After wrapping the whole thing up, the Black Bulls had a great send off. Captain Yami wanted to leave right away, but when he heard that the temple will arrange a feast for them, with wine and food. Charmy and Venessa were on their knees begging to stay for the feast. The captain didn't need much convincing since he also wanted to stay for the feast.
The temple and the people of the underwater city had arranged a huge feast, long tables with a verity of different foods and drinks was arranged. Everyone was happily eating, except for two. Noelle was struggling to understand the weird feeling she had. Asta on the other hand was a little gloomy, since he lost the battle with Vetto, even with the help of of so many people. He wanted to be the Wizard King. He was supposed to help people, not get help from them.
Noah, who was sitting nearby, had noticed their mood.
"You two did great" - Noah's voice caused the two to flinch.
As Noelle and Asta raised their heads up, they saw Noah causally eating but not looking to them.
"Acknowledging that your weak is the first step. Understanding what exactly that makes you weak is the second step. Knowing how to fix that is step three. Today was and eye opener for the two of you, use that to better yourselves. You should build upon this experience and get better" - Noah moved his eyes to look at them during the last part.
The two went back to looking down at the table. Asta was so angry and frustrated. He was clenching his fist as hard as he can, to the point that his fingernails had dug into his palm causing some blood to trickle down.
Noelle's eyes was getting watery, she almost cried. There was a heavy feeling on her chest. She didn't understand that feeling. It was suffocating.
Noah was looking at them from his peripheral vision. He knew that it will take a little bit of time for them to get over this. But knowing that they have potential, being able to adapt in the middle of a battle, and then acknowledging their short comings was the best thing for them right now.
[I think that you showed off too much] - Draco
[If they have no goal then they will get stagnant. Noelle with her mana reserves and that two new spells she had acquired recently, she would be high intermediate to low senior level magic knight. Asta with his crazy anti-magic swords and his powerful physique, he would rank around the same level of combat power. But if they don't keep trying, they will waste their potential] - Noah
[I see. So now what?] - Draco
[We wait for them to pull themselves together. They might ask me to train them. Honestly I wouldn't mind giving them some pointers. I had always helped Noelle, adding one more person to help won't really hurt] - Noah
*BOOM*
An explosion drew Noah's attention. Looking down the table he saw Magna and Luck fighting about something. Venessa was drowning in liquor, and Charmy had a mountain of food in front of her. Gauche was cursing the head priest, since he couldn't get in touch with his sister. Finral was flirting with one of the ladies serving food. Grey was just there. Yami's face was getting more and more pissed off as seconds passed.
'Yep, he's about to snap' - Noah braced himself
Yami raised his hand, "SHUT UP!"
*BOOM*
-----------------
*Two Hours Later*
The entries squad was done with eating and drinking it was time for them to go back to the surface. As good as it was to hang out here, they were still on a mission.
Noelle had cast her sea dragon cradle one more time. The head priest used his magic to make a temporary gate out of the protection bubble for them to pass through.
The head priest had told them about a rout to take. This would help them avoid the dangerous areas filled with violent underwater currents.
Noelle had done a good job getting the whole squad to the surface. They were rowdy, but Noelle was just quietly stearing the cradle to the shore.
After they landed, Finral opened a portal back to their hideout. He tried to complain but captain Yami had his way of convincing him. Yami was quite gentle, compared to other times.
After the squad made it to the hideout, they were greeted with a sad Gordon.
"I was wondering where you were" - Captain Yami
Gordon went on to say something that was inaudible to the others.
Charmy just gave him a cake and told him that it was ok.
Noah had no idea if she can hear what he said, or if she was just doing whatever.
After some more fighting and a few destroyed walls, the squad finally went to sleep.
———————
Waking up the next morning, Noah went downstairs for breakfast. As Noah was making his way to the dining area, he can hear all kinds of shouts and stuff getting broken.
[Do they ever stop. I get it that they're good friends and all. But do they ever get tired. Especially that fire magic user. He can fight the lightning magic user for hours, but once we get into a real battle he goes out of commission in minutes. What's that about?] - Draco
[Ouch! No friendly fire please] Noah said as he was laughing
Noah took a seat next to Noelle. Asta was setting right across from them.
Noah started eating breakfast, while keeping an eye on Yami. He was waiting for him to snap, so that he can dodge.
