Finral and Vanessa quickly returned through the portal!
However, they didn't bring back any good news, only knowing that the pocket watch was a good item.
They could only narrow down the enemy's identity to royalty or nobles.
But no matter what, this matter was basically over.
Yami also interrupted their conversation, not wanting everyone to dwell on it too much:
"Compared to that, I have good news for you!"
"Because of your active performance and Lorne's previous special mission, you've earned the Magic Emperor's recognition."
"Magic Emperor?!" Asta exclaimed in surprise the moment he heard this.
As Yami spoke, he took out two golden stars from his pocket.
"He even awarded two stars!"
Magna was very happy about this, and even Asta, who didn't know what the stars represented, was excited.
Noelle also proudly puffed out her chest; as expected of royalty, she earned honor for the team on her first mission.
Lorne looked at the excited Asta and suddenly wanted to see Asta's reaction when he learned that the Black Bulls were actually in debt for stars.
And how he would react to the huge difference in stars between his squad and the squad of his old rival, Yuno.
"By the way, what are those stars for?"
Asta, suddenly coming back to his senses, began to ask about the stars' purpose.
"Oh my, you don't know the meaning of stars yet?"
Vanessa said with a light laugh:
"Stars are awards granted by the Magic Emperor to those who perform actively."
She tilted her head slightly, seemingly pondering a more fitting analogy:
"Hmm... simply put, it's a kind of... medal of honor!"
"Exactly, exactly," Finral added, "The Magic Knight Squads are all competing for the number of stars! First place is the Magic Knight Squad's glory!"
"First place!"
Asta's eyes blazed with fire; he seemed to already see his glorious future of surpassing Yuno and becoming the Magic Emperor!
At this moment, Vanessa also added to the topic,
"By the way, the current first place is the Golden Dawn, with 70 stars."
"So how many stars do we have now?" he asked expectantly.
"We can't lose to the Golden Dawn!"
Lorne's eyes lit up when he heard this; the show was about to begin, should he add another blow?
Yami didn't answer, just slowly walked to the wall, smoking his cigarette.
On the wall hung a huge wooden board with rows of black star patterns.
Yami reached out his hand, and the two golden stars floated up, making the last two black star patterns on the board disappear.
"Alright, with these two, it's negative 29 stars."
He clapped his hands, looking completely natural.
The air seemed to freeze at this moment.
Asta's excited smile froze, and Noelle's dignified expression instantly crumbled.
"Eh... Eh eh eh eh eh—?!"
Asta let out a scream.
"Negative... negative?! Why is it a negative number?!"
Noelle was also dumbfounded, stammering:
"Our... our Magic Knight Squad's achievements are... are negative?"
"Well, after all, we've caused much more destruction than missions completed."
Vanessa took a sip of wine indifferently.
"By the way,"
Yami exhaled a smoke ring and added another blow, slowly,
"That makes us 99 stars behind the Golden Dawn!"
99 stars.
Golden Dawn.
The Magic Knight Squad Yuno was in.
Asta's mind raced.
The Golden Dawn has 70 stars... they have negative 29 stars... that's a difference of 99 stars!
99 stars!
"Ah—"
Asta turned completely gray, as if his soul had been drained, and collapsed to the ground.
"How could this be... the gap is actually this big..."
"Is that guy Yuno... already so far away...?"
He felt his dream of becoming the Magic Emperor was cruelly shattered at this moment.
Lorne watched this scene from the side, a subtle curve forming at the corner of his mouth.
He walked over to Asta, gently patted his shoulder, and spoke in a solemn tone.
"Don't be discouraged, Asta."
"These two stars this time are all thanks to me. That is to say, I alone earned two stars for the Magic Knight Squad!"
"You still need to work much harder."
Asta: "..."
Pfft!
Another piercing arrow to the heart.
Asta completely collapsed to the ground, muttering:
"I still wanted to catch up to him and then overtake him... the road ahead is truly long... Yuno..."
Watching these guys who were utterly defeated by the stars, Yami impatiently dug at his ear.
"So noisy."
He pulled out a thick pile of cloth bags from his pocket and casually threw them on the table.
"And this is your salary for this month, 200,000 Yul each, come and get it yourselves."
"200,000?!"
Asta, who was immersed in despair a second ago, instantly revived when he heard this number!
Money symbols appeared in his eyes; he sprang up with a carp jump, rushed to the table, picked up his cloth bag, and trembled with excitement.
"Two... 200,000 Yul! So much money! I've never seen so much money!"
For a poor boy who grew up in a church in a remote village, this amount of money was undoubtedly an astronomical figure.
Everyone else also smiled, the gloom brought by the stars instantly dispelled by the sunshine of money.
Indeed, nothing makes people happier than getting paid.
Lorne also picked up his share.
200,000 Yul, huh... he pondered.
His expenses in this world weren't large; he spent most of his time at the base, with food and lodging provided.
He could send a portion of this money back to the church in Hage Village.
Although he only stayed there for a short time, he still remembered the kindness of the priest and their recommendation.
"This is great! With so much money, I can buy Sister Lili lots and lots of gifts!"
Asta held up the envelope and announced loudly again.
"When I become the Magic Emperor, I'll go back and marry her!"
"..."
Lorne's expression instantly became a bit subtle.
He looked at Asta, who was lost in happy fantasies, and silently complained internally.
Brother, wake up, clergy members can't get married!
"Alright, tomorrow is a day off." Yami waved his hand, "Don't stay at the base and be an eyesore."
"Oh yeah! Holiday!"
"To the Royal Capital! Let's go shopping in the Royal Capital!"
Vanessa suggested to Asta and Noelle,
"Asta! I'll take you to experience the prosperity of the Royal Capital!"
"Yay! Shopping! Shopping!"
"Lorne, are you going?" Finral looked at the quiet Lorne.
Lorne thought for a moment and nodded.
"Perfect, I'll hitch a ride on your Space-Time Magic; I need to go to the Royal Capital's library."
He needed to look up some information about ancient magic, magic tools, and Space-Time Magic.
Although as a transmigrator, he knew a lot of the plot, his fundamental knowledge of this world was still a blank slate.
The next morning, Lorne and the other three found Finral, their human transportation.
A distorted spatial gate appeared before everyone.
Asta and Noelle, led by Vanessa, walked through.
Lorne followed closely behind.
With a flash of light, the bustling and lively scene of the castle town came into view.
"Wow—! This place is truly amazing!"
Asta was like a country bumpkin entering the city, finding everything novel.
After all, Asta had only briefly passed through here during the Magic Knight Squad entrance exam and hadn't really explored it.
And Noelle, as royalty, rarely came to the commoner areas.
"It's so lively!"
Noelle also rarely saw such a lively scene, but she still maintained her royal composure.
"Alright, we're going shopping over there. Lorne, you'll be fine going to the library by yourself, right?" Vanessa asked.
"Mm."
Lorne nodded and parted ways with the others.
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