"So, you failed to capture Yuno," a voice said.

"We're sorry sir, there were more of them than we expected, and the plan fell apart."

"No matter, they are strong, that is for sure. Start preparing for the next attack. It's time we make ourselves known."

"It's time for all of us to take our revenge?"

"Not yet for you, Vetto. I'd life the third eye to stay hidden for now. As for the rest of you, we hit the capital today, make your preparations and go!"

The rest of the people left the room, leaving the third eye alone with the leader.

"Are you sure about these moves Licht?"

"I'm quite sure Raia. The new magic knights are going to be trouble for sure. That foreigner's the first one since our time to hold celestial powers, and many of the zodiac already follow her. Combine that with a four-leaf holder and they can cause issues. Best to capture the four-leaf early before our awakening is complete."

"As you say Licht, I can't say I completely agree but I get it."

"Don't worry so much Raia, we'll be fine. Nothing can be worse than what we've already been through."

Meanwhile at the Golden Dawn base

Yuno was up early today. No real reason for it, just to get some extra training in. He still hadn't figured out the power he used back in the dungeon, so he needed to figure that out fast. He had to keep growing if he one day wanted to be Wizard King. All his first month as a magic knight really showed him was how far away that goal was. Lucy was already more powerful than him on day one, and the more missions they did, the stronger she got. He needed to keep that pace.

I was in the courtyard practicing my wind bow attack. This was a new technique I had worked hard to learn, and even though I got the technique down, it was missing the raw power. Nothing a bit of training can't fix.

"Is that all you got, Mr. four-leaf," Alecdora taunted from across the courtyard. He was against me in this training spar, practicing a new defense spell against my arrows. So far, I didn't have enough power to break through, but as I got better at the technique, the power came over time. My arrows were already much faster than earlier today. I responded by firing a shot from straight in the air, then moving quickly behind him and finally landing a hit. This time, the arrow blasted past his failed shield attempt and knocked him on his back.

"I think I've got it down now."

"You think. You just started practicing that today and you already got it. You don't just master a new technique in one session."

"He's right Yuno. It'll only get stronger the more you use it in actual fights," Lucy said, walking over to the boys.

"You were watching?" I said.

"I finished my meditation a while ago, so I came here to watch. You don't mind do you?"

"Of course not."

"Getting that far in one day is impressive. it usually takes me months to master a new spell."

"That long. How do you keep getting stronger if it takes that long to learn new spells."

"It just took longer for me to get here. I don't have magic that's amazing for combat, so it's a bit harder. Your magic is more naturally attuned for combat. Besides, you can't become the Wizard King in a few weeks, so don't worry too much. Anyways, captain wants us inside, so you should come."

"Alright I'll be there soon."

Not too long after that, I was back inside the base, getting the rundown from captain. We were supposed to head to the capital to deliver a report to the Wizard King. I thought he should have already heard, but it's fine if we need to tell him. Even better, I may actually get to meet the Wizard King. This is actually kind of exiting now.

Everyone else was already ready to head out. At least they would have been if everyone didn't take fault to my dress. Right, three noble-born would know a lot more about what's presentable when heading into the capital. As a peasant, literally anything I had wasn't formal enough, and I had to deal with the pains of two girls making sure I was fine to meet the Wizard King.

With that taken care of, we finally headed out to the capital, with me doing transportation this time. The trip was very fast given that our base wasn't too far away, and we were already on the ground walking up the long road headed straight into the castle. The sight was beautiful. Clover Castle stood tall atop a hill, with the city surrounding it on all sides. business was booming on the streets along the main road, and in the distance manses of the other noble houses stood radiantly, just like the excessive arrogance of their members. They really had money to throw at anything.

"Well, if it isn't the members of the Golden Dawn," a voice said. That was a voice I knew really well. I turned around to see Asta and Noelle walking towards us.

"So you're here to give a report as well?" Klaus asked.

"Yeah we are."

"Are you feeling all right? You not injured anymore."

"Nope, all fine. A week of sleeping and eating will do that."

At least Klaus seemed to keep his new kindness to Asta as well. He was really a lot easier to be around ever since that mission. Well, Asta hasn't changed much, but I expected that. Let's see if he's still as easy to tease.

"Too bad all that extra food you ate couldn't give you a an extra inch of height."

"Hey, I'm not that short you handsome idiot."

Really, what was his deal with complimenting and insulting people at the same time. I still don't understand that one.

"Anyways, let's get going. We can't be late," Klaus said. I agreed and we kept walking.

