Love Comes In Many Forms
Hello everyone and happy belated Valentine's Day! I know that might seem a little odd to say but I think you'll find it quite appropriate once you get a little further into this chapter. And speaking of chapters, if you haven't had the chance yet, swing by my Pat reon for scene samples, newsletters, and other exclusives. Best part, for only $3 dollars you can buy a post and not even worry about becoming a member, so check it out! Now then I believe that's all the major announcements and with no guest review questions to answer, on to the story!
The Age Of Demons: On The Road
School was over for the day and like all the other kids, Megicula had been picked up by her parents and was currently humming happily to herself in the car. Unlike some of the other kids, however, she was not going directly home. Instead, her parents were driving her to another building not too far from the school which contained something she'd recently expressed an interest in, music. To be precise, Megicula wanted to learn how to sing.
Her parents had, thankfully, agreed to it and after a few minutes of driving they found themselves at their destination. The building itself didn't look all that different from a regular school building, being only a single story and rectangular in shape. The winged girl didn't pay much attention to it as she entered the structure with her parents close behind. As she would soon find out, Megicula was not the only one who wanted to learn to sing.
Several kids from her school were also here with the majority being girls along with a few boys. One pleasant surprise was seeing Lilith also in the room, but without her twin sister this time because she, as it turned out, didn't like to sing. Naturally the large room they were in was filled with murmuring and excited chatter as the students waited for the lesson to begin. The time came when a man wearing black pants, a black vest, and a white shirt underneath with the sleeves rolled up entered and went to the front of the room.
He produced a wand from seemingly out of nowhere and tapped it on the podium in front of him, the surprisingly loud noise drawing everyone's attention while quieting them down. "Good evening everyone," he began while pushing some of his long white hair out of his face, "my name is Mr. Whittaker and tonight shall be your first lesson in the art of song. But before we can sing even a single note, you must endure the warmup. Now, let us begin."
He quickly went on to explain each exercise before they engaged in the first warm-up, inarticulate vocals. With a flick of his wand which also doubled as a conductor's baton, he summoned floating musical notes that arranged themselves to the tune of 'Twinkle-Twinkle Little Star' in different keys with each student singing to match the key. Then he showed them cards with images like an owl to signal the noise 'Whoo Whoo' and another card with a bee to signal lip trills. It was a simple five-minute activity meant to help engage the breath.
The next five minutes would involve vocal articulation exercises which had a few inclusions due to the fact that they were demons. There was snapping with the jaw lowered and the tongue flat, waving one's head from side to side/front and back with the mouth open, making circles with one's jaw in both directions, pulling the chin down with the mouth closed, all of which exercised the jaw.
Next, they exercised the lips by making a beak with their mouths and relaxing their lips, a closed smile with the teeth clenched, moving the beaked mouth from side to side/up and down with the teeth clenched and the chin still, smacking the lips loudly with clenched teeth, and finally making the rabbit face where the lower lip did not bend. After that, the group moved on to exercises to work out the tongue. These began with sticking out and hiding the tongue while keeping the mouth open, waving it sideways/up and down without touching the lips, rolling circles in both directions with the tongue strongly protruding, closing the lips and licking the inside of the oral cavity, and finally tapping the tongue against the teeth with the mouth open and the lower jaw held still. All of this would last about ten minutes in total and serve as the warm-up.
After that would come the lesson and everyone would get their chance to sing a little either in solo or in chorus. The hour would seem to fly by and before anyone knew it they were engaging in the final exercise which was a repertoire technique along with staging techniques. Naturally to ensure everything was sticking, Whittaker also had them do an oral review of the lesson they'd learned that day before dismissing them. When Megicula returned home that same day she found she was quite pleased with the lesson and was looking forward to what came next.
As she sat down to watch some TV, she found it funny to think that she already had a busy schedule and wasn't even a middle-schooler yet. She had singing lessons now on top of magic lessons which was further complicated by also having martial arts lessons on other days. Even so it did little to affect her current grades, something Shemihaza noted while looking at the results of her various exams and finding all of them to possess perfect scores. He did find the contrast amusing while looking at his sister laughing stupidly while watching one of her many shows.
