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A few weeks had passed since Sekke came to the Heart Kingdom for a vacation.Things were progressing smoothly. His friends were training nicely, and his malnourished body had started to regain its former glory. The natural mana abundance of the Heart Kingdom clearly made the food more nutritious.
And right now, when everyone was gathered for breakfast, Sekke's communicator started ringing.
He picked it up, and from it came Finral's voice.
"Sekke-kun."
"Finral?"
"I just got a notice from the Magic Knights HQ that came to our base. You need to rejoin the Magic Knights and start doing your job again. You've been away from missions for quite some time now," explained Finral.
"Has it been that long?"
"It says it's been seven months since you last did a mission… You were trapped for six months! What's wrong with these guys at HQ?!" complained Finral.
"Can't be helped. Those guys are swamped with work since the elf invasion. I'll be there shortly. Can you write an application on my behalf stating I'll be joining from today onwards?" asked Sekke.
"Sure thing. It would be a great help to us. The missions have piled up quite a bit," muttered Finral and glanced at the mission board at the HQ.
"Thanks, Finral. See you later."
"Should I come pick you up?"
"Would you? That would be great. I will be ready in 30 minutes. I am currently in the Heart Kingdom Palace."
"Ah, can't teleport there directly. I will come to the town plaza."
"Alright."
The two finished their talks, and Sekke ended the call.
He then glanced at the other people near him.
"Well, as you heard, duty calls. I'll be leaving today," said Sekke.
"Should I come as well?" asked Secre.
"You are here to train, right? Then do that. I need to get my groove back as well. Can't have the black bulls fall from their first position. Who knows how many missions you all have been doing in my absence?" said Sekke.
"Oi! Don't look down on us. Like I promised you, I did pull some of your weight in the squad during your absence," said Asta.
"I will see to that. Anyway, I need to go back to Clover Kingdom. Excuse me, I need to go and pack my stuff," said Sekke and got up from his seat.
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After he was done packing, Sekke moved out of the castle and was now waiting for Finral in the town plaza. His friends were there as well, along with Lolopechka and the spirit guardians.
"You guys don't need to wait with me. You all have other things to do, right?"
"It's fine! We will train longer and make up for resting now!" declared Asta.
"Yeah! You are my soon-to-be brother-in-law. It's the basic courtesy on my part to see you off!" said Leopold.
"Take care of the Kingdom on our behalf," said Noelle.
"Don't worry, Lord Sekke. You are our honoured guest; it is our duty to see you off," said Lolopechka with a smile.
The rest of the spirit guardians nodded as well.
"Suit yourself. Noelle, I will be gone, but don't slack off. Undine, make sure she suffers if she slacks off," said Sekke and looked at the water spirit.
"As you wish, Lord Sekke."
"I won't slack off!!!" yelled Noelle.
"As for you, Lolopechka. I have shown you just one way of combining spells. Try to come up with other spells on your own as well."
"I will do so, Lord Sekke. I thank you once again for your help with my offensive magic."
"You are welcome."
A portal soon appeared near them, and Finral stepped out of it.
"Sekke-kun, let's go," called Finral.
"Well, I will take my leave now. It was nice visiting the Heart Kingdom," said Sekke and thanked Lolopechka.
"It was our pleasure to host you, Lord Sekke. In future, if you ever want to visit the Heart Kingdom, then you are free to visit anytime. Or if you want to get in contact with us, then you can contact us with Undine," said Lolopechka.
"If you want to, you can permanently move here as well. I am sure Lolopechka-chan would be very happy to take care of you," teased Undine.
"Wha! What are you implying, Undine!!! I mean, I will take care of you, Lord Sekke, if you wish for me to do so...." stammered Lolopechka, blushing.
"I will inform you if I ever wish for something like that," replied Sekke with a smirk.
"As for you three, I will be gone, but that doesn't mean you all are allowed to jump straight into danger. Contact me immediately if you are ever in danger. I will come in a jiffy and end that danger. Don't get injured, or you all will face the wrath of the Dark Lord," said Sekke in a serious tone as he warned his fiancées.
"Yes, yes, Mr. Dark Lord~" said Secre.
"Hehe, we will keep that in mind, Sekke-san."
"Don't worry, as the strongest one amongst us, I will keep these two safe. Take care, Sekke-kun," said Anna.
Sekke nodded and then gave his farewells to them before he got back to the Clover Kingdom with Finral.
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"Alright, let's get back in action. Where are the missions?" asked Sekke.
