to get along with someone when you've faced life and death situations with them and fight alongside them, but it's another to actually communicate properly with the people you care about, you know?"
"True words, Dotty," said William.
Patri scoffed. "That's ridiculous. Where do your subordinates train? I'll go and check them out."
Dorothy smiled. "Be careful, my little ones can be clingy. They might adopt you, Patri."
"I'll take my chances, rather than you two fuss over Yuno and Kirsch," said Patri, rolling his eyes. The elf left the room, leaving William and Dorothy just staring after him.
"He's rather difficult, isn't it?"
William snorted, softly. "He's trying to understand us, but he thinks most humans are stupid."
Dorothy giggled. "Yeah, he's mostly right. Most humans are dumbasses. So, what should we do about Kirsch, Yuno and Finral?"
"Let's brainstorm," said William. "Oh! I almost forgot. Mereoleona's actually adopting the girls she found! It just went to the Vermillion House Council to be approved."
"Mereo being a mom, that's wild, but also makes sense that she just picked them up on one of her travels."
"She'll be a terrifyingly effective mother, I believe."
"Yeah! I'm going to have make some fancy hats for them," said Dorothy, cheerfully. "I can't wait to meet them."
"Should be interesting. We'll need someone with linguistic affinity magic, though."
"Even more fun!"
William shook his head, amused. It was nice to talk to him like normal again, now that he wasn't avoiding her. "So, those three in the infirmary…?"
Clover Kingdom
Forsaken Realm
a forest somewhere
14th Day of the Curse
Afternoon
Vanessa wanted a drink. They were a few days from the drop-off point at the Heart-Clover Kingdom border. Team Save the Queen stopped to take a quick rest at Nozel's orders. Vanessa was tired. She normally had her Black Bulls team members there to let her slack off. She had no idea why she was chosen for this mission. Her combat worked best in combination with Asta and Finral. And while her fate magic was powerful, she had to be very careful how she used it.
"Man, I need a beer," complained Sal Vermillion, leaning against a nearby tree. The team had landed in a forest in the Forsaken Realm in order to having some cover if enemies were in the sky.
"Same," said Vanessa. The two women, one witch, one wizard, observed the rest of the team. Levi was actually the only one on guard, while Nozel and "Edward" (AKA Julius) argued about the direction. "Why is it that the men always argue about the directions?"
"A mystery," retorted Sal. "Your squadmates too, huh?"
"Yeah, all of them except Asta, who has no sense of direction," said Vanessa, sighing. She was annoyed. She should have figured out a way to opt out of the mission, especially since Finral was most assuredly still in the hospital, refusing to talk to Langris. Vanessa grumbled and stood up from her seat on top of the rock that she was resting upon. She charged over to Nozel and the former Wizard King in disguise and snatched the map out of Nozel's hand.
"Excuse you," started Nozel.
"Nah, excuse the both of you. I'm done hearing you two argue," said Vanessa, putting her foot down. She took a look at the map. She found what she was looking for and pointed, dragging her finger across the map to show the route they should take. "We take this path from now on. It's the shortest most direct route to where we need to go."
"But…" started "Edward."
Nozel frowned and said, despite sounding less than pleased that he was agreeing with her. "She's right, though. Even if we run into enemies, it's the shortest distance. We'll do that then."
Vanessa grinned.
Clover Kingdom
Golden Dawn Headquarters
Vice-Captain's Office
15th Day of the Curse
Morning
If this had been three years before the elf war, Langris would have been pretty pleased to be in charge of the Golden Dawn. Now, three years ago, and one life-changing event lived through, Langris wanted Yuno to get better so he would have to do half of this paperwork. Some of it was absolutely mind-numbing. Maybe he should rethinking wanting to start his own Magic Knight squad as a Captain. He grumbled as he approved the new training schedule for their newest recruits.
Klaus was put permanently in-charge of acclimating new recruits, whether they be royal, noble or commoner, because of his efficiency and skill in acclimating Mimosa and Yuno three years ago. Still grumbling about stupid captains who won't confess his undying love for his childhood friend and stupid older brothers that's way too nice, he realized that he had forgotten to eat breakfast yet again when stomach growled. "Fuck."
