Chapter Eleven: At the Capital (Part 1)
"We should be arriving at the Black Bulls hideout shortly," Letoile said, the Black Bulls and the Golden Dawn were on Klaus' chariot, flying to the hideout, twelve minutes passed before they arrived, the chariot then landed.
"Thanks for the ride Klaus," Kenos said gratefully as he got off.
"I'll see you some other time Mimosa, take care," Noelle said as she got off.
Her cousin smiled. "The same to you," she said back.
"I'm off too, that mission was awesome, there was so much fighting!" Luck cheered as he exited as well.
"Luck, wait," he turned to see Letoile.
"Oh, have you changed your mind and decided to fight me?" the lightning mage asked.
"The answer is still no, I just wanted to say once again that you did well in the dungeon, I hope that maybe we...could work together again," she replied with a small smile.
"You bet, that would be awesome!" he exclaimed.
"We worked well together in that dungeon, aye Yuno?" Asta asked.
Yuno nodded and smirked. "Yeah, we did do pretty good, but it appears I'm in your debt again, both yours and Kenos',"
"I know, but I know you'll come and save us if we ever need you," Asta laughed, getting off the chariot.
"Asta," Yuno said, the swordsman turned to see him holding out his fist. "Don't forget,"
Asta grinned. "How could I?" he met the fist with his own.
"We're going to see who can become the Wizard King," they both said in unison.
"Alright, we're off, enjoy the rest of your day!" Klaus called as the chariot flew into the air.
"It's felt like forever since we've been at the hideout," Kenos mused as they all walked through the entrance, all the other Black Bulls were there. "Hey there everyone, we're back,"
"I can see that, how was the dungeon?" Yami asked, looking down at his paper.
"It was so awesome, the Golden Dawn was there, we fought three ridiculously strong Diamond Kingdom mages, and Kenos got a new spell!" Asta exclaimed ecstatically.
"Really, a new spell, that's pretty impressive," Yami said, impressed.
Kenos scratched the back of his head. "Thanks, captain, but the most impressive one on the mission was Asta, he survived an attack that should've been fatal,"
"Is that so? Then I take it all four of you pushed past your limits, you can relax for the rest of the day," he told them.
"Thank you, sir," they clover-saluted.
"Well, if I want to relax, then I'm going to take a hot bath, Asta, Luck, care to join me?" the solar mage asked.
"Okay," Luck replied.
"Yeah, me too, I could really use a-," Asta began as he walked toward the hallway, but then stumbled.
"Woah, Asta, are you okay?" Noelle asked.
"I'm fine, I just need...a few seconds to-," he was about to reply before dropping to the ground.
"ASTA!"
Asta soon found himself surrounded in darkness, he then began to hear faint sounds.
"Has another day passed by?" a voice asked.
"Yeah, it has, I just hope he'll wake up soon," another voice replied.
Asta began to slowly open his eyes and saw that he was laying down on a bed in his room and that two people were right beside him. "Noelle...Kenos?"
The two mages' faces brightened as he spoke to them, Noelle was especially happy. "You're awake!"
Kenos ran to the entrance of his room. "Hey everyone, Asta's awake!" he exclaimed as everyone ran inside.
"Rasta, you're finally awake!" Magna exclaimed.
"Are you hungry, I can make you something?" Charmy added.
"You really worried us kiddo," Vanessa finished.
Asta was obviously confused. "Um, what happened?"
"Right after you got back from the dungeon mission, you were about to go take a bath, but then you fainted," Finral explained.
Kenos nodded. "You've been asleep for a whole week," he said. "You most likely fainted due to injury, exhaustion, and blood loss from the mission, it seems you just needed to rest,"
"You're right, I do feel a lot better," Asta said as he got up and stretched.
"It's good that you've recovered, because," Yami began, taking out a slip of paper. "This came in yesterday from the capital, it's about the dungeon, they want to talk to the mages that were there and get an idea of what happened, and now you're awake, you all can head there,"
"We're going to the capital?" Kenos and Noelle said aloud.
"Oh yeah, the capital is full of some of the strongest mages in the kingdom, I can't wait to fight them!" Luck cheered before feeling something grip his head.