"Right this way," said Finral and led Sekke to the mission pile.
Seeing the number of missions, Sekke blinked in surprise. The condition of the kingdom was still not stable, it seemed.
After picking a slightly difficult quest of subjugating some anti-royal forces. Sekke left the HQ.
.
.
.
"Didn't think we would be doing a mission together on my first mission after so long," muttered Sekke.
"Neither did I," replied Yuno in his calm tone.
"It's good you got assigned to a group mission," said Klaus. "You've not been on one in ages, so it'll help you get back in flow."
Sekke nodded.
Since the mission was quite important because it dealt with anti-royal forces, the Magic Knights HQ deemed it necessary for it to be a group mission.
Klaus adjusted his glasses as they gleamed.
'But this arrangement… The vice-captain of Golden Dawn and the Grand Magic Knight who can solo every captain? The power balance is way off!' thought Klaus.
Sekke and Yuno didn't think much of it. To them, the faster the mission ended, the better.
"So what's the strategy? We barge in and blow sh*t up?" asked Sekke while they continued climbing a mountain.
"With this lineup, I don't think that it will be an issue if we did that," muttered Yuno, considering Sekke's plan.
"We need to capture them and hand them over to the interrogation department. So I would suggest that we refrain from killing them," added Klaus.
Yuno and Sekke nodded, and then the three of them started discussing their roles.
"Yuno, start," ordered Sekke.
Yuno nodded and took off as his grimoire started flipping.
[Wind Magic: Towering Tornado]
A massive tornado appeared, surrounding the entire area and cutting off any escape routes.
"ENEMIES!!!!" yelled one of them, alerting all the anti-royalists.
Sekke and Klaus got into action as well. The two were tasked with taking down the enemies that would come charging at them, while Yuno would keep an eye from above and make sure that none of them would run away.
[Steel Magic: Blazing Spiral Lance]
Klaus jumped towards a nearby group with a drilling lance.
'What was that about not killing them?' thought Sekke as his grimoires flipped as well.
[Bronze Magic + Sleep Debuff Magic: Left Right Good Night]
His hands turned to bronze that had a sleep effect spell applied to them.
He simply walked towards the incoming enemies and punched them once they got close, sending them flying while knocking them unconscious in an instant.
Yuno kept the enemies that tried to run away in check by firing a spell here and there.
And just like that, in minutes, the entire anti-royalist force of this stronghold was subdued.
[Bronze Restraining Magic: Bronza Shackles]
[Steel Restraining Magic: Binding Coffin]
After all of them were restrained, all of them gathered together.
"...So, this ended quickly."
"Very quickly."
"That was to be expected. The top Magic Knights from the top squads joined on a mission. We should now deliver them to the interrogation department," said Klaus.
Sekke nodded and stored the sleeping men in his storage and headed to the Magic Knights HQ with the two of them.
It was still too early, so they decided to do the reporting today itself.
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Once they were done reporting, Klaus and Yuno headed back to their Squad HQ.
Sekke, too, was planning to do the same, but felt someone familiar approaching him.
"Lord Julius?" called Sekke.
"You can recognise me?" asked the middle-aged lady who was actually Julius in disguise.
Sekke nodded, making the lady chuckle.
"Don't tell others. Marx will catch me otherwise," said Julius.
"Ditching work?"
"I call it inspecting the kingdom," said Julius proudly with a smile, and gestured Sekke to move away from the Magic Knights HQ. Marx would be on his tail soon after all.
"Sorry for the notice you got. We know that you were trapped for six months, but the kingdom is not in a situation where we can let any manpower sit idly, especially a Grand Magic Knight like you," said Julius.
"It's fine, I needed to get back in action soon anyway. I rested quite a bit and am getting back in shape as well," replied Sekke with a shrug.
"I am glad to hear that. So, how is adjusting back to your role as Magic Knight going?" asked Julius.
"It's going well. Just completed a mission that I took this morning," replied Sekke with a smirk.
Julius laughed at his answer.
"As efficient as ever."
The two continued to look around the kingdom when suddenly Julius went *POOF* and got enveloped in a cloud of smoke before turning back to his little kid form.
"Looks like I reached my limit for today," said Julius and got on his knees. The little magic in his body was exhausted by his transformation magic, so now he felt fatigued.
Sekke crouched down near him.
"Get on my back, I will give you a piggyback ride," offered Sekke.
"It's fine, Sekke-kun, at my age, it won't look good taking piggyback rides."
