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// Page 6: Exam 
// Story: A Unicorn in the Clover Kingdom 
// by LordBrony2040 
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To call the capital of the Clover Kingdom massive was an understatement. The collection of human dwellings was a mountain. Not built into the side of a mountain, like Canterlot, but a mass of buildings surrounding an elevated plane, that had its own lush mesa in the center, surrounded with hundreds of more buildings. For five levels of elevation, layer after layer of civilization went until at the very top, sat a castle the size of a small town in and of itself, with three adjoining buildings equal in height to a Manehattan skyscraper. It’s like a wedding cake of rock and people, Sunset told herself after looking at it for an hour while they traveled closer to the thing.

Now she understood why people simply called it ‘the capital’ instead of naming the damn thing. The mountain collective was a grouping of numerous towns that had eventually expanded to combine into a giant mass. And if they had also hollowed out some of the mountain’s interior, the population could easily be three to four times what it looked like it should have been from the outside.

However, Sunset didn’t think too much longer on the subject, as she had a conversation to get back to while Yuno was flying them towards the city in a weak wind that was losing altitude by the second.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU MADE US WASH OUR CLOTHES THIS MORNING!” Asta yelled right in Sunset’s ear, forcing the girl to resist punching him in the face. The wind whipping around them meant they had to talk a bit louder, but not that loud! “What if we’re late or something?”

Sunset gave him an even look. “The exam lasts a whole day,” she told the boy. Secre had said it was some kind of endurance test and people who left were disqualified from joining that year if they didn’t stick around till the end. “The two of you are at least going to start things off with clean clothes.”

There was a better reason of course, but Sunset didn’t want to get into it. Despite what Celestia tended to tell her, appearances mattered. The first thing both Canterlot ponies and humans judged others by was how they looked. One glance at a scruffy kid from the middle of nowhere who was covered in mud when the whole point of him being there would be to impress someone would tell the judges all they needed to know.

With there being a good deal of traffic outside of the human hive, Yuno put them down a safe distance from the road and looked over to Sunset. “Should we try to deliver the letter before the Exam?”

“You mean try to find Mereoleona’s brother in all of that?” Sunset asked as she pointed a thumb at Mt City. “I wouldn’t even know where to start.” The blasted woman could have at least told them where to look.

She might have been a rich merchant or something, but Sunset doubted that everyone in town could point to her house or anything.

The anti-bird of the group landed on Asta’s head and gave Sunset a disappointed look. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“What?” the former unicorn asked.

“You kids seriously don’t know the name, Vermillion?” the bird asked.

While Sunset shook her head and Asta raised his shoulders, Yuno gave the bird an even expression. “The village we live in was lucky to get a newspaper once every two months. A single newspaper that everyone has to share,” he said. “We’re not really in the loop when it comes to current events.”

“...you know what? Fine. I’m going to go see what I can learn about the goings on of the kingdom before the exam starts. You three go act like idiots. I’ll see you after the exams are over. The area where the test is held is in the back of Kikka Town. If you get to the second gate that separates the outer ground city from the inner one, you’ve gone too far,” she said before flying off.

As the bird departed, Asta reached up and scratched his head. “I think we’re missing something.”

Sunset groaned. “Stupid old bird.” That was one thing she really hated about immortals, they knew so much and just assumed everyone else had what they considered common knowledge. Celestia might have had a tiny crumb of a point when she said Sunset should have gotten to know other ponies better, but it wasn’t like the amber unicorn had been all that filled with sociable skills.

The thought about Celestia pulled Sunset into a sour mood as her mind wandered towards things that were better left not thought about. Her talk with Mereoleona might have helped Sunset realize she didn’t have to completely hate the horse, but that didn’t mean the old nag hadn’t ruined her life. The book in her pack seemed to become a little heavier and Sunset grit her teeth as she looked down at the ground.

Celestia had spent two years without getting a reply or sending anything else.

It wasn’t like saying something to her now would change anything.

She probably didn’t even have the journal anymore.

So...why do I keep it around? Sunset asked herself in anger as the dirt beneath them turned to paved stone and the sound of people got louder.

“Hey Sunset?”

“WHAT?” Sunset demanded.

Everyone on the stone street jumped back at the question and Sunset found herself glaring down at Asta. Then, a horrid smell made itself known and she looked back in the direction she had been going to see a cart loaded with refuse and other things that belonged in either a trash pile, or a compost heap. “Oh...uh...sorry,” she apologized to the boy as her face heated. “I was just...lost in thought.”

After getting around the cart, Sunset focused more on her surroundings. If not for the week she spent eating dried meat while trudging through light forests and an unnaturally placed desert while trying to rework the spells snagged from Mereoleona’s grimoire to fit her own magic, Sunset had to admit that she would have run screaming from the capital city.

It wasn’t that people were jammed in everywhere, trying to cover up their odors with nearly half a dozen perfumes that mixed together in the summer heat to form an oppressive miasma of terrible smells mixed with things horses left on the street. It was the food. 

Meat. 

Was. 

Everywhere.

The streets were lined with stands that sold everything a medieval society could think of. People with some minor magical talents sculpted clay into poetry according to the customers wishes, while another woman was selling flowers that she grew right in front of the man wanting to buy some. Vegetables that were more than just a mutated variety of potato numbered in the dozens as Sunset discovered that humans possessed peppers, pears, oranges, some sort of mango, grapes, and at least three types of fruits that looked completely new to her. And then there were the people selling carved up pieces of animal carcasses for human consumption. They had everything, from boar to cow, which Sunset’s years at a church made her almost say a quiet prayer for, to more out there foods like snake, rabbit, and all types of birds.

A crying baby drew her attention, and Sunset looked over to what she thought was a young mother, but after seeing the five other children on her heels, Sunset went with the older sister possibility. They looked better dressed than Asta and Yuno, but not by much. I guess even here, there are poor people, she told herself.

As a bit of sympathy entered Sunset’s heart for what might be the family’s only provider, she couldn’t help but blink at the feeling. Two years ago, Sunset wouldn’t have given a second thought to the girl, and probably been annoyed by the sound of the toddler. It was strange how being poor for two years had changed her.

“Grilled violet snake on a stick! Raised humanely and sourced responsibly!”

“Hey, I wanna try some of that!” Asta declared before Sunset grabbed the back of his jacket.

Yuno assisted with the effort a moment later. “We don’t have the money, moron.”

Sunset looked over to the source of the voice and saw an old woman sitting at the street corner with a rather shabby stand in comparison to most of the others. Then something tingled at the edge of her mana sense, and she looked around in confusion before working with Yuno to keep Asta walking. “We still have plenty of stuff from the mountain. Just because I’m going to accept eating animals doesn’t mean you get to devour something else when we’ve still got some leftovers.”

The reason for the crowded street of things to buy became obvious when the three teens turned the corner to find the coliseum waiting for them with a large crowd outside. The structure itself was as high as the defensive wall around the city, towering over the surrounding two-story buildings by a good fifty to seventy feet. After making their way through the throng, Sunset saw there were some crowd control barriers in the square itself that separated people going into the arena and people just wanting to catch a glimpse of the future magic knights. That is, if there weren’t some kind of celebrities showing up later.

Asta seemed to think everyone was gathered to see him try out, waving at the crowd and thanking them for the occasional well wishes.

Yuno...not so much. “Pretend you don’t know him.”

The display of embarrassment got a giggle from Sunset. It was fun to poke the usually stoic boy. “I kind of like his enthusiasm.”

After the three made it inside, the mood became much more somber. There were no cheering crowds or even much talking going on as the interior had three mages standing behind counters, with three lines spaced ten feet apart. Each mage put their hand to an applicant’s grimoire before telling them a number. Based on the wide gap of numbers between each line, they probably had a pool to draw from when handing them out, so Sunset doubted there were really three-hundred-sixty-eight applicants, like the number she heard being called out. Once a mage got his number, he went down the curving hallway to the right.

“So...which line do we get in?” Asta asked.

Yuno walked forward to stand in the one on the far left. It was handing out the lowest numbers. “Keep Asta in the middle, it’s best if he doesn’t talk.”

“HEY!” Asta said, making everyone in the room turn to look at him with a glare.

Thinking Yuno had the right idea, Sunset got behind her littlest brother to wait her turn.

Which gave her a bit of time to think about something that had been bothering her since leaving the mountain. She still wasn’t sure which element to pick.

Light magic was an obvious contender. Playing around with it after learning mana skin to safely regulate her mana zone ability had yielded some very interesting results that still needed to be practiced quite a bit more before she would risk using them outside of experimentation. Plus, a single real spell didn’t leave her much in the way of options.

