"Oi, siscon! Can you go any faster?!"

"This is already the fastest I can go. Shut up so that I can concentrate, Yami."

Yami clicked his tongue as he crossed his arms and waited impatiently for the siscon to transport them to the location they are supposed to be at. An emergency report had come in from the Forsaken Realm that the villages there are currently under attack from Diamond Kingdom's Mage Warriors. Almost every squad had been mobilised and many teams were sent separately to these locations as fast as possible. Yami, the prickly queen, and the siscon are sent to deal with the invaders near the north as an elite task force.

The reason for this arrangement is simple. They are currently some of the strongest Magic Knights bar the Captains themselves. Nozel's mercury constructs can quickly transport a small group of Magic Knights, allowing them to be there on the scene faster than many other teams. Other teams are also on the way but most of them had been flung far behind a long time ago due to the speed in which Nozel is ferrying them across Clover.

Yami took a quick glance to his right. The princess tsun-tsun is pretty silent today but there is no mistaking the look of fury in her eyes. Well, he is a little fired up as well. The four Kingdoms are never exactly on good terms with each other so having little scuffles here and there along the borders or within the neutral zone is commonplace, but committing such a blatant attack on such a scale is a first in a long while.

"Look sharp, we are close."

Nozel's words got them both to straighten their backs immediately. Their grimoires are already out, magic pulsing beneath their skin. They soon entered the airspace of the battlefield. Existing Magic Knights that were originally stationed here are currently frantically defending themselves from Diamond's Mage Warriors. They are obviously severely outnumbered and already, corpses have littered the small village below them. Just the sight of it alone is enough to get Yami enraged.

"Our priority is to save and protect lives. I will provide air support from above."

"Leave the village's protection to me. My magic is suited for it." Charlotte spoke up.

"Then that leaves me to deal with those riff-raffs." Yami said with a growl, sword already drawn.

"Good. Then let's go."

As one, they unanimously leapt into action. Yami jumped off the mercury eagle they were riding on and landed within the backlines of the Mage Warriors with a huge crash.

"Hey, mind if I join in the party?"

With a horizontal slash of his blade, several of Diamond's Mage Warriors got horizontally bisected into two from that surprise attack. Yami pressed on the attack, drawing all aggro towards himself. Somewhere far ahead nearer to the village, he can see walls of thick briars growing taller and taller until they block the entrance to the village entirely, preventing any of these Diamond bastards from going too close.

Another quick slash got rid of a few more pesky Mage Warriors. What's troublesome are those mages who hid behind their comrades and fired their spells at him from afar. He's not totally helpless against opponents who specialises in long-range spells but it is getting damn annoying.

His annoyance was taken care of when droplets of mercury rained down from above, swiftly taking out any mages that were giving him a hard time. Yami grinned. The siscon sure has some nice timing.

Dark Cloaked Avidya Wild Slash

Yami released a flurry of wild slashes coated with Dark Magic, easily cutting his way through. Anyone that Yami could not reach with his blade, Nozel's Mercury Magic will find a way to snipe them down from above.

"Above! Take out the guy flying above!"

A barrage of spells were fired at Nozel. Nozel easily weaved through the attacks and kept up the pressure, allowing Yami to fight below with relative ease.

Large thorny briars broke through from the ground below, snaring each of the Mage Warriors with pinpoint accuracy and allowing Yami and Nozel to cut their enemies down. Things were looking good until a huge blast of flames forced them all to scatter. Yami clicked his tongue in annoyance. The type of magic in which siscon and the tsundere princess use have one common weakness: Fire.

The fire continued to rage and burn, easily freeing the Mage Warriors in which Charlotte had captured by burning the briars off. Any mercury constructs that got too close to the flames got evaporated in an instant due to mercury's low boiling point. The flames got even bigger and Yami had to use a Dark Cloaked Dimension Slash to disperse the flames and to see just who the hell started an inferno out of nowhere.

Unfortunately, the swarm of Mage Warriors in which the fire had freed are now charging at him as one. There's another mage who is currently fighting the tsundere princess and her hands are full, so she cannot be here to help him. That leaves him to deal with the small army on his own. He doesn't have the time to deal with the Fire Mage.

A blast of fire rocketed up into the air and began to chase after Nozel. Yami can faintly see a figure within those flames, so that means that the Fire Mage had taken the easy way out and chosen to fight Nozel due to the apparent weakness of Nozel's magic towards heat. Yami focused on the task at hand and quickened his pace. Ideally, he should be the one facing the Fire mage because Nozel and Charlotte's magics are weak against fire.

