WARNING!:
This chapter contains light sexual content.
Chapter 12 Part 1. What No One Sees
It is midday, and Asta stretches wide on the couch. His eyes shoot up, and he jumps out of the couch. "Oh no, I fell asleep!" he shouts. "Calm down already," Liebe groans. "Huh?" Asta utters and takes the note of his face.
"Hey kid, we are headed out on missions. Hold down the fort until someone comes back. See ya, from Yami."
"No, they left without me! That means today's missions are gone!" He raises his hands in defeat and falls to his knees, being overly dramatic.
...
"Are you done?" Liebe asks.
...
"Yeah, I'm done."
"So, we basically have the day off then," Asta says, getting up and looks around. "Hm, what should we, uh..." Asta trails off as his eyes soften, looking out of the window.
"Huh?" Liebe looks in the same direction as Asta.
"You aren't thinking about the other night, are you?" Liebe asks, seeing Millie reading a book in silence on her usual branch while the wind blows through her black flowing hair.
"I am. She is usually calm and quiet like she is right now, so what could have made her so rattled up?" "Who knows? But even if you knew, what could you do about it?"
"Hmmm, the only thing to do," Asta says, perking up again. "Huh?" "I am just gonna have to keep reaching my hand out to her until she takes it," he says with a big friendly smile. Liebe's mind goes to the marks he remembers seeing on her body the other day, as she has clearly been through something really rough.
"Oh, you're here, Asta. Hi," a slow voice says behind him, and he turns his head. "Oh, Henry, how are you doing, buddy?" "I am doing good, Asta. What do you say to some tea together?" Henry asks slowly.
"Sure thing, Henry. Oh, and thank you for bringing us to the beach the other day," he says, following Henry into the dining room. "It was the least I could do. Besides, it is rare I get a different scenery than what surrounds the hideout," Henry says, getting into the cupboard and getting a couple of cups, while Asta puts the kettle on the stove and Henry gets the tea.
"So, how are the missions going lately?" Henry asks. "They are doing great. We even got a star for helping the Village that was sick," Asta says with a bright smile. "Huh, how come?" "Well, apparently, since we did more than what the mission intended and we solved the problem as well as helped out, it showed a greater merit," Asta says proudly.
"Ah, how neat," Henry says, setting the table and placing a plate of cookies in the middle of the table between the cups.
"You must be feeling better since you are up and about again," Asta says. "Well, a little. I figured that I would at least try to be up a little bit."
"That's great," Asta says, taking the kettle off the stove, putting out the fire, and pouring the water into the teapot that Henry had set.
The three sit down and chat for a while, drinking tea and eating cookies.
Meanwhile, there is a guy wearing a black mask made of black leather straps that wrap around his lower face, leaving openings for his nostrils and mouth. It covers his neck.
The opening for his mouth displays his sharpened teeth. The final strap is thicker and studded. His black shirt only covers his shoulders, upper arms, and upper back. His crimson hair is styled in a flame-like pattern.
He has two metal studs just above his right eye and three metal studs on the left side of his lower lip. He also has two black lines extending from both eyes.
He is wearing a black bull's robe and two metal cuffs around his wrists. He has black leather pants and long black boots that reach his thighs.
With a relaxed and carefree attitude, he walks inside the hideout, putting his hands into his pockets and standing in the empty living room.
"Huh, no one is here... Don't tell me those guys are still on missions. After the war, they really got themselves together," he utters to himself and looks around the hideout.
He enters the dining hall, saying, "There is the guy of the hour," as he walks up to the trio. "Oh, Zora," Asta says, putting a cookie into his mouth. "Hi, Zora," Henry greets. "Hi there, Henry. If you don't mind, I will be bringing the little runt here."
"Uh, what for?" Henry asks.
"I have a mission where you could say I hit a snag. So you will help me out with that. What do you say?" Zora tells Asta.
"But I'm supposed to hold the fort since the rest is out on missions and such," Asta replies.
"Tsk, last I checked, you still had to do what I said," Zora tells him.
"Naah," Asta pushes back. "Besides, who will be here in case a mission comes in?"
"A mission just came in, moron. My mission," Zora replies.
"But, uh," they hear the familiar sound of Finral's portal. "Phew, that was rough."
