Chapter 12 part 2. What No One Sees.
They arrive at the area, and Millie jumps to the ground. "We are here, now what?" he asks.
"Well... oh right, the mole," she says and runs under a wagon. "The what?" he asks and looks at Liebe, who shrugs.
Millie walks from wagon to wagon and sniffs around until she finds the right one.
"Over here," she tells them, and Asta walks over to it and crouches down. "What is it?" he asks. "Look," she says, and Asta sees a faint yellow line leading into a magic circle underneath the wagon.
"What is that?" he asks, crouching down to see. "It's a magic circle, but I am unsure what it does, sir," Milie tells him. And Liebe flies underneath the wagon in his small form to get a better look at it.
"Right, should we erase it then?" he asks. "Uncertain, this might give us a clue as to who is behind all of this," she tells him. "Right... Zora is usually good with magic circles. You two wait here; I will get him," Asta tells them, and the chain appears around Millie's neck and pushes her down a little towards the ground.
"So, that will happen each time he says 'wait'?" Liebe asks her. "Yes, sir," she replies.
A minute passes, and the chain disappears. Millie lifts her head and looks at the circle. "I don't get it. Why put an even-numbered circle within an odd-numbered circle? Wouldn't that just make the magic flow unevenly and mess with the mana currents within?" she asks and looks at Liebe.
"I don't know," he replies, looking at her as if she is forgetting something. "It is certainly confusing unless... 9," she utters and touches her bell. A book emerges, hovering, and she opens it with her white-tinted mana, skimming through the pages.
"So, not that one," she says and rubs her bell. Three more books come out, and she skims through them. "Here," she utters, and Liebe flies up next to her to look at the pages.
"If the numbers add up to nine, it can give the spell a different purpose," she reads and looks at the circle.
"Wait, does this mean that this is not related to illusion magic? Or does it do something for the illusion magic?" she thinks out loud, looking at Liebe. "You do realize I still don't have the answer?" he asks.
"Apologies, sir. Sadly, I have only become good at spotting illusions, not knowing how they work," she utters and reads through her books to see if they have anything...
"I don't have a book about it either," she says and thinks over all the books she has.
Her ear twitches, and she looks to the side. She sees the mole climbing out of its hole again, and Millie gets up, takes a step back, and sits down, letting the mole pass and get to the bucket as it sniffs around for more food.
"Huh, there really was a mole," Liebe tells her. "I am confused... why would someone lie about that?" she asks. "Who knows?" he says, watching the mole sniff about. It heads back and stops in front of Millie, looking at her.
"Sure you can," Millie says and touches her bell, giving the mole a piece of dried rabbit meat. The mole heads back into its hole. She raises her head a little. "Oh Sky, it has been a really long time since I saw you last. How are you?" a woman asks. "Oh, I am doing fine, Miss. I, uh, have to go," a red-haired girl says. Millie sees that the girl looks in the direction of the wagon.
"'Say if there is anything, don't hesitate to ask,'" the lady says, and the girl's expression drops. "Right," she utters, hiding her bitterness. "Oh, and I almost forgot..."
"Actually, I forgot I was supposed to meet someone," the redhead says and runs off. "Hey, hang on," the lady says.
Millie wonders about her voice.
"Here it is," she hears Asta's voice, and she sees his boots before he crouches down and looks at Millie and Liebe.
"So, what were you going to show me that was so dang important?" Zora asks, crouching down.
"We found a magic circle underneath here," Asta replies, and Zora lays down on his back and pushes himself under the wagon.
"What an even number within an odd-numbered circle. Unless it adds up to nine, it wouldn't make any sense, but it does," Zora says, and Liebe looks at Millie, who looks at the circle.
"This circle is crafty. Whoever did this is quite clever," Zora adds and grabs a rock, starting to chip away at the wooden plank in the middle of the circle.
"What makes you say that?"
"Mana techniques like this require a lot of studying and a firm grasp of understanding magic. But once you've got it, you can basically produce any kind of spell. And depending on how much time one is willing to put into it, one can make the strongest spells. And this technique seems to reappear even after being erased, meaning it has to have another power source as well as drawing in the natural mana around it," Zora explains.
"Like what?" Asta asks. Zora pushes further into the wood, and a small opening is revealed, from which a small magic crystal emerges. "Like this," Zora says, holding up the yellow glowing gem with engraved markings.
