When Father Orsi came out to check on the commotion outside, he was greeted by the sight of a red monster with four eyes and four hands walking towards the orphanage.
The kids in the orphanage were looking at the scene unfolding before them with wide eyes and started to panic.
"Wait! You monster, don't touch my kids. If you want to eat someone, eat me. Please let go of my kids."
He hurriedly ran before the four-armed creature and knelt before it, opening his arms dramatically while shaking in fear with shut eyes.
"____"
"____"
Ben and Charlotte were left speechless by the development.
"Isn't that Captain Charlotte, Ben's squad's captain? What are you doing with this monster? And where is Ben?"
Sister Lily noticed Charlotte standing beside the monster, who seemed to carry hunted beasts using its arms.
She asked Charlotte with concern.
HAHAHA...
"Oh... Sister, it's me, Ben."
Seeing the reaction from them, Ben laughed loudly and clarified their misunderstanding.
"Brother Ben, is that you?"
This time Yuno was the one surprised and exclaimed in surprise.
"Wow~ Did you see that? It was Brother Ben."
"Cool, it was Brother Ben..."
"Brother Ben's magic is too cool..."
"..."
The kids, after knowing it was Ben, started to surprise him and look at him curiously while exclaiming one after another.
"Yeah... yeah... it's me. It was a bit of magic."
Ben walked towards Yuno and passed some of the hunted beasts to him.
BLINK...
With a clicking sound, Ben transformed into his human form and carried the hunted beasts into the orphanage.
"Let me help you guys!"
Asta, who was sent flying in Team Rocket style, ran towards them at high speed and gave a hand in carrying it inside.
Charlotte was about to follow Ben inside when her magic communicator started to ring.
RING... RING...
Wizard King's palace...
Conference room...
All the Magic Knight Squad captains are present there while chatting with each other, waiting for the arrival of the Wizard King.
Except Charlotte, who was on a deadly mission with Ben.
Instead of her, Sol was present in her place as vice-captain.
"Hey, Shorty. Where did the Ice Queen go?"
Yami, who noticed that Charlotte was missing, asked Sol who was sitting in her place.
"Don't call me Shorty! The captain was with Ben on a deadly mission given personally to her."
Hearing Yami calling her shorty,
Sol glared at him and explained proudly about her captain's deadly mission.
"Ben, huh? What is the Wizard King thinking, giving a newbie an important mission?"
Solid, who accompanied his brother to the conference room, snorted in disgust when Ben's name was mentioned.
He still doesn't know why his sister Nebera started to ask him for a duel whenever she saw him relax and beats the crap out of him after Ben left Silvia's house.
He still doesn't know the reason for the sudden change in his sister's behavior toward him.
He believes it has something to do with Ben.
"Hey! Kid, mind your words."
Yami sent his aura out to intimidate Solid, including the other captains.
"____"
"Solid, don't try to question the Wizard King's decision. Behave yourselves."
Nozel reprimanded his brother for his comment on the Wizard King with narrowed eyes.
"Sorry, brother... Ah... Captain."
Solid, feeling his brother's gaze intensify at him, immediately started apologizing to others for his slip of the tongue.
Suddenly, the door of the conference room opened, and Wizard King Julius, along with his assistant Marcus, entered the room.
Silence...
Silence filled the air with the arrival of the Wizard King.
Julius greeted the squad captains that were present there with a smile and sat in his place.
"Do you know why you guys got summoned here?"
Wizard King asked the captains who were present there.
Hearing Julius's question, everyone made eye contact and started silent communication.
"I heard Charlotte and Ben went on some important mission. Is it about that?"
Rill, like a first-bench student, wanted to answer the question the teacher asked and raised his hand excitedly to answer the question.
"____"
"____"
"____"
Seeing Rill behave like a child made everyone speechless.
"Did I guess wrong?"
Feeling the gaze on him, Rill chuckled awkwardly, thinking he guessed wrong.
"You are right, Captain Rill, about that mission."
Julius nodded his head and looked towards Marcus to signal him to continue.
Ahem...
"We have sent Ben and Charlotte on a mission to his village for the investigation to see if Lord Julius's hypothesis is right."
Marcus stopped for a moment and swept his eyes across the listening faces of the captains.
Except for Jack and Yami, who were present when Julius gave the mission to Ben, others listened seriously.
"It seems like Lord Julius-sama's guess is right. They encountered one of the members of the Liberators training their new members for combat."
Marcus paused and let the others digest the information they heard.
"And the member's name is Sirius. Not only that, it seems the Liberators are planning to attack our capital."
"____"
"____"
"____"
"____"
Hearing that the terrorist group wanted to attack the capital left everyone speechless because it was not a small task to attack a capital.
"How dare they, Julius-sama! We need to mobilize our forces and put tight security on the capital."
Purple Orca Captain Kaiser Granvorka immediately requested Julius to correct his mustache.
Hearing Kaiser's suggestion, others nodded their heads while Yami narrowed his eyes.
"If we do that, other regions will suffer heavy losses, which will give a good chance for other nations like Diamond to have a chance to launch an attack on us."
William gave his suggestion regarding the possibility that Diamond might attack them using this chance.
"Julius-sama suspects their headquarters might be near Hage Village."
Hearing William's point, Julius nodded his head satisfied because he had great expectations for him.
He even believes Williams might be the next Wizard King after him, not knowing his other sleeve had other plans.
Marcus explained Julius's doubt regarding the location of the Liberators.
"Then shouldn't Charlotte and Ben try to find their base?"
Nozel, who listened to Marcus, asked with narrowed eyes.
He had already vaguely guessed Charlotte's feelings for Ben, but he refused to believe Charlotte, who kicked one of the royal's butts and sent him flying when he proposed to her.
"If they are planning to attack the capital, it means that they should have considered the amount of strength with them. So, ask them to hold the search for some time."
This time Julius was the one to answer the question with a smile.
"We are planning to send a group of six Magic Knights. Each squad must send one Magic Knight to this mission."
Julius passed his order regarding the mission to the captains, to which others gave a salute and started to leave the conference room.
Hage Village...
Orphanage...
Ben was preparing to cook the food.
He was helping to skin the beasts he hunted in the kitchen.
After an hour...
After cooking the food, Sister Lily carried the food into the dining room along with Ben, who acted as an assistant to her.
"Sister, the meat is really tasty today."
"Yay... yummy."
"Sister, I want more."
"Sister Lily, give me more. I want more energy. I will become the Wizard King."
Asta came towards Sister Lily, who was serving the food to the kids.
Today, there was more than enough food prepared.
After serving the food, Ben took two servings and gave one to Charlotte, who was surrounded by the orphanage's girls with curious questions.
He gave one to her, sat next to her, and started to eat the food.
Charlotte looked at the lively scene where children were happily chatting while enjoying eating the food.
It was new to her, this kind of atmosphere.
Her eyes shifted towards Ben, who was spoiling a group of kids while feeding them some of his food with a wide smile.
Somehow, she felt touched, and a smile crept on her face without her knowledge, and she started to eat her serving.
[Ding...]
[New mission - Locate Enemy Territory.
Status - Incomplete.
Reward - 100 GP]
Suddenly, a new mission was triggered by the system.
Seeing the mission on the system screen, Ben looked at it in confusion.
After the kids left Ben alone, Charlotte started to explain everything about the order she received from the Wizard King.
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(Author's POV)
I hope you guys enjoying the story.
Thanks for reading the chapter!
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