Chapter 7

Just as Elara's body and magic reached their limits, her weakly raised hand falling beside her along with the few remaining light shields left, a powerful surge of water started surrounding them to replace it.

Heath and his minions watched, startled, as a huge water dome with a long snake-like creature slithering around it, appeared before them, protecting the people inside of it from the never ceasing, incoming ice shards.

"I'll protect them! I'm royalty, and a member of the Black Bulls!"

Elara smiled weakly, happy for her friend. She did it..

The she started inwardly chuckling at how she got easily taken out of the battle.

I guess I'm still not strong enough. I can't keep blaming this on the nature of magic. I failed simply because I haven't trained enough, I failed because I'm still weak.

With that thought lingering in her mind, her exhaustion finally caught up to her and her eyes closed, her body finally shutting down.

~

The first thing Elara saw after waking up were wide pink eyes.

"Oh? Elara! You're awake!" Noelle exclaimed happily, but then suddenly coughed and looked away, trying to look unfazed after a realization hit her. "Well of course you are, i-it's not like I was w-worried or anything!"

Elara sat up, looking curiously at Noelle's face which had a tinge of pink in them. She then started giggling making Noelle even more flustered.

"Wh-what are you laughing at? I'm royalty!"

"There's no need to hide Noe! No one's gonna judge you if you were worried about me!" Elara said smiling her closed eyes smile while waving her right hand in front of her, in a dismissive way.

Noelle's cheeks flushed in an even darker shade of pink in embarrassment, looking at her giggling friend. The first girl she ever considered as her friend.

She should be honored, hmph! Noelle thought but then she suddenly smiled.

Next thing Elara knew, she was being engulfed in a tight hug by the tsundere royal. "Thank you.." she heard Noelle whisper in her ear.

Elara's eyes widened for a fraction of a second, before she smiled and returned the hug.

"I don't know why you're thanking me. I passed out before I could even help you catch the enemy." Elara said her eyes lingering on the three figures leaning on a wall and were binded with flame magic.

Noelle pulled away, shaking her head at Elara. "No, you were a lot of help!"

"Yeah!" Both female magic knights turned their heads towards the new voice that suddenly entered their conversation. It was the same girl from before, the little girl who asked Noelle to help Elara and save them.

"You were the one protecting us from the scary ice with your bright magic, before onee-chan helped us with her water magic!" The little girl said brightly, "You saved us too, thank you onee-chan!"

Elara stared wide eyed at the little girl, her heart becoming fuzzy and warm.

This girl is thanking me for saving them...

"Yes, thank you for protecting us, Miss Magic Knight!" Another villager who heard their conversation, said. Then suddenly a lot more, came to thank her.

They're all thanking me...

A bright smile graced the lavender haired girl's face as she watched the villagers thank her, from all around her.

So this is how it feels to be a Magic Knight, who protects the people. Mother..father...I'm fulfilling my promise to you!

Noelle watched with a fond smile as Elara interacted with the villagers with a wide grin on her lips. She was offering her soft eye smile to everyone around her, giving off that warm and comforting aura that always made the people who saw it smile.

Thank you... for believing in me. Noelle thought.

Elara then turned to Noelle after remembering something.

"Oh, Noe! That spell you used back there was so cool! Even in my state, I could still feel the powerful mana coming from it, you were so amazing!" Elara began praising Noelle, making the royal lift her chin high, with a smug smile on her face.

"Of course I am! I'm royalty!" Noelle said flipping her hair.

In that moment, both girls knew that this was the start of a beautiful friendship.

~

Magna, Elara, Noelle, and Asta were standing in front the three captives after the latter woke up not too long after Elara did.

"You finally awake, you jerk?" Magna asked as Heath finally awoke. "I'm going to rest a bit more and then escort you to the Royal Capital on my Crazy Cyclone."

"Spend the rest of your life atoning for what you did to those villagers, you bastards." Magna told them.

