Bang!
The gates of the Ball room smash open as Asta walks in through the main gates.
His appearance right now consisted of a sleeveless green formal medieval shirt which was covered by a semi reddish-gold two button vest.
On his head he wore the crown taken from augustus when he put him inside the prison cells of the Brimstone bastion, as well as a silk scarf that Lemiel forced him to wear for some bullshit etiquette after picking it from the former king's wardrobe.
And as one would expect, along with the pants and formal shoes he was forced to the world wear, he looked like a medieval noble... But there was a problem in the fact that nobody bothered about his appearance since most of his friends invited were punks similar to him or self-centered maniacs with the few exceptions being some of the captains and nobles he invited like Captain Nozel Or Klaus.
However the rest were more focused on the eating competition going on between three women that sat at the biggest table with a mountain of food filled and empty plates.
"Three more servings!"
"Just three?? What an amateur. Bring me ten more!"
"Amateur? I will Show You who is the amateur, TWENTY PLATES! "
The table looked like a warzone with Princia and Mereleona going head to head in a eating competition while charmy sat between the two, actually enjoying her food in silence while occasionally bringing out the sheep cook to season her food better.
Also, Yami and Magna were engaging in gambling right in front of everyone, their once slightly filled pockets were now filled with depression as their little dwarf foodie took her time eating instead of going competitive.
The scene dumbfounded Asta, but then somewhere to the side, he could see Vanessa half drunk on a table nearby alongside the other girls.
And similar things were happening everywhere Asta looked, from Finral going around asking every maid out to Luck just being Luck and urging everyone to fight him. The ball room was now overwhelmed with the rowdiness of the blackbulls.
The nobles were failing to comprehend the situation, the guards couldn't believe their eyes and just stared blankly. It seemed more like a festival then a Royal gathering.
It was only then did Asta realise the fact that the burdens he had been carrying over had greatly broke have his carefree personality into a mature one.
In easier terms, he had lost his childish humor and enthusiasm and became a bit more like Yami except the gambling habit.
And while he was looking around for a silent. Asta notices a silhouette in the corner of his eyes.
'Phew! 'Asta sighs in relief, 'Finally, a table I wont have to sit on awkwardly.'
With heavy footsteps that failed to match the loudness of the place, Asta strides forward, going to the table farthest away from him.
He looks at person sitting on it, watching from behind as the person munches on something in silence without any noise or talking.
Asta grabs the person's shoulder, greeting him as he moved towards the chair beside him.
"Sir Julius, it isn't like you to be sitting alone alon~eeeeee..." Asta's words stretched in shock
"Oh, Asta! would you be interested in these *offers a mana stone*Sir Lemiel thought me to make edible mana stones."
With a fork impaled through a blue rock in his hand, Julius offered Asta a edible mana stone that looked as transparent as Glass.
The silence hung strong between the two for a second. But eventually Asta grabbed the stone hesitatingly and slowly brought it in front of his mouth.
Gulp
He nervously gulped, ' is it even safe to eat in the first place? ' he thought but watching Julius gulp them down like candy gave Asta a little assurance.
However there was also a fear, he had almost killed Julius a few days ago and this could very well be a payback. But refusing Someone like Julius was impossible because that smile and expectant look Asta was receiving was pushing Asta to the edge.
Then with a deep breath, Asta chomped on the edible mana stone. His teeth breaking the glass like surface as if it was a sugar candy and crushed it to pieces. or maybe straight up powdered it.
Regardless as the small dust entered his mouth, Asta was overwhelmed by mismatch of taste that kept changing like a chameleon's skin.
"The taste changes based on your mana. Through I don't know what it tastes like for you." Julius said after watching the wierd face Asta was making.
But on the other side, Asta felt he just drank pineapple juice(from slashing attribute) with a berry pie( gravity attribute) alongside some sort of lemonade and a bunch of uncooked flour(acceleration and Nullification).
In simple words, he wanted to puke that thing back out of his mouth and could feel his Taste buds coming together to scream in agony as he felt like he was passing through to the afterlife.