Wind magic was the element she had the most spells in, having days to pour over Zell’s grimoire and compare it to another sword crafted spell for reference back when she had still been getting the feel of human magic down, but they all revolved around needing a focus for the casting and the spell had to be maintained on top of a second spell if Sunset wanted to do anything else besides wave a fancy blade around.

Water and Earth were out. What she knew about them consisted mostly of farming techniques and things she had gleaned from Sister Lilly’s grimoire. The same for the specialized versions, like plant and ice magic. Sunset didn’t even know combat spells for them.

Fire was...risky. While her only other real viable option, Sunset understood how easily it could get out of control. She didn’t want to hurt anyone...permanently. Which fire could do in a very visible way.

Lost in thought, Sunset didn’t realize she was near the head of the line until hearing the man behind the desk.

“A four leaf clover?!”

Sunset looked up and blinked as the crowd started to go into gossip mode, talking among themselves about the rarity of such a book. You know, I wonder what would have happened if Yuno had decided he was good with just living his life out in Hage, she asked herself, imagining the boy holding a four leaf clover while a small farm decorated the background. It wasn’t like the book controlled his mind or anything.

Then came Asta, who handed the man in front of them his book, and Sunset felt a bit of worry. Oh crap! Asta’s book had five leaves. What were they going to make of something like that? Would they think it was fake? Call for some kind of investigation? LOCK HIM UP AND THROW AWAY THE KEY?

“Ugh! Is that mold on the cover? Just...don’t put it so close to me, kid,” the mage said as he looked away from the book and touched it with a single finger, as if it were toxic. “You’re number one-sixty-five.”

Okay...I’m going to have to say it. Thank you God, Sunset thought to herself before pulling out her grimoire and showing it to the man in the dark green robes. “Sunset Shimmer, also from Hage Village.”

“One-sixty-six, next!”

“Heh, a looker like you coming from a rat-infested swamp like Hage,” someone said from behind Sunset before she turned around to see who it was. The young man was a tall-ish blonde with a slender figure in a purple jacket with his hair held down by a band, even though the rear stuck out everywhere wildly. When Sunset turned around, he had the audacity to look down at her chest. “Strange, you don’t seem as malnourished as someone from the Forsaken Realm should be.”

Sunset pointed to the guy before looking over to the mage across the desk. “Will kicking him in the balls be grounds for disqualification?”

“Yes,” the mage replied before looking back to the man. “Name?”

“Sekke Bronzazza, from…”

Sunset didn’t stick around to hear the rest.

After following the hallway that curved around, there were some signs that pointed Sunset to the coliseum’s arena section. Out in the open air, she looked around to see what had to have been at least three-hundred people and growing standing around as several birds that looked a good deal like Secre flying around. Then, the first stage of the exam has already started, she realized while looking around through the crowd.

Yuno wasn’t hard to find. Height aside, most people were looking at him or making some comment about the kid who the birds wouldn’t come within ten feet of. She thought about running over to him for a minute, but...decided against it.

This was when all the other mages were supposed to be picking out their prey. Yuno deciding to just stand in the middle of everyone with a big sign that said ‘POWERFUL’ might have seemed like a smart idea to attract someone good enough for him to put on a show, but two such demonstrations would divide everyone’s attentions probably make the smarter mages stand back to let the big fish take the other out.

As for Asta…

“Get ‘em off! Get ‘em off! Get‘emoffget‘emoffget‘emoff!” the boy yelled as over a dozen of the birds chased him around the arena, much to everyone’s laughter.

Sunset groaned and held her hand to her face as she backed up to a pillar on the side of the area. With her back protected, she hoped that anyone looking and seeing her lack of birds, would just take it as partly due to her position next to the wall as she scanned the crowd to find someone that would help her put on a good show.

The results were...mixed.

Everyone in the crowd had a good deal more mana in them than anyone in Hage, as was to be expected. But the level of which varied greatly. Starting at the top of the heap was Yuno, at ten. Asta was a total zero. In comparison, citizens from Hage ranked somewhere between one and two. Most of the people in the arena were somewhere around the five or six range. There were a few standouts, but Sunset didn’t put anyone above an eight because there was such a sharp drop between someone like Yuno, and the next guy in line that she could see. 

There were still more people coming in, but out of the three-hundred odd men and women that were already in attendance, nobody even came close to the black-haired boy from Hage. I knew Yuno and I were standouts, but is the gap really that big? she asked herself. 

There was a sound from behind her, and Sunset blinked before looking back inside the shaded area of the arena floor that extended beneath the stands above them. A girl in expensive-looking white silks over a light purple dress that didn’t even come halfway to her knees stood by herself. Her white, almost silver, hair was done up in pigtails that were almost out on the side of her head rather than at the back. She was almost hidden by the support that Sunset had been leaning up against. The girl took a step back as Sunset turned all the way around to approach her.

“Hey, we can wait in the shade?” she asked before walking into the slightly cooler darkness.

The girl’s pink eyes went wide for a moment before she frowned and her stance changed to one of practiced disdain. “Do not address me with such familiarity, commoner! Do you know who you are addressing?”

Sunset’s face went from slightly friendly to pensive as she took a second to get a reading on the girl.

The snob was no Yuno, but she stood head and shoulders above everyone else. Well, looks like I found someone to pick a fight with, Sunset told herself. Since, from what Sunset could tell, the level of mana went hand and hand with a person’s magical skill, the girl in front of her might actually help her put on a decent show.

So, Sunset put on her best uncaring face and pointed at the girl. “A brat?”

The girl’s eyes widened and she actually shook with anger for a moment. “Why you!” she spat before inclining her head a bit more so she was looking down her nose at Sunset. “I am royalty.”

Sunset blinked at the declaration before the strangest thought ran through her mind. Is this what I would have been like, if Celestia had made me an alicorn two years ago? For some reason she just couldn’t fathom, Sunset didn’t like the image it created in her mind.

Wanting to get away from such thoughts, Sunset quickly moved on. “And you have to take the test too?” she asked before giving the girl a mocking grin. “Gee, I hope you do okay. It would be a real shame if a lowly commoner like me ends up spanking your bratty little butt in front of everyone here. That would be so embarrassing for both you and your entire family.”

Fear actually seemed to enter the girl’s eyes for a moment as she took a step back, making Sunset wonder what she had said wrong. This was supposed to be the part where the royal pain made some stupid comeback and said they would see each other at the final test. But the girl just stood there...frozen.

Sunset started to get a little worried. “Um...hey, you okay? Did I do something wrong?” she asked nervously.

The rest of Sunset’s thought process came to an abrupt end when she felt an oddly out of place presence in the arena behind her. It was strong, far stronger than any examinee had a right to be, a good deal more powerful than the man who had killed Lilly, and focused as well. Sunset turned around and frowned at the sight.

There was a big man in white muscle shirt and black pants with protective leather coverings, wearing an oddly curved sword on his hip. His body was muscular, but not overly so, while his hair spiked in nearly every direction and looked to be in need of a good combing. Sunset couldn’t see his face, as the man’s back was to her, but he seemed to be talking down at someone she couldn’t see at all.

Two men stood beside him, each wearing a ridiculously short cloaks with a hood pulled down. The first was an odd-looking man in some sort of uniform, complete with military hat, that had skin of an unnaturally pale color. The other had on a green shirt underneath his robes and a messy head of light brown hair.

“Ugh, what in the hell is he doing here?”

Sunset blinked and looked over to Royal Pain. “You know that guy?” she asked.

Don’t tell me he’s an examinee, she thought in disbelief. Sunset knew that people could try out more than once, but a guy like that failing seemed odd when compared to the rest of the examinees.

“That’s Yami Sukehiro,” she said, sounding like she swallowed something unpleasant. “He’s a foreigner from some unimportant island so far away it’s not even worth mentioning, and captain of the Black Bulls.” Then, the girl suddenly seemed to notice what she was doing and took a leap backwards, as if she was afraid Sunset was going to infect her with something horrible. “Gah! Why am I telling you this?”

After thinking about it for a second, Sunset decided to go with a somewhat complementary option. “Because, despite the way you act, your first instinct is to have a helpful attitude?” she suggested, remembering how Royal Pain had been a few minutes ago. The girl’s actions had seemed a conscious decision.

Royal Pain’s eye twitched before she crossed her arms and turned away with a sniff.

The whole thing made Sunset sigh in defeat when she heard fireworks start to go off above the arena and another commotion begin. Well, I can always try finding her during the last round. Now that they had met, it would be easier to just walk up to her and make a challenge when the time came.

With things fixing to start, Sunset made her way back into the arena and looked around for Asta, despite the difficulty of trying to find the shortest person there. With his luck, the boy would end up at the center of some kind of problem unless she was there to look out for him.