Then again, such is the battlefield. People rarely play fair. Charlotte seems to be doing fine on her own. The only thing he can do now is to hurry and finish these mages off and then go assist the siscon.

Exhilarating! SO EXHILARATING! So this is what it means to have power! ABSOLUTE POWER!

Having mage stones implanted in his body is awesome!

Tyson kept up with his bombardment of fire spells. If he can prove himself as the strongest, then he can possibly get himself promoted as one of the Eight Shining Generals. Killing all of Clover's Magic Knights that he comes across sounds like a damn good way to start.

The Clover Knight that he is currently facing in battle seems to be skilled. Despite the glaring weakness of his Mercury Magic against his Fire Magic, he is still alive. Tyson let out a grin and increased the output of his flames, setting the skies ablaze. In front of his Fire Magic and the augmentation done on him by their Kingdom's Mage Scholars, the Clover Knight's Mercury Magic cannot do a single thing.

"Not bad, silver bastard! What's yer name?" Tyson yelled out, curious as to know who this adversary is. The Clover Knight maintained a stoic and calm expression, only giving him an uninterested glance.

"Name's Tyson!" Tyson shouted as he kept up his bombardment of spells while trying to goad a response out of the Magic Knight from Clover. The augmentation conducted on him allows him to keep firing his spells without much consideration of the mana needed to do so because the mage stones embedded in him allows him to recover mana extremely quickly. If the Clover Knight is planning to wait for him to exhaust himself, then he is in for a nasty surprise.

"I don't care who you are." The silver-haired knight responded as he suddenly decided to charge straight towards him. Tyson grinned. Had this Clover Knight gone senile? This is asking for a death sentence!

With a roar, Tyson unleashed his greatest and most destructive spell at the Clover Knight flying straight for him. The mass of flames he sent towards the Clover Knight is enough to obliterate everything in its path. This is goodbye to the Clover Knight.

To his surprise, the Clover Knight had somehow braved through the flames and got close enough to be within reach. The Clover Knight pulled out a dagger strapped to his thigh and lunged at him. Tyson didn't even have time to call upon his magic and could only use his arms to block that blow. He wasn't entirely successful in blocking it because his left shoulder had been stabbed.

However, his injuries are light in comparison to the Clover Knight. In that one moment where the Clover Knight had tried to stab him, his flames had roared to life around his right fist. With one punch, Tyson successfully dealt a huge blow near the abdomen of the silver-haired knight. If it wasn't for the Clover Knight's Mercury magic forming a shield to mitigate most of the damage before it was forcefully evaporated, the knight would have been dead.

Tyson was about to unleash another flaming punch to end this Magic Knight for good when a sharp flash of pain throbbed across the entirety of his right arm. He began to scream and could only watch as something within his arm bulged to disproportionate levels and exploded his entire right arm from within, cripping him in just one move.

"Fuck! FUCK FUCK FUCK!"

Tyson immediately used his flames to propel him away from the Clover Knight as his left hand that was burning with fire went to try and cauterise the wound of what remains of his right arm. He doesn't know what the Clover Knight just did but his eyes managed to spot that the dagger that the knight is still holding onto. Only the hilt is left, the blade is gone entirely.

Where did it go?

As if sensing his thoughts, the Clover Knight held up the hilt in front of his face.

"You are a competent Fire Mage but too bad for you, my rival is Fuegoleon and he is way better. The blade of the dagger is largely constructed using solid mercury through a special process. Figure out the rest yourself."

Tyson didn't have the chance to think. The next thing he knew, he was screaming in pain as his body began to implode from within.

B-Bastard! He's somehow controlling the liquid mercury mixed into his bloodstream and using them to tear his entire body apart from within!

"FUCK YOU!" Tyson screamed as he prepared to use his biggest spell. If he's going to die, then he will take this bastard down with him.

The Clover Knight merely gave him the same disinterested stare, as if he's not worth his time.

"Goodbye."

That last fire spell was never fired.

"Freaking. Persistent. Bastards!"

With one last yell, Yami managed to end the last of the Mage Warriors he was battling against. The group he was fighting are not that strong individually, but it sure is annoying to face them all together.

Right after he put down the last of his opponent, he saw a gigantic spiky spear made up of a large mass of briars taking out another Mage Warrior. He looked back up at the sky where the siscon was supposedly fighting the Fire Mage, and it was just in time when he saw the Fire Mage explode into a bloody mess, causing body parts to rain down onto the ground messily. It is a gory sight.

