Before the raid

Sekke soon came out of the briefing hall as well and saw that most of the people were already gone.

"Where were you?" asked Mereoleona.

"A black cat crossed my path so I had to take a detour. Sorry," said Sekke as he ran up to her.

"A cat inside the hall?"

"Yes,"

"...Anyway, we will begin the operation in three days. You all will be staying in the royal capital so that information is not leaked."

"Understood,"

Mereoleona nodded as she and Sekke headed toward the place where the rest of the Royal Knights were.

"I heard from the wizard king that you used Mana Zone during the Selection Exam?" said Mereoleona.

"Hm? Yeah. I gained insight during the finals when I was out of my own mana and was using the mana from my surroundings. Somehow I understood that it would work and bam." said Sekke.

"Your control of mana should be extraordinary then. I don't know any captain other than me who can use mana zone, you know?"

"Well, not a big deal for the dark lord," said Sekke as he shrugged his shoulders.

"What is this dark lord nonsense?" asked Mereleona.

"It's what the people are gonna call me and remember by one day, the title given to the one who is undeniably the strongest and is at the top," replied Sekke.

"...Despite being pretty strong, you are not really gifted in the brain," said Mereoleona.

"Mock me while you still have the time. It will happen one day and when it happens even you will be calling me by my title," said Sekke in a calm tone, he was not going to argue with all mongrels who can't understand him. He will prove it. Shut their mouths. Enjoy the glory.

"Is that so? Then looks like you will have to beat me if you want to claim the title of the strongest," said Mereoleona as she stopped walking and looked at Sekke with a ferocious smirk on her face. Flames gathered around her fists and mana came out of her body.

Sekke stopped walking and released his mana as well.

The two types of mana clashed for supremacy as sparks started to appear around them.

"You sure you wanna go before this mission even begins?" asked Sekke as he released more of his mana trying to push Mereoleona's mana back.

Her smirk widened even more when she felt Sekke's mana grow even more and push hers away. She also released more mana and the shocks occurring from their mana clash became even stronger.

'He really is a fearless kid, when was the last time someone took my mana pressure head-on?'

"I don't mind, but we can't have you broken before the mission starts," replied Mereoleona as her mana started to take the shape of a lioness.

"Oh, I won't be the one who will be broken that's for sure," said Sekke as black marks appeared on his body along with his sacred gear and his mana took the form of Vritra.

Cracks started to appear on the ground just from their mana clash and the nearby buildings started to shake.

People started to panic and gathered around them although still at a safe distance away from them to see what was going on.

Noticing the commotion around them the two retracted their mana and Mereoleona said, "Let's do it after we beat the crap out of the Eye of the Midnight Sun. I am very interested to kick your ass."

"Deal, Gotta, assert dominance whenever I can," said Sekke as he nodded.

The two apologized to the people for the commotion and started walking once again.

"By the way, how old are you?" asked Mereoleona.

"16"

"So, half my age, huh...I am 32."

Sekke nodded not thinking much about it and just continued walking.

'Too young for a marriage candidate.' thought Mereoleona without much change in her expression.

Soon they reached the establishment where the royal knights were supposed to stay and entered their respective rooms.

Later that night a small banquet was held was the royal knights and currently was Sekke was having his dinner surrounded by Anna and Mimosa who were trying to shove most of the food on their plates in Sekke's mouth.

'...This is getting annoying.' thought Sekke as he held his plate and moved a bit away from the table.

"Excuse me for a while, I have some things to discuss with my squad mates," said Sekke and walked away.

Anna and Mimosa stared at Sekke's back for a while before Anna said, "...We annoyed him."

Mimosa's eyes widened in surprise as she didn't think that Sekke was annoyed and started panicking.

"W-What should we do?" asked Mimosa as she looked at Anna.

"We? When did we get on the same team?" asked Anna.

"Eh? I-I-I mean we aren't b-but didn't the two of us annoy him together? Don't you want to make up for that?" asked Mimosa.

"I can make up on my own," replied Anna.

"Eh? How? Tell me as well. I don't know what to do." said Mimosa.

"Think with your royal brain," replied Anna only to realize that she disrespected royalty just now.

"U-Um, I-I-I...alright," said Mimosa in a dejected tone.

"...You aren't mad about my earlier comment?" asked Anna feeling a bit surprised, she was a peasant so she wasn't treated well by a lot of people who were of higher status.

"Hm? Oh, it's alright. Right now we are magic knights. We should not discriminate based on status at this time." replied Mimosa with a smile.

"...Alright then....say, about thinking of a way together. Let's do that. Two heads are better than one." said Anna.

Mimosa's eyes twinkled as she fiercely nodded her head and immediately agreed to the proposal without thinking much.

-------------------

Sekke was now standing away from the crowd because Asta kept arguing with Yuno making him even more annoyed than he already was.

Sitting silently in a corner Sekke read his Grimoires to check for the spells that were in there to refresh his memory.

Suddenly the door was kicked open and Mereoleona and Nozel entered the hall along with a beaten-up man.

"All of you, focus here!!" said Mereoleona as she showed the beaten-up man to them.

"I caught this spy without killing him and interrogated him."

"Huh?"

"A spy?"

Voices arose from amongst the magic knights as Sekke closed his grimoires and stood up, and joined the crowd as well.

"Silence! Our enemy hasn't noticed any of our movements. Therefore, we will be moving up the operation's start time. We strike the Eye of the Midnight Sun's hideout tomorrow morning." said Mereoleona making all the people in the room surprised by the sudden decision.

"Make sure you all get plenty of rest tonight. That is all," said Mereoleona as she walked out of the hall along with the spy and Nozel.

'...Do they really not know about the plan, or Pattoli planted an ignorant spy to make others think that.' thought Sekke as he turned serious.

'Well, she has already made a decision. Have to follow that. Two days won't make that much of a difference I guess. Even if it's a trap, then they can trap us after three days as well.' thought Sekke.

Sekke then looked around and then headed to the washroom.

'Vritra, check my shadow to see if there are any spies on me.' asked Sekke.

"Don't worry my other half, there is no one on you," replied Vritra.

Sekke nodded as his grimoire started flipping and the interface of his storage safe appeared over his hand.

Taking out the magic device that Julius gave him earlier, Sekke contacted him and told him about his theory.

"That can be a possibility as well," said Julius.

"Should I discuss it with Captain Mereoleona?" asked Sekke.

"Hm...inform her about it and ask her to just warn the other royal knights so that they don't get overconfident after knowing that the enemy doesn't know about the plan. We are attacking them anyway, sooner or later we have to do it."

"Understood, Wizard King."

"Good thinking Sekke-kun. Keep up the good work and good luck for tomorrow" said Julius as he ended the call.

Sekke then went to find Mereoleona and informed her and Nozel about his thinking as well before informing them about what Julius told him.

Mereoleona and Nozel nodded as they too agreed with Sekke's words, plus it was an order from Julius so there was no way they were going to doubt it.

Sekke then left the two of them as they discussed the strategy for tomorrow and then headed to his room and get some rest.