Asta's Adventure

Soon the day came when Asta and Yuno had to take the Magic Knights Entrance Exam. They began saying their goodbyes to the people from their village.

Father Orsi started crying.

"Oh, you have no idea how hard it is for me to say goodbye to you! Don't you dare get into trouble over there, especially you, Asta," he said, looking directly at Asta.

"Why is it always me?" Asta replied.

"You still ask?" they all said in unison.

"Secore, keep an eye on him," said Father Orsi, to which the bird saluted with its wing.

Then, looking at Noelle, he whispered in her ear, "Please take care of him."

Noelle replied, "Yes," and blushed.

After that, they headed toward the city of Kikke, or rather, the Colosseum. They traveled there using brooms. Asta flew with Noelle, while Yuno flew alone.

"Asta, if you don't want to fall, p-press yourself closer," she said, stammering.

"Okay," he said, pressing himself closer, which made Noelle smile without even realizing it.

"Clingy," said Yuno, flying next to them, while Secore chirped loudly.

"W-What? It's not like that," Noelle said, looking at Yuno in anger and confusion.

"Yeah, sure," Yuno said with a blank face.

"Damn, this guy's annoying," Noelle muttered to herself.

Soon they arrived at the Colosseum, where they began the registration process. During the registration, a street food vendor, who was offering his special snacks, kept following Asta. But Asta already knew what would happen because of past experience—he had been there before. Thanks to this snack, he had spent quite a long time in the bathroom before.

Back to the registration, Yuno got ticket number 164, Asta got 165, and Noelle got 166.

Then they entered, but as soon as they did, dozens of birds swooped down on Asta and immediately formed a nest on him.

Noelle was about to help Asta, but then she heard people's comments.

"Wow, what's this trash doing here?"

"He's surrounded by so many anti-birds, it's hard to believe. I don't even sense any mana in him."

"Even for a villager, this is too much."

All around, people were talking down on Asta.

Noelle got angry and was about to step in, but first, she decided to watch Asta. She thought he would also be angry, but what she saw left her speechless.

Asta remained calm. He began feeding all the birds with bread he pulled from his spatial bag.

"What are you doing?" Noelle finally asked.

Looking at her, Asta replied like a sage, "They won't peck at me if I feed them."

At these words, Noelle continued watching Asta silently. At a certain point, the anti-birds, as if frightened by something, started flying away quickly, looking over their shoulders. Asta saw a large, muscular man. He immediately recognized him.

"Oh, hello, Captain of the Black Bulls!" he exclaimed.

Smoking a cigarette, Yami looked at Asta and said, "Do I know you?"

A silence fell.

His words angered Asta, and he couldn't hold back his rage.

"Damn you, you mountain bandit!" he shouted, but before he could continue, he felt Yami's huge, strong hand grabbing him and squeezing tightly.