She found him near the center of the arena. talking to the blonde boy that had been behind her in line. “-same to you, I’m Asta,” he said while smiling at the taller man.

Sunset stopped and kept to the background of the crowd. There was no need to step in at the moment, so it was probably best to hang back until the blonde loser went his own way. Unfortunately the idiot stayed around and talked to Asta as nine people entered the stands to come sit in a collection of stone chairs that were spaced a good deal apart without making it hard to share a few words with the person next to them. It also looked like there was some kind of enchantment around the special seats, most likely to cancel out noise, but the look of it. 

The idiot next to Asta began pointing out each one, starting with a man wearing a blue outfit under a stylized short robe that looked like it was made of large white feathers. He had the same hair color as Royal Pain, but his hung down the back of his head in long locks while a...short braid of odd design came down between his eyes at the front of his face. “That’s Nozel Silva, the captain of the Silver Eagles.”

After him came a man in a red cape, with orange-red hair that looked far too much like Meroleona’s to be a coincidence. “That’s Captain Fuegoleon Vermillion. Captain of the Crimson Lions...or are they going by the Crimson Lion Kings, now? Ah well, doesn’t matter.”

A sudden realization hit Sunset. Oh, that’s why she wanted us to deliver the letter, the non-unicorn thought to herself. Although, if the woman had known they were going to run into the man at the entrance exam, why mention all that stuff about their estate?

Then came a man in a short green cape that looked unnaturally thin, sporting a red mark down his left eyes from his temple to his jaw. “Jack the Ripper, leader of the Praying Mantises. It’s said that he can cut anything in two with his magic, but...who wants to be named after a bug, am I right?”

After him was a woman in a helmet and breastplate made to fit her breasts, wearing a blue robe with a rose as the broach. “That’s Charlotte Roselei. Her Blue Rose squad is nothing but women.”

Next to her sat a headset man, also in armor that Sunset could make out beneath his purple cape and other attire. The man’s large head was also protected by a mask that only covered his nose and eyes. “Gueldre Poizot, Captain of the Purple Orcas.”

Asa looked over to the taller boy. “That’s it?”

“Pfft, who wants to be one of those losers?” the loser next to Asta replied.

The next captain to be introduced was a woman in a pink cape and matching hat that looked like it belonged on a witch’s Nightmare Night costume. “Captain Dorthy Unsworth, of the Coral Peacocks.”

Sunset blinked. Is she...sleepwalking? the redhead asked herself as the woman walked with her head down and eyes closed. When talking about how weird the captains were supposed to be, it seemed that Secre had forgot to mention the narcoleptic.

Then came...a child. The little boy with poofed up white hair couldn’t have been out of his teens, dressed in his fancy white clothes beneath a cape of very light blue. The fact he was giving everyone a bright smile and waving did little to assure Sunset he was wise beyond his years when everyone else sat in stoic silence. “Rill Boismortier of the Aqua Deer. He’s the youngest captain ever at the age of nineteen.”

“Just nineteen and already a captain? Yaah! I’ll be the Wizard King before I know it!” Asta said excitedly.

The idiot next to him...didn’t seem to agree. “BA-HA!” he laughed in an annoying way. “You? The Wizard King? Well...you’re going to have to beat out someone else for that title,” he said before pointing up at the seats of honor.

Taking her attention off of Asta and BaHa Guy, Sunset looked up and blinked. While they had been talking, that Yami guy had also taken a seat on the far right. Glad I got that introduction to him from ms Royal Pain, Sunset told herself as the crowd started to get excited.

The person all the hype was about was a man of ordinary build, dressed in a red cloak under a fancy tan overly. He wore a mask of blue and sandy gold, with red and white decor that went around the back and two large feathers sticking out the back. “That’s William Vangeance, captain of the Golden Dawn, said to be the most powerful squad.”

Sunset took one look at the man, his odd attire, and ran the name of his group through her mind. It might have been the most prestigious group, but...No thanks. Maybe, if it had been something other than Golden, she might have considered it. But...it was just way too Celestia for Sunset’s taste.

As soon as the last person sat down, another group of people stepped up to stand behind them. Probably their aides, guessing by the fact the two people from before had been following the Black Bull guy around.

“And the Wizard King?” Asta asked excitedly.

“Ba-Ha! Like he would come to an event like this,” BaHa Guy said with a shrug. “It’s hard enough just getting the captains in one place. Let alone him and them.”

The crowd began to quiet down and the Golden Dawn captain spoke up. “Attention examinees, I will be your proctor for this year’s exam,” he announced. “After last year’s...incident-”

“-hey! Fighting when they’re a bit tipsy is a good way to judge a newbie mage’s adaptability!” Yami said.

William continued on as if nobody had spoken. “-it has been decided to rework the exam into a multitude of challenges, testing your ability within a specific field,” he said before opening his golden book and casting a spell of some sort Sunset couldn’t hear him announce.

There was a swirl of mana that caused the wind to blow before the clouds in the sky above darkened and swirled together at an unnatural speed. Then, a golden light shone through the center and a tree, of all things, began to grow towards the ground as it descended from above. As it got close to the people below, the branches joined together in some places, extending towards the examinees to form...brooms?

Sunset moaned in embarrassment as the tree offered her the mass of straw on the end of a stick, remembering that stupid series of books back in Equestria about a hidden school of magic for earth ponies with wands that let them use magic, and where they flew around on brooms. Everyone had said that it was amazing but the unicorn that was in the real magic school found it rather pedestrian and predictable.

Still, she grabbed the broom and frowned at it. Father Orisi had one back at the church, but Sunset had never been comfortable with floating on one. It rubbed her crotch the wrong way and whenever she asked Lilly how to keep that from happening, she got all red in the face and unable to answer. A quick inspection of the item told Sunset it worked on the same basic principles as the old man’s broom, but there were some distinct differences. The mana didn’t flow through it very well, meaning getting more than a few feet off the ground would be hard. And the higher one went, the harder it would be. The wood was also decaying at an extended rate. She doubted it would last an hour.

“For your first test, you must use your brooms to fly,” William announced as the young man behind him demonstrated the feat. “It is the most basic way to get from one place to another. If a mage can not fly on a broom, then they are not worth our time. Now, begin!”

Sunset winced as she looked to the cleaning implement in her hand while everyone else got on their brooms and began to rise into the air at different rates. Some struggled, some didn’t. Yuno did like he did back home and stood on the damn thing before rising up. Unlike him, Sunset chose the sane option and looked around to see how the other girls were getting up in the air on their sticks as some people fell off their brooms moments after getting on.

She also noticed something peculiar. The girl with the silver hair was still standing in the shade, clutching her broom and looking like she wanted to run away or go hide.

Sunset studied her for a moment as her knees shook while she looked up at everyone else from what had to have been a limited view of the test and…

“But I’m scared to try and use magic in front of everypony else, what if I mess up?” Cadenza’s words from one of their earlier tutoring sessions ran through her head.

“If that's the case, I guess you’ll never do magic, then,” Sunset’s indifferent reply went.

The memory made Sunset groan as she felt guilt, of all things, rise up in her gut. Cadenza had been young and stupid, not to mention talentless and a complete waste of time, but...looking back on things...Sunset had to admit that she could have done a better job with her. It was the principle of the thing. Not putting one’s best hoof forward at everything was just a way for a loser to live their life.

So, she could either not do the right thing to do, or...go help the frightened brat.

“Damnit, I’m just too fucking nice sometimes,” she grumbled before heading back into the shaded area to talk to the girl.

Since Royal Pain didn’t even seem to notice Sunset, the girl cleared her throat. “Hey!” she said a bit too forcefully.

The girl let out a startled scream before turning around to stare at Sunset with wide eyes. Then she got herself under control and gave the redhead a scowl. “Oh, it’s you. What do you want?”

Sunset’s eye twitched. Maybe this had been a bad idea after all. “I came to see if anything was wrong,” she said. “Are you...afraid of heights, or something?”

“WHAT KIND OF STUPID QUESTION IS THAT?” the girl demanded. “I’m fine!” Then she pointed a finger at Sunset. “I don’t see you on your broom!”

After taking in a deep breath, Sunset made a mental count. Okay...that’s two...give her one more try and...wait, I can’t hit her before the last part of the exam. So, Sunset put the broom between her legs and relaxed before pushing herself off the ground and moving mana into the object. “If you’re afraid of falling off or something, I could stay close to catch you. If that makes you feel better.”

The girl clutched her broom tightly. “Why are you…”

Sunset grit her teeth and looked away in embarrassment. “Because I used to know another royal pain-”

“What did you just call me?!” the girl demanded.

