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Season 3, Chapter 3, Part 2.
Searching.
Haze walks the streets of the capital and eventually makes his way to an office building. He looks into his backpack, once again remembering the coins in it.
He steps up to the counter where one person is doing some paperwork. "Hi, I would like to purchase a plot of land," Haze utters.
"One moment," the guy says, continuing his work. Haze looks at the man, dressed in a white fancy tuxedo-like attire with green hair, his tips dyed blue. The man finishes up the writing and puts his quill down before turning his attention to Haze. "Good day. My name is Masilius. What can I do for you?" he asks.
"I would like to purchase a piece of land," Haze says again.
"I see. We have plenty of land available. Would you like to browse through what we have available, or do you already have something in mind?" Masilius asks.
"I have one in mind, yes. It is called Lakeside Manor. About an hour's flight from Nean to the east," Haze explains.
"Ah, that one. It is quite expensive, though. I trust that you have the funds?" Macilius asks.
"That I do," Haze tells Macilius.
"Great, and you are over 20 years of age?" Macilius asks.
"That I am. I turned 20 almost a week ago," Haze explains, handing Macilius his noble ID.
"Ah, you are of House Harrent, I see. Well, what I will need you to do then is to fill out these papers, and we can look into ways for you to build your own province there in no time," the man says.
"It isn't necessary," Haze replies.
"Not necessary? You are buying land without planning to do anything with it?" the man asks.
"I, uh, well, of course, I intend to build on it, just not right now," Haze clarifies, hiding that it is a lie.
"I see. Well, the land office is always open whenever you look to get materials to get yourself started on building your very first house," Macilius informs while Haze signs the papers.
"Of course," Haze replies and hands Masilius the papers.
"Great. I will hand these in for processing, and the purchase will be official in a day or two," Masilius explains, stapling the papers together and putting them into a small stack of papers.
"Right," Haze says and hands Macilius the money.
Haze leaves the building, and he takes a deep breath before determination fills his eyes again.
The next couple of days pass, and Haze borrows Millie on several occasions, which Asta doesn't seem to mind at all. She keeps trying to talk to him to aid him properly in his endeavor, but he keeps shutting her down.
The next morning, Haze is eating breakfast with his mind elsewhere. At the same time, a delivery owl flies out of a portal and into the Black Bull hideout, dropping a stack of letters on the desk in the living room in front of Yami, who is reading his newspaper.
Yami looks at the stack of letters, sifts through them, and then yells, "Haze, get your butt in here!" Haze walks into the main room while chewing. "What is it, Sir Yami?" Haze asks.
"There is a letter for you," Yami tells him and hands Haze the letter. Haze proceeds to open it and sees that the estate papers have arrived, and he smiles. Soon, the Black Bulls receive their missions and head out.
Meanwhile, Sebastian is headed out to Milant Village. Sebastian looks to the side, seeing En traveling on his broom, looking sickly as always. "This searching mission hopefully goes smoothly," En says. "Searching mission way out here? I mean, don't the locals know the knights are spread thin as it is?" Willy says from Sebastian's other side. "Well, I have been here before, and the way people go missing and end up dead is alarming. Especially when you read the details of this mission," Sebastian replies. "I know, the details were quite worrying to say the least," En replies.
"Pah, oh really? I didn't read it, but I am certain it is no big deal," Willie utters. "Well, the victims seemed to show no sign of struggle, meaning they didn't get a chance to fight back," Sebastian informs.
"Whoever is behind all this must be quite skilled," En says. "Well, no matter the threat, I, Sekke, senior-ranked Magic Knight, will take care of it. Ha, ha!" Sekke says, and the others look ahead, seeing their squad mate flying ahead of them.
"Why is this guy with us?" Willie asks. "He actually insisted for some reason," Sebastian explains.
("Come to think of it, Sekke seems to have been taking his Magic Knight duties more seriously ever since getting back from Spade after the war.") Sebastian thinks to himself as Milant Village comes into view in the distance, and it does not take long before they land inside the village.
"Hi, I recognize you," Randy says to Sebastian. "Yeah, I was here last time when Mandy tragically," Sebastian's voice falters at the end. "Yeah, well, hopefully you will be able to find whoever is responsible soon," Randy replies. "We will do our best," Sebastian replies. "Just give us details on where odd sightings have occurred, and we will take a look around," En says, and Randy nods and does as asked.