Yami took the lightning mage and lifted him. "Oh no you don't, Kenos and Noelle told me that during the dungeon mission, you left them, I'm sending you on another mission," he said with a glare.
Sweat dripped down Luck's forehead, but his smile remained. "There was a really strong opponent, and it turned out to be a Diamond mage," he said as Yami let go of him, he then turned to the three rookies.
"You three are the only ones going, so hurry up," he ordered.
"Yes sir," they said as Asta got his grimoire and satchel, Finral then created a portal and they entered it.
On the other side, was the royal capital, Kenos and Noelle had seen this place many times, seeing that their homes resided there, Asta on the other hand, was completely taken aback.
"Wow, this place looks incredible!" he exclaimed, his two squadmates wore two different reactions to his amazement.
"Keep it down Dorksta, you're embarrassing us," Noelle said.
"But you can't blame him, the capital is a beautiful place," Kenos said in his defense before seeing three people in the distance. "Hey, who're those people, they look familiar?"
Asta and Noelle looked in his direction, Asta then grinned. "It's the Golden Dawn, hey guys!" he exclaimed, running to them.
"Hey wait up," the two mages ran to catch up with him.
"Huh?" Yuno said as he turned around and saw Asta running to him, Klaus, and Mimosa, he groaned. "Asta, you really don't know when to be quiet don't you,"
The swordsman caught up to the three. "How's it going?"
Klaus was the first to reply, he walked over to the Black Bull. "We're doing just fine Asta, are you doing okay, we were told you fainted after getting back?" he asked.
"Yup, I'm doing fine," Asta replied.
Noelle was the first to catch up with the swordsman. "Damn, why didn't you wait for us,"
"Oh, my bad, it's just that I feel like I have so much energy," he said before noticing the plant mage. "Oh, hey Mimosa, I want to thank you again, you and Kenos totally saved me, I really owe you one,"
To his surprise, she didn't greet him, in fact, she ran away from him, hiding her face from them. "I'm going to go check on her," Noelle said as she walked to her cousin.
Kenos then arrived. "Hey there Klaus, hey there Yuno," he greeted.
"Hello Kenos, I take it you're doing good too," Klaus said as the two shook hands.
"It's good to see you," Yuno added as the two high-fived.
"Hey, look at you three, you're really starting to get along," Asta said starry-eyed.
"No fair, why are you two getting along with Yuno?" a voice asked, Asta and Kenos looked around and saw a small blond-haired fairy fly to the wind mage's shoulder.
"Oh, who's this?" Kenos asked, getting closer to her.
"She's the wind spirit, Sylph, but you can all call her Bell," he introduced her. "I found her in the dungeon, it was thanks to her that you were able to deal the finishing blow on Andreas and Mars,"
"I see, thank you very much Bell," Kenos said.
"No problem there, but back to what I was saying, why is Yuno smiling at the two of you, but never to me," she complained, pulling at Yuno's cheek.
"Maybe it's because we just met a week ago," Yuno replied nonchalantly, pulling her away.
"Hmph, no fair," the spirit pouted before they all heard something, they turned to see Mimosa and Noelle, each looking flustered, their faces red.
"What's the matter with them?" Klaus wondered.
"I dunno, maybe their heads hurt," Asta assumed.
"I doubt that, it's most likely some girl thing we can't understand," Kenos said as they all nodded. "That reminds me, I forgot to ask why you're here?"
"Captain Vangeance told us that we were summoned to the capital because of the dungeon mission," Klaus responded.
"The same with us, but if they're asking for the mages who went there, where's Letoile?" Kenos then asked.
"She was going to join us, but she was needed for a mission, I see that Luck isn't here with you either," Klaus replied.
"That's right, our captain sent him on a mission as well," Asta stepped in.
"So, if we're all heading there, we should get a move one," the solar mage said as they joined up with the two girls and kept walking forward, but stopped as they heard a loud voice from behind them.
"Hey...Kenos!"
The solar mage turned at the call of his name, and his eyes widened at who was running to him. "No way, I can't believe it,"
Zuka.
"It's really you!" the sparkle mage exclaimed as caught up to him, the two then high-fived.