A Couple Years Later: Middle School
Time seemed to march on quickly and now the first day of middle school for the many little demons had arrived. Lilith, Nahamah, and a few other demons waited in front of the school, all of them teenagers now and ready to begin the next stage of their lives. Before long a clatter of limbs which had become quite familiar to all of them approached as the group looked to see a now adult Makura, who was the size of a car, running towards them with a now teenage Megicula on her back. Despite her increase in size the arachnid was still quite nimble and stopped easily before hitting anyone as the winged girl hopped off her back and greeted her friends.
The now giant Makura allowed some of the other students to pet her for a bit before turning around and heading home. For obvious reasons Megicula didn't need to worry too much about whether or not her dear spider could make it home in one piece and continued to engage in pleasant conversation with her friends. Unfortunately, this would soon be interrupted by a can of gas being suddenly thrusted into and opened in front of the demon girl's face. Because it happened so fast and while she was distracted Megicula didn't have time to react and wound up covered in a sweet-tasting drink.
"Hahaha," Zagred laughed, "sorry about that, Megicula, it looks like my drink was more shaken up than I-UFF!" In something of a reversal, the winged boy wasn't able to react in time or finish his statement as the girl's eyes darkened and he found himself suddenly forced to the ground by the sheer pressure of his classmate's magical energy.
"You're lucky I've learned a few spells to deal with this sort of thing," Megicula sighed, casting one of said spells to dry herself off and clean her clothes. While she was at it, the demoness kicked the offending boy in the nose hard enough to crush the cartilage in it. Naturally this got a pained grunt out of the boy before she finally let up on the pressure she was applying. Satisfied with her work, Megicula proceeded into the school with the rest of her friends while Zagred stood up, scratching his nose which had already healed. 'Still as vengeful as ever,' he thought in more amusement than anger, 'and now she's got more power to back it up. Makes me wonder how school's gonna go from this point on.'
The Present: Black Bull's Base
Asta's morning routine was about the same as ever, with a couple of minor differences that had cropped up recently. The main one being that as soon as he finished breakfast and went out to see Aithusa, he would check on the dragon's progress in speaking. "Good morning daddy!" She'd greet happily as he approached the enclosure and entered it.
She was still happy to also greet him with several licks of her reptilian tongue. "We play," she asked.
"Of course," Asta smiled while patting her head, "but we also need to learn more words today."
"Words, learn, hard," the dragon answered back.
"I know it may seem tough at first but the more you do it the easier it's gonna get," the ashen-haired boy assured, "and if you do a good job today I'll get you some of that seasoned meat you like."
"YAY! LEARN!" The dragon cheered as they began the next lesson. Thanks to his artistic skills, recalling the way Sister Lily taught lessons as well as Megicula's own input, Asta was able to create a curriculum of sorts. He not only wanted Aithusa to be able to speak but eventually read as well. It might seem like an odd goal to some but he was sure there would come a time when Aithusa would need the ability to read.
Fortunately, when Aithusa got motivated, she was able to pick things up surprisingly quickly. Despite this only being the first week of him teaching her the dragon girl was able to speak many more words after just a few hours. "I'm already looking forward to the day when you can have intelligent conversations with her," Megicula hummed, "you need all the mental stimulation you can get when you're around this particular squad."
"Be nice," Asta lightly chided, "some of the Black Bulls can be surprisingly intelligent when they calm down a bit."
"Finral would be worth having a conversation with if he talked less about hitting on women," the winged woman pointed out, "Vanessa is quite intelligent when she isn't drunk which is only once in a blue moon. As for Noelle, I'm starting to suspect they didn't get proper teachers for her because the girl seems surprisingly lacking in knowledge that should be common to many nobles, especially royals. And I personally don't want you talking to that lovesick girl anyway."
"Your jealousy aside I can't deny you have something of a point," the anti-magic user admitted, "maybe we should get Noelle out here to learn too."
"Certainly, if you don't mind me gnawing on your left arm the whole time," Megicula smirked before the two laughed at the sarcastic joke.
One Week Later: Asta's Room
This wouldn't be the first time Asta awoke with a weight on his chest. The demoness occasionally surprised him in the morning by sitting on him when he woke up, hence his initial lack of alarm when he opened his eyes. But this morning something was different. There was long white hair and bat-like wings, even light skin.
