"Brat, you are requested on a mission," Yami said to the black-haired, average-looking brat sitting on the couch.
Akeru was currently working on the theory of a specific rune he was thinking of creating.
"Already? Didn't I come back after a mission just a while ago?"
"Two weeks. That's a lot of time. I think it's about time you move your lazy as- presence out of this base," Noelle stuttered in the middle.
"Oh! Is that what I think it is? Did Miss Royal use crude language on instinct?" Akeru said with a grin as he teased her about her unfinished words of "Lazy ass."
"Your ears are playing tricks on you!"
Yami took a drag of his cigarette before saying his next words.
"Finral and Vanessa would be joining you on this mission."
"Hmm?" Vanessa blinked as she heard Yami's words.
She blinked again before realization kicked in.
She was appointed to a mission!
A mission after so long!
She instantly sobered up.
Black Bulls are quite infamous for the amount of collateral damage they cause, which leads to fewer mission requests being received by them.
So, it was pretty rare for any of the individuals to go on a mission other than Luck or Magna, who are always first to volunteer.
"Me?" Finral's shock was apparent.
He was shocked at the fact that Captain Yami was willing to let his "Taxi" go on a mission alone, away from him.
It was almost unprecedented as long as Finral could remember.
"I won't be leaving the base for a while anyway, so that you won't be needed," Yami instantly clarified after seeing Finral's face.
"Well, it would be fun to work with you two," Akeru said with a grin.
"I am also curious about seeing you in action."
"Feelings are mutual."
Vanessa and Finral replied to Akeru with a nervous expression.
Their image of "senpai" was going to be tested in this mission.
"Listen up! I won't be repeating this twice. In this village, villagers were acting weird, so a magic knight squad was sent to investigate yesterday. However, we lost contact with them, and you guys are sent to investigate," Yami said while throwing a paper that Finral caught on instinct.
It was a map of the Clover Kingdom or, more specifically, a zoomed-out part of one part of the Kingdom with one place marked in red.
"That's Ashveil, isn't it?" Akeru instantly recognized where the map was.
Clover Kingdom was divided into five parts, with each part worshiping one of the five gods.
"Yeah, give me a minute, I'll get ready. You guys get ready too," Vanessa said while going to her room to get dressed.
The other two also quickly made their way to their rooms to get themselves ready.
In just five minutes, they got ready.
"Finral-senpai, do your magic."
"Ahem, I haven't gone to this place before, but it should be pretty close," Finral said after creating a portal.
"See ya guys, don't miss me too much!" Akeru was the first one to go through the portal.
"Nobody would miss you!"
Akeru just grinned at that.
The three arrived in a clearing, with trees all around.
"Well, we need to go this way according to the map," Akeru said while pointing in one direction.
He was wearing a blue t-shirt and black track pants currently.
"How do you know that with such certainty?" Vanessa asked as she fixed her hat.
She was wearing her usual "Witch outfit" - comprising a slim, sleeveless, fit, red-violet top and miniskirt with red-violet evening gloves. The design of the top showcases much of her torso, with a large V-shaped opening exposing part of her breasts and midriff, where it is only connected at one point around her navel region. The cups that hold her breasts have curvy edges. Her miniskirt is very short and only covers her buttocks. She was also wearing dark purple stockings and garter belts underneath her boots.
"I could replicate the effects of a compass with lightning magic."
As if to demonstrate the fact, green lightning could be seen flickering on Akeru's fingertips.
"How convenient."
All three of them started to travel in that direction.
Finral and Vanessa flew on brooms, while Akeru flew without one.
"How can you fly like that?" Finral asked as he turned his head towards Akeru.
He was wearing his standard outfit he generally wears - a light green, loose-fitting tunic with long sleeves and long tails at the back, along with dark trousers and a green pair of wide, knee-high boots that lace up the front.
"Well..." Akeru started explaining the theory behind it.
It mainly boiled down to mana control.
One would be able to learn this during their training period of learning to create a Mana zone.
However, Akeru had learned it not long after he learned to fly with a broom.
They traveled in silence with occasional talks.
"How is your training coming along?" Akeru asked Finral.
"It's quite hard, your suggestion of breaking the process into multiple parts was quite helpful, along with occasional talks we have about it.
I am halfway done. I dare say that in maybe two or three more weeks, I would be able to do it."
"That's quite quick," Akeru was impressed by Finral's speed.
It had only been around two weeks since he had started working on the idea Akeru gave, yet he was so close to bringing it to fruition.
"What are you guys talking about? Is it the same thing that causes you two to talk for a while these days?" Vanessa was out of the loop and hadn't asked about this until now.
Finral explained to her about the idea Akeru gave.
"So, after learning this, you would be able to teleport to anybody as long as you know their face and can detect their presence with your spell?"
"Yeah."
"That's impressive." Vanessa was truly impressed by this new spell that would be created.
Her rating of Finral in her mind increased by a few notches.
'I wonder if Finral's spell would be able to detect me when I am using 'Silent Nobody' .'
Akeru was curious about the limits of this idea and was already excited about seeing the end result.
"Wait, with this spell, can't you just harass a person from long range without showing yourself? They won't even know when you would attack them, living in fear and on edge throughout." Vanessa's words made both Finral and Akeru pause in their tracks.
"..."
"..."
"That's evil," Akeru said while pointing his finger at Finral.
"You do know that you are the one who is helping me create this spell," Finral just deadpanned at him.
"Oh, there's a city! It must be Cinderhome!" Vanessa pointed at the city coming into view.
They soon entered the city on foot.
"So, wasn't the village near this city? Why are we entering this city?" Akeru asked as he looked around.
"We are going to try to find some relevant information on the village. We would go to the village after lunch," Vanessa said as she garnered a lot of looks from onlookers.
It was natural, as not only was she wearing a magic knight robe from the most infamous squad, but her outfit and presence also charmed many people.
Currently, it was morning, and it had been only around two hours since breakfast.
"Is that so? Where should we start..." Akeru paused midway as he looked at Finral asking a girl out... and then getting rejected.
"Is it your first time seeing it in person?"
"Yeah, I didn't know that it would be this impressive sight."
"What is impressive about a man getting rejected?" Vanessa's lips morphed into an amused smirk.
To her, it was a very funny sight.
"Ahem, I mean it's quite rare for a person to get rejected, only for him to ask another person out and get rejected again!" Akeru explained as he pointed at Finral, who hit on another lady, only to get rejected.
"Well, I guess from that perspective, it indeed is interesting."
Akeru started walking towards Finral to remind him about the mission.
"Hmm?"
A little girl, around eight years old, collided with Akeru and then fell down.
***
A/n:
Okay, this is the first serious arc of this volume. I was thinking of putting the Mixer arc first before putting this arc, as I wanted to focus on one original aspect of world-building, and this might make some people bored.
But then I realized that canon characters would be involved, unlike the previous arc (Diamond Kingdom arc), so it shouldn't be this bad. Plus, the second aim of this arc is to bring some changes to the characters.
Anyway, don't worry, I would be focusing mainly on canon characters throughout the arc.
Another thing is that I was finalizing the details about this arc and realized that it was kind of getting pretty deep - in fact, so deep that I myself was feeling emotions. So, I would do my best to deliver it in a manner that you would understand my perspective.
So, expect a lot from this arc!
***
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