So my magic is sealed. Heath thought to himself.

"You're going to spill everything to the Magic Knights, including who you guys are and what your motives are!"

"I refuse." Heath said as if he was in a position to do such a thing in the first place.

"It appears the end has come." Heath said vaguely, before a bright purple light came from inside of him.

There was a magic item inside of him? Magna and Elara thought at the same time, shocked.

"Ice Magic: Ice Burial."

Just like that, the three captives were suddenly covered in ice before them, making the four Magic Knights gasp in surprise.

"Wha—"

Then without warning, the ice broke and disappeared, the people inside of them disappearing along with it. There wasn't anything that could tell them if they died or just escaped. Until they saw Heath's grimoire starting to fade and disappear in between Magna's hand: a clear indication that the owner died.

"Talk about resolve. Is there someone he was that loyal to?" Magna wondered, sweating in anxiousness.

Noelle and Elara just stared wide eyed in shock at the place that Heath and his minions were before they just vanished with the wind.

He used his magic to kill an innocent man, tried to harm innocent people with it too, and now... to kill himself and his own people? Does he really think that lowly of the gift he was given?

Asta, on the other hand, gritted his teeth in frustration, "You idiot!"

He went through all that... What was he after, anyway? Magna thought.

"What do..." Asta muttered out in disbelief, "What do you think life is!?"

"I'm never going to acknowledge these jerks! Never!"

~

6 figures could be seen on a cliff, where they had a great view of the sunset. One of them was a blonde boy, sitting hunched over in front of cross.

"Grandpa..." the blonde boy muttered in grief.

"Let's go home, Nick." The girl who was holding a doll, said.

"Grandpa really loved the view from here." Nick said

"Yeah." Magna said, "So, Nick, I heard that Old Man Seyhe was the only one to stand up to those guys."

Nick made a sound of agreement.

"Your grandpa was a real man." Magna stated, trying to comfort the boy.

"Grandpa sounded really happy. He said that even though it was just gambling, he still beat some Magic Knights."

"Yeah."

"He gave this to me as a gift." The little girl said, holding up her doll. "He even bought lots of yummy food for everyone in the village."

Noelle pats the little girl on the head while Elara just smiles softly at her, from beside the royal.

"He never got to be one, but Grandpa always admired the Magic Knights." Nick continued.

"Yeah." Magna replied with a smile as his glasses reflect the light of the sun.

"And they were also his regret." The blonde kid informed.

"Regret?" Asta asked.

"He always regretted not working harder when he was younger."

"Yeah..." -Magna

"But..." Nick wiped his tears and stood up, facing them, "he seemed really happy about the fact that Magna was working hard for the both of them."

Magna looked at Nick in shock before looking away with a smile on his face, "Yeah."

"Hey, do you think... I'll be able to become a Magic Knight, too?" Nick asked with resolve.

"Of course!" Magna replied, raising his fist in front of him, "Nothing is impossible!"

"You're future is something that you decide for yourself!" He added, quoting what Seyhe told him not too long ago.

"Not only am I a commoner, but I've got no magic powers, and I still made it in!" Asta spoke up, "But you've gotta work super extra hard!"

"Give it your all!" Magna encouraged.

"Do your best." Noelle said, flipping her hair.

"Yeah! And when you do, you'll surely make your grandpa proud and happy!" Elara chirped with her closed eye smile.

"Yeah!" Nick said, with hope in his eyes and a newfound goal.

"By the time you join the Magic Knights, I'm going to be working even harder, doing even more missions, and I'll be even closer to becoming the Wizard King." Asta proclaimed.

"Jeez. There you go talking nonsense again." Magna scoffed, "But you need to dream big. That's what it means to be a man!"

Asta walked forward and lightly hit Nick's chest with his fist, "I'll be waiting for you, kid!"

"Right!" Nick said with a cheery smile, easily reciprocated by Asta, while Magna, Noelle, and Elara had their own, just by watching from the back.

