After the party was over, Sekke's friends returned to the black bull's HQ leaving the Bronzaza family behind. Sekke then started to clean up after the party as Zuk was pretty much wasted from drinking and there was no way he was gonna let Elaine work after that.
He also told her about the girl who would come from now on to help her around the house. And even though she was surprised by the news and was happy that her son was thinking this much about her, she openly tried to reject his offer. Money while not huge was always an issue for their family and she didn't want Sekke to spend money on such a trivial thing.
Though Sekke argued about that and told her not to worry. He also played some emotional cards about her not trusting his capabilities and all of which in the end made Elaine stop her small argument with Sekke. She was a mother, a loving mother. And mothers can't not believe in their children's capabilities. She was the one who brought up the kid and knew full well how he was.
When Sekke was young others used to say that Sekke was arrogant and that it was not good for someone from the common realm to aim that high, she and Zuk always believed in Sekke. The boy had always claimed to be the one who will stand at the top and showed great determination and hard work for that goal. She knew how hard Sekke trained and how some of the things that he went through when he was a kid were quite dangerous for someone his age to experience. But seeing him return with a bright smile after his progress made her not stop her son. She warned him from time to time to not do anything reckless and also ground him whenever he got injured a bit seriously. She never doubted Sekke even once.
She just looked at her son's back and teared up a bit. Her son grew up kind and strong and even though she knew he was a bit arrogant, she was proud that her son.
"Now you just need to bring me a lot of grandbabies."
Turning to look at his mother who said that out of nowhere Sekke just looked at her weirdly and got back to cleaning.
"I will try, though I can't promise anything soon. I am quite busy making the world realize how great the dark lord is. Not to mention soon I will be busy with the little one who is going to have the privilege of calling me, big brother. He will get the finest upbringing from the dark lord."
Saying that Sekke envisioned his brother or sister playing with him and later fighting a mighty battle alongside him. The image of him training his sibling in the same way he did, which might or might not involve, being turned into mana beast bait, dungeon exploring before even getting their grimoire, and lots of dang*cough* exciting adventures to learn and grow from.
"...Yeah, you should hold back on that plan. Your sibling will surely die if they are at least half as talented as you," said Vritra.
'Vritra....sure talent may help in the long run, but in the initial stages, it's the hard work that matter. I can't decide whether my sibling will be talented or not. But I can make sure that they ain't a slacker who just gives up.' replied Sekke.
The dragon and its host talked for a bit longer after Sekke was able to make Elaine go to her room and rest. He just covered the already passed-out Zuk with a sheet and got back to cleaning.
"So where we're we Vritra?"
"This world's magic. Yeah, so as I was saying even though this world's mages have their affinities fixed since their birth, the magic of this world is kind of permanent."
"Permanent as in?"
"You see in my world we have many different kinds of being who uses different kinds of energies, but there is one thing that is common in all of them, a higher-level being can usually just break out of the effect of a spell. Like, most strong dragons and phoenixes are not burned an ordinary fire, or how weaker people who have time-stopping powers cannot stop or restrain stronger beings. But that is not the case in this world, the rules of magic here are absolute. No matter how strong you are if the spell has an effect on it that is going to work. Your [Flame Dubuff Magic: Blaze Touch] is going to burn dragons and phoenixes alike if they don't have fire immunity, resistances are nothing for your debuff spell. Restraining magic is going to restrain beings like gods and all if they don't have a counter against it." explained Vritra.
"That's interesting."
"It is. Your debuff magic is kind of a game-changer for most of the strong beings in my world. You can just poison them or turn them to sleep. No matter the gods, dragons, devils, or angels, not sure about Great Red or Ophis though. They can't be placed in your usual power scale. People in this world might not be strong but they are dangerous" said Vritra.
"Hmm... that's an interesting fact," muttered Sekke as he took out the red grimoire from his holster and smiled. It was something he felt happy about since that was meant to be his original grimoire. Sure both the grimoires belonged to him, but the bronze magic grimoire belonged to the cannon Sekke. The other grimoire though, he didn't have any knowledge about that and believed it belonged to 'him'.
Soon he kept it back in the holster and went to sleep. He had to wake up early as he had to go back tomorrow.
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The next day in front of the house, Sekke was saying goodbye to his parents who were sad that he was leaving so soon but still tried to hold back their emotions.
After he was done he looked towards Finral who came to pick him up and went back to the black bull's HQ.
Later that day, Yami returned with a bag filled with meat for a barbeque to reward his team.
The black bulls got excited because of that since it was Yami treating them, and Yami never does that.
