2 hours had passed since you had arrived back at headquarters and passed out. It was now 10 AM.
Your eyes slowly begin to open. You look around for a while, observing your surroundings, then sit up on the bed you were laying on.
"Where am I?", you ask yourself, "what happened?"
You suddenly remember exactly what had happened. Daisy had made you jog to the capital and back with her on your back.
You quickly check your body for injuries, and to your surprise - there weren't any.
"Maybe that was all a dream", you say to yourself, "one hell of a dream."
You stand up from the bed, feeling much lighter than usual, as if removing something off your back. Were you hallucinating or something. Everything just felt off.
Selena, another of your squad mates, walks into the room with a clipboard and a piece of paper and says, "Ah, I see you've finally woken up Y/N."
You nod as you come to the realisation that it wasn't a dream.
"So Y/N, how are you feeling?", Selena asks.
"I'm feeling alright", you reply. "If anything, I feel even better than before."
As you say this, Daisy enters the room, yawning, and says, "I bet you didn't think my training would be as beneficial as it was."
You look at her with a confused expression, then begin to jump around, shaking every part of your body, and you certainly felt a lot lighter. Your arms somehow felt easier to use as if they weren't already easy to use. Your legs felt stronger and more powerful than ever, which made it feel like you were walking on clouds. This truly was amazing.
"Teehee", Daisy says with smile, "how does your first step to becoming a legendary swordsman feel?"
"Are you sure that you're the reason I feel like this?", you ask, ignoring her question.
"O-of course I am!", Daisy replies, looking upset.
"Surely not", you say in disbelief, looking over at Selena. "It must have been your help Selena, right?"
Selena shakes her head, telling you that all she did was heal you using some potions. You look back at Daisy who still looks upset. You give her a pat on the head and thank her.
"Your not mad?", she asks.
"Why would I be?", you reply.
"I just thought all the hard work I put you through would make you angry", she says.
"Don't forget all the mental and physical abuse too", you add.
Daisy looks away and begins to whistle awkwardly. Selena giggles at this, then says, "Well if everything's ok Y/N, I guess I'll be leaving for my mission."
Both you and Daisy wave as she leaves the room and gets prepared for her mission. As soon as she leaves, Sol rushes into the room.
"Y-Y/N, is everything alright?", she asks.
"Yeah, it's all good", you reply. It felt as if you hadn't spoken with her for ages now.
Sol let out a huge sigh of relief, happy that you're ok. She then spots Daisy in the room and asks her what she was doing here. Daisy smiles then puts her arm around you.
"Just had to make sure my dear student was doing alright", she replies. "Isn't that right Y/N?"
Sol looks at you two, clearly jealous, before she hears a voice say, "Come on Sol, we have to get going already!" It turns out that Sol has a mission with Selena.
"I'll be there in a sec!", Sol replies. She looks back at you and says that she'll see you later. She quickly exits the room, then leaves for her mission with Selena.
Silence engulfs the room. You sit there awkwardly waiting for something to happen. You look over at Daisy who quickly returns the look back.
The silence is soon broken by Daisy who asks, "Just how long are you planning on sitting there without a top on?"
"Oh my bad", you reply, "I didn't know that some members of this squad still acted like little kids."
Daisy didn't know how to reply to that, and instead, just folded her arms.
"If your free later today, we could continue your tr-"
"Ah, there you are Y/N", Charlotte says as she walks into the room.
"Did you need me for something, captain?", you ask.
"Yes I do", she replies. "You haven't been on a mission yet, have you?"
"No I haven't yet", you say.
"Well good", she replies. "I have a mission I'll be taking, and I could do with a pair of extra hands."
"I'd be happy to help", you answer, "but what exactly will we be doing?"
"We'll be liberating a village from a small army who is taking advantage of it's people. We've also been told that the village's former leader was taken hostage by the army, so we will also try to find and free him too, if possible", Charlotte explains.
"I see", you reply.