The touching moment suddenly ended when they heard Asta's loud yelling. "Ow, ow, ow, ow!"

The others sweatdropped as they watched how an anti-bird suddenly kept hitting Asta on the head.

"What do you have against my head, you stupid bird!? You wanna fight!?" Asta yelled in irritation as he kept jumping up, trying to catch the bird. "Why you..."

Asta suddenly noticed the purple stone between the bird's beak, "What's that stone?" 

"Oh, that's the charm that my grandpa had." Nick said.

Asta's eyes went white before he started to try and take the stone from the bird.... and miserably failing. "Hey, that's really important! Let go! Give it back!"

How strong is that bird, that even someone who has a ridiculous amount of strength can't even take a simple stone from it? Elara wondered.

Nick laughed, "You can have it. Apparently that bird really likes it. It's the least I can do to repay you guys for saving us."

"O-okay..." Asta said, before the anti-bird decided that it wanted to sit on Asta's head.

Those spiteful little eyes... Th-they're so cute!

Elara sweatdropped as she noticed how Noelle suddenly had a sparkly aura around her as she stared at the bird.

Eheh...Noelle..?

"You can come over here, too!" Noelle told the anti-bird with a faint blush on her cheeks.

I guess Noelle-chan has a soft spot for cute stuff. Elara thought, as she covered her mouth while giggling with her closed eye smile, in amusement.

Suddenly, the anti-bird started pecking Asta's head again, making the ash blonde yell in pain. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"

"What is your problem with my head!? I'm gonna barbecue you! Come here!" Asta yelled, chasing after the anti-bird.

The others started giggling and laughing in amusement as they watched Asta and the bird interact.

"The heck are you doing, you jerk!?"

~

Captain Yami's laughter could be heard from inside the Black Bulls Base after Elara and the others reported what happened in Saussy Village.

"Sounds like you guys went through hell!" Their Captain said, laughing. "I'm surprised Miz Dynamite didn't blow up in the midst of all that chaos!"

Why does he sound so happy about that? Noelle thought with a deadpanned expression on her face. Someone even died.

How could he laugh at a time like this?

Asta and Elara seemed to have the same thought as their faces looked solemn and serious.

"Hey, Captain, I don't think this is a laughing matter." Asta voiced out his thoughts.

"Being depressed isn't going to bring Old Man Seyhe back. Right?" Their captain told them.

"Yes, sir! It's just as you say, sir."

The three newbies looked at Magna in shock. He's the last person that should be saying that right now, considering he was closest to Seyhe out of the four of them.

"Old Man Seyhe liked to see everyone happy and energetic." Magna said then turning towards his three kouhais, his hands on his hips, "Come on. You guys should be laughing, too."

The three newbies flinched when Magna started laughing, sounding a tiny bit forced than normal.

"Come on!"

Well, I guess there is a bit of truth behind their words. There's nothing they could do to bring back the dead. It'll be best to move forward than to keep moping around, but...

Elara watched as Asta tried to force a laugh out of his mouth.

"Louder!" Magna ordered.

That doesn't mean trying to be happy this early after the death is gonna be easy.

With that, Elara, Magna, Asta, and Noelle forced awkward laughs out of their lips in front of their captain.

"That's how it should be." Yami said, making the four stop laughing, "What happened to Old Man Seyhe really is a shame, but you four were able to protect the villagers."

Magna, Asta, Elara, and Noelle looked at each other with smiles on their faces.

"Be proud of that." Yami continued, "Well done. Great job, you idiots."

"Yes sir!" Magna replied saluting, Asta with conviction, and Elara with her usual eye smile.

Noelle on the other hand, blushed from the praise, not being quite used to it yet, considering her past, "Thanks."

This caused Yami to start laughing again.

Asta then noticed what Magna was doing with his hands, "What's that?" he asked, which caught both Elara and Noelle's attention.

