The Other Market In Kikka City

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of The Fallen! Got a little more laid back chapter this week but I think you'll still find it entertaining. But first, it's come to my attention that I may not have explained the commissions on my Pat reon very well. It goes like this; become a $10 a month patron and you can request a commission. Naturally you can opt out of being a patron once your commission is finished as you only need to pay $10 a month as long as the commission is being written. One thing I should mention, I'm a little booked up right now so keep that in mind. And to my guest reviewer, thank you, I'm happy to hear you're enjoying the read so far. Now, without further ado, on to the story!

Nighttime: The Base of the Black Bulls

"You had your hands full," Yami observed, "quite a bit of excitement for a first mission." He took a drag on his cigarette before breathing out some smoke. "It's a damn shame what happened to old man, Seihi, though."

"Whoever they were they were committed," Asta recalled grimly, "all we were able to gather was the perpetrators were probably nobles or something close to it." Magna reinforced this by handing the captain the pocket watch the leader was carrying.

"Your description of their attitudes definitely matches some of the crap I've heard nobles spew over the years," the captain nodded after examining the watch, "but there's one thing I'm wondering, actually two things. What's with the bird and the egg?"

"For whatever reason this bird has become attached to me," the anti-magic user glanced up at the anti-bird nesting in his head, the same one who'd brought them the magic stone, "as for the egg, we found it in a hidden cavern. It's a dragon egg." He'd debated with Megicula for a while on the way back about what to say concerning the egg and had ultimately decided the truth was the best option. After all, it would be obvious what it was when the dragon hatched."

"A hidden cavern near Saussy Village," Yami raised an eyebrow, "how'd you find something like that?"

"Honestly," the ashen-haired boy shrugged, "I felt it somehow. I don't know how it got into the cavern, but someone didn't want it found and left the illusion of a dragon to scare people away."

"You sure it's a good idea to keep that thing around then," the Black Bulls Captain asked, "it might've been kept hidden for a reason."

"If my assessment is correct, this is a Star Dragon Egg," Asta explained, "from what I've been able to piece together through research on magic beasts, they're not known to be vicious without cause. I believe we should have plenty of resources to raise it once it hatches. Naturally I'll take responsibility for the dragon, before and after it hatches." His superior had what passed for a thoughtful expression on his face, no doubt debating the pros and cons of having a straight up dragon running around the base.

"If I were any other magic knights captain I'd advise against it," Yami began, "but my own hobbies include keeping dangerous magic beasts so who am I to say no to one of my subordinates keeping a pet? Just remember what you said, that thing is your responsibility so if it makes a mess, you clean it up."

"Understood," the anti-magic boy gave the three-fingered salute. The captain was about to say something else until Charmy suddenly burst through the door.

"I'm baaaack!" She announced happily. As everyone turned to her, she eyed the egg in Asta's arms. "Oh, are you planning on frying that up? I could show you how to make a reaaaaally good omelet. That is edible, right?"

"It is not," Asta gave her a flat look, "I intend to hatch and raise the little life growing inside this egg. Don't try to eat it."

"If you so much as touch this egg, I'll end your life with every kitchen utensil I can get my hands on!" Megicula declared far more angrily. Even if she couldn't be seen by everyone else, Charmy still couldn't shake the feeling she'd said enough and quietly exited the room.

"Anyway," Yami spoke up after a few moments of awkward silence, "because of the unexpected turn your mission took, I'm going to need detailed mission reports written and delivered either tonight or tomorrow."

"Of course," Magna nodded with a forced smile, "we'll get those written up right away!"

"That's what I like to hear," the Black Bull's captain stood up and pocketed the watch then, "now, once you're done with the reports deliver them to my room." He turned and exited down the hallway then. As soon as he was out of earshot, their senior let his real feelings be known.

"Dammit!" He growled, "I hate writing detailed reports!"

"How exactly do we write those reports," Asta asked for clarification.

"You're asking the wrong person," Magna began to stomp off, "writing reports has never been my strong suit, so ask someone else." He proceeded to his room then, still grumbling angrily under his breath.

"Well, this is a problem," the boy rubbed his head, "Vanessa and Finral are gone right now along with Gauche, who's no doubt trying to see his sister. Charmy is probably stuffing her face again, Gordon doesn't speak above a whisper, Grey doesn't speak at all, and Luck will probably only help if we fight him. Looks like we're on our own."

"I won't have much difficulty," Noelle flipped her hair, "as a royal I was taught to write elegantly. And despite coming from the Forsaken Realm, you've demonstrated your own ability to read and write, I'm sure you'll figure something out."

