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*****
"A mission? Now that's rare."
A look of mild surprise crossed George's face. The Black Bulls received very few formal requests. Unless the Wizard King personally assigned them a task, most clients preferred the prestigious top eight squads over the "troublemakers."
Consequently, not just the rookies, but even the senior members spent most of their time idling. This lack of oversight was exactly why George had chosen this squad in the first place.
"The Captain spent last night gambling and lost everything—including his pants. He came back bare-assed this morning. This mission is purely to pay off his gambling debts!" Noelle, her silver hair shimmering, gritted her teeth in frustration.
Since she was required to participate, she was starting to seriously question if joining the Black Bulls had been a mistake. The Captain was beyond unreliable.
"Sounds exactly like something Captain Yami would do," George chuckled. "After all, the only reason I'm in this squad is because I cleaned him out at the casino."
"No way!" Asta and Noelle's eyes nearly popped out of their heads. They had assumed George was scouted early because of his exceptional support magic.
"What exactly is the task?" Lumiere asked.
This mission was to be led by Magna, serving as the field commander for the new recruits. As such, Lumiere and Secre were expected to participate as well.
"Helping Saussy Village deal with a rampage of wild Flare Boars," Magna explained, walking over while wielding his customized flame-shrouded broom. "The old man's gambling luck is truly abysmal. If I'd known, I would've brought George along to win the money back instead."
"Saussy Village." George paused. That was the birthplace of this body's original owner, Nokia. Since joining the squad, he had written home under Nokia's name to report his safety and had sent a portion of his pay back to the parents.
"Perfect. It's about time I paid them a visit." Since he was inhabiting the body, he felt a lingering obligation to fulfill the role of the son. As for Flare Boars, they weren't particularly powerful magical beasts; Asta could likely handle them solo.
Ever since George had helped Asta establish a deeper connection with Liebe inside the five-leaf grimoire, Asta had become proficient in cycling through his three swords during combat.
"Let's move. It'll take half a day to fly there," Magna said, mounting his modified broom.
However, Asta and Noelle both shook their heads in unison. "We can't fly on brooms." One had no mana to power the flight, and the other had such poor control that her flight path was more dangerous than walking.
"Then hop on behind me!" Magna shifted forward, leaving space on the back. He then looked at George and the others. "You three are fine on your own, right?"
George had exquisite control, and Lumi and Re seemed capable enough. If everyone piled onto Magna's broom, it simply wouldn't take off.
"Don't worry about it. Finral hasn't been to Saussy, but I have," George said with a smile, opening his grimoire. "Way of the Fallen Angel."
A spatial portal, identical to Finral's signature magic, manifested before the group.
"What?!" Magna, Noelle, and Asta cried out in shock. They knew George enjoyed studying their grimoires and giving advice, but they hadn't realized he could actually replicate their specific spells.
"You know I specialize in support magic," George explained smoothly. "Finral's magic is a support type, so I've been researching it lately."
Asta nodded, accepting the explanation easily. He lacked common sense regarding magic; if George could help him figure out his swords, learning Finral's magic didn't seem too far-fetched.
Magna and Noelle, however, were stunned. Magna had been a Knight for years, and Noelle was royalty. They knew mages could create new spells within their own attribute—a Water mage could make water guns or water dragons—but they couldn't just switch to Fire or Space unless they possessed dual attributes. Dual attributes were legendary, reserved for the "genius among geniuses" or those at the Wizard King's level who had researched secondary elements over decades.
George had previously used recovery-type spells. Now he was using high-level spatial magic. Was he truly a natural dual-attribute genius?
"Let's go. My mana pool is small; I can't keep this open as long as Finral," George said, leading the way through the portal.
The others snapped out of it and followed. They reminded themselves that while George was versatile, his low mana reserves were his "weakness."
"Nokia!"
A woman washing clothes at a doorstep froze as George appeared. She stood up, trembling, and pulled him into a fierce hug. "You child! How could you sneak off to the exams? It was so dangerous..."
Though her son had actually succeeded, the fear of him traveling to the capital alone had terrified her. George didn't pull away; he listened patiently to her fussing before gently explaining he was on official duty. He led his teammates toward the village chief's house.
Nokia had been one of four children. His father and siblings were currently working in the fields. In the Forsaken Realm, children grew up fast; most worked by age ten. Nokia's drive to become a Knight was born from a desire to escape a life of manual labor—a dream that had unfortunately ended in his death on the road.
George didn't judge the boy's ambition. Life was a gamble; one could either settle or strive. If Nokia had been luckier, his healing magic might have indeed changed his family's destiny.
The group located Chief Seyhe, but before they could ask about the Flare Boars, a thick, unnatural mist suddenly blanketed the entire village.
"A large-scale magical barrier. Someone is trying to blockade the village," Lumiere observed instantly. This wasn't weather; it was a ritual.
