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Yuno watched Asta press his sword into the mage’s neck, pinning him in place. “We know you have contacts in the black market. And more importantly, we know you recently came across a four-leaf grimoire at an auction. Tell us where it is.”
“There wouldn’t be any point in me–”
“Buying a grimoire that isn’t yours?” Yuno interrupted, leaning against the wall of the alley. Yeah right. He calmly pushed himself off the wall. “There is a point. To sell it again to some collector willing to give you more than you spent.” A gust of wind curled around his fist as he stood in front of the mage. “You see, we’ve come a long way to talk to you.” He slammed his fist into the wall beside the mage’s head. “Where is the grimoire you bought?”
Wait. Yuno jerked backwards, pulling Asta with him. A flash of black hit the ground. That attack could’ve killed us. “What’s going on here?” A voice called from the entrance to the alley. Yuno and Asta both turned towards it. That’s a magic knights robe. A man was standing there holding a sword Yuno didn’t recognize. The man glanced between the two of them and the mage. “Well?”
“They were trying to attack me!” The mage pointed at Yuno and Asta.
Yuno smacked Asta’s arm as his mouth opened. “This man took something of mine, and we were just asking for him to give it back.”
“Do you two usually use a sword to ask people for things?”
Asta took a step in front of Yuno. “Only when they don’t want to give them back.”
The man stared at the two of them for a few seconds before starting to laugh. “You know what, I like the two of you. Either of you ever been interested in becoming magic knights?”
No way. Yuno stared at him, searching for a sign he was joking. “I don’t–”
Asta cut him off. “Absolutely. We were going to take the exam this year, but…it didn’t happen.”
“Well great.” The man appeared in front of them, dropping a black cloak onto each of their heads. “Come join my squad, the Black Bulls. We’re all kinda weirdos so you’ll fit in. Won’t even be the only ex-criminals. Though you will need to let this guy go.”
Asta shoved the mage towards the entrance to the alley. Yuno grabbed his arm and held him in place. “Hold on a second. Who said we would join your squad? And he still hasn’t told us anything so why would we let him go?”
“Look, kid,” the man paused, looking towards Yuno’s belt. “Wait, do you not have a grimoire?”
Yuno let his mana flow into the area around him. “Just because I don’t have a grimoire doesn’t mean we can’t do anything here.” Shit. The mage pulled his arm out of Yuno’s grasp, sprinting away from them. I still can’t do two things at once.
The man chuckled again. “Clearly wind boy. You must have gotten one with how much mana you’ve got, so where did it go?”
“That isn’t–”
“After the grimoire–” Yuno and Asta started at the same time, both cutting off when Yuno covered Asta’s mouth.
“Point taken. You don’t wanna talk about it. You’re quite the pair aren’t you. I don’t sense a single drop of magic from muscles over there, but he has a grimoire. You have some of the strongest mana I’ve seen, but you don’t have one. Guess it’s a good thing I found you together. The two of you can make one whole magic knight.” He started walking away. “You coming or what?”
Yuno and Asta traded glances, and then both started walking after him.
. . .
The chains tightened around Yuno’s body as Asta was pinned to the wall. He struggled against them frantically, watching as Asta’s eyes started to drift shut.
“You’re useless. Utterly pathetic.” Revchi taunted Asta. “You might as well just die.”
“No!” Yuno yelled, pushing harder against the chains. “Asta you’re not pathetic! You’re my rival!”
For a second, Yuno watched in terror as Asta didn’t respond. “Yeah,” Yuno could barely make out Asta’s determined voice as he started to look up at Revchi. “Get off of me.” A cloud of black and red light surrounded Asta as his form flickered. What’s happening? When it settled, a dark grimoire floated in front of him open. A five leaf clover? Yuno and Revchi watched in shock as a sword spawned out of the grimoire and into Asta’s hand, slashing through the chains pinning him in place.
Revchi sent more chains flying at Asta, his eyes widening further as they were cut through. He tightened his grip on Yuno’s grimoire and glanced at him. “Well, I guess I’ll just have to wait for another time to get that pendant from you.” No! He pushed himself off the ground with his chains and disappeared.
. . .
Yuno closed his eyes while recounting how his grimoire was stolen, rubbing his thumb against the table he was sitting at with the Black Bulls’ captain. “Well shit kid, no wonder you’ve both been going around threatening people. You’re looking for your grimoire.”
“Yes. And that’s why I don’t want to join. I need to find it.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why do you need your grimoire? Your friend hasn’t got any magic and he’s figured things out. You’ve clearly got the talent and mana to use magic without it, so why try so hard to find it. Why not just work around it instead? Not to mention, if you’re really looking for a magical item, joining the magic knights is a pretty good way to go about it.”
He makes a good point about magic items. And I have mostly been relying on Asta to do a lot since I lost it.
“You could leave at any time too. You know, if it turns out it’s too hard for you.”
Yuno clenched his fist against the table. No. He opened his eyes, glaring at Yami. “Fine, I’ll join your squad. And I’m going to be the wizard king one day so you can forget about it being too hard.”
Captain Yami smiled.