Then, the door to his office bust open and Mimosa Vermillion came in the room like she owned it. To be frank, when Yuno became Captain, Langris almost thought he was going to be out of a job and replaced him with her as Yuno's Vice-Captain. She was like the unofficially Co-Vice-Captain—the one that Yuno actually liked. She was alright. "I brought you breakfast because I had a feeling you forgot again."
"Ah," replied Langris, as she came over and placed a plate of food on his desk. And the book he sent for his brother Finral. "Oh, he read it already?"
"Yeah, he said thanks," said Mimosa. She gave him a hard stare. "You should go and talk to him. Tell him that you love him."
"Not your business, Lady Mimosa," said Langris, eyebrow raised. "And besides, you're one to talk. Kirsch is still in the infirmary."
"But he's not spitting up flowers for me," said Mimosa, smartly. "That was naturally the first thing I asked him, if he felt that I didn't love him. He may be annoying and grossly egotistical, but he's still my big brother and I love the dumb idiot."
Langris opened his mouth respond and shut it, only to finally settle on saying, "Fair."
"Aren't you going to thank me for the food?"
"Thank you," he replied, quickly. "You don't have to keep bringing me food you know. I can fetch it myself."
"You'd starve if I didn't," said Mimosa, smiling, but sighing. She almost sounded fond of him. Langris tried not to look directly at Mimosa when she sounded like that and get his hopes up. "Oh, by the way, have you heard from Lady Finesse? She was supposed to visit Finral, but she hadn't been by in days. He's worried about her. Did you hear if she got ill again?"
Langris titled his head, confused. He never spoke to Lady Finesse, especially after she confronted him outside of the infirmary days ago. It was troubling because she was supposed to be looking after Finral with most of his teammates busy with missions and other Magic Knight tasks. "I have not. That's doesn't sound like her. She's a woman of her word."
Mimosa nodded. "I'm headed out on a mission myself in an hour, so thought you should know. Now eat, before it gets cold."
"Yes, ma'am."
Clover Kingdom
Calmreich Homestead
Foyer
15th Day of the Curse
Mid-Morning
Langris did not want to be there, sitting in the foyer of the Calmreich Homestead with his responsibilities of taking care of the Golden Dawn squad business, but it was for his brother. Mimosa's guilt-tripping speech earlier brought him here a few hours after he spoke with her. He was waiting for the servant to fetch Finesse for him or allow him to go to meet her somewhere in the house.
Despite being her fiancée, he had never called on her before at her house.
"I'm sorry, Lord Langris, but the Lady is indisposed at the moment," said the servant, nervously.
Langris glared. "Fine. Then, let me talk to her father."
"The Lord thought you might ask that," said the servant, growing more antsy and nervous. Langris still had a nasty glare.
The servant handed Langris a note. He opened it and read it.
'Young Lord Langris Vaude,
If you wish to call upon my daughter, you must talk to your parents concerning the betrothal.
Warmest regards,
Lord Calmreich.'
Langris grunted and turned away. He stormed out of the Calmreich House. Something was off. He felt it in his gut. Finesse loved Finral. She wouldn't stop visiting him unless she wasn't able to do so. Honestly, he didn't want to talk to his parents since they were the ones that pushed him to be the way he was before, but something must be going on with the engagement. He had to get to the bottom of this situation.
He needed to visit his childhood house.
Clover Kingdom
Vermillion Homestead
The Children's Outside Play Area
15th Day of the Curse
Noon
Leopold was on babysitting duty. Even though, Lady Ruth cleared him. His mother and his brother decided that Leopold was to take a couple of weeks to actually rest. It didn't meant that it bothered him that they left him with his new nieces. They were not officially his nieces yet, but his father was working on it.
Fuegoleon had too many responsibilities as Wizard King to babysit. Mereoleona was attempting to track down a magic tattoo or seal expert. She already "asked" Zora, but Zora thing was traps not undoing completely dark magic seals. His mother Lady Solace was busy in the infirmary since Lady Ruth had to go and handle a Roselei Noble House matter. And he wasn't exactly alone with the girls, as Miss Sharise and the other royal servants were mulling about in their duties.
Still, he wished that they liked him better. Blue was the only one that was able to speak a little Common and what she knew was very rude (which was kind of funny). Leopold had known a lot of rude people over the years, but she knew all the bad words and gestures and the basics of food. Hanima and Sabriel were wary of him. All three were off to the side by a magnolia tree, whispering in their language, giving him the stink eye.