But then he noticed star patterns on the skin and the horns were much too short. And when he looked into the eyes of the one sitting on his chest he noticed they were magenta and not blue. As the one he now realized was a stranger shifted to sit up, he also caught sight of a black star mark surrounded by a white marking on her chest… her very naked chest! It would be the first time in a while he let out a yelp before quickly covering what he now realized was a young girl with his blanket.
"Good morning father," the girl greeted with a smile, "how are you?"
"Just making sure I'm understanding this correctly," Asta took a steadying breath, "you're Aithusa, right?"
"Yep," she nodded happily, "I know I look different in this form, but it's still me, papa." The dragon girl turned her head to the side a little then. "And hello mother, how are you?"
"She can see you?" The ashen-haired boy glanced at the demon woman.
"It's not so surprising," Megicula shrugged, "star dragons are extraordinary creatures who are even capable of seeing many things regular people can't. And she's not even fully grown yet so what we've seen so far is just the beginning."
"Papa, why is mama talking so quietly," Aithusa tilted her head in confusion.
"Oh, it seems she can only see me and not hear me," the winged woman mused, "you'll have to do the explanations for the time being, Asta."
"Yeah I got it," he nodded before turning his attention back to his pet turned girl, "Aithusa, listen carefully because this is important. Your mother is in an astral form right now so she's kind of like a ghost. I can see and hear her, and you can see her but no one else can see or hear her. Because of that, you can't speak to her when other people are around and when it's just the three of us you need to speak quietly so that no one comes to see what's going on."
"But why, papa," the dragon girl questioned, "You're friends with everyone here, right? Why can't I talk to mama while they're around, she's allowed to talk too, isn't she?!" Aithusa's voice was raising higher and higher along with her apparent disapproval of the situation.
"Asta, I've changed my mind, let me handle this," Megicula requested, "I might have an idea."
"Alright, I'll leave this to you," he thought back before closing his eyes. When he opened them again his green eyes had changed to blue with slit pupils.
"Aithusa," the demoness's voice came out of the ashen-haired boy's mouth, "that is enough. If you want to speak to your mother I'm right here."
"Mama," she asked. Megicula/Asta nodded before embracing the reptilian girl.
"Yes, it's me," the winged woman assured, "this is a result of my and Asta's situation. It's a little hard to explain, but my soul and his are linked and that allows me to talk to him from a long way away. I'm not actually here but somewhere else that I can't leave right now, so this is the best I can do. Because I'm linked to his soul he can see and hear me but no one else can, at least not until you came along."
"But how come I can hear you now," Aithusa asked, "I don't understand, where did papa go?"
"Asta and I have switched places, in a manner of speaking," Megicula explained, "he's still here and will return as soon as I give him back control of his body. Don't worry, he gave me permission to do this so that I could explain things. As for why you shouldn't talk to me when other people are around, well, you would think it was odd if I suddenly started talking to empty air, right?"
"I guess I'd wonder why you were doing it," the dragon girl admitted.
"And right now our situation is complicated enough," the demoness pointed out, "we'll figure it all out eventually but for right now don't talk to mother when others are around unless we say so and try not to speak too loudly when we're by ourselves."
"I don't really understand," Aithusa admitted, "but now I know I can talk to mama when she does this switch thingy, so I'll be patient and wait until no one's around."
"That's my little girl," Megicula/Asta smiled while patting the infant dragon on the head. Unfortunately, the moment would be ruined slightly by a loud rumbling from the dragon's stomach. "It looks like we'd better get you fed."
A Few Minutes Later: The Dining Hall
"WHO IN THE WORLD IS THIS?!" Magna practically yelled as Asta entered the room with Aithusa behind him. Since she didn't have any clothes of her own he'd given her one of his white tunics and underwear. The unfortunate downside to this was his outfits were sized to his muscular frame, meaning it looked like the much skinnier dragon girl was wearing a sack.
"Calm down everyone," Asta held up his hands in a placating gesture as his squad tried bombarding him with questions, "this is Aithusa."
"That can't be, Aithusa is a dragon," Noelle pointed out.
"A star dragon," the anti-magic boy reminded, "it turns out that such dragons can take human form. Now go slow with her and try not to barrage her with too many questions, her vocabulary isn't very large yet and she can't really explain how she's able to shift into human form yet." Another loud rumble drew everyone's attention.
"Sorry," Aithusa apologized sheepishly, "I haven't had my breakfast yet. Is it okay if I eat in here today?"