"This mission will help me get a good indication of where you're at right now, and if successful, will also make for a good start to your track record, as well as giving you a good first impression to others as a new magic knight."
You absorb all the information and do the magic knights salute.
"We'll be leaving in 10 minutes, so get ready and meet me at the front of the building", Charlotte says as she leaves the room.
"Good luck", Daisy says, patting you on your shoulder.
Your turn around to face her, then thank her once again. You quickly leave the room and head to your bedroom, quickly getting dressed. You place your picture book inside your garment; and put a belt on, attaching your sword onto the side.
You make your way downstairs, and meet up with Charlotte. She picks up a random broom and puts it in between her legs, ushering you to do the same. It was awkward, but you did it nonetheless.
"Hold on tight", she says.
Where should you hold? Her waist? Her shoulders? Or even her br-. You quickly erase all impure thoughts from your mind, you weren't that type of person. You eventually decide to hold her waist.
The broom begins to levitate off the ground, then without warning, zooms off into the sky.
Both you and Charlotte are now flying pretty high up in the sky. You look down and see Clover Capital which had only taken a few minutes to get to. You watch in awe as the two of you quickly zoom pass the Capital.
"Are all brooms this fast?", you ask.
"It depends on the strength of your magic", Charlotte replies. "Someone like the Wizard King would have a broom much faster than mine."
"Ah, I see", you say. "Does that mean that you have to have magic to fly on a broom?"
Charlotte chuckles at your question and says, "There isn't a person in this world who doesn't have magic, so of course you would need it to fly a broom."
You sigh in disappointment, and Charlotte see this.
"Cheer up kid", she says, "I'm not supposed to tell anyone this, but we're currently working on different ways to fly a broom - for people who have very weak magic."
Your eyes light up in excitement.
"But, how's that possible", you ask.
Charlotte smiles at how eager you are then says, "Captain Yami says it'll use something called ki, a natural energy and life force that we all possess."
Your eyes light up even more, excited at the fact that you may actually be able to fly a broom on your own.
"Aren't you getting a little too excited? I mean, using your own life just to fly a broom seems a little dangerous, don't you think?", Charlotte asks.
"Not at all", you reply.
"I'm sure if you tried hard enough, you could fly a broom using magic", Charlotte says.
"Maybe", you reply. "But if I really had magic, wouldn't I have received my grimoire already?"
"What was that?", Charlotte asks. She couldn't hear you properly due to the wind.
"Oh it's nothing important", you reply.
Maybe you really didn't have magic at all, like Asta. But if you didn't, what did you have? You could somehow breathe fire.
About 15 minutes pass, and it seemed like you and Charlotte were finally reaching your destination.
"We're about to land!", Charlotte says. "Hold on tight!"
You wrap your arms around Charlotte's waist and brace for landing.
The two of you land and take a look around.
A horrible aroma began to attack your nostrils. You start coughing at how bad it was, then look over at Charlotte who didn't seem to be affected by the smell at all.
"Is your nose blocked or something?", you ask. "Can't you smell that?"
"I can", Charlotte replies. "When you've been a magic knight for as long as I have, you learn to get used to these things".
"Used to this?", you say to yourself. "I could never."
Charlotte walks towards the centre of the village, and instructs you to follow her.
As the two of you arrive at the centre, you notice one large, expensive looking mansion towards the North edge of the village. It stood out among all the other buildings in the area, which was clearly a bad sign.
"Captain, look at that", you say, pointing at the building.
Charlotte looks towards the mansion, gritting her teeth. She couldn't believe how corrupted this village was.
"Y/N, can I trust you to go inspect that mansion while I look around the village?", Charlotte asks.
You gulp. This was gonna be your first assignment on your first mission. You had to make sure you did a good job.
"Yes captain!", you say while saluting.
Charlotte smiles, then gives you permission to use force if necessary.
You start walking towards the mansion. Your mind was clouded with questions.
