Noelle's Three-Stage Valkyrie Form!

"Mocked? Hahahaha—"

Everyone around her immediately burst into laughter, but their smiles were genuinely kind. Yami, who had been standing some distance away, walked over and looked at Finral reproachfully.

"I'm telling you, I was already done using the bathroom. Why didn't you teleport me?"

Finral's expression instantly collapsed.

"Captain, don't go too far. I'm from a noble family too. If you keep bullying me like this, I'll..."

Yami's expression hardened as he pointed his katana forward.

"You'll what?"

Finral was instantly speechless. Then he said dejectedly,

"I-I'll cry for you to see."

Yami immediately smacked Finral on the head.

"Can't you show some backbone? Fight me! Come on, fight me!"

Finral said,

"Fight you? Wouldn't that be asking to die?"

After saying that, he immediately fell silent.

Seeing this, Noelle did not know whether to laugh or cry. Yet a trace of warmth rose in her heart.

With so many people here, not one of them had mocked her.

Then Yami said those words again.

"If you people didn't have some problems, my Black Bulls wouldn't even want you.

This place is a shelter for problem men and women."

Hearing Yami's words, Noelle wept with joy.

The next moment, Carl draped the Black Bulls cloak from the ground back over Noelle's shoulders.

[ Ding! Congratulations, Host, you have activated Mission 7: Noelle's Three-Stage Valkyrie Form!

Defense, attack, ultimate transformation. Help Noelle complete her transformation to receive the reward: Loyal Water Spirit. ]

Carl's gaze immediately fell upon Noelle.

His eyes were even somewhat heated.

Good lord, this mission looked incredibly tempting too. He just had not figured out how to get started yet.

Although they had practically forgotten about Noelle just now, saving one person was still better than saving none.

Everyone understood the adult world.

No one mentioned why they had come out earlier.

Noelle did not mention why she had come out earlier either, nor why she had walked a short distance away but had not left.

Perhaps between people, all they needed to know was what they wanted to know.

One by one, everyone smiled.

However, Yami looked at them and said,

"Let's go home.

We're heading back. We'll drink to celebrate."

Finral stubbornly raised his head again and asked,

"But Captain, didn't we just drink last night?

Besides, if I remember correctly, you went out and got completely wasted during the day yesterday too. If I hadn't dragged you back, you would've been left outside."

Yami immediately said with righteous conviction,

"What are you talking about? Drinking is a major matter in life. We got three new members—shouldn't we have a couple of drinks to celebrate?"

Hearing this, Finral felt it was somewhat inappropriate, but he could not find any reason to refuse.

He could only bite the bullet and follow them inside to drink.

At the table, Yami looked at everyone with an extremely solemn expression.

That gaze made everyone's scalps tingle.

Magna, with his pompadour, finally could not bear that oppressive atmosphere any longer and said to Yami,

"Captain, are you drinking or not? If you're not, let's forget it. This is pretty scary."

Magna's words immediately drew unanimous nods from everyone present.

Yet Yami exhaled a ring of smoke and said,

"After what happened this time, I've come to deeply understand just how weak you all are.

You're unbelievably weak."

"Although everyone calls the Black Bulls a gathering place for scumbags, what are scumbags?

Scumbags are the kind of people who make others fear them wherever they go.

Otherwise, what the hell kind of scumbag are you?"

"You're weak, yet you love fooling around, and you still get mocked by others. That doesn't make you scumbags. It makes you trash."

Hearing Yami's utterly blunt words, Magna wanted to retort.

But under Yami's gaze, he immediately turned back into a quail.

Yami said coldly to everyone,

"Before we drink today, I have something to announce.

Next, we'll be giving you weaklings who love fooling around some special training."

Magna immediately burst into laughter and looked toward Carl and Asta.

Only for Yami to smack him directly on the forehead with his sword sheath.

"What are you laughing at? You're one of the weaklings too."

"No, Captain, I've been in the knights for two years already. I'm a veteran!"

Yami immediately snorted.

"You've been here two years and you're still a weakling. You've got the nerve to say that?"

Magna's expression stiffened at once, and he promptly became rather withdrawn.

Yami continued,

"Now, I'll assign the tasks."

"Magna, you and Asta will handle the wild boar problem in the village."

Just as Magna was about to open his mouth, Yami said from beside him,

"Don't forget what you lost when you went out with me before."

At that, Magna immediately shut his mouth. He absolutely could not let anyone know that he had gambled away his underwear.

Asta, meanwhile, looked utterly excited.

Seeing this, Yami did not know what to say. He could only continue making arrangements.

"Finral, go with them. If anything goes wrong, use your Spatial Magic to call me over."

Finral immediately nodded.

Luck, the battle maniac, looked utterly dejected when he saw that there was nothing for him.

But Yami ignored him and turned to Noelle.

"Your Water Magic is quite powerful. Your total magical power is strong enough. Once you can control your magic, you'll definitely become a core member of the Black Bulls."

Hearing Yami's praise, Noelle's face rarely flushed.

Then Yami looked at Vanessa beside her and said,

"Although you're an old member of the squad, given how your Red Thread Magic has performed these past two days, I think you should team up with Noelle. The two of you will improve your magical power control together."

"Let me think. Where would suit you two..."

Yami flipped through the stack of intelligence as thick as a brick, then heavily tapped one spot.

It was a lake glowing with intertwined red and blue light.

"You two will handle the problem here. Apparently, a lake containing both ice- and fire-element magical power suddenly appeared here, and it has already greatly affected the people nearby."

"A lake with such immense magical power appearing near the kingdom must have an important cause. And the ice and fire attributes will be perfect for training both of your magical power control."

"You two will handle this matter."

Vanessa and Noelle exchanged a glance.

Noelle was still somewhat embarrassed and haughty.

After all, what Vanessa and Carl had done earlier had truly shattered her worldview.

She had never seen anything so intense in her life. But she also knew her own limits, so she could only nod.

Vanessa fell silent for a moment, then nodded in agreement as well.

Yami continued,

"Of course, I'm not at ease sending just the two of you.

After all, one weakling plus someone who might lose control at any time is riskier than two weaklings."

"So someone needs to keep an eye on you."

Charmy, her mouth stuffed full of food, said indistinctly,

"Captain, I still need to cook for everyone."

Yami nodded.

Charmy added,

"The vice-captain and the others have been out and haven't returned yet. I don't think there's anyone suitable."

Luck looked excited. Pick me, pick me!

But Yami turned toward Carl and revealed a meaningful smile.

"I do have someone suitable."

"Carl.

As the captain of Vanessa and Noelle's team, you'll supervise and protect them. What do you think?"

Before Carl could even swallow his mouthful of alcohol, his eyes widened into circles.

So this was where the system mission had led him.

But if he handled two missions at once, would the difficulty skyrocket?

Carl tried looking at Yami. "Captain, can I choose not to go?"