And soon, the teens are walking the woods in the mountainside. "How are we even supposed to locate this guy? I mean, they said they never actually seen the person behind this," Willie says.
"We will just have to keep trying until we find something," Sebastian encourages, and the squad keeps searching for several hours with no luck.
"This is impossible, only us searching this massive area. There is no way we will find the culprit," Willy utters.
"Hmm, I do have one idea, though, to help us search," En suggests. "Why couldn't you have done that earlier?" Willie asks.
"Well, I didn't think of it before now. Besides, you could probably use your mud magic to help search as well," En suggests and opens his grimoire, uttering, "Fungus magic, tiny wandering mister mushrooms," En activates his spell.
"Right, I will do that," Willie says and brings out his grimoire. "Mud magic, small searching mudmen," he says. Sebastian looks at the many small mushrooms running out into the woods in every direction, and then there are a bunch of tiny mud men doing the same.
"There, hopefully, we will manage to find something," Sebastian says, adjusting his glasses.
"Ha, ha, an excellent idea, this will be an easy feat for our team," Sekke eagerly says.
("Sekke trying to be a team player is so strange to see, but he is trying?") Sebastian thinks to himself, and whoosh! They hear above their heads, and they look up to see more people on different-colored brooms flying over them.
"What has them in a rush?" Willie asks. "Oh, that, I forgot to mention, apparently the villagers around here like to fly in what they call broom flying competitions," Sebastian explains.
"What is that?" En asks. "Basically, a race to see who is the fastest flyer," Sebastian explains.
En turns around and looks off into the woods. "What is it?" Sebastian asks. "It will appear that my mushrooms are being interfered with," En explains and gets on his broom.
"We are on it," Sebastian says and gets on his broom as well. "Finally, some action," Willie says, and Sekke gulps, getting on his broom and following the rest.
They fly through the trees, and they hear growling. They slow down a little and land there, dismounting their brooms and walking into a clearing in the woods. They see spectral wolves tearing the mushrooms apart. "What, these wolves again," Sebastian says as they growl and look at the team before opening their mouths, and a bright light comes from them. Sebastian quickly takes out his grimoire as well. "Be careful," he says as the wolves send icy shards at the team. "Ember magic, raining fire," he says and shoots some of the shards down.
"Mud magic, shooting mud balls," Willy says and shoots away, while En hangs back a little while Sekke panics. "Bronze creation magic, Sekke Magnum cannonball," he says and is encased in a roundish shield with craters pointing out of it in different directions, defending him against the ice shards.
"Let's get these wolves," Willie says.
"Right," Sekke says, pointing the craters in the direction of the wolves and shooting magic bullets.
"Ember magic, ember array," Sebastian yells, shooting his embers at the other wolves, and Willie chimes in with "mud magic, mud balls," he yells, and the wolves shatter, leaving a small trace of mana and a purplish aura.
Sebastian looks at the ground and he sees an opening that he walks over to and looks down into.
"What is that?" En asks, coming up.
"A cave in the ground, and it seems to be leading somewhere," Sebastian says.
"Hm, I suppose we are to check it out," En says. And so, the squad heads on down into the cave.
"Seriously?" Sekke asks.
"Sure, we are sure now. Let us go," Willie says and jumps down into the hole.
Meanwhile, Alisa heads to the capital with a smile on her face as the sun shines bright and her spirits just as brightly. She lands by the office and heads on inside. "Good day, Masilius. I have the crates of wares as requested," she greets, and the man looks up from his desk at her. "Oh, wonderful. Thank you for your service," he says as she puts the crate by his desk. "Here, for the delivery," he utters.
"Thank you," Alisa says and looks up at the wall with details of the recent sold lands, and her face drops upon seeing that _ Manor has been sold, and her head panics.
"Uh, Masilius," Alisa asks, getting pale.
"Yes, what may I help you with?" he asks.
"Who bought _ Manor?" she asks.
"Huh, oh right, Haze did," Masilius explains as Alisa's world shatters. "Who knew he was interested in investing in something like that? He may follow his father's footsteps after all," Masilius continues, still looking at the wall with paper notes, and he hears the doorbell ring. He turns around, and Alisa is gone.
"Furious, she flies through the sky and lands by a herbalist shop where Tory is giving a man a few boxes.
