2 Chapter 2: Where Is Ben ?

Hage Village...

Village Orphanage...

After 15 years, everyone in the orphanage, including Father Orsi and Sister Lily, was in a hurry, searching around the orphanage.

"Sister Lily, did you find him?" Father Orsi asked the nun near him with a worried tone.

"No, Father. I think he went hunting in the woods," Sister Lily consoled the worried father.

"This kid always makes me worried about him. Today is his grimoire day, one of the most important days in his life and his birthday." Father sighed, looking through the window.

While mentioning the last part, suddenly Father Orsi and Sister Lily both widened their eyes in sudden realization.

"Sister..."

"Don't worry, Father. I think I know where he is now." Sister Lily interrupted Father and exited the father's room.

"Sister Lily, marry me." Asta, who saw Lily come out, suddenly kneeled before her with twinkling eyes, took a book of roses from nowhere, and proposed to her.

"Water creation magic: Holy Fist of Love!" Sister Lily shouted the spell, opening her grimoire. A big fist made of water smashed Asta on his head.

"How many times have you been rejected, Asta?" Leanne looked at Asta with a deadpan look on her face.

Other kids looked at the confrontation between Asta and Lily with no interest, as this is routine for Asta apart from training his body in the demon's skull.

"No way, I will give up. I will become Wizard King and marry Sister Lily, hahaha..." Asta declared proudly while lifting his hand towards the sky with a fiery determination in his eyes.

"In your dreams. I am the one who will become the Wizard King." Yuno taunted Asta while walking toward Sister Lily.

"Sister Lily, I found a brother in the graveyard," Yuno informed Lily with pride that he was the one to find first.

Sister Lily moved towards the graveyard located at the backside of the church, followed by Asta, Yuno, and a few of the kids from the orphanage.

Graveyard...

In between the many graves in the graveyard, a 15-year-old boy was standing before one of the graves, holding a book full of white flowers.

He placed the flowers on top of the grave.

The young man had silvery white hair with a well-toned body from regular exercise, standing at 5.5 ft in height.

He was wearing a full-hand black shirt with folded 3/4 sleeves, while the folded sleeves and collar were in green color. Three lines in green passed through the shoulder and the sleeve.

He wore blue pants and black boots with a green outsole.

"Brother Ben, here you are. We've been searching for you everywhere in the orphanage," Asta shouted at the young man who was standing in front of the grave.

"Asta, you idiot." Yuno scolded Asta for disturbing Ben.

Sister Lily came near Ben and placed her hand on his shoulder, with a comforting look on her face.

"Your mother will always look after you." Sister Lily comforted Ben.

On the grave, there was no name written except "Ben's Mother."

Ben turned his head and looked at Sister Lily with his blue eyes. When Sister Lily looked at his eyes without even realizing it, her face turned red.

"Sister Lily, thanks. Why are you here? Is there any problem in the orphanage?" Ben asked Sister Lily with his gentle voice.

"Have you forgotten? Today is your grimoire day. Happy birthday." Sister Lily said with an excited tone to Ben and wished him a happy birthday, shaking his hand.

"I will also get a grimoire next year, and I will become Wizard King," Asta said with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Dream on. Happy birthday, Brother Ben." Yuno wished Ben a happy birthday after Asta.

'Finally, today is the day I get my grimoire. I will become someone that everyone looks up to.' Ben thought while looking at the screen before him.

[Omnitrix System Locked...]

[Get a grimoire to unlock the System.]

"Sorry, Sister Lily. I didn't notice the time." Ben apologized to Sister Lily.

"It's fine. Father Orsi is looking for you. Let's go." Sister Lily said with a smile on her face.

Ben and others arrived at the orphanage.

When Father Orsi noticed Ben's arrival from the window, he ran straight from his room to Ben, shouting at him for not informing him about his whereabouts.

"Sorry, Father." Ben hugged the angry old man who was shouting at him.

Sigh...

"Shall we go to the Grimoire Tower? It's already pretty late. Hurry up, we need to go there before it starts." Father calmed down and hurried Ben to the Grimoire Tower.

Ben and Father Orsi started to walk towards the Grimoire Tower.

While they were walking, many villagers wished Ben a happy birthday because Ben always helped them whenever he saw someone who needed help.

But only Ben knew he was trying various methods to open the system, but he couldn't.

A week before the grimoire day, he caught a notification from the system that said to unlock the system, he must have a grimoire.

Grimoire Tower...

After 30 minutes of walking, Ben and Father Orsi arrived at the Grimoire Tower.

When they got inside the tower, Ben was amazed. The tower had as many shelves as a library, filled with empty bookshelves up to the top.

There were also many anti-birds flying inside the tower. One of the birds came flying towards him and sat on his shoulder.

"Finally, you showed up, Nero." Ben looked at the anti-bird with a smile on his face. The bird gave a deadpan look in response.

Ben met Nero when he was 5 years old.

He went to the Demon Skull to start training his body and mana regularly.

After a period, a bird started to watch over his training. When Ben first saw the bird, he was very happy because he knew the bird was not real but a girl named Nero.

Ben named her Nero, casually finding a suitable name for the bird. From that day onwards, Nero would always follow him.

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(Author's POV)

Thanks for reading the chapter! please give a review and power stone!!!