"I'm just gonna assume that was your attempt at a compliment and move on," Asta rolled his eyes before heading off to his room. Megicula blew a raspberry at the royal girl as they entered the hallway. "Really?"

"What," the winged woman asked innocently, "at least I'm being straight up and not giving backhanded compliments."

"You're a several centuries old being," he reminded, "I know you can be a little more mature than that."

"Ah, but it's one of the few advantages of being like this," Megicula hugged his neck from behind while poking his cheek, "I don't have to be super mature. And it's not like you haven't been seeing my more laidback personality this whole time. I'll worry about maturity when the time comes."

"I'm certain," Asta flashed an amused smile before heading back to his room.

A Few Minutes Later

As he sat at his desk and pondered the results of their first mission, Asta came to a bit of a realization. One that Megicula easily caught on to. "You have no idea how to do this, do you," she asked bluntly. Asta sighed but nodded in confirmation. The demoness didn't say a word as she got up off the bed and walked over to his desk.

After glancing at the report for a moment she pointed at a few sections. "You've filled out your name and the squad's name, along with today's date," she began, "but it looks like you'll need to fill out the date and time the mission started as well as the time the mission ended. The first one is easy since it all occurred today, but the exact times might be an issue. It looks like you just need to summarize what happened while including any details you believe are relevant, along with a section for notes and suggestions you think should be considered."

"Sounds like there's a bit of arbitration involved in this," Asta mused.

"The Clover Kingdom, like most developed kingdoms, should have a court system," the winged woman pointed out, "so they'd encourage their law enforcement divisions to be vigilant and make note of various details. I don't know if this happens often in the Clover Kingdom, but back in my civilization I've seen cases thrown out because an officer couldn't remember or give details about the date and time."

"Seems like something Magna or Captain Yami should've mentioned," the ashen-haired boy commented.

"That captain may be powerful but he's clearly an idiot," Megicula scoffed, "there's a reason his squad has a reputation as the worst. I wonder when the last time they turned in a good report even was."

"Who knows," he shrugged, "but we can try to make sure that at least the reports we're turning in are good." And with that final comment they went to work as Megicula hung over his shoulder and pointed out little details here and there he would've otherwise missed. Asta didn't mind her invasion of his personal space while he worked as he actually found it quite comforting. And thanks to the demoness's help he was able to fill out the report and turn it into Yami's room in a relatively short time. Naturally he slid the document under the captain's door as he didn't want to take the chance that the man was napping and get angry at being awoken.

After that, he further secured the dragon egg in his room. "Megicula," he thought, "I only know what I've read when it comes to dragons and not much of that is about the care of an egg."

"Don't worry," she assured, "I have a pretty good idea what to do. But we're going to need some specific items." She quickly told him everything they'd need and Asta diligently jotted it down on a sheet of paper to be used as a list later. After that, he settled in for the evening and drew the dragon egg, the illusionary dragon, and a few other things in his sketchbook.

A Few Days Later: The Black Bull's Base

As had become routine, Asta got up at dawn and began his day with some chores he picked from the chore board. After that, he headed into the main room where he found Captain Yami. The burly magic knight was again sitting on the sofa smoking, but there was something different this time. The anti-magic user noted he had a distant expression on his face.

He also looked tired, like he hadn't managed to get a good night's sleep. Asta wouldn't know at the time, but the man had been tormented throughout the night by some rather painful dreams about the past. Thankfully, he seemed to regain his presence of mind after a moment and stood up. He walked over to the much shorter boy, his stature easily towering over him before pulling out a small golden star and pressing it against a board on the wall that possessed thirty-one black stars.

The star was absorbed into the board and caused one of the black stars to disappear, leaving only thirty. Asta didn't ask what he'd just done as he'd been told about the board shortly after becoming a member of the squad. Whenever a magic knight squad performed an exceptional deed or action that was worthy of note by the Wizard King, they were awarded a star. Collecting these stars was basically like collecting commendations and the squads used them to gauge who'd performed the most exceptional deeds over time.

Conversely, a squad would lose a star for failing horribly and receive black stars as negatives when they didn't have any stars. As one might imagine, the Black Bulls had the most black stars for often causing the most spectacular messes of any magic knights squad. So today should've been a cause for celebration as the Black Bulls had received an actual commendation for their performance and were now taking a step towards being a reliable squad. But it was clear that whatever had kept the captain from sleeping was still nagging at him as he glanced towards a table with several leather pouches on it, each marked by a note for who it was for.