"Could it be mages from the Diamond Kingdom?" Magna wondered aloud. The Diamond Kingdom was a resource-poor, aggressive nation known for its "Magic Scholars" who performed horrific experiments. Their grimoires featured diamonds instead of clovers, and they frequently raided the borders of the resource-rich Clover Kingdom.
"We'll know soon enough," George said. He could feel an invisible force within the mist, nudging the villagers toward the central plaza. His mental sense swept the village.
There were four attackers. Three were roughly at Magna's level; they were the ones maintaining the mist. The fourth was the leader, possessing significantly higher mana, though still nowhere near the level of a Captain like Yami.
George calculated that Asta, Noelle, and Magna could handle it if they worked together. Not to mention the "heavy hitters," Lumiere and Secre, who were hiding their strength. If the Diamond Kingdom really were invading, Lumiere could likely solo their entire military.
"Don't worry, Chief! No matter who it is, we won't let them hurt the villagers!" Magna pounded his chest, leading the group toward the plaza with confidence born from years of brawling with Luck. And if things got dire, he knew George could just open a portal back to HQ for backup.
At the plaza, George saw the villagers huddled together, including his "parents" and siblings.
"Everyone stay calm! Gather around me! The Magic Knights are here to protect us!" Chief Seyhe shouted. His authority in the village quickly soothed the panic. Magna's team formed a line in front of the crowd.
"Isn't that Magna? The delinquent from the next village over? He actually became a Knight!"
"And Nokia! He made it too! I thought his father was bragging, but look at him!"
The villagers whispered excitedly. Nokia's family beamed with pride. To these commoners, joining the Knights was like a farm boy getting into the top university in the world—a complete change in social standing.
"Hm? There are Magic Knights here? Our scouts were careless," a voice echoed. Four figures emerged from the mist, their grimoires hovering beside them.
"It's just the failures of the Black Bulls. Ignore them. Execute the villagers, find the Magic Stone, and let's go!" The leader spoke dismissively. To them, the Black Bulls were the bottom of the barrel. Aside from Yami, the squad was considered irrelevant. Since the group before them consisted mostly of new faces, they viewed them as slightly larger ants.
"Mist Magic: Phantom Vortex!" The three subordinates raised their hands, and the mist coalesced into giant hands reaching for George's group.
"George, Re, Noelle—protect the villagers with the Chief! Asta, Lumi, with me!" Magna barked, assuming command. He figured George (support), Re (sealing), and Noelle (uncontrollable mana) would be a liability in the vanguard. Better to have them on defense.
"Flame Magic: Exploding Fireball Scatter-Shot!" Magna's grimoire glowed as dozens of fireballs intercepted the mist hands, vaporizing them.
Asta, despite his lack of "smarts," possessed a predatory battle instinct. At Magna's command, he charged directly at the leader.
"That someone with such low mana can join the Knights... this kingdom truly is rotting," the leader remarked, checking a pocket watch before flipping his grimoire. "Ice Magic: Frigid Execution!"
Countless ice spears formed in the air, raining down on Asta, Magna, and Lumiere.
"Light Wing!" Lumiere conjured an equal number of light arrows. Instead of meeting the spears head-on, he aimed precisely at the base of each spear, expertly knocking them off course.
To hide his true identity, he didn't shatter the ice; he used the minimum amount of mana and superior control to deflect the attack.
"What?" The leader frowned, annoyed by the clever defense. He decided to end it. "Let's see you deflect this!" A massive sphere of ice formed, hurtling forward with crushing wind pressure.
"Hah!" Asta leapt into the air, bringing the Demon-Slayer Sword down in a vertical cleave. The ice sphere vanished instantly upon contact. No matter how powerful the spell, it was nothing before Anti-Magic.
"Impossible!" The leader's eyes narrowed. Before he could cast again, Asta's massive black blade was inches from his head.
"We won't let you touch Lord Heath!" The three subordinates tried to intercept Asta with grey mist, but Magna's fireballs blew them back.
"Ice Magic: Glacial Blossom!" Just as the blade was about to hit, Heath smirked. "The weak are still weak." A giant ice flower bloomed from his body, striking Asta before the sword could land and sending him flying back.
George, watching from the sidelines, turned to the worried Noelle. "Your mana is much stronger than that man's. Do you want to help?"
"But my control is terrible," Noelle hesitated. "I'll just hit our own people."
"You don't have bad control, Noelle. You just lack confidence," George said softly, his voice carrying a strange, persuasive weight. "Believe in yourself. This time, you will control it. You will land a perfect strike."
He was utilizing his Authority as a "Spectator." He had long ago realized that Noelle's magical failures weren't biological; they were a psychological block born from years of verbal abuse.
Under George's subtle psychological intervention, Noelle's eyes cleared. Her mana began to stabilize. A massive, swirling sphere of water began to form in front of her—denser and more powerful than any of Heath's ice.
(End of Chapter)