Magna turned to Asta, incredulously, "You moron! You didn't even know the Magic Knights' salute?"

I didn't know there was a Magic Knights salute. Elara thought to herself.

"Take a good look! These fingers symbolize the clover." He started to explain, gesturing to the three middle fingers that weren't folded. "Go on, give it a try."

"Yes, sir!" Asta exclaimed, mimicking how Magna did the salute.

"Well done!" Magna praised.

Elara, out of curiosity, tried it as well, folding her pinky and thumb, making them touch each other, while the rest stayed straight in their position. She then brought it to her chest, saluting, which somehow made her feel pride swell in her chest from doing something that Magic Knights often did to show that they serve the Kingdom and it's people.

"You too, Miz Dynamite! Well done!"

An irk mark suddenly appeared on Elara's forehead, as she craned her neck towards Magna's direction, glaring heated daggers at her senpai. Magna didn't notice this because he was too busy talking to Asta, but he did feel a sudden chill go through his body.

A portal suddenly opened behind them with Finral and Vanessa walking through it.

"We're back." Finral informed.

"Great job, you four."  Vanessa praised.

"Miss Vanessa! Finral-san!" Asta greeted.

"Welcome back, Finral-senpai, Vanessa-senpai." Elara greeted too, smiling her closed eyes smile with a wave.

"Captain, we went to the Magic Investigation Department." Finral reported.

"Good. Did you find anything out?" Yami asked.

"Who the heck's behind all this!?" Magna demanded with intensity, "I'll find their hideout and raid it! I'll beat the crap out of the guy who got away, too!"

"Well, you see, they investigated the item he left behind, but still didn't have a clue." Vanessa informed them, making Magna scoff.

"How useless can they be?" Magna asked in frustration before throwing the fireball he was holding towards a random wall, leaving it with cracks and a dent.

"You fools!" Yami reprimanded, his face darkening and his arm suddenly filled with his dark mana. "Stop breaking stuff!"

Elara sweatdropped as she watched Yami break the wall behind him.

It looks like I'm not the one he should be worrying about when it comes to breaking stuff.

"Sorry!"

Despite the alarming display of destruction that just happened, they continued to discuss about what Vanessa and Finral found out about the pocket watch, looking as if this didn't bother them at all. Although, considering the fact that this probably is a daily thing for them, they really shouldn't have a reason to be bothered about it anymore at all.

And for obvious reasons, this is something Elara really likes about this squad.

"But the pocket watch is pretty nice." Finral commented.

"Yes, and from what you said about how they were acting, they were all very high status." Vanessa said, thoughtfully.

"So they're royalty or nobles." Magna concluded.

"The way you say it makes it sound so offensive, you know." Elara piped up from behind Magna, making the delinquent flinch.

"It-it's not like that, Miz Dynamite!" Magna frantically defended, turning to look at Elara, shaking his hands wildly in front of him.

Elara only smiled and nodded, "I know, but I can't really blame you if you did think like that. Most nobles these days have really grown a big head over the years. They've crossed lines they shouldn't be crossing far too many times now. It's gotten far too disappointing." She said, ashamed for her fellow nobles, although the others could see that there was a much deeper meaning behind her statement.

It was like she too, held deep resentment towards the nobles.

The atmosphere in the air suddenly turned sour, making Elara regret ever opening her mouth in the first place.

Oh no! I knew I should've just kept my mouth shut!

Luckily for them, a certain anti-bird decided to make its presence known, suddenly popping up from seemingly inside Asta's hair.

"Oh, who's this little guy? He's adorable." Vanessa, desperate to get rid of this weird atmosphere, decided to speak up at the sight of the bird. Although part of it was also because she genuinely thought that the anti-bird was indeed really cute.

Elara let out a sigh of relief as the tension finally subsided, while Noelle, who thought the same about the bird, had a look of pure adoration in her pink eyes.