It didn't help that he was trying to keep his mind off of his affirmed unrequited love. Leopold knew that he couldn't just shut down the feelings since he had them for a while, but he wished that it didn't hurt as much as it did. But he took to heart that he knew for certain how Asta felt about him. It may not be the way he wanted it, but at least, Asta cared about him.
"Leo," said Blue, suddenly standing right in front of him. She held her stomach. "Hangry."
"Sure, let's go," said Leopold, standing up. He held out his hand for her, but she didn't take it. He honestly didn't expect her to take his hand, but his parents told him to keep offering but also not to push.
Blue shouted at Sabriel and Hanima and the came bounding over to him. They followed him to the kitchens like ducklings would a mother and it was adorable.
In the kitchens, the long-time head chef of the Vermillion House was preparing for lunch (always promptly at 1pm) and dinner (always promptly at 6:30pm, where anywhere between three Vermillion to 30 Vermillion family members would show up. Any excess food was given to the servants or sent into town for the orphans). There in the kitchen, as always, was Chef Zasha, barking orders at the sous-chefs and the line cooks when she spotted him. The heavyset master chef gave Leopold a look.
"Lord Leopold, lunch is not ready yet," said Chef Zasha, sternly. There had been many times when Leopold snuck into the kitchens to pilfer snacks.
"Ah, but my nieces need snacks," said Leopold.
Chef Zasha came over and whapped him lightly on the head. "Children need order and structure. You can't feed them willy-nilly whenever they want. They'll develop poor eating habits and be unhealthy!"
"Chef! Just give the girls some cookies," yelled Miss Sharise, popping her head into the kitchen, as she was prone to do as the Chief of Staff of the household. She was always running about, checking on this and that. Miss Sharise was the best.
"Fine, but don't come crying to me if they get sick," sniffed the Chef. She handed each of the girls' two cookies. "Lunch in the sunroom at 1pm, Lord Leopold. Bring them."
Leopold smiled when the girls devoured the cookies. Once they were better and suited to going out in public, he would badger Fragil to help him take them to the best sweet shops in the royal capital. Being an uncle was going to be so fun.
"Leo," Blue said, holding her throat, big green eyes boring into Leopold's soul. "'fwistry."
"Ah, milk," said Leopold, going to the cold box and fetching the fresh milk. One of the sous-chefs helpfully provided three cups, so Leopold was able to pour them glasses of milk. "Drink up!"
"You look like you're pleased with this turn of events, Cousin Leo," said a familiar voice. Leopold looked at the other entrance to the kitchen to find one of his second cousins (from the Vermillion side of his family). His dad's cousin's only daughter (she was the youngest, with five older brothers) was only a couple of weeks older than Leopold.
"Astride! You're back," said Leopold, bounding over to give his cousin a hug. Astride Vermillion, like many Vermillion, was a fire-affinity user. Like all Vermillion blood family members, she had orange-vermillion hair and she had blue eyes.
She was in the small, yet, forceful Clover Kingdom's Royal Magic Navy as a Captain. Technically, it was under the command of the Wizard King and the members of the naval forces were Magic Knights, but the Navy tended to act like they were separate from the Magic Knight squads. A Navy Captain, however, was not a Grand Magic Knight like the Captain of the Magic Knight squads. A Navy Captain was equivalent to either 1st or2nd or 3rd Senior Magic Knights.
Wildly grinning, she ruffled Leo's hair (as she was taller than him). "Glad to be home for a bit! Heard that Mereo was adopting some ragamuffins and want to see them for myself! Also heard that you got hit with a curse. Cousin Kirsch is still in the infirmary too."
"Out of my kitchen, Lady Astride, Lord Leopold, this is not a meeting area," scolded Chef Zasha at the two 20-year-old royals.
Leopold rolled his eyes. "Blue, Sabriel, Hanima, let's go." The girls all understood his hand motion and scurried to follow him. And he definitely knew that they each got another cookie from one of the sous-chefs. "Man, Astride. It's really a long story to tell…you got the time?"
The five walked outside back to the play area. The girls sped off to their own devices, talking excitedly about something in their language.
"For you, cousin, I got all the time in the world."
