"Starting today, I'm Asta from Hage Village, and I'll be joining the Black Rain!! It's a pleasure to meet you all!!!!!!"
"Asta, I don't think anyone's listening...?"
"That pudding you put away was delicious—"
"That was your last meal, you bastard!!!"
"Ah~ I remember drinking with some guy I didn't know~"
"Munch munch munch."
"Fwoooosh."
"Enough already, you idiots!!! What if the noise from trash like you reaches my little sister, you morons!!!"
"They're not listening at all~"
"Everyone seems really close."
"The vengeance of pudding---!!!"
Boom!!!
"Ahahahahahaha!"
I didn't remember the details, but it seemed Luck had eaten Magna's precious pudding. Was that really enough to make such a fuss...?
"Seriously, it's so noisy. My head's pounding—"
"Shut it, you shameless drunk!!"
"What's that supposed to mean, you virgin delinquent?"
"I-I'm not a virgin!!"
"Oh? Take your eyes off me, and I'll kill you, okay?"
"Munch munch munch."
"Fwoooosh."
"In the name of my little sister, my goddess, I will kill every last one of you—"
A complete mess. A total disaster. Was there any other way to describe this situation...?
"You lot... don't break the furniture!!!!!!!"
In an instant, the chaos began to settle down.
How can one punch have that kind of ridiculous power...? He didn't even put that much Mana into it, yet he smashed half the wall... More importantly, isn't he the one destroying the most stuff?
"Hey, middle brat. Every thought you're having is written all over your face."
"Ah, is tha—"
Before I could finish, the Black Rain members suddenly began greeting Captain Yami.
"Good work out there, Yami!!!"
"Captain, they say this is tasty?"
"Welcome back, Captain~~"
"Captain, do you have a moment?"
"Did anyone upset you, Yami!? If they did, I'll go tear them apart!!"
"Captain, fight me today~!"
"Fwoooosh."
"Forget these kids and let's go have a drink~"
"Hey, want to try this?"
"Captain, I'm already at my limit. May I go visit my little sister?"
"Hahahahaha, you guys like me that much?
But you're noisy—"
"We're sorry!!!"
"These are the little brat and the slightly bigger brat. They're the other new recruits."
"The other...?"
"Hmm... What were your names again?"
"I'm Asta from Hage Village! Nice to meet you!!!"
"I'm Kadel, also from Hage Village. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Hage? Seriously? That's a ridiculously remote village!"
"Hey, introduce yourselves to them."
Apparently too lazy to do it himself, Yami shoved the task of introductions onto Finral, his personal chauffeur.
"Ah, sure. Let's begin.
This is Gordon Agrippa."
"Nice to meet you."
His voice was so quiet that I almost wondered whether he had said anything at all.
"He's gloomy, so I never know what he's thinking, but he's a good guy.
And this is Vanessa Enoteca. When she's drunk, she gets clingy for no reason, but she's a good person."
"I don't get clingy with just anybody~
Hage? You mean that place at the very edge of the kingdom? You came from the bottom and still made it into the Magic Knights. You worked hard, kids~ Should this big sister give you a nice reward~~?
Uurp—bleegh."
Apparently, not even a Magic Knight could overcome the power of a hangover.
A rainbow-colored liquid began pouring from her mouth.
"I'll continue the introductions."
Were they not going to help her? No, this must happen so often that everyone had simply given up.
"Next is me."
"Luck. He's a battle maniac who really loves fighting, but he's a good guy."
"Nice to meet you~ Do you guys like fighting?"
"Uh... y-yes."
"I-I like it to some extent too."
"I loooove it. Want to fight? Want to fight right now?"
What's with this lunatic and his clear eyes...?
Just as Luck's overwhelming desire to fight began to frighten me, someone grabbed my shoulder from behind.
"Hey, what do you think?"
Gauche was holding out a photograph.
"My little sister, Marie. She's an angel. Got it? Lay a hand on Marie, and you're dead!!"
It was almost impressive that Gauche could say things like that with such a completely serious expression.
"Gauche Adlai. He loves his little sister an awful lot, but he's a good guy."
Had Finral mixed up who the dangerous person was?
"This is Charmy Pappitson. She's a glutton, but she's a good person."
"Munch munch. Nice ta meetcha!"
"This is Gray. I'm not really sure about her, but she's a good person."
Are they all just good people...?
"And that's Magna Swing. He's a delinquent, but he's a good guy."
Isn't being a delinquent the opposite of being a good guy?
"And I'm Finral Roulacase. I'm quite popular!
And this is the captain of our Black Rain, Yami Sukehiro!!"
Had he been unable to call Yami a good guy, or did he just choose not to?
"There are more members, but they're either out on missions, resting, or skipping out. Get along with them on your own."
"Yes, sir! I'll totally become friends with everyone!!!"
