After all the announcements about the magic squad's achievements were over. Sekke and the captains got off the stage leaving behind the Wizard King.
"Now that the achievement announcements are over, here's the moment you've been waiting for," said Julius.
He then gestured towards the entrance of the stage and announced, "The appearance of our beloved king of the Clover Kingdom!"
Soon a man wearing a crown and holding a scepter in his hand appeared on the stage.
He looked at the citizens with an arrogant look on his face and said, "Now revere me!"
"..."
"..."
"..."
But what welcomed the king was an awkward silence where the citizens were just looking at the king without doing anything.
The King glanced at Julius and said, "Don't stand right next to me. You're in my spotlight."
Julius who was already in an awkward position because of the 'great' response from the citizens simply took a step away from the king.
The King greeted the citizens once again thinking that the response would be different.
Well, he was in for a rude awakening.
The response was different, but not in a good way because this time some soldiers who were disguised as citizens tried to cause hype and cheered for the king....though none of the citizens fell for it and it just looked like the cheer was forced.
This made the king angry and he started to scream at the citizens to revere him.
Sekke stared at the joke of a king and then looked at Noelle who was standing beside him.
"So...you are royalty like him?" asked Sekke with an amused smile on his face.
"Don't compare me with him!" yelled Noelle making all the people around them look at her weirdly.
Seeing that Noelle immediately covered her face to hide her embarrassment while Sekke just laughed at her.
Soon the king started speaking once again but this time he said something which brought everyone's attention to the man.
"The Eye of the Midnight Sun's hideout has been located."
This made all the citizens who were looking at the king with bored looks widen their eyes in surprise seeing that the king smiled as well.
"Until now, they have attacked us many times, and they had the upper hand in every battle. Bit things are different now. We are going to launch an all-out attack on the enemy! To that end, I have decided to gather an even more select group from the Magic Knights to form the ultimate hand-picked unit." said the king as he passed to let the information sink in.
He then tapped his scepter on the ground and started speaking once again.
"They will be called... The Royal Knights!!!"
"A week from now, I will hold an exam for all Magic Knights. Only those who pass this exam will be allowed to join the Royal Knights. And then, we will destroy the Eye of the Midnight Sun!"
The King then did the magic knight salute seeing which all the gathered magic knights salted as well.
"Magic Knights, offer up your grimoires in service to this kingdom!" yelled the king as all the non-magic knight citizens rose in cheers for the royal knights.
'...He ain't no Erwin Smith, but he sure did a good job raising the morale of the people.' thought Sekke as he was still standing while doing the salute.
The King who was now satisfied with the response of the citizens soon released the salute seeing which the magic knights stood at ease as well.
The King then announced the festival to be over as he tapped the staff on the ground and immediately the sky got filled with the fireworks.
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Later that night at an establishment the entire Black Bulls said except for Asta were celebrating.
"All right everyone!!! Foods and Drinks are on me, so just kick back and enjoy!!!!" yelled Sekke in excitement as all the squad members cheered in and started devouring the food and alcohol.
Sekke laughed out loud seeing his friends but he grabbed a drink as well and started drinking.
"Good work out there brat," said Yami who sat beside Sekke with a barrel of alcohol in his hand.
"Oh! Yami-san! How does it feel to be the captain of the squad that is at the top?" asked Sekke.
"It was great! You should have looked at the faces of that scrawny bug and braided bangs. Their reaction was just priceless." said Yami as he took a big gulp from the barrel.
"You seem white pleased with yourself for climbing the ranks just once."
Suddenly hearing a familiar voice Yami's body stiffened up as his head turned robotically toward the direction of the voice only to find Mereoleona standing there with her arms crossed.
"S-Sisgoleon..."
"Who the hell are you calling 'Sisgoleon'?" asked Mereoleona.
"Well, you're Fuegoleon's sister, so that'd make you Sisgoleon."
"We siblings are not referred to by such nicknames."
"Huh, you mean your family is not like Grampsgoleon, Gramsgoleon, Daddygoleon, Mommygoleon, and so on?" asked Yami in total seriousness.
"Damn...Mommygoleon got me," said Sekke as he started laughing.
Mereoleona simply ignored Yami's comment and started walking toward Yami.
As she entered, she came back with Asta, Noelle, and Yuno who were caught in a paw made of flames.
"Oh, heya, Captain Yami," said Asta as he greeted Yami.
Seeing him like that Yami started laughing and said, "Looks like she caught you, kid."
But the next instant a fit paw grabbed Yami's head as well and immediately the smile on his face disappeared and was replaced with a look of shock.
"You are coming as well." declared Mereoleona.
"Huh?"
"You weren't even late to the event you simply didn't bother to show up...Not to mention-"
Suddenly the aura around her turned threatening as she looked at Yami with a predatory smile on her face.
"You were trying to challenge me back there, huh?" said Mereoleona.
Yami looked at the woman in front of her but to him, she appeared to be a reaper cladded in flames.
Not even wasting a moment Yami's hand moved at incredible speed and he grabbed Sekke's head and brought him close.
"The time to battle the reaper is here, brat. Remember if you died after me, I will kill you," said Yami.
"Huh? What the hell?! Let go of me!!" said Sekke.
"Sisgoleon! Take this brat with us as well," said Yami.
"Alright"
"Wha-Why, am I included?" asked Sekke.
"You alone earned more stars than the 4th-ranked Silver Eagles. I am very eager to see how strong are you?" said Mereoleona with a smile on her face.
"Ah, you are fucked you brat. You are on her radar now," said Yami.
And just like that, she got out of the establishment with the people hanging on the flame paws behind her.
-------------------
"Woah...this strong magic region is even better than the desert," muttered Sekke as he felt the strong rampaging mana around him.
Currently, Sekke along with all those who were captured by Mereoleona were near a Volcano.
"My Rival!!!" called Leopold Vermilion as he ran towards Sekke.
"Oh! Leo!" called Asta who was excited to see the young Vermilion.
"My other rival!!" said Leo.
"Why the hell am I here too?" asked Yuno.
"My other rival's other rival," said Leopold as he glanced at Yuno.
"That's some great naming sense..." muttered Sekke as he wiped his sweat.
"Use this Sekke."
Suddenly hearing a familiar voice Sekke looked to the side and found Anna standing there with a handkerchief in her hand.
"No thanks Anna, it will make it dirty anyway," said Sekme as he tried to refuse her offer.
"No problem, I will prefer it that way- I mean I will wash it later anyway," said Anna
"...Yeah, no I am fine," said Sekke.
Anna stared at Sekke for a while before she sighed and slumped her shoulders in disappointment.
Seeing that Sekke sighed as well thinking that he just dodged a bullet.
But just as those thoughts came to Sekke's mind he felt something touch his forehead and looked up only to find Anna wiping the sweat off his forehead.
She then smiled at Sekke making the dark lord's eyes widen. It has been a while since he last saw a smile on Anna's expressionless face.
"I will 'attack' you from now on Sekke-kun...so don't be on guard and accept my 'attacks'," said Anna as she quickly pocketed the handkerchief and thought, 'Yes! Two birds with one fireball'.
Sekke just blinked in surprise and thought, '...Did she just try to flirt with me?'
"...You seriously want someone else to answer that question? " asked Vritra.
'...No.' replied Sekke as the dragon just sighed at his host.