A Unicorn in the Clover Kingdom

by LordBrony2040


Page 22: Meetings

Cadance reluctantly made her way down the hall and towards the conference room where she was due to meet the Crystal Council for the day. In all honesty, she didn’t want to do it. She hated meeting with the three pony representatives from the Crystal Empire, but it was something she had to do every day since Sombra had been defeated. But, while it was more important than the usual round of diplomacy Cadance had been involved in, the downside made the mare feel as if she were simply bashing her head into a rock wall.

Trotting into the meeting room, Cadance found that the three of them had already sat down on the cushions across from where hers was located, on the opposite end of the wide table from them. Each one was supposed to represent their particular tribe in the Crystal Empire, an archaic practice that had long since been abandoned by Equestria at large. Tribes no longer divided ponies as they had done even in the beginning days of Equestria, they were all ponies, after all.

But then, the Crystal Empire wasn’t Equestria. As the three ponies would remind Cadance with a great deal of gusto at least once a day. Not a single one of them had any love for the world’s oldest country, and an outright mistrust of Celestia. Luna was best not mentioned in their presence at all after they had been provided with the abridged version of the history they had missed out on.

Still, they had agreed to meet with Cadance, and that gave her something to work with.

“Crystal Melody,” Cadance greeted the earth pony representative, a yellow mare with a light blue mane. Like all crystal ponies, her coat was much brighter than the average pony, to the point it almost glowed in the dark. From what the pink princess understood, Melody was an accomplished musician. Although, why she was the leader of the Crystal Council still made no sense to Cadance. Nothing about the pony’s past said she should have been the one in charge.

A second later, Cadance greeted Sky Blue, a pegasus with a coat like his namesake and a mane the color of clouds was one of the few remaining guards left in the Empire. After Sombra had enslaved everypony, he had fitted most of the army with mind control helmets and sent them to wreak havoc across Equestria, leaving only a token guard for his palace. Sky had been one of those ponies lucky enough to be on the other end of the palace when Celestia and Luna had done battle with Sombra.

Prestidigitation, whom most other ponies simply called Presto, was the unicorn representative. He was a dark gray stallion with a silver mane that was getting on in years, and from Cadance had heard, a rival to Starswirl the Bearded. Although, the one time Cadance had asked about the more famous unicorn, Presto had condemned the stallion as a cheating fraud that used magic to steal the hard work of others and claim it as his own. He was a gruff old magic user that was always the most belligerent of the trio.

“Princess Cadance,” the mare replied in a cool tone. Not hostile, but far from respectful. “I trust you slept well.”

Rather than give false niceties, which she knew the ponies of the Empire considered an insulting lie, Cadance let out a tiny groan. “Not really. No offense, but beds have come a long way since they made the ones in the palace,” she told the mare. “I’m still waking up sore.”

Sky reared up and slammed his hooves down on the table. “Well if it’s so hard on you to live here, then get out already! We don’t need your kind, mucking up our Empire!”

“We’ve been over this, General Blue,” Presto interjected. “Princess Cadance is merely here as a liaison to Celestia. We still need information on the modern world and she has agreed to help us catch up to speed, so that we may begin trade negotiations with Equestria.”

Cadance felt the need to interject a correction. “Well, trade deals is where we can start, but my end goal is reunification with the rest of Equestria.”

The other stallion snorted as he glared at Presto. “You’re just wanting to get your horn on some of those new magical items they’ve come up with since the lost time!” the pegasus accused. “Selling out your fellow Imperials for magical gain, you and Sombra were cut from the same stone!”

Frowning at the males, Crystal Melody stomped her hoof twice. “That is quite enough of that,” she said, bringing an end to the bickering before turning to Cadance. “Princess Cadance, I know we’ve been over this before. But when we went to bed a week ago, the Crystal Empire was a sovereign state that was part of a coalition of kingdoms that made up Equestria. Now, by your own admission, the kingdoms have given up their autonomy, Celestia is the sole ruler of everything and doesn’t allow a single word of debate. You have been speaking of ‘reunification’ when what your offering to us is nothing less than absolute domination by a power more foreign to us than the yaks.”

Before Cadance could give her rebuttal, Presto spoke up again, adding to Flower’s argument. “On top of which, they have already proven to be failures,” the unicorn told her. “The Empire fell to Sombra the first time even with their intervention, while from what I understand, the minion they sent the second time proved to be equally ineffective at doing her job. She had to rely on a dragon to deliver the Crystal Heart to you. The entire point of the positions given to them by the council was to help settle disputes between the provinces and defend Equestria as a whole. Which, according to the documentation you yourself provided, they have proven to be inept at, time and time again in the past several months.”

“So why should we bow to ponies who give us nothing in return?” Sky Blue demanded. 

Cadance sighed as the three of them brought up the same arguments that they had been going over since day two. “I understand that. But you have to understand that Equestria must stand united. If we don’t, ponies will suffer-”

The look Presto gave Cadance made her pause and focus on him. “I lived through the great freeze, filly. And while the rest of ponydom was freezing to death, the Crystal Heart kept us warm and safe.”

Crystal Flower cleared her throat. “It isn’t that we don’t care about your concerns, Princess Cadance. But we will not become enslaved to another despot for the sake of ponies that have already given up their freedom.”

Even with Cadance quickly losing control of the conversation as it veered towards areas better left alone, the mare couldn’t stop herself from repeating one of the words Flower had given her. “Despot?” she asked. “I’m nowhere near a fan of Celestia, but I wouldn’t call her that. She just wants what’s best for everypony.”

“Those are always the worst kind of despots, Princess,” Crystal Flower replied evenly. 


Mimosa did her best to keep her eyes on the land beneath her while Klaus’s flying chariot took them over a collection of empty fields and houses. Because if she took her eyes off of the land below, she would have to look at Yuno, or worse, Sylph.

So far, Mimosa’s attempts to gain Yuno’s attention were less than successful. She had made him lunch plenty of times, or had the cooks make him a lunch for her due to very limited cooking skills that stopped at adding bread to meat. But, aside from the soft offer of thanks, it hadn’t really gone anywhere. And every time Mimosa tried to talk to him about anything that wasn’t a part of their missions, she would freeze up and have to change the subject before her nervousness turned her into a babbling idiot.

As for Sylph, the Wind Spirit was growing even more impatient to the point that Mimosa expected her to do something so drastic soon that the royal girl would die from embarrassment. That worry only grew when she felt the creature land on her shoulder and a tiny swirl of wind surrounded her to hide their conversation from the boys. 

