I'm sorry for the horribly slow update. I wish you lovelies a great, uneventful, prosperous and magical 2021!
Drop me a review if you've got time, they keep me writing fast :P
Enjoy the read!
Chapter 10: Dead ends and backwater towns
The Surgeon of Death wielded five scalpels in a deadly fashion. One turned his enemies into his allies, using the most despicable curse ever made, a puppeteer technique which robbed people of their mind and body. Another he used on himself to boost his own abilities. It is said that when he cut himself with it, he could double or triple his mana reserve, making him into a true God of Death. The third was meant for his patients, enabling him to cut through any bone and muscle as if it were common butter. The fourth scalpel allowed him to neutralize any poison through usage of plants and crystals, making it the ultimate healing tool at the time. The final scalpel is said to hold the key between reality and the dream world, enabling the surgeon to erase himself from history and become the vague figure he is to this day. Altogether, these five scalpels are the set of tools which allow the user to overcome the limitations of Life and Death, giving them the ultimate power over dark magic. Should any of these relics be located, they are to be sealed immediately and turned over to the authorities, as they are said to be cursed with the very soul of the Surgeon himself, driving any aspiring owner mad through usage. They are dark objects which will serve but one master.
Nova sighed, leaning back in the chair. Every book about the Surgeon said the same thing over and over again. The five scalpels and their properties. The warnings of oncoming madness for the user. To seal and turn over to the authorities. There was nothing about how the Surgeon used them for healing or how he wielded them. Not one piece of useful information. Except, in one of the books, she'd found out the name of the village where the man was supposedly born. The obscure place was called Tihan and it was a tiny settlement in the mountains, out in the boonies.
Rubbing her eyes for the nth time, Nova closed the book after skimming through the rest of the information provided. Nothing except evil deeds by the Surgeon which were unspeakable. Then, the tome went on to another dark figure of history, describing their techniques in greater detail. She realized that she would get nothing about the Surgeon from the Royal Library, as disappointing as that was.
"Are you done with these, miss?" one of the librarians asked her, bowing to her as he rolled his cart over to her desk.
"Ah, yes," Nova quickly stood, packing the books she had gone through. "These are free to go," she said, helping the man load numerous tomes onto the cart. She'd found the people at the library rather accommodating in the past two days. The librarians were polite and helpful, when asked for advice, and the other readers mostly kept to themselves, but weren't opposed to chatting after they were done researching. "Say, I was wondering," she spoke up, making the young librarian look up from the books and focus on her. "Are there any books you would suggest on mana quartz?"
"Of course," the young man nodded. He had a golden mark on his forehead, telling that he had sworn the oath to serve at the Royal Library all his life. He could take no wife, own no lands and father no children, instead devoting his very being to the preservation of information for the future generations. "If you go to the third floor, head to the section on magical stones, which is on the opposite from this side of the Library and find the rafter on magical gems. There are a few books which describe the locations of possible materials to make the quartz and some which describe the process itself."
"Thank you so much," Nova collected her bag and notebook, before stopping short. "Could I leave these books here and read them when I'm done upstairs? I still want to check a few things and need a break from this topic, to be honest." She laughed lightly, which gained her a smile from the young librarian.
"It's not a problem," he told her. "I will place a sign here and nobody will bother your work in progress."
"Thank you so much," Nova bowed to the man and headed up, stretching as she went. She was sore from sitting in the same position for a long time and needed to clear her head a bit with a different topic.
"Come in," the familiar voice of the best healer at the Tower called out as soon as Nova knocked on his door. She opened it and entered, only to find Owen sitting at his desk, bent over charts, a warm cup of tea at his side. "Nova," he said when he looked up, peering at her over his glasses. "Is everything alright?"
"Ah, yes," she said, walking over when he motioned to the other chair at the desk. She sat down. "I was hoping to go and gather some materials for healing at the Gold Tips and wanted to see how that worked." Owen placed down his pen, leaning back in his chair.