"SO ADORABLE!" Several of the members almost fell over from the cute display.
"Don't worry about that," Charmy summoned her sheep who proceeded to cook a meal with their usual incredible speed, "an empty stomach is something I can definitely fix!" Aithusa's eyes widened in happiness and wonder as she looked at the meal before her after taking a seat at the table.
"Now Aithusa," Asta began, "when you're eating at the table-." He never got the chance to finish as the dragon girl began grabbing and scarfing down the meal in rapid succession. "Use some cutlery." This too would go unanswered as she continued to gorge on the food.
"I suppose we were expecting a bit much for her to be able to use utensils right from the start," Megicula admitted.
"I personally had no idea she'd develop like this at all, or so fast," the ashen-haired boy thought back, "is it normal for star dragons to develop this quickly?"
"No," the demoness shook her head, "under normal circumstances it should take years to reach this point. What we're seeing right now is the result of an excessively prolonged incubation period and other factors that I can't yet put my finger on."
"Guess it's another mystery we'll need to figure out," Asta sighed before wordlessly cleaning Aithusa's now very dirty face.
Later: The Capital City
"Woooooow," Aithusa had stars in her eyes as she looked at the capital in wonder, "so many buildings and so many people!" The dragon girl was now dressed in one of Charmy's outfits, which fit her frame much better, and a hat meant to cover her horns.
"It is quite impressive," Asta admitted as they walked along the street, "I was blown away the first time too since all I'd seen up to that point was Hage Village."
"I had no idea so many buildings could be in one place, and there are some way bigger than the Black Bull's base!" The hatchling spun around in awe as they walked, not seeming to know what she should focus on.
"Stick close," he told her, "We didn't just come here to see the sights."
"Why are we here, dad," Aithusa looked at him questioningly.
"We're looking for special clothing," Asta explained, "you remember you ripped that pair you had after transforming back into a dragon, right?"
"But you found me more clothes, right," she reminded.
"For now," the Black Bull member held up a finger, "but if we keep having to replace your clothes every time you transform it's going to get expensive, not to mention embarrassing for a lot of people. You might not care right now if everyone sees your bare body but I do, which is why we're going to find some clothes that won't tear when you transform."
"I guess if you say it's bad then I'll help out," Aithusa assured. And so their search began as they went from one vendor to the next, asking if they had enchanted clothes or thread which transformed when the user transforms. This is where they ran into something of a problem. While clothes with enchantments to make them tougher or hide mana signatures or even to remain clean under the most adverse of conditions did exist, clothes that transformed with the user were far less common because those who used transformation magic usually had no problem transforming their clothes along with their body.
With that plan proving to be a bust, the apparent father and daughter started going to shops looking for items that could be used for enchanting other items. They had some success upon discovering crystal balls capable of doing what they needed but ran into a metaphorical wall when they discovered just how expensive the orbs were. Even in the black market where such items were cheaper the price was still too high for them to pay with their current funds. Asta tried one last tactic by asking the various vendors if he could rent the crystal ball instead of outright buying it but was turned down at every turn saying that buying was his only option.
"This is turning out to be harder than I thought," the ashen-haired boy mused as he and Aithusa took a break and had some lunch, "I never imagined this type of outfit would be so niche."
"We do still have one plan to implement," Megicula reminded, "it'll be a little more work but at this point it's probably our only option."
Some Time Later: The Forest Outside the Capital
Asta and Aithusa walked into the forest, the former of which held a box containing several spools of threads he'd purchased from a tailor. "Alright, this should be far enough," Megicula appeared once they reached a clearing, "set the box down and we'll get to work." The duo nodded before doing as instructed. Megicula used her magical energy then to summon a small ball of mana in the air. "Aithusa, you should have basic mana control so go ahead and infuse your mana into this sphere."
"I'll try my best, mama," she nodded before putting her hands on the floating construct.
"No need to be in a hurry," the winged woman assured, "we just need enough mana to infuse all of the strings with magical energy."
"And this orb acts as the catalyst, right," Asta asked.
"Correct," Megicula nodded, "not only will this toughen the threads, it will allow them to act as an extension of her own body. Even before we finish our little project her outfits will be able to be repaired with just a simple application of her mana, but only her mana."
"Be sure to remember that," the anti-magic user patted the dragon girl's head, "I'm good with a needle and thread but not that good."