“Okay, listen up,” Sylph said as she leaned into Mimosa’s ear. “Since this is just a stupid reconnaissance mission, we’ll have to try and create our own little event to push you and my Yuno together. What do you think about being blasted out of the carriage by a wind that shreds your clothes?”

Mimosa went rigid at the suggestion. “W-What? How is something like that even supposed to happen?” she asked as she turned her whole body towards Sylph.

Sylph rolled her eyes as she flew out in front of Mimosa to hover in front of the girl while crossing her arms. “Because then Yuno will jump down after you to catch you, right as the rest of your clothes fall off. There’s no way he’ll be able to resist those giant breasts of yours when you’re clinging to him for dear life!”

The pressure in her cheeks built as Mimosa could feel herself blush. “T-There’s no way I could do something like that!”

“Sylph, are you picking on Mimosa?” Yuno asked, making both the girls look over to the young man.

The question had the pixie up in the air and giving Yuno a hurt look. “How could you think such awful things about your wife?”

“Because you glare at any woman who looks at me for more than two seconds like you want to kill them,” Yuno pointed out with an even expression. “While you at least tolerate Mimosa, I still catch you frowning at her from time to time.”

“That’s just because they look at you like a piece of meat!” Sylph exclaimed as she waved her arms around in anger. “Mimosa...is...uh…” Catching herself, the fairy simply stopped talking and floated away from him.

After a few seconds Yuno smacked his fist into an open palm. “And Mimosa is just a partner in my squad,” he said before becoming thoughtful. “I was wondering why you never bothered her like you do the other girls. I guess it’s a good thing that we’re just friends.”

Feeling as if Yuno had just shot her through the heart with two giant arrows that had the words ‘just’ and ‘friends’ written on them in large letters, Mimosa turned around and looked back to the ground with a depressed expression. “I’ll be leaving now,” she said, much too low for anyone besides Sylph to hear before moving closer towards the edge of the transportation spell. They weren’t that high up, so the fall wasn’t going to take forever.

“Don’t do it Mimosa!” Sylph said before pulling on the girl’s hair to keep her from jumping. “I know he’s a clueless idiot sometimes, but just look at that cute face!”

Up at the front of the transport, Klaus looked back at the two girls while he adjusted his glasses. “That’s enough you two. We’re coming up on the town of Bree. It’s probably just a broken relay, but we haven’t heard anything from the knights that were supposed to have been stationed here.”

“I thought the Golden Dawn was moving off of border patrol,” Yuno commented.

“The ones that were on guard duty were relieved, but since we were never stationed in a town, we aren’t given downtime to recover from the stress of holding the line,” Klaus explained before turning his head back towards their destination.

As Mimosa sat back down on the flying carriage, Sylph stopped pulling her hair and looked back to the man with the glasses. “What stress?” she demanded. “Nothing happened the whole time that they were stationed there. We’re the ones that did all the work while the rest of the squad just sat on their big fat butts all day!”

Klaus snorted. “Obviously, you don’t know the stress of standing guard at the border to our most dangerous foe’s front door.”

Sylph flew up to give the man a glare. “You do remember who you’re talking to, right? I’ve been in more battles and wars than you can count!”

The conversation was soon put to an end when they came in sight of Bree.

Built close to the border with Diamond, but not in a very choice location for invasions thanks to the ocean to the south providing a much easier route over the sea and the middle of the border actually bulging out of Diamond thanks to their latest big push, the village of Bree was more akin to a hastily constructed fort built out of necessity than a full military installation meant to hold back enemy attack. A large wooden wall surrounded the town, but it had no other defenses aside from the handful of magic knights that were garrisoned there more for a show of force than anything else.

At best, the fortification held back the occasional stray animal. Any of the Magic Knights could blow through the thing with little trouble.

The truth of the matter was that Bree was just a fishing village that had sprung up during a particularly good year in the endless struggles with Diamond, but turned out to be a bad investment when the enemy kingdom came roaring back and reclaimed a great deal of land. But by then, the commoners who lived there were already tied to the land and fishing industry. So they didn’t have the resources to move without bankrupting themselves. Because of that, they sat tucked away, hoping that Diamond didn’t make a hard push through the sea and find themselves at the mercy of the evil kingdom when the border got redrawn.

Klaus pressed his glasses up on his nose. “Odd, we should have seen something of the local militia standing outside the gate. Even in the Forsaken Realm, they have people to keep law in order.”

“No,” Yuno said as he frowned. A second later, Sylph’s expression matched his. “What’s odd is that I’m not detecting a single bit of mana coming from that town.”

Although she already knew what Yuno was getting at, Mimosa let out a gasp before moving to the obvious question. “You mean, everyone in the village was taken?” she asked in worry. She had read Yuno’s rather abrupt report on what had happened when he fought with the Midnight Sun, she knew they wanted to steal mana for some unknown reason. It was foolish to think that one operation was their only attempt to do so.

“The Eye of the Midnight Sun again?” Klaus asked.

Yuno sighed in frustration. “If it was them, they’re long gone, now.”

After fighting through her worry about what might be happening to the poor villagers that were taken, Mimosa looked back and forth between the two men. “We should take a look around before reporting in.” If they were lucky, there might be a clue as to where the abductees had been relocated to. Asta and the others had said that the cave they went to was in walking distance, after all.

“Agreed,” Klaus said before picking up the pace of his flying contraction spell and sailing over the town to get a look behind the walls.

The sight below made Mimosa want to throw up.

Throughout the streets, dead bodies were strewn about everywhere. Some people were cut in half, while others had been knocked through walls. Burns, slashes, bruises, just about every way to die possible was given an example below. Some people were even bloated from drowning in the middle of the street. The damage to the actual town was rather slight, with the exception of the occasional building that had fallen in on itself in what had obviously been a horrific battle. The closer they got to town square, the more tightly packed the carnage became.

“This is wrong,” Sylph mumbled.

Mimosa looked at the fairy with a frown. “Wrong? It’s more than wrong!” she told the creature. “This is awful!”

After a second, Sylph looked back towards the royal. “No what I mean is…” she paused and turned to Klaus. “Hey four-eyes, do a circuit of the whole village. I need to see something.”

Grumbling at behind ordered by someone who could fit on his palm, Klaus did as instructed. As they began their flyover, Mimosa found her seat and looked down at the floor. The evidence of what had happened below made it impossible to look at for her. She didn’t look up until Yuno said something.

“Oh, I see it now...that is odd,” he commented.

Mimosa looked back up to him. “What is it?” she asked.