Soon enough, we arrived at the castle. We weren't going into the front gate, but rather from a side entrance that led straight to the magic knights headquarters. Standing directly in front of the door was a man wearing flashy red robes, with a ton of pins and medals. It had to be the most expensive looking set of clothes I've ever seen worn. All of the sudden, everyone who recognized him was kneeling, leaving Asta, Lucy, and myself still on our feet. Asta commented, "Wow this guy's flashy."

"Don't be so disrespectful. That's the current Wizard King, sir Julius Novachrono," Klaus scolded.

The Wizard King? And he came to greet us personally. Really. I immediately took a knee. So this is the guy I need to surpass. I wonder just how strong he really is, that'll tell me how far away I am from my goal. Even without that, there's so much to learn from this guy. They always say one way to success is to learn from those who did it before you.

"Welcome magic knights. Please rise and follow me up the tower, we'll talk there."

Inside the tower I got to see a completely different version of the Wizard King. Apparently, when they said the guy was a nerd, they weren't exaggerating.

"Wow that's so cool, I think you got the best treasure in the dungeon. The wind spirit has chosen you." Wind spirit? I think I remember something about that from a fairy tale. Supposedly, the four great spirits existed before the dawn of man, and in each era someone would be chosen by the spirit if they wielded the right attribute. There was a spirit representing the four major elements all magic falls under. Earth, water, wind, and fire. He was telling me I was chosen by the wind spirit. So that was the spell from the dungeon. It was so much more powerful than anything I could possibly use. What else but a great spirit could possibly use it. I'll really need to hear the tales of the spirits again, there is too much I don't know.

"Here, take you grimoire back. Can you cast the spell for me, I really want to see it, pretty please." And there's the other side of the Wizard King again.

"I haven't been able to use it at will yet."

"Aww. I really wanted to see some new magic. Right, but I can get that from somewhere else. Lucy, I don't really get your magic too much, can I see an example."

"Sure, I really don't mind, and I don't think my friend will mind coming out to the human world a bit more. Open, gat of the lion. Loke," After a flash of light, the spirit appeared in front of the Wizard King, sating "Pleased to make your acquaintance. Asta, Noelle, it's been a while."

"Good to see ya too Loke, you really helped us out in that dungeon," Asta said.

"So that's the magic you use, summoning allies from another world. May I ask what the keys are for?"

"The keys are pretty much how my magic works. Each one represents a constellation in the sky, and using it I can use my magic to open a gate to the spirit world."

"So cool, I've never seen magic use items like that before." The wizard king had stars in his eyes now.

"You don't have holder-type mages here?"

"Holder type?" I asked, just as confused.

"Where I come from, magic can be divided between caster and holder type. Caster type is able to directly release magic from their bodies, like what all of you do, and holder type needs to use items as foci for their spells. For me, it's my keys. I actually can't use my magic without them."

"I've never seen magic like that before. Holder type, that's common where you come from?" Julius asked.

"Far from as common as caster type, but it's around."

"I'm so happy I got to see new magic."

I had something I wanted to say here. "As interesting as all this is, I had a question to ask you if you don't mind. How did you become the Wizard King?"

Klaus took over, saying, "You need to have a noble heart and great power ..."

"No Klaus. That's not it at all. It's all about merit and results. What does a noble heart matter if you can't prove it, and what good is power if you aren't able to protect the people of the Kingdom. Earn merit. Become well known throughout the kingdom by your deeds for the people. And ensure you have the strength to defeat any threat that dares harm the people. Do that and you can become wizard king. I take it you and Asta here are shooting for that goal?"

"We are sir!" we said at the same time.

"Well that's excellent. Good luck on your journey, though I don't plan to just stand down anytime soon. I'll be looking forward to the challenge the day it comes. For now, I wanted to invite you all to watch this year's distinguished service ceremony. It's where we hand out titles for the best preforming knights the past year. I expect to see you all there."

The Wizard King led us down another hallway in the castle until we ended in a room filled with magic knights from the high-ranking squads. I also saw two other captains there, as well as Mimosa's relatives. She and Lucy went over to Leopold to greet him. Right, they ran into him a few days ago. Leopold was granted a new title for 7 stars obtained. I also saw Hamon and Alecdora, who I trained with earlier, getting new titles. Of course, right after the ceremony was done, the Wizard King bailed out while sending us to a banquet full of nobles. What could go wrong?

The simple answer was everything.

Well, not at first. Some people were able to ignore it. Lucy was surprisingly calm, choosing to stand next to Leopold.

"My, you're really something Leo. Another person going for Wizard King makes that group quite packed right?"