"I know, I wasn't sure if we would see each other again," Kenos said back.
Asta walked up to them. "Hello there, I'm Asta, who's this?"
"Oh yeah," Kenos said, motioning to everybody. "This is Zuka Glitenia, a friend I made from the Aqua Deer,"
Asta and Noelle's minds instantly clicked at the mention of that name. "So you're Zuka, the girl Kenos was with on his first mission, the one who helped him defeat 100 bandits, it's nice to meet you, I'm Noelle Silva," the water mage introduced herself.
The Golden Dawn then introduced themselves one by one to her as well, Kenos grinned. "So Zuka, what brings you to the capital?"
"Well, Captain Rill told us that we were summoned here because of a mission we did a week ago," she replied.
"We?" everyone asked.
"Zuka!" two voices then exclaimed, Zuka nervously turned around and saw Shauna and Oliver running to her.
"Uh oh," she quietly muttered.
"What the hell Zuka, you ran off from us," Oliver said, stopping to catch his breath.
Shauna did the same. "Yeah, I know this is your first time coming to the capital, but I said that we would stay together,"
"I know, I'm sorry, it's just that I ran into someone I knew," she turned to the solar mage. "This is Kenos Rossiu, the mage that partnered with me in Rielzu,"
The two mages were taken aback. "What, you went on a mission with a member of the Rossiu house!" Oliver exclaimed, looking to Kenos and lightly bowing his head.
"These are my two squadmates, Oliver Yggdrow, and Shauna Trixxton," Zuka said. "Okay, now that you two have caught up with me, why don't we all get a move one,"
The others nodded, hoping that they wouldn't be interrupted again, they then continued walking.
"So, where exactly are we going?" Zuka asked.
"To the Magic Knight Headquarters," Shauna replied as they reached the entrance.
"Wow, this place looks even cooler," Asta squealed.
"I'm glad you think so, I thought the exact same thing when I first came here," a voice spoke out, surprising the group, just then, a door opened and a man walked out before them, the group all had different reactions, some showed surprise, others showed confusion, as for Kenos, he had a big smile on his face.
"Julius," he thought.
"Welcome to the palace, I take it you're the Magic Knights I summoned here," Julius said in a welcoming tone.
Klaus instantly bowed to him on one knee, Noelle, Mimosa, Shauna, and Oliver did the same. Asta, Yuno, and Zuka were confused as to why and just stood there. Kenos on the other hand, was standing, but his smile didn't disappear.
Asta glanced at Julius. "Um, who's the guy in the flashy clothes?"
Zuka nodded. "Yeah, but my the looks of it, he seems to be somebody important,"
"You fools!" Klaus exclaimed. "Do you have any idea who's standing before you, this is the 28th Wizard King, Julius Novachrono,"
The three mages' faces showed instant surprise and they bowed respectively, Kenos remained standing, causing Klaus to look at him. "Kenos, what do you think you're doing, show your respect to the Wizard King and bow,"
"Now why would I do that?" Kenos asked as he walked to Julius. "That isn't the way I greet a friend," he and Julius then shared a quick hug.
"It's good to see you again, Kenos, and this time, under better circumstances," Julius said.
"The same with me," Kenos said back before noticing Asta creep up on them, starry-eyed.
"I don't believe it, it's the Wizard King, right in front of me," he said, poking at the mage's red robe.
"Hello there, you must be Asta, Kenos told me about you," Julius greeted.
"You...know who I am!" Asta exclaimed as the others got up, Yuno then walked beside him.
"Please forgive him, he can be a loudmouth sometimes...okay, maybe all the time,"
"Hey, that's not true Yuno, you take it back!" Asta exclaimed, charging at Yuno playfully, but the mage merely stopped him with a palm.
"Just like I said," Yuno muttered before turning to Julius. "Excuse me, Wizard King, if you could, may you look at my grimoire, there's something I got from the dungeon in there,"
He handed his grimoire over to Julius. "You don't have to address me like that, you can just use my first name, as for your grimoire, it's very interesting, you don't see a four-leaf clover every day, and this writing, it looks like spirit magic," he said, becoming starry-eyed.