"I will, papa," Aithusa nodded before focusing more on putting her mana into the sphere.
An Hour Later: Tailor's Shop
"Oh, welcome back," the blonde-haired lady who ran the shop greeted, "are you here to return the thread?"
"Not exactly," Asta informed, "I'd actually like you to sew some outfits for my daughter here."
"Hello," Aithusa greeted with a smile.
"Really!" The Seamstress cheered, "Then come right this way. We have a wonderful selection of things that would look adorable on you!" 'I'm already fearing what's going to happen if she gains a more adult form,' Asta sighed internally. It would wind up taking two hours to select the fabric and accessories along with taking Aithusa's measurements. Then, when the seamstress was about to begin, he stopped her and told her to use the magic infused thread they'd prepared for this particular project. After that, the duo was informed the order would be ready in two days.
Two Days Later
Aithusa ran around happily in her new clothes which included a burgundy undershirt with light red patterns tucked into the back with a black belt that possessed a silver buckle. On top of all of that she wore a dark blue jacket with long sleeves. Her pants were baggy and dark grey along with brown shoes that were decorated with purple accents. The rest of the clothes were given to Asta who stored them in a bag.
"Thank you both again for your business," the seamstress smiled despite the dark circles under her eyes. She'd apparently been too excited to sleep while making the outfits.
"Of course," Asta nodded, "and thank you for your time."
"Don't mention it, I'm always happy to design outfits for adorable little ones like your daughter," the blond woman giggled, a further indication that she should probably get some sleep. "Please, stop by again if you need any more outfits."
"We will," the Black Bull member assured before turning to go, "alright Aithusa, time to head back."
"Thank you seamstress lady!" She called back while continuing to run around her dad as they headed home. Thanks to Finral's help it took them no time at all to return to the Black Bull headquarters where they intended to put the final touches on the outfits.
"Grey," Asta got the large transformed individual's attention, "do you think you could enchant these outfits?" The answer he received was the usual odd growling from the transformation magic user, but he'd learned how to interpret it at this point. "Thanks, we owe you one." It was a little difficult to get Aithusa to hold still but once she did Grey held out a hand and began imbuing the outfit with some of his own magic.
Shortly after that, the trio went outside for the crucial test. Aithusa transformed back into a dragon. It looked good so far with no sounds of tearing. What confirmed it was when she changed back and still had the clothes on with no tears or signs of wear. "It works flawlessly," Asta smiled, "thanks Grey, now let's enchant the rest of these and call it a day." His large friend growled in agreement.
Two Weeks Later: Black Bull's Headquarters
On the roof of the Black Bull's headquarters sat Finral Roulacase with an oddly contemplative expression on his face. The reason being was because a very serious, to him, matter had come up and he was trying to figure out what to do about it. 'I need two more people,' he mused, 'Asta's got a calm demeanor and won't be likely to freak out so he's a must, but who else should I bring?' It was a difficult decision because they weren't going into battle, but to a Mixer.
Now a Mixer was sort of like a blind date but for multiple people. It was a dinner for men and women to meet each other and hopefully get to know one another better. Finral had succeeded in inviting three women and now he needed two guys to accompany him. Problem was, most of the guys in the Black Bulls were crazy. Magna was something of an acquired taste, Gauche would kill the mood with his sister obsession, Gordon spoke too quietly, Grey didn't speak at all, and Captain Yami was Captain Yami assuming he didn't spend the majority of the time destroying the restaurant's toilet.
This, unfortunately, left only one option. "A Mixer," Luck repeated while punching into a tree, "okay! Just one question, though." He turned to Finral, "what's a Mixer?" 'This is gonna be great,' the spatial magic user sweat-dropped. After that came the next part which turned out to be a little harder than he thought.
"No," Asta answered simply after hearing his explanation. Finral had caught him in the library making some sketches, "I've got a couple of projects planned this evening like mixing herbs and giving Aithusa more schooling."
"Aw come on!" The spatial user cried, "You got to take your opportunities when you can get 'em! It's not every day something like this comes up and just think about it; if everything goes well you could be meeting your future wife tonight."
"I'm fifteen years old, Finral," the anti-magic user reminded, "I'm still navigating the complexities of my first job, never mind a relationship." 'And I'm basically already in one anyway,' he thought to himself.
