Asta surfed through the skies on his Demon Slayer. He was enjoying the feeling of the wind and clouds as he zoomed through the air.

“Are you sure it was a good idea to tell them about us?” Raava asked as she sat on his shoulder in a chibi state.

She’d learned how to use this form during Asta’s time in the ID field and found it much less of a hassle than using her full humanoid form. It drew much less attention and used only a fraction of the power.

“I was going to have to tell them eventually,” Asta replied as he cut through a cloud, “I do know it was the right thing to do. Our time to return is drawing ever closer, and I don’t want to leave them behind without at least a reason.”

“I see your point, but your reason brings another to mind,” Raava looked at him slightly, “When are you going to tell the girls the truth about who you are?”

Asta shifted his head slightly, allowing his bangs to cover his right eye, “I don’t know.”

“You can’t wait much longer, Asta,” Raava warned him, “You said it yourself, our time draws near.”

“Don’t do that!” Asta yelled out, “You know I hate it when you use my words against me!”

“Then don’t use so blatantly obvious words, boy!” Raava shouted back, “Anyways, are you sure allowing Liebe to have as much freedom as he did was a good idea?”

“I may not be able to come out when I want to like you can, but… THAT DOESN’T MEAN I CAN’T STILL HEAR YOU, YOU BITCH!” Leibe yelled from his physical place inside the grimoire but loudly in Asta and Raava’s minds.

“No need to yell. Sheesh,” Asta remarked as he put a finger in his ear and wiggled it to help with the ringing. “And yes, I think it was the right call,” he looked at Raava from the corner of his eye, “He’s been nothing but helpful since coming here and only asked that we save Richita. I think it's only fair that we repay him with a bit of kindness in turn. Even if it is only for a few hours at a time, I think I owed him that much at least.”

“Hmmm…” Raava hummed as she looked down at the passing farmers and forests.

Leibe just sat quietly and mumbled, ‘Thanks…’

The Black Bulls’ Hideout…

Asta arrived a few hours after leaving Richita’s and Leibe’s cottage. He saw Noelle practicing in her usual spot in their practice clearing, with Luck doing his thing not that far away. Gordon wasn’t too far away, doing his usual stocker slash want to be friends thing. He saw Magna working on his Crazy Cyclone.

“Looks like everyone is doing their usual thing,” he looked to the house, “Which means Yami is either in the can or in his chair, or possibly not even here at all and left to go gamble somewhere.”

“FINRAL! PAPER, NOW!” came Yami’s voice from the center of the house somewhere.

“Well, at least you know he’s here now,” Raava remarked with a sour unimpressed look on her face.

“Yeah, that was one way of being totally sure,” Asta deadpanned.

“HURRY UP!” Yami yelled.

“COMING, SIR!” Finral said as he stumbled through the house, “Man, why do I have to do this?! This is supposed to be newbie work! At the least, Magna should be doing this! He’d love it!”

“QUIT TALKING!” Yami said, “All your noise is gonna make things weird!”

“WHAT ABOUT THIS SITUATION ISN’T WEIRD ALREADY!?!” Finral gave a shrill counter.

“I’m just gonna wait it out in the main hall,” Asta sighed as he descended.

He walked into the building and saw the usual scenes. Gray was in the background, blowing smoke in the air. Vanessa was lying on her couch in her red lace underwear with a bottle in her hand, already drunk from the numerous others around her. Gauche was staring at a picture of his little sister, with blood running down from his nose.

“Yep, nothing major has changed,” Asta sighed as he plopped down in an empty seat.

“Oh, hey, kiddo!” Vanessa waved, “Welcome back! Did everything go well? Get that sword made? You weren’t off spending time with another lover we don’t know about, were you?” She stood up and walked over and hung on him, “Noelle was quite worried about you being gone without a word for two weeks, ya know…?”

“Haaaaaa…..” Asta forced her off, “ Stay off me. You reek of booze.”

“Mean today, aren’t we?” Vanessa pouted.

“Not really,” Asta snorted, “I’ve been traveling since sunrise, and my day has barely started. I have plans later, and I don’t want to smell like a brewery.”

“Oh, Marie… Soon, I shall see you again, my angel…” Gauche said in his usual tone.