This was their earned wages and, if he'd understood correctly, it was a little higher this time around due to the unforeseen complications of their previous mission. Once Yami was sure Asta had found his payment he turned and left. The ashen-haired boy didn't follow him, knowing that his current mood meant he likely wanted to be alone. A wise choice, considering Yami currently had the horrified screaming of a woman haunting his mind.

A Short Time Later: Kikka City

Asta remembered a fair bit of the city's layout from his first visit and even if he didn't remember everything Megicula surely did. He'd told Finral he needed to buy a few things at the market, which was technically true, except he didn't specify which market before the Spatial Mage sent him to the city. The location he sought was, in truth, the black market. Now how had he come across information about the whereabouts of said market? It actually hadn't been him who'd learned about it.

"So according to what you overheard," he mentally spoke to his companion, "the black market should be around here somewhere?"

"These are the exact directions," Megicula assured, "that group I heard was complaining about how high prices in the market were and one of the friends suggested the black market. He gave them a specific location and instructions for what to do when they got there."

"And just when did you overhear all of this again," Asta glanced back towards her.

"It was when you were browsing in one of the stores," the demoness recalled, "a clothing store, if I recall. Obviously I have no interest in such a thing since I can't wear any new clothes right now, so I was out wandering around a little and overheard the conversation."

"Let's hope your 'source' proves reliable then," the anti-magic boy remarked as he entered a secluded alley, "because it should be right around here." His eyes scanned the area for a moment until he spotted something slightly off, a spot that didn't seem to have quite as much wear as the rest of the wall around it. Without a word he walked forward into that particular section, and went right through it. The sight that greeted him on the other side of the illusion was like going through a looking glass.

Much like the marketplace he'd just walked through, there were stalls set up all along the streets. Unlike the marketplace he'd just walked through, this place was filthy. Trash was everywhere, the air tasted like an ashtray and smelled like rotting corpses mixed with cheap drugs. Not that he really knew what drugs smelled like in most cases, save for the times he'd smelled medicinal drugs.

This was apparently also a place where the homeless gathered as he walked by several of them sitting on the sidewalk. More than a couple people looked at him suspiciously, no doubt due to the presence of the Black Bulls cape on his shoulders. 'I wonder what our squad's reputation is like around this place,' he mused while catching a drug deal happening in a nearby alley out of the corner of his eye. Oddly, Megicula was giggling at the sight of the black market.

"Oh this reminds me of my teenage years," the winged woman reminisced, "I remember getting into all kinds of illegal fights and being arrested a few times for it. Too bad that detention center I was sent to no longer exists."

"I'll be honest I was surprised when I came across those memories the first time," Asta glanced back at her, "but looking at how you were as a child, it's less surprising in hindsight."

"I was a bit of a problem child at points," Megicula admitted, "but what I did in those days is nothing compared to what I'd do later on. You're not going to like those memories when you get to them."

"Probably not," the anti-magic user nodded, "so for now let's focus on the present and find what we're looking for."

"Ah yes, one incubator for a dragon egg," the demoness smiled mischievously. The duo looked around for a bit then, having little success in their search until they came upon a vendor with a large brown beard and a head wrap.

"A dragon egg incubator," he stroked said beard while thinking, "how large of an egg do you have?"

"Over a foot long and possessing a diameter between three to six inches," Asta emphasized the shape with his hands.

"I'm afraid I don't have anything in my inventory that would be fit that," the vendor shook his head.

"Could you potentially make a custom order," the Black Bull Rookie inquired.

"I can, actually," the vendor revealed, "something like this I can put together in an hour. I must warn you, however, the price will be twice as high as a regular incubator."

"Still fair from what I can tell," Asta mused before giving him part of the payment in advance, "I'll be back in an hour." Fortunately, the magic knight had a way to kill time until then. On his list were other items not related to the dragon egg. Among those items included a more detailed map of the Clover Kingdom, an alchemical set, and a monocular telescope.

The first one was easy enough to find but the second one required him going to multiple vendors in order to find quality instruments. It took so long getting a complete alchemy set, in fact, that by the time he was done he had to head back and collect the incubator. Naturally he and Megicula spent a few moments examining it to make sure it was well put together and functional. Thankfully fortune again smiled upon them as this particular vendor knew what he was doing and even threw in a bag for free to carry the incubator.

Asta also bought a second bag in order to carry the rest of his purchases before setting out once again to find a monocular telescope. Alas, this seemed to be where his good fortune ended as most of the ones he found were either inadequate or broke. The most promising one he found had an overinflated price which didn't match up with the performance it offered. In the end, Megicula suggested they buy one and improve on it as she knew a couple ways to do so and more than likely one of the Black Bulls would also be able to offer their assistance.