He smiled at his cousin, but then, Leopold spotted out of the corner of his eye, the girls attempting to sneak off. "Oi, Girls, stay where I can see you! I know you understand that, Blue!" The girls bolted into the mazelike backyard of the Vermillion Homestead. Leo and Astride traded looks. The Navy Captain and the Magic Knight bolted after them. If Leo lost the girls the first time he babysat, he'd be killed by Mereoleona, only to be revived by his mother and murdered again.
"Now I kind of feel bad we did this to Big Bro Ben and Cousin Fuego back then," laughed Astride, while running.
Leopold grinned, starting to laugh too. It was the first time in days that he actually laughed. It felt nice to laugh. "Man, Big Brother and Cousin Ben used to get so mad at us!"
"Come on, let's not lose the girls! Man, they are Vermillion already!"
"Right?"
Clover Kingdom
Dungeon at the eastern edge near the border of Clover and Diamond
16th Day of the Curse
Morning
It took Asta and Secre a while to get to the very core of the dungeon. Since Magna and his team had been ambushed at the entrance, all traps and fail-safes were still active. Thankfully, between Asta's anti-magic swords and Secre's knowledge and both their quick-thinking, they managed. Honestly, Asta was just so happy to be out in the field. Of course, his work as temporary captain of the Coral Peacocks and being the captain of the Royal Knights in an emergency were great, but just going out and being a Magic Knight was thrilling.
Most dungeons appeared for one reason or another—usually bringing up jewels, gold, old grimoires or magic items from past civilizations. Each dungeon had a core where it told someone how it activated or why. There was a lot of untapped natural magical energy in the world, but also a lot of mana-users doing a lot of different stuff with magic.
Asta did not understand it much, however and left the hard-thinking stuff to the smarter people. He knew that he wasn't bright when it came to scholarly things. It was one of his weak points.
Secre was reading some weird writing on some stone tablet. Her eyes were narrowed in concentration, so Asta tried not to make too much noise. He didn't want to distract her.
"Um, Asta," said Secre, peering up at him. "This was a man-made dungeon."
"What? How?"
"I'm not talking like men made the dungeon, more like someone forced this dungeon to appear, because Asta, this place is…"
CRACK
The ground started rumbling and shaking, like it was an earthquake. Asta grabbed Secre and pulled her to him. "Hold tight, Secre!"
"ASTA! We have to get out of here!"
Asta had the bigger sword over their heads, shielding them from debris. Asta looked to where their exit had been (the way they came) and it was blocked by a large chunk of stone. He was going to have to cut his way out of this mess. Mouth in a thin line, Asta shouted, "GET READY!"
CRACK CRACK CRACK
Asta did not like the sound of that as smoke came pouring in from the split ground, along with some sort of magma.
"Sonovabitch."
"Secre! Who taught you to curse?!"
"Not the time!"
No, it really wasn't the time. They were in some serious trouble.
Clover Kingdom
Forsaken Realm
The Town of Horst
16th Day of the Curse
Afternoon
Zora had to remind himself not to strangle his fellow Magic Knights because he was the team leader and because they had a mission to do, much to Zora's displeasure. He got the worst teammates in all of the damn Magic Knights. Sol Marron of the Blue Rose Knights was passable enough in battle, but her immediate distrust of most men made her difficult to offer advice. Clarity Esmond of the Azure Deer was a complete airhead. It might have been mean of him to say it out loud, to her face, but she was. Or at least, she seemed to be on the same level of airhead-ness as her Captain, a weird kind airheadness with competency in magic.
And there was goddamn Solid Silva. Despite Zora trying his very best not to punch the smug asshole in the face (for Noelle's sake, only), Zora definitely threw about 30 stink bugs at the annoying royal.
The team of four were in the Town of Horst in the Forsaken Realm. It was just as bad as the hovel that Zora grew up in—backwater in all the wrong ways, one main street, poor, dirty, hungry people walked the street, no work, and little magic ability. It was why they were called there. Apparently, there was a ghost.
In a world of wizards, magic, elves, elemental spirits and devils, ghosts did exist. Of course, they existed, since people had souls and if they weren't reincarnated or going onto the beyond (if there was one), ghosts appeared. However, most ghosts were sad, lonely, and somewhat mischievous. In all of Zora's experiences handling haunted places, the ghosts were easy to quell.