“The outer area of the town is completely untouched by anything. Even the buildings that fell down don’t look like they were inhabited at the time,” Yuno explained, making Mimosa peek over the side to see he was right. The outer edge of town was completely untouched. If she had been standing on the streets down there, she wouldn’t have known anything was wrong. “It’s like everyone was brought into the center of town, and were then slaughtered.”

After flying around to get a better view of the carnage that was behind Mimosa, Sylph let out a noise of disagreement. “No. The way these people died, it looks like they killed each other,” she said before pointing at the ground. “Look at how all the bodies fell down, they’re all over the place. If a group of enemy mages did this, it would have been a lot more orderly. And look at the damage to the bodies. I know we’re still high up for you guys to tell, but it looks like only a few of them were taken out by someone as powerful as a magic knight. The others were killed off by low-tier magic.”

Yuno looked back around, making Mimosa focus on him rather than what he was looking at as Klaus brought their flight to a stop in midair. “What are you talking about?”

“Look around,” Sylph told Yuno. “Everyone’s dead, but this town is barely touched. Whatever killed these people, it wasn’t done with high level magic. There are some buildings that were knocked down, yes. But I bet that's where the magic knights stationed here were at when they went down. And look at where all the bodies are. It’s like something drew them to the center of town, then had everyone start killing each other.”

The theory was quickly shot down by Klaus. “You might be able to put someone in a daze to lead them around. But magic that can make a whole town break out into a riot?” he said. “Taking over the minds of sleeping children is one thing, but the adults as well? Such a spell does not exist!”

Mimosa gulped down some of the stuff in her throat that was threatening to rise up on her. “We...we should report this to headquarters,” she said before looking back down at the floor of their transport.

“Agreed,” Klaus said. “However, I think it would be prudent to take a closer look, first. There might be a few survivors.”

The idea of going down and sifting through the carnage made Mimosa’s stomach turn, but the shame that followed quickly overrode it. Someone could still be alive down there, and she was the only hope they had of surviving.


Asta’s day began like every other day before it. After getting up a few minutes before dawn, he did some basic warmups before heading out for his basic morning workout that involved sprinting around the forest that surrounded the hideout a hundred times, which was followed up by a hundred squats, pushups, crunches, and then a cool down exercise before heading back into the hideout. Then came breakfast, with Charmy having made her usual all meat everywhere except for in front of Sunset. And, like usual Noelle got angry when he sat down next to her.

“WASH YOURSELF OFF BEFORE YOU COME IN HERE!” the girl shouted before a blast of water knocked Asta on his butt and left him sitting on the floor in a puddle while the girl stood above him with her arms crossed. “Seriously, you reek of BO! Would it kill you to take a few laps around the pool?”

After standing up from the mild water blast, Asta gave Noelle a nervous laugh. “Well...yeah. I don’t know how to swim good yet,” he reminded her.

Noelle started getting all weird again at the reminder. “Oh...uh...right,” she said before her face turned red. “Um, well...I-I could show you how. That is...if you want me to.”

After thinking about it for a moment while the girl looked down at the floor, Asta admitted that it made sense. “Yeah, swimming is supposed to train your whole body at once and be low impact, so I can work out even longer!”

Across the table from him, Finral gave Asta an even look. “A hot girl tells you she wants to take off her clothes and get wet with you and that’s how you respond?” he asked before a torrent of water blasted the spatial mage out of the room.

“DRY UP AND DIE!” Noelle roared.

Sunset looked up from her meal. “You know, that is probably the last one-liner someone with your type of magic should use,” she told Noelle.

Before another little argument could break out, there was a large crash as Yami came into the dinning room his usual way, which involved kicking the door so hard it turned to splinters before he went through the open doorway. “Morning,” the captain greeted everyone before pausing on his way to the table to stare at Asta for several seconds with a blank look. But, before the magicless knight could ask if anything was wrong, Yami took a hand out of his pocket to snap his fingers. “Oh, right. Hey kid, the Wizard King sent me a letter last night that he wants me to bring you along when I go to the capital later today for the captain’s meeting.”

“The what now?” Sunset asked.

Yami gave the redhead a flat look. “What part of captain’s meeting don’t you understand? It’s in the name. A bunch of captains from the Magic Knights meet up and talk about stuff,” he told her before reaching for a cigarette that wasn’t there, then letting out a groan of a breath. “With all the crap the Midnight Sun has been doing lately, the Wizard King has decided to bring us all together and get everyone up to speed.”

Sunset crossed her arms and put on one of her thinking faces, the kind she used when she was making a decision about two different choices that were really pressing up against each other inside of her head. “I should probably go along too, then.”

“Why the hell would I allow something like that?” Yami said as his face started to take on a more scary vibe.

Sunset didn’t seem to notice. “Because, after that whole cave incident, I think I understand what the Eye of the Midnight Sun is up to.”

The statement hung in the air for several seconds as nobody said a word. Then, Yami finally broke the silence. “And you’re just telling us this now?” he demanded.

“I said I think I know what they are up to,” Sunset told him as a bit of trepidation crossed her face. “I’m not going to go running off anytime I just have a theory about something. But if he’s making the time to see Asta of all people, then I think he can spare a whole two minutes for me to say a couple of sentences.”

Asta blinked as he just realized something important. “Wait, just why does the Wizard King want to see me?” he asked. It was cool that he did, but now that he actually thought about it for a moment, Asta couldn’t think of a reason as to why the Wizard King would have wanted to see him now, as opposed to yesterday or the week before.

The question looked like it only made Yami’s bad mood even worse. “What the hell am I? Some kind of mind reader?” he demanded. “When the Wizard King tells you to do something, you do it!”


The capital was much as Sunset had remembered it from a few nights ago, only with its day backdrop instead of the nighttime one. Since Yami didn’t feel like dishing out the money for a carpet ride, they were forced to climb the mountain. It might have had some roads, but that meant little to Sunset. It was still a mountain.

When they actually reached the top over an hour later, Sunset frowned when she saw that man whose head always made her think of mushrooms for some reason. “Hey Marx, what does your boss want with Asta?”

“The Wizard King read Asta’s report about the kidnapped children the day before and this. He thinks Asta’s anti-magic ability will help us in solving a problem we’ve been having with the prisoner that was captured,” Marx told Sunset sternly. 

The tiny hint of information had Sunset’s mind working overtime to try and figure out what was going on. After the Wizard King had taken that guy George prisoner during the Midnight Sun’s attack on the capital, Sunset had been one of the mages to look him over in an attempt to remove the protection magic placed around his mind. Unfortunately, without a look at the grimoire that contained the spell used on him, Sunset didn’t think that messing with it was such a good idea.

