Yami had told her that, if she got her magic under enough control, she could take the Magic Knights Exam and choose what squad he wanted.
But he also said, "If you choose another squad, I'll kill you." And he already said before that she could go to the next one, so... ???
He was very confusing at times. He wasn't the best teacher, either. Kept leaving to poop, and she was alone to figure things out more than he was there to help.
"You are a horrible teacher."
"Damn right. There's probably someone way more qualified."
As she knew the Black Bulls members, and going on more missions with those of other squads, something came to her attention.
"Hey, guys," she began in the middle of dinner, getting their attention, "do we have a Vice-Captain?"
Gauche ignored her. Vanessa was drop-dead drunk. Yami wasn't even present. Gordon locked himself in his room. The only answer she actually got was from Luck, who kept throwing peas at Magna until he blew up at him.
"Nope!"
"Not it," [Name] immediately muttered, tapping her nose.
Maybe that explained why they had Paperwork Mondays. Where everyone did paperwork to deal with the damages made. It still didn't deter them from breaking stuff, but whoever had less would be done faster. Yami still left his own to them, though. So [Name] learned to just do her own and rush out as fast as possible.
Even doing paperwork wasn't enough to calm them down, though. It took Yami threatening, and a scary-looking [Name] for them to sit down and do it.
"If one of you makes a move, we all make a move. So get to work already," she had growled at them, eyes wide and glowing dark purple.
She pushed herself from the table. "Charmy, I'm going to bake again," she told the petite girl, whose round cheeks continued to fill with food.
Baking with a bunch of new ingredients at her disposal was fun. Even if it tasted bad, Charmy would eat it, and her sheep cleaned the dishes. And she got instructions from recipe books, Charmy, and her sheep. Though the sheep kinda scared her; sometimes they didn't speak and just pointed the best they could, or demonstrate. But once, her sheep had this super low voice, and she watched the sheep eat the whole stove.
[Name] just learned to let the others eat first, and if they didn't die, the food was probably safe to eat.
That night, she sent a letter to Hage's orphanage, and a tray of banana pudding.
She didn't actually think of sending letters until Aruru, one of the little ones at the orphanage, sent her one. Asta proposed to Sister Lily now.
How faithful.
Oh well. At least, if Asta managed to come to the same squad, she wouldn't have to be woken up with shrieks of marrying him anymore. She was too occupied with other things. But she decided fast to make time to at least write home.
Asta and Yuno, I am waiting. Hurry up and join the knights.
. . .
Now, [Name] was average at the moment, in terms of magic usage. She thought so, anyway. But no one could really guide her(and some were just lazy), so she was completely on her own in learning her magic. Her magic sometimes went wonky because she would try casting a spell and bring out the wrong element, so it wouldn't work because of the wrong properties. But since the majority of the Clover Kingdom were commoners and below, and the everyday person was not a Knight, or with splendid mana reserves, or two elements, the fact she could do a few spells, but have a good reserve of mana compared to others, two elements, and decent control, added up to her being average. Or above. She knew she had potential, though.
The only sort of pointers she got for her magic were really just her watching and reading about other forms of magic, and trying to mimic them with her own twist.
Yami may have called her a copy cat for mimicking Jack, the Green Mantis Captain, but it worked for her. Make blade extensions from your body and fling off slashes. Or just reinforcing her own arm with Dark Magic and flinging that off instead of using a blade. She didn't stop at that either. Lots of spells could be used in other elements. Like a beam of fire could also work when made a beam of water. Or a protective shield of smoke, working the same as a protective sheen of light instead.
Six months.
In those six months, she had learned more on controlling her own magic, ran from the Magic Emperor and her own teammates, and went on many missions with her own teammates, and those from other squads. She learned to avoid missions with Luck and Magna because that led to horrible Paperwork Mondays, became decent at baking as she did it every night for the church, and earned something called "stars".
They were points given to Knights who did good on missions, and totaled up with the rest of the squad. But each star she got just... got cancelled out by the others destroying stuff and getting them taken away.
Also, she just gave all her pay to the church. Gauche kept stealing her pay when she wasn't looking to buy more presents for his beloved Marie. She was a cute little girl that [Name] actually met when she had to patrol the town she lived in. Now, if Gauche asked, she wouldn't mind, but...
She stared blankly at the empty wallet.
There was a difference from taking some and taking everything of a month's pay without a word.
Another reason was that things were expensive.
Their kingdom had towns called castle towns. She went to some of them, and...
"600,000 yul for a wand like that?"
... it wasn't worth the money. Living as a Knight came free for her. The food was free and delicious, she didn't have to pay for her room, the baths were free... everything inside the base was free. First come, first serve, though, for things such as pudding in their base. Never leave unattended food items because it's free game then.
Her grimoire was silent. Or, whoever that voice was. They weren't talking, even if she looked and called.
Must've been my imagination.
Two days before the Magic Knights Exam, Yami disappeared again, and came back with a silver-haired royal girl. She was part of the three royal families, being from the Silva family. She didn't hang around them, and kept looking down on them, so she just disappeared into the forest around the base.
[Name] went there a lot too. In fact, she found the royal girl training in a clearing that [Name] accidentally made once. That flattened area just became her own place to train.