They get out from under the wagon for better lighting to look at the gem. "I see. Now, this one is actually marked, most likely by the one who made this," Zora explains.
Asta leans in with excitement. "Awesome! Does that mean we can find whoever did this?" Asta asks.
"Probably, hmm. This explains how someone made an illusion covering the entire town, to where the mana is too subtle to detect, with the help of this thing. I bet there are more gems like this around," Zora continues and looks at it.
"Right," Asta replies.
(Hmm, the mana from the circle was too subtle for even me to notice), he thinks to himself, watching Millie jump up to Asta's shoulder.
"A technique like that would require a lot of focus to make too," Millie adds.
"You're right. Wait, you have a grasp of techniques like this too?" Zora asks.
"Well sir. It even saved my life at one point," (and I have found my own way to use it) she thinks to herself and looks around, then back to the group.
"Don't look, but I believe we are being watched," she utters, and they turn their heads to see someone hiding between two buildings.
"You don't think it will be this easy to find the person behind this?" Asta asks.
"Hmm, maybe."
A red-haired girl hides between the two buildings and takes a deep breath. "(I don't think they saw me)," she thinks to herself, wearing nothing but a ragged oversized shirt and torn trousers and a belt with a satchel for her yellow grimoar with grey clouds dotted about. an on the belt hangs a few small pouches.
The redhead peeks around the corner and points her brown eyes towards the Magic Knights, seeing Asta walking over. "Oh no," she utters and runs the other way between the houses headed for the opening, she comes to a halt when she sees Zora there. "Hi there, kid," he says.
She frowns and runs the other way. "Hey, hang on!"
But the girl doesn't care and keeps running at full speed towards the bright opening. "(I will make it)," she launches forward and BONK!. She falls back, but her arm gets caught. "Hey, careful. We only have a few questions," Asta tells her.
"My, you are a quick one, ain't ya? Thought you could get away that easily, did you? Now tell us, are you the one behind these?" Zora asks her, holding up the yellow gem. "Ngh, so what if I am?" she spits back, resisting Asta's hold on her wrist.
She punches him, and Asta leans away. "Careful," he says, and Liebe flies up and away from her fist, flying over to Millie's side.
"Let go of me," she orders.
"What? We can't do that. You have a lot to explain," he says, and the girl relaxes a bit, thinking things over.
"There, ready to cooperate?" Asta asks, and the redhead nods. Asta lets go of her. "Now, how about you start telling... Oof!" She kicks him in the groin and punches Zora in the same area. She then throws a bag at the ground, creating a cloud of smoke that surrounds them. Millie jumps high up, taking to her wings just before the smoke hits.
"Hey, what the heck is this stuff? My eyes sting!" Asta yells out. "How did you let her get you?"
"Hey, she got you too, you know," they grit out in pain.
Millie is flying above the smoke, watching the girl run. "She is in pain," she utters, not noticing that Liebe is on her small shoulders from her jump.
"Huh? Woah," Liebe utters, hanging on to her as she flies ahead. "Good thinking, follow her, and COUGH we will follow you," Asta says, struggling to see anything in the smoke and eventually beginning to follow.
"Good, they are not following me," the redhead whispers to herself as she keeps running, not seeing what is flying high above her.
Millie follows the girl for quite a bit into the forest, and the girl jumps into what looks to be an odd-looking tent leaning against a couple of trees with wooden planks for extra support around it to keep the fabric in place.
Millie transforms and walks to the opening of the tent, hearing the girl breathe heavily. "Good, I lost them," she tells herself.
"Not really, miss," Millie utters. "Uh, no way," the girl says in horror, thinking things over. She looks at the ground by the opening of the tent and thinks about the reason why she always makes sure to jump to get into her hideout.
"(Right, my magic circle, the trap I laid)," she thinks to herself and looks at the wall above the mattress on the ground with a blanket and a pillow. "(If I could just get to...)"
"Could you come out now, please?" Millie asks. "Nah, it is fine. You may enter. I guess you caught me," she says.
Millie narrows her eyes at the ground in front of her and leans down, sensing mana emanating from the tree above the girl's mattress. "Alright, miss," she utters and steps forward.
(Ha! She will fall for it, and while the spell activates and does its thing, I will) she lunges for the tree and reaches out her hand. (I am out of here!) CRASH!
