Chapter 14 - A magical mission

After settling in at the Black Bull's base of operations, Grim, Noelle and Asta were required to do a couple of tasks in order to help out the base. One of those tasks included feeding the monsters in the wild beast dungeon cages.

That being said, Noelle always kept a certain amount of distance away from him and shot him cold looks whenever the chance appeared. Asta on the other hand took everything in stride. After saving Noelle from the whole drown in the waterball incident, she had become much warmer to him and made him act as the messenger between her and Grim.

"Hahaha, people really can surpass their limits when they've got something to protect." Captain Yami's voice reverberated from down the dark corridor.

"It was surprising to me too!" Magna's voice accompanied his before they came into sight of the 3 new recruits.

"Why are you two nȧkėd?" Grim asked after the two of them came into view.

Standing with Noelle and Asta in front of the wild beast dungeon cage, Noelle's face turned red after seeing Magna and Captain Yami walking towards them nȧkėd.

"Its liberating." Was Yami's response before nodding to Magna.

"Now then, you three will be going on your first mission." Magna stood in front of them with the grace of a senpai... Which was really hard considering his current attire.

"Hell yeah! Magic knight work!" Asta cheered ignoring their nudity while Noelle's face was still flushed red.

"What's the mission?" Grim asked also ignoring their nudity. With all the peculiarities he's seen around this place, he was confident that nothing could surprise him.

"Hehe, you'll be going to the village of Sosshi to find and hunt a boar."

"...."

"...."

"...."

"Oi! What's with those faces! This is a serious mission y'know!" Magna snapped.

"No... its just... Aren't magic knights supposed to do cooler things like fighting crime and saving people?" Grim phrased the question as nicely as he could instead of saying what he was really thinking.

"What are you talking about? Of course we're saving people!"

"By hunting a boar?"

"We'll save them from starving to death." Magna smiled smuggly much to everyone else's displeasure.

"C'mon brats, we'll-

"CAN YOU PLEASE PUT SOME CLOTHES ON!" Noelle couldn't take it any longer and finally snapped.

---

Moving to the main area, Magna and Yami now fully dressed sat comfortably on the sofa while Grim and the other newbies were forced to stand.

"So about your first mission as magic knights." Yami started.

"You mean hunting a boar." Grim added.

"Yes."

"How do we even get saddled with such a mission in the first place?!" Noelle questioned unable to figure out how they had gotten here.

Looking forlorn, Yami took a long puff of his cigarette and explained the situation to the trio.

"Me and Magna ended up losing to the mayor of Sosshi village."

"WHAT!!"

"You guys lost!"

"How strong was this guy?!"

Everyone including Grim made surprised faces as they couldn't imagine a magic captain like Yami losing to the mayor of some random village.

Taking in another deep drag of smoke, Yami looked up at the ceiling before breathing out. "We lost in a game of cards."

"Eh?"

"That old geezer basically stripped us of everything we had."

"And six months worth of pay!" Magna chimed in.

"So to pay off our debt, we promised that we'd do anything he asked." Yami continued.

"And he asked us to take care of some wild boars at his no name village?" Grim asked putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

"Yeah."

*Sigh* "So let me get this straight, you guys lost everything after making several bad decsions while gambling, and to pay off your debt, you're sending your newly aquired squad members off to clean up the mess you guys made under the guise of it being our first mission?"

"Woah, you're pretty smart aren't you." Yami said with a surprised expression which really pissed Grim off.

"Are we atleast getting paid?"

"Of course not! That old man took everything."

"Then what's the difference between this and slave labour!"

"Slaves don't get paid!"

"We're not getting paid though!"

"Oh yeah... Magna take care of this, I'm gonna go surpass my limits in the shitter."

"Sure thing boss!" Magna saluted and watched their captain get up and leave.

"...."

"...."

"...."

---

Once the captain had disappeared from sight, Magna took the reins and started giving them orders. "You heard the captain, get your brooms ready we're going to Sosshi village!"

"I can't fly on a broom."

"Me neither."

Asta and Noelle spoke up some excuses.

"Eh?! Why the hell can't you guys do something as basic as that!" Magna yelled.

"I don't have any magic."

"I can't control my magic."

He then turned to look at Grim.

"Don't lump me in with them, I can fly on a broom, I'm completely normal."

*Flashback to him smiling while fighting Luck.*

'Normal my ȧss!'

*Sigh* "Here's what we'll do." Sighing at the fact that 2 out of the three newbies couldn't fly on a broom, Magna opened up a closet and brought out a weird looking broomstick with an animal skull on it.

"We'll take my broom Crazy Cyclone!"

---

Due to him being able to use his own broom, Grim was forced to let one of the two other newbies ride with him. At first, Magna suggested that he take Noelle but that suggestion was quickly shot down after Grim refused and they remembered what happened last time Grim got annoyed with her.

"Woah! So this is what it's like to ride on one of these!"

Holding onto Grim's waist, Asta marvelled at the fact that he was riding on a broomstick.

"Hold on properly or you'll fall!" Grim called over the wind.

Not paying attention to him at all, Asta kept shuffling about and Grim had to try to keep the broom steady so that they wouldn't fall to their deaths.

"Humph! How dare he refuse to ride with me! Who does he think he is!" While she didn't particulary like Grim as a person, being rejected by someone she didn't like was more of a blow to her self esteem than she would like to admit. So with nowhere to air her frustrations, she ended up occasionally strangling Magna as a result.

"Eck! Too tight!"

---

Flying through the air at a moderate speed, Grim and the rest landed at an area surrounded by a thick cloud of mist.

"What the heck?! Where's all this mist coming from?"

"Isn't that the village over there." Asta pointed to the centre of the mist. "This place has some seriously bad weather."

"Its magic dummy." Noelle sneered when she heard him. "Even if we go through the front, we'll probably be unable to reach the village."

"Asta." Grim suddenly called out.

"Yeah?"

"Can your sword get rid of the mist?"

"Eh? How do I do that?"

"Your sword negates magic right? Just touching the mist with your sword should clear it away."

"Oh." Understanding what he meant, Asta pulled out his giant sword and started clearing away the surrounding mist.

Watching his actions, Grim felt like he had a better understanding of Asta's ability. If he were to use breath of the beast to cut through the mist he'd be wasting his time as the mist had no actual form in which he could cut. It'd be as effective as him cutting the air.

"Take that! And That! And That!" Slicing through the mist until it had been completely swept away, Asta and his companions stood frozen as the clearing mist revealed what was ahead of them.

'I was not expecting this...'

Huddled around each other, the villagers of Sosshi village wore scared faces as they were down on their knees while a large amount of giant icicles floated above them.

"Execution." An unfamiliar voice said aloud causing the icicles to drop.

'Shit!'

[Fire Magic: Exploding Fireballs]

[Breath of Flames- 9th Form: Rengoku]