"How much force is necessary? What should I do when I get there? How should I inspect the place? Do I just ask them to let me inspect? Would they even let me inspect?"
Before you knew it, you had arrived at the front gates of the mansion. You press a button on the gate which rings a bell and wait.
"What do you want, we're not giving out any more rations today. Get Lost!", a menacing voice says from the speaker next to the button.
"Erm", you reply. "I'm not here for food."
"Then what do you want?", the voice replies.
What did you want? What should say? You began to think of something to say until you were suddenly interrupted by that voice again.
"Are you f*cking around with us", the voice asks. "Do you wanna die?"
"No er...", you reply. "I'm actually a visitor from another village."
"Hmph", the voice says, "wait there."
You heard a static click sound, then the front door of the mansion opened. A large man in armour, who was quite well built emerged from the building and began to walk towards the front of the gate where you were.
You then remember something Daisy told you: "When dealing with anyone who may be a potential enemy, you should never act weak or scared. If you do, they'll think your weak, and who knows what'll happen from there. Instead, act strong and confident. 9 times outta' 10, they'll be a little intimidated by you, and maybe even stop whatever they were planning."
You ask yourself why you're thinking of Daisy now out of all times. It wasn't bad advice, however. You clear your throat and put on a serious face.
The man arrives at the gate and asks you what you're doing in a village like this. You look up at him and flaunt your robe.
"A-a magic knight?", he says in shock.
The man takes a closer look at you, recognising the robe you are wearing.
"Oh I see", the man says. "You're one of those cosplayers, pretending to be a magic knight."
The man starts laughing, but you interrupt him and say, "I'm not pretending! I'm a real magic knight!"
He stops laughing, then looks back down at you with a menacing glare.
"The Blue Rose Knights only accept women, and you're here telling me that you're one of them?", the man says. "Don't make me laugh."
You begin to get frustrated and say, "I'm not joki-"
"I try to make it a rule not to hurt kids, but if you don't shut the hell up and leave, I will break that rule without hesitation", the man says angrily.
Damn he was scary, but you had to make sure you didn't look scared. You smirk at the man, which totally catches him off-guard.
He scratches his face and says, "My bad for being rude. I didn't realise how devoted you were to cosplaying. How 'bout I give you a tour of this mansion as an apology?"
This was clearly some sort of setup or trap and you knew it, but you accept the offer nonetheless.
The man opens the gates and leads you into the patio.
"Pretty neat, huh?", the man says.
You look around. It was 'pretty neat'.
"Let me show you inside", the man says with a sinister grin.
You nod as he leads you inside.
"I've been wondering", you say. "How comes this place seems so rich, while the rest of the village is visibly poor?"
The man laughs it off, telling you that the people here prefer to live that way - an obvious lie.
"Is that so?", you reply.
The man just laughs, as he continues to show you around the mansion.
"How's the leadership here?", you ask.
The man turns around to face you and asks, "What do you mean by that?"
"I was just wondering", you reply. "I heard that this village was thriving not so long ago until a small army seized control and kidnapped the leader."
"Don't you think your running your mouth too much?", the man replies.
You stay quiet as the two of you keep walking. Eventually, you meet a dead end.
"How much do you know?", the man asks.
You don't give him a reply, and instead, grasp the handle of your sword.
"Don't move!", you say.
"Too late!", the man replies, pressing a button on the wall.
In an instant, the floor beneath you opens up, and you are sent falling. *THUD*. You land on your back, causing you to grunt in pain. You look around, but can't see anything as there are no lights. Some time passes until you here a voice shout, "Joe, you fool! Why did you let a magic knight in."
"I'm sorry", a voice replies. "When he said he was a magic knight, I thought he was lying because he was wearing a Blue Rose robe. I thought they only accepted g-".
"Be quiet!", the other voice says. "Are you stupid? Didn't you hear the news? They let a man into their squad."
The room suddenly illuminates with bright lights. You see two men approach you. One of them was the man who led you in - Joe, and the other was a lean looking man.