The girl stops dead in her tracks as the tree now has a big hole and cracks in it, created by a big needle, and the mana circle disappears. (The magic circle is destroyed, but how?) she turns around and sees a white-tinted, transparent shield disappearing around Millie as the dirt that came from the magic circle has been pushed aside.
The girl's past flashes before her eyes. (Why does this happen? Brother, I)
(My mother died when I was really young, and my father died a couple of years after. I remember little about them, but according to my brother, it was after our father's death that we ended up on the streets due to the lack of paid rent. My brother took care of me and taught me how to read from old newspapers. We begged and stole what we needed to survive. There were many cold days and nights, but we had each other.
Then there was a big attack of elves, and a good portion of the village fell into ruin, and the locals focused on repairing what was lost. 'Please, we need something to eat, miss,' I begged. 'Sorry, child, but as you know, the kingdom is in disrepair right now, so we cannot spare you any food.' It was the usual reply at the time.
We built this hut in the forest together where we met in the evenings.
Then one day... 'Did you get any?' I asked. 'Sadly, no. And this is all we have left,' he said as his face looked paler than usual.
We sat together into the evening. 'In six months, you will get your grimoire, sis, and I will have turned 17, and maybe then the chief will finally allow me to work in the mine or something.'
'It is stupid that he hasn't allowed you to do that yet,' I told him. 'Well, he keeps saying I am still too scrawny to be of use there.' 'It is a dumb reason,' I told him. 'I think so too, but what else can I even do?' he coughed and leaned back against the wall, breathing heavily.
'Ngh!' my red-haired brother let out in pain. 'Sean, are you hurt?' I asked. 'No, I am fine. You should eat this,' he said and handed me the last piece of bread. 'No, I am fine. You have gone longer without food than I have.'
'Please, I insist. I will get some tomorrow, I promise,' he pushed. 'Are you certain?' 'Yeah, please take it,' he told me, and I reluctantly ate it. We fell asleep together under a ragged blanket, doing our best to keep warm.
The next morning, he was leaning over me, and I pushed him off. 'Hey, wake up. We have to move and find food,' I told him and pushed him once more, and he fell over.
'Hey, don't joke around. Get up,' I moved over, and I carefully slapped his face. 'Sean, why are you not? ... Hey, wake up,' I shook him harder and harder. 'Hey, wake up. Sean, wake up, please,' I begged. 'Sean, wake up. You made a promise last night, remember? WAKE UP, DAMN YOU!' I screamed, but he never woke up.
After that, I was all alone, and a few months ago, I got my grimoire for illusion magic. I couldn't do much about it, but luckily, this is a trading village, so I got access to books that I stole in order to gain the knowledge I needed to put this magic of mine to better use.)
(I have not survived this long on my own just to be taken this easily) the girl thinks to herself and frowns at Millie, who stands there quietly.
The girl crouches down as Millie takes a step, and the girl grabs a rock, causing Millie to stop. "Don't come any closer, hear me? I can seriously hurt you!" she says, standing up and bringing out her grimoire. It hovers with a yellow-tinted glow as it flips through pages and lands on one.
"Beastly tiger, come!" she yells, and a huge spectral tiger appears next to the girl. "You must be misunderstanding me, miss. I am not here to fight you."
"Oh yeah? You are now in my home, so I will defend it. I am warning you, flee, or I will cause you great harm." The tiger next to her lets out a menacing roar. "Do your best," Millie says.
"What? (She isn't even fazed. Does she know? No, I didn't say out loud the full name of this spell, so she can't know.) Fine, I warned you!" she yells, and the tiger lunges for Millie, but it goes straight through her.
Millie casts an eye behind her as the illusion of a tiger stops and turns to look at her. "(Damn it, she knew.)" She throws a rock, and Millie catches it without looking, turning to face the girl whose eyes widen in disbelief as she falls to her knees. "No way," she utters, and her grimoire falls to the ground and closes.
"Miss, you are hurting," she says, and the girl looks at her leg, which is a little bit blue and swollen. "So what!" she hisses. "I get the sense that not only your body is in distress. Is that why you are defensive?" Millie asks.
"Shut up! It is not like you actually care," she spits, and Millie casts an eye behind her. "How did you see right through my illusion magic anyway?" she asks as the tiger disappears.
"Don't get me wrong; it is nicely made, coming from someone your age. You have great talent, and..." Millie stops and sees the tent walls filled with notes about spells. "It is clear just by looking at your walls that you have worked hard on it too."