Not that she hadn’t tried other things, like a spell that made the person under its influence say the first thing that popped into their heads. She also tried the Want it Need it spell. Both proved ineffective. Whatever spell that was in place protecting the man’s mind made it impossible to retrieve the information by any magical means that forced him to reveal it.

Remembering that, and the one thing that Asta could do that even Sunset was unable to, along with what Noelle had said about Asta writing the report that most people probably would have put aside in favor of Yuno’s precise version she knew he had to have made once getting back to the Golden Dawn HQ made it rather obvious about what was going on. “Oh, you want to use Asta’s anti-magic to dispel the protection magic that has been placed on the prisoner’s mind.”

“Do you think that will work?” Marx asked.

Sunset crossed her arms and thought about it for a moment. “It’s possible,” she admitted hesitantly as all the things that could go horribly wrong ran through her head. “Asta’s anti-magic isn’t just some dispelling force that breaks apart spells. The more I think about it, the more I believe it’s a kind of counter-force to magic that nullifies and repels mana. So the question becomes, how close does he have to get to the seal to undo it, and just where the physical location of the magic protecting that guy’s mind is. It’s not going to do any good if Asta has to put his sword into that guy’s brain.”

“Fair point,” Marx agreed with a nod before cocking his head to the side just a bit. “By the way, Lady Sunset. What are you doing here? The Wizard King only called for Asta.”

A nervous tingle made its way down Sunset’s back. While she had no problem lying to just about anyone, the guy she was talking with was very good at sniffing them out. “Oh! Well, not that it matters if your plan works, but I think I’ve figured out what the Midnight Sun is up to.”

Marx crossed his arms and let out a thoughtful hmm. “In that case, you should probably speak to Julius as well. Just because we’ll be able to question someone doesn’t mean that they will know anything useful.”

The group split in two, with Yami going his own way towards the meeting while Sunset and Asta followed Marx. After going into the heart of the Wizard King’s palace, they began heading down a long winding staircase that wasn’t really hidden, but had certainly been placed in an out of the way area.

“What is this place?” Asta asked.

Marx took a moment to look back at him. “This is a special dungeon we have for important prisoners that the Wizard King might need to speak with at a moment’s notice.”

Since she had seen it all before several weeks ago, Sunset wasn’t taken aback by the size of the reinforced basement as they got to the large metal door at the bottom of the stairs that led to the room where the wind mage had been secured to a pillar. Even with everything that he had been a part of, Sunset couldn’t help but feel a little bad for the guy. In Equestria, ponies that had to be held for one reason or another at least got a little room to lay down in, the man in front of them hadn’t been able to move from the spot he was bound to for weeks. And his only visitors had been the Wizard King with a very select number of staff and the occasional cleaning crew.

“Ah, Asta, good to see you,” Julius said as they entered the dark room that only had a bit of illumination coming from the corners. “And Sunset, always a pleasure. Although...I do wonder why you’re here.”

Marx cleared his throat. “She says that she has an idea as to what the terrorist group is up to, Sir. I thought it prudent to bring her along. What we learn from this man might only be a piece of a much larger puzzle.”

After a few seconds, the Wizard King nodded. “Indeed. George here doesn’t seem like the type to know everything his boss is planning. Finatical zealots rarely know everything that’s going on in their organization, even when it’s shown to them,” he said before getting a tiny sparkle in his eyes. “I read the reports about the two of you fighting some of the Midnight Sun’s strongest mages. Tell me about their magic! How cool was it?”

While Marx let out a groan and Sunset found herself feeling a bit uncomfortable at seeing the leader of the country she was living in geeking out about something now of all times, Asta just stuttered a little bit while he talked. “Um, well...yeah, I guess it was cool.”

“Tell me about Copy Magic! How does something like that work? And Beast Magic. I’ve never even heard of that kind!” the Wizard King went on excitedly, despite the location and situation they were in. “What about Flame Spirit Magic? Oh, I wish I could have been there!”

Sunset cleared her throat. “Um, Wizard King? Don’t you think there’s more important questions to be asked?”

The man blinked and took a step back. “Yes,” Julius agreed before he jumped over to Sunset. “You’re much more qualified to answer those kinds of questions! And, Asta mentioned something about his sword using your magic to take out one of the Third Eye. What was that about? What did it do to her?”

Should have seen this one coming, the not-unicorn told herself.


Fana slowly opened her eyes, despite the protests of her body telling her that she hadn’t had enough sleep. Which was really more of a gripe about where she had been sleeping. The bit of wood she placed beneath her had helped keep her body heat from seeping out into the stones of the cave that was serving as her current shelter thanks mostly to the fluffy coat she had on, but it still meant sleeping on a large piece of wood.

Not that she wanted to go back to sleep either. Ever since Fana had fled from the Eye of the Midnight Sun’s base, nightmares had come for her the second she closed her eyes. Some of them were memories of her multiple deaths, while others were twisted versions of memories that weren’t really hers, but were at the same time.

She looked over to the serpentine dragon curled up not too far away. “I see you’re still here,” she mumbled.

Salamander raised his head, but said nothing.

“So, any more advice for me?” she asked.

Salamander continued to say nothing.

Fana frowned. “I left because of you, you know,” she told the creature.

To which Salamander replied with no response of any kind.

The silent treatment made Fana groan before she laid back down on her bit of wood. “Okay, maybe it wasn’t just you,” she said before sighing and reaching up to rub her head. Headaches were a problem for her now, coming on just a few seconds after waking. But, that could have been from hunger. She wasn’t eating very much at all as of late.

Fana’s elven memories had told her plenty of things about surviving in the wild as part of a nomadic community, but going it alone was a lot harder than she had thought it would be. Then, the girl let out a little groan and reached up to rub her head.

Those memories...I just thought of them as mine again, she told herself with a sigh. I’m me, not...her, right?

Salamander was silent on the issue, even through their telepathic link.

With no help from her traveling companion, Fana rolled onto her side and curled up into a ball. Everything was just confusing to her now. The old Fana had been a good deal older than the current Fana when she died. By the weight of numbers and amount of memories in her head, the old Fana had more claim to the body she was in than the current one. But that wasn’t her, that was the thing that had been possessing her.

That Fana had wanted to get married.

This Fana wanted...a full stomach, and maybe a good bed to sleep in. And…

When we get out of here, let’s go see the world.”