Leaving that aside, while everyone was laughing and singing Sekke who was standing beside Noelle was crying.
"My little girl finally learned how to use attack magic!! I am so proud!!"
"Stop that!! You are not even my father!!" yelled Noelle as she blushed in embarrassment.
"But I taught you to magic how I teach little kids. It's very emotional for me," said Sekke as he wiped his tears.
"Ugh...."
Noelle groaned hearing Sekke's words. She then felt a hand on her shoulder and saw Sekke looking at her with a proud smile.
"Good job Noelle. You outdid yourself. I am proud of you."
"U-U-Um thank you...Not that I want to be praised by you or anything," said Noelle with a blush while im her head a chibi Noelle was jumping around with joy on being praised.
Leaving the royal alone to get over her embarrassment. Sekke walked towards Asta who was strangely less energetic.
"You okay buddy?" asked Sekke.
"Oh, Sekke! Check this out I can eat with my legs," said Asta as he showed Sekke how he could hold the skewers with his toes.
"Stop that. That's not hygienic. Here."
Snatching the skews from him Sekke held it in front of Asta who just are from it thanking Sekke with his mouth full.
"So, what did the doctor say about your arms? Seeing that they are not healed means there's some issue, right?"
Hearing that question Asta turned silent as he chewed on the food that was in his mouth. After he was done eating. He retired Sekke to come with him.
The two of them excused themselves and walked into the forest. Soon they found a clearing and the two of them sat down on the ground.
"That doctor where Captain Yami took me today told me that an ancient curse is used on my arms. They can't be healed. I won't be able to use my hands from now on." said Asta.
Sekke's eyes widened a bit. He forgot about this event but he soon remembered about the witch's forest and all.
'The memory is not that accurate anymore only important bits are left behind. I don't even know the whole thing since I only read till the introduction of the black triad or something.' thought Sekke.
Looking at Asta's hands which were inside the bandages.
"Show me your hands. I got a cure spell recently, maybe that will help."
Sekke just told Asta. He got the cure from light magic. Sure he might fuck the cannon. But when was he ever afraid of that?
Asta's body immediately jumped up at Sekke's words. He had lost all hope of ever using his hands but the words his friend just told him made him regain that hope.
Unknown to them though the other black bulls were already discussing what Finral secretly heard at the doctor's place and we're feeling sad for Asta.
Opening his bandages Sekke made a table from his magic and let Asta rest his broken hands on it.
"Damn they are broken badly. What the hell did you even do?" asked Sekke. He had his fair share of broken hands and all but the condition of Asta's hands was something he never saw.
"What type of curse is it anyway?" asked Sekke.
"Don't know," replied Asta.
"Let me examine it," said Vritra as Sekke gave a nod. If there was someone knowledgeable about curses then they would be the dragon who raised to the position of dragon king through his might and mastery of curses.
Sekke's sacred gear appeared as a small thread-like tentacle that came out of the gauntlet and wrapped around Asta's hand.
"Hm, a simple yet effective curse. It's been centuries since I saw this type of curse being used. That guy must be desperate to stop this kid to become a threat in the future."
'What is it?'
"It's a curse where the user uses half of its life force to not allow external spells to be used on the area where it is used. The body's natural healing is also stopped by this curse. Most people only use this spell when they are about to die. It is kind of a sacrificial curse." said Vritra as the thread unwrapped from Asta's hand.
"Well unlucky for them there is someone who deals with effect magic," said Vritra, as he told him earlier that permanent effect magic users are a pain to deal with.
Sekke smirked as his grimoire started flipping.
[Light Magic: Cure]
A faint glow came out of Sekke's hand as he channeled his mana toward's Asta's arms.
The two boys looked at Asta's hands for a while, but there was no change. But soon the curse marks started to fade a bit making the two of them smile.
Seeing the curse being lifted Asta got excited but soon Sekke stopped using his magic making the maneless kid look at Sekke with a questioning look.
"No use curing it right now, we can't heal you. I will do it in front of the doctor tomorrow. Not to mention the curse fights back."
Sekke pointed at Asta's hands as the two saw curse marks appear once again.
"It either means the only way to make it go away is to cure the whole curse or your hands will be cursed forever and can't be immediately healed. You will need someone to lift that curse while you are being healed," said Sekke as he stood up.
"But that's still better right?" asked Sekke.
"Yeah!" exclaimed Asta as he jumped up on his feet as well.
Sekke just laughed as he bandaged Asta's arms once again as the two of them walked back to the HQ unknown to the reason e the other squad members made.