"Tsk, neh. You're just useless, that's all," they hear Goash reply. "I am your superior, damn it!" Finral snaps back.
"Huh, now that's perfect timing. It looks like your schedule got cleared after all," Zora says, satisfied.
"I guess I just...," Asta says. Zora pulls his arm, and Asta falls back. "I guess we're heading out," Asta says, looking at the ceiling from the floor, and he sees Liebe's face sticking out, observing Asta while chewing.
Liebe swallows his food and says, "That was weak." Asta blushes while getting up and defends himself, saying, "You think so? Wait, hey! I gave him plenty of pushback."
Liebe blinks, not really caring at all, before transforming into his small form and getting on Asta's shoulder. As Asta brushes himself off and Zora goes ahead, Asta says, "Well, I guess I'm off. See you, Henry."
"Right, bye, Asta," Henry replies and waves goodbye.
Zora walks out of the main door and asks, "Hey, shorty, are you coming or what?" He stops and stands next to Asta.
"Why did you stop?" Asta asks and stands beside him.
"Who is that?" Zora asks. Asta looks ahead and sees Millie walking toward them. "Oh, that is Millie. She is..." Asta explains.
"Millie? Is she another Black Bull?" Zora asks.
'Not really, she is a familiar,' Asta says as she stops in front of them. 'Are we heading out, Master?' she asks in a gentle and soft voice.
'Wait, and she has a contract with you?' Zora asks and looks at Asta. Millie looks at the two and sees that Zora is quite a bit taller than Asta.
'Why are you acting so surprised about it?' Asta asks.
'That is not what I am surprised about. I am mostly surprised you found someone this much shorter than you. Wait, how old is she even?' he asks.
Looking at Millie next to Asta as her line of vision is at the same height as the middle of his Asta's thorax.
'218, sir,' Millie tells him. 'What?! No way! You are pulling my leg,' he tells her.
'I am confused. I am nowhere near your legs, sir,' Millie replies. And Zora facepalms on the inside.
'Hahahaha, I don't believe it. The only familiar on the continent, and she is even dumber than you, although I should have guessed with that constant confused look on her face,' Zora tells them.
'Hey, easy on the insults, okay? There is no need for-'
'Well, nice meeting you, Millie. the name is Zora and You can have this rainbow stink bug as a symbol of our acquaintance,' he introduces.
'No, don't do it,' Asta exclaims, and Zora flicks something small to her that she catches.
She opens her hand and looks at the black bug with green and red lines on it. She puts up a tiny shield around it, keeping the stinky smell contained within. 'I am confused sir. What do you wish for me to do with this, sir?' she asks.
'Shoot, I had hoped she would at least be fun,' he says. 'That was really smart, Millie. The score is now Millie one and Zora zero,' Asta says.
'What? Don't count this. It is weird, moron,' Zora tells him. 'Hey, don't be salty just because this is the first time in a while that your greeting trick didn't work,' Asta tells him.
'What? Who says I am salty, you little runt?' Zora spits back. 'I just did, you cool mask-wielding person.'
They start to bicker, and Millie looks at the two and at the bug in her hand...
She walks over to a few bushes and carefully places it down on a leaf. Without anyone noticing, she uses her white flame to burn away the smell without a trace. Once the bug calms down, it stops emitting the awful smell. She waves at it as it crawls away. 'Na'ah, that is it. Let us head out. You'll see,' she hears Asta say.
He brings out his grimoire, and she transforms and runs over to him and jumps on his shoulder before he jumps on his sword and starts to ascend. Zora jumps on his broom, flying behind Asta while standing on the broom.
They land near Minko village, and they walk through quietly and look around.
'I don't get it. What are we looking for again?' Asta asks.
'A thief,' Zora tells him. 'Someone has been sneaking about stealing stuff, and for some reason, no one in this village has seen whoever is responsible,' Zora explains.
'Then how can people tell that something has been stolen?' Asta asks. 'What do you mean how? Things go missing like tools and barrels of food and such,' Zora enlightens.
'Right,' he says, and they keep watch over the village, trying to suss out whoever is doing it.
'Amn, there sure are a lot of wagons here and people making tools,' Asta mentions, looking at everything as they walk by.