"Well, you need to submit a request for the mission and get it approved by the Wizard King, for starters," he explained. "In case the location is dangerous or near the border, you may need to take a bodyguard with you, so one or more Magic Knights will be assigned the duty."
"I see," Nova nodded to herself. "Is there a specific request form which I should fill?"
"Oh, yes, let me see if I have one lying around," Owen stood, going over to his cabinet and rifling through the files there. "Here we go," he walked back to the table, extending a form to her. "This one is filled, but you can get the general idea of what you're supposed to write from it."
"Can I request a specific Squad to take the bodyguard job?" Nova asked, looking over the form still. Owen nodded.
"If there's a particular reason, of course," Owen raised a curious eyebrow at her, watching her carefully as the girl frown at the form, reading about the details of a mission, providing times and dates. "I've heard that you've gotten close with some of the Black Bulls? Do you intend to ask for them on the mission?" Nova's head snapped up and she bit her lip for a second, before answering.
"Ah, yes," Nova nodded. "Particularly I was hoping for Luck Voltia. He's knowledgeable about the subject of my current research and could prove useful when it comes to harvesting." Owen nodded, smiling.
"Good, good, write that then," he leaned forward, taking her hand. "I'm glad that you're looking past the rumors about Yami's Squad and considering them for missions. They're a bunch of misfits, but their hearts are in the right place."
"You're the first one to say that to me!" Nova excitedly grabbed the man's hand, grinning wide. "They're rough around the edges, but they're a good Squad, aren't they?" Owen laughed, nodding.
"They still seem to be missing a piece, but I'm sure that they will find a way to shine soon enough," he agreed. Then, the older man sighed, rubbing the spot where his glasses lay on his nose. "Okay now, you run along and write your request. I've still got to get through quite a bit of paperwork. Really, you young ones have all the fun these days. It seems like all I'm doing is paperwork." Nova laughed at that.
"If you'd like to come with me to the Gold Tips, I wouldn't be opposed?" Owen waved her off with a laugh and Nova stood, bowing. "Thank you very much, sir. For everything." The man waved her off again, blushing obviously. They both knew that her 'thank you' was about much more than just about the information on writing requests.
It took two days for her request to be approved, this time without an invitation to the Wizard King's study, and Nova was ecstatic when she received a written permit to recruit a Black Bull of her choice and go to the Gold Tips. She got the permission to be away for a week, at the most, and to 'act in her best judgment' during the harvesting quest. Nova couldn't keep a smile off her face as she packed a large backpack full of tools.
She needed a sieve for the creeks, some cracking and cleaning materials, the jars for preservation, the bags, in case she found some extra resources, picks of different sizes, digging chisels and so on. As she was attempting to stuff her working gloves into the backpack, the door of her room opened, making her look over her shoulder from her crouched position.
"Geez, how are you going to carry that with you?" Will asked, coming in like he owned the place.
"Well, I'm going by broom, so I figure as long as I can load everything I should be fine," Nova grinned. "Though, these gloves are giving me trouble. Don't know where to stuff them…" She returned to attempting to put the gloves somewhere into the bag.
"I was hoping that you could give me a hand, since you're going to the Gold Tips," Will sat down on her bed, fiddling with a piece of paper. "There are a few ingredients I usually hunt for there and I made a list…"
"Sure," Nova grinned, extending a hand. Will placed a piece of paper in it, folded twice, and the girl stuffed it into her backpack. "I'll look at it on the way and grab as much as I can carry, okay?"
"Anything that doesn't inconvenience you too much would be great," he grinned at her just as her door burst open yet again.
"Hey, Nova, while you're at the Gold Tips could you- Oh," Mary stopped short when she saw the situation in the room. "I see I'm late to the party," the woman laughed, shaking a piece of paper.
"Of course, I'll hunt down the ingredients you need," Nova giggled, extending her hand yet again. "Are you two sure you don't want to come with me?"
