We pushed through the stone door and found ourselves in a wide hallway. This part of the dungeon looked different. The walls were smoother here. The carvings were newer. Someone had been this way before us. Maybe lots of someones. The torches on the walls burned with normal orange flame instead of the blue magic fire from before.
Asta was still looking back at the trap room. "I can't believe you survived that. There were spikes in your heart. In your HEAD. How are you not dead?"
"I told you," I said. "I heal."
"That's not normal healing! That's monster healing!"
"Thanks."
"It wasn't a compliment!"
Noelle was walking close to me. Closer than before. Her eyes were still red from crying but she was pretending they weren't. "You need a new robe. You look like you got attacked by a pack of wild scissors."
"I'll get one when we get back."
"You say that like it's easy. Robes cost money. And you just ruined yours forever."
"I have money. From the mission pay."
"That's not the point! The point is you keep getting hurt and it's... it's..." She stopped talking. Her face went red. "Never mind. Just be more careful."
"I'll try."
"You better."
We heard voices up ahead. Not Luck's voice. Different voices. One of them was loud and bossy. The other was soft and polite. And there was a third voice that was very familiar.
"Is that..." Asta's eyes went wide. "YUNO?!"
He took off running before I could answer. His short legs pumped as fast as they could go. "YUNO! YUNO, IS THAT YOU?! IT'S ME! ASTA! YOUR RIVAL! THE FUTURE WIZARD KING!"
Noelle sighed. "Does he always do this?"
"Yes," I said.
"Every time?"
"Every time."
We followed Asta around a corner and into a big open room. The ceiling was high. The floor was covered in old tiles with pictures of animals on them. And standing in the middle of the room were three people in Golden Dawn robes.
Yuno was in front. His dark hair was a little messy from fighting. His four-leaf grimoire floated next to him. His face was calm like always. But when he saw Asta, his mouth twitched. Just a tiny bit. The closest thing to a smile Yuno ever did.
Next to him was a girl with orange hair and green eyes. She was pretty in a soft way. Her robe was clean and neat. Her grimoire was open and she had a kind smile on her face. Mimosa Vermillion. Noelle's cousin. A royal like her.
Behind them was a tall guy with glasses. His glasses were really thick. Like the bottom of a glass bottle. His face was pinched and annoyed. He looked at us like we were mud on his shoes. Klaus Lunettes. A noble who thought he was better than everyone.
"Asta," Yuno said. "You're here."
"OF COURSE I'M HERE!" Asta ran up and grabbed Yuno's shoulders. "The Black Bulls got the mission too! We're here for treasure and glory and stars! We're going to get more stars than you! Just wait!"
"The Black Bulls have negative thirty stars."
"We have negative thirty stars RIGHT NOW. But after this mission, we'll have more! Maybe even positive stars!"
"That's not how math works."
"Math is whatever I want it to be!"
Klaus stepped forward. His nose was so high in the air he could have smelled the ceiling. "Why are we stopping for these... these peasants? They're from the Black Bulls. The worst squad in the kingdom. We shouldn't waste time talking to them."
Asta turned to look at Klaus. His eyes went narrow. "Who's the four-eyed guy? Are those glasses or are you wearing windows on your face?"
Klaus's mouth fell open. "W-windows?! These are prescription lenses! They're very expensive! They're made from rare crystal from the Diamond Kingdom!"
"They look like you stole them from a grandma."
"I did NOT steal them from a grandma!"
"Could have fooled me, four-eyes."
"I am NOT four-eyes! I am Klaus Lunettes of the Golden Dawn! And I have perfect vision with these glasses!"
"Then why do you need them?"
"BECAUSE WITHOUT THEM I CAN'T SEE ANYTHING!"
"So you're not four-eyes, you're blind without your grandma glasses."
Klaus's face turned purple. He looked like he was going to explode. "You... you... you tiny commoner! Your hair looks like a bird's nest! And you're so short you could walk under a table without ducking!"
"I'm not short! I'm fun-sized! And at least my hair doesn't look like I glued a dead animal to my head!"
"This is the STYLE of the Golden Dawn!"
"It's the style of a dead animal!"
"IT IS NOT!"
Yuno watched them argue. His face didn't change. But I knew him well enough to see the tiny smile at the corner of his mouth. He was enjoying this.
Mimosa stepped forward. She smiled at Noelle. "Cousin Noelle! It's so good to see you! I didn't know you were on this mission. How have you been? Are the Black Bulls treating you well? You look... different."
Noelle's back went stiff. Her voice got cold. "Different? What do you mean by different?"
"Oh, nothing bad! You just seem more... alive. More energetic. When you were at the Silva estate, you always looked so sad. Now you look like you've been fighting and training and... is that dirt on your face?"