God damn, what did the siscon do? Whatever that was, it was fucking brutal.

Nozel floated back down onto the ground beside him. The exhaustion is clear. Yami had never seen a speck of dust on the siscon no matter where he is but right now, the siscon had soot and whatnot covering his entire body. His sleeves had been partially burnt off and some part of his skin had suffered light burns.

What is most eye catching is the bloody gash on the left side of his abdomen. Nozel is using a hand to press against it and apply some pressure to stem the bleeding, but the growing patch of red on his usually pristine uniform is glaringly obvious.

"Nozel! Your-"

"It's not life-threatening, I will be fine. More importantly, what about the village?" Nozel quickly replied when Charlotte came running up to him in concern. Yami didn't know whether he should just quietly slink away to give them some private time or to cut in.

"No one else died the moment we arrived." Charlotte replied just as quickly, obviously more concerned about Nozel's injury. It's obvious at a glance that the injury must be painful and the bleeding still has not stopped.

"Let's just go to the village." Yami cut in. "Maybe there will be someone over there who can help stop the bleeding."

The three of them quickly made their way into the village with Yami and Charlotte casting worried looks at Nozel every now and then. If Nozel noticed it, he didn't say a thing. The surviving Magic Knights that were stationed nearby and were the first group to come into contact with the Diamond Kingdom Mage Warriors are all here as well. Some suffered serious injuries, others got out relatively unscathed.

"I got everyone into the village with my magic before the big battle began." Charlotte quickly explained to the both of them before asking the Magic Knights around them. "This is Third Class Senior Magic Knight, Charlotte Roselei of the Blue Rose. Who is the commanding officer here?"

"Second Class Intermediate Magic Knight, Hartley Tasker of the Green Mantis, reporting in." A middle-aged man stood out and saluted Charlotte in response. "Thank you for coming to save us, ma'am."

"No worries. We need to take care of the wounded and fortify the village's defences in case of a second attack. How many of your men can still fight?"

"Seven, ma'am."

Not a lot, but better than nothing.

Yami watched as Charlotte took charge of the situation. Well, if she can handle it then he is more than happy to just kick back and relax. He gently nudged the siscon beside him with an elbow.

"What the hell did you do to the fire dude?"

In response, the stoic siscon merely held up a bladeless dagger. Only the hilt is left.

"This is a special dagger. Mercury has a low boiling point and is usually in liquid form under room temperature, but I had found out during my youth that it is indeed possible to construct a solid mercury object if the object was subjected through a special magical process during the crafting stage. This dagger was made using such a process. Since its blade was largely made up of mercury, it evaporates easily under extreme heat. With the heat that guy kept giving off, the solid mercury blade easily melted and mixed itself into his bloodstream after I stabbed him with it. Solid, liquid, or gas, it doesn't matter. I can control mercury no matter what form it takes. Once I could get the mercury within the fire guy the battle was over."

Yami gave a low whistle, impressed at the brutality and ingenuity of it all.

"Remind me to not get on your bad side."

"You already are."

"Well, damn."

If it wasn't for her forcibly dragging Nozel to at least get his wound checked and bandaged she is sure that he would still be out there trying to do something to help defend the village until reinforcements arrive to take over the job. She had to drag the man to a church where the villagers said a nun who is capable of using a healing spell is at. Said nun is currently tending to the wounded who had it the worst with help from the other villagers.

"Charlotte, I can walk on my-"

"No. Not in your current state."

She firmly denied him the chance to even try and talk his way out. The red patch on his shirt is still growing bigger and his face is getting a little pale, probably due to the loss of blood. There's no way he can continue to help guard the village in this state.

Apparently, the nun that was tending to the wounded had the same thoughts as well the moment Charlotte dragged Nozel into the church to get his wounds treated.

"Oh dear! Why didn't you come here sooner?! Look at all the blood!" The nun immediately fussed over the silver-haired man the moment she spotted him.

"It's-"

"Not fine." Charlotte emphasised. Nozel was about to say something but wisely chose to say nothing the moment he spotted the glare she was sending his way.

Nozel pulled up his bloodied shirt a little to reveal the wound. The nun opened her grimoire and began to cast a form of healing magic over the wound and the wound began to close itself. Charlotte idly noted that the healing spell is water-based.