Surprisingly, Yami didn't snap. "Listen up you bunch of idiots. Since the star awards festival is coming up soon. The mage HQ likes to send the current ranking to all captains to motivate them to get in some more missions before the festival. Anyway, we are finally not last on the ranking! Hahaha. We have 72 stars, we are ranked fifth out of nine. Hahaha, I can't wait for the next captains meeting. I can't wait to see the looks on the prickly princess and that lanky mantis. I bet they will be the most pissed off out of all of them. Hahahahaha!"
"We're fifth? What does the ranking look like right now?" - Noah
"First place like always, the golden bastards with 99 stars. Then second is your dear old brother with 92 stars. Then the Crimson lion kings. Honestly they fell off after Feugoleon's injury, they have 81 stars. I can't believe it but that fat hammy and his purple shits are in fourth place with 77 stars. Then us with our awesome 72 stars. Behind us are the blue rose knights with 63 stars. The lanky mantis and his bugs have 62 stars, he's very close behind the prickly princess. Aqua deers have 57 stars, and close behind them are the coral peacocks with 55 stars" - Captain Yami explained.
Everyone cheered for the good news.
"Shut up idiots! We still have some work to do. Finral open a portal to the capital. Make it as close to the magic knight HQ as possible. Noah you're coming with me" - Yami shouted at them, but they still celebrated. The captain didn't mind and ignored them.
Noah and captain Yami left a cheerful and rowdy hideout as they stepped into the portal. They found themselves about 10 meters away from the mage HQ entrance.
The two walked into the HQ and went to the highest floor, to the wizard king's office.
*Knock Knock Knock*
"Come in"
Noah pulled the door opened and allowed Yami to step in.
"Yami. I see you're here to deliver the magic stone yourself. Oh and Noah is here too" - Julius
"Yes. My squad and I had to fight pretty hard for it. Also last night we dropped off some prisoners we captured during the mission" - Yami was bragging. Noah had to hold back from facepalming himself. Except for Gordon, who wasn't even on the mission with them, Yami was the only one who didn't fight. Even Grey fought at some point.
But Noah knew better than to say that out loud. After dropping off the stone, and Yami complaining about not getting 100 stars instead of 25 stars. But this mission had put them on 97 stars exactly. Which put them in second place. Noah was actually surprised that they got all of those stars. But he then remembered that they captured one of the midnight sun's leaders and one of their strongest fighters. They will be second place unless other squads have missions to submit, which can cause some changes in the ranking. But that was something they won't have to worry about for now.
"Now that we have that out of the way. I have a mission for your squad, Yami" - Julius looked at some of the papers he had in front of him.
"Nope I have a bar to go to and brag. Give it to him" - Yami tapped Noah's shoulder and then left the office right away.
"Did he know that you're giving out missions. Is that why he brought me here?" - Noah looked at Julius as he asked
"No idea. He sometimes acts like a muscle head and sometimes he gets crafty. Anyway, here's the mission" - Julius handed a file to Noah
Noah looked at the smiling wizard king.
'*sigh* this job sometimes sucks'
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!
"So, you wanted me to take care of something?" - Noah had given up on trying to put reason to his captain's behavior. He had the file in his hand, but he wanted to hear what the wizard king had to say about the mission.
"Yes. It's a rescue mission. One of our spies in the Diamond kingdom had been compromised. She was able to send us her last location. Sadly she wasn't able to make it to the clover kingdom boarders. This mission is dangerous. You will have to infiltrate the Diamond kingdom boarders, reach the mountain range she is hiding in, then bring her back here. Normally I would leave a mission like this to a space mage. But the captain of the 13th division was the one who caught her. The 13th division captain has a very tricky space magic. The captain had placed an anti-teleport charm on our spy. Meaning she can't teleport until the charm wears off" - Julius explained
"How long does it take for the charm to wear off" - Noah
"It's not clear. Our intel say that it depends on how much mana is injected into the charm. From what the spy said she is estimating about a month before the charm wears off" - Julius
[Why can't she wait till the time is up] - Draco asked Noah
"Then why can't she wait till the time is up" - Noah repeated what Draco asked
"The 13th division are still hunting her down. Luckily the charm doesn't give away her exact location. We think that the 13th division will take about a week to ten days before they can reach her. Listen Noah, failure is not an option. Our spy had spent many years there. She has managed to acquire many important documents and other things. Your job is to bring her and the documents back safely" - Julius said the last part sternly
"I understand" - Noah saluted before leaving the office with the mission file
Noah found an empty meeting room in the HQ. He took a seat and placed the file on the table in front of him.