“Shoooooooo….” Gray noised behind him.

“So, what happened around here?” Asta asked.

“Oh, the usual,” Vanessa waved, “Luck and Magna did come up with some sort of new combo move, but it's mostly just Luck torturing baseball freak and laughing at him.” She noticed the long purple silk bag. “Is that the captain’s sword?” she reached for it, “How about a lookie…“

Asta's hand immediately grabbed a hold of Vanessa by her wrist. “You really need to be more careful,” Asta said “That sword is very fickle when it comes to who it lets even touch it.”

“Really?” Yami said as he came into the room. “It can’t be that dangerous if you handled it without a scratch. You make it out as if it’s….” he slowly drowned off as he sensed the Qi of the sword, “Alive…”

“Just the man I was waiting to see,” Asta said as he let go of Vanessa and then used his hand to throw Yami his new katana.

Yami instantly caught it with one hand. “You sure did go all out on the traditional stuff kid. Even has its own silk bag for when not in use,” he then looked at Asta, “That being said… I’m a bit anxious to wield it, with the amount of Qi this thing has. It might as well be its own living organism.”

“I can guarantee you it's not,” Asta blew off the remark, “It's not like the thing is a forbidden weapon I poured the souls of beings I sacrificed into it. I was able to get my hands on some pretty rare material in the form of a fossilized dragon fang.”

Everyone froze at that comment.

“That’s what you’re sensing, captain,” Asta pointed, “But when you say the sword is alive, you’re not actually wrong. Only those who have enough strength can even lay a finger on it, let alone grasp it or wled it.”

“So, you’re saying that there are only a few of us who can even hold it, and even fewer who can use it,” Yami pulled the golden string, and the bag opened to reveal a black handle with a black metal ovoid-shaped tsuba and matching black metal angular pommel.

“Well, that’s a design I’ve never seen before,” Yami said as he went to place a hand on the hilt of the weapon.

As soon as he did, he could feel the aura coming from the sword. It was as if he was reaching through thousands of hair-splitting razors that would cut his arms to ribbons with one wrong move.

Yami took one hard gulp and then went for it and grabbed a hold of the sword. He pulled it from its sheath to reveal its black blade.

Yami then felt the magic of the sword reach into his hand from the hilt of the weapon.

He gave a wicked smile. “I’ve got to admit it,” he laughed, “The new katana has some bite to it, kid. I like it.”

He raised it above his head, but Asta blurred out of view and was immediately in front of Yami with his left arm outstretched and his palm against the pommel of the sword.

“Don’t,” Asta said. “If you want to practice with this, you’ll have to do it well away from anyone and anything,” he moved his hand and let Yami slowly bring the sword down before returning it to its sheath, “I designed it for you after analyzing your fighting style. It’s a katana in the sense it can be wielded with two hands, but its main design is your one-handed and one-handed quick draw style. Thus the odd look of the handle and pommel.”

“So, that’s why it felt so natural with just one hand,” Yami noted, “So… how much?”

“You want me to be honest?” Asta crossed his arms.

Yami closed his eyes and gave a very mechanical nod.

“Give me half of your next six paychecks, and we’ll call it a down payment,” Asta held up his pointer and thumb while rubbing them together.

Yami turned pale as his soul left his body.

“Naw, just give me half of your next three paydays, and we’ll call it squared away,” Asta laughed.

Just as he said that an owl flew into the room carrying several bags of coins.

Yami immediately did a one-eighty and started to pass out the paychecks. Asta eagerly accepted his and his bonus pay.

“Okay, the rest of you have a good ole time!” Yami said as he grabbed a hold of Finral, “Come on, Finral! I have a new toy to try out! AHAHAHA!”

“WHAT!?! BUT I HAD PLANS TO GO OUT AND HIT ON CUTE GIRLS!” Finral whined at the top of his lungs, “ASTA! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!”

“Ah, quit your whining already!” Yami complained as they both left.

“Hey, Noelle,” Asta caught her attention.

“Yeah, what is it?” she said, a bit annoyed.

“I was wondering if you’d come with me to see Scarlet and everyone,” he offered.

“Ah… why would I want to do such a thing?!” Noelle countered.