Yuno nodded, then turned his head out a view of the others so they would see the huge smile on his face. "No way, the Wizard King is holding my grimoire, and he thinks it's interesting, so cool," he thought before turning his head back, regaining his signature nonchalant look. "Thank you,"
"He said spirit magic huh?" Bell wondered, flying out into view.
"Oh, is that the wind spirit, I've read about you?" Julius asked.
"You better believe it," Bell replied with a wink.
"Um, mister Julius, can you look at my grimoire too?!" Asta exclaimed, completely awestruck by the mage's assessment of Yuno's grimoire.
"Why of course, you use anti-magic, right?" Julius asked aloud, taking the grimoire and opening it, reading its contents. "Hm, I can't really read this, it appears to be in a different language,"
"Oh, then check out my swords," Asta said, drawing out the short sword.
"Wow, an anti-magic sword, it's kind of rusty, but it has impressive workmanship, may I hold it," he said gleefully.
"Be my guest," the swordsman replied, handing it over, but just as he let go of it, it brought Julius down.
"Damn, this thing is really heavy," Julius said before noticing something else happening. "It's draining my magic," he then thought before letting it go, Asta took it back up with one hand and put it in his grimoire. "My, you must be a strong one to hold that with just one hand,"
"That's right, I do training every single day," he said before remembering something. "Oh, and another thing, can you tell me…,"
Yuno caught on to what he was about to say and joined in.
"...How do you become the Wizard King?"
"What, isn't that obvious? You must have pride in your own ability, as well as the respect of the people," Klaus replied. "That's the only way-,"
"No," Julius interrupted, his face was serious. "What you need are results, pride in your ability alone won't protect anyone, and the respect of the people isn't given but earned, all that matters are results, if you want to become the next Wizard King, get stronger, that's all there is to it,"
The two rivals nodded. "I understand,"
"Good, now, onto why I called you here, we were going to discuss, but it turns out that something else has come up today," Julius said, smiling. "The Merits Confirmation Ceremony,"
"Merits Confirmation Ceremony?" Zuka asked.
"It's for Magic Knights who have amassed a decent number of stars for their squad," the wizard king replied. "They are awarded an increase in rank, allowing them to climb up in the Magic Knight hierarchy,"
"There's a hierarchy?" Asta asked this time.
Kenos spoke up. "Yes, within the Magic Knights, there are five ranks: Junior Magic Knight, Intermediate Magic Knight, Senior Magic Knight, Grand Magic Knight, and finally, the Wizard King,"
"Wait, the Wizard King is a rank of Magic Knight?" Zuka asked.
The solar mage nodded. "Correct, which explains why Julius said you need results over everything. Grand Magic Knight is practically a captain, then there's the last three, for these, they're split into five classes, with five being the least and one being the best, all Magic Knights begin as 5th class Junior, as they collect merits, their rank will go up,"
"I'm impressed, Kenos, it's obvious you've been studying in preparation for the exam," Julius stated. "Why don't you join us for it, you can just watch?"
"Okay," everyone replied together as they followed Julius into the building and down a hallway.
"Hey, Kenos?" Asta spoke up.
"Yeah?"
"Do you ever plan on becoming the Wizard King?"
Kenos was a bit taken aback. "Where did that come from?"
Asta scratched the back of his head. "Well, you know so much, and you're friends with the current Wizard King,"
"Not to mention you're an exceptional mage," Yuno added.
"Nah, becoming the Wizard King isn't my thing, Julius tells me it's a lot of work," he replied with a playful smile. "Besides, you two want to claim that title, I'll leave it to you, just consider me someone to help you,"
The two smiled as Julius spoke up. "Alright, we're here," they all stopped in front of a large door, Julius then opened it.
At once, what the group noticed first were the Magic Knights that turned to look at them, Kenos eyed them, all from different squads, there were many he didn't recognize at all, and there were some he did, but then there were people he really knew, as he saw those people, he felt his breath leave him for a few seconds, unable to believe who was standing before him.
Dante and Oxanna.
The solar mage immediately recognized his two older siblings, standing beside their captains, and it didn't take long for them to recognize him either, they both glared at him, before turning their attention back to Julius as he walked forward.