"Nah,"
"No, no," immediately they shook their heads. "We're already going to be a healer short," Mary added. "You take care out there, kiddo," she patted Nova's head, messing up her hair and turned to leave. "Stay good!" The door closed behind her. Will took a breath and then stood.
"What she said," he huffed. "Let me get that for you," and he heaved the heavy backpack onto his shoulder with a grunt. "I'll take it downstairs for you."
"Thanks," Nova smiled as he left with a wave. For a moment, she sat on her bedroom floor, still, thinking. Just a few months ago, she was in her village being disregarded as a wonky healer who didn't have any practical knowledge, no real friends and no real customers. And then, she'd met Julius. Now, not only did she have Magna and Luck, amazing friends, but she also had Will and Mary, her fellow healers who counted on her, and Owen, her wonderful mentor. Nova couldn't keep the grin off her face as she grabbed her broom and her usual hat, heading out.
Before she could leave the floor, though, the door to Elizabeth's room opened and the woman poked her head out.
"Nova," she called out, making the girl stop. Elizabeth looked tired. She had bags under her eyes and her working apron was stained in some kind of an oil that Nova couldn't identify. She hadn't seen much of her mentor in the past few weeks, ever since she'd proven that she could do their usual daily home visits on her own.
"Is everything alright?" Nova decided to ask, looking the exhausted woman up and down. Elizabeth fidgeted, her eyes flitting back and forth. Then, she cleared her throat.
"I heard you were going to the Gold Tips?" finally, the woman mumbled.
"Ah, yes, I've received permission to do some ingredient hunting," Nova raised an eyebrow, thinking for a moment before it clicked. "Do you need me to look for something for you?"
"If it's not too much trouble?" Elizabeth instantly brightened. "I've been struggling with the metal on this new delivery system I'm working on. I can't get the ratio right for the proper softness of the materials. I know that there is a good vein of silver up on the Gold Tips, but I just can't leave the work I've got right now…"
"Not a problem," Nova grinned. "Do you have a list and a map?"
"I could make it if you give me five minutes?" Elizabeth said, opening the door to her room wider. Nova nodded and followed her inside. It was the first time she'd been in the space. And, true to what Will had told her, it was majorly a workroom. Half-done projects everywhere, blueprints pinned to the wall, an elaborate setup on the desk with all the gadgets an inventor could ever need. Nova could barely spot the bed in all the mess. She carefully stepped around some contraption with a ton of wires on the floor, waiting as Elizabeth grabbed a pen and paper, quickly scribbling down instructions. "This should do it," she said. "If you can't find it, it's not a problem either, I could go in three weeks' time. But, if you can, it would be great."
"I'll do my best," Nova said, accepting the paper. As she was heading out the door, she stopped, looking back at the woman who was positively dead on her feet. "Elizabeth?"
"Hmm?"
"Please take care of your health," the girl said in a soft voice, hoping that she wouldn't offend. "You look like you're about to drop." At that, Elizabeth grinned, nodding.
"You take care, too." And Nova rushed out.
Flying by broom was something Nova had learned very young. She could still remember the first time her father had taken her for a ride around the village on his old model. The wind in her hair, the feeling of weightlessness as the wooden contraption took off and landed and the stinging in her eyes as she squinted against the wind. Those were some of her favorite memories. Though, it was one thing for someone to take you on a ride and for you to fly on your own. She'd practiced for years before she could safely take off and land. She had been infamous in the village for hopping off trees in her attempt to get into the air and the local sheriff had brought her home, banged and bruised, from one too many unsafe landings numerous times.
That was why when she had finally managed to take off on her new broom, Nova had been reluctant to land at the Bull's base. But, she knew that she had to, and the pull on her magic from the ride had been a bit too strong for her liking. To add to that, the weight of her backpack was quite the burden. When she finally got off the broom, she sighed in relief.
