He was supposedly dispatched by the Captain to guard the King, but in reality, he was no different from the Imperial Knights beneath the stone platform. Worse still, he and the mushroom-headed Marx had been standing outside the door the whole time. To put it more realistically... they were like third-rate security guards manning the gate.
Alright, alright, if he wasn't thinking about the chance to visit the Royal Vault, Bai En would have long since slipped away. After all, what did the King of the Clover Kingdom have to do with him?
What? What about the duty of a Magic Knight?
Please, could a small fry who hadn't even been granted the rank of Magic Knight handle all this? Don't be ridiculous.
Bai En stood at the entrance, spacing out, employing the art of slacking off he'd learned in his previous life. Marx, beside him, would occasionally remind him to stay focused – truly a living Yama King.
Telling a security guard standing post for an hourly wage to constantly stay focused, what kind of logic was that?
So, even with the reminders, Bai En dozed off several times, slowly sliding down from leaning against a pillar.
Of course, Marx being constantly by his side wasn't entirely a bad thing. Thanks to being the Wizard King's first secretary, he received news of the Magic Knights' battles against the invaders within the Royal Capital.
Even though Bai En wasn't present at the battle, he had a good grasp of the situation.
The disturbances across the Royal Capital were caused by a large number of zombie puppets... the person behind them was Ladis, a user of Corpse Spirit Magic... the enemy faction had a formidable Spatial Mage... apart from Fuegoleon, the Captain of the Crimson Lion Kings Squad, and Captain Rill, the Captain of the Aqua Deer Squad, all other Captains had been teleported out of the Royal Capital—the enemy's feigned attack target was suspected to be the King.
However, no enemy forces came to raid the King's bedchambers.
Yuno escaped the spatial magic and, with the help of Nancy and Charmy, successfully resolved the unrest in the northwest district.
Fuegoleon entered a special teleportation space... time passed quickly.
The unrest in the Royal Capital came to an end by noon, thanks to the Magic Knights' full deployment. The outcome of the great battle was pretty much as Bai En had imagined: the Eye of the Midnight Sun still stole the magic stone Fuegoleon carried and severed his arm.
Fuegoleon, receiving treatment, was in a coma.
Slightly different was that, having learned the breathing technique and with Captain Rill's timely arrival, Asta was not abducted by members of the Eye of the Midnight Sun.
But this did not prevent the Wizard King from discovering the stone tablet and magic stone. The Eye of the Midnight Sun's base was raided by the Wizard King, and even when the Eye of the Midnight Sun's leader appeared at the end, the Wizard King still captured several prisoners.
After the battle concluded at noon, the Magic Knights immediately resumed work on repairing the Royal Capital and comforting the populace. As for Bai En, with the King's promise, Marx led him to the Royal Vault.
Behind the massive iron door, inscribed with layers of magic circles, was a resplendent, large room filled with many treasures. But if one counted carefully, it wasn't as much as what he had seen in the Magic Palace last time.
Bai En paced back and forth within the Royal Vault. After several laps, he finally gave up hope. The entire Royal Vault was filled with gold and jewels; there wasn't a single magic tool... nor any materials he needed to temper his cooking utensils.
Although he knew it was impossible to always be lucky enough to find tempering materials for cooking utensils, it was too absurd for the entire Royal Vault to not have a single magic tool, wasn't it?
He had originally thought that even if there were no tempering materials, a rare magic tool would be excellent. Now, that idea was dashed... Tsk tsk.
Bai En then recalled the bloated, obese figure sitting on the bed. 'This fits that guy's personality, decked in gold and silver... Magic tools probably aren't very important in his eyes, after all, he's the King.'
There's no reason to work hard and come back empty-handed.
Under Marx's astonished gaze, Bai En picked up gold and gems from the floor until his pockets were full, only then reluctantly stopping. He even kindly offered some to Marx, but the other party did not accept.
By the time they left the Royal Vault, the sun was about to set.
Bidding farewell to the mushroom-headed Marx, Bai En walked alone down the empty corridor. In the distant sky, a red sun was setting, and the clouds, due to the red sun, took on a more brilliant hue. Combined with the original azure blue, the whole world appeared vast.
The corridor ahead forked: one led straight down a staircase, and the other ended at a huge, yellowish-brown bronze bell.
Bai En walked to the bronze bell. Being high up in the building, he could overlook the entire Royal Capital. The towering houses clustered like flowers, and further in the distance were city walls, buildings, and then more city walls... at the edge of his vision was a vast, silent plain.
There was a sense of boundless grandeur.
Unbeknownst to him, Yuno, walking on the street, suddenly looked up and saw Bai En by the bronze bell. Perhaps due to awakening the wind spirit, his senses had become sharper.
Standing beside Yuno were Klaus and Mimosa. Having concluded the Royal Capital defense battle, they were preparing to return to the Golden Dawn's base.
Suddenly, a familiar clamor erupted nearby.
"Hey~~~"
The Royal Capital's architecture ascended in layers, so at relatively distant intervals, there would be significant drops in elevation. Just like now, Yuno and his group were practically looking down.
"Isn't that Asta and them? Also with them are... the Captain of the Aqua Deer Squad and that girl I saw in the Magic Palace last time..."
"Yuno—you bastard! You easily defeated the enemy, you big jerk!"
Yuno's gaze caught Asta waving his fist and greeting him. He remained silent, seemingly deep in thought.
"What? Didn't you hear me? Greeting is the fundamental etiquette of everything in the world—"
Before Yuno could reply, a grimoire enveloped in azure light slowly flipped open in the air. Asta, still wondering what he was doing, felt the wind rush towards him the next moment, cutting his face like a knife.
He looked closely.
A giant wind griffin sped towards him.
There wasn't one attack, but two. Another white wind griffin flew high into the sky, its target clearly... Bai En, standing by the castle's bronze bell.
As Asta cut through the wind magic with his demon-slayer sword, loudly exclaiming, "It's the same as last time, are you trying to kill yourself, come down and duel!" Bai En also sensed the swift magic rushing towards him.
Without hesitation, his glowing white grimoire opened, and a black iron sword appeared in his hand. He made no swinging motion, simply aimed the tip of the sword at the white wind griffin.
The moment the wind griffin's beak touched the sword tip, the entire magic instantly dissipated. The fragments of magic power sparkled in the air, and the overflowing wind, carrying the magical fragments, brushed past, ruffling Bai En's hair and leaving a shower of stardust.
Following the direction from which the magic came, he saw Yuno and Asta's group on the ground, appearing like dwarves. "That guy... he's still the same as last time, always likes to do this."
After a brief pause, he withdrew his gaze and put the black iron sword, 'Magic Conversion,' back into his grimoire. Although it was a surprise attack, the first time using 'Magic Conversion' felt quite good.
Bai En suddenly understood the feeling Asta had when he effortlessly cut through others' magic with his sword.
'Magic Conversion' was tempered from the meteorite iron given by Mars. Its characteristic, 'Conversion,' allows it to transform magic into its original, unadorned basic magic power...
He had originally thought that even if there were no tempering materials, a rare magic tool would be excellent. Now, that idea was dashed... Tsk tsk.
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