"Yeah, well, it still wasn't enough to fool you. How did you figure out about the magic circles I placed?" she asks. "They were well hidden. I am just good at detecting mana, is all."
"Seriously?" the girl grits her teeth. "Damn it! Why does this have to happen?! Curse you! Curse all of you! Why do people like you always have to get in the way of people like me?!" she yells and punches the ground.
Millie looks at the girl and sits down on her knees. "What has your heart hurting so badly that it makes you this upset?" Millie asks with a compassionate tone.
"Upset? I am livid. Strong people like you are the fucking worst. I hate you!" She throws another rock at Millie, who leans away to let it pass.
"People like you can't ever see how freaking good you have it, and yet you still dare to treat us with less magic like trash, not even deserving of food or a proper home!" Millie looks at a hammer in the corner and the attempts of nailing together a chair.
She sees blueprints of a small house up on the wall. (She is actually trying to make a home all by herself?) Millie wonders and looks at the girl, who is very skinny.
"I want to help you, so please help me understand you."
"Understand me? As if you ever could! I doubt someone like you has ever lost anyone!" she hisses, and Millie's composure drops for a short moment, remembering Meirs and Sara's deaths, as well as Casimir's.
The girl's eyes show surprise for a second. "Wait, you have?" Her voice falters, and Liebe looks at Millie, who pulls herself together. "Yes, and I was helpless to prevent it from happening."
"Helpless? You?" the girl says with a weak voice until she frowns.
"Don't fucking mock me! I spent months preparing those magic circles in order for them to do anything else than illusion, and you undid it all in a mere instant. It isn't fair. My magic can't do anything to harm anyone at all. I can't do anything except fooling people so I can get what I need to get by. And yet, and yet... damn it all!"
"If I got this power sooner, then I could have helped to gather food, and my brother wouldn't have needed to give me the last piece of bread. He would have eaten too, and he would still be alive!" she cries out as the anger she has just let out is starting to leave her.
"Someone strong like you knows nothing about surviving on your own, so leave me be!"
"I know everything about it," Millie says with conviction, which throws the girl off, and the certainty in Millie's eyes makes the girl's eyes widen in disbelief. "What?"
"It would appear that either of us knows the other. So let us start over. My name is Millie Millenty."
"Tsk, the name is Sky," she scuffs.
"It's nice to meet you, Sky," Millie says, but Sky responds with indifference, keeping an emotional distance.
Meanwhile, Asta catches up. "She's up ahead," Asta says as they get closer. "Wait, I sense that things are sorting themselves out at the moment, judging from the mana," Zora says. "Huh?" Asta utters as they calm their pace and quietly walk up to the tent.
"Did your brother starve to death?" Millie asks.
"He did. He should have taken the last piece of bread. Damn it, this is so fucking unfair..." Sky grieves.
"It is... it is wery unfair... Now, what will you do about it?" Millie asks, and Sky's eyes look up, meeting Millie's gaze.
"What do you mean, 'do about it'?" "With your talents, I'm certain there is something you can do."
"As if. It's not like I could, not with my type of magic, especially. It can't do much."
"With your strength, is giving up the best idea?"
"Tsk, I am not strong, and like I said, my magic can't do shit." "When I said 'strong,' I did not refer to your magic at all." "Huh? What are you talking about?" "I am saying that you are a fighter, and you have a bright mind."
''I am not a fighter, I can't do anything, it would be best to let it be''
"With your talents? That would be such a waste," Millie says. "Tsk, as if," Sky says, defeated.
"I will be sent straight to jail now anyway."
"Miss, how about after jail? What will you do?"
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Miss, do you think that you will be in jail forever for taking some food and tools?"
Sky remains quiet.
"Miss, what will you do with the life your brother saved?"
Sky's eyes widen, and she looks down, gripping the dirt. "As if a commoner can do much."
"One can be surprised at what a commoner can do. Besides, don't you wish to combat the unfairness of this world?"
"Battle the unfairness?"
"Yes, fight it, do something about the unfairness and mae this land more equal. Because I think that is a battle worth fighting."
Sky meets Millie's eyes once more. "I wish I could, but as you saw, my magic isn't exactly good at fighting anything," she utters.
"Miss Sky, there are many ways to fight, and judging from the vast amount of research inside these tent walls, I believe you are already well on your way to figuring out a way that is yours alone."