"Looks like we can't let you live, kiddo", the lean man says as he approaches you with a sword.
You stand up in pain. "Should I use my fire power", you ask yourself. You then remember what Sol said, how sometimes magic isn't a good choice to use in certain situations. You observe your surroundings and realise that if you use fire, you were surely going to choke on smoke and kill yourself. You scrap the idea of using fire and draw your sword.
"I'll give you guys one chance to surrender. I advise you be smart with your decision", you say.
"Hah! You hear him?", the slender man says to Joe. "It's a 2 v 1 kid, don't get too cocky."
You take a stance then think of a strategy. You were definitely faster and more nimble than these two, but the question was weather or not your sword would actually cut. You decided to trust the sword.
"Look at him", Joe says. "What's he thinking so hard for? Does he think he's playing chess or something?"
The two men laugh, as Joe also draws his sword. They both slowly make their way towards you, keeping their swords in front of them at all times.
Joe finally makes a move and lunges at you, thrusting his sword right towards your heart. You rotate your sword so that it's facing vertically downwards and block his attack.
The two of you struggle there for a while. You could tell he had killed many people before; his accuracy was insane, and one wrong move could wind you up dead.
Joe smiles as he looks to your rear left. You try to look for the other man, but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Where was he!?", you say to yourself in a panic.
...
"My rear left!"
You reduce the strength you're outputting, causing Joe to start overpowering you.
"3.. 2.. 1."
You jump over Joe then push off his back, causing him to stumble forwards. The lean man appears out of nowhere, swinging his sword where you were supposed to be and fatally missing. As Joe continues to stumble, he slashes the other man's right shoulder by accident, causing him to scream out in pain. Everything played out as you had planned.
The man fell to the floor clutching his shoulder in agony.
"D-damn you!", the man shrieked.
Joe dropped his sword and quickly tended to the man, frantically apologising for his foolishness.
You were happy that you didn't have to shed anyone's blood.
"You fool!", the man said, slapping Joe away from him. "How could you drop your weapon before the enemy."
Joe looks back at his sword and tries to grab it. Before he could do so, however, you kick his sword away, causing it to fall down some nearby stairs.
The man slams the floor in anger and starts to beat Joe in frustration. He eventually stopped then turned his attention towards you.
"Don't think for one moment that you're getting out of here alive!", the man screams.
You didn't want to kill anyone, so you decided that you were just gonna knock them out.
You begin to walk towards them with an evil smile in hopes of scaring them. You suddenly hear loud footsteps coming from the stairs.
Many men begin to march up the stairs, revealing a group of at least 40 people. They quickly surrounded you, all drawing different weapons (swords, spears, bows).
The man on the floor begins to cackle, screaming that you won't make it out of here alive.
You gulped as a sweat drop ran down your forehead.
"Attack!", the man on the floor screams before the soldiers rush towards you.
Charlotte's POV
Charlotte walks towards the nearest house and knocks on the door. An elderly man opens the curtains to see who it is and instantly recognises Charlotte. The door soon opens, revealing a family of 17 which all lived in this tiny house: 4 grandparents, 2 parents and 11 children. They all come rushing out with tears in their eyes. "We've been saved!", they all shout.
This alerts the rest of the village. Doors begin to open, revealing more large families cramped in tiny houses. They all recognise Charlotte as the Captain of the Blue Rose Knights and surround her, similar to how you were surrounded by the soldiers.
The villagers soon get on their knees, begging Charlotte to do something about the Rami Army, the army which seized control of the village.
Charlotte couldn't help but be saddened to see a village like this. She ushers everyone to stand back up, and tells them that one of her teammates has entered the Rami Army's base and is dealing with them as they speak.
"We've been saved!", the villagers cheer. "To think a magic knight captain would come down to this small village of ours and help us."
Charlotte clears her throat, and begins to ask questions.
After asking questions, she found out that the village didn't have any connections with the army before they arrived here 7 months ago. She also found out that their leader, Raneil, was actually killed by the army to 'set an example' to the rest of the villagers.