"It's not dirt! It's the heat of battle!"
"You have battle on your face?"
"Yes! That's a thing! Royals get battle on their faces all the time!"
Mimosa's smile didn't change but her eyes got sharper. "I see. Well, it's good that you're getting experience. I've been on several missions already. Captain Vangeance says I'm one of the most promising new members. My plant magic has been very useful for tracking and mapping. Speaking of which..." She opened her grimoire and a glowing map appeared in the air. "I've already mapped most of this dungeon. It's quite useful for finding treasure."
Noelle's eye twitched. "How nice for you. I've been learning too. I cast my first real spell just a few days ago. Water Dragon's Cradle. It protected an entire village."
"Oh, a defensive spell! That's... sweet. I'm sure it's very helpful for hiding."
"I wasn't hiding! I was protecting!"
"Of course you were, cousin. Of course you were."
They were both smiling. But their smiles were like knives. Sharp and pointed and ready to cut.
Then Mimosa noticed me. Her green eyes looked up at my face. Then at the wheel behind my head. Then at my ruined robe with all the holes in it. Then back at the wheel.
"You're Hasegawa Ouga," she said. "I saw you at the exam. The one with the strange grimoire. The one who adapted to poison in the middle of a fight." She tilted her head. "You're very tall. And... why are you staring at me?"
I wasn't staring at her. I was looking at her grimoire. The mapping spell was interesting. The way it showed the whole dungeon in real time. The way it tracked mana signatures. That kind of magic could be useful for my adaptation. If I understood how it worked, maybe I could learn to sense mana the same way.
But before I could explain that, Noelle stomped on my foot.
"Ouga," she said. Her voice was too sweet. "What are you staring at my cousin for? Do you think she's pretty? Is that it? Are you just going to stand there staring at her like a lost puppy?"
"I wasn't staring at her. I was looking at her spell."
"Her spell? Really? That's your excuse?"
"It's not an excuse. It's the truth."
Mimosa covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh my. Noelle, is this your... friend? He's very direct."
"He's not my friend! He's my squadmate! There's a difference!"
"Is there?"
"YES!"
Asta had stopped arguing with Klaus long enough to notice what was happening. "Hey, why is Noelle stomping on Ouga's foot? Did he say something weird? Ouga says weird things sometimes but he doesn't mean them. He just has bad social skills."
"Thank you, Asta," I said.
"You're welcome!"
Klaus adjusted his glasses. "Enough of this nonsense. We're wasting time. The Diamond Kingdom mages could be anywhere. We need to find the treasure room before they do." He looked at us with disgust. "Not that you peasants would be any help. You don't even have a mapping spell. How do you expect to navigate the dungeon? By luck?"
"No," Asta said. "We have something better than a mapping spell."
"What could possibly be better than a mapping spell?"
A small black bird flew out of Asta's hair. Nero. The anti-magic bird that had been following him since the exam. It landed on Asta's shoulder and looked at Klaus with its beady eyes. Then it flew forward, down the hallway, toward a path on the left.
"Nero knows the way!" Asta said. "He's been scouting ahead! He's like our dungeon guide!"
"That's a bird," Klaus said. "A common anti-magic bird. They're pests. They're not guides."
"This one is! He's special!"
"It's a BIRD."
"A special bird!"
Nero looked back at Klaus and made a sound that was almost like a laugh. Then it kept flying.
Mimosa's eyes widened. "That bird... it seems to actually know where it's going. How remarkable."
"It's not remarkable," Klaus said. "It's a coincidence. Birds fly randomly."
"This one doesn't."
"All birds fly randomly!"
"Not Nero," Asta said. "Nero is the best bird. He's going to lead us to the treasure first. Right, Ouga?"
"Right," I said. I looked at the path Nero was taking. It went down, deeper into the dungeon. The mana was stronger that way. "We should move fast. If the Diamond Kingdom is here, they might already be ahead of us."
Yuno nodded. "Then we race. First to the treasure room wins."
Asta's eyes lit up. "A race?! A real race?! Like old times?! Me versus you?!"
"Just like old times."
"I'M GOING TO WIN! I'VE BEEN TRAINING! I'M FASTER NOW!"
"We'll see."
Klaus sputtered. "Yuno, you can't be serious! Racing against peasants?! It's undignified! The Golden Dawn doesn't race!"
"I do," Yuno said. And then he was gone, flying down the hallway with wind magic boosting his speed.
"WAIT FOR ME!" Klaus ran after him, his glasses bouncing on his nose.
Mimosa smiled at Noelle. "Good luck, cousin. Try to keep up." She floated away on a platform of vines.