"There, the wound is closed although it seems it will leave a little scar. I will look through Father Orsi's wardrobe and see if he has an extra shirt to spare. You can't possibly go around walking about in this bloodied shirt, you will scare the children here."

"Sorry to trouble you." Nozel said with a slight bow of his head.

"It's fine. It's you Magic Knights that we have to thank. If it wasn't for your swift arrival I don't know what would happen to Hage."

That seemed to make Nozel perk up in surprise.

"Hage? This is Hage Village?"

"Yes, this is Hage Village." The nun replied patiently with a curious tilt of her head. "You have heard of this place before?"

"During my travels before I became a Magic Knight. Heard that there was a huge demon skeleton somewhere near here but I never got a chance to visit it."

"Oh, you can easily see it from the west side of the village. There's nothing much to see other than the huge bones and a statue on it."

"I see. Thank you for the information." Nozel thanked the nun politely as she passed a spare shirt to Nozel in the meantime.

"Don't mention it. Thank you for protecting us!"

"Is the huge demon skeleton anything important?" Charlotte asked Nozel the moment they were out of the church and out of earshot.

"I had heard that it was where the first Magic Emperor had done battle with a demon. I just don't know how true that was, so I was curious." Nozel explained. "Huh, to think this is Hage Village. What a coincidence."

"S-Should we go visit the skeleton before our duties here are finished?" Charlotte asked hopefully. It's not everyday that they are both assigned to the same mission and have some time off and are able to spend some time alone together and-

"Sure. Let's." A small smile appeared on Nozel's face as he gave his reply.

She smiled back. Maybe this mission isn't so bad after all.

"Magic Knights, guys! Real Magic Knights!"

"Um, are you sure we should be here?"

"Yea, most of these Magic Knights are entitled royals or nobles. From what I heard, their favourite pastime is to bully us commoners."

"Sister Lily said that the silver guy with the weird braid and blonde lady with the helmet are okay though." Asta said excitedly. "Come on, let's go see them! It's not everyday we get to see Magic Knights in person!"

"A-Asta, I still don't think-"

"The silver guy and the blonde lady are over there. Let's go." Yuno cut the conversation short as he walked on ahead, leaving the rest behind.

"Yuno! Not you too!"

Despite Recca's cry, the four of them still ran to catch up to Yuno nevertheless. They are indeed curious as to what real Magic Knights are really about. They heard the conversation between the two Magic Knights when they got closer.

"-gic Emperor is up there. See? Right on top of the demon's skull."

"So that's how the First Magic Emperor looks like. I have to say, Nozel, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't even know our First Magic Emperor had achieved such a feat before."

"I only happened to come across this tale by chance during my travels. I've always wanted to come over and visit the site of the legendary battle, but there was no opportunity to do so until now."

Asta threw all sense of subtlety out of his mind the moment he heard the three magical words.

"Oh! So the funny statue over there is the First Magic Emperor?!"

Everybody flinched at the volume and even Yuno's face paled when Asta suddenly ran up ahead screaming in his usual loud voice. The initial plan was to leave a good impression on the Magic Knights so that they would be more willing to share with them what being a Magic Knight is all about, not running in there and screaming rudely at the top of their lungs! What if they accidentally offend the Magic Knights?!

"Asta!" Nash quickly pulled Asta back by the collar, forcing the rash foster brother of his to come to an abrupt stop. "You don't just run in there screaming! What did Sister Lily and Father Orsi tell you all the time about greeting people properly?! Don't be rude and for the love of God, STOP SHOUTING!"

"YOU ARE SHOUTING TOO!"

"IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU WOULD I BE SHOUTING?!"

"On behalf of my siblings, I apologize for the rude display. They are simply excited at seeing a real Magic Knight in person." Yuno, ever the polite and level-headed one among the six of them, forcefully pressed Asta's and Nash's head down in a bow while bowing his head as well. Recca, Aruru, and Hollo quickly followed Yuno's example.

"It's fine." The lady replied with a laugh with a hand over her mouth. "We were once in your shoes after all. Isn't that right, Nozel?"

"Hmm."

"You can afford to speak a few more words, you know?" Charlotte chastised before lowering herself a little to talk to the children. "Hello, my name is Charlotte Roselei. I am from the Blue Rose Squad. He is Nozel from the Grey Deer Squad."

"SO COOL!" Asta exclaimed with literal stars shining in his eyes.

"I'm not sure about the cool part, but I sure hope we live up to your expectations." Charlotte replied with another warm laugh. "Do any of you aspire to be Magic Knights in the future?"