Out of the crowd emerged a young man named Kane, who had tears in his eyes. He was Raneil's son.
"They tax us too much, strip us of our food and water, kill anyone who doesn't comply with their rules, give us early curfews and make us work for free. We cannot take it anymore!", Kane says, getting back on his knees.
"I hear all your cries loud and clear", Charlotte says. "I promise that my partner and I will bring peace and prosperity, back to this village."
All the villagers begin to cheer again, hailing Charlotte and her unknown partner as their heroes.
Charlotte begins to make her way to the mansion to assist you.
Your POV
A spear comes thrusting at your direction. The pole of the spear was made of wood, so it should be easy to cut, or so your thought.
You swing your sword at the spear, attempting to cut it, but instead, the spear goes flying out of the soldier's hand, and rolling onto the floor. You look at the spear which is still in good shape, then at your sword.
"It didn't cut", you say to yourself.
Maybe you didn't have enough willpower? But what did that even mean?
Out of nowhere, an arrow comes flying at your leg, impaling you before you knew it.
You scream in pain as tears begin to roll down your eyes. The pain was unimaginable, a pain you never thought you would feel. You didn't want to die here. Not now, you were still too young.
Your sword begins to glow a little, though you don't realise it. You thrust your sword forwards, stabbing the soldier in front of you, then pull it out. The soldier falls to the floor, bleeding out to death.
What did you just do? You just killed a man. All the soldiers watch in horror. This was the first time seeing one of their own die right before them.
"You bastard!", one of the soldiers scream while rushing at you with a sword of his own.
You turn around and horizontally slash right through him and his armour, from right arm to left arm. As he drops to the floor, blood gushes out of his bisected body and leaks out onto the floor.
"D-did he just cut through armour?", one of the soldiers ask, terrified.
"We're all done for", another soldier says as he begins to cry.
"Please! Show us mercy!", another soldier says, dropping his weapon.
The rest of the soldiers also drop their weapons and beg you for mercy.
No. No. No. This wasn't the type of person you were. You weren't a crazed killer who made people beg for their lives.
"Er wait", you say. "I think you got it all wro-".
"Please! We'll do anything!", a soldier interrupts, "just don't kill us."
"We'll turn ourselves in!", another soldier pleads.
One of the soldiers picks up their sword and walks towards the injured, lean man. It turns out that he was their boss.
"W-wait, what are you do-".
The soldier cuts his head off, killing him in an instant.
"S-see", the soldier with the sword says. "I-I killed our boss. We didn't sign up to go against the magic knights, so could you p-please spare our lives."
They seem to have the wrong idea about you, but it works in your favour. You look at sword in amazement. A minute ago, it wouldn't even cut the wooden poll, but now it was cutting metal armour.
You clear your throat and say, "I won't kill any of you. My captain will decide what to do with you."
All you had to do now was meet back up with Charlotte. But you couldn't leave them to their own devices, who knows what they'll do.
You pull out your picture book and look through it to see if there was anything in it which could help you.
After searching for some time, you came across a page titled 'shadow clone jutsu'.
You didn't exactly know what it did. There was, however, a picture which illustrated one man becoming two, plus you saw the word 'clone'. If it worked how you thought it did, you may be able to get to Charlotte without leaving the soldiers, but surely it didn't, right?
You begin to weave the hand signs shown in the book and say,
"Shadow clone jutsu!"
Out of nowhere, a cloud of smoke covers the room. As the cloud disappears, you see familiar shoes - the same ones you were wearing.
The soldiers looked, dumbfounded, as the cloud fully disappeared to reveal another you!
The clone turned around and looked at you. You both looked at each other in astonishment as you began to touch each other's faces.
"There is no way this is real!", the two of you say.
You both look at each other again, then a big ear to ear smile erupts on both your faces. The two of you laugh maniacally, thinking of what to tell Asta and Yuno this time. Maybe you should play a prank on them.