“Well, it’s just because I wanted to spend a little bit of time with you and her,” Asta rubbed the back of his head as his face turned slightly pink. “I know I’ve never hung out with you two before at the same time, but I was hoping we could all spend some much-needed time together. I also want you two to be friends, or at least on better terms than distantly knowing each other.”

Vanessa quickly grabbed a hold of Noelle, “Come on, hun, you can’t deny him.”

“Why not?!” Noelle immediately countered with pink cheeks.

“The kid hasn’t seen any of you girls for two weeks now,” Vanessa looked back at Asta and waved, “And he’s not one to go off and secretly go behind any of your backs to spend time with the other without notifying you all first. He’s trying to get you girls to at least be friends.”

Noelle sighed and then turned back to Asta, “Fine, I’ll come… but don’t expect a lot!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Asta chuckled.

Later on in the day…

Gauche had been the first to leave and head out to buy gifts for his little sister Marie. As per his usual antics, he headed straight for the town where his little sister’s orphanage was located.

Many of the local shops knew Gauche just by his appearance and what he would do as soon as he arrived. Naturally, they all presented him with the finest of cloth and toys for little girls. Within a couple of hours, his entire paycheck was spent, and Gauche was walking through the street, fully loaded with goodies for his sweet little Marie.

Gauche walked along with a fulfilled smile and bloody nose as he fantasized about his sister’s reaction to her presents.

Meanwhile, a certain anti-mage along with a few of the older red-headed locals were busy helping fix up the roof of their houses. He and Noelle had arrived earlier in the day to see Rebecca and her brothers and sisters. After he showed up and said his hellos and was tackled by the youngsters, Asta gave Rebecca her usual portion of his wages for her family.

Noelle and Rebecca were both sitting at the table inside, enjoying some tea and each other’s ‘company’.

“So,” Noelle said as she looked off to the side of the house as she fiddled with her hair a bit, “So, Asta discussed the situation regarding his and Twilight’s circumstances with you.”

“Yes,” Rebecca looked at her reflection on the surface of her drink. “He even asked me if I wanted to come with him…”

“He told me,” Noelle sighed and sipped some of her tea. “He asked me, too.”

Rebecca nodded, “What was your answer?”

“You first,” Noelle set her cup down.

“I’m going with him,” Rebecca smiled without a flicker of hesitation, “He said all of my brothers and sister are welcome to come as well. I told you. Now, it's your turn.”

“I… I haven’t really decided…” Noelle relented.

“Why?” Rebecca was a bit perplexed, “Do you not like Asta that much? You are dating him, too, right?”

“Mmmm….” Noelle sipped more of her tea.

“If you're just leading him on, then you can leave right now,” Rebecca scowled, “I won’t stand for anyone who tries to hurt him, even if you’re royalty!”

“No,” Noelle threw up her hands. “Don’t get me wrong. Please let me explain… I do like Asta, and yes, we are technically seeing each other like you, Mimosa, and Twilight are, but what he’s asking me to do… I just don’t think I’m ready to just give everything up here and just leave,” Noelle calmed herself down, “It's because of Asta that I haven’t been able to decide.”

Rebecca sat back down.

“After I met with him… I changed…. For the better, I must say…” Noelle smiled, “I was already of the typical mentality that because I was royalty, I was just born better than everyone else, but I couldn’t even control a simple trickle of my magic power, no matter how hard I tried. It was Asta who shot back every insult I threw his way with one that not only stung but did so with the truth. He stepped in to save me and give me the advice that I hold very dear.” She looked at Rebecca, “He caught me and said not to hold back. It's because of him I’ve gotten much better control over my magical power, and because we practice with each other nearly every day. I might throw insults at him, but I do care about him more than as a friend or comrade. I… It's because he’s taught me the value of others that I can’t decide what I want. At the end of the day, I’m just happy to be at his side for now though.”

“I kind of envy all of you for that,” Rebecca looked down with a solemn smile, “I… don’t have the magic power you, Twilight, or Mimosa do, so I can’t stand by his side on the battlefield to support him in combat like you can or even train alongside him. All I can really do is worry about him…”

“That’s not all you’ve been doing,” Noelle remarked, “Asta is strong. E-Even amongst the knights, he is stronger than most, but that also alienates him. You being here I think helps him cope by being able to give him somewhat of a normal family life away from being a knight. He’s able to help provide for you and your siblings and also play with them and do chores for you, like now. I think you being here at home is something that he looks forward to seeing, someone to fight for and come home to instead of just someone to fight alongside.”