"Alright," she told herself, heaving her backpack onto her shoulder and picking up the broom into her hand, brush side up, as was usual. The house was loud when she entered, Magna and Luck having some kind of a showdown in the common area. She spotted Vanessa snoozing on the couch, drunk, and Finral and Charmy at the bar, talking to a man she didn't recognize. But, the Spatial Magic user noticed her immediately.
"Miss Nova!" he exclaimed, prancing over. "Coming back so soon? Couldn't get enough of us? Or have you changed your mind about that sightseeing tou-"
"Not at all, Mr. Finral," she interrupted him, knowing that it was better to cut him off immediately rather than wait. Magna had told her how the man could go on and on about his fantasy date. "I'm just fetching a bodyguard for a mission."
"Oh? You want one of us?" Finral sounded quite astounded by the fact, eyebrows rising.
"Yes," Nova grinned, patting his arm. "I like your Squad." The man looked positively on the verge of tears.
"W-who would you like?" he managed to say through a sniffle.
"I was hoping to take Luck, if he's not busy?" Finral's eyebrows almost vanished into his bangs.
"Luck? Well, he's not particularly busy, as you can see, but surely someone else might be more suited for-"
"Not at all," Nova smiled. "I'm sure he can do the job."
"Okay, then," Finral nodded. "Luck! You have a mission!" There was a zap of lightning almost instantly, the boy in question appearing next to them.
"A fighting mission?" Luck's face was illuminated by clear joy of the possibilities. "Nova, you're coming, too?"
"Actually, you're coming with me," the girl giggled. "If you're fine being my bodyguard for a week or so?"
"Sounds good!" Luck nodded. "Let me get my stuff." And with another zap of lightning, he was gone.
"Luck, you little fiend, you're not leaving until you pay for eating my pudding!" Magna yelled, running past Nova and Finral to get to the stairs where Luck had vanished. "Hey, Nova," he greeted briefly, running in place, and then moved on. "Wait, you bastard!" Nova shook her head, laughing.
"Join us for coffee?" Finral politely offered and she nodded, happy to set her backpack down, at least for a while.
Nova switched her seating on the broom for the nth time, attempting to get a tad more comfortable. She'd decided, after the first two hours of flying, that she wasn't a fan of long journeys on the preferred method of transportation for Mages. While it surely was a great way to reach something close by, it wasn't the best idea when going to a distant location. Her backside was numb, tingling whenever she switched how she was seated. Glancing over at Luck, she saw that he was standing on his broom again, easily maneuvering through the air. He'd also been going from one position to the other, mostly switching between sitting and standing.
"Have you ever been to the Gold Tips?" Nova yelled out over the wind, making the boy turn to face her, tilt his head and then shrug.
"I don't remember," he replied.
"How can you not remember?" she laughed. "I've heard that it's a magnificent location. Surely, you'd remember if you'd been there before?" Luck switched the way he was standing, his broom coming closer to hers so that they wouldn't have to yell to each other.
"I mostly remember my opponents," he explained. "If you can tell me who I'd been fighting there… I could recall, I suppose?"
"Tough one," she laughed. "I've never been," Nova said. "I've always wanted to go there, though. Apparently, the scenery is amazing and there are a lot of indigenous species in the untouched ecosystem. Also, the environment is rich with harvestable plants and metals."
"Mmmm," Luck hummed, shrugging again. "Not my area of expertise, but I understand." He looked over to her bag. "Are you looking for anything in particular?"
"The ingredients for mana quartz," Nova grinned up at him.
"Oh, from the book!" Luck hopped down, sitting on his broom again. "Then we should find a good river, or a stream, even better."
"That's why I asked for you," Nova giggled. "I knew you would be informed on the topic." Luck chuckled.
"I'm not an expert, but I do know some basic things," he admitted. "Are you looking to use quartz to make them? You could also go the old fashioned way, but I suppose with the new method of using actual gems would be easier, no?" Nova grinned, nodding.
"I figured that would be the easiest way."
"But, you know that they will end up fading out? After you use them?" Luck said, tilting his head to the side. "That's what made mana quartz so unpopular, after all."