"This idiot definitely wants to be one." Nash said as he lightly bonked Asta on the back of his head before jabbing a thumb at Yuno. "And Yuno too."

"Can I join your squads too when I become a Magic Knight?! Please? Please please please-"

"I'm afraid my squad is largely made up of women, we very rarely have men in there." Charlotte patiently replied to Asta's every question. "But you can try applying to join Nozel's squad if you ever caught the eye of whoever will be the Captain of the Grey Deer squad during the Magic Knights Entrance Exam. Or whatever squad that you wish to join the most. The more capable you prove yourself to be during the exams, the more offers you will get from the Captains, so if you really do aspire to be a Magic Knight be sure to train really hard for it!"

"Hey, hey, pretty sis! Are you a Captain?" Hollo asked excitedly. The other children are still a little stiff in their presence but the curiosity in their eyes are blatantly obvious.

Surprisingly, Nozel was the one who answered the question for her.

"Not now, but she definitely will be one in the future."

"N-Nozel! There's no-"

"If even someone as capable as you is not worthy enough to be Captain I would strip off my squad's crest." Nozel replied with a soft snort before his gaze focused on the two children aspiring to be future Magic Knights. "So, Asta and Yuno, correct?"

"YES!"

Nozel remained silent for a little while, which began to unsettle the kids a little with how sharp the look in his eyes are, almost like an eagle on a hunt. Just when Charlotte is about to berate him for scaring the children, Nozel spoke up once again.

"I do feel a considerable amount of magic power emanating from Yuno, but Asta… you really have no mana in your body, do you? I could not register your presence using mana sensory even if you are currently standing a few feet away from me."

"That… That doesn't matter!" Asta replied with determination, hearing those words too many times for him to count ever since he could understand words. "I will still be a Magic Knight, and then I will be the strongest Magic Emperor ever!"

Charlotte's face could not help but frown a little in worry. It's good to have a dream, but dreaming an impossible dream may prove to be detrimental instead. Nozel was right, now that he said it she really could not feel an ounce of mana from Asta no matter how she tried and the boy is simply standing a few feet away from her right now. She doesn't want to be the one to ruthlessly burst Asta's bubble but someone has to do it for his own good, before the pain and suffering grows larger when the bubble inevitably bursts much later on in his life when the cold hard truth finally comes crashing down on him. The boy has to accept the facts as they are, there is a reason why they are called Magic Knights. You need to be able to use magic to be a Magic Knight.

Nozel, however, obviously has a different opinion.

"Even when you cannot use magic, you still want to be a Magic Knight?"

"YEAH! And not just that! I will be the Magic Emperor!"

"Why?"

"Because I want to prove that even commoners can be a Magic Knight, and even they can be the Magic Emperor! The Magic Emperor is the strongest, right? Hage is not a safe place, but if I'm the strongest then I can easily protect Sister Lily, Father Orsi, my siblings, and everyone else! So I will be the Magic Emperor to protect everyone!"

"A good goal to have, but that's it?"

"... There's supposed to be more?"

Nozel sighed and shook his head, but Charlotte can still spot the faint smirk on his face that probably only she and Noelle can spot.

"Fine, I'm not one to belittle another's hopes and dreams, but if you really want to be Magic Emperor you first have to be a Magic Knight, and to first be a Magic Knight you need to be able to use magic. And I don't think I need to remind you, but you cannot use magic. How do you plan to qualify and pass the Entrance Exam in your condition? How do you plan to stand as an equal to other Magic Knights with such a handicap? Answer me."

"I-I will train! Like really hard!"

"Anybody can say that, how do you plan on doing that?"

Asta opened his mouth, only for no words to come out from it. His mouth opened and closed a few times as he struggled to form a reply.

"Nozel." Charlotte said with a soft voice while subtly tugging at his shirt, a small frown visible on her face. Honestly, this may be a little too much for Asta to take in all at once. He's just a kid and from the looks of it, probably not even older than Noelle. He's still too young to understand.

Nozel acted as if he didn't notice her subtle cues.

"Having a goal is good and all, Asta, but you need to have a plan. A Magic Knight charging right into enemy lines without a plan is nothing but a liability to the entire squad. You will get everyone around you killed if you are being reckless. You want to be a Magic Knight even when you cannot use magic? Fine, I respect that determination of yours, but how are you going to walk the talk? You still have time before you are of age to take the Entrance Exams, use it wisely to think of how you are going to even the playing field with other people your age who not only has the same dream as you, but possess magic so powerful that it is beyond your wildest imaginations."

