After Ouga left, the Wizard King sat in his chair for a long time. He didn't move. He just stared at the door where the boy had walked out. His purple eyes were thinking hard.
"A wheel behind his head," Julius said to himself. "Adaptation to any and all phenomenon. Stage Zero mana. And he came back from losing himself to revenge." He smiled a little. "That boy is going to be something special. If he doesn't destroy himself first."
The door opened and Marx walked in. Marx was the Wizard King's assistant. He had glasses and a serious face and he always looked like he hadn't slept in three days. He was carrying a stack of papers that was almost as tall as his head.
"Sir, I have reports from the border patrols. There's been an incident near the Clover-Diamond border. A dungeon has appeared."
"I know," Julius said.
Marx blinked. "You... know? But the report just came in. How could you—"
"I have my ways." Julius stood up and walked to the window. "A dungeon appearing is always a big deal. Treasure. Ancient magic. Monsters that haven't seen sunlight in centuries. And whoever gets there first gets to keep whatever they find."
"The Diamond Kingdom will send mages. They always do. This dungeon is close to the border, so they'll claim it's on their side even though it's not."
"I'm counting on it." Julius turned around. His eyes were bright. "Send the Black Bulls."
Marx almost dropped his papers. "The Black Bulls?! Sir, with respect, they're the worst squad in the kingdom. They have negative thirty stars. Captain Yami punches holes in walls. Magna Swing burned down a barn last month. Luck Voltia destroyed a bridge. And their new recruits are a magicless boy with a giant sword and a royal girl who can't control her magic."
"And Hasegawa Ouga."
Marx paused. "The one with the wheel?"
"The one with the wheel." Julius walked back to his desk. "Trust me, Marx. The Black Bulls are exactly who we need for this. Sometimes the best people for the job are the ones nobody expects."
"But sir—"
"Send the order. And stop worrying so much. You'll get wrinkles."
Marx sighed. "I already have wrinkles. You gave them to me."
"That's the spirit."
---
The Black Bulls base was loud when Finral's portal opened and three very unhappy people stumbled through.
Asta came out first. His hair was full of something that looked like cake. His robe was wrinkled. His face was a mixture of confusion and disappointment. "That was terrible! The worst thing ever! Even worse than when Sister Lily made me clean the church toilets!"
Luck came out next. He was grinning but his grin looked forced. His lightning was crackling in a way that said he was annoyed. "Those girls had no fighting spirit. I asked one of them to spar with me and she threw her drink in my face."
"That's because you challenged her to a death match!" Finral shouted, coming through the portal last. His hair was messed up and his nice robe had a stain on the front. "You can't just ask a girl to fight you! That's not how mixers work!"
"She said she liked strong guys! I was showing her I'm strong!"
"She meant emotionally strong! Not physically strong!"
"That doesn't make any sense!"
Asta threw his hands up. "And the cake wasn't even that good! It was dry! Who makes dry cake?! If you're going to have cake at a mixer, it should be good cake! Moist cake! Cake that makes you want to eat more cake!"
"You ate three whole cakes by yourself," Finral said. "How can you complain about cake you ate three of?"
"I was hungry! Training makes you hungry! And the cake was disappointing but I ate it anyway because I didn't want to waste food!"
"THAT'S NOT HOW DISAPPOINTMENT WORKS!"
Noelle was sitting on the couch watching them argue. She had a book in her hands but she wasn't reading it. She was watching the chaos with a small smile. "So the mixer was a failure? What a surprise. Who could have predicted this."
"It wasn't a failure!" Finral said. "It was... a learning experience!"
"What did you learn?"
"That Luck shouldn't be allowed near normal people."
"That's a good lesson."
Magna was laughing so hard his sunglasses fell off. "You guys are a mess! A complete mess! I wish I could have been there to see it!"
"You would have made it worse!" Finral said. "You would have challenged someone to a duel!"
"Only if they deserved it!"
"Everyone deserves it to you!"
I was sitting in the corner with Gordon. He was mumbling something about how he was glad he didn't go to the mixer because crowds make him nervous. I nodded along. My mind was still on the meeting with the Wizard King. What he had said. What he had asked me to do.
Then Yami walked in.
The room went quiet. Yami had that look on his face. The look that meant something was happening. Something important.
"Listen up," he said. "We got a mission. And before that, you should know something. Vangeance's squad just got another star. They're at seventy-one now."
Asta shot up from the floor. "SEVENTY-ONE?! Yuno's squad has seventy-one stars?! That's one more than before! How do they keep getting stars?! Do they just hand them out for being cool?!"
"Probably for doing actual work," Noelle said. "Something we wouldn't know about."
"Hey! We saved Saussy Village! That was work!"
"And we're still negative thirty."
"That's not the point!"
Yami lit a cigarette. "Anyway. The mission. A dungeon has appeared near the border with the Diamond Kingdom."
Everyone got quiet. Even Asta stopped bouncing.
"A dungeon?" Noelle closed her book. Her eyes were wide. "A real dungeon?"
"What's a dungeon?" Asta asked, looking around. "Is it like a prison? Are we breaking someone out of prison? Because I don't think Magic Knights should break people out of prison."