"Yeah, but that will serve perfectly for my purpose," Nova told him, her index finger coming up as she lectured. "I've been struggling to make healing salves as Will teaches me to, because I'm really bad at infusing healing magic into the mixture. However, if I have the mana quartz inside the paste, that will make it easier for me to draw out the feeble healing magic I've got, and then the quartz will dissolve, which will, in turn, make the paste safe for usage. At least, in theory."
"Aaah, that sounds like a good solution," Luck nodded, shrugging. Then, he froze, looking up. Nova's eyes also went up, staring at the clear skies above them. Sun, a few clouds, nothing much. What was he looking at? "Nova, we should find some shelter," Luck told her, hopping up to his feet on the broom and looking around. "There's a storm coming."
"Eh?!" Nova looked up, squinting. "There's only a few clouds, though?"
"Trust me, I've got a bit of a sense for these things," Luck laughed. "I have yet to be wrong about a thunderstorm on the way."
"Ah, eh, I see, okay," she nodded, also looking around the ground. "There's no shelter in sight. How much time do you think we have?"
"Maybe twenty minutes?"
"Eeeeeh?!"
"I'm soaked," Nova whined, taking off her hat and wringing it out. Onto the wooden floor of the small backwater inn, a stream of water fell, joining the puddle that had formed under the girl.
"Me too," Luck laughed, attempting to shake his head of the rain water. The thunderstorm had formed in less than ten minutes and it was raining in another five, soaking them completely before they could manage to find shelter. Nova wrung out her hair next and then walked over to the fire, shivering.
"It's not even rain season, for Wizard King's sake…" she grumbled, putting her hands up, hoping to warm them a little bit.
"Oh, dearies, you got caught in the storm good," an elderly woman, taller than both Nova and Luck and quite stout, joined them by the fire, bringing two bowls. "Here, eat this and warm yourselves up a bit," she handed them each a bowl, which Nova noticed was full of deliciously smelling broth. "I'm afraid to say that the weather here in the mountains works a bit different. They say it's due to the magic surrounding the very tops of the Gold Tips. Something about an old Dungeon being there. We get thunderstorms from time to time, just randomly in the summer."
"I'd hate to see winter up here," Nova said, mouth full of potatoes.
"Ah, mostly snow and some blizzards, nothing too bad. It's great for the kids, they love the snow." The kind innkeeper said, smiling down at her. "Let me bring you some towels, dry your hair."
"Ah, about the water-"
"Don't you worry, dearie, it will dry in a bit and my nephew can help mop up. All in a day's work, honey," the innkeeper smiled, walking away.
"We got lucky, didn't we?" Luck grinned, joining Nova at the bench in front of the fire. They'd managed to find a tiny village with only one inn in the middle of the mountain forest in the flashing lightning. They'd had vacancies, which was great, and the kind innkeeper had offered them rooms and meals, which were much appreciated by both, as night had quickly fallen during their flight.
"If you call this lucky, yeah, we did," Nova couldn't help but laugh, despite the horrible situation. She couldn't ignore Luck's optimism. "I mean, we did find an inn?"
"With a nice innkeeper, too?"
"Got some warm soup?"
"Also towels!"
"There's a fire, too."
"Lucky indeed," Luck, sighed, stretching out. His tunic was dripping where he sat. Nova put her bowl down on the other side of the bench, scooting over to him.
"Your tunic is soaking," she frowned, gathering the material and wringing it out. Water dripped down behind Luck, the now semi-dry fabric in crinkles all over.
"I'll change in a bit," he shrugged. "The lady said there's a bath upstairs, so we could take a warm one and have our clothes dry in the meantime." Nova's head helpfully conjured up an image of them both in the same bath. It was a very nice addition to her already freezing brain which made her cheeks heat up.