Rebecca looked at Noelle with tears in the corners of her eyes, “Thank you, Noelle…”

“He’s hopeless without us anyways,” Noelle gave a sly smirk, and they both giggled.

Suddenly, they heard Asta yell as a heavy thud slightly rattled the front of the house.

“I’m okkkkaaayyy…” drooled their aforementioned boyfriend.

“I think we should head into town before Asta has to fix more things around here,” Rebecca held her head, “I don’t think my house can take the abuse.”

“I agree,” Noelle agreed with a sigh.

And so the family and guests head out for a bit of a day on the town. Eventually, Rebecca suggested stopping by the local church to check on all of the children as well as to say ‘hi’ to the local sister and friend of Rebecca’s, who’d helped her look after her brothers and sisters when she could have them tag along. The teens decided to let the kids play with each other as they’d come all this way.

Asta decided to get in on the action by letting them swing on his arms as he ran in circles. Up next, it was a certain little girl's turn. A turn that just so happened to coincide as her older brother was coming around the corner with arms full of gifts for her birthday.

Gauche turned to stone for a minute, until the smiling image of his sister and his fellow magic knight came into play. He immediately rushed in, meaning to nail Asta in the face with his boot, while some would say he was foaming at the mouth.

Asta didn’t miss a beat and caught Gauche’s foot with his hand. “Hey there, Gauche,” he remarked as he pushed his coworker back, causing him to stumble slightly, “What a coincidence meeting you here.”

“You bastard!” Gauche fumed, “What the hell are you doing with my Marie?!”

“Hmmm…” Asta raised an eyebrow as he played coy. He looked over at Marie, “Oh… now that you mention it, she’s the girl you’re always getting a bloody nose over just from staring at her picture.”

The kids were a bit disgusted but not at all surprised while Rebecca was totally thrown for a loop. She looked over at Noelle who was holding her head and nodding. Asta let Marie down, and she went off to the side between the two men.

“I asked you a question!” Guache ground his teeth. “What are you doing with Marie?!”

“Playing with her and the other kids, obviously,” Asta raised an eyebrow. “What were you doing, trying to kick me in the face?”

“I was trying to get you away from my sister!” Gauche yelled as he rushed over and grabbed Asta by his collar. “I get one day off a month to see my sister, so that means these visits are sacrosanct. I set aside all other thoughts but her, and it was going to be flirty and fun and PERFECT! SO… HOW IS IT… YOU GOT HERE BEFORE ME?!”

“Well, duuuuhhhhh,” Asta remarked. “We flew here on my sword,” he remarked as he drew his Demon Slayer sword, allowing the kids to bask in its grungy glory.

Even Rebecca’s siblings marveled at it, as they never got tired of Asta pulling it out of his grimoire.

“Besides, how was I supposed to know you were here, anyway?” Asta played dumb, “I came out with Noelle to see Rebecca and her brothers and sisters. Literally just met her a little while ago anyways. We wanted to let the kids play a bit. I wanted to get in on it while Rebecca talked with

“Hi…” Rebecca said as her siblings glared at Gauche.

“You better leave Asta alone, or you’ll be sorry!”

“Yeah! He’ll beat you up!”

“He couldn’t beat me even if he wanted to!” Gauche countered. “And stay out of this, brats!”

“Oh boy…” Noelle sighed as she looked up, “He shouldn’t have said that.”

Asta reached up and squeezed Gauche’s wrist, causing him to release Asta. “You’re lucky we’re in town right now,” he said as he glared right into Gauche’s eyes and then threw him back, “Cause if we weren’t, you wouldn’t be getting off with just a sore wrist, Gauche.”

‘Well… at least he kept himself in check…’ Noelle mentally remarked as she sighed.

“I won’t lie, and I’ll give you that your little sis is cute,” Asta kept his eyes on Gauche. “But I’m not into little girls like you.”

“Of course she’s cute! How can you not be into her?! Are you blind at how beautiful she is?!” Gauche proudly boasted, “I’ll make you see her beauty!”