Magna sighed. "A dungeon isn't a prison, dumbass. It's... how do I explain this." He adjusted his cracked sunglasses. "Sometimes, magical places appear out of nowhere. Underground tombs. Ancient towers. Caves full of treasure and traps and monsters. They're called dungeons. Nobody knows where they come from or why they appear. But they're full of valuable stuff. Magic items. Rare ingredients. Gold and jewels. And sometimes even new spells that nobody has seen for hundreds of years."
"Treasure?!" Asta's eyes turned into gold coins. "Real treasure?! Like in the stories about the first Wizard King finding the Sword of the Sun in an underground temple?!"
"Yeah, like that."
"HOW DO WE GET THERE?! I WANT TREASURE!"
"The Diamond Kingdom wants it too," Yami said. "They always try to steal dungeons that appear near the border. We need to get there first and claim everything we can before their mages show up."
He looked around the room. His eyes stopped on me, then Asta, then Noelle, then Luck.
"Ouga. Asta. Noelle. Luck. You four are going."
"Me?!" Noelle stood up. "I'm going into a dungeon?! But I just learned my first spell! What if I can't control it?! What if there are monsters?! What if—"
"You have a defensive spell now. Use it if things get bad. And Ouga will be there."
Noelle glanced at me. Her face was still nervous, but she nodded. "Fine. I'll go. But only because a royal doesn't back down from a challenge."
Luck was already at the door. "A dungeon! Finally! Real fights against real monsters! This is going to be amazing!" His lightning was crackling so much his hair was standing straight up.
Asta was running in circles. "Treasure! Treasure! Treasure! We're going to find treasure!"
"Luck is the leader," Yami said. "He's got the most experience with combat missions. Listen to him. Don't wander off alone. And don't die."
"Why does Luck get to be leader?!" Asta asked.
"Because he's been here longer than you."
"But I'm more responsible!"
"You tried to feed your hand to a wolf yesterday."
"That was a bonding exercise!"
Yami ignored him. "Finral, open a portal. Get them as close to the border as you can."
Finral nodded and opened his grimoire. A portal shimmered into existence in the middle of the room. Through it, I could see mountains and trees and a sky that was starting to turn pink with dawn.
"Go," Yami said. "And bring back something good. We need more stars. We're still negative thirty."
"That's better than negative thirty-one!" Asta said.
"Barely."
We stepped through the portal.
---
The air on the other side was cold and thin. We were in the mountains near the Diamond Kingdom border. The trees here were short and twisted from the wind. The ground was rocky. In the distance, I could see the entrance to the dungeon. It was a hole in the side of a cliff. A big hole. Bigger than the church in Hage Village. Stone steps led down into darkness.
"That's it," Luck said. "The dungeon. Can you feel it? The mana coming out of there is incredible. There's something powerful inside. Something old."
"I don't feel anything," Asta said.
"You don't have mana. You can't feel mana."
"Then how am I supposed to know if something is magical?!"
"You hit it with your sword. If it disappears, it was magic."
"That's actually a good point."
Noelle was shivering. Not from cold. From nerves. "I can feel it too. The mana. It's... really strong. Stronger than anything I've felt before. Even stronger than my brother's magic."
"That's because dungeons are old," Luck said. "Really old. Some of them are thousands of years old. The magic inside them builds up over time. Gets stronger. Gets weirder. That's why they're so dangerous. And so fun."
He started walking toward the entrance. "Come on. We need to get inside before the Diamond Kingdom shows up."
We followed him. Asta was bouncing with every step. Noelle was trying to look brave but her hands were shaking. Luck was humming a song that sounded like a battle chant.
Noelle looked at the rocky path ahead. "How much further is it? My feet already hurt. This terrain is completely unsuitable for a royal. There should be a carriage. Or at least a paved road."
"We're in the mountains," I said. "There are no roads."
"Well, there should be. Someone should build some."
"You could build one. You have water magic."
"That's not what water magic is for!"
"It can be."
Luck laughed. "I like this group. Complaining, arguing, and threatening to build roads. This is going to be a fun mission."
Asta was already running ahead. "Last one to the dungeon is a rotten egg!" He disappeared around a boulder before anyone could respond. His voice echoed back, "Wait, what's a dungeon again?! I forgot but I'm still winning!"
We reached the entrance. The stone steps went down into darkness. Cold air came up from below. It smelled like old stone and something else. Something ancient.
I touched the pouch at my belt. The space storage pouch. I had bought it from a witch in the black market two weeks ago. It cost almost all my savings from hunting. But it would be worth it. In the original story, Asta and the others couldn't take all the treasure from this dungeon. They were too busy fighting the Diamond Kingdom mages and trying to survive. But I was here now. And I had a pouch that could hold an entire treasure room.
The Diamond Kingdom mages would come. That was certain. They always came for dungeons near the border. When they did, I would capture as many as I could. Prisoners meant information. Information meant stars. And treasure meant resources. Resources meant power.
"Ouga!" Asta was waving at me from the top of the steps. "What are you waiting for?! The treasure isn't going to find itself!"
"I'm coming."
We descended into the darkness together. Asta in front with his sword ready. Luck crackling with lightning. Noelle holding her grimoire tight. And me at the back, the wheel turning, the pouch waiting, my mind already planning how to turn this dungeon into the first real step toward the future I wanted.
Whatever was waiting for us down there, we were ready.
(Author note: give me a review on how is my second novel name " muscle system: In The World of Mana")