"Tory, Tory," Alisa says loudly as she flies up to him and lands. "What is it?" Tory asks. "You wouldn't happen to know where Haze is on a mission today, do you?" she asks. "No, I don't. Why?" Tory asks. "That guy has some explaining to do," Alisa says and begins to fly. "Alisa, we still have a route to do," Tory says.
"Right, sorry. Could we hurry, though? I need to find Haze as soon as I can," Alisa explains. "Why, did something happen?" Tory asks. "I will explain later," Alisa says, and Tory gets his broom and flies after Alisa, who swiftly goes through the air, flying faster and faster, fueled by rage.
Meanwhile, the Praying Mantis Squad walks the dimly lit cave as Sebastian's ember magic, which he holds in his hand, is the only light source.
"Grr!" they hear up ahead, growls and snarls. "I believe we will encounter more of those wolves," En says. "Paha, right, they aren't a big deal for me," Sekke says with obvious fake confidence. "It sure will be a piece of cake for me," Willie adds.
And the wolves come towards them, their glowing eyes prevalent in the darkness ahead, and Sebastian seems concerned. "What is wrong, Sebastian? You aren't scared, are you?" Willie asks. "Not about the wolves. It is just the last time there were this dense of a number of wolves, there was this mage behind it who appeared to be quite powerful," Sebastian says, readying his grimoire as the wolves creep closer to the group. They open their snarling mouths, gathering their mana, and they shoot icy shards at the group. Willie is already ready with his grimoire as he says, "Mud magic, mud ball," he says and shoots mud at the icy shards.
Followed by Sebastian's "Ember magic, scorching bullets!" and the fiery embers are shot at the wolves at a high velocity, and they shatter. And Sekke breathes relieved as Sebastian and Willie smile. "Good job, thankfully the wolves are easy," En encourages, and the group continues down the cave.
"Yeah," Sebastian says, halfway in thought. "What is on your mind?" En asks. "Well, it is just the last time this many wolves were found, according to Noelle and Magna, they saw a cloaked man who may be behind this whole mess."
"Wait, you are saying someone is actually behind this all?" Willie asks, and Sekke's face draws into worry.
"We believe so," Sebastian replies. "But the wolves threatened the entire northern border. How can only one man be responsible for all that?" En asks.
"I am not sure. We are still in the dark; we haven't been able to see him after the Frozen Forest mission."
"But wait, if someone that powerful is ahead of us, shouldn't we try to get backup?" Sekke says, worried.
"He does have a point, maybe we should call it off," En says, and Sebastian nods as the group turns the corner and are met with a wave of glowing eyes in front of them. Sebastian lifts his eyes to the other side of the room where they see a man with a cloak grabbing a pot at the end of the room.
"Look," Sebastian says, and they all do, and the cloaked man turns to the group. As they see his white beard and his teeth grinning into a smirk, a wave of magic shoots through the room before he snaps his fingers and disappears. Then the hordes of wolves begin moving towards the group.
"Gah! This is bad, this is really, really bad," Sekke says in panic. "We will just have to fight," En tells them with his grimoire still open at the ready. "That is right, we will just have to crush them all," Willie exclaims, readying his grimoire. "Mud magic, Flash bog," Willie says and covers the entire floor of the room in mud, and the wolves get dragged into it. "Great, Willie, keep them immobilized," Sebastian says, flipping through the pages of his Grimoire. "Ember magic, fire rain," he exclaims, and above the wolves, fire rains over them, and they shatter.
"We did it," Willie says with a smile. "I suppose so," Sebastian says, and Willie and Sebastian and En look to each other, and Sekke looks to the mana mist in the room that gathers, and the wolves reappear. "Ah, crap," Sekke says nervously and points, and the group looks at the wolves' grinning faces.
"Well, this isn't good," En says. "They didn't do that a minute ago," Sebastian says, worried. "I suppose that man did something when releasing the magic earlier," En tries to logic it out. "No matter, we will crush them," Willie says, getting eager. "I suppose we can keep trying, but we should be on our guard," En tells them as the wolves come closer. "I agree, they seem stronger as well," Sebastian says as the wolves shoot 'mud ball,'" Willy shouts, shooting the ice down. "We can worry about that later," Willy tells them.