"Once we get it fixed up it'll be great for scouting and stargazing," the winged woman assured as they walked along.

"I hope so," Asta examined his purchase one last time before putting it in the bag of other items he'd acquired. It was also at this moment that he noted the presence of Magna walking by.

"Oh yeah," he had an excited grin on his face, "time to turn one payday into a hundred!" Asta didn't even need to look to know that he was heading towards a gambling den. 'You'd think after the first dozen or so failed attempts he'd just try to save up his money,' the boy and demon sighed at the thought. On a more upbeat note, he spotted Noelle and Vanessa heading towards him.

Oddly, he thought he caught a hint of annoyance before said royal girl's expression returned to normal. The reason being, that she wouldn't admit to, was that Noelle had hoped to go with Asta to the market as a sort of pseudo-date. His absence, however, made that impossible and adding on to the issue was that Noelle didn't know her way around the marketplace. Fortunately for her Vanessa was willing to play tour guide.

It turned out several of the Black Bulls had business in Kikka that day. Finral, after transporting Asta and then the two women started doing his usual bit and began hitting on the nearest pretty girl he could find. He took a pretty good hit from one woman out with her siblings who he mistook for her children. Gauche was flying around the city collecting cute outfits for his sister, Marie, to wear and Charmy was stuffing her face at a local restaurant whose owner apparently believed he could one day make a meal even she couldn't finish.

As one might expect, he hadn't succeeded thus far. Noelle had also noted a blue-haired girl running by with what she could've sworn was a Black Bulls cape on, but she put that out of her mind after Vanessa took her to the black market. Now here they were, approaching Asta who'd somehow found his way to the black market on his own. But first, they'd need to deal with a minor annoyance.

"HAHA!" A man wearing the green cape of the Mantis Magic Knight Squad suddenly moved in front of them, "well hello lovely ladies. What brings you to a place like this? The black market can be a dangerous area for such delicate flowers as yourselves, haha! If you're lost, I'd be happy to escort you out of here since it's my duty as a magic knight and all."

"Be gone, insect," Noelle immediately denied, not even bothering to look at him. Vanessa simply yawned; no doubt used to this kind of sad attempt at being hit on. Naturally the flirt was taken aback by this but before he could say anything else he felt an immensely strong grip on his shoulder.

"Sekke Bronzazza," Asta greeted, "what brings you to the black market today?"

"You know this bug," the royal girl asked.

"We were both in the entrance exam," the anti-magic boy explained, "he was my opponent in the combat portion, but his magic wasn't entirely thought through, so I was able to beat him."

"Wait, you two know this runt," Sekke looked back and forth between them.

"We're all on the same squad," Vanessa indicated their capes, "Surely a fellow magic knight would've noticed that. You're from the mantises, right?"

"Haha, yes I am," the bronze magic user regained his composure and ran a hand through his hair, "considering the location of the Black Bull's base I imagine you haven't heard of my already many remarkable achievements. I've stopped numerous dangerous criminals, even busting up a ring of them in a well-planned operation and on my first major mission I took charge when our commanding officer was injured. Not to toot my own horn or anything but I seem to have a knack for being a magic knight and will no doubt rise through the ranks in no time!" If he was expecting looks of awe or gasps of surprise, he was going to be disappointed since the only reaction he received was the three Black Bulls members staring at him expressionlessly.

'Does this guy think we're idiots,' was the unanimous thought going through all their minds. The only way his lies would've been more obvious is if he'd had the truth written on his forehead. But as luck would have it, an issue cropped up that would definitely show the man's actual level of skill. "Stop thief, those are my winnings!" An old woman suddenly cried out.

"Hold these," Asta handed his bags to Noelle and Vanessa before taking off at a run. He had little doubt that the two of them would see to the old lady, so he pursued the criminal, a man in a red hood who'd taken to riding on a cloud. 'Interesting magic,' he mused as they both passed through the illusion of the wall and back out into the city, 'too bad he's using it for thievery.' Asta chased him through the back alleys and around several corners.

At one point he took a turn so sharp he leapt up and jumped off the wall to keep from losing momentum. 'I just need to get into position and take one good shot,' the anti-magic boy leapt back and forth between the alley walls, quickly going higher and higher until he reached and ran along a lenghty rooftop. As soon as he got to the end of it, he took a knee and aimed, gathering anti-magic into the pointer and middle finger of his right hand. Just as the thief was ascending to try and lose him, Asta fired.

