(Noelle p.o.v.)
Asta's exile hit many of us pretty hard, not just the Black Bulls, but all of his friends in every squad. Yuno was so furious that he tried to kill Damnatio, the unjust trial, but his squad mates stopped him before he left the base. Mereoleona resented the other aristocrats for banishing a magic knight with so much potential. The wizard king hated himself for not being able to help Asta. And Yami, for the first time in front of anyone, had shed a year for losing his pupil. But for me, I was heartbroken to lose my first friend, and the first boy I ever loved. 2 years after he left, the truth about Asta was finally released to the public, and Asta's exile sentence was removed, making him free to come back home. I was so excited to hear he could come back that I asked Nero if she could find Asta. She heard from eyewitnesses about which direction he went that day, but Nero said she lost his trail after he crossed the border into the strong magic region. To this day, She still searches for Asta.
Since Asta's exile, I've rarely left the base. But every once in a while, I'd leave to go on missions, but everytime I did, my heart was never in it. I just couldn't get over what happened.
I had been called in by the wizard king, because he apparently had a mission for me. A gang of bandits had been raiding villages in the Northwest region of Clover Kingdom, he was sending me there with the Golden Dawn's Yuno, Klaus, and Mimosa, since we have all worked together in the past. We saluted the wizard king and we headed out to hunt down the bandits. We went to the villages that were attacked to try and figure out where they went to. We learned that they were heading east.
Mimosa used her plant magic create a map so we could see where their going. "The villagers said that the bandits are heading east, so what villages are in that direction?" Klaus said. We all looked at the map carefully, and we saw that there were 4 villages in the east. "There's no telling which village they'll attack, we'll have to split up and head to each one, despite the danger involved." Yuno stated. Klaus replied, "You're right, Yuno. There's no other way to keep these bandits from causing anymore damage." Me and Mimosa nodded in agreement. So we hopped on our brooms and each of us flew off to one of the eastern villages. It was already sunset by the time I arrived, so I decided to make camp up on a nearby hill to get a better view of the area. When it got dark, I saw a campfire in the forest, so I decided to go investigate.
(Yuji's p.o.v.)
Todo and I were sitting by our campfire, eating some fish we caught in a nearby creek, when we noticed that someone was coming towards us from above. We looked and saw that it was a silver-haired girl with pigtails and pink eyes, she wore a black robe with a bull crest on it. 'She must be with the squad that betrayed Asta' I thought. She landed near us and with a stern look she said, "Who are you two?" Todo answered, "Just a couple of travelers stopping to make camp for the night." But the look on her face says she's sceptical. I asked her, "Why are you so suspicious of us?" The girl replied, "A group of bandits have been raiding villages as of late, and from what we were able to gather they were heading in this direction, and for all I know you two could their scouts." "Bandits? Well that's news to us." I replied. Couldn't really blame her though, with the threat of bandits out here it's only natural to be wary of strangers. But there's one thing that she's forgetting. "If we really were scouts for these bandits you're talking about, why would we set a fire and reveal our location? Just because there's two outsiders camping in the woods, doesn't mean they're criminals." She was still wary, but from the look in her eyes, I could tell that she's become a bit more open minded. She asked us, "What're your names?" "I'm Yuji Itadori, this is Aoi Todo." I introduced us. "I'm Noelle Silva, a royal from the Black Bulls magic knight squad." She said. "Noelle Silva? A lovely name for a lovely girl." Todo stated. Noelle just scuffed and said, "Flattery will get you nowhere." "Yeah, but I thought I'd try anyway." Todo replied. "I will admit, you've got guts to try and flirt with me, commoner." That stated pissed me off, I said to her, "Bloodline and social status doesn't define who you are, princess! In your fantasy world, everything revolves around you. But here in reality, your wealth and power ain't worth shit, it's your character that defines the kind of person you are. You get mad at what I said and try to lash out, but that won't change the fact that that's the truth."
(Noelle p.o.v.)
I was shocked at that Yuji actually snapped at me, and I knew that what he just said was right. That's the reason why Asta was exiled in the first place. We royals and nobles let our wealth and status get to our heads that we saw everyone else as insects and tools to be used at our own convenience. And because the aristocrats feared losing their own prosperity from the elf incident, they chose to pin the blame on the hero of that incident just so they can save face, instead of accepting their own incompetence. Honestly, the fact that I was born into the royal family, made me sick to my stomach for that very reason. And I only gained that feeling after I heard they banished Asta.
While I was in my thoughts, I heard a rustle in the forest that snapped me out of it. I pulled out my grimoire, while Yuji and Todo stood up and got ready for whatever was lurking in dark woods.