"But you're super mature for your age," he pointed out, "and one of the only other guys in this squad who isn't insane to one degree or another. I'm already gonna have a hard time managing Luck so please, help a guy out!" Asta rolled his eyes before cleaning off his picture and closing his sketchbook.
"Fine," the magic knight sighed, "mixing the herbs can wait one night and I can get Charmy to teach Aithusa some more words. They'll all be food-related but it's better than nothing."
"You're the best!" Finral shook his hand, "I promise you this won't be a night you'll regret!"
"Just to be clear, I'm only going because you've got a problem," Asta clarified. 'I've got no intention of pursuing any kind of romance.' Truthfully he could've said this last part out loud because at this point his squad mate was too busy cheering and not listening anyway.
That Evening: The Common Realm Town of Nean
While certainly not as fancy or sporting as large of buildings as the Noble Realm, the Common Realm still had many villages and towns with a fairly nice standard of living. In this case, Nean was covered in buildings of various sizes, many of which possessed pointed red roofs. Asta found himself wondering for a moment when Finral would've gotten around to visiting this place but quickly dismissed the thought when he remembered what a shameless womanizer the man was. 'So shameless he'd set up a mixer just for the chance at a date,' he mused as they entered a large tavern which was appropriately named 'The Dreavy Hinker'.
'I imagine that's going to be describing someone tonight,' Asta tried not to snort at the thought while looking around. The place was packed with numerous rectangular tables with barrels sitting by the columns. The waitresses, dressed in orange and black striped maid outfits, hurried back and forth, the numerous customers keeping them busy but not overwhelmed. Asta and the others found themselves at a six person table with food and drinks, sitting across from three women, or rather two at the moment.
The first woman had blond hair tied in a hidden bun and a blue dress while the second girl had black hair and a pink dress. The third girl was currently in the bathroom and they were waiting on her before they began introductions. While he waited, Asta took the occasional sip of his drink until a voice interrupted him. "May I join you," he heard.
The ashen-haired boy was about to reply out loud before he realized the question had been in his head. "What did you have in mind Megi-," he froze upon turning to look at her. The demoness had changed out of her usual black dress and was now wearing a cotton jersey shirt with short sleeves, an unbuttoned black leather jacket over it, cotton denim grey pants made in a twill weave reinforced with copper rivets, and matching sports shoes with rubber soles. She also had several decorations on her horns and the pants naturally had a hole for her tail.
Asta practically spat out his drink and only just managed to do it discreetly, or at least he thought he'd been discrete. "You alright, Asta," Finral asked.
"Yeah," he coughed a little, "just went down the wrong pipe." Megicula giggled at the sight.
"It's been a little bit since I surprised you," she mused, "I happened to overhear Finral planning this little get-together and when you said yes I thought I'd tag along in something more comfortable."
"You do look beautiful in it," Asta admitted after getting over his shock. The compliment made Megicula's pointed ears twitch as she thanked him for saying so. Then she sat down on what the demoness considered the place of honor: Asta's lap. He discretely put his left hand around her waist as she did so.
"I get the feeling this is going to be an entertaining night," the winged woman smiled deviously. It was about this time that a red-haired woman in a red dress approached their table and sat down in front of Asta. This was the one they'd been waiting for.
"Alright," Finral began, "now that everyone's here we can begin, I'll go first." He produced a portal and reached in before pulling out three sets of purple flowers, "My name is Finral Roulacase! Twenty-one-year-old spatial magic user from Touda and a member of the Black Bulls! Have a freshly picked Moon Blossom as a symbol of our acquaintance." He gave the flowers to each girl.
This seemed to impress two of them but not the redheaded girl. 'Those are rare flowers that only bloom at night,' Asta recalled, 'but he really is trying too hard. Wonder what happened in the past to make him this desperate? Regardless, it often does more harm than good in situations like these.'
He continued to watch in silence as Luck introduced himself next. "My name's Luck Voltia," he greeted," eighteen years old, from Ibon and also a member of the Black Bulls. My favorite thing is life-or-death battles against super strong opponents. The bloodier the better, I say, and my motto is 'do or die'!"