Although Asta strongly believed otherwise, "How's it adorable!?" He asked staring warily at the bird that was sitting comfortably on top of his head.

"I-it is adorable!" Noelle retorted indignantly, with challenging eyes.

I mean, I can't really argue with that. Have you seen it's eyes?! It's absolutely precious despite it looking so spiteful.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!" The bird then started its assault on Asta's head again, making the ash blonde cry out in pain, before flying off. "Why, you little!"

"Hey, come here." Noelle tried to beckon it over to her but was completely ignore by the small creature, making Noelle's eyes whiten in disbelief. This made Elara giggle in amusement.

"You ugly little bird! I'll turn you into fried chicken!" Asta suddenly yelled, pulling out his giant sword from his grimoire.

This made Elara stop giggling as she stared at Asta with eyes wide in disbelief. No!

"I won't let you turn him into fried chicken!" Noelle yelled, ready to fire her water magic at Asta.

"Say your prayers!" A great sound of things breaking was heard.

"Don't you dare!" More sounds of things breaking were heard as a great water force could be seen breaking a random wall.

"I said stop breaking things! Especially you, Miz Dynamite!" Another wall suddenly broke by the force of Dark Magic and brute strength put together.

"I didn't even do anything!" Elara whined with comical tears running down her face.

Nonetheless she ended up apologizing along with Noelle and Asta, bowing deeply in front of Yami. "We're sorry!"

You're the one breaking everything, though. Noelle sweatdropped, still bowing.

I don't even know why I'm apologizing! Elara thought with comical tears in the corner of her eyes.

"All right, listen up." Yami suddenly said, clapping his hands together. "It doesn't matter if the ones behind this are royalty or nobility. We're going to let the Investigation Department take care of this and we'll wait for their report."

"More importantly, I've got some good news." Yami said closing his eyes, looking down with smug smirk appearing on his face.

"Good news?" Asta asked.

"Wanna hear it?"

"Of course!" Asta yelled in reply.

I mean, what was the point of announcing that there was good news if you weren't actually going to say it? Elara sweatdropped at the thought.

"Your actions have been acknowledged by the Wizard King himself!" Yami announced proudly.

"The Wizard King?!" Asta exclaimed in shock.

"Wait, what's a Wizard King?" Elara suddenly asked, cluelessness dripping in her voice.

"EHHH?!" The squad members present in the room turned to Elara in shock, their mouths dropping to the ground.

"You don't know what a Wizard King is!?" Magna asked incredulously.

Elara scratched her cheek with her forefinger, looking up thoughtfully, "Well, unless that's what we call our King here in the Clover Kingdom, then no.."

Since her childhood, she only ever aspired to become a Magic Knight to which her parents and family gave all their support to, but they didn't mention anything else about that matter. They didn't tell her anything about a Wizard King. And since, she never really came out of their manor much, especially after her parents' deaths, she was totally clueless about the matter.

Asta suddenly appeared in front of her, his fists raised in front of his chest, while stars could be seen in his eyes, "He's the next most important person in the Clover Kingdom next to the King! He's basically the one who protects us all!"

"I'm surprised you even knew that, Stupidsta" Noelle commented, crossing her arms over her chest.

Asta, still in the same position, turned to Noelle, "Of course I know that! I'm gonna be Wizard King after all!"

"So, he's basically like Chief Magic Knight or something?" Elara asked.

"Yeah, you can say that. He's also the most powerful person in the whole Kingdom." Finral told her.

Elara then raised her hand, so she could hold her chin with her thumb and forefinger, "So if he's the strongest person in the Kingdom and he protects us all... then what does the real King do?"

Silence fell over the base, the other's expressions became blank, including Yami's as they thought of an answer but came up with none.

"No idea." They all deadpanned, to which Elara sweatdropped at.

"Anyways," Yami changed the subject, holding up a gold star for them to see, "You've been given a star!"