Fana curled up on herself a little more. How many years had passed since that memory she clung to had been reality? Yet, here she was, clinging to it for reasons she just couldn’t understand. Holding onto the image of a boy that no longer existed. If Mars was even still alive, there was no way that he could be anything like the boy from her memories was.

She wanted to go home.

But her memories told Fana that she had two homes.

A rumbling of her stomach brought Fana out of her thoughts. She could debate things with herself more, later. Right now, she needed to find some food. 


Yami sat down at the long table that had a full set of captains on each side. Although he looked nonchalant about the whole thing, it was pretty impressive that Julius had managed to wrangle them all into the same room. Getting everyone together just a few times a year for the Magic Knight exam, the Star Festival, and the odd show of unity to the kingdom was hard enough.

Vangeance and Nozel had probably been pretty easy, what with the Golden Dawn being rotated off the Diamond front after weeks of garding it for some basic patrols while the rest of the squad was put on standby and the Silver Eagles being based out of the Capital was one thing, but Fuegoleon hadn’t been seen in over a month, and the rest of them…

Well, I guess Rill doesn’t leave his base that much, he told himself while studying the youngest captain before turning his attention to Charlotte for a moment. But when her face started to turn red, probably from anger at a man staring at her, he quickly looked over to Dorothy, who was snoring so hard she had a little bubble of snot coming out of her nose. And she’s probably in her bedroom most of the time.

Jack would have been easy enough to find once they picked up his trail of bodies...or just called the central communications hub. The Praying Mantises were manning it for this month. Which left Captain Fatso the Hammy, aka Gueldre Poizot. Julius must have just snagged him before his men moved out to relive the Golden Dawn of their guard duties.

But, with all of the captains in one room at the same time, as always, things got a little heated.

“So, I heard that you and Nozel couldn’t bring back the head of the Midnight Sun’s leader, even after a bunch of Junior Magic Knights beat him half to death and left his bloody body laying on the floor for you to pick up,” Gueldre said to the two royal captains sitting across from him.

While Nozel let out a sound that was more of a growl than anything else, Fuegoleon cleared his throat. “Yes. There were a great deal of complications during that encounter that allowed him to slip through our fingers.”

Gueldre leaned back in his char and smirked beneath that purple mask that didn’t cover nearly as much of his face as it should have. “Yes, I believe the report said ‘these three really strong guys just showed up, but I blasted one using Sunset’s magic and she got all screamy’. Meaning that the two of you were held off by a pair of mages that a pair of junior knights could one-shot using a simple combo-spell,” he went on with an air of superiority before becoming thoughtful. “Although, can a magicless commoner using the magic of another even be considered a combo spell? That makes it even more pathetic-sounding.”

“I’m more interested to know how one of their mages was using magic from your grimoire,” Fuegoleon said, making the purple knight give a start.

“Pardon?” Gueldre asked before looking back and forth between the two knights and frowning. “What are you talking about?”

Nozel quickly moved to take control of the conversation. “After speaking with our Kingdom’s copy mage about the way her magic works, I understand that it takes a great deal of study in replicating another mage’s spells. During the battle, one of their members not only used your means of escaping a battle, but also cloaked their leader in that same kind of protection magic in order to escape my mercury magic a second before I could kill him,” he said. “So, how does an enemy mage know enough about your magic to replicate it?”

The question got a rise out of the large man that could have been mistaken for a ham, making him stand up. “Just what are you implying, Silva?”

“Is that your best defense? Playing for time by making me spell something out for you?” the silver royal asked.

As the tension in the room began to mount, Rill suddenly jumped up on the table, a small paintbrush balanced on the end of his nose. “Hey everybody, don’t fight! Look at me!” he said as he stumbled around, trying to keep the thing balanced.

Yami groaned. He understood trying to defuse a situation with a distraction, but watching the little kid dance around before he made a misstep and fell off of the table completely was just painful to watch.

“Seriously, why is this guy a captain?” Jack the Ripper asked everyone as he looked around, using that freakishly long neck of his to look just about everyone in the face.

But since Jack was going to take it hard on the kid, Yami decided to stand up to him as a force of habit. “Hey, lay off green bean. He’s just trying to make us forget our troubles,” the man said as he waved away Jack’s concerns.

It didn’t work very well, as Jack scowled at Yami. “I don’t need to be instructed by the captain of a squad with no stars!”

“Feh, we got stars. About five black ones,” Yami replied. Which was impressive, considering where they had been just a few weeks ago. Julius had handed out ten stars for rescuing those kids. It was fame they had to share with the Golden Dawn thanks to that Yuno kid sticking his nose into everything, but ten stars were ten stars.

Jack wasn’t impressed. “Negative stars don’t count!”

William Vangeance cleared his throat. “So, before we start trying to kill each other, does anyone know the reason that the Wizard King has called us all here today?”

“I think it’s rather obvious,” Charlotte spoke up. “It’s the same reason we’ve been called together so often since the attack on the Capital. There’s been a change in the situation regarding the Eye of the Midnight Sun.”

Something that had been stewing in the back of Yami’s mind since that day came to the forefront. “Say Golden Boy, where were you during that whole mess, anyway?” he asked. “Usually, a squad captain has to be present when one of their men is getting promoted.”

William gave a little shrug. “I’m afraid there was a rather embarrassing emergency at my squad’s headquarters that required my personal attention.”

It didn’t take Yami long to translate what that meant from the way the Clover Kingdom’s people usually said things. “Ah, so you had a case of the runs and were stuck on the toilet all day,” he said with a nod. “Yeah, I’ve been there.”

Why do you have to be so vulgar?” Charlotte demanded with a red face.

Before Yami could tell her it was because he was a real man, there was a surge of mana, and Marx’s face appeared at the head of the table in the form of a magical communication. “Thank you for waiting patiently, everyone. However, the Wizard King will be meeting you in another room.”

“Then why did you tell us all to come here, first?” all of the conscious captains asked in one voice.


Sunset watched as Marx finished casting his spell, creating a dome of magic over the captured mage’s head before a white beam rose out of the top, to branch off into dozens of other beams that displayed pictures of the man’s memories after extending a foot. “The spell is complete, Sir. Shall I signal the captains before we begin?”

“There are some things I want you to ask before we do that,” Julius replied before pulling out a sheet of paper and handing it to Marx.

Once he got the written instructions, Marx looked back at the captive, George. “What was the purpose for the attack on the Capital?”