"You look like a kid, so act like one, too. Now get on," said Sekke, making Julius chuckle as he got on his back.
Sekke continued to show Julius around the town and even took him to nearby towns as well.
The wizard king had served the kingdom with all his might. Sekke felt letting him enjoy his hobby of looking after the kingdom was something that he deserved.
"It's my first time that someone has given me a piggyback ride, and that too around multiple towns. Thank you Sekke-kun."
"Don't mention it, Lord Julius, you have done much more for the kingdom. I can at least be your accomplice and helper in your work ditching endeavours," replied Sekke with a smirk.
"Looks like we will be scolded by Marx together. Thanks for taking some of my scolding in advance," said Julius with a chuckle.
Sekke laughed at his comment, and after checking around one last town, he took Julius back to the Magic Knights HQ.
"Thanks for taking me around, Sekke-kun. It's been a while since I went out on an outing for this long. Reverting back to a kid limited my powers a lot," said Julius and looked at his little hands with a bit of sadness.
"...Do you want to grow up quickly?" asked Sekke.
"I do. In this form, I won't be able to protect the Clover Kingdom if an emergency arises. We were lucky that you were back when the previous wizard kings attacked, but I am the Wizard King. It is my responsibility to stand up and protect the kingdom in time of need," said Julius.
"First of all, Lord Julius, you are not the only one who wants to protect the kingdom in time of need. We, the Magic Knights, want to protect the people and the kingdom as well. You don't need to feel burdened by the fact that we help you safeguard the kingdom. As for you wanting to grow big quickly. I can help with that," said Sekke.
Julius's eyes widened in surprise at those words.
"Shall I do that?" asked Sekke.
"If you can, then please. I know that every Magic Knight has vowed on their grimoire to protect the citizens and the kingdom, but it is my selfish request to stand tall and fulfil my role as the Wizard King," said the kid Julius in a serious tone.
"Alright, then let's go to someplace where we can be out of sight of others."
"Follow me Sekke-kun. My room at the Magic Knight HQ should suffice," said Julius and led Sekke.
The two soon entered the room, and Sekke immediately started the preparation.
"I will use my magic to make time move faster for you. Tell me when you feel satisfied with your age. I am warning you, I can only make it move faster, not rewind time. If you don't stop me at the age you want, then it's gone. Alright?" asked Sekke.
"You have a magic for that as well?" asked Julius with glittering eyes. His inner magic nerd immediately took over.
Sekke flicked his head, making Julius wince in pain and making him take things seriously.
"Not now, Lord Julius. You have seen me use this spell before, anyway. I am starting now," said Sekke as a large amount of mana filled the room.
Julius felt the mana cover him, but he didn't resist.
[Time Debuff Magic: Fast Forward x 1000]
Mana drained rapidly out of his body and flowed towards Julius, who got enveloped in a faint glow.
His body visibly started to change, his baby face slowly started to transform, and his body and hair started growing as well. Soon his clothes started to tear because of the change in size.
To Julius, the world felt like it was moving at a very slow pace. He looked around, but everything felt super slow to him. He looked at his body and could see it change visibly.
The process continued for around 20 minutes when Julius raised his hand, gesturing to Sekke to stop.
Sekke stopped the spell and looked at Julius. He was now standing tall and naked, with long hair on his head and his face.
"So? Feeling powerful again?" asked Sekke.
Julius summoned his Grimoire, which previously had just a single page, after he was turned into a kid. Now it looked a little fuller. Not as many as he had when he was at his prime, but it was good enough for now.
"Thank you, Sekke-kun," said Julius and held Sekke's hand. His voice was filled with gratitude.
Sekke smiled back.
"Julius-sama?! Are you finally back? I have told you countle-" complained Marx and got in the room without knocking.
However, he stopped mid-sentence, seeing the sight in front of him.
Sekke was standing there holding the hand of a naked man while both of them were smiling happily. He thought he walked into something quite 'personal'.
"....Looks like I entered the wrong room. Do continue. Don't mind me," said Marx as he moved robotically and tried to leave the room.
"Oi, Mushroom head, get back in here!!!" yelled Sekke.
"Oi Marx! Don't misunderstand!!" yelled Julius.
Both of them rushed towards the man in panic before rumours spread.
Julius and Sekke caught Marx and dragged him back into the room.
"Unhand me!!! I am not into men!!! Unhand me!!! I don't want to be involved!!!!" yelled Marx in horror.