A Vengeful Path (Resumed)

Ch. 14 Birthday Gift

When Asta woke up, it wasn't very bright outside his window. He pulled the curtain back and he could barely see a sliver of orange light striking the horizon. He heard rustling, and looked over to see Liebe sitting up and rubbing his eyes as he glanced out the window. "It's barely morning. How are you up?" he asked. "I'm used to waking up this early," he answered as he shrugged. "Well, since we're awake, wanna spar?" he asked, but he shook his head. "We might wake up the whole kingdom if we do that," and Liebe laughed. "C'mon. We'll just do it really high in the sky so they won't hear us as well." Asta decided that he had nothing better to do to wait until the queen awoke to tell them what their "surprise" was, so he gave in and followed Liebe as he walked out. When they walked outside, though, they heard voices. "His tastes could've changed over the past few years," who they thought was Klaus said. "As far as I know, all he liked was working out and training..." Leopold muttered. "What about you, Yuno? You were basically his brother since childhood," Rill asked him."Like Leopold said, all he did when we were in Hage was train and train some more," he said and chuckled. "Didn't know you lot were early risers," Liebecalled as he walked out of the hallway with Asta behind him. "L-L-Liebe! What a coincidence!" the queen stuttered. "Eh?" he said. "So. What are y'all talking about?" Asta said as he walked up to them. "N-nothing really. We were just talking about random things! Right, guys? Random things!" Noelle said, flustered. But Asta just laughed. "Y'know, now that I think about it, back then you were always getting flustered, but I never found out why," he said as he chuckledagain. She blushed again, and then she caught herself. "Baka!" she shouted and shot water at him, but he just side-stepped and dodged around it. "I also remember that. Every day I always got hit by one of these," he chuckled. He's smiling, Noelle thought to herself, then she smiled back. "It's because you kept on doing dumb things, bakasta," she tried, and he laughed again. "Didn't you come up with that?" he asked her. "Y-yeah," she said. When was the last time he smiled like this at me, she thought to herself. "Well, me and Liebe were just on our way out to spar," he said to them. "Yeah. Later," Liebe called. "Y-yeah! See you!" Noelle called. She was still blushing from earlier. "So. Back to what were talking about. Asta's birthday is coming up, so does anyone know any good gift idea's?" Loropechika asked the group again. "Just kidding," Liebe said as he popped out of thin air right next to the queen. "GYAAAHH!" she screamed, jumping back. Liebe started laughing hard. "Sorry about that," he said, wiping a tear off his eye. "I-it's fine," the queen said, still recovering from the shock. "You can't hide anything from me. I see all," Liebe joked. "But really. I could hear your conversation even after we startedflying, so spill it. What were you talking about?" he asked as he scanned the group. "N-nothing important, really," Klaus stuttured. "Yeah! It's just about gathering fruit," Mimosa lied. "We're trying to gather a lot since there's a festival coming up soon, so we're, uh, trying to prepare... and stuff," she trailed off. "Ahhhhhh okay, I see. I thought I heard you guys talking about Asta's birthday, so I came back to share my ideas, but never mind then," he said and he started whistling and walking towards the door. "W-wait!" Noelle called, and he looked back with a mischievous grin, but he quickly wiped it off. "Yeeesssss???" he asked. "F-fine..." she admitted. "We were all wondering what to get Asta for his birthday since we missed his last three ones..." she muttered. "What was that?" he said in a sing-sone tone. "Aah! We were wondering what to get Asta!" she said louder. "There it is," he said, his grin returning. "Well, if you insist on me telling you, I guess I could make an exception," he said and he turned his grin to everyone else. "Just to make things more fun, ya know?" he said. "Fine. I'm only agreeing because I know I'm going to win," Yuno announced. "Oho. Think you can beat me, pretty boy?" Leopold challenged. "Of course I can, with your weird little third eye up there," he said back, and they both started laughing. "So? What is Asta's favorite thing?" Loropechika asked Liebe. They all quieted down to listen, and he started talking. "When we were on the run, I told Asta about where I came from, and what happened with his mom. I told him that his mom had him raised in the church in Hage because of her strange condition to suck the life and magic out of anything she touched. That'salso why Asta was born without magic," Liebe said. "Ohhh. I see now," Noelle said. "So I told Asta about our mom, Licita, and what she was like. And let me just say Asta is the spitting image of her," Liebe said as he chuckled. "He acts just like Mom. Always trying to do the right thing. Doing what benefits others even if it doesn't benefit themselves. Always caring for others. And he was always smiling, just like her," Liebe said. "Mom's favorite