"Your size and your voice are inversely proportional, huh."
"Yesss!!!"
"I said be quiet!"
"Aaaagh!"
"...Maybe he needs to learn to read the room."
Asta had unknowingly answered at full volume because of Yami's hard-to-decipher wording, and was now experiencing the third round of having his head grabbed, just like during the exam.
"Make sure you only work them hard enough that they don't die."
"Did you hear that...? Yami said we should only work you hard enough that you don't die.
You weak-looking brats from the edge of nowhere think you can call yourselves Black Rain recruits? I don't know how you sucked up to Yami, but if you want to wear the Black Rain robe,
make this man among men, Magna Swing, Yami's foremost disciple, acknowledge you!!"
"M-Magic Knight robes...! Give me one!!"
"Weren't we already members...? I mean, I want one too, but..."
"That's right. If you want it that badly, you'll have to take the Black Rain's baptism test!"
"What?"
"I had a feeling there might be something like this..."
I'm pretty sure there isn't actually a baptism test, but I remember Magna doing something like this... It might turn into a pretty good memory if I go through with it.
Asta would go first, then I would take my turn.
"Use any method you want. If you manage to block or dodge the attack spell I'm about to use, you'll be proud members of Black Rain.
Then I'll give you these robes."
"There he goes, starting another baptism ritual that doesn't even exist~"
"It's fun, so what's the problem?"
"Understood!!"
"Here I come!! Take out your Grimoire, brat!!"
"Yes, sir!!"
"Fire Magic: Exploding Flameball! Die!!!"
Bang!!!
Rather than cutting it, Asta instantly batted Magna's spell away as though he were playing baseball.
Boom!!!!!!!
The deflected spell flew straight back and struck Magna head-on.
"It's been a while since one of these ended without having to rescue a new recruit."
Did that mean every member so far had gone through this and needed rescuing...?
Yami Sukehiro, captain of the Black Rain, was considering Asta's sword.
He couldn't cut it with that sword, but he could knock it away with the flat of the blade. That sword tears magic apart and reflects spells...
He had arrived at a perfectly neat conclusion about Asta's sword.
Of course, it could do even more than that, but despite his appearance, Yami had shown impressive analytical ability.
"...You damn bastard... You almost got me killed by my own spell because you were a second too late, you bastard! You're pretty good, though!!!"
"Huh?"
Asta let out a dazed sound at Magna's casual, almost overly friendly attitude.
"Not only did you stop my magic, you sent it right back at me!
I like you, Asta!!"
"It's Asta!"
"Actually, I'm from a country village too! Rayaka Village, a little north of Hage Village!"
"Really? That's totally the middle of nowhere!"
"I don't want to hear that from you!"
"But I've got very little Mana... Actually, I don't have any at all~"
"Huh? You've got no Mana? That's even cooler! That makes you a real man, doesn't it?"
After Asta's baptism test, everyone seemed to have warmed up to him at once.
"Hey, Magna? Can I do the next baptism test?"
"You... Luck... if you're going to do it, take it easy..."
"Yes~~ New guy~ From now on, let's try to kill each other!"
"T-Try to kill each other...?"
"Come on, get ready! Baptism Test Two!"
I had assumed Magna would be the one doing it, but had Luck been serious when he asked Asta to fight in the original manga...?
Luck and I moved apart, facing one another from a distance.
"All right~~ Begin!"
"Whoa!"
The instant it started, Luck rushed at me with Mana wrapped around his legs.
I could use Time Magic to somehow keep track of him, but it would consume too much of the time I had stored.
It would be more efficient to concentrate on sensing his Mana and evade.
"Urgh! Ah! Whoa!"
I could dodge most of his attacks, but they kept becoming faster and more intense. On top of that, at some point he had started reading my movements...!
"Ahahahaha! You really are amazing! You're dodging my attacks using pure Mana sensing alone! Then how about this? Lightning Magic: Trusty...!"
"Time Acceleration Magic: Chrono...!"
"That's enough."
Just as we were both preparing our spells, Yami stepped in.
"Hey, Luck. I told you to test him, not sit there enjoying yourself."
"Eh? You caught me? More importantly, the new guy's amazing, isn't he? Let's have a real match next time!"
"Um... I'd rather not."
"You're amazing too, black-haired kid! You dodged most of Luck's attacks!"
"You're both amazing~"
"Want to try this? It's good, you know?"
"Ah, thank you."
"Here, take them! They're yours, Asta and Kadel!"
"Thank you!"
"At last, I'm officially part of Black Rain...!"
"And as a bonus~"
Using Thread Magic, Vanessa embroidered the Black Rain emblem onto the headband around Asta's head.
"You're now officially members of the Black Rain Magic Knights! Live up to the name!"
"Yes, sir!!"
"Yes! Magna!"
And so, that long, long day came to an end, and we became official members of the Black Rain.
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