When they arrived in the town, Zora sensed no ghost. Ghost had a vaguely cold lingering mana, some stronger than others, but there was definitely no ghost. Someone was playing a bad prank. It was hard to fake a real haunting. The fact was that the town priest kept appearing and badgering them while they "investigated."
In actuality, Zora already decided they were going to wait twenty minutes then tell them that the problem was solved so they could leave. Zora had better things to do. While he didn't mind helping out the poor, common folk, there were plenty of corrupt royals and nobles and merchants that needed to be taken down. That was Zora's self-imposed job. In addition, there were some libraries in some rather uncouth places that he wanted to check out just to see if you could find something to reverse long-lasting curses like the Unrequited Love Flower Curse. He'd rather be doing that than this job. He was not a comforting person. Zora couldn't do much of it.
But the priest showing up, they actually had to look like they were working. Sol and Clarity, at least, understood what Zora said, but Solid was just standing, complaining about the common mud on his shoes.
Reminding himself that murder was wrong and that Noelle would be sad if her douchebag brother died, Zora sighed. "Priest, let us do our job in peace. We'll handle it."
"Ahh, sorry, sorry, I'll leave you alone," the priest cried, fleeing.
"So, what do you think, Zora," asked Sol, arms crossed. "No ghost?"
Zora narrowed his eyes, staring at the small cemetery. "Nah, it's a bunch of kids doing a prank."
"Are you sure? We had better do this job right or I'm blaming you, Ideale," sneered Solid.
"Asshole, thank Noelle the next time you see her, because right now, she's the only reason why you still have goddamn teeth," snapped Zora. It looked like his patience was gone. He was done with this shit. He walked through the cemetery (where the supposed haunting took place) and placed magic circles as he walked. They were small and simple traps.
And finally, his idea worked because one of his traps activated the magic circle he suspected was nearby. Someone had a mist-affinity magic, a magic that could make it seem like there was a ghost. He found the paper glued to a stone with a magic circle.
"Knew it," said Zora, to himself. He went over and handed it to Sol. "Here. Find who is a mist-affinity user. I'm out. You can tell the Wizard King if he has a problem, he can come and find me himself. I got better things to do. Take all the credit for all I care." Sol stood there stunned. Clarity was still staring off into space.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?!"
Zora merely flipped off Solid Silva and used his magic to make himself disappear from the town to a mile down the road.
"Back to work," he muttered to himself.
His main concern was the libraries in the terrible places. They might have some answers that would help the three left in the infirmary and maybe even help out Mereoleona's brats with those tattoo seals blocking their magic.
Clover Kingdom
Silver Eagles' Headquarters
Vice-Captain's Office
16th Day of the Curse
Evening
Nebra rushed through the corridors of the Silver Eagles' Headquarters and reached the Vice-Captain's office. She slammed the door open to find the Vice-Captain of the Silver Eagles. The Vice-Captain was Nebra's best frenemy Vivian Shipley (black hair and purple eyes) at her desk doing a pile of paperwork, since Nebra's older brother and Captain of the Silver Eagles was on a special mission. Vivian was one of the few commoners that had been accepted into the Silver Eagles by Nozel, prior to his change of heart after the elf war.
Vivian glared at Nebra.
"Oi, you were supposed to be an hour ago, Nebra!? You had better not think about running off! Captain specifically told you that you were going to help me," scolded Vivian.
Nebra waved her off. "Don't worry about that now! Mereoleona's coming for you!"
Vivian jumped up and paled. "What?! What did I do to Captain Mereoleona?! I'm gonna die, no. Nebra, hide me."
"Yeah, it's too late," said Nebra, wincing. She didn't run fast enough to outrun her second cousin. Mereoleona was a force of nature. With that, Mereoleona came sauntering into the room, her fire magic forming a hand and grabbing both Vivian and Nebra by the heads.
"You the blood witch I heard about, Vice-Captain Shipley," asked Mereoleona. Nebra winced.
Vivian growled. "I'm not a fucking witch. I'm a wizard. I was born in the Common Realm, thank you very much!" Nebra winced. One of Viv's peeves was being called a witch, just because of her type of magic. It's why she and Nebra started off on the wrong foot back when they were 15 and just joined the Magic Knights.