flower was a black clover(¬‿¬) since it didn't seem to die whenever she touched it, so she had tons of them around the house before she died. So after that, for the past three years, I've been finding him black clovers and he always seemed to like it. I'm pretty sure he still has all the ones I gave him. So, find him a black clover since that's the best birthday present I can think of," he said. "Where does a black clover even grow?" Noelle asked. "I don't know the specifics. I just found them while we were moving around the kingdom, growing in the shade of trees. They were all different trees so I'mnot sure exactly where they grow," Liebe said, rubbing his chin. "But that's the fun part," he said, his grin returning. "Good luck!" he teased as he laughed. "Seriously. It's gonna take forever if we don't know where they grow," Noelle complained. "We should prepare other presents just in case we fail to find a black clover," Klaus said, nodding thoughtfully. "Yes, that's what I should do. Mimosa," Klaus said. "Yes?" she asked. "Can't you use your plants to try to find a clover?" he asked. But she just shook her head and laughed. "No, my magic doesn't work like that. Smart thought, though," she said. "Oh, well. Look's like we're going to have to do this the hard way," he said as he sighed. "Good luck everyone," Loropechika called. "I'll be using my kingdommagic to try to find some," she said as she smiled at everyone on their way out. "That's so not fair," Rill complained. "Why, of course it is. It's a race to give him the clover first, right? No one said you can't give him your clovers after, even if you do find it, but the first one will always be the best. Still, though, good luck!" she called again. "I'm gonna find the black clover first!" Leopold exclaimed. "No one can beat me!" he said as he ran out the cavern and into the sunlight. "Not if I find it first!" Noelle said, and everyone ran out of the cavern and dispersed into the forests, praying that luck would be on their side. As the knights looked and looked through the forests with Liebe and Asta dueling high in the sky, Loropechika and Undine werestill in the palace. "This is sort of cheating, isn't it?" Undine asked her. "All's fair when it comes to birthday presents. And plus, maybe if I find a clover and give it to him, he'll be able to trust our kingdom a little bit more," Loropechika said. The spirit silently smiled at her as she returned to her search. "Oh!" she yelled suddenly. "There's one!" There was a black clover, growing in the tall, dark shadow of an apple tree. "Undine, can you summon a clone to go and grab that for me?" she asked. "Of course," she said. On the screen, you could see water droplets splashing everywhere and getting the plants wet as a spirit clone reached it's hand down and grabbed the clover. It started to take off and fly before fire came out of nowhere and dissolved the clone intomist. "Leopold, you burned the clover! What was that?" Rill yelled as he picked up the ashes. "HUUUUHHHH" Undine said, and Leopold and Luck jumped as the screen suddenly appeared in front of them. "I found the clover first and you burned it!" she yelled. "Sorry! Sorry," Rill said as they both dashed out of there. "Those little.." Undine muttered. "Sorry about that, Loropechika," Undine said. "No, no it's fine," she replied, smiling up at the spirit. Everyone spent the rest of the day looking for black clovers while Loropechika used her magic to find a couple. "How much did you find?" Leopold asked Yuno when everyone gathered. "I didn't find anything," he said, frowning. "Mimosa? What about you," Noelle asked. "I was able to find 6!" she said excitedly."I hope Liebe was right and Asta will like them," she said as she sighed. The results turned out somewhat expected. The only people who found black clovers were Luck, who was insanely fast and was able to find 4. Queen Loropechika, who could check through the whole kingdom in just a few hours and found enough to make a boqette. Mimosa, with her plant magic she found 6, and looks like Klaus was right. She was able to send her magic through the roots of big areasand see if she could sense the black clovers. Charlotte did the same and she turned up with 5. "Wow, Charlotte. I didn't know that you would be getting him a present," Rill said, looking up at her. "He's part of Yami's squad. And it's proper etiquette to give a person a gift on their birthday. Of course I would be getting him one," she scolded. "Right, right," he said, putting his palms up. And Finral, who could use spatial magic and found 2. Everyone else turned up with none. "Finraaaaal. Pleeease can you give me one?" Rill begged as he clung to his robe. "Uhhhh..." he said awkwardly as he looked up at him. "Pleeeeeaaaaseeeeeeeee," he begged. "Fine, you can have one," he said, dropping a clover into his hands. "Thank you!" he exclaimed. "In that case," Leopold started, "would you be so kind as to-" "No. Find your own," he said flatly. "Pleee-" "No," he interrupted. "Baaah. Off with your head," he said and he started chasing Luck around the cavern. The two of them have gotten closer