'Yeah, well, this village has two big mines nearby. One is for iron, and the other mine is where they dig up crystals used in magic items or jewelry. So this village mostly lives off trading to get by. They do very little when it comes to agriculture and buy what they need from nearby villages.'
'A village mainly focused on trade, huh?' Asta utters. 'Yeah, and because of that, people here mostly just think about money,' Zora replies.
'Again, Martin, you better quit taking my things, damn it!' an angry voice says from a few buildings over. 'What is going on?' Asta asks, and they move along and see two men bickering with each other.
'You know it wasn't me, so quit your accusations already!' the man defends.
Millie hears faint giggling from afar.
'Well, who else could it have been? You are the only other person who has been around here all day, every day, working on stocks,' the man says.
'Hey, what is going on?' Asta asks. 'This guy keeps taking my things without permission,' the man says. 'Again, I am not taking your tools, so you can quit taking the ground wheat,' the man defends.
'Did either of you see the other one take it?' Zora asks. 'Well, no, but no one else has been by here all day,' the man says. 'Well, without proof, there isn't much we can do,' Zora says, scratching the back of his neck.
'That is what you said yesterday too, kid,' the man says. 'Yeah, and I am still working on it,' Zora spits back. 'Tsk, get it done already. I cannot afford to lose any more material,' the man says and gives the other guy a scowl. And they go their separate ways.
Zora lets out a sigh. 'Ugh, it has been like this for a couple of days now. Things keep going missing, but no one saw anything, and no one has taken anything,' Zora says.
'You are right, this is odd,' Asta says. 'And you didn't sense any Ki,' Zora asks. 'No, not right now I didn't,' Asta responds.
'Gaah, this is turning out to be such a drag,' Zora complains, looking at the village.
Millie looks at them both, then down at the grass, and she looks at a few birds a bit away eating from the ground.
'It is weird if this has gone on for a while but no one has seen or heard anything,' Asta says, looking at Liebe on his shoulder. 'Hey, don't look at me,' he says.
'Master Asta, I do believe someone is using illusion magic, and at a large scale as well,' Millie informs. 'What makes you say that?' Asta asks, and Zora is lending an ear. 'Because the shadows are off, and it is faint, but I do detect a small trace of mana belonging to someone all over this village,' she informs, looking at the birds.
'You are right. The birds are lacking shadows,' Asta says. 'Huh, so she is useful after all,' Zora says.
"An illusion, huh?" Asta says and looks at his hands. (When she mentions it, my senses do feel a little off somehow.)
"Well, we know what to do then. Liebe, are you ready?" he says, bringing out his grimoire. "Always ready," he replies, and Asta touches his blade, feeling Liebe's antimagic swell up within and around him.
Millie closes her eyes as the anti-magic builds up, and the energy moves like static around her.
The antimagic forms into a blade around the sword and grows exceptionally until it becomes enormous. Asta swings the blade across the village, nullifying the mana in the entire area.
They look around, and as the mana is nullified, the shadows get a little longer and make more sense. They see things move a little here and there.
Asta retracts the length of his anti-magic's reach, and his demon slayer becomes normal again. He puts it into his grimoire.
Liebe looks at Millie as she surveys the area (so she notices that the shadows are off, but the ability to let her know where she is in the world escapes her).
"Okay, the illusion magic has been lifted. Now what?" Asta asks as they look around to see if someone is fleeing while the illusion is gone, but no such luck.
"Okay, now that has been taken care of, we should be able to find whoever is responsible," Zora utters and looks about the area.
"We should have a look around for any clues. If the person used illusion magic to avoid being seen at this scale, it will mean they probably got cocky and careless in hiding their tracks," Zora says.
"Yeah, you are probably right," Asta says as Liebe relieves him of his dark form. Millie shakes her body as chills go through her from the anti-magic draining away quite a bit from her.
(So this is what happens when I am under the influence of antimagic), she thinks to herself.
"We should probably split up and cover more ground that way. Whoever is responsible will have to show themselves," Zora proposes. "Agreed," Asta says and looks at Millie, who then jumps down. "Understood, sir," she replies.
They split up and search each individual part of the village.
Millie walks about, seeing people work around a blacksmith. One comes up and puts logs onto the fire while another is working on the iron.
She stops, seeing the fire in a fire pit. She listens to the soothing crackling sounds as her mind wanders.
