Black Rain Hideout
"Hey, Magna. Let's have a match. All-out."
"No way, you battle maniac."
"Don't say that. Let's fight~ Or I'll eat your pudding, you know?"
"You! If you do that...!"
"You wanna go? You wanna have a match?!"
"I said no..."
Luck was the kind of person who solved food problems with fighting, rather than solving fighting problems with pudding.
"Eight... nine..."
"Sylvantas Schnauzer."
"Wouldn't another name be better? Hmm... how about Wine?"
"Isn't that too simple?"
"I'll even let you take a syllable from my goddess of a little sister, Marie. I'll grant you 'Ma.' Be grateful."
Gauche, who normally treated anything related to Marie's name as sacred territory, is willing to give up a syllable...? Did he like Nero that much?
"Shouldn't it have a more dazzling name? That's it! Magnum Fire!!!"
"So tacky."
"Honestly, Noelle has no sense!"
"You're one to talk."
"This feels like a routine I've seen somewhere before..."
"You'reallsayingwhateveryou'rethinkingwill you listen to what I came up with? I think it's an incredibly good idea."
I still can't understand this one.
"Can I fatten that bird up? It looks delicious~"
"N-No!"
"Does it lay eggs?"
Charmy was now trying to eat a person... no, a bird, while Noelle desperately tried to stop her. Though I was curious whether Nero laid eggs myself.
"Toritaro would be great!"
"No, it's Sylvantas Schnauzer."
"Toritaro!"
"Sylvantas Schnauzer!"
"Toritaroooo!"
"Yelling it louder doesn't make it the name, Asta."
Peck peck peck peck peck peck
Nero must have really hated the name, because she began pecking Asta again.
"Ow ow ow ow! What are you doing, Toritaro?!"
"See? Sylvantas Schnauzer is better, right?"
"Honestly, that's tacky too."
"N-No, it isn't! Are you dissatisfied with a name chosen by royalty?"
"Does social status matter when naming something?"
"Hmph. Of course it does."
"Magnum Fire!!"
"That one's the tackiest of all, Luck."
"What did you say?! It's manly and cool!"
"Ma."
"Wine."
In the end, nobody came to an agreement. They were all just shouting.
Then, as if something had occurred to him, Luck spoke up.
"How about 'Nero'?"
Flash!
Having apparently decided that none of the names in this five-minutes-before-disaster mess could possibly be any better, Nero immediately raised a wing at the name Nero without a moment's hesitation.
"Whaaaaaat?!"
Everyone was dumbfounded that their chosen names had not been selected.
Honestly, every one of them deserved to be rejected, but still...
"Looks like she likes it~ Nero means black~"
"Nero..."
"Well, it's the best one that's come up so far~"
"You didn't even suggest a name, Kadel!"
"Huh?"
Well, I hadn't suggested one because I knew Nero would be chosen, but would it have looked more natural if I had?
"I know I'm bad at naming things~"
"Grrr! Let's settle this with a naming contest!!"
"Are you Luck? Why do you try to settle everything with a contest?"
I pressed my palm against Asta's upturned face.
Just like in a manga. Well, this was a manga, so I guess that was why scenes like this could happen.
At that moment, Spatial Magic opened, and Yami and Finral returned.
"All right, everyone, listen up."
"Yami!"
"Urk!!"
Wondering what that sound was? Magna had been eating pudding while sitting on top of Asta, and he suddenly stood up. That was the sound of Asta being crushed.
"Are you okay, Asta?"
"S-Save me..."
"Here, take my hand."
"Thanks, Kadel."
"Ahem. I have an announcement for everyone."
"What happened, Captain?"
"A new dungeon has been discovered."
"A dungeon?! Seriously, Yami?!"
"Oh! What's a dungeon?!"
"I knew this would happen..."
"W-Wait, are you serious? You don't know, and you're surprised anyway??"
"Hehe, I got caught up in the mood?"
"That's exactly the reaction I expected! Got it? A dungeon is..."
After Magna, Luck, and Vanessa explained what a dungeon was, Yami began speaking again.
"This particular dungeon appeared near the border with an enemy nation. The Diamond Kingdom. We'll need to carry out this mission swiftly and reliably if we don't want those Diamond bastards taking it first.
"Apparently, people have found magic tools capable of overturning civilization itself in dungeons before. Some have even gone on to wield the strongest magic..."
I feel like this was mentioned a few times in Black Clover, too...
Yuno will form a contract with the wind spirit Sylph there, and Asta will obtain his second anti-magic sword, the Demon-Dweller Sword. So it's not guaranteed, but it's true enough.
"Me! Pick me! Please let me go!! I might get to use the strongest magic too!"
"You don't have any Magic Power, so that's impossible."
"Besides, even if you gained Magic Power, could you use it alongside anti-magic?"
"W-Well, you never know!"
I was curious about that too. If Asta gained Magic Power, could it coexist with anti-magic? Anti-magic clearly sought out powerful Magic Power, so it might even harm its own wielder...
"Anyway, you're going, runt. And the medium runt too."
"Huh?"
"Me too?"
"More importantly, the Wizard King personally nominated you two."
So he had taken a strong interest in my magic back at that marketplace.
No wonder he'd been so interested in my magic...
"Whaaaat?! The Wizard King?! Why?!"
"That's amazing, Asta, Kadel! Do you guys know the Wizard King or something?!"
"No, not at all."
Unaware that he had been subjected to a one-sided meeting, Asta could only gape at the mention of the Wizard King's nomination.
"The Wizard King chose me...! I don't know why, but truly! Wizard King, sir! Asta will devote his heart and soul to this mission!!!"