"Whatever," said Mereoleona, dismissively, not to be mean but because she was in a hurry. "You know seals and tattoos, right?"
Vivian replied, "Well, yeah. But I don't know everything, so I'll need a few others to help me. This about the girls you took in, the tattoos sealing their magic right?" Nebra had to give Viv credit for remaining calm enough to hold a conversation with Mereoleona while a hand of fire was attached to her head.
"Exactly," said Mereoleona, nodding. "I know you're busy with running the Silver Eagles while Nozel is gone, and Fuego would be annoying if I interrupted you, but can you stop by the Vermillion Homestead in a few days? Nebra can take you."
"Yeah, I'll schedule a time for it," said Vivian. "I can, at least, take a look at it and see where we go from there."
Thankfully, Mereoleona looked pleased. She grinned, wolfishly. "Excellent." Just as she appeared, she dropped Vivian and Nebra from her clutches and left.
After a minute, both Nebra and Vivian collapsed on the office floor, sighing in relief. "Oh, God! She's scary as all hell. I think I almost had a heart-attack." Vivian held her heart.
"I know," said Nebra, cried.
Clover Kingdom
the southwestern edge, the border between the Clover Kingdom and the Heart Kingdom
17th Day of the Curse
Midnight, Rainy
Natural rain was worse than magically-produced rain. It was actually a fascinating phenomenon that Julius had really wanted to investigate more closely. Sal, however, hated when he tried to study her magic like an experiment. It was why he liked her and brought her with him when he became the Wizard King years ago. Natural rain had a certain smell about it, as did magically-produced rain.
But, he needed to worry about the differences between the two rains at another time because they were finally nearing the border of the Heart Kingdom, after nearly a week of travel. Julius was worried. All this time, they hadn't run into any enemies. It too easy and Julius knew from years of experience that when something was too easy, that it was too good to be true. Nothing worthwhile was easy.
Julius looked back briefly at the carriage moved along by Nozel's magic to the Queen of Hearts inside, being monitored by Owen. He had been so excited that Ophie, as he called her, was visiting for Remembrance Day! Even though he couldn't talk to his old friend because he was a new person as Edward Kairos, it was still good to see her. The last time they talked was when he visited her after she had her only son, the Crown Prince of the Heart Kingdom.
When she collapsed on stage, Julius knew did not know what to think. He was worried for sure. She was his age, though he had the benefit of magic backfiring and turning himself into a 13-year-old again (he was now in the body of a 16-year-old and it was glorious to be young and spry again). There were any number of possibilities—from a heart-attack to a stroke.
And then, he found out about the curse just like everyone else, he was worried. Ophie was married to the current Clover King's younger (by only a year) brother, but it was not a marriage of love. Ophie was the older one by eight years in that relationship, if you even could call it that, but she needed an heir and the Clover Kingdom needed an ally against the Spade and the Diamond Kingdoms.
He felt bad for her, but it was the duty of royalty to provide stability to the masses.
Julius hadn't even known she even was in love with anyone.
"Edward, Captain Nozel, Vanessa, Sal, we have enemies, incoming on our three," called Levi, activating his barrier magic to protect the Queen. Julius noted the enemies. It must be the Spade Kingdom assassins. He was miffed that she hadn't told him about her trouble with the Spade Kingdom back when he was the Wizard King, but he supposed he understood that it was an internal matter.
Instead of five assassins, there were forty.
"Edward," called Nozel, nodding at him. "Take the Queen and get her home."
Thankfully prior to the beginning of the mission, he told Nozel that he and Ophie came up with a special seal so that Julius was able to enter the Heart Kingdom's natural barrier as though he was a citizen of the Heart Kingdom. He checked that the seal was still active even in this younger form. In a worst case scenario, he would get Ophie to safety as that was the mission. Julius was confident in the abilities of his Magic Knights, especially as much as they had grown over three years.
"Understood," said Julius, flying backward to the carriage. Levi picked up Ophie and passed her to Julius. Once Ophie was secured, he told her. "Hold on tight, Your Highness. We are making a break for it." He smiled at her reassuringly.
"Wait! You'll get hurt, you won't be able…"
And, then Julius used his magic to speed himself and her on the broom (also cutting her off mid-sentence) through the encircling crowd of enemy wizards straight towards the Heart Kingdom's border. The team would be fine. He had to protect Ophie first and foremost.