"Y-yeah, sounds good," she managed, clearing her throat in the middle of the sentence. When she looked up at him, though, just to see if he'd noticed her blushing like a schoolgirl, she noticed that his head was turned away, eyes focused on the other patrons of the inn, sitting at the bar. Nova craned her neck, looking over his shoulder to see what had occupied his attention. There were three men and a girl, who was bar-tending, there. One of the men seemed to be talking to the girl. "Luck?" Nova called out, but he didn't reply. Then, she spotted the man talking to the girl lean forward, across the bar top and reach for her while she was turned away. The edge of Luck's tunic which she'd been loosely holding, forgetting all about wringing it out, ripped from her hands. "Eh?" Nova looked around in confusion, but the boy who had been next to her just seconds ago had vanished. She glanced up to the bar and there he was, surely enough, lightning crackling around his body as he grabbed the man and slammed him down onto the bar top.
That's all for now!
Reviews:
Guest:
Thanks so much for the lovely review! I hope you'll keep enjoying the story :D
helloOctopi:
Thanks so much! I hope you've enjoyed the new chapter :D
Guest 2:
I'm glad that you think Nova's cute xD I'll do my best to keep her entertaining :P
Girigurl:
Thanks so much for yet another long review :) I love long reviews xD
Hahahaha it's funny, ain't it? xD I was like, yeah, she'd have a bit of Christina Yang to her in her personal life xD (I'm a Grey's Anatomy junky, I'm sorry Q.Q I'm lame haahaha)
As for taming the beast, idk if she would tame it? him? Or he would end up making her worse xD
I felt like it needed to be said. I mean, Luck isn't so stupid not to realize that he's weirding everyone out? Like, it needed to be said xD Sure, the Black Bulls accept him as he is, but I reckon that he knows that he's weird… He's a teenager for Christ's sake xD He definitely thinks he's a fricking weirdo xD I love Black Clover, but there are some loopie holesies I will most definitely explore, one of them being this hypocrisy hahahaha :)
Julius tried, I mean… he did try… but, I think it's hard to change a society which has been operating a certain way for a long time, no? No matter how powerful you are, it isn't about power at all… It's about the mindset of the people and how used they are to behaving a specific way. I'm gonna go a bit philosophical here and quote Milton, if you would, from Tenure of Kings and Magistrates where he talks about how a ruling class, in his case the King, gives people the license to behave badly essentially. So, when you've had the custom of a certain behavior set as norm for such a long period of time, as it is in Black Clover, can a single man really change it during his reign? And, keep in mind that he ain't even the King, but only the top fighter, so essentially an army commander? In the end, Julius, unfortunately, only seemingly has power… Idk if this makes sense lol
I felt the need to go both awkward and cute with that moment and the 'no' felt good hahahaha Poor Magna suffers from their friendship though haahaha
Aaaaaaa! I'm so glad you thought Yami was IC xD He scares me when it comes to writing… Luck scares me also… heck, most of the BC character scare me when I need to write them xD
I hope that the research lived up to expectations :P
As for Asta's curse, who knooooooooows xD No promises? Still a long way ahead though… Like, few years? xD
Don't you worry and rant away :D I love rants! Hope you enjoyed the update :D
AmericanNidiot:
Heeey! I will have you know that breasts make amazing pillows, ok? Don't judge poor Luck xD
KenosDC1:
Thanks so much for the lovely review!
Honestly, I'm not rushing anything. I mean, with the way both of these kids are, it ain't going anywhere for a while xD Call me a slow burn idiot, but I'm a sucker for some nice build up :P This story is in for the long haul hahahha
Yesssss! Aaaaaah I'm so glad you picked up on it :D I've had a few more people also say this to me, so I'm really glad that it was clear enough, and not just a mess xD I like to drop hints in different stories, but I was told by a few readers that they were super vague, so I've decided to try and make them as obvious as I can xD Glad it went over well :)
Aye, I'm planning to cover the Black Clover arcs after Asta joins the Bulls, as well, but still got a long way to go :D I think I have issues with prequels… I keep writing prequels… I'm hopeless Q.Q
Glad you enjoyed the read so far!