"Right," Sebastian says, readying himself. "Ember magic, ember rain," he says, and fiery embers rain over the wolves from the ceiling of the cave, and he shoots down some of the wolves, and they shatter and immediately reappear again. "Fungus magic, wandering mister mushroom," En says, and a bunch of tiny mushrooms run at the wolves and smash into them, giving the wolves damage. "As I thought, my only offensive spell won't be enough. I work best on the defensive," En says as Willy and Sebastian shoot down the wolves again. "It is fine, we need someone to take care of defense," Sebastian utters, and they look ahead, and they see more wolves coming their way from further into the cave. Sebastian turns to see Sekke, who is only standing there, worried. "Snap out of it, we need you to fight too," Sebastian tells him, and Sekke looks at Sebastian and straightens up. "Right, I just wanted to give you guys a chance to shine," Sekke bluffs with his signature laugh as he brings out his Grimoire. "Bronze creation magic, Sekke's shooting cannonball," he exclaims and is surrounded by his shields again with craters on it, and he directs his magic towards the wolves and fires off magic bullets, smacking down the wolves, and more come past them, and they reappear behind the new group of wolves.
"This will go on forever," En says. "Yeah, we should probably retreat," Sebastian replies. "That is a good idea," Willy adds, and they hear snarling from behind them. As Willie shoots at the wolves further into the cave, the others look behind them to see the spectral wolves. "Oh crap, we are surrounded. What do we do?" Sekke panics.
"We will just have to bust through them," Sebastian says and flips through pages. "Ember magic, scorching embers," he says, and fire shoots at the wolves, making them shatter, but they reappear just as quickly.
"Pah, ha! This is insane. We are trapped and will die in here," Sekke panics. "Willy, you calm down; I can't think," Sebastian utters. "Right," Sekke says.
"I have an idea," En says.
And Sebastian listens, an ear, and En tells them his plan.
"Ready?" he asks. "Yeah," Willie says. "Mud magic, Flash Bog," Willie yells, and the wolves further into the cave get immobilized, and pulling them into the mud slowly crushes them. Meanwhile, En exclaims, "Fungus magic, towering mister mushroom," and a big mushroom forms in the direction of the exit, and the big tall mushroom falls over the wolves, keeping them still underneath.
"Let us go!" Sebastian tells them all, and they run over the mushroom and through the cave, heading towards the exit.
"Only to be stopped by even more wolves! 'What now?' Sekke exclaims. 'I have an idea,' Sebastian says as his grimoire flicks to another page. 'Ember Magic, inferno surge!' he yells, and a surge of fire is created ahead of him like a drill. 'Let's go!' he says, and the group runs with the fiery drill in front of them, crushing the wolves as they run into them. They continue further for a bit until Sebastian's spell comes undone, and he stops, putting his hands to his knees. 'Why'd you stop?' Sekke asks.
'That was the last of my mana. I don't think I have a single low-level spell left in me right now,' Sebastian huffs, panting hard. 'That isn't good,' En says as more wolves gather ahead and the wolves behind them reappear again.
'We better move, mud magic flash bog,' Willie says and does the same as before to the wolves behind them. 'Fungus magic towering mister mushroom,' En says, and the towering mushroom lands over the wolves ahead of them, and the group runs over it. 'We better get out of here. I am close to the end of my magic as well,' Willie utters. 'Same here. I don't have another towering mister mushroom left in me,' En explains. 'This is seriously bad, guys,' Sekke says, panicking. ('What an idiot I am, I am too handsome to be dealing with monsters like this,') Sekke thinks to himself as he keeps running.
And another wave of wolves appear in front of them. 'Sekke, hurry, shoot them down,' Sebastian tells him. 'Wait, what?' Sekke asks. 'Do it. You are the one with the most mana left here,' Willie exclaims. 'Right,' Sekke replies, frightened. 'Bronze creation magic, Sekke shooting cannonball,' he says. 'Great, now run towards the wolves,' Sebastian utters. 'What?!' Sekke asks, frightened. 'The wolves will be in time for us to get to them. This is the only way,' Sebastian clarifies. 'R-right,' Sekke says nervously, and the three other mages put their hands on Sekke's spell and push, and Sekke begins to run towards the wolves and crashes into them, and they run through the horde of wolves. 'Great, I see the exit,' Sebastian states, looking ahead, seeing the light from the surface shine into the dimly lit cave quite some distance ahead.