"Even if I could fight, I doubt it will be accepted to" Sky says, still filled with doubt from living in her helpless conditions.
"Now I wonder about that," a male voice says. "Uh, you two again," Sky says, seeing Zora and Asta.
"My, you sure know how to make an escape, don't you? Now, that is quite impressive," Zora tells her, looking around the walls and getting an idea of where the kid has her knowledge from.
'you got here too' Sky responds seeing Asta walk in too and Liebe flies still in his small form over to Astas shoulder.
Sky calms down and sits more relaxed.
'yepp, man you are a fast runner, and clever too'
'may I look at your ankle miss?' Millie asks.
'whatever' the girl says and takes her leg out in front of her and Millie goes over and crouches down 'Life shield magic shielded healing' she utters and a smal shield forms around it and sky looks at the guys.
'what happens now' Sky asks.
'I think you know, that will have to take you to HQ and then they will have to decide what to do' Zora answers.
'I would advice that she got better medical treatment first sir' Millie says.
'huh?' Zora replies.
'her ankle seem to have a stage 2 sprain and it is a deeper level of damage than what my magic can heal, sir' Millie replies and looks at Asta for a second and looks at the girl.
'Right we will do that' Asta says and looks at sky who looks gloomy and he rembers her words from earlier that she can't do anything with her magic. He look to the walls covered with notes filled with spells.
'Oh, look at all of this you must be really smart' he says.
'not really' she says.
'huh, but you must be I mean you made a spell covering an entire town, and you did with the help of knowledge, man that is so cool' he says excited and the girl lights up a little bit.
'Well it wasn't really that hard' she says while blushing a bit.
'it isn't? hu, maybe it is because I don't have any magic but I think it is cool' he tells her and she looks at him suprised.
'wait are you saying you have no magic at all?'
'yepp I have none' he says.
'how are you a magic knight then?'
'Well I just worked really hard and I got the power of anti magic, with the help of Liebe here' he says and points to his shoulder.
the girl blinks a few times, not really wrapping her head around it.
'what kind of crazy person accepts a freak without magic?' she asks and Asta comically falls to the ground and gets up.
'You are missing the point, I worked really hard and I made it into the magic knights meaning you can do it too' he tells her. she looks at him for a moment.
'what is it?'
'you're weird'
'gach!' Asta lets out completely speechless.
'hehehe' Zora chuckles.
'I have done what I can here, are we on our way?' Millie asks.
'yeah we probably should' Zora says and Asta agrees.
and they are off with Asta flying on his sword and Zora on his broom and Millie flies with her wings spread out carrying sky on her back.
it takes a couple of hours and they are approaching the capital and they see alot of mages on their brooms heading out.
'uh what is going on?' Asta asks.
'not sure, but we should focus on our task fist' Zora replies.
'right' Asta answers and they land by the medical tower and Millie puts down Sky who looks at Millie as she takes in her wings. (what is her magic? I thought Life shield was her magic) Sky wonders and heads inside with the guys and Millie walks behind her not realizing it is a part of Millie's body.
tell the doctors about what is going on and a lady brings them into a room and they hear a knock on the door and they all turn around as it opends.
'Oh Owen, the Clover Kingdoms best quack how have you been?' Asta asks with excitement.
'oh hi Asta long time no see. I saw you come in with someone and I had some time off so I can probably take a look at your paitent for you' he says. skratching his head with short gray messy hair and a small beard at the tip oh his chin. he wears glasses and a simple lab coat.
'Now pleas take a seat, Sky was it?' he asks. and she nods and does as asked.
'healing magic Qualle operation' he utter an giant jelly-fish forms and its Tentacles forms around the girls leg. 'my that certainly is a tear I am amassed that you can even move at all on this, you must be quite alot of pain' Owen utters and Sky looks to the side. 'well it isn't like I had much of a choice' she says. 'well you are quite resilient to pain if you have been moving around on this' he tells her and looks at the boys.
'by the way you too, you probably haven't heard since you just got back but, HQ asks that all available magic knights comes to HQ, apparently something big is going on' he tells them and he and Asta looks at each other. 'you can probably give your report on what happened on this one later, I will take care of sky in the mean time' Owen tells them.
'right we will leave it to you dock' Asta replies.
'we are off then' Zora replies and they head out.