And...that’s three, Sunset told herself. “Okay, whatever. I tried,” she thought before turning her broom around...to see there was only one person left standing on the ground.

Asta was grunting with effort as he held the broom beneath his legs that refused to rise into the air. The sight made Sunset wince. Her first instinct was to try cheating a bit to help the boy, but the unicorn very much doubted that any action on her part would go unnoticed by experienced magic users.

Maybe if the levitation field was tight enough from a short range? Sunset wondered. Although, questions would quickly arise of the boy that couldn’t fly suddenly got into the air when Sunset got next to him.

“Ouch...that’s...in front of all those people,” Royal Pain mumbled, making Sunset look away as she saw BaHa guy flying up next to Asta to offer some instructional encouragement, of all things.

Sunset looked over to the other girl, feeling a little better about trying to help her. The fact that Royal Pain wasn’t laughing at Asta made Sunset think she was worth giving another shot...or ten. It wasn’t often someone didn’t mock the earth pony with two legs.

Then, she sucked in a deep breath as Sunset felt one of the captains approach the two of them from behind. “Well, here goes,” she said before looking over to Sunset. “Uh...you said you’ll catch me?”

Damnit, the more I’m with this girl, the less I think I can beat her up, Sunset realized. Which was a big problem, considering how magic was the will of the user made manifest. “Yeah,” she promised.

“What do you think you’re doing, Noelle?”

Instead of jumping out of her skin, the girl named Noelle cringed and sunk in on herself before looking back at the Silver Eagles’ commander. “B-Big brother,” she said in a depressed, nervous tone that sounded more afraid than anything else.

“You, get back to the arena, now,” the man with the odd hairstyle ordered before turning away from Sunset, as if not being obeyed never even crossed his mind. “And you. You are well aware that royals need not take part in the exams. Now, stop this foolishness and-” was all the redhead managed to catch as she pulled away.

Sunset frowned. Their interaction seemed a bit off, but...the guy was her brother. He probably wanted to...tell her not to worry, or something. So, Sunset turned and did as told, keeping herself pushed up on the stick between her legs as much as possible. It’s not going to be for long, just don’t try to move around too much, she told herself while rising up while keeping her mind busy by counting all the other applicants.

If Royal Pain, or rather, Noelle had been pulled out, that left...an uneven number of applicants by Sunset’s count. So...what, someone fights twice?

The end of the broom test was called, and Sunset thankfully let herself drop back to ground level along with everyone else. The brooms evaporated and the next part of the exam was set up, forcing all the examinees to clear the center of the arena while it was prepared.

Sunset managed to find Yuno in the crowd, although Asta was too short to pick out with everyone bunched up like they were. “So...it looks like we may have a problem.”

“I thought the bird said there were only three tests,” Yuno grumbled.

“That’s the problem,” Sunset said. 

After a few seconds, Yuno took in a deep breath. “Well, there’s nothing that can be done about it now. If the worst happens, we’ll have to figure something out,” he said right before William began another announcement.

“Lady Sol, if you would please-”

“Hey!” the dark-skinned woman in tight clothes that left nearly half of her body open to the air yelled from her place behind the Blue Rose’s captain. “No man can order me! I only take commands from Char!”

From her place in front of the loudmouthed idiot, Charlotte groaned and rubbed her temple. “Sol, just do like you’re supposed to and set up the next test,” she ordered. “And call me captain!”

“Sure thing Char!” the woman named Sol said happily before pulling out her spellbook. A second later, five lines of thin brick walls had been created, with ten walls per line.

Charlotte groaned again as William began talking. “For your second test, you will release your magic in a destructive form, free of your grimoires. Try to destroy as many barriers as you can in a single shot.”

To try and get her mind off the Asta problem and Yuno do the same, Sunset stood up on her toes and whispered into the boy’s ear. “Bet mine can go deeper than yours.”

For some reason, Yuno’s face became red and his eyes widened as he took a step back to glare at her. “Do you have any idea what you just said.”

Sunset thumbed at the targets. “Yeah, I said I could beat you when it comes to blowing things up.”

As Yuno glared at her some more, people were being called out by their number, meaning that as the test went on, the brother and sister eventually found the third member of their orphan family to line up next to, as well as the BaHa Guy Asta had talked to earlier on top of some other idiot that had been in front of Yuno in line.

The idiot went first, managing to destroy three walls with his water attack.

When he did, Sunset realized something. I still haven’t picked an element.

GAAAAAH! Why did I have to waste all that time talking to Royal Pain? she mentally shrieked. Okay...so...so...I need something I can do good with…

Yuno let loose his power, slicing through ten walls with a wave of his hand. Of course, everyone was impressed with the display.

Then, came Asta’s turn…

“HA!” he shouted before throwing out both hands to...do absolutely nothing.

Okay, just hurry up and pick one then. Fire, water, wind or light, you’ve narrowed it down to that much at least.

“HIYA!” Asta shouted as he tried again.

On second thought, water is out. I don’t know enough magic for it to be impressive.

“Ultimate attack!”

Wind is...just a bunch of sword moves. I never really practiced with a weapon and now that I really think about it...I didn’t bring anything I could use as a focus.

“Oh, come on, just one time! Is that too much to ask?”

So it’s either light or fire. Light spells are impressive, but it's the same problem I have with water magic. Not to mention, considering how rare light mages are supposed to be, learning anything new would be few and far between, Sunset told herself. While the possibility of creating new spells was there, she was still just getting used to crafting mana matrices based on what she gleaned from someone else’s grimoire. Which wasn’t as simple as just reading the instructions, as they had to be adapted for her type of magic.

“Excuse me, but are you going to actually do anything?” a strong voice asked from up in the stands.

Both Asta and Sunset looked up to see the guy with the orange-red hair and red cape had stood up to address the boy. To which Asta replied. “I...I...guess not,” he finally said.

“NEXT!” Fuegoleon ordered.

Sunset took a step forward as Asta moved back and opened her right hand to focus her mana into it. Since it was just supposed to be throwing raw power, without any real form or crafting to it, Sunset condensed the mana as much as possible before her hand started to feel a burn, then let it loose in the direction of the wall in front of her. It burned through the first, then the second, third and fourth, losing a little of its cohesion by the fifth before tearing through six seven nine and ten with miniature explosions before continuing on. Then, after blowing through one more obstacle in its path, the bolt of fire finally exploded on the coliseum’s wall. Which had a hole it at the end.

“HA! That's that! Eleven walls and one column!” Sunset exclaimed as she pointed at Yuno before hearing the sound of falling stone and looking back to see the part of the structure that the pillar had been supporting collapsed. “And um...that part of the building too.”

Yuno gave the girl a frown. “That doesn’t count!”

Grinning that she was getting under her little brother’s skin, Sunset just kept going. “You got ten, and I got eleven! Which is one more. Looks like it counts just fine to me.”

Then came the magic control test, in which the examinees were told to shoot pieces of floating paper with targets on them. Not only was it a test for accuracy, but people were judged on how much paper was left when their attack got finished. 

Yuno managed to hit his dead center while only cutting a slice through sixty-percent of the paper. Sunset burned through the bullseye and first inner ring before her fire went out. Asta...didn’t touch his target with anything.

After that was the creation magic test, with people sculpting their magic into basic forms and holding them for the judges to examine. While not actual creation magic spells, as the people involved had to use the utmost concentration just to hold the most basic forms together, it was a good test of control and imagination.

Yuno held up his bird made out of wind that was nearly half as big as he was on his arm.

Sunset petted the giant lioness that sat beside her, that was as big as the real thing. “Mine’s bigger.”

“Feh. Hawks are cooler,” he replied.

Up in the stands, Sunset’s ears twitched when she heard a rough man’s voice reach her. “Hey, look at that big cat. She’s like a little Sisgoleon! Were you stepping out on the town after you got your grimoire?”

Sunset looked up in time to see the redheaded captain glaring at the bit muscular one that had one of those smoking sticks she had seen the mayor of Hage with from time to time. “You know that’s not my sister’s name, right?”

Yami took the cigarette out of his mouth and looked over to the other man. “What? Don’t you guys just stick goleon on the end of your names, like...Sisgoleon, Brogoleon, Oldgoleon, you know, that kind of thing?”

“...my name is Leopold,” the much younger redhead standing behind Fuegoleon while the older brother rubbed his temple.

After that, came the magic evolution test, where the examinees were told to pump their mana into a seed to change the plant’s attributes to one based off of their personal mana…

“How did this happen?” Yuno asked as he looked at Sunset’s creation.