over the time of their visit in the Heart Kingdom. Probably because he didn't have a Magna to tease, so Leopold was filling in that roll. "I see you managed to gather a decent amount," they heard Liebe say as he walked through the pillars outside. "I'm like, 40% sure Asta will like the present," Liebe said, and they all glared at him. "Kidding! Kidding," he said, and he paused. "Thanks for this," he said to them. "For what?" Noelle asked him, but he shook his head and laughed. "Never mind." And then Loropechika suddenly interrupted. "Oh! That's right. I wasn't lying about tomorrow. There really is a full-moon festival happening tomorrow night," she said. "Oooo! A festival!" Mimosa saidas she clapped her hands. "Sounds exciting," she said, and the queen smiled at her. "I thought you would say that. So do you guys wanna go?" she asked them. "It would be a good break from the training and the stress of the recent events," Klaus said. "We should go," Leopold agreed, and so did everyone else. "It's starting in the evening, so the morning and the afternoon are free for whatever you want to do," she said. "All right! Day off tomorrow!" Rill exclaimed. Everyone was discussing what their plans were to prepare for the festival, but Liebe had a grim look on his face. "Liebe, what's wrong?" the queen asked. "Huh?" he said, looking up as the grim expression immediately disappeared. "Oh, nothing," he said, smiling at her. And for once, the onlytime since Liebe has met everyone, it was a sad smile. "What's going on-" Noelle started, but was interrupted by Asta walking in. "Oi! What's going on here?" he called. "Nothing, really," Liebe answered. "There's a full-moon festival in the evening tomorrow, so let's go there for your birthday," he said. "Oh, that's right!" he said as his face lit up. But then the light disappeared, "Oh, that's right," he repeated. "If you want, you can go with all of us," Noelle said. "Yeah! Festival's are to be enjoyed with friends," Leopold exclaimed. "Let's fight to the death for practice tomorrow," Luck said, air punching. "What are you even going to be fighting for?" Klaus asked him, exasperated. Asta looked like he was about to smile, but he steeled his face. "F-fine. I have nothing else to do, so might as well," he replied, and everyone shouted with joy. "What are we even going to wear?" Mimosa asked Noelle. "I don't know about you, but I'm going to eat all the noms there," Charmy said. "I'll be eating with you," Rill said dreamily, looking at her. "So is that a pass on our death match?" Luck asked Leopold. "I'll do that with you any day, but not tomorrow because of the festival," he responded. "Ohw, okay. But promise we're gonnaduel after," Luck said. "Yeah, yeah," he half-answered, turning to talk to Yuno. "Are you going to take the little girl with you or leave her here?" he asked him. "Hey!" Bell called, appearing on his shoulder. "I'm thousands of years older than you. And of course he is. It's gonna be our date-" she started, but was cut off by Yuno calling her back into his grimoire. "Yuuunooooo!!!!" she shouted, but he just tucked it back into his cloth. "Oh, Asta," Noelle said, turning around to him. "Eh?" he replied, facing her. "What are you going to do while you wait for evening tomorrow?" she asked. "I don't really have much to do..." he said. "Oh. Well, in that case, everyone's gonna be shopping to prepare for the festival, then we're gonna get something to eat. Wanna come?" she asked hopefully. Please say yes, please say yes, Noelle thought. "Yeah, sure I guess. Like I said, I have nothing to do, so it'll be great to kill some time while we wait," he replied. "Okay," she said, barely able to keep the joy from bursting out of her. "What about you, Liebe?" she asked. "Yeah, I guess," he said. "Got it," she said. And as she turned to face everyone else, Nero seemed oddly happy for some reason, but she just shrugged this off. "We should all get to bed so we can leave early tomorrow," Loropechika said. "You're coming with us?" Mimosa asked, a little surprised. "Of course. I wouldn't miss shopping and eating with everyone," she said with a grin. "The more the merrier," Noelle said as she smiled at everyone around her. "Asta! What have you been doing all day?" Noelle asked, running up to his side. "I've just been sparring and racing with Liebe everywhere," he said. "What about you?" he asked, and she was a little surprised, before a smile forced it's way onto her face. "Nero and I trained with Undine and..." and as she told Asta her story about her day and what she did, Liebe's smile dropped into a dark expression. Soon, little brother. We can't push it back any longer, and you know that, he thought to himself. It's our lives or theirs, and you seem more and more willing to give yours up, he thought, his dark expression deepening as he followed everyone back to the sleeping area. Soon our revenge will be complete. My hatred will get us through our battles. It's won in the past and it will win in the future. Soon, he gave one last glance at the stars outside. Soon the Spade Kingdom will burn and their streets will run red with blood.