"Since the battle is over. I would like to ask which captains are interested in letting," Announcer reads name list, "Asta from Hage."
Perched atop their chairs, The captains of the magic knight squads look down at a gray haired kid that is built like a brick.
Asta, a normal kid from Hage village with a defect from birth that stops him from harassing mana. In a world where magic rules almost everything, it wasn't easy for him to come here.
Yet as he looks up to the captains of the knight squads, he couldn't help but be nervous.
Asta: 'Atleast one! I will be happy if atleast one of them admits me.'
Meanwhile, Suggestions were being passed between the captains.
The nine captains, the first of them being William Vangeance of golden dawn refuses to raise a comment.
The second, Nozel silva of Silver eagles shows his disapproval.
The third, Captain of blue rose, Charlotte Roselei stays silent.
The fourth and fifth, captain of crimson lions and captain of green mantis, Fuegoleon Vermillion and jack the ripper show minor interest.
The sixth squad's captain, Dorothy is asleep and dreaming.
The captain of purple orca, Gueldre poizot calculates his money instead of noticing Asta.
The eighth squad, Aqua deer's captain, rill is just happy to be present.
And lastly Yami sukehiro of black bulls who has also fallen asleep since no candidate ever picks his squad.
Nozel: I say we don't let him in, he has no mana and reeks of dirt. I see no potential in him.
Silver haired with a frontal braided together by a metal star, Nozel suggests his views. The other captain that are awake think for a moment, finding his words partly true.
Jack: I will pass, he seems like a pushover.
Fuegoleon: Same here. He lacks pride.
William: I don't think he will blend with my squad.
Charlotte: Boys are not accepted in my squad so it's a no.
Gueldre: No profit. Not interested.
Rill: *unable to muster courage.* I will just stay quiet.
...
A minute later the announcer announces the results.
Announcer: it seems none of captain are interested. So I ask you to leave, Asta.
Asta: B-But I can-
Before he knew it, Asta found himself flying straight through the main door. He ragdolled mid-air as the impact of something threw him far away out of the competition grounds.
He bounced and rolled on the floor, eventually hitting the walls of alley and found himself just sitting their groaning in pain and despair.
Asta: Why? Just Why!? *punches the ground* I did everything I could but yet-...is there really no place for me as a magic knight?
Asta felt his resolve waiver, his confidence shaking like a building with fragile foundation risking to crumble any second.
However as he sat there, he remembered something. He remembered his promise with Yuno, the promise to be the Wizard king before Yuno as his rival.
Asta: not yet.. I am not done, yet. Cough, I can't let something like this, Stop me!
Wiping the blood from his lips, Asta stood up.
However a wall blocked Asta's path, a wall he would have to overcome himself. The wall of survival a.k.a. food, shelter and money.
Currently he was broke with nothing but a few bronze coins and a dusty grimoire to his name. But above them all, he was hungry.
Asta: So what if I didn't get selected. I am not some coward to tuck my tail and run back to Hage after all that big talk. But I should probably find a place to live if I want to survive.
The city was a no go, the streets were maintained by the guards to ensure no beggar was left to roam the streets at night and the inn were too pricy for Asta to live unless he wanna starve to death.
So Asta leaves back the gates he entered the city though, heading straight to the forest outside to make himself a makeshift tent to live in.
Mid-way he stops, looking back at the exam grounds where he could see people cheering and being taken in by squads one by one. Even the nobody he defeated was allowed to join unlike himself.
Asta: Just you wait Yuno. I will be there, standing beside you or even higher on the stairway to becoming the wizard king.
Entering the forest, Asta has already overcome the concession of being thrown out from the exam. He spends rest of night stumbling around, trying to find a decent spot where he wouldn't get bitten or attacked by wild animals in his sleep.
By the time it was midnight, Asta had lost most of his strength to hunger and was on his wit's end. He was hungry yet even now he found no spot to doze off on and not even a proper rock to sleep on.