Sunset looked at the large crystal tree standing in front of them that seemed to sparkle as it reflected the light, creating a multitude of rainbows. “Well obviously, my seed was defective, or someone had already messed with it,” she said before grabbing Yuno by the collar and pulling him down to eye level. “Idiot, you know my magical baseline is different than yours! I can adapt it to fit certain roles, but this is what happens when you get my pure mana poured into something!”

“Pretty,” Asta commented as he stood off to the side.

Focusing her mana into a kick after giving it a fire attribute, Sunset hit the bad art project and shattered it at the base with a focused explosion, knocking it down and letting it break apart on the ground.

After everyone was done showing their stuff, everyone was gathered in the center of the arena once again to listen to William’s instructions. “Now for the final test. You will pair off and battle each other in one on one matches to show your combat ability,” he said in a tone that might as well have been discussing the weather.

“So prepare to duel!” Fugoleon shouted as he stood up from his seat and took a step forward. “As magic knights, combat is our duty! So show us everything you are capable of!”

William moved to pick up the explanation. “The test will end when one of the combatants is either too injured to continue or surrenders. If you should happen to kill your opponent, that will be taken into consideration as this is not a battle to the death. A magic knight must also be able to control their power,” he announced. “We have mages skilled in recovery magic standing by for the injured.”

And of course, the girl I singled out to take on fucked off before we got to this point, Sunset thought to herself. Which also brought up another point in her mind. “Excuse me!” she said while raising her hand.

The redheaded blinked and looked down to her. “Yes?”

“What happens if there’s an odd number of candidates and someone is left without a partner?” Sunset asked.

After giving a small chuckle, Fugoleon reached up to rub his chin. “While I can applaud your forward thinking, I can assure you that there is an even number of candidates. We’ve seen the rolls, and there are exactly five-hundred-and-fourteen of you down there.”

“No there’s not,” Sunset pointed out verbally as she stuck her finger out at the guy with the silvery hair physically. “He had one withdrawn during the broom test.”

Fugoleon blinked, then looked over to Nozel. “You made a candidate withdraw?”

The man with the braid crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. “Noelle has no business taking the exam.”

“That failure actually signed up?” the woman behind Nozel, who was wearing the same style of clothes and sporting the same hair exclaimed. “Was she trying to bring shame to our family?”

William cleared his throat. “In the case of a candidate left out without a partner...we will provide a suitable opponent to the last person left.”

Everyone in the crowd tensed as what the man had just said.

“D...did he just say the odd man out has to fight a captain?”

“Or one of their lieutenants!”

“But if you lose the fight, doesn’t that tank your chances of joining a squad?”

The last question created a hectic scramble to find a partner among the mob, quickly turning the whole thing into a total mess that the captains had to stop before telling everyone to vacate the open air area while those who had already found a partner to prepare for combat. Surprisingly, it was Asta that went up first, along with that BaHa guy he had been talking to for most of the second stage of the exam.

With the actual fights starting, the crowd calmed down a little, and Sunset found Yuno standing in a corner. “So...found a partner yet?”

“No. And Secre told us not to fight each other,” he reminded her before looking up past her head. “Now quite down, Asta’s up.”

Now that he was actually doing something he might have a chance at, Asta’s attitude had gone back to it’s normal level of optimism. The other guy...whose name Sunset was feeling a little guilty of not remembering since he had actually turned out to be a decent person grinned down at the shorter boy. As far as mana went, the guy wasn’t anywhere near the top...a middling level mage when it came to most of the other examinees.

Sunset didn’t know if that was good or bad, considering Asta’s limitations.

At least he’s not a flyer, Sunset told herself. The guy had ‘bronze’ magic, which probably meant it was earth related.

“Okay Sekke,” Asta said as he pulled out his grimoire. “Let’s have a good match. No holding back because we’re friends.”

The other boy, who in all honesty looked a good deal older than he actually was, raised up his own spell book that had a dark green blow to it. “Ba-Ha! Are you kidding me? You’re just some grubby little gutter rat that’s way out of his depth. The only reason I even talked to you was so that I would have someone that would let me showcase all of my abilities,” he said. “I’ll be chosen by a top squad and live in comfort for the rest of my life! Now, let’s hurry up and get this over with, so I can send you back to the trash heap you came from, filthy commoner.”

A mage Sunset had remembered seeing from registration raised his hand. “Now...begin!”

Within a second of the match beginning, Sekke cast a spell that surrounded him in a glowing field of solid magical energy that looked like it had cannons for focusing points that would condense his mana for counterattacks. In theory, it was a nice spell, combining offense and defense at the cost of mobility. Although, a skilled magic user could easily tear it apart by creating a spell from underneath him, inside the boy’s defense, that took more ability than it looked like nearly everyone at the exam had.

But at the same time, he was nothing more than a stationary target.

“Well...this fight’s over,” Yuno commented.

“Yep,” Sunset agreed as she glanced over to the taller boy.

Which actually made her miss what happened next as the sound of breaking bone filled the air.

In the second it took her to look at Yuno, Asta had gone from more than thirty feet away from the other man to standing over him, his sword dawn and Sekke’s spell struggling just to continue existing from being cut it half. It winked out completely a second later.

Sunset breathed out a sigh of relief as everyone in the area gasped in surprise at the outcome of the match. Then, a thought occurred to her, and she took in a deep breath. “Oh my! Do you mean to tell me that little twerp was faking it this whole time to try and catch his opponent off guard?” she asked nobody in particular rather loudly.

“Do you really think any of them is going to fall for that?” Yuno deadpanned as he nodded up towards the captains.

“Oh my gosh! You mean he was just pretending that he didn’t have any magical power?” Rill, the child captain, exclaimed in surprise. 

The rest of the captains groaned and rubbed their heads at the boy’s comment.

Down in the arena, all of this went unnoticed by Asta as he hefted his sword back onto his shoulder. “Unlike you Sekke, I’m not here to join the Magic Knights so I could just slack off and have a little fun. I’M HERE TO BECOME THE WIZARD KING!”

While the crowd was reacting to Asta’s latest declaration, Sunset moved off to find someone to pick on. She looked around, doing her best to gauge the person who ended up in her sights in an effort to find someone to beat up. With Noelle gone, it almost felt like she was a prize fighter looking to take down the least sickly child she could find in a professional match.

It was then that she came across what looked to be the perfect candidate. Just going by his clothes, the teen with dark hair that was combed upwards to a point was obviously a noble. His choice of dress was a poofy maroon shirt underneath a frilly white vest. The only sensible clothing that he had on was a good pair of pants and high boots that almost came up to his knees. But what really interested her was his magic. The man was leaning back against the wall as a pair of golems half his height that were made of mud were giving him a pedicure. Someone that could make autonomous enemies for Sunset to fight meant she didn’t have to worry about hurting him.

“Hi there,” she said to the man happily with a bright smile. “I’m still looking for a partner, would you like to fight little ol’ me?”

A young man opened his eyes to give Sunset glare. “Stupid little peasant. I’m not going to waste my time fighting you, Aquatius and I have already decided to settle our rivalry today and-”

Before he could continue, Sunset promptly spat in the boy’s face with as much liquid as she could build up during the idiot’s slow speech. The guy who Sunset decided to name Mud, after his golems, stood there in shock. “Awwww, you mad?” she asked while everyone around them gaped at the display. “I wonder what all these other examinees are going to think, letting a filthy little commoner do this to you and getting away with it because you and your friend agreed to fight a fake battle in an attempt to make you both look good?”

As the people around them began to whisper about things, such as the word fake, and how long the two boys had known each other, Mud began to shake with anger. “You...you little bitch!” he shouted. “I don’t care if this is just an exam, I’LL KILL YOU!”

“Come and get me big boy!” Sunset called out as she half-ran, half-skipped out into the arena.





Secre sat on her perch, above where the knight captains were seated as she saw Sunset practically dance her way onto the field and turned around after passing the judge. A young man came storming out after her, his grimoire glowing with magic. “Filthy peasant!” he shrieked.

“You’re the one that’s all dirty, Mud Boy!” she taunted with a gleeful tone.

“Ready you’re grimoires!” the judge commanded.

Sunset actually blinked in confusion, making Secre groan internally when she actually reached behind her to take the book out of its case and make it float up to her in an aura of light blue.

In the stands, the boorish captain of the Black Bulls chuckled. “Hey look, it’s Babygoleon,” he said with a chuckle as the mud mage created a trio of golems that were equal in size to him, but much more bulky.

Secre found herself wondering if Sunset had chosen wisely or made a foolish error. Mud magic, an odd mixture of earth and water, was rather resistant to fire attacks. It could smother flames rather easily and withstand great temperatures thanks to it being...well, mud.