"Err. Hi there."
The girl knocked her out in the middle of panicking and fired off Water Magic her way.
It's like... Sister Lily... [Name] collapsed.
After that, [Name] went somewhere else so that the girl, Noelle, could focus and not knock her out again. She never got an apology for that.
Two days after that, with her behaving grimoire wearing a Black Bulls robe so it would cooperate with her, she went to Finral and Yami to go to the Exam site.
"I'm ready to do the Exam!" she declared with vigor.
Yami deadpanned at her. "What the hell are you talking about? I said that you could come. Not participate."
"Fine. You can go. Just know, you aren't leaving the squad."
Finral, dressed in green and with droopy eyes, the fastest transportation for Yami, flinched when her face fell.
"But I got my magic under control a bit."
"I said when it was enough, and that's by my standards. You're not joining yet."
She twitched. Yami threw an extra Black Bulls robe at her.
"Get in the portal you two, please..."
Later walking around the sight for the Exam, [Name] was with Finral and Yami, muttering and grumbling, dragging her feet the whole time, with her mood ruined.
I waited months to be told no....
Birds flitted around, bothering those competing. Or with less magic. The less magic a person had, the more birds were attracted.
Yami was a Captain, and had enough mana that the birds left him alone. Finral was from a noble family, so they left him too. [Name] had two elements and a lot of mana, so they ignored her as well.
Even the birds are pitying me.
She snuck away from Finral, disappearing at the same time as Yami, who wandered off to find another bathroom. Surrounded by gazes and whispers about her robe signifying which squad she belonged to, she stepped away from the center and went up some flights of stairs. There, she found some chairs overlooking the site, and sat down.
She watched from above, leaning her cheek onto a fist. Below, she saw Yami grabbing some person's head. She couldn't see who, but she knew it had to hurt. William was also down there, talking to someone with black hair. The sun glared down at her eyes, so she shielded them with her hand. The people below were tiny.
"[Name]-kuun," called a voice from behind, before a finger poked her cheek. Cloudy pink eyes gazed at her from her left. "Are you a Captain now? Afufufu."
"Rill," she acknowledged, turning her head to him.
"Afufu. You look like a squirrel, [Name]-kun," he told her, about her cheek, before pulling his hand away. Rill took his seat next to her.
The other Captains, minus Yami, walked up and into the platform; each leading their own squad, and with one or two members of said squads. Below, the birds flew away immediately, scared off by the combined magic power of them. They took their seats.
"[Name]-san, where's your Captain?" asked William Vangeance, the Captain of the Golden Dawn, which was considered the best squad.
"Making his way up," she drawled. "Heya, Leopold," she greeted without turning around, knowing the person from one of her first missions. He was the one she managed to trick into doing all the work of carrot harvesting.
"Hello."
He's tame today. Must've been ordered by his brother to behave.
"Yami's coming up soon," she told them, though they could all sense his approaching. She leaned forward. "Three, two, o-"
The back of her stone chair exploded. Yami shoved his hand through it, grabbing her head.
"What a wonderful way to treat your squad member," sneered a silver-haired Captain: Nozel.
Yami dropped her next to Finral. She rubbed her head with a groan.
"Are you okay, [Name]-chan?"
"Shuddup, you're just jealous." Yami plopped down on his half-destroyed chair. "Build my chair," he demanded of [Name].
"No way. You did this to yourself."
"Can't even keep a member in line," Nozel muttered, being ignored.
"Saw you chatting up the four-leaf guy," Yami said to William, who shrugged.
"I just think he's neat."
[Name] already knew that all the Captains had their eyes on mister four-leaf Yuno; they all expressed an interest when they first met him in a meeting about her situation.
William stood up to address the examinees, using a magic item to amplify his voice. "Young test takers, thank you for waiting."
When William addressed them, the murmurs those below had broken into on their first appearance turned into shouts of amazement.
Captain of the strongest Knights, they said. Closest to being Magic Emperor, they gasped. Oh, how his men love him, how successful and cooperative his members were, how kind and gentle their Captain was, and how they rarely ever caused trouble.......
Leopold looked over at [Name] weirdly when she just started silently sobbing waterfalls.
She stopped when the sky darkened, and a strong gust slapped her face. Opening her eyes and shielding them, the now cloudy sky parted with the roots of a giant tree descending.
The roots became smaller as they went down until in front of the applicants below, turning into brooms for them to take. There were enough brooms for everyone trying out.
William shut his grimoire, his purple eyes gazing down at the contestants from behind his odd, golden mask. "Let the test begin."
He explained how the first test was for them to fly brooms. One of the Golden Dawn members accompanying him demonstrated riding a broom. So, those below took the brooms, and tried flying.
[Name] watched Yuno with the other Captains, gliding and standing on his broom, flying at the top with few others.
Then,
"Gruuugggahhhhaaaaa!"
A familiar, grating groaning hit her ears. They looked down to see someone struggling to even hover.
[Name] sighed, seeing him struggling right from the get go.
Asta.
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William Vangeance
Age: 26
Height: 172 cm
Birthday: December 24
Sign: Capricorn
Blood Type: O
Likes: Little birds, being able to help others, and chickens.