"Whoa, seriously!?" Magna exclaimed in joy, his fists punching the air. "Alright!"

Seeing their senpai's reaction, Noelle flipped her hair as if saying 'I'm royalty after all'. Elara, who didn't want to ask another question, just smiled her closed eye smile, despite being clueless, while Asta also screamed in joy, "Yeah!".

"Wow." Vanessa said and smiled at their newbies accomplishment, while Finral congratulated them for it, "Congrats."

"So, what are stars?" Asta suddenly asked, stopping mid-celebration.

It looks like I'm not the only one. Elara giggled at her squadmate's antics.

"Don't get so excited if you don't know what they are!" Magna scolded.

"Stars are awarded by the Wizard King based on our performance." Vanessa explained.

"What are they good for?" Asta asked.

"Well... They're like an honor." Vanessa replied.

"Honor!?"

"That's right, Asta! Honor!" Magna said slinging an arm over the shorter boy's shoulders. "It's a badge of honor for a man!"

"There are ladies here, too." Noelle walked up to them with Elara by her side who was nodding in agreement.

"It's a badge of honor for a man and a woman!" Magna corrected himself.

"That's makes no sense." Noelle and Elara deadpanned.

"The various Magic Knights squads compete to get the most stars." Vanessa told them.

"The number of stars indicates how much work a squad has done." Finral added.

"Ooohhh! I see!" Asta yelled.

Stars, huh? I guess competition can't really be avoided if there are different squads. It's practically inevitable.

"Speaking of, the Golden Dawn is currently at the top with seventy stars." Vanessa said.

"Seventy!?" Asta exclaimed in shock.

Woah...they must've worked really hard and helped a lot of people.

Asta suddenly went running in front of their Captain. "What about us? How many do the Black Bulls have?"

"We can't lose to the Golden Dawn!" Asta said competitively.

Yami smirked, "We..."

Asta stared at Yami, gulping in anticipation. Noelle and Elara who were also quite curious, could be seen popping their heads around both sides of Asta to get a better look at their Captain.

They watched as the star left Yami's fingers and floated up to a board with a lot of black stars. The star then positioned itself in front of a single black star and disappeared along with it.

"..finally have a nice, even negative thirty." Yami finished.

"Negative!?" Asta yelled in shock.

"What?" Noelle exclaimed, incredulously.

"Huh.." Elara sweatdropped.

"We're finally only a hundred away from the Golden Dawn." -Yami

"A hundred!?" Asta yelled while Elara and Noelle just sweatdropped.

Should I really be in this squad? Noelle thought.

Elara, who was able to get over her shock, smiled to herself as she looked down, her eyes flaring in determination.

Gives me more reason to work harder....

"One other thing." Yami said turning to look back at them, "Here's your pay for this month."

A bag of filled with coins was suddenly thrusted into Elara's hands.

I just really wanted to become a Magic Knight that I completely forgot the fact that this was a paid job... Elara thought to herself whilst blinking at her bag of coins in bewilderment.

"Woah! It's money! There's at least 200,000 yuls here!" Asta yelled as he stared at his hands filled with coins, eyes sparkling with stars.

"Thanks!" Magna said bowing to the floor in front of Yami.

"Thanks, Captain! I'm going to eat lots of yummy things with this!" Charmy exclaimed, lifting the bag of coins over her head while drooling.

"Yeah, eat up." Yami replied.

"Hey, Captain! How much would it take for you to fight me?" Luck asked, suddenly appearing in front of Yami with one hand holding up his bag of coins while the other crackled with lightning. "Well? Well?"

"I won't." Yami said turning away.

"Aw, come on!" Luck pressed on.

Yami was suddenly confronted by a nose bleeding Gauche who was holding up his sister's photo, "I was thinking about buying new clothes for my goddess, my little sister, Marie. What do you think will look best on her?" He inquired to the captain.

"Don't ask me." Yami replied.