"Wow, you're glowing. Can you use Light Magic too...?"
A beam of light seemed to shine down upon Asta from the heavens.
"And Noelle, you're going too."
"Me?"
"Everything is experience."
"That's right. You grew a lot at Sossi Village last time, didn't you?"
"Ugh... that's true, but..."
"And Luck."
"Oh?"
"You're the leader. I'm entrusting the three of them to you."
"Is that okay?"
"Yeah. You'll get rusty if you just stay at home, won't you?"
"All right!!"
"Got it? Make sure you properly look after the rookies."
"Leave it to me!"
He had the least trustworthy expression imaginable... but Yami had given the order, so what could we do?
"Then, are we heading out?"
"Be careful~~"
"Asta, Kadel, Noelle! Do your best!!"
"Yes!"
"We'll give it everything we've got, so don't worry!"
"I guess I have no choice."
"Hmm~ Maybe I'll go hunting~?"
"May I go see my little sister?"
"Go ahead, if you're prepared to die."
Whoa... scary.
"The sunset here is beautiful~ I recommend it as a date spot~"
"I'll make snacks for you when you get back!"
"Then I'll leave the rest to you."
With Yami's final words, the Spatial Magic closed.
So that was the dungeon...
There was an unmistakably dungeon-like entrance, as though it led down into some bizarre underground ruin.
There was nowhere in the corridor to light a fire, so we pressed onward relying on a single lamp.
"It's dark."
"Don't walk so close! It's hard to move!"
"W-Who's walking close to you...?"
"All right, enough flirting. Let's walk seriously."
"Who's flirting?!"
"Aaaah?!"
Flaring up over a little teasing, Noelle tried to grab me, shoved Asta between us, and sent us tumbling over like dominoes.
The lamp breaking was just a bonus.
As we moved ahead slowly, we found bricks that glowed faintly through their seams.
"Ah, is this it?"
"Luck, what is this?"
"I can feel dense Magic Power inside. This might be the entrance."
Just as expected of Luck.
Even in the original, his Mana sensing had been outstanding enough to put most nobles and royals to shame. It would have been stranger if he couldn't find it.
Maybe that was why he had been walking with his body against the wall since earlier.
The wall with the brick Luck pushed crumbled away, revealing a space beautiful enough to take one's breath away.
It felt like a park with flowing water everywhere: above and below, ahead and behind, to the left and right.
"A-Amazing!!"
"Did ancient people really create a place like this artificially?!"
Somehow, water ran along the walls, and elsewhere it flowed upward from below, defying gravity.
And from here onward, the Mana density was incredibly high!
"What... is this?"
"It looks like the space has been warped by magic."
"Was it warped deliberately?"
"Most likely. They'd need to keep intruders out~! Oh! This place is filled with much denser Mana than outside!"
"I've never been somewhere so full of Mana before."
"If it didn't feel so dangerous, I'd want to show everyone at the church too..."
"There's really that much Mana here?"
"Don't tell me you can't feel this much Mana?"
"Not at all..."
"Of course not. Asta has no Magic Power."
"Amazing, as expected... You really are different from ordinary people because you have no Magic Power."
"Shut up...! I want to feel Mana too! I wish I had Mana! You guys are so lucky! You have so much Mana! There's not even a speck of it inside me! Mana, the source of Magic Power!
"Aaaagh! Damn it!!"
Beeeeep!
"Huh?"
"Ah, it's trap magic."
"Whaaaat?!"
When Asta slammed his fist into the floor, a wall rose up from it.
Of course, Asta cut it apart immediately.
"Hm? Ah, this is it, Asta! This!"
"What is?"
"Hup!"
Grinning, whether out of mischief or to test something, Luck shoved Asta toward a trap spell.
Beeeeep!
"Looks like it works the same way this time."
"Hyaaaah! What are you doing?!"
"Amazing! Amazing!"
"Hey, you! ...Ah, there's one over there too."
"Hup!! Yah!! There!"
Luck was stepping only on the traps, one after another, as Asta erased the magic.
"Hahahahahaha! It's fun~ Doesn't your heart race?"
"Yes... but for a different reason."
"Huff... huff... huff..."
"You look tired, Asta. Noelle, are you okay?"
"I-I'm not done yet..."
"Wow, your anti-magic weapon is amazing. Maybe the Wizard King appointed you after seeing that?
"I want to fight you in two or three years!
"Considering you can always swing that weapon, this dungeon should be no problem for you!"
"Yes!"
"So what you did just now was a test after all."
"That too, but also a little bit~..."
"Huh?! That's what it was?!"
"W-Wait, if you noticed that, you should've stopped him!"
"Wait a second! I only realized it halfway through, and nobody got hurt..."
"Now then..."
The moment Luck spoke, a tiny amount of Lightning Magic Power spread outward across an enormous area, like ripples spreading over a still lake.
This range might be wider than mine.
"[Lightning Creation Magic: Thunder God's Boots].
"Something important just came up~ Ahahahaha!
"So, good luck clearing the dungeon~"
"Wait, where are you going... He's fast!
"W-What is that guy thinking?!"
"Did he abandon us?"
"C-Cool!"
"Is that really the time to say that, Asta?"
Well, it would be fine. Luck had probably sensed the Magic Power of Lotus, one of the Diamond Kingdom's Eight Shining Generals, Lotus of the Abyss, and rushed off after him.
Besides, Yuno—or rather, the Golden Dawn—would be arriving soon too.
Some of my favorite characters from the original were about to show up.
For some reason, I found myself looking forward to it.
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