Nozel then lightly knocked Asta on the head like how Charlotte had seen him done so many times to Noelle whenever he was trying to drive home a point.

"You have a clear understanding on the what and the why, but you really need to start thinking of the how if you really want to become a Magic Knight like us, that is my advice to you. If you want to be a Magic Knight you first need to make sure you have a way to protect yourself and get past any other forms of magic thrown your way. Call me cruel, but I will tell you right here, right now, that nobody will care if you yell your aspiration to be the future Magic Emperor out loud for the whole world to hear. The Magic Knights are not an organisation to simply accept you based on empty promises. Prove to us through your actions that you can be a capable Magic Knight even without the ability to utilise magic."

Asta looked down, fists clenched as his body trembled slightly, only to perk up when he felt a hand on his head.

"There's no rush, just make sure you think things through. Charlotte and I will be around for a few days so if any of you need any help, feel free to approach us as long as we are not on duty. I will give you a hint. Instead of focusing on what you don't have, think of what you do have and how it could possibly help you in achieving your dream."

"You… You are saying that I can be a Magic Knight?"

"Do you hear me saying that you can't?"

Asta's face visibly brightened up in slow motion.

"THEN I WILL BE ONE!" Asta promised in his usual booming voice before adding another sentence after giving the matter some thought. "After I thought of how I can be one!"

"Don't just say it, show us you can do it." Nozel replied in his usual impassive voice. "Unlike others your age who can already use magic, you are not even on the starting line yet. You have a lot to catch up on."

Asta nodded excitedly, happy that for once, there are people who did not put him down for having such a dream.

"How strong are the both of you within the Magic Knights?" Yuno finally broke his silence and asked the million dollar question that the children are curious about.

"Hmm?" Nozel gave the matter some thought before speaking again. "By the time the current generation of Magic Knights inevitably step down when the current Magic Emperor retires, I believe Charlotte and I will be strong enough to qualify as candidates for the next generation of Captains. Which means by the time anyone of you is old enough to take part in the Entrance Exams, the both of us are very likely to be among the group of people you have to impress if you want to join the squads that we lead."

Charlotte blinked in surprise. She has no doubts Nozel can be a Captain because he is just that powerful and has all the qualities needed to be one, but her? He believes that she can be a Captain?

"Then just you wait!" Asta pointed a finger at the two of them. "I will be so strong that the both of you have no other choice but to offer me a position in your squads!"

The edge of Nozel's lips curled slightly into a faint smile.

"And like I said many times before, don't just say it, prove it."

"So if we can surpass what we saw the both of you did today in defending the village, we will be nearly strong enough to be Captain?" Yuno asked earnestly.

"That's one way of looking at it." Nozel nodded before turning to face Yuno in concern. "I have a little sister around your age too, and her huge magic reserves always give her problems. Likewise, the amount of magic I can sense within you is no small amount given your age. If your body cannot handle the sheer amount of magic you have, tell us, and we will provide you with some guidance on how to control it properly before we have to return to the capital. It's extremely rare, but there are cases of people's bodies imploding from within simply because their body could not contain the large amount of magic they possess. I don't want that to happen to any of you simply because there is no one in your village to teach you how to properly control magic."

The children all gave a collective wince at those words. Seeing that, Nozel quickly clarified.

"It's extremely rare."

The kids all gave a sigh of relief but quickly recovered. Before long, they ended up pestering the two adults again in their usual energetic selves.

"Hey, hey! You guys must have been Magic Knights for quite some time already, right? The both of you must have gone on some crazy adventures! Tell us, tell us!"

Charlotte looked at Nozel, who simply shrugged in response. She gave him another glare, hinting at him to do something about this because telling stories is certainly not her forte. He sighed before gesturing for the children to take a seat because this will take a while.

"Before I became a Magic Knight, I was a treasure hunter. If you are talking about adventures, the period of time when I was still a treasure hunter was the most thrilling and adventurous, travelling far and wide within and outside Clover to explore every single dungeon that I could find. There's this one dungeon that I remember…"

Together with the children, Charlotte listened with a smile on her face as Nozel recounted the adventures he had been on during his days as a treasure hunter. He had always been good with children, Noelle is proof of that.

Strong, kind, unwavering, warm. Her Knight in Silver Armour really is one of a kind, the man who she looks up to the most in this entire world.

She is sure that the children eagerly listening to his stories right now feel the same way too.