'Great, we are getting out of here,' Sekke shouts nervously as they bore through plenty more wolves before reaching the hole leading to the surface. Sekke undoes his spell and pants heavily, and he looks behind the group. 'Gaah!' he yells. 'Mud magic, mud wall,' Willie says and makes a wall between them and the wolves. 'Hurry, get up,' Willie exclaims. 'Right,' Sekke says and jumps up and grabs the ledge, but he does not have the strength to pull himself up. 'I'll give you a hand there,' En says and grabs Sekke's foot and lifts it up, and Sekke puts weight on it and pulls himself up and crawls out of the hole. 'I will help you too, Sebastian,' En says. 'Thank you,' Sebastian replies.
'Hurry, you guys, my magic is about to run out,' Willie warns them. 'Right,' Sebastian and En say in unison as En gives Sebastian a leg, letting him climb out of the hole as well, and En jumps up high and pulls himself up and out of the hole. 'Willie, hurry,' Sebastian exclaims, and Willie proceeds to move away from the wall and goes to the hole, and he jumps up and is about to pull himself up, but the mana beneath him gathers, and a wolf jumps and bites his leg. 'No!' Willie panics, getting pulled down. 'Oh no,' En and Sebastian say and take hold of Willie's shoulders to pull him up.
'Sekke, hurry, help us out here,' Sebastian exclaims through his teeth. 'R-right,' Sekke utters. 'Bronze magic, Sekke's shooting magnum ball,' Sekke utters and shoots magic bullets into the hole at the wolf, and it shatters, freeing Willie, and En and Sebastian manage to pull him up.
'That was close,' Willie says relieved. 'Yeah,' Sebastian says. 'I think it is about time for us to return and deliver the report about our mission,' En tells everyone. 'Agreed,' Willie replies. And they all get to their brooms and look around as mana gathers and the wolves appear around them. 'What? They never know when to quit,' Willie says. 'Let us hurry,' Sebastian says.
'Right,' the rest exclaims, mounting their brooms and flying on their way.
The sun is sinking in the distance.
Meanwhile, Alisa flies as the sky turns darker and lands near the library late in the evening, and she goes inside. "Alisa, could you tell me what's going on already?" Tory asks, following a livid Alisa inside. She looks around and sees Haze sitting by a desk, reading a book, seeming annoyed.
"There you are, you have got some explaining to do," Alisa says sharply, walking up to Haze who looks up to her as she approaches, and he stands up to meet her. "Explaining what?" Haze asks. "Yeah, what is going on?" Tory asks.
"Tell him, Haze. Tell him what you did behind mine and Tory's back, about what you purchased," Alisa clarifies. "Oh, that. I bought the land you wanted," Haze utters lazily. "What?" Tory asks in disbelief. Haze looks between them. "You can have it," Haze says. "What?" Alisa asks.
"If you do as I say when I ask it, and don't let me down like on my birthday," Haze explains. "This is what this is about? You can't be serious," Alisa says. "I am dead serious," Haze tells them. "I thought your father cut you off. Where did you even get the money?" Tory asks.
"I got an inheritance from my mother," Haze explains, and Alisa's face grows increasingly furious with anger. "And so you used that money to buy the one thing that Me and Tory here have been working towards for years! You knew how much that land meant to us, to me," Alisa tells him.
"And you know how much finding Laura means to me, so do as I say until we find her, and I will give it to you, free of charge," Haze tells her. "What? No, I want to earn that land," Alisa tells him. "And you can by doing what I say," Haze retorts. "Unbelievable, you are bribing us with- You are letting this obsession of yours come between the few friends that you've got. Well, I've got nothing left to say to you. Have a good life," Alisa tells him and spins around and leaves, and Tory looks to Haze one last time. "Not cool, man," he says before walking after Alisa, who goes outside and mounts her broom and flies off, with Tory following her.
They fly far and fast, and he sees Alisa land on top of a hill and stops to gather herself, and Tory lands behind her. He hears her sobbing. "Alisa?" Tory asks gently, and she turns to him. "How could he do this to us?" Alisa asks, holding back the tears in her eyes. "I don't know," Tory replies. "How are you not angry?" Alisa asks.
"I am, believe me, I am, and I will definitely be shooting at targets later, but for now, my concern is you," Tory tells her, and the tears in Alisa's eyes push forth, and they fall down. "He is such an ass," she says silently sobbing, and Tory goes to hug her, and she leans against his chest. "He sure is," Tory says quietly, while his frown deepens as he holds Alisa, looking ahead behind her with fuming anger and determination filling his eyes. ("Haze, you will pay for this,") Tory thinks to himself while holding Alisa in his arms.