“Oh, for the love of-Yami, would you please stop making that-” Before Fuegoleon could finish, Sunset wreathed her arm in flame and struck out in the direction of the approaching golems. The flames from the resulting explosion dried out the mud before the force blew away all threee golems less than a second later when they were caught by the kinetic energy of the blast.

All of the captains were silent for a moment, making Leo speak up from behind Fuegoleon. “Hey Brother, was that the Calidus Brachium? Because that looked a lot like Sister’s Calidus Brachium.”

Fuegoleon tensed. “Don’t be absurd! That’s...our sister’s spell is a forceful expulsion of flame and physical power. Rather simple when you get down to it. Anyone could develop-”

Down on the arena floor, Sunset pointed at the noble. “Hey Mud, don’t tell me that was all you got. I roped you into fighting me because I thought I could use you to show off my skills. Now hurry up and make another target, or I’ll burn off your clothes and let your friends watch me beat your bare ass all around this little circle!”

Yami took a drag from his cigarette and grinned. “She kinda sounds like your sister too!” he said in a joking manner before looking back down to her with a much more serious expression. “But that ki...it feels different than anyone I’ve sensed before. Almost inhuman.”

“Alright, this foolishness has gone on long enough!” Fuegoleon told them. “One similar spell and some red hair does not a relationship make! And I find your insinuations rather insulting. I had no time for women after I gained my grimoire for quite some time.”

Down on the floor, Mud sent a giant golem nearly fifteen feet tall at the redhead as she stood there, taunting the boy. Then, a lioness that had a head equal in height to Sunset’s took shape before firing a concentrated beam of fire magic right into the mass of mud that dried it out and made it crumble a moment later.

“...but I am beginning to wonder,” he said after a moment. “Father was a wood mage, so that leaves…oh no.”

Sunset glared at the boy across from her. “Okay, how about this then? I’ll give you a free hit. If I let you hit me, will you stop standing there like an idiot and attack?”

Secre could understand the confusion of the captains and their sudden interest in things other than the fight. Although magic developed differently in everyone that had a grimoire, there were certain trends within a family line. Nearly all of the Vermillion household were fire users with magic that took the shape of lions when it was given form. Each spell might have been different, but was there really that much variation in a blast of fire that was a gout of flame and one that was a spiral?

Sitting on the other side of William, Nozel groaned and looked over to the redheaded captain. “Fuegoleon, you can’t honestly be considering what I think you are,” he said. “Fire is a base element. Dozens of peasants have it and craft magic in the shape of animals. Just because one of them has red hair means nothing.”

Back on the ground, a twenty foot golem came towards Sunset, who took in a deep breath and condensed the mana around her body into a tight skin before the giant of watered dirt stomped down on her with a foot that completely covered the girl. It stood there for a moment as the noble gloated. Then the mud on the leg that had stomped on Sunset hardened up to where the knee should have been on the shambling mound of earth before it shattered from an outpouring of mana from inside the creature’s leg.

“Mana skin?” William muttered. “That’s not a technique you can just stumble across. Someone would have had to have trained her. And to be able to use it at her age. The youngest I’ve ever seen it used is at sixteen.”

Charlotte’s eyes narrowed. “This girl, she’s no commoner. She’s had professional training.” 

As the golem began to tilt backwards, Sunset’s fiery aura took shape and formed a pair of arms with lion paws on the end that reached up to grab the golem’s hands by the wrists before drying it out and ripping off most of its forearms before it fell backwards on the man who cast it.

For his part, Fuegoleon sat in his chair, his face a mask of disbelief. “This...this isn’t...she...she can’t possibly be…”

Nozel looked over to the other man. “Fuegoleon, the girl is fifteen. Your sister would have had to have been seventeen when she conceived,” he said with a frown before an uneasy expression crossed his face. “When she visited Mother...and she told your sister what a blessing children are.”

“Come on, you guys can’t possibly be suggesting that girl down there is my niece,” the sixteen year old redhead commented.

In the arena, Sunset fummed as her opponent pulled himself out of the muck left by his own golem falling on him. “HEY! GET YOUR SORRY ASS UP! I THOUGHT YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE TOUGH!” the fiery redhead shouted as an aura of flames surrounded her while the noble trembled in fear at the monster in front of him. “AND QUIT CRYING YOU DAMN PANSY! I’M NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!”

“...so, who do you think the father is?” Nozel asked after a few seconds of watching the redhead yell at her opponent. 

Most of the captains turned to look at Yami, sitting on the end. Who flinched under the gazes. “Hey! I would have been like, thirteen! Get your timelines straight!” he yelled back at them.

Charlotte jumped to her feet in defense of her fellow captain. “That’s right! Yami would have been much too young.”

“Heh,” the foreign captain laughed. “Knowing Sisgoleon, she probably raped a lion to make her baby after beating up all the men in all the bars across the kingdom one night and failing to find anyone tough enough to survive sleeping with her.”

After a few seconds, Fuegoleon hung his head. “I’d take that as an insult to my family’s honor if it probably wasn’t close to the truth. Knowing my sister.”

“...um, you guys do know how babies are made, right?” Charlotte asked in fear.

Rill looked past Dorthy, who was still asleep, and gave the answer. “Of course we do, they're grown in cabbage patches for the stork to fly them to a wanting family, right?”

All of the magic knight captains turned to look at the kid on the other end of the seating and stared. “Okay, why did the Wizard King make this brat a captain, again?” Jack the Ripper asked.

Down below, the noble was giving up, making Sunset fume before she put up her book and stormed her way over to the sidelines in a foul mood that made everyone standing in her direction scatter. Secre was just glad that the insanity happening up in the stands had prevented the knight captains from noticing the fact that Sunset hadn’t bothered to turn the pages in her grimoire when she was fighting.

A lack of calling out spells could be explained by the distance, but every grimoire only had one spell per pair of pages.

“Seriously Brother,” Leo spoke up. “Could Sister have actually hidden a pregnancy from Mother and Father?”

Fuegoleon rubbed his chin in thought. “Well, it’s possible. Mereoleona took Acier Silva’s death hard. She worshiped the woman after all. After the funeral, she disappeared for nearly a year. Nobody knew where she went and Sister didn’t give anyone any details. So we just assumed she went off training, like she tended to do every now and again with increasing frequency. Then, when mother offered her the captaincy, which would have forced her to stay in the capital…”

“So, the woman all but deserted the Magic Knights to raise her bastard child?” Charlotte surmised. 

After a second of silence, William looked over to the woman. “What makes you think she’s a bastard?” he asked calmly. “I’ve only met her twice, but your sister seems exactly like the type of person to throw away tradition and decorum to marry a commoner. Which, the girl’s father most likely is.”

The next match was called, but none of the captains even bothered to look down below.

Nozel looked over to the redhead. “So, what will you do?”

Fuegoleon took in a deep breath to let it out slowly. “As much as it pains me, I’ll have to do the noble thing...and ignore it. The country is littered with bastards. One more isn’t going to make a difference.”

From his place between the two men, William let out a disgruntled moan.

“Won’t Sisgoleon be pretty mad if you snub her baby girl?” Yami taunted.

Tensing at the question, Fuegoleon looked on ahead. “I’ll survive...probably.”

Secre’s eye twitched as the captains finished their conversation and went to look at the next match. I forgot how stupid all these guys are.





Yuno felt an extreme amount of annoyance as the noble he had been up against fell to the ground with a loud thud, the lighting from his own spell still crackling from when it hit his body. Why couldn’t I have gotten a golem user too, he thought with a frown as the noble named Haberdashery, or...something like that, twitched on the ground.

When the battle had begun, Yuno had sent out the first spell he learned at full power, thinking that a noble willing to challenge someone with a four leaf would have at least been able to dodge or put up a defense. But instead, the towering tornado had sucked the boy’s attack up, followed by the boy, and hit him with his own magic before dropping his unconscious body on the ground.

Everyone was going on about how he had easily crushed a noble, but...the tryouts were supposed to be about showing himself off to the captains. The only person who really got help from short matches was simpletons with one trick grimoires, like Asta.

So, Yuno made his way over to where Sunset had managed to clear an empty space in the shade and was sitting in the dark next to Asta. With their matches done, it didn’t make sense not to spend the rest of the day together. Plus, Sunset had all the food.

“Hey, I think I figured out why Secre was calling us stupid,” Asta said as he looked up at the captains.

Sunset looked over to the boy with an even expression. “Please, enlighten us,” she said sarcastically.

Completely missing the point, Asta kept talking. “I think that Fuegoleon guy is whatshername’s brother.”