"My apologies for keeping you waiting, I'm glad to see all of you here, especially you two, Dante, Oxanna, it's been some time since we've last seen each other, and it's been even longer since I've seen all three Rossiu siblings together, but this time, as Magic Knights of the Clover Kingdom," he said. "Now, let the ceremony begin,"
The group watched as each Magic Knight went up and was given a medal as well as an increase in rank, Julius also used this as a chance to give them all pointers, pointers which they gladly accepted.
"That's everyone, I must thank the captains for attending as well, unfortunately, William couldn't be here, but he must be busy, there's a banquet in the next room, so enjoy yourselves, that goes for our surprise guests as well, I have some important business to tend to," the wizard king said, leaving them as they entered the banquet hall.
The first thing that they noticed was the trays of food everywhere as well as the tantalizing aroma that came with it, Asta wasted no time grabbing a plate and loading it with whatever he could find, digging in graciously. "This all tastes so good, I think it even rivals Charmy's cooking!"
Mimosa slightly blushed as she approached the magicless mage. "Um, hello Asta, sorry for earlier, I was wondering...if I could eat with you?"
"It's no problem, of course you can join me. I see that you've been eyeing this piece of meat over here, would you like some?"
Her cheeks became redder. "Yes, I would, I bet you would taste delicious-I mean it would taste delicious!" she exclaimed, Asta looked at her strangely.
Kenos took a bite of his food and looked at Asta, glad he was enjoying himself, but he noticed some other people mocking him, calling a dirty slum rat among other insults, but Asta merely ignored them, he also noticed that Zuka and her friends enjoying themselves, bringing a smile to his face.
"Kenos,"
The mere sound of two voices caused that smile to vanish, he turned to see Dante and Oxanna walking over to him, they then stopped, the three siblings standing only a few feet from each other, on each of their faces was complete nonchalance.
"Dante, Oxanna," he said, his face not showing any emotion.
"Hello Kenos, I trust that the Black Bulls have been treating you well?" Dante asked.
Kenos slightly nodded. "They have, but I must say I'm surprised, I thought you might have been a bit more disappointed, especially when I had the choice the join on of your squads,"
"The squad you want to join was your choice, you wanted to join the Black Bulls, so there's nothing we could do about it, and I can't say we would be too happy if you were to join one of our squads either," Oxanna said. "But I assume mother and father won't have the same mindset,"
"They know about my decision?"
"Of course, they're our parents, and I believe you've heard of the rumor regarding you," Dante replied. "I can imagine they would be upset,"
"Yes, I have," Kenos responded. "Speaking of squads, congratulations on your new ranks, you've both been promoted to 2nd class Junior Magic Knights, that's impressive, especially since you've been on your squads for less than two weeks,"
"Thanks," they both said in unison.
During that entire conversation, neither of the three Rossiu siblings broke their expression of nonchalance, almost as if it was nothing new about it, but it didn't continue as Asta approached them. "Kenos, you have to try this cake, it's incredible-...oh, hello there," he began before stopping and looking at Dante and Oxanna, greeting them.
"You seem to be really enjoying that food," Dante said to him. "I take it you're a commoner?"
"Um, that's right, my name's Asta," he replied.
"Asta, is that it, no last name?"
"Nope, I'm an orphan, I don't know my last name," he replied.
"Is that so, a commoner and an orphan?" Dante said, walking to Asta, his face wearing an indifferent expression, making the swordsman a bit nervous, but to his surprise, he merely brought out his hand.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, Asta, I am Dante Rossiu, Kenos' older brother," the steel mage introduced himself. "I must thank your squad for taking him in, I hope he hasn't been a bother,"
Asta shook his hand. "Nice to meet you too, Dante, Kenos has been great," he said as he then saw Oxanna approach him, her earlier nonchalant expression was replaced with a look of curiosity. "Hello,"
"Hi there, I'm Oxanna Rossiu, Kenos' older sister," she introduced. "But there's something I want to know, what's up with you? How am I not feeling any mana coming out of you? How did you get into the Magic Knights? Are you the special Black Bull I've heard about?" she asked in rapid succession.
