In the arena made specifically for the Royal Knights competition, on the day of the competition, the magic knights were gathered around, standing inside the waiting area.
There were magic knights from different squads. Then the members of the Golden Dawn arrived through a portal created by Langris Vaude, the younger brother of Finral Roulacase and the vice-captain of Golden Dawn.
Following behind him were the rest of the members of the squad, namely Yuno, Alecdora, Klaus, Mimosa, and Hamon. Just as they arrived, Alecdora, along with Langris, left them without a word.
Hamon, who was left with the trio, looked at them with a smile that was always plastered on his face, "I shall take my leave too~ Meet you in the competition~ Hohohoho~"
With his gaudy laugh, he left the trio, which caused all of them to look at each other, when Mimosa asked, "Do we just wait here or…"
Her words trailed as she looked around intently, when Klaus replied with an imperceptible shrug of his shoulder. "It seems that way. Even members of Black Bulls have not arrived yet, so waiting is all we can do."
Klaus had not even ended his sentence when the next second, Yuno pointed his finger, elbow tucked into his robe.
"If you are looking for Wilhelm, then he is there."
"Where?!" Both Klaus and Mimosa asked at the same time, looking in the pointed direction. When the words of the other registered in their ears, it caused them to turn their necks to each other slowly.
Both shared a look, and seeing this, a fire flared into Mimosa's heart.
'No, Noelle is already ahead of me. I cannot let Mr. Klaus get ahead of me as well. I have not met Wilhelm for about a month. Today, he is mine!'
Mimosa thought with a war cry, but in a few moments, she suddenly started to blush due to those thoughts. Seeing this, Klaus was weirded out and was about to ask her the reason for it, but then Wilhelm's wise words echoed through his mind.
'There are two things in life you should not do when dealing with any girl.
First, asking her questions.
Second, answering her questions truthfully.
Remembering these is the key to a happy life.'
Nodding at those thoughts, he removed his gaze from Mimosa and turned to Yuno, who was looking at the scene in front of him with emotionless eyes, and said, "The person with black armor."
Hearing this, Klaus had to move his head sideways for a while, an action mimicked by Mimosa, until they spotted the figure in question.
"Found him!" Both exclaimed at the same time, which again caused them to look at each other.
'Today, Wilhelm is mine.' Mimosa repeated the mantra, no matter how red her cheeks became, when Klaus harrumphed and said.
"Then we should go meet him. The rest of the black bulls have to be around somewhere."
"Yes, let's go."
Mimosa said as she took the lead, making her way to Wilhelm, followed by Klaus and Yuno, the latter of whom was swatting Belle away. As they pushed through the small crowd, Mimosa finally saw Wilhelm.
Donned in black armor, standing with Zweihander on his back. On his waist were a pair of long swords with scabbards that looked more artistic than anything. His red hair spilled down his shoulder, creating a dangerous contrast with his pitch black armor.
Seeing the commotion and feeling the familiar mana signature, Wilhelm turned his head and saw that in his line of sight were Mimosa, who was smiling from ear to ear, along with Klaus, who had a pleased expression on his face. Behind them walked Yuno at a leisurely pace, who nodded imperceptibly seeing Wilhelm, who returned the gesture, while Belle, who was floating around Yuno, suddenly looked at Wilhelm wide-eyed, and flew frantically behind Yuno.
"Yuno, save me!" He squeaked near Yuno, who looked at this in confusion.
"It seems you three really are a package." Wilhelm commented as a form of greeting, at which Mimosa smiled and said.
"We just keep on getting so many missions together that it has become a habit at this point."
Then, Klaus reached his hand out in a greeting of his own, which Wilhelm took and gave a firm shake.
"How are you, Wilhelm? All in good health, I hope."
"As fine as I can be. How are you doing yourself?" Wilhelm said in response to Klaus' words, who replied in a confident tone.
"Good. We have been training for one month diligently to prepare for today."
"That is good to hear." Wilhelm said when Mimosa commented.
"Where were you gone Wilhelm? I talked with Noelle, but she said that you were gone for around a month as well."
When Wilhelm heard this question, Wilhelm took a good look at Mimosa.
'Talked about me, huh? Maybe my guess about her is right, but…I don't care now. If it happens between Noelle and me, or Mimosa and me, let it happen. I am tired of skirting around these Nobles as well. I am more than strong enough to handle them now.'
Wilhelm thought, which many would call overconfidence, seeing that people like Julius, or other magic knights, existed, but this line of thinking for Wilhelm was correct.
During his murder spree in the Diamond Kingdom, Wilhelm had advanced in many of his magic far too much. He already had a counter for Julius' time magic in the form of Al-Neissal Mercury. He could counter Yami's magic with better than ever before, and Dark Magic, along with Illusion magic, happened to be a great counter to Dorothy's Dream magic.