“Big brother, please stop!” Marie pleaded, “You can’t be mean to Asta, because he’s going to be my husband someday!”

Rebecca covered her mouth while Noelle’s mouth just hung open. Gauche turned to stone again and crumbled away to dust.

“Kill, Kill, Kill, Kill, Kill…” Gauche steadily repeated as he got back on his feet. “Kill now!” Gauche said as he showed his face, scaring everyone but Asta and Noelle.

Gauche grimoire floated up and opened to a page. “Mirror Magic: Reflect Ray!” he said and a mirror came from the book to show Asta his reflection.

The anti-mage wasted no time and blurred out of vision and reappeared in front of Gauche with his sword’s tip right at the mirror. The mirror quickly split in two before the spell could even go off.

“You…” Asta balled his fist and looked right at Gauche. “Idiotic,” he reeled back “Bastard!” and nailed Gauche right in the face, causing him to stumble back and land on his butt. “Using a spell like that with lethal intent in a town with kids behind me! HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE!?!” he thrust his sword forward and pointed it at the mirror mage, “If you have beef with me, that’s fine, but you will not, I repeat, WILL NOT! ENDANGER THE LIVES OF THE INNOCENT! LET ALONE THE PEOPLE I CARE ABOUT!”

“Oh my, it's quite noisy over here,” came a new elderly voice. “What is going on here?” she said, seeing Asta pointing his sword at Gauche and then looking at Marie, “Marie, it’s time to go back to the church.”

“Sorry for the abhorrent display, Sister Theresa,” Asta said as he backed off and returned his sword to his black grimoire.

The sister looked over to Gauche, ”Oh, so it’s you causing trouble again, Gauche.”

‘This is one of the scenes I didn’t like in the story at all,’ Asta mentally sneered.

“What did you say you old hag?!” Gauche countered as he got to his feet.

“That’s sister to you!” Theresa said as Gauche closed his grimoire, “Mind your manners. So, what are you doing here?”

“Marie and I are going out on a date,” Gauche hissed.

“No, she is coming back with me to the church,” Theresa immediately countered, “When will you realize that the best thing you can do for Marie is to stay away from her? You’re nothing but a bad influence on an impressionable younger girl like Marie.” She started to take jabs at him, “She deserves to be around someone better than you, with your bad attitude and nasty tongue.”

“What was that, you old crone?” Gauche glared.

“ENOUGH!” Asta interjected, stepping between the two. “You both have valid points I can agree with,” they both looked at Asta, a bit stunned, “Gauche, you need to mind yourself around your sister. Set a better example for her, be the ideal big brother and not a nasty pit viper when someone else is playing with her.”

“What-”

“Exactly,” Theresa pointed out.

“Not done,” Asta looked at her, “I respect you in that you’re looking out for Marie’s best interests, but completely trying to cut her older brother out of her life is bullshit. He’s literally the only family she has left, and he has sacrificed so much for her just to keep her fed and a roof over her head. I don’t agree with his mouthing off to you in more than I just did, but at the same time, you need to suck it up!”

They both looked at Asta in silence.

Asta started to walk away. “Be glad she is with someone you can trust to look after her when you’re not around,” he said silently to Gauche.

“Ahh…” Theresa said as Marie tugged on her habit. Theresa looked down and saw Marie with a smile. “Let’s go home, Marie,” she said, leading the little girl by the hand.

“Bye Gauche! Bye Asta!” Marie waved, “I had fun! Let’s play again!”

“Ahhhhahahah… Marie…..” Gauche wined.

“Well,” Asta propped his hands behind his head. “That was something,” he said.

“It’s kind of late,” Rebecca said, looking at the sky. “How about you two stay the night at our house?” she looked at Asta and Noelle.

Asta looked at Noelle, and he said, “I’m the one who brought you out here, so it's your call.”

“Actually,” she looked at Rebecca and then back to Asta, “I wouldn’t mind staying, as long as you stay in a separate room.”

“Ditto,” Asta looked up, “What are we gonna do about sister complex over there? I guess we can call Finral to pick him up?”

“If we do that, then we might as well join him and go back to base too,” Noelle groaned.

“Point,” Asta nodded.