Flash Back
("Why do you pull away?" a dark voice ask, and Millie looks at the fire pit next to them. They were sitting there in late autumn, with the evening sun coloring everything in shades of orange. "I have, just never kissed anyone before."
He chuckles and cups my chin with his dark fingers.
"Oh, don't worry. I will take great care of you," he smugly states. "Why do you say that like you already have plans for me?"
"Shhh, just relax," he tells me and kisses my forehead...
I blush as he lookd intently at me, his usual piercing eyes gazing into mine.
"Casimir, I just mhf..." His lips landed on mine, and my cheeks bloomed red.
'Casimir, I am not sure about this. I feel all tingly,' I uttered. 'Hehe, it is a part of the process,' he told me and played with my bra strap. 'Now, do you want to try it or not?' he asked. 'I do, just be gentle,' I asked. And he smugly chuckled as he helped me undress.
Soon, I lay there naked, covering my chest with my hands. 'Why do you keep hiding?' he asked, leaning over me. 'You know the reason,' I replied, and he smirked as he touched my privates. 'It seems that she is ready,' he told me, leaning back and looking over my female features. 'Do not say it like that,' I said, and he chuckled, looking at me and then down at his member. 'I will insert it now, are you ready?' he asked, and I nodded, seeing his smug smile.)
End Flashback
'What are you staring at, girl?' Millie is snapped out of her thoughts. 'Huh, oh my apologies, I just got lost in thought,' she respond. 'Well, it better be all,' the man tells her, and Millie look into the firepit and moves on. (Right, as Casimir said that, he turned around, 'Get dressed,' he uttered to me. 'Huh, Casimir, what is it?' 'I said get dressed, something is coming.' he told me)
...
(That evening was the last good evening I had with him, and we almost... did it. Gaah! Why does my mind go there? I mean, I know I miss Casimir since he is long gone, but why did I think about that? I mean, he never penetrated, so we never actually did it, but Gaah! No, stop thinking about this already.) Her face turns beet red as she shakes her head repeatedly to dismiss the thoughts.
(No, I need to stop thinking about this.) She transforms into her cat form and run. (Right, if I run, the thoughts may go away.) She keeps going, and her eyes begin to glow.
Moments later, she stops by an old, torn-down wagon, where one of the wheels are missing and the a wooden box is keeping it leveled. (Huh, where am I? Did I black out again?) She wonder, seeing a clock tower in front of her. She turn and goes underneath the wagon and notice pulled-up weeds seemingly covering something.
'Did you hear?' she hear a lady say. 'What is it?' another lady ask. 'There has been another incident about the rumors we have heard lately,' the first lady says. 'About the spectral wolves attacking villages?' the other asks. 'Yeah, and apparently, they have some strange magic or aura to them too,' the first lady says.
'I hope nothing like that comes here,' a third lady says. 'Not to worry, so far they seem to only come down to places close to a strong magic region, which we are far, far away from,' the first lady reassures. 'Yeah, but I still feel bad. Those poor people must be terrified,' the third lady says.
(They are right. The number of attacks has increased.)
she cast a glance around her and she sees someone with red hair walk past the black smith some distance away.
Millie looks at her paw, and as she moves it, a mole climbs out between the weeds in front of her. They sniffed each other nose to nose, and the mole seem to not really care about her presence as it walked around her, digging and sniffing the ground, and found a worm that it slurped down.
She watched the mole eat it and go back to its hole, digging up dirt as it pushes itself down into the ground. Millie pulls her head back and takes a couple of steps back to avoid the dirt being flung everywhere. She ses the dust go up and liftes her head.
'No way,' she utter.
She run over to Asta and jumps to his shoulder. 'Master Asta, I believe I have found something useful,' she tells him.
'Awesome, where?' Asta aske, and Millie looked around. 'You don't know where it is anymore, do you?' Liebe asks her.
'It is under a wagon close to a fence,' she tells them, and they look around.
'Yeah, this village seems to be doing a lot of trading to get by, so that doesn't really narrow it down,' Asta says. They look around, seeing many wagons outside houses with fences. 'Right.'
Millie thought it over again. 'Close to the clock tower. I should be able to find it again from there,' Millie tells them. 'I guess it is a start,' Asta says, sharing a glance with Liebe.