George responded in a full, monotone voice. “We were going to lure Captain Fuegoleon into a battle with our leader to cut him down and take the magic stone he always wore around his neck.”

“How many mages are there in your organization?”

After a moment’s pause, George answered the question. “Fifty two.”

“What is the end goal of your organization?”

Just like with the last two questions, George took a moment before responding. “We will take revenge on the Clover Kingdom and build our new nation from its ashes.”

“Why do you want the magic stones?”

“We will use them to restore our true forms and increase our magical powers to be greater than any magic knight.”

Sunset blinked as her mind latched onto the last one. “What does he mean, true forms?” she asked.

The question got a frown from Marx. “Lady Sunset, I know that you are an outsider, but I ask that you allow me to finish this round of questions before we ask new ones.”

Julius held up a hand. “Actually, I’m curious about that as well.”

“What is your true form?” Marx asked as he turned back to the prisoner.

The pause between question and answer was much longer this time around. “... I don’t know.”

With the spell failing to achieve what it was supposed to do, Asta gave a confused noise. “Uh, is he supposed to say that?”

“Only if he doesn’t know the answer to the question,” Marx replied before looking back to George. “Where is the main base for the Eye of the Midnight Sun located?”

“... I don’t know.”

Asta pointed his giant sword that had dispelled the memory protection spells at the man. “HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW SOMETHING LIKE THAT?”

The outburst got a tiny glare from Marx. “I’ll ask the questions here,” he told the boy before looking back at George with a frown. “How do you not know something like that?”

George blinked a few times before answering. “In order to assure absolute secrecy, Valtos handles all transportation to and from the main base. Even if you look out the entrance, all that can be seen is a thick cloud of perpetual mist.”

After letting out a sigh, Julius talked more to himself than anyone else in the room. “I suppose that learning everything we wanted to know at once was a bit hopeful. Continue, Marx.”

“What is the Eye of the Midnight Sun planning to do next?” Marx asked.

George took several seconds to respond. “We are preparing to go to the location of the latest magic stone. It’s hidden in the strong magic region of the underwater temple.”

Julius rubbed his chin. “Interesting. Now, Marx, would you please get started on the other line of questioning after calling for the captains?”

“Of course, Sir,” the man replied before informing the change in location of the meeting and turning back to the prisoner. “During the attack on the capital, was the Eye of the Midnight Sun given aide by a guardian mage?”

The question made Sunset blink. While Yami had discussed the possibility, that was just a single option in a rather long list. After seeing what the leadership of the Midnight Sun was getting into, what with trying to kill people en mass to get to a single man and magically crippling children in a way that would have killed them, Sunset couldn’t think of a single reason why anyone would willingly side with them. Especially after she heard about how they wanted to replace the kingdom with their own and how their leader planned on committing genocide.

Wait...how is something like that supposed to work? Sunset asked herself. The Eye of the Midnight Sun only had fifty mages. There was no way that they could hope to-Oh, Licht is lying to them, she realized. 

“No.”

Right as the answer was given, Sunset heard the door to the outside open, and the nine mages that were supposed to be just below the Wizard King in power and ability came walking in. They looked much the same as she had seen them during the Magic Knight exam, although a good deal more serious. 

With two exceptions. The first being Captain Dorothy, who was somehow standing up while sleeping in her pink outfit. The second was her own captain, as he took a drag on his cigarette.

“So, this is where Mushroom Head ran off with the two of you,” Yami said. “Everything go okay?”

Asta stood up a little straighter. “Yes Sir, Yami Sir!”

The response from her little brother made Sunset sigh. Asta was going to die from high blood pressure before he was thirty if he kept things like that up.

“Wizard King, Sir. Why have you called us down here?” Fuegoleon asked.

Standing beside the man in red, Charlotte frowned. “That’s the man you brought back from the Midnight Sun’s base. Did you learn something from him?”

Julius took a moment to clear his throat. “Oh yes. Thanks to Asta’s anti-magic, we were able to remove the protections around this man’s memories. I thought it prudent to have you all down here for the most important question we’re about to pry from him,” the man explained before a crafty smile crossed his face. “Because, he’s about to tell us which one of you was collaborating with the Midnight Sun in the attack on the Capital.”

“SAY WHAT?” Asta yelled.

Once the echo had stopped and Sunset had enough quiet to think, her mind raced to try and figure out just what kind of logic that the Wizard King had used to reach such a conclusion. However, aside from the question that was asked just before the captains arrived, Sunset couldn’t recall anything that would have pointed to one of the men or women standing in front of her as a traitor. But then, I don’t have access to a tenth of the information that Julius does, she told herself to try and sooth her wounded pride for not being able to solve a puzzle.

Still, it was a puzzle, a challenge, and Sunset had always prided herself in being able to work out such things in her head, no matter how complex. The only thing she could figure out was that Julius had narrowed the means behind the attack on the capital to two different options, and crossed one of them out before the other mages had arrived.

Most of the captains kept their cool, although the guy with the stringy limbs in the green cloak got a little excited, while the purple captain frowned and looked around suspiciously as he took a step back. The captain of Yuno’s squad frowned through his mask as the captains with royal blood stepped to the side to flank everyone else, and the youngest captain looked on in disbelief while Dorothy continued to sleep.

“Marx, if you would?” Julius asked.

“Which of the people in this room assisted the Eye of the Midnight Sun in the attack on the Capital by giving them a way to circumvent the barrier?”

George answered without a second thought. “The traitor is the Purple Orca’s captain, Gueldre Poizot.”

After giving a sudden start, the fat man in the purple robe took a step back. “That’s ridiculous!” he said. “You can’t honestly take anything this man says as fact! He’s a terrorist that attacked our kingdom! When have I ever given anyone cause to doubt my loyalty?”

Jack the Ripper let out an odd laugh. “Kekeke. Shall I go down the list?” he asked.

“I’ve also heard some rather disturbing rumors about your actions,” Charlotte spoke up as she turned to frown at the man while calling up her grimoire.

Third in line, Nozel frowned at the woman. “Only rumors? I’ve had some of my men do a little digging the last couple of weeks and come up with more than that.”

The youngest of the captains, Rill, looked over to the others. “Are you guys serious?” he asked in surprise.

“Yeah, I’ve heard some pretty nasty things about him as well,” Yami added.

“I always knew you were up to something sneaky, but even I didn’t think you could stoop this low,” Jack grumbled.

Faced with angry mages on all sides, Gueldre looked around at all of them. “THIS ISN’T FUNNY! How can you possibly believe the words of a terrorist?”