“I don’t mind him staying, as long as you don’t mind sharing a room with him, Asta,” Rebecca added.

“It's fine with me, but if he tries to shoot me with any more of his mirror beams, I can’t guarantee a wall won’t go missing,” Asta shrugged.

“As long as you two fix it,” Rebecca gave an exhausted sigh, “How about we go to the restaurant for some food before going to the house?”

“Sounds good to me,” the kids all said.

“Sounds like a good idea,” Noelle said as her stomach gurgled.

“I got rejected sister lover then,” Asta said as he shot chains of golden light around Gauche’s lifeless form and dragged him through the streets.

“Marie….” Gauche groaned.

At the Restaurant…

“Marie…” Gauche moaned on the floor in the corner.

Asta shoveled food in his mouth, “Man, this stuff is great!”

“Geez, can’t you at least try and pretend that you have table manners just once in a while,” Noelle said as she watched Asta stuff his face, “But I will say you are right. This food is very good, Rebecca.”

“Thanks, you two,” Rebecca smiled at the duo, “I may not be able to fight alongside you, but I can at least make sure you have good food to come home to.”

“Sorry to ask you to work when you came here to enjoy yourself, hun,” the old woman who was the proprietress said. “You were a godsend when you walked in when our Gwen got a stomach ache. I must add that you look so much healthier since you’ve been taking time to yourself,” she gave a swift sly look towards Asta as he was choking, and Noelle quickly handed him a glass of water with an annoyed look on her face, “It wouldn’t have something to do with him, would it?”

“What?!” Rebecca looked at her boss.

“Just how far have you two gone?” the sly old bat gave her a knowing look, also catching Noelle’s attention with her remark.

“Ummmm…” Rebecca’s face started to turn red, “I don’t think that’s any of your business…”

“I’m just joking, hun,” the old bat cackled. “Though, I wouldn’t wait too much longer,” she sang.

The rest of the evening was a bit quieter for the group after that.

That Evening…

Asta steadily snored in the room of Rebecca’s house he usually occupied when he stayed over, while Noelle was invited to stay in Rebecca’s room with her. The kids had all turned in fairly early, as they were all pretty tired from playing and helping Asta with chores and repairs on the house all day. Everyone decided to leave Gauche and his depressed self on the floor downstairs, as he showed no signs of coming out of it.

“So,” Rebecca suddenly said, “how far have you and Asta gone with each other?”

“Don’t worry,” Noelle looked at her, “We've only slept in the same room, and that's all.”

“Really?” Rebecca raised an eyebrow, “Cause from the tone in your voice, it sounds like there is a bit more to the story.”

“Hmmmm….” Noelle moaned, “Fine. He took me out to see where he and Twilight lived as kids and to meet his family. We got stuck in the mountains at their old house, so we just spent the night there. End of story. Nothing happened.”

She looked over and saw Rebecca smiling at her, “What?”

“Nothing,” Rebecca said as she sat up, “Thanks for having his back out there, Noelle.”

“Hey, someone has to make sure the idiot comes home in one piece,” Noelle said as Rebecca got up and slipped on her shaw and slippers “What are you up to?”

“I’m gonna go check on Luca and Marco,” Rebecca said, “I don’t know what it is, but something feels weird about the atmosphere, ya know?”

“Now that you mention it,” Noelle sat up, “It does feel weird. Cold and heavy actually.” She got up and walked over to the window, and her eyes opened wide, “There’s snow on the window outside, in summer. This has to be a spell of some kind.”

Noelle opened the window slightly and stuck her finger in the snow, “It’s a spell alright, and a really strong one, cast by someone with a lot of magic power no less.” She looked at Rebecca, “Get the kids up and start a fire. I’ll get Asta and Gauche up, and we can go to see what’s going on.”

Rebecca nods and the duo burst into action.

At that same time, the girls were talking in Rebecca’s room, a certain mirror mage who’d just come out of his funk and was making his way down the hall towards a certain anti-mage’s room.

Gauche stopped and did a sudden turn on Asta’s door. “He will die,” he said as the door suddenly flew open, nailing Gauche right in the face. Asta rushed out and ran past him, allowing Gauche to backwards onto the floor, “That bastard is definitely going to die…”

“Shit, it's cold,” Asta said as he could see his breath, “Wait… don’t tell me…”

Gauche was getting back up. “Asta,” he called out, “You must d-”

“Get out of my way asshole!” Asta said as he barreled through the mirror mage, sending him to the floor, again, out of the way and tumbling down the stairs this time.