Noelle's eye twitched again. "Try to keep up? TRY TO KEEP UP?! I'll show her!" She turned to me. "Ouga! We need to go faster! Carry me!"
"What?"
"You carried me on the broom! You can carry me now! Just pick me up and run!"
"It's not a broom. I'd have to carry you in my arms."
"Then do it!"
"What about your royal dignity?"
"MY DIGNITY IS LESS IMPORTANT THAN BEATING MY COUSIN!"
I picked her up. She was light. Like carrying a bag of feathers. Her face went red but she didn't complain. She just pointed forward. "GO!"
"Asta," I said. "Get on my back."
"ON YOUR BACK?! Like a piggyback ride?!"
"Yes."
"THIS IS THE BEST DAY EVER!" He jumped onto my back and wrapped his arms around my neck. "Giddy up, Ouga! Let's go!"
I ran.
Stage Zero mana flooded my legs. The floor cracked under my feet. The walls blurred. I moved faster than I had ever moved before, my body a missile shooting through the dungeon tunnels. Noelle screamed and grabbed my neck. Asta whooped and waved one arm in the air.
Nero flew ahead of us, showing the way. Left. Right. Down a flight of stairs. Through a broken wall. The dungeon was a maze but Nero knew every turn.
We passed Yuno. He was flying fast, but not as fast as me on the ground. His eyes widened when he saw us. Noelle was still screaming. Asta was laughing.
"SEE YOU AT THE TREASURE ROOM, YUNO!" Asta shouted.
Yuno's mouth twitched again. "Not if I get there first."
"YOU WON'T!"
We left him behind.
We passed Mimosa next. She was on her vine platform, floating smoothly through the tunnels. Her mouth fell open when she saw us. A giant man carrying a screaming girl and a laughing boy, running faster than any normal person should run, with a black bird leading the way.
"What in the world..." Mimosa whispered.
"CAN'T TALK, COUSIN! WINNING!" Noelle shouted back.
And then we were past her too.
Nero led us down, down, down. The air got warmer. The mana got thicker. We were close to something. Something big.
We burst into a massive chamber. The ceiling was so high I couldn't see it. The walls were covered in gold carvings that glittered in the torchlight. And in the center of the room, two people were fighting.
One of them was Luck. His lightning was crackling everywhere, filling the room with blue-white light. His grin was wide and wild. He was having fun.
The other person was a man I didn't know. He was big. Not as big as me, but big. His arms were covered in scars. His grimoire floated next to him, and on its cover was a diamond. The symbol of the Diamond Kingdom.
The man's magic was smoke. Dark grey smoke that filled the room and made it hard to see. He was using it to hide, to dodge Luck's lightning, to create copies of himself that weren't real.
Luck was fast. Really fast. But the smoke made it hard to hit anything solid. He was swinging at shadows.
"Stay back!" Luck shouted when he saw us. "This one's mine! I found him first!"
Asta jumped off my back. "We can help! We can fight together!"
"I don't need help! I'm strong enough on my own!"
I put Noelle down. She was still dizzy from the running. Her hair was a mess. "That was... that was really fast," she said. "I think I left my stomach back in the hallway."
"Focus," I said. "We have company."
The Diamond mage laughed. His voice was rough like rocks grinding together. "More little mages? The Clover Kingdom sent children to fight me? This is an insult."
"You're the one hiding in smoke!" Luck yelled. "Come out and fight me face to face!"
"Why would I do that? My magic is smoke. I fight in smoke. If you can't handle it, that's your problem."
Asta raised his sword. "Let me at him! I'll cut through his smoke with my anti-magic!"
I put my hand on his shoulder. "Wait."
"Wait?! Why?! He's right there!"
"Luck needs to learn something."
"What does he need to learn?"
I watched Luck dodge another smoke attack. His lightning was getting slower. His breathing was getting harder. He was tired. He had been fighting alone for too long.
"He needs to learn that he can't do everything by himself," I said. "He always runs ahead. He always fights alone. He thinks asking for help is weakness. But it's not. It's strength."
"But he's going to lose!"
"Maybe. But losing is also a lesson."
Asta looked at me. His eyes were confused. But he trusted me. He lowered his sword.
We stood at the edge of the chamber and watched Luck fight. The smoke swirled. The lightning flashed. And somewhere in the darkness, the Diamond mage laughed.
The race wasn't over yet. But the real battle was just beginning.
(Author note: let's enter a permanent binding vow. In exchange for me uploading 1 chapter of this novel daily you have to donate your power stone daily at least 1. The one who breaks the vow would have one of his testicals or her boob tore off violently and painfully off of their body.)