Resisting the urge to facepalm, Yuno just let it go and spent the rest of the day watching the matches. Some were interesting, others...not so much. There were no more great displays of power, although a water user that rode a snake made from liquid might have put up a better fight than the opponent Yuno ended up going with.

By the time the matches were over, with the final participant actually withdrawing before an opponent could even be selected, the sun was setting and torches had to be lit to send light into illumination crystals that amplified what they were given providing enough light to see. Captain William called for everyone to gather in the arena again, which took up the back half of the total area. Once everyone was there, including some of the mages fresh from behind healed enough to stand on their own two feet, he made his next announcement. “When your number is called, come forward to learn your results.”

Then the woman captain, Charlotte Roselei, stood up. “If you have been chosen, a captain will raise their hand. If more than one squad has chosen you, then you may pick which to join. However, you may decide to decline the invitation.”

“However, if no squad wants you, then you are to leave!” the captain with the red hair announced.

While Asta tensed in his spot next to Yuno, the other boy had something else going through his mind. It was obvious that everything thought the Golden Dawn was the best squad, but in his rush to join the Magic Knights, Yuno realized that he was lacking a crucial piece of information. I have no idea what the differences are between these guys, he thought to himself.

It had to be more than simple teams.

Did they cover different territories of the realm?

Or were there actions specialized, like the Purple Orcas taking care of guarding merchants and taking down criminals while the Green Praying Mantis Squad hunted down enemy mages active somewhere in the kingdom?

Then came the question of...what did he actually want to do as a magic knight?

Because if it turned out the top squad’s job was to sit around and guard nobles while the commoners were being killed in border skirmishes, he wanted nothing to do with the Golden Dawn.

That...was a bit of a revelation, Yuno realized. The old him would have taken one look at the Golden Dawn, and it’s leader, and ran straight at it to try and be the Wizard King as fast as possible.

“You stupid little twerp!” the memory of Mereoleona shouted at him back on the mountain. “The path you take in life is even more important than the destination you hope to reach! Who the hell cares if you become the Wizard King if the way you got the title was by throwing everything important away?”

Yuno may have not needed the whole lecture, but he understood what she was saying.

“Examinee number one, step forward,” the mage that had served as referee during the duels called out. “No hands.”

And so, it continued…

“Examinee number thirty-two...no hands.”

And continued...without a single person being selected…

“Number forty...no hands.”

On…

“Number forty-five...no hands.”

And on…

“Number sixty-seven...no hands.”

Until…

“Number seventy-one…” the mage called out, right before the fat mage in the little mask raised his hand. “The Purple Orcas.”

The crowd started to whisper among themselves, some talking about how lucky the guy was, while others… “I heard his parents bribed someone.” ...sounded jealous.

Seventy-eight got taken by the Crimson Lions.

Ninety-nine saw a hand raised by the sleeping captain with the blonde pretty-boy standing behind her.

“That counts! That counts, right?” the girl said happily. “WOOHOO! No more milking cows!”

They continued on, with some surprising results. Number One-forty-one, who made a rather good showing, was rejected.

Then came Yuno’s turn.

“Number one-sixty-four,” the mage called out before looking up to the captains.

All of whom raised their hands.

While the crowd began to whisper amongst themselves, amazed that the Silver and Gold groups were making offers for someone other than a noble, Yuno...didn’t know what to do. “Can I...have a minute to think?” he asked.

“Of course,” the man in the mask replied from the place where the stone chairs were.

Yuno felt conflicted. The old him looked at the Golden Dawn, the top squad that promised guidance by the man who was second in achievement only to the Wizard King. But...was that the right path to take? “Can I ask a question?”

Captain William nodded. “Go right ahead.”

“What squad was the current Wizard King on before he received the title he holds now?” Yuno asked.

Instead of the administrator of the exam answering, the boy that barely looked older than Yuno jumped up and waved. “Hey there! He was on my squad,” the boy said before becoming thoughtful. “Although, it was before I was even a magic knight, so could I really call it my squad? Oh, this one’s a toughie.”

Recoiling in fear from the idea of that being his mentor, Yuno went back to what he knew he would have gone with had all these new thoughts not entered his mind. “I’ll join the Golden Dawn!” he declared so quickly he almost tripped over his own tongue.

For some reason, a little shiver ran down his spine, and Yuno just knew that Sunset was glaring at him...somehow.

Then, after Yuno took his place back into the crowd that had shrunk considerably with all the departures, he did his best to ignore the daggers Sunset was sending at him with her eyes. After all, it was Asta’s turn.

He walked up after his number was called.

“Do we have any hands?” the mage on the floor asked.

…

…

…

“Number none-sixty-five…”

…

…

“...no hands.”

Yuno blinked. “Say what?” he asked himself.

That...wasn’t possible.

From her place next to him, Sunset grave a growl. “You knew this was going to happen. After seeing how all the tests went, you knew this was going to happen, you knew this was going to happen,” she whispered to herself over and over again. “So don’t blow up.”

The crowd started to get restless, but Sunset didn’t seem in too much of a hurry for things to continue and kept her own mouth shut.

“No...I’m not...done..”

“It’s no real surprise, is it?” a man with a gruff tone to his voice asked, silencing the crowd and making Asta look up at the man in the sleeveless shirt Yuno had seen manhandling the short boy at the start of the exam. “Nobody wants to touch a power as mysterious as yours, no matter how good you are at combat. What the captains want is magic power.”

As if to demonstrate, the man flared his magic. Thanks to his training with the three redheads, Yuno could feel the man with the odd facial features grab the mana in the area to affect things around him before using it to press down on his surroundings in a show of force. Then, he leaped down into the arena and approached Asta while his assistant in the stands looked like he was worried his boss was going crazy.

“The hell is he doing?” Sunset grumbled.

She made a move to go forward, but Yuno reached out to grab her arm. “Wait,” he said. “There’s something going on.”

Sunset glared back at the boy. “Yeah, he’s trying to embarrass Asta and make him run away.”

“Rather than just have him escorted out by the guards?” Yuno asked evenly.

An open mouth that should have given a response closed after a few seconds before Sunset turned her head. “Come to think of it, that guy is supposed to have the worst squad, but he hasn’t made a single offer,” she mumbled. “In fact, aside from you, nobody’s gotten more than one. And that privacy screen they threw up during the last exam...oh, it’s politics.”

Yuno blinked and looked over to his big sister as she put on a sour face. “Come again?”

“Don’t you think it’s weird that nobody has had more than a single hand raised for them?” Sunset asked. “If someone is really good, then they should get at least two offers, maybe even three. And Yami’s a foreigner, I heard a high up talking about him before the tests started. She didn’t like him very much. They all made deals during the matches to nab whomever they could, I bet.”

She says she’s not a royal, and then does things like this, Yuno thought to himself.

Back in the center of the ring, Yami continued speaking. “You said that you want to be the Wizard King? That means you think you can prove that you’re better than all nine magic knight captains. And now, standing here all pathetic and magicless, can you really say you’re strong enough to be the Wizard King?”

“Well, not today, old man,” Asta replied. “But I don’t care how long it takes, or how many times I stumble. Because I’m not going to give up and I will become the Wizard King!”

A second later, the man’s dark aura faded, and he started laughing. After catching his breath, Yami grinned down at the boy. “Okay kid, you can come with me and join the Black Bulls,” he said before his face got serious again. “And you don’t get to say no, got it?”

“Y-Yes sir!”

Yami bent down to get right into Asta’s face. “Because we’re gonna work you like a dog, day in and day out until you won’t know up from down,” he said menacingly before standing back up and taking the cigarette out of his mouth to blow some smoke. “And when we’re done...you’re gonna go on be the Wizard King.”

Asta stood there for several more seconds in a daze that didn’t even end when the crowd started yelling at him again. Eventually though, he finally moved on. 

“Number one-sixty-six…”

Yuno blinked. A part of him realizing that for the first time in his life, he was going to be separated from Asta. A great deal of doubt began to fill him and he began to wonder if he had made the right choice. When he...didn’t know what squad Asta would be on?

It didn’t make sense, but he felt a little guilt for not letting Asta go first so they could be on the same team.

It was a childish guilt though, something he knew he should be feeling.

But at the same time, a feeling he couldn’t shake.

Lost in thought, Yuno almost missed Sunset as she walked forward and looked around as the captains...sat there...looking at each other nervously?

“..no-”

“Whoa, hold on just a minute,” the big man Asta was now under the command of said. “We’re still-”

“Ah, good idea,” Fuegoleon spoke up. “You can take her, Yami.”

“Yes, the foreigner should be the sacrificial lamb,” Nozel agreed.

“WHAT?” Yami yelled. “You guys can’t just make me take a recruit. Goldie, help me out here!”

