Grown to hate

Chapter 8: The First Mission

A couple of days had gone by since Noelle lost control of her magic. Noelle had been getting along well with Vanessa, the girl took a liking to her and what she had to say. Asta remained mysterious however. The boy came back to the base every morning drenched in sweat and with patches of dirt all over him. Noelle had trained her magic when someone else was available to watch over her. As a pastime, she read books or simply talked with Vanessa.

Currently, Asta and Noelle were doing chores around the base. "Would you like to feed the beasts today?" Asta asked. Noelle unconsciously backed up when hearing the beasts snarl. "N-n-no. I think I'll pass." Noelle said. Asta sighed and walked up to the beasts. The beasts backed away when smelling the boy and began to whimper. The boy threw the slab of meat in the cage and walked back to Noelle. "Let's go, we have to do the laundry." He said. Noelle nodded and walked along with Asta. Noelle tried to do the laundry, but her lack of experience made it difficult. Surprisingly, Asta was patient with the girl. Noelle didn't mind his patience, but working along with him as he stayed quiet felt awkward. "So... why did you want to become a magic knight?" Noelle asked. Asta paused while washing the laundry and looked at the girl. "You don't have to force yourself to start a conversation." He said to Noelle. "I'm not forcing myself, I want to talk. I think it'll pass time faster." She said. Asta sighed and said "To become stronger. I figured that becoming a magic knight would give me experience in real life situations, so that's why I decided to join." "Yo-you don't want to help the people of this kingdom?" she asked. "I will be helping them. It just comes with me getting the chance for more experience." He said. "Oh. That sounds nice." "What about you?" Asta asked. Noelle was surprised by a question, she was hesitant to answer but then she remembered what Vanessa had told her the day she officially joined. "It's to prove my family wrong." Noelle said. "Prove them wrong about what?" "I want to prove that I'm not useless. I'll prove to them that I am strong and can even become a stronger magic knight than my mother." "Your mother was a magic knight?" Asta asked. "Yes. I was told that she was one of the best of her time." Noelle answered. "That sounds impressive. Maybe she could give me some tips for the battlefield." Asta said. Noelle stayed quiet for a moment. Asta noticed her lack of noise and took it as if she didn't have a good relationship with her. "If you end up having full control of your magic, I can see you becoming a strong magic knight." Asta said. Noelle looked up at Asta and gave him a smile. The boy knew the smile wasn't real, it was a smile that only hid ones pain. "So your foster brother Yuno... You said he had a four leaf clover. It must have been surprising to everyone that a pe- a commoner attained such a rare grimoire." Noelle said trying to change the topic. Noelles antics didn't fool Asta at all, but he decided to go along with what she attempted. "It was surprising to people who don't know him. He always had raw talent and powerful magic. Everyone in my village calls him the 'hope of Hage'." Asta said. "I've been wondering actually. Please don't take offense to this." "I won't." "How did you end up getting a grimoire? You don't have any mana in you, but you do have some power." "I have anti-magic. It's the opposite of magic and I'm the only one able to wield it because I simply don't have mana." "So you have a special power. It makes sense for it to belong to someone special." Noelle said. Asta froze due to what Noelle said. The last person to call him special was the person who loved him the most. "Laundry's done. We should get going now. I think Charmy has lunch ready." Asta said. The boy quickly hung up the wet clothes and entered the base. Noelle was left confused at her partners sudden actions, but she soon followed and was met with a delicious smell. She heard her stomach grumble and walked over to the dining area. There she saw Asta sitting alone, she assumed he wouldn't mind if she sat next to him. Noelle grabbed a plate of the lunch Charmy made and took a seat next to the boy who was eating slowly. "I figured you might feel alone, so I ho-" "You don't have to try so hard. I'm not someone who you can just kiss up to." Asta interrupted her. "I'm just trying to be friendly." Noelle said back. Asta only continued eating his food, so Noelle did the same. At the same time she felt annoyed, but she didn't know what to do. Suddenly, Yami slammed the door open alerting everyone there. "Magna. You know what we have to do." He said. Magna got up from his seat and looked at the captain straight into his eyes. "You mean.." "Let's go. We can't waste time here." Magna quickly rushed over to his captain and the two left in a hurry. "Do you think those two went on a dangerous mission?" Noelle asked. "Don't know don't care." Asta answered. Noelle huffed at the boys behavior. A moment ago she thought that they were getting along, but now it seemed like that those events didn't even happen.