Grey just stood there, puffing his usual smoke.

"No idea." Yami said, looking up at the big guy.

He then turned towards the rest of his squad saying, "Tomorrow's gonna be a day off, so don't let it go to waste."

"I'm gonna go on tons of dates!" Finral piped up, holding a thumbs up in the air.

"Do whatever you want." Yami said before chuckling.

"Thanks!" The whole squad (except for Grey, who was still puffing smoke and Noelle who was royalty:p) bowed in gratitude towards their Captain who was walking away to who knows where.

"We should all go out somewhere and have fun. What do you guys think?" Gordon mumbled.

Elara who was standing next to him, surprisingly heard what he said, albeit only barely.

"Uhm.. I don't think they heard you.." Elara said with her usual polite eye smile, cupping her left hand beside her mouth while using the other to point at the retreating figures of their squadmates.

This made Gordon slump dejectedly, before he too, took his leave.

"This isn't much." Noelle suddenly stated bluntly.

"You moron!" Asta yelled, "You could buy at least ten years' worth of tatoes with this money!"

Elara, who was equally as loaded as Noelle was, just stayed quiet as she watched the two bicker about money and tatoes, which were apparently abundant in Hage, Asta's hometown.

Despite the death of the Head of the Lunate Family six years ago, they still thrived in terms of money. In fact, they're one of the noble families that held a great contribution towards the Clover Kingdom. It was all because of Reighan Lunate, who took over the business while Elara was still far too young to be the Head at the moment.

"They aren't! Sister Lily can make anything taste good!" Elara tuned back into Noelle and Asta's conversation.

"And who's that?" Noelle asked.

"The woman I'm going to marry someday!" Asta proclaimed with stars in his eyes.

"What?" Noelle asked, bewildered.

"But Asta... aren't sisters women of the cloth? They can't get married.." Elara said softly, her closed eyes smile present on her face as if trying to comfort the boy.

She decided that she was going to have to break the sad news to him before he gets his hopes shattered even more hard in the future.

"I-it'll work out somehow! I'll go beyond all limitations!" Asta said determined, as if completely confident that it'll eventually happen.

"Are you stupid?" Noelle asked, incredulously.

I don't think this is one of limitations... Elara sweatdropped.

"Congrats on your first payday!" Vanessa suddenly piped in, cheerily.

The three newevies' attention immediately went to her as she walked towards them, stopping just beside Asta, slinging her arm over his shoulders. This made the said boy stiffen and let out a flustered sound.

"What do you plan to do with it?"

"I haven't decided." Noelle answered.

"Same here." Elara said from beside Noelle.

"What about you, little boy?" Vanessa asked poking Asta's cheek in the process.

Asta who was still incredibly stiff and flustered, managed to stutter out a reply, "I-I'm going to send some money back to the church in Hage."

"That's a great idea, Asta! That's the manly thing to do!" Magna commented from where he was sitting.

"Right!? Do you send money back, too?" Asta yelled, who seemed to snap out of his flustered state.

"Of course I do! But... " Magna said, pushing up his glasses.

"But?" Asta asked, curiously.

"Only after I've increased it a hundredfold!" Magna finished, winking while holding up a peace sign.

Elara and Noelle sweatdropped, albeit Elara still having a small smile on her face.

You never learn, do you? They both thought.

"A man's gotta take risks!" Magna said.

"By 'man', you must mean 'moron'." Noelle commented.

"Sending some money back is fine, but don't send it all." Vanessa told them. "Use a little bit for yourself."

"Sh-should I?" Asta asked, looking down at his bag of coins. "But what should I used it for?"

"Let's go shopping in the castle town tomorrow!" Vanessa said to him, then turned towards Noelle and Elara, "Both of you are coming, too."

"Shopping?" The three newbies asked in unison.

I haven't gone shopping since mother and father...

"I'll take you three." Vanessa said, smiling at them.