Willian rubbed his chin. “It really wouldn’t be fair to have both of the best new mages on my squad. And your squad is rather lacking in members.”

After standing up, Charlotte moved to speak. “Now hold on every-mmmpth!” And promptly had her mouth covered by the sleeping Dorthy before she was pulled back down.

“Kekeke,” the thin man named Jack laughed. “We could just tell Mereoleona that you refused her girl membership in-”

“THAT’S PLAYING DIRTY!” the unkempt man yelled at them before freezing and slowly looking back towards the very confused redhead. Then, very slowly, raising his hand, he called out to her. “You can uh...join the Back Bulls...if you want.”

Sunset was silent for several seconds, slumping in disbelief at the display. Then she looked back at the two boys. “Well, I guess Yuno will be fine on his own,” she said before looking back up at the uncouth man. “Okay.”





“They think I’m who?” Sunset asked in disbelief.

“The daughter of Mereoleona Vermillion and...well, that’s where the story gets a little discombobulated,” the bird told her as Sunset hid in the bathroom to talk to the animal without getting caught. “You’re either the child of a commoner, the product of immaculate conception brought about by sheer willpower and lack of suitable males, or the offspring of beastiality...which is rather ironic, considering your actual origins.”

Sunset frowned at the bird. “I would like to remind you that I kill things for meat now.”

After clearing her throat, Secre went on. “Yes, well...perhaps it would be best to let them believe what they may for now. If House Vermillion will be open to your presence, then it will work in our favor. Fuegoleon wears one of the magic stones that we need to restore-”

With the utterance of the man’s name, a memory sparked in Sunset. “Oh! Right, I have to give him that letter!” she exclaimed. “With everything that happened, I forgot about it!”

Not forgetting the bird, Sunset ran to the door and let Secre out with her before looking around to try and find if the man from the Crimson Lions was still around while telling her to keep an eye on Yuno, since he would be by myself with the Golden Dawn. A squad that seemed destined to disappoint, in Sunset’s opinion.

By some stroke of luck, he was still outside the coliseum with another redheaded boy beside him and two examinees that managed to make the cut into his squad. “-and furthermore, you must show absolute bravery, even in the face of certain death!” Fuegoleon told the two newbies as Sunset approached.

The younger redhead, who was obviously Fuegoleon’s brother, tensed as Sunset ran up to him. “Um...can we...help you...ma’am?” he said nervously.

Fuegoleon looked back, his eyes widening a little upon noticing her. “Yes...can I help you...stranger, who I do not know?”

Seriously? Sunset asked herself before pulling the letter out from the book in her pack and handing it to the man. “Your sister wanted me to give you this.”

After standing still for several seconds, Fuegoleon blinked. “My sister...who you know is my sister.”

“Yes,” Sunset deadpanned.

“...crap,” Leopold mumbled before looking over to his brother as the man slowly opened the letter to read it. As he did, with deepening distress on his face, the younger brother looked to Sunset. “So...this is awkward.”

Sunset raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

When Leopold didn’t answer and simply took a few steps back, Sunset turned and saw Fuegoleon’s eye twitching before he looked down at her. “You’re giving this to me, now?” he asked with an incredulous expression.

“Well...we didn’t really know where to find you and...the exam was today, which was when we got to town, so…” Sunset told him rather lamely.

Leo gave her a disbelieving look. “You didn’t think to check the big house at the top of the hill?”

“With this, you didn’t even need to take the exam!” he exclaimed while holding out the piece of paper, that his brother quickly snatched.

Once Leo had smoothed it out a little, he began reading it. “Hey idiot, I’m sending this letter with one of three kids. Unless you want me to tear off your balls and feed them to you, put all three of them in the Crimson Lions. Two are extremely talented and the boy with the sword has his uses. I’ll be back in town to check up on their progress at the next promotion ceremony. See you then,” he read before looking over to his brother. “So, we were supposed to get all three of them, and ended up not even asking two. Brother...you’re dead.”

“She can hardly blame me for a lack of information!” Fuegoleon counted. “By any rational…”

When the older brother trailed off, the younger one rolled his eyes. “As if Sis would let something like facts get in the way of her opinion. So...dead.”

The declaration made Fuegoleon raise a fist. “Never say die little brother! If Sister will be here come the promotion ceremony, then I simply have to be busy that day! Gather the men, take every request for missions we have on the job board! Ask the Wizard King for anything else he has in stock!” the fiery man declared. “We’ll set up a forward command base and won’t even go back to the Crimson Lion headquarters until all our duties have been taken care of!”

“And it’s safe to come home,” Leopold deadpanned.

“Exactly!”

Sunset slowly backed away from the pair of brothers and turned to make her way to where the captain of the Black Bulls was waiting with the creepy guy in the military hat and the more normal looking guy in the green shirt were waiting. Asta was there, his eyes going back and forth between creepy guy and Yami, probably trying to decide which was worse. “Sorry, I had some business to take care of before.”

After taking a drag on his cigarette, Yami waved it off. “Meh, I know how long you girls need in the bathroom,” he said before looking at the guy in green with the squad robe that could only be called a hooded shoulder covering. “Okay Finral, get your spatial magic working. Shorty here can’t use a broom without any magic, so I’ll have to use you as our ride.”

“And what’s been your reason all the other times you could have used a broom to get where you're going by yourself?” the guy muttered too low for Yami to hear before he held out his hand.

A second later, a portal large enough to walk through opened up in front of the group, leading to...Sunset wasn’t sure. The only thing that could be seen on the other end was a mass of distorted white and black. “So...does the event horizon of the portal disrupt visual information, or do you need to open it to a kind of ‘between space’ and then open another once we’re inside?” she asked, intrigued at the process before looking over to the mage.

Finral shook with obvious effort from holding the portal open, actually holding his open grimoire, despite the fact that Sunset had heard mages specialized in movement magic didn’t need to do such things. “Is this really the time for playing twenty questions?” he demanded while straining with the spell.

“Then, we should hurry this along. Get moving, runt!”

Sunset stepped towards the portal, then blinked when Asta flew through it at an odd angle while screaming, making her look back at Yami. Did he just...nah, Sunset told herself. A guy who was supposed to be a military officer wouldn’t be like that. Asta was just being his overly enthusiastic self.

Although...he had seemed extremely odd at the exam, even when what Asta had been put through was probably some kind of special evaluation.

After stepping into the portal, Sunset felt...weird. There was some travel time, which made her wonder if someone could be intercepted mid-transport, but it was odd. There was no sensation of not being anywhere, similar to teleportation, but at the same time, she wasn’t at her beginning or end destination.

Then she stepped out the other side of the portal and...didn’t feel any sense of vertigo human bodies experienced with pony teleportation.

Did that mean the portal compensated for the disturbance in the inner ear teleportation caused?

Or did it simply not have such a problem in the first place?

She would need to experience it a few more times to make a decision.

In the time it took Sunset to make up her mind, the rest of the group came through and the portal closed. Taking a look around, Sunset could see they were no longer anywhere near the capital, as it was surrounded by grassy plains with the occasional farm. They were in a forest, with a very tall...building in front of them.

Sunset didn’t know to classify it. Not only did the thing look shabby and run down, some sections of the structure were made of completely different materials. On top of which, whoever had built the thing must have misread the blueprints or lacked any form of depth perception. In fact, Sunset wouldn’t have been surprised if it had been built by a bind person listening to a drunken yak tell them how the building should have looked. Parts of the structure big enough to contain whole rooms jutted out in ways that made Sunset wonder how they didn’t fall down from being exposed to gravity. Mismatched windows, a door on the second floor that just led to open air, and a sixth floor that looked to be just one small room when the place went up to nine stories total had her wondering just how anyone could live in such a place.

“Alright, the Black Bulls hideout!” Asta exclaimed.

Yami grinned. “Yeah, we got a real snazzy place.”

I’m starting to think this was a mistake, Sunset told herself.

Did the Magic Knights allow transfers?

Because she and Asta needed a transfer.

As Sunset was wondering if she could get into the Crimson Lions after all, Asta ran forward and opened the main door. “Hey, I’m the newest member of this squad, fresh from Hage Village, the name’s Asta and I-” was as far as he got into his introduction before an explosion sent him flying backwards and set the door itself on fire in an uncontrolled.

A scream of panic escaped Sunset as she ran to check on her little brother while Yami laughed about the whole thing and walked up to the two of them while taking the cigarette out of his mouth. “Welcome to the Black Bulls, the worst of the worst magic knight squads.”

“...yeah, I should have delivered that letter before the exam,” Sunset grumbled as the big man standing over her laughed.