“Because,” Marx suddenly spoke up. “He’s under the influence of my magic, and will answer everything I ask him truthfully. However, if you really are innocent, then by all means, subject yourself to the same spell, and prove it to us.”

After taking another step back, Gueldre looked around wildly. “I won’t stand here and be trapped by this farce! I’m going to get out of here and clear my name!” he said as his book rose up in front of him. “Transparency Magic: Invisible Scout!”

Sunset tensed as she saw the man slowly vanish from the ground up, her memory recalling the set of spells that one of the Three Eye had used previously.

“Uh...isn’t that the same spell that one guy used in the cave a few weeks ago?” Asta asked.

As Yami drew his sword and all of the other captains jumped away from where Poizot had been a moment ago, Sunset held out her hand and drew on her natural magic without messing with the mana. After her encounter with the mage who could simply slip through any attack that had been created from mana, she had spent a little time in coming up with a proper defense against such a move. It hadn’t taken her long. Although, its usefulness against a captain was questionable.

A basic transmutation lashed out at the ground beneath where the invisible man had been standing a moment ago as well as all of the unoccupied area between there and the door. Solid rock turned to wet mud that was a good foot deep, creating an obvious impression of where the fat man was as he sank down to where his knees were.

“H-Hey, what is this?” a disembodied voice demanded. “Magic isn’t supposed to work on me when I’m invisible!”

William Vangeance took a moment to look at Sunset. “But it does work on the surrounding environment.”

Charlotte grit her teeth before glancing over to the captain in the tank top. “Quickly Yami, you’re the only one of us with a means of non-magical attack.”

Before the fat man could work his way out of the mud, Asta surged forward with his large sword still in his hands. “I’VE GOT HIM!”

“Idiot,” Jack the Ripper told him. “A magic sword isn’t going to-” The man stopped talking when Asta’s sword connected with a loud ‘klang’. “Oh...nevermind.”

As the magic hiding the purple mage from view was dispelled, all of the other captains moved in on him a moment later, with Fuegoleon taking a moment to dry out the mud with his magic before they all pounced on the man that was only about waist high to the rest of them while Asta held his sword out, touching the mage and keeping him from raising a mana skin defense.


Asta spent nearly half an hour not wanting to believe his ears as a Magic Knight Captain went about confessing to a list of crimes over a mile long. With Marx’s magic on him, Gueldre had confessed to outright killing some of his squad members, stealing magical items for his own personal use, stealing other magical items to sell to nobles, drug smuggling, extortion, and having some of his men assault Clover merchants. Then, there were his real big crimes, like how he had abducted a guardian mage that managed the city’s defenses and gave the guy over to that creepy girl in glasses Sunset had knocked out in exchange for some magical items.

After the whole thing was over, the Wizard King turned around to face everyone in the room. “This is the first time something like this has happened in the history of the Clover Kingdom,” he said. “He was a magic knight, whose duty it was to protect our people, but he sold them out instead. Because of what the Magic Knights represent, we can’t allow this to become public knowledge.”

“SAY WHAT?” Sunset yelled, making everyone in the room look over to her as she fumed under the order. “You can’t be serious! You just found out that this guy’s dirty, and you want to cover it up? What? Can the kingdom not handle hearing that one of their stupid knights isn’t one-hundred percent perfect?”

Jack the Ripper turned to the redhead. “Use your brain, girl,” he told her.

Julius continued right over the man. “A good deal of the kingdom’s strength comes from it’s belief in the Magic Knights as incorruptible. The last thing we need is that faith being shaken,” he explained before looking back to the others. “That said, I have no intentions of just ignoring this either. Since the Purple Orcas were being sent out to the border, the possibility of them causing trouble back at home is low. Which buys us some time for what is likely the most corrupt squad. I want the rest of you to examine your squads and see if you can find anyone with questionable loyalties among your men. If a captain can be enticed by these criminals, anyone can.”

As that order was digested by the captains, the Wizard King turned to the redhead in the room. “Oh, Sunset. With this news, I almost forgot. Did your theory coincide with what we learned today?”

The frown on Sunset’s face went away for a second at the question, after which she crossed her arms and looked down at the ground. “Well...that’s just it…” she replied hesitantly as her eyes darted around a little, showing Asta she was quickly going over information as if she was reading through a book at lightning speed. “I think their leader, Licht, is lying to them.”

Everyone in the room focused their attention on the girl. Shortly after they did, Captain Vangeance stepped forward. “What makes you say that?”

Sunset became hesitant for a moment, then let out a sigh. “When I met him inside that cave, after he abducted all those kids, Licht said some things that don’t really match up with what his lackey told us,” she said. “He talked like he wanted to kill everyone in the Clover Kingdom, not rule over another one. And then there’s the Tree of Life array…”

“Hey,” Jack the Ripper suddenly spoke up as he pointed to Sunset. “Why exactly are we listening to this pipsqueak?”

“Yeah that’s right! We’re supposed to be the magical experts here!” Rill said as he took a space alongside Jack, who blinked and gave the boy a cautious look.

Julius cleared his throat. “Ah yes, about that,” he said before going into an explanation about Sunset’s origins.

Once he was done, Jack slumped a bit. “Knew I would end up in the wrong the moment the kid took the same stance as me,” he grumbled.

With that out of the way, Sunset suddenly became hesitant. “As for the array, if it’s really using those stones, then I would need to study one to see what effects it would have on a spell like that,” she said. “They could either enhance the magic, or invert it, turning what could be considered a healing spell into one that would actually cause flesh to decay.”

Julius nodded. “I see. In that case, recovering Fuegoleon’s stone, or finding another should be our top priority. They can’t be allowed to assemble them all and finish their plan.”

A second later, something occurred to Asta. Wait a second...don’t we already have a magic stone? he asked himself, remembering the rock they had got during his very first mission that Secre had guarded religiously after retrieving it. Why would Sunset need a magic stone if she already had one in her room?

“Well then, you all have your orders. Before we can make any new moves against the Midnight Sun, we must first secure our squads. Go back and perform a thorough review of your troops. We can not afford to have any intelligence leaks, or worse,” the Wizard King announced before turning to the Black Bull’s captain. “Yami, there is another matter I must speak with, in my office. If you would come with me, please? And bring your men.”


Yami let his displeasure show as he walked into his office with his minions on his heels. All of the other captains had been given leave to head back to their respective bases, but Julius had him stick around for some reason.

