The inky night quietly passed, and the dawn light brightened in the distant fields; Eldos Village was peaceful and tranquil in the morning glow.
It was as if no bloody battle had occurred last night.
And as if no one had died because of it.
At Balo's house, a morning that should have been enjoyed by only a father and daughter for breakfast, inexplicably had more people.
"Ya ya~ Bai En, let's have a fight, shall we?" Luck enthusiastically waved his fists, pestering Bai En, who was bringing noodles from the kitchen; he took small, excited steps.
"Weren't you satisfied last night?"
"Huh? Of course not. I wanted to play with those guys for a while longer, but then they suddenly became much weaker. How boring."
After the Blood Chalice was destroyed, all those who had been baptized by it reverted to their original forms overnight.
"Come and fight me, shall we? That would definitely be interesting!"
"No!" Bai En refused coldly.
"Eh? Why?"
"Because it's mealtime now."
"Then let's fight after we eat?"
"No to that either. I don't like fighting. If we absolutely must compete, how about you compete with me in cooking? I'd be very happy to challenge you then."
Luck's waving fists stopped, and his face showed some regret: "Eh… why? Fighting is very interesting. I was hoping to fight you and see who's stronger."
"No why. I just don't like it."
Luck, having been sternly rejected by Bai En, left with some regret, but his sad expression lasted only a moment. He smiled and shouted outside: "Magna, let's have a good fight, shall we? You must not have had enough fun last night, just like me, right?"
"Come on, come on!"
"Who's like you, a battle maniac?" Magna mumbled, eating his noodles in big mouthfuls: "Yah~ What kind of noodles are these? How can they be so delicious? Good thing Charmy isn't here, or she'd eat it all by herself."
"But next time I get a chance, I must bring her to try it, haha~ If I do, she'll definitely be moved to tears, right?"
"Very good~ I've noted it. There's a cook in the Aqua Deer who makes delicious food."
Just as he was happily enjoying the bowl of mushroom soup and meat noodles in his hands, Luck appeared at the table, gently pushing it. The soup noodles in front of Magna crashed to the floor, shattered.
"Eh? How could this be?"
"I didn't mean to!"
Magna stood up from his seat with a gloomy face, adjusted the glasses on his nose, and a baseball bat made of flames appeared in his hand. "You damned bastard! Watch me kill you!"
"Flame Magic, Exploding Scattershot Magic Ball."
Wildly flying fireballs were hit by the baseball bat, as Magna vented his anger. Blue boots shimmering with electricity appeared on his feet, and Luck leaped onto the roof, easily dodging Magna's attacks. He shouted excitedly: "Here it comes, here it comes!"
Bai En slurped his noodles, watching the energetic Magna and Luck. He suddenly noticed something very interesting: although the two of them kept casting magic and making noise, the entire hall, apart from scorched black shadows on the walls, had nothing broken.
This was not something that could be achieved overnight. Presumably, when they were at the Black Bulls Squad' base, they were already compelled by someone's pressure… to strictly adhere to the requirement of not damaging the base.
"If you can't do it, watch out, I'll chop you up, punks, battle maniacs!"
Fragil sat at her seat, eating noodles from her bowl. She rarely spoke during meals, but she uncharacteristically murmured: "Were they… like this when they were with the Black Bulls Squad too? They're really… a bit too restless, aren't they?"
"When we eat at the Aqua Deer, everyone never acts like this…"
"Flame Magic, Blazing Fist!"
Two fiery fists struck Magna and Luck respectively. Both dodged, "Who is it? Who dares to ambush me, watch out, I…"
Magna, having dodged the attack sideways, immediately condemned the person who cast the magic beside him, but when he clearly saw the appearance, he immediately stopped speaking.
"Bastards! Don't keep fighting! This is my house." Lily flipped through her grimoire, warning the two of them, unable to bear it any longer.
"Hi~"
Magna and Luck stood side by side, looking repentant, but they only quieted down for a moment before starting to grapple without magic again.
"Have things been taken care of?" Bai En, having finished his bowl, suddenly asked Balo, who was spaced out in his seat.
"Mostly."
Balo replied: "The bodies and blood in the plaza have been cleaned up, and those former Bandit Group members have been brought under our control."
"Those guys will be transferred by specialists; most likely, they'll go to prison for labor. Of course… please cooperate actively when the time comes."
"They should also investigate the Bandit Group matter a little."
Balo was silent for a moment: "We will report truthfully."
"Ah, I really didn't expect that Goth, the village chief, was that infamous Bandit Group leader. Why would this happen? He used to be a very good person."
"That ancient grimoire has big problems… Most likely, under the influence of that magic item, your village chief turned out that way…"
"Oh~ Speaking of which, do you know where he got his magic item?"
"How would we know? We didn't even know he was the Bandit Group leader, so how would we know where a magic item he hid came from?"
As Balo spoke, he suddenly paused.
"What's wrong?"
"I suddenly remembered something. Several months ago, there was a very heavy rain at night. I was returning from outside the village that day and happened to see the village chief, covered in mud. At the time, I asked what happened?"
"He told me happily that nothing was wrong at the time…"
"Afterward, I didn't think there was any problem, but now that I think about it, it feels a bit strange."
"Where was he coming back from then?" Bai En asked.
"Coming back from where?" Balo pondered, "Judging by the direction, it should be the northern wasteland. He still had soil from there on him."
"North?"
As the two were speaking, Luck and Magna suddenly walked over, pushing each other. Hearing "north," they spoke: "North? We're also going to the north of Eldos Village. Are you going too?"
"We gathered information on the way and heard there's a Magic Palace there. We were thinking of exploring it; maybe we can find ancient magic to heal Asta's arm."
"Magic Palace…"
Bai En pondered, 'It seems that guy's magic item came from the Magic Palace. Storing such dangerous magic items, that Magic Palace must not be simple.'
'Since that's the case, I'll go there to check it out before returning to the Aqua Deer Squad.'
...
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