Hage Village- 5 years later
A tall fifteen-year-old boy sat on the grass outside the church, his lean but muscular frame relaxed as he leaned back against an old oak tree. Kenji had grown considerably over the past few years—his shoulders had broadened, his arms and chest had filled out from years of training, and he now stood nearly six feet tall. His black hair caught the afternoon sunlight, and his dark eyes held a maturity that belied his age. The younger children of the church were scattered around him on the grass, some playing with toys, others simply enjoying his presence.
Looking to his right, Kenji spotted Yuno practicing his wind magic, using precise wind blades to chop firewood.
"Yuno," Kenji called out.
The golden-eyed boy paused and looked over at him
"Try to make your wind blades as thin as possible," Kenji said with a slight smirk. "Those blades couldn't even cut Asta, let alone a magic knight."
From nearby, where Asta had been doing push-ups, came the sound of a body hitting the ground. "Hey Kenji, what was that forrrrr?!" Asta wailed, face-planting into the grass with tears streaming down his face.
The children around Kenji burst into laughter at Asta's dramatic reaction, while Yuno's eyes flashed with competitive fire as he focused intently on Kenji's words.
Nash, who was sitting next to Recca helping fold laundry, looked up with confusion. "What do you mean, big brother? How could Yuno not cut him? Asta doesn't even have magic."
This caused Asta to catch another stray hit to his pride. He fell to all fours with a dark cloud practically hovering over his head, muttering, "I'm your big brother too, you know..."
Kenji's expression grew serious as he looked at Nash. "Just because he doesn't have mana doesn't mean you should look down on him. I've told you already—Asta will become strong in his own way." More like stupidly broken, he thought to himself.
Nash looked away with a pout, causing Kenji to smile. "Stop trying to act all cool and edgy like Yuno, unless you want to become an emo tsundere like him."
Asta immediately started laughing loudly while Yuno looked over with a blank expression, though a small tick mark appeared on his forehead.
A small girl with black hair tugged at Kenji's sleeve. "Big brother, what's a tsun-dray?" she asked, mispronouncing the word.
With a completely straight face, Kenji replied, "It's Yuno."
She nodded seriously, accepting this explanation without question.
A small blonde boy peeked out from behind her. "What's an emo?"
Kenji turned to him with the same deadpan expression. "What Yuno pretends to be."
The boy nodded as well, while more tick marks appeared on Yuno's increasingly twitching forehead.
To distract them from asking more questions before he truly angered Yuno, Kenji grabbed some pieces of grass and threw them into the air.
Snap.
The grass transformed into colorful paper butterflies that fluttered around the children, who giggled and chased after them with delight.
Getting some peace, Kenji leaned back and raised his fist to check his wrist. The green number "5023" glowed softly, visible only to him, causing him to smile with satisfaction.
Over the past five years, he had made tremendous progress. After saving those children, he had begun systematically clearing out bandits from the area, acting as an unofficial guardian for the villagers of Hage. He started hunting mana beasts with the village hunting parties, eventually going solo and venturing to other nearby villages to do the same, using these missions as both training and opportunities to gain trust points.
The villagers had taken notice of his actions, gradually seeing him as their residential magic knight and trusting that he could keep them safe. With his growing popularity in Hage and the surrounding villages, his trust value had continued to increase steadily. He had become known as the hope of the future for Hage Village.
"Kenji," Father Orsi's voice called out as he approached with a warm smile. "It's time."
Kenji looked up at him. "Today's the day, huh?"
He had turned fifteen this year, and it was officially time to receive his grimoire.
Standing up and stretching his tall frame, Kenji said, "Well, let's get going then, Father," and walked over to grab his magic broom.
"Awww, I'm so jealous you're getting your grimoire already!" Asta came running over, shouting at the top of his lungs. "Still, I won't let you pull further ahead of me! I gotta train extra hard now so I can become Wizard King! and then ill marry sister Lily!" He turned and ran toward the demon skull in the distance. "Good luck, Kenji!"
Kenji smiled, then looked over at Yuno, who muttered, "Idiot."
"Hey, if anything happens, it's up to you," Kenji called out to Yuno.
Yuno nodded seriously. "Good luck, brother Kenji. Don't think this means you'll be stronger though."
Kenji laughed. "How many times have you won our little spars again?"
Yuno looked away as if he hadn't heard and walked in the opposite direction from where Asta had gone to train.
The younger children gathered around, calling out "Good luck, big bro!" while Sister Lily smiled at him warmly.
"Stay safe and good luck," she said.
Kenji smiled back at them. "I'll see you guys later."
He hopped onto his broom alongside Father Orsi and dramatically snapped his fingers, causing brilliant fireworks to erupt and block everyone's view. When the colorful display faded, both he and Father Orsi had vanished.