Since it was anti-magic, he didn't sense the bullet coming as it nailed him in the back of the head and knocked him off his cloud. Some good fortune was on the thief's side, however, as he landed in a wagon of hay. Naturally Asta wouldn't let him escape so easily and leapt down in front of the wagon, blocking his route. "Gah, what was that," the thief felt his head while rolling out of the hay, "was that magic?"

"Depends on who you ask," The ashen-haired boy produced his sword then, "but it's more than enough to deal with you, so surrender and make this easier on yourself."

"You really think I'm scared of some-GAH!" The man was cut off as Sekke suddenly rammed him in the back with…. possibly the most gaudy, ridiculous looking form of transportation Asta had ever seen. It looked like a green horse statue except its legs were fused together in the front and the back and large rolling balls acted as the feet. Short wings stuck out the hind end and a gosh awful figurehead that looked like a winged Sekke made up the front of it. Still, it did seem to do the trick as the thief was knocked to the ground and rendered seemingly on the verge of unconsciousness.

"Haha," Sekke laughed while getting off of his strange creation, "you're done now and I'll get the credit. Hahahahahaha-huh?" During his little laughing fit, the thief had pulled out a curved dagger and stabbed him in the foot.

"I'm so sick of that stupid laugh," the man grunted, "if I'm gonna go then so are you." The mantis knight looked down to see that a purple magic seal had been left by the knife and the energy was spreading up his leg. Sekke, being ever the professional that he was, reacted in an appropriate manner.

"AAAAAAH!" He yelled and fell over like an idiot with his foot in the air.

"You really shouldn't let your guard down until you're certain the danger is passed," Asta advised while tying up the thief with some rope, "and even then, a little caution is never a bad thing."

"Am I, am I going to…...die," Sekke asked weakly.

"Megicula, what's the diagnosis? Can you tell what was in that dagger?" The anti-magic user thought to his companion.

"My diagnosis is this moron's a drama queen," the demoness sighed while examining the magic in the small weapon, "wherever the thief got this knife he was ripped off. It contains a paralyzing poison in it but it's such a cheap poison that it can't be considered much more than a temporary irritant."

"I see," Asta walked over to the downed magic knight then.

"Asta," he groaned weakly, "this may be it. Before I go, I'd like to bequeath to you my dr-GAH!" He was interrupted by the ashen-haired boy chop striking him across the face and leaving a horizontal red line across his eyes and nose.

"Calm down," he assured with a deadpan tone, "all that was in that knife was a temporary irritant. You'll be fine."

"Huh," Sekke's eyes widened as he stared openmouthed at the sky, "Oh, is that so? Ha, ha." Both Asta and Megicula could only rub the bridges of their noses at the whole situation.

That Evening: The Black Bull's Base

Everything else, thankfully, went smoothly after that. They returned the money to the old woman and Sekke took the purse snatcher to squad headquarters. Following that, the trio met up with Finral and teleported back to the base. Not wanting to waste any time, Asta gave the monocular scope to Vanessa and relayed the instructions for upgrading it to her.

The pink-haired woman was happy to help, calling it a reward for his bravery at the marketplace. Afterwards, Asta set his stuff in his room, grabbed several books from the library and got to work. 'I may not be able to use magic,' he mused, 'but if there's one thing I've learned since meeting Megicula is the value of knowledge and the results that can come about through proper application.' Among the books he planned on reading were ones related to astronomy, runes, basic alchemy and herbalism. While Megicula was happy to teach him many of these things even she had a limit to her knowledge on certain subjects.

Once all of that was organized, he took out the incubator and set the star dragon egg within it. How it worked was by using magic infused into the device to change the temperature, humidity, ventilation level, etc. The good news about it was that the incubator activated in response to the magic within the egg, meaning Asta didn't have to have magic of his own to turn it on. "There we go," Asta smiled as he looked at the setup, "now you should be taken care of while I'm out on missions."

"The good news is you won't have to wait too terribly long," Megicula informed, "I don't know how far along this particular egg is but the presence of magic within means there's definitely life inside. Give it a few days, maybe a few weeks and we'll have a bouncing baby star dragon."

"That'll be something to look forward to," the anti-magic user nodded. Unbeknownst to him, his actions had been noticed that day and not just by the people in the black market.

What happens in the Black Market, stays in the Black Market, unless it's hilarious. But yeah, a little more laid back chapter this time around as our resident anti-magic user tends to his future dragon companion! And now as we wait for the next chapter feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters! Also, be sure to swing by and check out my Pat reon for other neat little tidbits! Last thing, stop in next times as our hero prepares for his next mission! 'Til then.