Naturally the blond was excited to talk about this subject to the point that some lightning leaked from his body and fried the meat on one of the plates. Amazingly the three women kept their composure despite the electricity jumping all over the place. Asta might've made his own observations about Luck's speech except Megicula had begun playfully running her nails along his left arm while also leaning into him more. The motions were enough to cause pleasant shivers to run through his body while also disrupting his thoughts.
"My name's Asta," he managed to refocus in time, "fifteen years old and from Hage Village. Just like my two squad mates here, I too am a member of the Black Bulls." The ashen-haired boy knew this wasn't the most exciting line nor did he really care. Still, he could tell the three ladies had formed a less-than-flattering opinion of him and Luck.
Finral also noticed this and quickly suggested the ladies introduce themselves next. "Well I'm not quite sure what to say," The dark-haired girl began, "we're all friends. My name is Erika and I work for a dressmaker."
"I'm Helene," the blond girl introduced, "and I work at a barbershop."
"Rebecca," the redhead introduced plainly, clearly the least interested out of all of them, "I work at a restaurant." Finral quickly found they didn't want to discuss their work all that much and instead came up with another idea.
"Hey, would you ladies like to hear what our work is like as magic knights," he offered. The girls all perked up at this, save for Rebecca. "Well as a spatial magic user I get to travel to all kinds of different places."
"What places," Megicula scoffed, "you spend all your time sending Captain Yami to the toilet because he doesn't like relearning the layout of the base when it shifts. Honestly your current abilities with spatial magic are pathetic, you could do so much more if you tried gaining a deeper understanding of your power and how to utilize it."
"Try to be a little fair," Asta thought to her, "you said yourself that our current civilization isn't at the level of fully understanding spatial magic, remember?"
"He can improve his abilities is all I'm saying," the demoness crossed her arms haughtily, "look at him right now, he's trying to think of a time he wasn't sending Yami somewhere." This did indeed seem to be the case as the senior magic knight struggled with what to say.
"Hey Luck," Finral finally decided to redirect the conversation, "You heard the ladies, tell them about your work."
"My work," the Smiling Berserker asked in confusion, "well let me think. Oh, I was fighting these bandits the other day. Talk about a bloodbath, I could've just killed them but I decided to be nice and let 'em go with a few bones still intact." For obvious reasons this was not helping the lady's lack of interest. "Then there was this other time I was fighting this really strong mage-."
"That's great, Luck," Finral covered his mouth, "now aren't you getting hungry? Besides I think we should let Asta talk now. Why don't you tell them how you defended the royal capital?"
"You mean the attack that happened the other day," Helene asked, "I heard that was super scary!"
"It was," Asta confirmed grimly with a nod, "I'm afraid it's not a story any of you would like. A lot of people got hurt that day including one of the finest captains of the magic knights. If you thought Luck's story was gruesome, this one is far worse." 'These guys are useless!' Finral thought in defeat, 'what in the world was I thinking, none of my squad mates are Mixer material!'
Naturally Megicula found this all amusing enough, but another source of entertainment cropped up when she noticed Sekke Bronzazza of all people was also in the restaurant. As per the usual he was lying. "I was guarding a VIP at the capital during that attack the other day," he falsely claimed, "took out quite a few enemies myself. I didn't expect to get a promotion just for doing my duty but they insisted."
Somehow he'd also gotten a couple of his friends together for a Mixer of his own with three other girls, all of whom looked like they'd rather be somewhere else right now. 'What in the world's going on,' the demoness mused, 'is today some kind of holiday? What's with all the Mixers?' And speaking of odd occurrences, Noelle had somehow managed to follow them, sneak into the restaurant and disguise herself as one of the waitresses?
Though she wasn't doing the greatest job of staying hidden. When Sekke Bronzazza demanded she fetch him another drink, Noelle blasted him with water, an act which made Megicula burst out laughing. 'At least we can't say tonight's not fun.' Her attention focused back on the Mixer then as Helene was demonstrating the magic she used for cutting hair.
She created a glowing green pair of scissors and easily snipped off a strand of her own blond locks. It wasn't awe-inspiringly powerful or anything but even Megicula had to admit a certain degree of control was definitely required. Luck seemed to agree as he complimented it. Oddly enough this made Helene a bit more interested as she noted how genuine the smiling knight was and before anyone knew it, they were heading out front so that Luck could safely show her his magic.
