Carl: Can I Choose Both?

Sol's voice immediately drew the attention of the other captains.

Charlotte looked a little embarrassed, but she still forced herself to remain calm.

"It's nothing. My magic power was just churning a little earlier."

Sol nodded, then leaned closer to Charlotte and whispered:

"This Carl really has something. He actually managed to withstand one of Yami's slashes."

Charlotte deeply agreed.

Although she knew she might have still underestimated Carl's true strength, the combat power he had displayed was already nothing short of a complete transformation.

After all, she had been there when Carl awakened his grimoire.

In other words, in just a few days, Carl's strength had grown to an unimaginable level.

Charlotte looked at Carl, her gaze carrying a trace of embarrassment, yet she made some kind of decision at that moment.

William Vangeance watched Yami Sukehiro return to the top of the high wall and glanced at him.

Yami still looked utterly indifferent, a cigarette dangling from his mouth and an expression that said, "Do whatever you want."

William Vangeance was instantly speechless.

When it came to Yami, nearly everyone present felt the same way.

He was exactly the kind of guy who said, "Yeah, I'm this arrogant. You hate me, but you can't do anything about it."

William Vangeance fell silent for a moment before speaking in a grand voice:

"Now that everyone's sparring and demonstrations have concluded, captains, begin choosing the candidates you favor."

"Choose fresh blood to join the nine knight squads and protect the entire Clover Kingdom Capital."

"This is your supreme honor."

As his words fell, William Vangeance once again cast World Tree Magic.

The phantom of the World Tree turned into streams of green light that slowly descended from the sky.

A faint aura of life enveloped the entire area.

The candidates, who had exhausted tremendous amounts of magic power during battle, immediately felt their magic power awaken and rapidly recover.

Everyone was so stunned by William Vangeance's large-scale healing magic that they could not speak.

The captains of the knight squads finally began their official selections.

There were no major surprises in the earlier selections.

When it was Yuno's turn, nearly every knight squad expressed its willingness to accept him.

The only exception was the Blue Rose Knights.

The reason was simple:

The Blue Rose Knights were composed almost entirely of female members. Naturally, they had their reasons for not accepting Yuno.

After a brief hesitation, Yuno ultimately chose the Golden Dawn, William Vangeance's knight squad.

It truly suited his temperament.

As for Asta, things became rather amusing.

Although the combat power he had shown earlier was exceptionally impressive, faced with someone who had "absolutely no magic power," none of the captains took the initiative to speak.

Asta immediately grew anxious.

"Hey! Can't you see how strong I am?"

"Is nobody really going to choose me?!"

Sekke, standing nearby, could not help laughing.

"Listen, white-haired kid, so what if you can fight?"

"This is the Magic Knights. You can't even use magic, so who would choose you?"

The moment Sekke finished speaking, Yami Sukehiro, standing above, directly drew his katana and pointed it at Asta.

"You, white-haired kid."

"You're pretty damn suited to my taste. Want to join my Black Bulls?"

Asta's eyes instantly lit up.

The way he looked at Yami Sukehiro immediately became far more favorable.

"You scruffy-bearded old man!"

"I thought you were a great guy when we drank together yesterday. Sure enough, you didn't disappoint me!"

"Thank you for recognizing my potential, Captain!"

Asta rarely managed to say a complete sentence of thanks.

However, when it came to Carl, the final candidate, everyone's attention focused on him.

For a moment, not a single captain spoke again.

Even Asta beside him could not help freezing.

"Something's not right."

"Carl, you're the strongest person here. Even if they all teamed up, they might not be able to beat you."

"Why isn't anyone choosing you?"

"This knight squad selection isn't rigged, is it?"

Asta did not care what the captains were thinking. He directly broke the silence and asked Yami Sukehiro:

"Um... Captain Yami, aren't you choosing Carl?"

Yami Sukehiro grinned, crushed his cigarette butt beneath his foot, and looked at Carl.

"Kid, I think highly of you too."

"Compared to you, Asta is indeed still a bit lacking."

"If you come, then Asta is basically a buy-one-get-one deal."

The instant those words came out, Asta's expression completely froze.

Seriously, could he not be a little less blunt?

That was pretty hurtful.

For a moment, everyone stood there dumbfounded.

Then, at that moment, a figure unusually stepped forward.

The captain of the Blue Rose Knights—Charlotte Roselei.

Under Sol Marron's utterly shocked gaze, Charlotte lifted her head and looked intensely at Carl.

Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and her voice carried a faint tremor that was almost impossible to notice:

"Carl..."

"Would you be willing to join the Blue Rose Knights?"

The moment she said that, the other eight captains almost simultaneously turned their gazes toward Charlotte.

Charlotte's body was visibly stiff, and even Sol Marron was completely stunned.

"No, Sister..."

"This is the Blue Rose Knights. Since when have we recruited men?"

"Even though Carl..."

Before Sol Marron could finish, Charlotte raised a hand to interrupt her.

"Enough."

"I naturally have my own reasons."

She looked at Carl again, and her voice regained some of its calmness:

"If you're willing to join the Blue Rose Knights, I believe your strength will grow rapidly."

"Our Blue Rose Knights are not the delicate, weak women you imagine. We have plenty of strength and methods."

"Letting them temper your will and combat ability, even serving as punching bags, can rapidly improve your strength."

The moment those words came out, everyone around them showed extremely strange expressions.

They might have believed it a little if anyone else had said it.

But coming from Charlotte's mouth, nobody believed a word of it.

Everyone's gazes became subtle as they looked back and forth between Charlotte and Carl.

Quite a few people already wore the standard expression of spectators enjoying drama.

After all, Charlotte had always been proud and cold like a queen. Few had ever seen her speak to a man like this.

Some people even vaguely knew that she seemed to have some unclear entanglement with Yami Sukehiro.

William Vangeance looked at the two of them, an amused smile appearing at the corner of his lips.

In the entire venue, only Yuno's expression remained calm.

He had long seen that there was definitely something unusual between Carl and Charlotte.

They had only shared a drink, yet their eyes had practically been dripping with affection.

As for Yami Sukehiro, he once again looked pityingly at a certain person lying in a tavern.

Someone with emotional intelligence at that level did not deserve to compete with Carl over a woman. Carl would most likely become the first male member of the Blue Rose Knights.

Yami Sukehiro noticed Yuno's gaze, froze for a moment, and scratched his head in confusion.

"What the hell is wrong with that crazy woman Charlotte?"

"She can invite Carl even in a squad full of women?"

He wanted to see exactly what Carl would choose.

After the two captains spoke in succession, the remaining captains almost simultaneously chose to keep quiet, looking like they were focused on watching the show.

Just as everyone held their breath:

Carl stepped forward.

Under Charlotte's gaze, so tense that she was nearly holding her breath, Carl slowly opened his mouth and asked a shocking question:

"Say..."

"Can I join both at the same time?"

"You two are making this really hard to choose."