"Huh?" was all Asta could really say in response.
Dante sighed. "Oxanna, must you speak so quickly without thinking, especially with those questions, even when it came to picking the squad you wanted to join," he said with a stoic expression.
"Don't be like that Dante, I'd rather be like this than some stoic serious boy," Oxanna teased her older brother.
"I'm not sure of everything you asked, but I did hear something about a special Black Bull, what exactly is that about?" Asta asked.
"As well as the rumor about Kenos, I heard that there was a Magic Knight on the Black Bulls that didn't have mana, but had a sword that could negate magic, I'm guessing that's you," Oxanna replied a lot slower than her previous flurry of words.
"Yeah, that's me," Asta said. "So you two are Kenos' siblings, now I look at all of you together, you do look alike, especially with that thing on your hair,"
"Our hair?" Dante asked, but then realized what he was talking about. "Oh, you must be referring to our stripes," he touched the blue stripe going down the center of his head, Oxanna did the same with the purple stripe going down the left side of her head.
"When we were kids, our parents thought it would be nice to have something all three of us had, so they asked a mage to put a stripe of our favorite colors on a different side of our heads," Kenos explained as he passed a finger on the orange stripe going down the right side of his head.
"That's so cool, and you two are really nice, I honestly kinda thought you'd be a bit wary of me since I'm a commoner," Asta admitted.
"You being a commoner doesn't matter, through our family's friendship with Julius, we've learned that discrimination is wrong, what right do we have to look down on you, we didn't ask to be born into a noble family, and you didn't ask to be born a commoner," Oxanna replied.
Dante nodded. "Your future and potential shouldn't be judged by the status you were born into, look at you, you're a commoner with no magic, but with that sword of yours, your potential is limitless, that's the kind of kingdom Julius wants to create,"
"That's incredible, I want to be the Wizard King someday, and I'll fight for the same goal," Asta said with a smile before stopping, realizing something. "Um, I hope you don't mind if I ask you a question?"
"Not at all,"
"Well, you two sound like incredible people, I don't see how we can't become friends, but…," he began. "I remember Kenos told me you all had a bit of a falling out, what exactly happened?"
The two mages stopped and looked at each other, regaining their previous looks of nonchalance, Dante was the one to speak up. "Yes, it's true, in fact, the two of us and Kenos haven't been on good terms for years, but we decided that outright hating each other would be bad for our family, our falling out comes in the form of our differences,"
"Differences?" Asta asked before looking around him and seeing that the other people present had drawn closer to them, all most likely wanting to see the three siblings together.
"Yes, our first difference has to do with this," Oxanna replied, motioning to her pendant.
Asta looked at the pendant, the one with a wyvern roaring into the sky, each of the siblings had one. "What about it, isn't that just your family's crest?"
"Correct, but it goes deeper than that," she continued. "The reason the wyvern is our family's crest is because the patriarch of the Rossiu House, the very first Rossiu, was a user of Wyvern Magic, he was one of the greatest mages of his time, but his magic was one of a kind, as he married and had children, the affinity for the attribute became less likely to be passed down,"
Dante continued explaining. "As the family expanded, Wyvern Magic eventually died out, so in his memory, all Rossius are to create a powerful spell of any type that's in the likeness of a wyvern, to us, it's like a rite of passage, Oxanna and I have created wyvern spells already, but Kenos has yet to do so,"
"But then the two of us came to the consensus that that reason was illogical, Kenos is younger than us and has only had his grimoire for a year, it's unlikely for him to unlock a spell like that very quickly," Oxanna said. "Other reasons exist for our falling out, but the greatest is without a doubt-,"
"Stop," Kenos interrupted. "Don't you dare, if they all are going to hear what happened, it's going to come from me and me alone,"
"Um, Kenos, what're they talking about?" Zuka asked.
The solar mage sighed. "Fine then, might as well explain now that it's in everyone's heads," he said. "What she's talking about is...my birth,"
"Your birth, what does that have to do with anything?" Asta asked.
Kenos looked at all of them seriously. "It has a lot to do with it, you see, my birth, it was...an accident,"