He went through the file. The mission was very delicate. Even though the spy was found, the Diamond kingdom don't know that the spy belongs to the clover kingdom. Which is good since the relations between the two countries are very shaky. If the spy is found to be from the clover kingdom, it might as well be the turning point for an all out war.
This meant that Noah had to infiltrate without getting recognized. He also had to bring her back without getting followed. Aside from that, the spy's picture, name and magic type have all been mentioned in the file. Lastly was the last known location marked on a map.
Noah put away the file after memorizing all of the information. Noah left the mage HQ and made a quick stop at the market he wanted to buy some things. Then he went to the black market. There was a magic item that he wanted to buy for the mission. After he got all of the items he was looking for, he made a jet black eagle, which he flew till he got to the eastern boarder.
It took Noah a few hours of travel till he got to the boarder guard post.
The boarder guard post was made of a small fortress. It was about four times the size of the black bulls building. Though the building looked much nicer from the outside. There were two towers on either side of the building. Not wanting to spook the guards he didn't fly into the base, he landed a distance away and walked to the front gate.
"Stop! What brought you here?" - One of the mages atop one of the towers shouted.
"My name is Noah Silva. I'm here on an official mission" - Noah
There was a moment of silence before the mage responded back. "You may come in"
The doors to the fortress opened up letting Noah walk in. Once he was inside he saw three other mages walk towards him.
"Please follow us" - One of the mages said
Noah nodded before he followed them. The group walked for a few minutes before they arrived in front of an office.
Noah didn't waste anymore time before he entered.
"Hello there, my name is Marcus Synth, the captain of the eastern boarder squad. Nice to meet a member of the royal family" - The man said.
"Nice to meet you too captain Marcus. I just wanted to stop by here before leaving on a mission, since this place will most likely be my stop on the way back as well. I should head out within the next hour. If possible can you lead me to a bathroom to use before I leave" - Noah didn't waste more time than necessary
"Hahah, sure thing. I'll have one of the mages lead you to a private bathroom where you wont get interrupted" - Marcus
Noah nodded his head in response. A moment later a mage walked into the office. Marcus instructed the mage to take Noah to a private bathroom that Noah can use. Noah followed the mage, eventually he found himself inside a clean bathroom with a big mirror and a nice sink.
Noah put down his bag and started taking things out of the bag. First was a hair dye. He also took out contact lenses, they just changed the color of his eyes. After that he took out a change of clothes and a more plain looking grimoire holster.
Once Noah was done with his preparations, he had changed drastically. His silver hair had become a dull shade of green. His purplish-sliver eyes had became green. His expensive clothes were replaced with plane clothes. His squad robe was no where to be found. He had changed completely.
[You look very different. Humans have some very intriguing inventions. That liquid changed the color of your hair. Also doesn't that hurt your eyes?] - Draco
[That liquid is called hair dye. It's used like paint but for the hair. It's better than using mana to change my hair color. This will make it easier to conceal myself and reserve my mana reserves. As for the other thing, no it doesn't hurt my eye. It was made to just lay on top of my eyeball. I can tell that it's there, but it doesn't irritate me at all. It has the same advantages as the hair dye] - Noah explained
It took Noah a little under 30 minutes to dye his hair, but he had done a good job disguising himself. Now he was ready to head out. Before leaving, Noah made a stop at Marcus' office.
"Captain Marcus. I'm done with my preparations. I'll be leaving now" - Noah
"Oh! You changed your looks. Anyway good luck on your mission. Let me know if there is anything else you need my help with" - Marcus
"No thank you" - Noah said before he turned around and left the boarder guards base.
Once Noah was out of the base he pulled out the magic item he had purchased earlier. The magic item was a very thin piece of fabric, almost like paper. The paper was circular in shape, but it was as big as Noah's palm.
Noah took out his grimoire and placed the piece of paper on top of the four leaf clover on the cover. Once the paper was laid on the clover design, it started blending into the grimoire until it lit up for a second. Noah closed his eyes imagining the design of the diamond grimoire. In response to Noah, the light pulsated twice before the design of Noah's grimoire changed to match what he had imagined. His grimoire became a dull green color with the diamond insignia on the center of the cover.
Noah then started running towards the diamond kingdom.
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!
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