Finral was also able to salvage his part a little bit and offered to take Erika to the veranda, which she surprisingly accepted. This left Asta and Rebecca sitting at the table, an admittedly awkward situation considering she couldn't see Megicula. The setup made the winged woman continue to chuckle. "This whole thing is like a sitcom," she giggled.
"Be nice," Asta chided lightly before focusing his attention fully on Rebecca. "So, how are your siblings doing?"
"Wha," this got her full attention, "how did you know I have siblings?"
"Finral actually hit on you a while back," the ashen-haired boy recalled, "you were with all of your siblings at the time. Three little brothers and two sisters if I remember the count correctly."
"That's right," Rebecca nodded, "I've actually been worrying about them this whole time. Getting dressed up like this and going out was Erika's idea, she says it'd be easier if I had a man to help take care of my siblings."
"I understand that kind of worry," Asta admitted, "I have five others that I call family. We're not related by blood but we all grew up in the same place. Most of them are rascals but now that I'm here I miss 'em and I wonder what they're getting up to these days. We used to sleep packed together like sardines but now that I've got my own room it's oddly lonely."
"I know what you mean," the redheaded girl leaned forward, "they can be an absolute pain but you miss them when they're gone."
"They keep you in line in a weird way too," the anti-magic user pointed out, "you always try to be your best when you're around them."
"It's really true and it's so weird," Rebecca laughed. As Noelle watched this exchange from a distance, unbelieving that the two seemed to be getting along, she broke the plate she was holding. Megicula laughed to herself at the sight. Unfortunately, the nice moment was ruined by a rather large, clearly intoxicated, man approaching.
"You're a runty thing," he commented upon seeing Asta, "and they let you into the magic knights? Must not be too hard, maybe I should give it a try."
"Go right ahead," Asta shrugged, "at your current level you might make it a solid minute on a broom before losing control."
"What was that," the drunk asked before catching sight of Rebecca, "hey wait a minute, don't I know you from somewhere? Oh yeah, you work at that restaurant with a kid strapped to your back, surrounded by a bunch of brats. What happened, your man-huh?" He reached up and felt his face, noting that his mustache and beard were gone.
"Sir, as a professional I'm obligated to give you at least one warning," the magic knight lowered his hand which had burst with a precision controlled use of anti-magic, "turn around and leave right now, or they'll be carrying you out."
"You think that scares me," the drunk raised his fist. But his movement was as slow as a snail compared to Asta who swung his leg in a semicircular motion, hitting his opponent's upper body and sending him flying across the room where he landed on Sekke Bronzazza and his friends while also crushing the table they were at. Naturally he was unconscious by this point while the girls at that table wisely decided to leave. When the manager came out to see what all the commotion was, Rebecca grabbed Asta's arm and quickly led them out of the restaurant before he could offer to pay for the damages.
Noelle quickly followed after them and stopped to peer down the alley they'd cut through. It was there she saw the two of them, though not Megicula leaning against the wall. "You were really great back there," Rebecca complimented once she caught her breath, "thank you."
"Don't worry about it, just part of the job," Asta shrugged, "I am sorry that little scene probably ruined the night for you."
"It didn't, don't worry," the girl's face turned as red as her hair for a moment, "hey, Asta. Do you have anyone special to you?"
"I do," he confirmed with a nod, "she's a wonderful woman and I'm incredibly lucky she chose to be in my life."
"I see," Rebecca took it in stride, "then I'm rooting for you. Also, you should come over some time, I think the kids would like you."
"I'll give her credit for being a little persistent," Megicula purred while leaning on Asta's left arm, "and by the way, I'm happy to have you in my life, Asta." He didn't need to say anything, she could sense the way he felt in her soul. Noelle, on the other hand, had a bit of a different interpretation.
"Wonderful woman," she held her blushing face, "as in he thinks that girl's a wonderful woman? Not that I care, why would I, it doesn't matter to me, not one bit!" Alas, it would be a night of denial for all of them as Finral was also rejected and Luck, well, he still had no idea what the point of the Mixer was to begin with.
Once again happy belated Valentine's day everyone! Hope you all got the chance to celebrate it to one degree or another and if not, then hopefully this little chapter gave you some entertainment. And as always feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters! And see about swinging by my Pat reon and looking into becoming a patron or purchasing a post! Last thing, stop in next time as our heroes take on their next official, or would it be unofficial, mission! 'Til then