What that reason was, didn’t know, but he bet that it would have something to do with the report Julius was reading with a frown on his face. After a few minutes of keeping him in the dark, the Wizard King finally looked back up to Yami. “Sorry for keeping the three of you here so long, but I have a special assignment for the Black Bulls,” he said before looking back to the letter with a frown for a moment, then up at Yami again. “It’s a terrible feeling, to be betrayed by someone you once fought alongside.” He sighed and looked out the window behind his desk. “I sprinted at full speed to get where I am, but I may have made mistakes because of my haste.”

Ignoring the starry-eyed look in his shortest minion’s face, Yami gave a groan. “Did you hold us up to tell us something like that?”

“No, I have an assignment for the Black Bulls,” he said before looking back down at the piece of paper. “Or two.”

“WHATEVER YOU NEED, WIZARD KING, SIR!” Asta yelled.

Sunset crossed her arms. “Shouldn’t you be asking one of the more established squads?”

Julius sighed and hung his head a little. “Unfortunately, I don’t know if the Midnight Sun has infiltrated any of the other squads, and taking the time to question every single member of the Magic Knights will kill the edge we just gained. Not to mention, undermine the trust we have in one another,” he explained before sighing. “The Black Bulls are the smallest squad and have no real connections to anyone outside your organization. So, your group is the only one I can trust with this mission because of the manpower that will be required. Which means nearly every one of your members will need to be going on this mission.”

“Which is what, exactly?” Sunset asked.

The question hung in the air for several seconds as Julius took another look at the paper he was still holding before turning his attention back to the redhead. “Well, you were there for the interrogation, so you already know that the Midnight Sun has located a magic stone in the vicinity of the Underwater Temple.”

“OH YEAH!” Asta exclaimed before blinking and becoming a little confused as he calmed down and his brain caught up with his mouth. “Uh, what’s the Underwater Temple?”

Annoyed at the fact his minion had nearly busted his eardrums over something he didn’t even know about, Yami reached over to grab the boy by the head and lift him into the air. “If you’re going to keep doing things like that, I might as well just squeeze hard enough to make your brain come out your nose since you’re not using it,” he said before dropping him back onto the floor.

After considering the question for a moment, Julius snapped his fingers. “It’s a special region of the Clover Kingdom that has an excess of mana. If you want to compare it to something you have a little experience with, think of it as an open-air dungeon, only much more dangerous.”

“So, you want us to get there before the Eye of the Midnight Sun does and make off with this magic stone thing,” Yami surmised. “And you’re right about connections, I don’t really have anything tying me down like all the other captains.”

Unlike the majority of the leaders among the Magic Knights, Yami had no land or title, he wasn’t even from the Clover Kingdom. He had washed up on the shore in sight of the mountain that was the capital of the country. And that had caused him no end of problems when he was younger…

Look at that freak, he’s not even from this continent you know. He washed up from some island somewhere to the south east and lives alone on the coast,” Yami could remember someone saying to someone else several years ago when he had been looking out at the sea and feeling homesick.

He wasn’t some human-looking horse-thing that didn’t bring good luck, with fancy magic that didn’t need a grimoire. So, there wasn’t any reason to be friendly with him. But even after receiving a grimoire from a tower in Clover, nobody had accepted him, and the affinity that his grimoire had wasn’t something that many people in the entire history of the kingdom could claim. Even when I got a grimoire, nothing really changed. I thought I would have been alone all my life, until…

Yami remembered a tall and pretty off-putting blonde weirdo running up to him one day when he was playing with his new grimoire and giving him an excited, goofy smile. “Oh WOW! Is that dark magic? Oh, that’s super rare. Please, you got to give me a closer look!”

Julius had offered to buy him a meal in exchange for hearing a pitch about joining the Magic Knights, and eventually managed to talk him into joining the Aqua Deer. And he had been stuck with the man ever since. 

So, if Julius needed him for something, Yami supposed that he needed to take it seriously. Especially since Julius was feeling the sting of betrayal so hard that he was actually going to Yami’s squad for help.

Seeing that he needed to make a show of support, the foreign man raised his arm to put three fingers up to his chest. “Okay then. I’ll use all the power I’ve got to prove that you’re not wrong about this, and show you that you haven’t made any mistakes,” Yami told the man.

“Heh, I think that this is the first time that you’ve ever saluted anyone,” the Wizard King replied with a little smile. “Oh, and Asta. I’m starting to think that it might have been fate that brought you to the Black Bulls. You see, To help ward off intruders, the Underwater Temple is protected by a magical barrier that keeps everyone out. Although there are rumors of ways into the area, I can provide verification for none of them. So, your anti-magic will be needed to enter the area. I’ll be counting on you.”

Asta slapped his hand up to his chest in a salute like Yami’s. “YES SIR!” he replied loudly before his determined face fell and the boy fell to the ground to roll around in pain. “OW! OW THAT HURT!”

On the other side of Yami, Sunset let out a groan. “Of for the love of-STAND STILL MORON!” she yelled before Asta was picked up by a blue glow before he floated over to the girl and was covered in fire magic.

“Never seen someone injure themselves giving a salute,” Yami commented as Julius chuckled over the matter.

Then, the blonde’s face turned serious again. “Now, onto the next matter. Sunset, I have another assignment for you,” he said before holding up the letter he had been mulling over. “A few days ago, a scouting team from the Golden Dawn came across a city that had been affected by an unknown type of magic while on a basic reconnaissance mission. No magic item was found and we were hoping it was an isolated incident, but I just received word that another small village further inland has suffered a similar fate. From what can be determined, the magic involved caused most of the townspeople to gather in the center of the village before they became extremely violent.”

Sunset frowned. “So, it’s like what that snow mage was doing to those kids?”

“No,” Julius replied. “While magic to control people en mass does exist, it is very limited in what it can do. You can either have quality, or quantity, but not both. The ability to force multiple people into violent conflict where their lives might be in danger is far outside the realm of possibility for any mass mind control magic. I want you to join our kingdom’s other magical expert in seeing what could be done to find out the reason why such horrific attacks are happening.”

After looking over to the shortest person in the room for a moment with a frown, Sunset sighed. “Well, I guess nothing too bad can happen to Asta if every other single member of the squad will be around to watch his back and keep him from doing anything too stupid.”

“Hey!” Asta complained.

Yami reached up for a cigarette that wasn’t there and groaned. He hated being in places that wanted to keep the air smelling like roses. “You just beat yourself up while saluting. If you ask me, she’s right to be worried.”

“Very well then, I’ll send out the orders and begin the operations in two days time. That will give you time to make the preparations you need,” Julius told them before dismissing the three people in front of him.