Luckily, the Half devil trait kicked in and absorbed the effects into the devil heart directly, giving Asta a much needed normal taste of air as wiped the saliva from the corners of his mouth.
"How can someone even taste something like this!? It tastes like crap!" Asta yelled at Julius.
However Julius only smiled back, "It tasted fine to me through. Like aged wine."
For a moment, Asta wanted to curse everything around him in rage, but he controlled himself.
Determining to give himself a good feast later, He began looking around at everyone present.
About 20% of all magic knights were present, as well as several noble houses that weren't banished by Lemiel after Asta's crowning ceremony.
"Speaking of Lemiel, " Asta grabs Elsdocia from his waist and spoke to it, "How are things on your side?"
The sword vibrated for a second, followed by a mini hologram of Lemiel to pop out of it like a ghost. This was feature Asta found out after he left Brimstone for the capital, a small imbuement spell meant for communication between him the owner of the bastion and the administrator.
"It's wonderful, I never had full access to the library before but the knowledge here is massive!" Lemiel was enthusiastic, "There are records of magic from different continents, thousands of magic weaponry techniques as well hundreds of books related to occupations I have never heard of. But-"
"But?"
"But the biggest things is the history! The continent has over a dozen different races that are either gone or never existed in the our kingdoms, there are dwarves, elves, even demons that look like you! "
The wave of enthusiasm was strong, even slightly affecting Asta who wanted to visit the continents but sadly, the dark triad took more priority.
However that's when Asta realised a horrifying truth and slowly turned his head sides ways.
...
"This library... Where is it?"
The sparkling face of a energetic blond kid came into Asta's vision, a face he couldn't even bring himself to lie to because of his innocent it looked.
For a second Asta recoiled back from the brightness overwhelming him, his hands eventually going to his forehead as he accepts his blunder.
"I was take your there tomorrow, so please... stop looking at me like that. Asta replied.
And the confirmation was enough to stop Julius's pleading eyes. However that's when Elsdocia vibrates again, a voice coming out of it.
" Also I found a decent item in the storage that can help figure out the spies. It's a relation calculator of sorts. So I gave Jester the job to transport it."
"Hmmm. That might come in handy." Asta nods his head. He then notices the guards scurrying towards the main door, "It looks like the guests are here."
The mention of guests made Julius tap into his wizard king mode, his sparkling eyes reverting to their serious expression as his smile becomes a fake one.
The next instant the giant doors on the other side of the Hall opened, revealing two certain people that many people could recognize.
"The delegates of the Diamond kingdom has ARRIVED! " The guards announced to everyone, causing the focus to shift towards the gate .
Two people were standing at the gate, a man with whitish purple hair resembling a durian's skin alongside three gems embedded in his forehead and a women with pink hair, having a marking resembling a third eye on her forehead.
Mars and Fana, the two of them have arrived just as Asta expected. He knew if anybody was going to be send as a delegate, it will the two who had the best relation with him.
However before the gates could fully close behind them, the guards opened the gates once more as another announcement echoes.
"The Delegates of Heart kingdom has ARRIVED! "
As one would expect, it was none other than Gaja leading the delegate of heart kingdom and behind him were two other spirit guardians representing their kingdom.
However the moment they stepped foot inside, They all were engulfed with extreme mana as two figures walked and passed them from the side.
"So these are Heart kingdom's Zero ranks. They are skilled but not enough to match us." Jester mocks as he arrives with his hand supporting his neck from backwards.
"Be more respectful. They are our allies." Conrad releases a wave of bloodlust that shuts Jester up.
The carefree Jester immediately fixes his stance, his smile resurfacing as he strode through the hall to the table Asta was sitting on.
The two of them locked eyes, talking through their gestures for a moment as Jester slides a pair of goggles to Asta and left for Conrad's side once more.
Meanwhile Asta takes the goggles, placing and showing them to Julius.
The arrival also didn't end there as one by one, people invited from every place Asta has been to began arriving , a grand was being held conference under the cover of Asta's official rise to throne.
A meeting place that was about to cause trouble to spade kingdom and also on itself.
_________
Everyone, I just finished the game i was busy with, so chapters should come quite faster from now on.