Thinking this under a second, he replied to Mimosa's question, hovering a finger over his lip.
"Secret mission. Can't disclose."
This got more reaction from Yuno than…normal.
"Secret mission?"
"No, secret mission~" Wilhelm repeated, keeping the finger on his lip in a shushing motion.
"That is good to hear that Wizard King is recognizing your worth and giving you missions accordingly." Mimosa commented, meaning each word she said.
Klaus too backed her up.
"I am too pleased to hear this."
Belle wanted to retort and say how Yuno was better, but decided against it, seeing Wilhelm, who was giving her all sorts of bad feelings.
Following this, a silence formed between them, seeing which Mimosa started to rack her brain for topics to speak about.
'Think, think, think! What should I talk to him about…?
Oh, his favorites.'
Suddenly coming on a rather mundane yet never talked about topic amongst them, Mimosa asked before Klaus could ask a question of his own to inquire when the Black Bulls would be coming.
"Wilhelm, what do you like to eat?"
The random question caught Wilhelm a bit off guard. He replied, making a thinking face.
"Hmm…any spicy chicken dish?"
Hearing Wilhelm's reply, Mimosa was about to reply, but had to stop when suddenly a figure appeared in her sight.
"Wizard King?" Someone among the crowd muttered, followed by a gasp, following which more and more people started to look in the direction where Julius was.
Wilhelm too turned around, looking at Julius, who finally arrived and stood in front of everyone.
"Wizard King!" Everyone exclaimed as they saluted with their back fully straight, and Julius nodded, then said, "At ease."
Then he looked at Wilhelm, and finally, turning to the trio of Golden Dawn, said with his ever kind expression.
"Would you mind if I were to borrow Wilhelm for a moment?"
Flustered, Mimosa did not know how to reply, but Klaus, who was more used to dealing with his stern-faced superiors, was able to reply.
"No, sir, we don't mind."
At the reply, Wilhelm looked at the pair, where Mimosa was looking a bit disheartened, and said, "We will talk later."
Then, without waiting for a reply, he turned around and started to walk with Julius under the eyes of others, where many were looking at the scene with different emotions ranging from curiosity to outright hostility.
Aware of it, both of them ignored it and moved through a set of stairs to arrive on top of the place, where the whole competition was to be spectated from. Standing on it, for a while, none of them said a thing, and the only sound was the whistling of the wind that passed by their ears, blowing Wilhelm's hair with it.
It was then that Julius decided to speak.
"It seems you have arrived."
"Seems so." Wilhelm said curtly to the rhetorical statement.
"Care to share about your adventure in the Diamond Kingdom?" Julius asked, not looking at him, but staring at the vast field.
"Killed people. Orphaned children. Widowed wives-"
"And created an insurrection in the whole Kingdom, executed many of the nobles there, and placed a declining noble house as the de facto ruler?" Julius said in a questioning tone, to which Wilhelm added.
"You heard about it?"
"Not exactly heard about it, but it was not hard to put two and two together. There are not many people who are capable of destroying an entire ruling class without leaving evidence behind." Julius replied as if he were talking about the weather, and not about an entire nation that had been a long-standing enemy of the Clover Kingdom, which was suddenly killed from the inside without anyone's knowledge.
"Is that so?
What is the reaction of nobles and royals?" Wilhelm asked, closing his eyes and enjoying the fresh air.
"Many are willing to launch an attack to annex it, but are still dormant due to the threat of the Eye of Midnight Sun. They will probably be more active when the threat passes." Julius said, craning his neck in thought.
"Don't let them." Wilhelm said as he looked at Julius, but with a gaze he had never shown anyone before. Not of anger, but of complete and utterly devoid of emotion.
Julius looked at it without flinching, though he internally regretted seeing them.
Without any change in his expression, he asked, "Any particular reason for it?"
Wilhelm turned his head away, once again staring at the field, and replied, "I have killed enough of them. Not only corrupted, but those who were honest as well.
I have killed the brother of the new Queen. In his moment of despair, he felt broken because he felt dread at the thought of his sister being violated by a tyrant."
"Sounds like a great brother." Julius commented.
"Sounds like a better brother than the whole Silva line can ever hope to be." Wilhelm said in a cold tone.
Saying this, the silence settled once again between them, following which Julius added.
"Is that the sword that Crescent made?"
"The one on the back is. These two are…special." Wilhelm replied, gripping the two swords, Dawnbreaker and Galatine, in their scabbards.
"Nice to hear that.
Have you gotten stronger?" Julius asked as his robe billowed in the wind.
"Very."
"How much?"
"Stronger than you."
"Pleased to hear that."
Wilhelm said with an unshakable confidence, to which Julius said back without any hidden meaning in his voice.
"Are you fine?"
"No."
"Will you be fine?"
"Absolutely."
******
Sorry for delay. Medical Emergency.
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