"Not just those two and me. Pretty much everyone in the kingdom's going for it. I want to prove my strength to my family. My siblings are already among the strongest in the kingdom. What kind of vermillion will I be if I can't match them?"

"They're still a ton older than you, with more experience. With that kind of determination and fire magic, why not. Why do you have to be so much like Natsu?"

"Is that one of your old friends?"

"Yeah. He used fire magic too. Could be loud and obnoxious like you, but also had insane dedication when he was set on a goal. You're so similar to him it's scary."

"Hey, don't call me obnoxious!"

"See, proving my point. Minus that trick you pulled the other day, you're a good person."

Meanwhile, the problems were only just beginning. In this case, it was Solid Silva who started them, going after Noelle with the cheapest, dirtiest insults he could come up with. She was taunted for her lack of control, failure as a royal, and the elder brother Nozel took it up a level by blaming her for their mother's death. I was watching simply shocked at how the royals would put down one of their own. Asta, being her squad mate, stood in front of the royals to defend Noelle. Good on him, someone needs to shut up the spoiled nobles. I take my grimoire out, just in case things get wild. Turns out I was right in doing so, as Solid Silva actually directly attacked Asta, only to get his magic reflected back at him. he got taken down fast. Nice job Asta, taking down snotty nobles one by one.

Even more people joined in on the fight, this time it was Alecdora who bound Asta in a sand golem. I would step in now.

"Really Alecdora. You're joining this too. Do I need to knock you on your ass like our training session this morning."

"You're a peasant too, don't forget that. Just because you're in the golden dawn doesn't change that fact."

"You're already having enough trouble with Asta." As I said that, he broke out and canceled Alecdora's attack. I held my grimoire in hand, but didn't open it. If Asta could handle these guys on his own, I don't need to get involved. I can trust Asta to handle himself."

"Hey, only I get to talk to my rival like that. Stand down. Really, how hard is it to be nice for once. You're just getting on my nerves!" Good thing Alecdora had the decency to stand down after that. The next people to approach Asta were actually a lot nicer, mostly because the people in question were Lucy and Leopold, who just got done declaring Asta his rival. I'm glad to see he didn't forget about me that easily. As for Lucy, she kept an eye on Alecdora and Solid, not trusting them to let them out of eyesight. I did the same and still kept my grimoire in my hand for good measure. never a problem to be too careful.

"A royal really acknowledged a commoner, look at what house vermillion has fallen into." The words were spoken by Nozel Silva, captain of the silver eagles squad.

Leopold quickly stepped in to defend himself. "Should that matter? He's strong, and the Wizard King himself wanted him here. Do you not respect lord Julius's judgement."

"I would never expect to hear a royal telling me to respect commoners. As if I would ever do such a thing. You disgrace the family Leopold. how could you so bluntly put a peasant on the same level as yourself, especially one with no magic. how could an eagle soaring above the clouds acknowledge an insect crawling on the ground."

Lucy stepped in to defend her new friend. "You know, those commoners out there have numbers, and your power is a lot more of an illusion than you think it is. I've seen what happens to nobles that completely ignore the commoners underneath them. I played a personal hand in arresting one." Yep, that must be the Duke Everlude character from one of her stories. "Leopold here gets what nobles are supposed to do. That is, to protect the people below him with all the powers he's been granted. How can you possibly succeed as a magic knight if you consider the people you're responsible to nothing more than insects."

"Lucy you didn't have to,"

"No Leo, I did. They need to hear it straight to their faces." She turned back at Nozel. "Somehow, the nobles and royals here are worse than my father, and that's saying something, given he tried to marry me off! You disgrace your ancestors who were noble enough to be given the title."

"How dare you ..."

This time, Fuegoleon Vermillion stepped in front of Leo and Lucy. "That's enough Nozel. You won't taunt my brother any longer. Unlike you, I care for my siblings. I'll admit that Lucy made some good points about what it means to be royalty. I'm not disgracing the title, you are."

The two captains immediately launched their magic at each other, causing the pressure in the room to build up as metal met fire. As for everyone else in the room, especially the two caught behind the dueling captains, it was a battle to not get caught in the crossfire.

"Wow this really turned into a huge mess," I said, dragging Asta out of the way. Really, how did we get from a bit of taunting to two royal captains dueling at a banquet. Could this get any worse.

Of course it did. Why wouldn't it. Someone barged into the room saying, "Sirs, we've got serious problems. That terrorist group the golden dawn caught a while back, the Eye of the Midnight Sun, they're attacking the capital."