As they flew toward their destination, Father Orsi secretly thought to himself, I bet the kids will think I'm so cool now after seeing me disappear like that with Kenji.
______
Scene change- grimoire tower
The Grimoire Tower loomed before them, a massive structure of ancient stone that seemed to stretch endlessly into the sky. Countless windows dotted its surface, each one glowing with a soft, mystical light. The tower's base was wider than several buildings combined, and intricate magical symbols were carved into every visible surface. At its peak, barely visible from the ground, a brilliant light pulsed like a heartbeat.
Walking toward the front entrance, Kenji thought, This is it, huh. I wonder if any stereotypes will happen while I'm in there—like young masters causing problems, or someone trying to attack me like when Yuno and Asta get their grimoires.The thought actually excited him.
When he walked inside, he saw dozens of people around his age gathered in the vast interior space, the tower stretching up so high that the top was lost in shadows. Countless grimoires lined the walls on floating shelves that defied gravity.
As he looked around, people began to notice him, muttering, "Hey, that's him," while parents smiled and waved in greeting, which Kenji returned with a friendly smile.
He glanced around for any nobles but saw none. Well, I guess it makes sense nobles wouldn't get their grimoires this far out in the country. Wonder why they were here in the anime. He paused. Probably plot convenience.
An elderly man with long white hair and an equally long white beard stepped forward and cleared his throat.
"Ahem. Welcome, young men and women. On this day, you will all begin a new journey and walk your own path. I wish you all faith, hope, and love." His voice carried clearly through the massive space. "For those who don't know, I am the master of this grimoire tower. Now, never once has anyone from this region distinguished themselves by becoming a magic knight and Wizard King. I pray that one among you will have what it takes to become the most powerful mage in the land."
His expression shifted to one of intense enthusiasm. "Seriously, I mean it!"
Clearing his throat again, he composed himself. "Ahem. And now, it is time to accept your grimoires."
With the ending of his speech, countless books of various colors and sizes began flying off the shelves toward everyone around them. The crowd erupted in excited shouts as people reached up for their grimoires.
Kenji watched the scene with amazement, but suddenly a nervous thought struck him. Wait, I really hope that ROB doesn't make anything excessive happen here like last time.
His expression darkened. What am I thinking? Of course he will.
As the last people were receiving their grimoires, a loud SNAP resonated throughout the tower. A brilliant white book appeared above the crowd, and suddenly reality itself began to change around them. People became two-dimensional, ] some getting stuck in walls, while others appeared as living sketches. Bright colors and animated shapes filled the air, completely transforming the landscape of the tower into something from a surreal dream.
Seeing this chaos unfold, Kenji developed dark lines on his face as he muttered, "Of course." He sighed to himself. "Well, might as well embrace it."
Smiling, he reached up toward the floating white book. When it landed in his hands, he made it float beside him, put one hand casually in his pocket, struck a dramatic pose, and loudly snapped his fingers.
SNAP.
The world around everyone abruptly returned to normal. When the chaos settled and people regained their bearings, they looked toward the source of the snapping sound and their jaws dropped at what they saw.
Standing before them was a tall fifteen-year-old boy with stark white hair and bright whitish-blue eyes hidden behind square black-framed glasses. He wore a completely white suit with white shoes, a black undershirt, and a bright silver X-shaped tie clip. The boy stood with one leg crossed over the other, the tip of his right foot pointing down while his left leg remained firmly planted. One hand rested casually in his pocket while the other was extended in a snapping position.
Floating beside him was a brilliant white grimoire that seemed to glow with its own inner light. Four leaves adorned its cover with a large X running through the clover symbol.
With a slight smirk, he spoke in a low voice that somehow carried clearly to everyone in the building: "So this is where the fun begins" and his smile grew wider.
Thinking he should try to make a cool exit, and feeling the limits he previously had on his powers before breaking, he got excited to test the powers out and turned towards a wall at the back of the room.
"Well then, I suppose it's time we depart. What do you say, Father?"
With another snap of his fingers, both the boy and Father Orsi vanished from the room, leaving behind a crowd still reeling from what they'd witnessed.
With Kenji gone, everyone began to come out of their shock.
"Was that a four-leaf grimoire?!"
"What the hell just happened?!"
"That was so scary! What was going on with the room just now?"
"Forget that—I almost had a heart attack! I was stuck in a wall!"
"At least you still looked human! My wife looked like a kid's drawing!"
In the corner, the grimoire tower master stood with an astonished expression, thinking to himself, So a legendary four-leaf clover grimoire has appeared... and in my tower, no less. Just who was that boy? I must contact Julius immediately and inform him of this. This is unprecedented.
With that thought, he quickly announced the end of the ceremony before hurrying off to his office to use a communication crystal to contact the Wizard King at the royal capital.
And unbeknownst to him, a green light shot out of him in the direction of the church.