Dungeon Battle

"Carl, have a drink to wet your throat."

"Carl, these are fruits I washed for you."

Vanessa and Noelle sat on either side of Carl, taking turns providing him with exceptionally attentive service.

Having changed back into her usual clothes, Carl looked at the astonished gazes around her and said to the two of them somewhat helplessly:

"Can you two not go this overboard?"

"If you keep this up, I'll become public enemy number one."

Noelle immediately clicked her tongue and pouted. "Who I choose to curry favor with is my business."

"Anyone who dares question it can have a taste of my Water Cannon Magic first!"

Vanessa smiled faintly and said to Carl:

"Whenever you feel like drinking, come to your big sister's room. We'll drink until we drop."

Finral, standing nearby, was practically about to howl in despair.

"Why?!"

"Carl only went out once, and Noelle and Vanessa have practically become fangirls."

"No, fangirls aren't enough to describe it. Isn't this already obsession?"

"Could Carl... possibly have some kind of succubus aura?"

Magna immediately burst into tears, his eyes streaming with them.

"Carl!"

"Senior!!"

"I still haven't even had a girlfriend!"

"If you have any secret techniques for picking up girls, you absolutely have to teach me a move or two!"

As Magna spoke, he bent himself nearly one hundred and eighty degrees in a deep bow!

Seeing the reactions of everyone around him, Asta immediately clicked his tongue in disdain.

"Can you people show a little more ambition?"

"Isn't it just being popular with women?"

"Women only slow down my sword swings!"

The moment he finished speaking, Asta pointed directly at Carl.

Then he abruptly clasped his fists and bowed his head.

"Carl! Please, be my master!"

"Teach me that punch from earlier, the move that sent out that white shockwave!"

"It was way too cool!"

"If you teach me, I'll give you half my salary for this month. How about it?"

"It's not that I'm reluctant to give you the other half. I mainly need to send it back to the church for Sister Lily and the others."

At that, Asta suddenly froze.

He raised his head, and his eyes instantly reddened.

"No...

"The sister seems to have feelings for you too! Aahhh!"

"Carl! You're my lifelong enemy!"

"Come on, let's hurt each other! I'm going to fight you to the death!"

Asta even pulled his Demon-Dweller Sword straight out from beside him.

Seeing how lively the atmosphere was, a glimmer flashed through Yami's eyes as he smoked.

"This guy really does have the air of a chosen one."

"Was this truly the unrivaled luck and fortune brought by the Four-leaf Clover?"

Yami gave Carl a deep look, then took out the item that had just been teleported over through a magic array.

What landed in his hand was a golden star.

Everyone's eyes immediately lit up.

Yami played with the golden star and laughed.

"This time, both the Black Bulls and the Blue Rose Knights received commendations from the Wizard King."

"The problem Asta and the others resolved earned the Wizard King's praise."

"And this golden star represents merit."

"The number of golden stars affects both the overall ranking of the knight squad and your personal salaries."

Asta immediately broke into a smile.

"Haha!

Magna, we really are unbeatable!"

Magna smiled as well.

But Yami continued pouring a whole pouch of golden stars from his pocket.

There were no fewer than ten of them.

Asta was stunned on the spot.

"Captain, didn't you say the merits represented by these golden stars were extremely hard to come by?"

"Then where did so many of these stars come from?"

Yami looked at Asta as though he were an idiot.

Then he gave Asta a glance.

"Didn't I just say?"

"These are rewards from the Wizard King for Carl and all of you."

"Your merit in saving the villagers cannot be erased."

"But in terms of overall danger, the scale of the magic crisis, and the range of impact..."

"The problem Carl and the others resolved was far more dangerous. After all, even Charlotte, captain of the Blue Rose Knights, was involved."

Yami looked at Carl.

"Carl, you received a reward of ten stars from the Wizard King."

Asta's jaw nearly dropped to the floor.

"Wait... is the gap between people really this huge?"

"Didn't we just start warming up and tempering ourselves?"

"How did it turn into a high-difficulty dungeon the moment it got to Carl?"

Asta felt somewhat discouraged, but he quickly recovered.

He immediately looked at Yami and asked excitedly:

"Captain, didn't you say earlier that you had another new mission for us?"

"Is it a really, really big challenge?"

Asta gestured with both hands as if measuring the scale of the mission.

Yami nodded.

"A Dungeon Ruins suddenly appeared thousands of miles away."

"The magical radiance blooming from that dungeon is suspected to be connected to the Elves, and its aura is extremely dangerous."

"So this time, we'll be sending a large number of people."

The moment Carl heard "Dungeon Ruins," her eyes immediately lit up.

"Something related to the Elves again? That's somewhat interesting."

[Ding! Congratulations, host, for activating short-term mission 8: Dungeon Battle

Successfully complete the underground ruins exploration and ensure the return of personnel from the nine major knight squads. Reward: Fire-Attribute Attack Immunity + 4,000 points of golden vitality]

At the same time, a faint glimmer flickered across her arm.

Carl clearly sensed the phantom of the Imperial Arms Ice and Fire Song trembling.

Yami, however, casually pointed at the hollow stars on the wall that had been painted black and said:

"This time, we received quite a generous reward. It's about time for you to chase down the other knight squads and raise the reputation of our Black Bulls."

Asta was extremely excited.

"Captain! With these eleven stars added in, what rank is our squad now?"

"How much will our salary increase?"

Yami glanced at the excited Asta.

Then he said:

"Not much."

"Our Black Bulls currently rank ninth among the nine major knight squads."

"Our number of Merit Stars is negative thirty."

"With your eleven stars added in, it's now negative nineteen."

Asta looked as if he had been struck by lightning.

He collapsed directly onto the table.

"No way, Captain, isn't that way too pathetic?"

"It's unbelievably pathetic! I can't even bear to look!"

Yet Yami did not care in the slightest.

"That's why you need to keep working hard."

"The vice-captain and the others have been out gathering intelligence, even infiltrating enemy countries."

"As for you, naturally you must contribute to the Black Bulls as well."

Yami turned to look at Carl.

"Carl, the Merit Stars you earn will be credited separately to the Blue Rose Knights and the Black Bulls."

"You don't have any objections to that, right?"

Carl shook her head.

Yami continued:

"The reward for these Dungeon Ruins is a full twenty stars."

"I hope you take it seriously."

"If we can get them, our Black Bulls will truly rise up."

"Do you know what it means to move up one place in the rankings?"

Asta scratched his head.

"Doesn't it just mean going from ninth place to eighth?"

Yami nodded, though his eyes were filled with contempt.

"It's only an increase of one rank."

"But your salaries will go from eighty gold coins a month to two hundred."

"Two hundred gold coins?"

Crack!

Asta nearly snapped the stool beneath his foot.

His eyes widened, and even his voice went shrill.

"C-Captain...

How much did you say?"

"Two hundred?!"

"I'd sell you my life for that!!"