Chapter 87: Strange Beach Episode (7)

[Third Person's PoV] 

The next day…

Noelle was seen concentrating on her spell, however before she could conjure up a sea dragon Lair, Steve appeared and held up a kebab with different food on it in front of her face. 

Noelle froze and turned to look at Stephen in confusion, "What's this?"

"Food? What? Don't tell me you've never had food before" Stephen said looking at her weirdly as he had a stick of his own. 

"Of course I had food! And obviously I know what it is! I was just curious why you are giving it to me!" She barked, narrowing her eyes towards him as she took it. 

"Charmy made some to help you replenish your magic" Stephen said in between bites. 

"She did?" Noelle muttered as she elegantly took a bite, she smiled faintly as she felt her mana slowly be replenished. 

"Mmhmm" Stephen hummed with food in his mouth, "After all they're all silently supporting you. Cheering you on" 

When Noelle turned back she saw Charmy and one of her sheep by a barbecue grill. Detecting someone's gaze she turned to see Noelle. Charmy gave her an encouraging thumbs up before she focused back on cooking. 

Noelle smiled before looking back at the Kebab in front of her and continued eating, she then turned towards Stephen and narrowed her eyes slightly as she chewed.

"What?" Stephen asked, returning the look she was giving him back towards her in a playful manner. 

"You're up to something, I don't know what but I can feel it…" Noelle muttered 

Stephen rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I'm trying to teach you a lesson" 

"A lesson? What lesson?"

"Right, Right, I forgot I had to explain it to you otherwise you wouldn't get it on your own" Stephen teased. 

Noelle just stared at Stephen with a plain expression on her face. "I will quite literally stab you with this stick once I'm done with it." 

"I'm joking, I'm joking…" Stephen sighed, "It seems that Kahono's words affected you yesterday more than you care to admit." 

Noelle turned away and didn't comment on it, "What would you know?" She muttered. 

"You're right, I wouldn't truly know. But I do know that they are not the only ones you can consider a family now." Stephen said without looking at her and looking at the ocean in front of them. 

"What?" Noelle asked in surprise as she wasn't expecting him to say someone like that. 

"The term family is a very loose definition, family isn't just someone you're related to or someone you have blood ties with. Family is about people that trust, care, and support one another. Take me and Asta for example, there is not a single drop of blood in our veins that makes us related, but I still consider that little runt my brother." 

Stephen then finished the last piece of his kebab and gave her a wink, "What I'm trying to say is to not take Kanoho's example of a family to literal, since as far as I can see it, you have another family with the Black Bulls" 

Noelle blushed slightly before Stephen called out to her in a whisper, "Hey, look at this…" 

Noelle looked towards Stephen and saw him put the stick in his palm, Stephen closed his hands together and blew on the inside of his clasp hands. 

Stephen extended his hand towards her and when Noelle got closer to look Stephen opened his hands to reveal that the stick was transmuted into a snake. 

Noelle's eyes widened as her face turned green, "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!" She screamed, scrambling backwards.

She rapidly took out her wand and began blasting Stephen with her magic but Stephen was cackling madly dodging and weaving through her spells, "Mwhahahahahaha!!"

"STEPHEN I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, YOU STUPID IDIOT! YOU DUMBASS!!" Noelle shouted weaving her wand all over the place while running after him. 

… 

She soon lost sight of Stephen causing her to grumble in annoyance and irritation. She stomped back towards her training and gripped her wand tightly while gritting her teeth.

She stood in front of the waves for a while and just staring after a while a smile graced her lips as she let out a scoffed, "That idiot, I'm not so dumb as to not realize he's doing that to distract me…" 

Noelle gained a serious expression as she held her wand, she remembered Kahono's words, 'Real concentration comes from when the heart is relaxed…' 

Noelle closed her eyes, "A gentle memory…" She muttered, "... Of a family…" Noelle thought about the black bulls and all of the adventures and missions they've been together since she's joined, even of the miscellaneous things they've done together like eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner with everyone, and even training. The faces of all the black bulls came to mind, the faces of Asta, Magna, Luck, Vanessa, Charmy, and Wanda, who she had come to see as a close friend. 

The image of Stephen became more apparent in her mind above everyone else, as he just looked at her with a cocky grin and winked. Which caused Noelle to scoff and smile. Her grimoire beside her began to glow as she held out her wand. 

Water began to surge around Noelle as she slowly rose from the ground, the water started forming a protective sphere around as her grimoire flipped to an empty page and words began to form. 

[Water Creation Magic: Sea Dragon's Cradle]

The sphere of Water grew large and stabilized, when Noelle opened her eyes they grew large as she celebrated, "I did it! I actually did it!" 

She then turned as she voiced below her only to see the entirety of the Black Bulls all celebrating her achievement. Charmy was even holding a giant plate waiting for her. 

She couldn't help but smile warmly towards all of them. She slowly landed the sphere of water causing it to dissipate, and as she landed they all began to congratulate her. 

Noelle blushed as she rubbed the back of her hand, she looked towards Stephen who was looking at her with his arms crossed. 

Noelle smiled before her smile dropped and didn't hesitate to send a water ball hitting it right on the face causing him to take a step back while being drenched from head to toe. "You bastard, don't think that means I forgive for that prank you pulled" 

Stephen chuckled as he brushed his hair back, "Yeah, I guess I deserve that" He said with a hand by his waist. 

Wanda, Noelle, and Vanessa, all blushed slightly as they saw how a wet haired Stephen appeared. 

Both Asta and Magna began patting Noelle on the back roughly, "Nice Going Ms. Noble! Look at you go!" Magna said. 

"Yeah! Nice going! Compared to your first failure back when you first joined, this is a major improvement!" Asta exclaimed. 

"WOULD YOU TWO IDIOTS STOP SLAPPING MY BACK! IT HURTS!!" Noelle said with an angered look. 

Yami then stepped forwards as he help the cigarette by his fingers, "Well it looks like we now have our mood of transport, perfect and get used to the spell in the time we have let until the full moon" 

"Yes sir!" Noelle said with a serious and determined expression 

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