From the sky, you were able to tell the difference between Heart and Clover. There was a sense from the Heart Kingdom's encircling forest that meant danger. It was a fun kingdom. Julius used to joke that he was going to retire with a bookshop there just to spend his old age bugging Ophie. There was an overwhelming sense of guilt that filled his heart. He hated lying to her. She was his oldest friend, a kindred spirit.
Julius swerved when elemental and weapon attacks came for them, thankfully the others were on point, covering his back.
"HURRY," screamed Yami's dear Vanessa. It looked like she was changing the fate for them, as Julius burst through the barrier and accidentally landed into the forest that surrounded the Heart Kingdom, Tulgey Woods, home to mysterious and deadly magical creatures, whose collective mana made the protective natural barrier in the first place.
Safe within the protective barrier of the Heart Kingdom, they crashed unceremoniously on the forest floor. Julius was knocked for a loop for a bit, shaking his head, when he felt a sharp smack.
"You're fucking cough alive, Julius!? Are you fucking cough kidding me right cough now?!"
Focusing himself as they were somewhere dangerous still many miles away from the Heart Kingdom's capital, Julius winced at her slap. Ophie was not a stupid woman. He knew there was a high chance that she would figure out it was him. "Ophie, my dear friend, we can talk later, but really, now is not the time. We have to get to the town outside of these woods so you can call reinforcements."
Ophie coughed up some more black rose petals, looking more and more contrite. "We are so going to have a good long, cough Julius Novachrono and you had better not leave anything out when we do."
"I promise, but now we have a ways to walk and the forest won't allow for broom use," said Julius.
"You don't have to cough remind me. I own these woods," she replied, scoffing. "What about the others?"
Julius smiled. "Don't worry, I believe in them. My Magic Knights are stronger than you know."
Nodding, she unsteadily stood up. Then, in an unamused and very serious tone, she said, "I'm 45 and cough dying of a curse, cough come and be my crutch, somehow-16-years-old-and-not-dead old friend."
Julius winced. She was not going to this go and he was never going to hear the end of it.
"Ophie, don't be difficult."
"Bite me, asshole."
Clover Kingdom
the southwestern edge, the border between the Clover Kingdom and the Heart Kingdom
17th Day of the Curse
Still Midnight, Rainy
the moment that "Edward" disappeared safely with The Queen of Hearts into the natural magical barrier of the Heart Kingdom
Nozel let out a huge sigh, knowing that Julius got the Queen of Hearts to safety. But that was now not their problem. Julius had to get the Queen to her capital in one piece, just in case, while Nozel and the rest of the team dealt with the Spade Kingdom assassins. The Silva heir scanned the battlefield for his team.
Sal was zipping around the sky fighting ten airborne assassins. Levi was also on his broom, using his barrier magic as a battering ram.
Nozel and Vanessa were fighting on the ground. Vanessa was covering Dr. Owen, who was a doctor and not a fighter so he was at a disadvantage. Nozel was covering Vanessa.
"There's too many of them," called out Levi, from above, trying to be loud over the chaos. "More are on the way and the ones we keep knocking come back stronger!"
Nozel noticed. No matter how many he thought he knocked out, the assassins just kept getting up. Their combined mana strength was monstrous.
"This reminds me of the elves," yelled Vanessa.
She was right. It did remind him that horrible, horrible day where he almost lost all three of his siblings.
"OI, IS THE QUEEN SAFE?!" Sal was yelling like a banshee over the rain and thunder.
"YES," called Nozel.
"Edward will be fine, we need to retreat, we can't beat them with just us," yelled Sal again.
Nozel bit his lip. He looked at the forty enemies, who just getting reinforcements now and the ones they knocked out, where coming back full-force.
"They're eating something," said Vanessa, hefting Dr. Owen off the ground. "Levi, take the doc!" Levi flew, maneuvering through to lift the doctor on his broom, Sal covering his back with lightning bolts and heavy winds. Vanessa moved her hand and materialized her own broom. "It's some magic-enhancing thing! We can't win without our own reinforcements."
Nozel nodded and yelled, "RETREAT!"
Then he felt something prick his neck and his vision wavered and he almost tripped over his own two feet. Then everything went dark, not before he heard Vanessa calling out his name in panic.
Ch. End