“No, no, no!” Asta called out as he threw open the door to reveal a snow-covered town. “Damn it,” he cursed through his teeth.

He looked around and saw many other people, mostly parents, calling out the names of their children. Suddenly, Rebecca and Noelle both came out of the house, knocking Gauche to the floor again.

“Asta, Marco’s gone!” Rebecca cried out with worry.

“He’s not the only one either,” Asta motions to the others around them, “I woke up and felt how cold it was and rushed out here to find this, along with them calling out for the kids.”

“Why would the kids go out in this?” Rebecca asked.

“I bet it has to do with this spell,” Noelle said as she held up her hand, and the snow gathered into it, “If Marco was the only one from this house to be taken along with the others, I’m guessing the spell only affects kids of a certain age group.”

“Rebecca,” Asta looked at her with a stern look in his eyes, “Were any of the others missing, or looked like they had been out of bed and moving around in the rooms?”

Rebecca shook her head.

“Exactly how old is your brother?” Gauche asked with a great worry in his voice.

“I can already answer your question, Gauche,” said Sister Theresa as she came up, “Marie went missing along with the others.”

“Why didn’t you stop her, old hag?!” Gauche ran over and grabbed ahold of her habit.

“I didn’t realize she was gone until not long ago,” Theresa said certainly.

Gauche immediately reeled back with his free hand but was stopped by someone’s hand.

Theresa was a bit shocked to see Asta easily holding back Gauche’s fist, “It will do us no good to fight amongst ourselves, let alone the children, Gauche.”

Gauche let go of Theresa and ripped his hand away from Asta’s, “So, you have a plan to find Marie?”

“No,” Asta said as he let off bloodlust that shook everyone near him, “I have a plan to track the children and find the bastard who cast this spell, so I can break their face in with my fist,” he said as he bent down and took a closer look at the street.

He blew on the ground and blew the most freshly fallen snow.

“What are you-” Theresa started to say, but she was stopped by Rebecca.

“He may not look it, but Asta has lived off the land since he was little in the Forsaken Realm,” Noelle explained to the nun, “I’ve seen him track many times now, and it’s amazing. Thus another reason why we royals are truly blind when it comes to even the most trivial of minor tasks.”

“Royal?” Theresa said, and then she noticed Noelle’s earrings, “You're from house Silva, young lady?”

Noelle looked at her and nodded once.

Asta tracked the children's tracks until they all converged in the center of town. “They all met here in front of someone who came down from the sky to meet them,” Asta pointed out the pair of large tracks that just started out of nowhere. “Probably descended on a broom. They led the kids out of town from here,” he pointed to the main road out of town, “Hey, Sister, are there any places around here that people can hide out of the way and out of the view of the magic knights?”

“There is a system of caves a good ways out of town that they could’ve been taken to?” Theresa thought as she rubbed her chin.

“Do you know the way?” Asta asked, and Theresa nodded once. “Then, we’ll follow you,” he said as he went into Rebecca’s house and then came back out with his sword drawn. He turned to his girls, “Noelle, you stay and see if you can get in touch with Knight Headquarters and let them know what’s going on. I trust you can look after the town,” Noelle nodded, “We’ll bring him back, Rebecca. I swear we will.”

“You can swear all you want, brat,” Gauche said, “My only goal is to save my Marie.”

“Then, you’re only in my way,” Asta scowled as he walked and shoved Guache out of the way into the snow, “You got a transport spell, Sister?”

“Who do you think I am?” Theresa smirked as her grimoire floated up next to her.

“You’re, Theresa, teacher to Captain Fuegoleon and his family as well as a former member of the Crimson Lion Kings,” Asta smirked, shocking the sister. “I knew who you were from the moment I saw that scar on your face,” he pointed out. “Leo told me about you. He’s my rival alongside his older brother, ya know?” he turned and walked on, giving very believable half-truths.

Next Chapter: Snow Covered Truth Estimated time remaining: 8 Hours, 23 Minutes