"Wait", you say. "I hope you know who the real me is, right?"
"Yeah yeah", your clone replies. "It's me!"
Your heart drops as you hear this.
Right when it does, your clone bursts out in laughter, saying, "Got you there! I know your the real me."
You didn't even need to tell your clone for it to know not to mess around like that again. It was you after all.
You remember what your real objective is, and before you can speak, your clone heads off, making its way towards Charlotte.
Clone #1's POV
You run out the the mansion and see Charlotte who is approaching the gate. She sees you too, and signals you to come over.
You make your way towards her and open the gate. You tell her everything that happened. You also tell her you're waiting for her inside the mansion, to which she gives a confused stare, not knowing about your clone.
You lead her inside the mansion, and take her to where your real body is. She soon arrives at the scene to you sitting on the floor with an arrow in your leg, surrounded by around 40 men. She rubs her eyes then looks at you again, still seeing you on the floor. She looks back and sees your clone just standing there.
"Erm, why are there two of you?", she asks.
Both you and your clone laugh and tell her it was magic.
"Magic?", she replies. "I thought you had fire magic."
You tell her that it's a bit of a long story, to which she replies that you don't have to tell her.
Charlotte quickly rushes to your aid and pulls out the arrow. She then bandages your leg, and tells you that it'll heal soon as it didn't go in too deep.
Your clone crouched down beside you, prompting that you climb on it's back, which you do. Who would've thought that you would be giving yourself a piggy-back.
Charlotte casts a spell which wraps all the soldiers in vines. She then contacts someone from the capital to collect these soldiers and imprison them.
A couple minutes pass before a spacial magic portal opens up besides you. Out from it, emerged Finral, a magic knight from the Black Bulls. He quickly gathered all the soldiers and left as quick as he arrived.
Charlotte looks at your clone then pats it's head. She then pats your head, congratulating you for the splendid job you did. You couldn't help but smile at this. Her praise meant a lot, especially because she was your captain.
"Once we get back", Charlotte says, "we'll make sure to celebrate the success of your very first mission."
"Right!", you say, "Thank you captain!"
Your clone carries you outside the mansion, with Charlotte following behind. You're met by the many residents of the village, who congratulate you on your epic victory.
"What your name, young one?", an elderly man asks.
"Y/N", you reply.
"Everybody, let's cheer for Y/N!", the man shouts.
The entire crowd start chanting your name in harmony. They thank you once again for everything.
Kane steps up as the village's new leader. He announces that the name of the village will be changed to "Y/N village" in honour and respect of you.
"You really don't have to that", you say.
"I know I don't", Kane replies. "I'm doing this because I want to."
Damn, this felt good. Too good, it didn't seem real - but it was.
After celebrating with the villagers for some time, you and Charlotte finally decide to make your way home. The villagers thank the two of you once again as you take off into the sky on Charlotte's broom.
It wasn't long until you and Charlotte had made it back to headquarters. You had only been gone for a couple of hours, but it felt like it had been days.
You opened the front doors. It was dark and seemed like no one was home. You walked in a little further until the lights suddenly turned on.
"Surprise!", the Blue Rose members shout, revealing themselves one by one.
"What's this?", you ask.
Sol emerges from behind a table and says, "We heard of your success on your mission from Charlotte and wanted to surprise you."
You look back at Charlotte who was standing at the doorway, smiling.
"Yeah!", Wainsley says. "We also heard that you played a huge role in your mission."
You couldn't help but blush.
"Hey, hey!", Borja says. "Tell us about your mission sometime."
You nod, promising to tell them about it later.
"As expected from my student", Daisy says with a smug grin.
You look at her and smile; her teachings actually turned out to be helpful.
"What are you waiting for, ladies!?", Puli shouts. "Let's give him the best night of his life!" (No, not like that)
All the girls cheer your name, which makes you feel special.
The Blue Rose Knights celebrate this awesome day, partying until they could party no more!