"Sister Lily! One day I will become the Wizard King! I will make you happy forever! So please—marry me!"
A short boy with silver-white, frizzy hair held flowers he'd picked by the roadside and performed his daily "proposal" to Sister Lily at the orphanage.
"I'm sorry, Asta. I'm nun."
"I haven't given up yet!"
"I'm so sorry…"
"I won't give up!"
Watching that familiar scene, a young man lay on the lawn with a blade of grass in his mouth, a lazy smile on his face. It wasn't surprising anymore—whether in his past life or this one, some things never changed.
"You're so annoying!"
Asta's relentless declarations finally made Lily snap.
"Water Magic — Love Shock!"
Sister Lily produced a blue grimoire. With a shout, the book flashed a dazzling cerulean light as several streams of water swirled together into a huge sphere and dropped from the sky.
Asta was soaked like a drowned chicken.
"I haven't given up yet!"
He sprang up again and charged at Lily.
"Stop playing around!"
Before the water orb could strike Asta, someone sprang from the ground. Adam leapt up and kicked Asta out of midair.
"Adam! What the hell are you doing?!" Asta deserved the title of indestructible cockroach—he scrambled to his feet, rushed Adam, and roared.
He was nothing if not loud.
Adam leaned back, wary of getting splattered by Asta's spit. "Adam, why do you always kick me in the face?"
"You have thick skin, so your head is easier to kick," Adam replied bluntly.
"You stinky guy…"
Adam pointed behind Asta. Confused, Asta turned Yuno still held the water orb in his palm.
"Yuno! You stinky handsome boy!" Asta charged at him, yelling.
Adam rubbed his ears. The Roaring Emperor's title fit; Asta's voice was a force of nature.
"Adam, it would be great if Asta could be like you—living the life he wants without magic..." someone said with a smile.
Adam's mouth twitched. Was that praise?
"Then he wouldn't be Asta." Lily and Adam exchanged amused looks and gentle smiles.
"What's that look on your face?" Yuno frowned at Adam and drew the attention of those nearby.
"Adam, stay away from Sister Lily, you scumbag man."
Adam wanted to zap Asta with a jolt. The boy was infuriating—impossibly stubborn.
"Adam! Yuno! Let's fight it out!" Asta's train of thought was incredible even to Adam; it seemed only Asta and Yuno could argue like that.
"You guys can play if you want. Children's playhouse games aren't for me anymore!" Adam waved and started toward Skull Mountain.
"Adam, you bastard, stop looking down on me!" Asta yelled at the retreating back of his friend.
Yuno watched Adam walk away with a calm expression. Adam didn't know magic either—so why did he seem so different?
"Yuno, let's fight it out!" Asta shouted again.
"I don't like playing house either."
"Ah! Just wait for me." Asta sprinted after them, determined to keep up. This time he promised himself a thousand sit-ups later.
The yellow-haired, arrogant kid watched them, bewildered. Although Asta had no magic, he trained like mad. Why did Adam—who also lacked magic—seem so composed?
"Damn it, Asta. You must prove that even a commoner—one who doesn't know magic—can do it..." the blond boy muttered to himself.
"Bad luck, bad luck!" Adam felt that strange unease when he remembered what the nun had once said: if you don't follow your heart, you'll end up like Asta—hot-blooded and unlucky.
Why could other time travelers use some technology? When he woke in this life he had nothing but the dragon-shaped jade pendant around his neck and his orphan identity.
In a world of magic, it was ridiculous not to know magic.
"Alas! We can only count on tomorrow's grimoire ceremony..." Adam's eyes darkened. In his previous life—let's not go there.
When he opened his eyes as a three-year-old and was left in front of the church door alongside Asta and Yuno, the name "Adam" had been stitched on his clothes. He'd been Adam ever since.
"Fifteen years..." Adam touched the jade pendant at his chest and hardened his expression.
"A grimoire. I must get one!"
"1998!"
"1999!"
"2000!"
"Adam, would you like to drink some magical wax syrup? It can increase your mana!" a voice called from Skull Mountain.
"You drink it! I can't enjoy this blessing!" Asta shouted back. Having companions like them pushed Adam to work harder.
"You want to prove something even without magic..." someone said.
"Ashta! Go home!" an annoyed voice cut through—Asta's name was corrected by those nearby. (Later: Asta is the correct form.)
The Clover Kingdom's annual grimoire acceptance ceremony had begun.
Adam stared at the countless grimoires floating inside the Grimoire Tower in wonder. How much would these be worth? Since arriving here, he'd been eating potatoes and bread—meat existed only in dreams.
"Look at those country bumpkins. I don't know why they're even here," two arrogant boys snickered nearby.
"I heard that the little dwarf can't even use magic—he's the only one like that in the world."
"The news is wrong! That blond-haired guy can't use magic either."
"Haha, what are they doing here if they can't use magic? Planning to join the Magic Knights?" The two kept chattering.
Adam didn't bother listening. Those bullies would know fear when the ceremony finished.
"I am the Tower master of the Grimoire Tower—" the white-bearded official announced. Adam didn't have time for the man's pompous speech.
Titles like "Wizard King" and "Magic Knights" felt like relics of a corrupt system—nobles riding on the backs of others. The feudalism made him sick.
Since entering the tower, the jade pendant on his chest had been warm. It felt like something was about to begin.
"Grimoires, granting begins!" the Tower master called.
Books of every shape and size began to float. Dazzling grimoires sought their rightful owners as the gears of fate turned.
Yuno's grimoire revealed a four-leaf clover on its cover—an obvious match for him. Asta knelt on one knee, pale-faced and anxious.
In front of Adam, a thin golden grimoire drifted toward him. It was ringed with patterns of the twelve talismans. The jade pendant on his chest flared and a beam of light shot from it straight into the grimoire.
The golden book snapped open to the fifth page. A dragon sigil marked that page.
Adam's eyes went wild; his face twisted with ferocity. Fifteen years. He'd waited fifteen years for this.
The twelve talismans—what a treasure.
People murmured about Yuno and his four-leaf grimoire, and about the magicless boy drenched in golden light.
"Brother Adam, you actually got a grimoire!" the children gasped.
Lily and the older man stared, mouths agape.
"They both don't know magic, but that blond guy—he's better than that short one," one sneering boy said.
How dare he mock us!
Adam grinned wickedly; he didn't care what the Tower master favored.
"For such a thin book, I'll probably only use two pages!" a foul-mouthed, dark-blond boy jabbed.
Then, voice cold and resolute: "Giant Dragon of the Ancient East, grant me the power to destroy everything!"
"Dragon Blast!"