However just when he considered sleeping on the dirt, he heard a noise.
Asta: Huh? I hear something but from where.
Following his hearing, Asta wandered deeper into the forest. Soon finding himself looking down upon a small pond with a light humming constantly echoing into his ears.
He sees a hut by the pond, half broken, half standing and looked highly unstable. Slowly Asta approaches it and ends up standing outside the door.
Asta: *knocks* Hello? Anybody home?
The door crumbles down into two rotten bits, leaving Asta too scared to go in. But a empty hut was a hut nonetheless, and it was still better than waking up in frostee grass.
Asta: I guess I am sleeping here tonight.
As soon as Asta steps in, the humming in his ears stops, replaced by a shrill and scared voice.
"Help. Me." It repeated nonstop, echoing straight into Asta's mind until he was forced to clutch his head in pain but still didn't stop.
Asta: stop, Arghh! I SAID STOP!!!
The roar silenced the voice, turning it from chattering of a crowd to near silent whispers.
Clenching onto his ears for his own sake, Asta looks around finding a sort of shrine in the hut with a bunch of rotten residue from something and a lot of spider webs.
Using his sword he cuts through them, tearing them apart one by one until he was standing right beside the shrine. He looks down, expecting a statue or something but there was something else instead.
A bracelet, made of purplish stone shaped into four wings that was held by a spiraling metal string.
Asta: What the crap is this? Is this cursed or something?
Of course the first action Asta did with his peanut brain was to grab the thing he thought was cursed and wore it.
Asta: *shrugs* I guess it's not. Well still I can sell it for a few days of rations.. Now to drift to the paradise of dreams and find some work tomorrow.
Exhausted and hungry, Asta lays down in a corner with his back against the wall. His hands were cold yet the embrace of sleep still took over.
Minutes passed, hours passed but just before sunrise by a stroke of luck, a piece of the roof fell, leaving a hole for Sunlight to pass through straight onto the bracelet.
"ልጕጌርሁዕጕዐ" A voice came from the bracelet in a uncomprehendable language but still failed to wake Asta up.
Simultaneously, Asta was currently drowing in his dreams, living through the same dream of sister Lily agreeing to his proposals that even he knew were just a dream.
Asta: hehe sister lily *drools* I told you would accept me... Sister lily?
Inside the dream, Asta saw sister lily suddenly vanish before his eyes, replaced by a pair of 30 something mechanical eyes from a inch away.
He leaps away, jolting out of sleep to find himself waking up in the same half broken hut from last night.
Asta: That was wierd. I never had that before. *notices the sunlight* Looks like it is morning already.
Yawning and still half asleep, Asta pushes himself back up to his feet and walks out of the hut. He slowly strolls to the pond, rinsing his face with water to freshen up his mind.
Asta: Just when I thought nothing worse could happen, a nightmare just had to ruin the best dream I had didn't it. I hate my luc- *notices his reflection* Let's see if I grew taller.
Asta observed the water calm down, looking at his reflection on the pond's surface. He was enthusiastic as usual, hungry but still filled with enough energy to work for days.
Still, his heart sunk in at the sight of his reflection; the one he was looking at looked like him but his eyes were different.
His green pupils had changed, leaving him disbelief as they now show a shade of amethyst like purple with a tint of the old green in the center like a gem with tainted by purple moss.
He stares for minutes, having a internal monologue with himself. This wasn't something he expected and neither did he had a idea of what it was.
Asta: Why are my eyes purple? Don't tell me eating that street food gave me a disease!! Just when I thought I could sell this bracelet to get rations, everything just had to go down. *notices the bracelet was missing from his hand* WHAT?!!
The disappearance of the bracelet was a shocker to Asta, a event he couldn't believe was possible unless it was stolen or just a illusion.
Asta: Where is it, where is it? Did I leave in the altar or the hut? *turns around*... Where is the hut?