T/N: Sorry about the lack of updates for the past few days, I got a really nasty eye infection that rendered me mostly blind two days ago and then yesterday my vision was somewhat restored but looking at screens hurt really badly. I'll upload all the missing chapters immediately.
Yuuki looked at Mariella—the assassin standing before him with her head bowed, pledging fealty. His gaze was steady, unreadable.
"I know you don't truly believe everything I said," he replied calmly. "That's fine. I'll settle Fanzell Kruger's debt for you first."
Yuuki never imagined he could win a person's loyalty with a few words.
Especially not someone like Mariella—someone whose life experience had taught her never to trust easily.
As an assassin, when faced with an opponent far stronger than oneself, the first instinct was always to escape.
If escape was impossible, a typical assassin would choose suicide to prevent information leakage.
But Mariella? She was different.
It wasn't that she feared death.
Rather, she intended to drag the entire Diamond Kingdom Assassination Unit stationed within the Clover Kingdom down with her—burying them all in one blow.
If she succeeded, the Diamond Kingdom's assassination forces would suffer catastrophic losses, leaving them with no strength to pursue Fanzell Kruger or Domina.
That was Mariella's idea of revenge.
Her way of repaying the man who once saved her life.
So when she claimed to "pledge loyalty," only she knew how much of that was truth—and how much was lies.
"Give me your grimoire," Yuuki ordered.
Mariella's eyes flickered, but her hands moved quickly. She presented her grimoire with respectful precision.
Yuuki took the grimoire in one hand and swiped the air beside him with the other.
A spatial passageway opened instantly.
In the blink of an eye—
He stepped inside and vanished.
Mariella's head snapped up, eyes wide.
"Spatial magic?!"
Water magic.
Plant magic.
Now spatial magic.
From start to finish, he had used three different types of magic.
How was that even possible?
She'd heard rumors—rare prodigies blessed by mana might wield two types of magic.
She'd never met such a person herself, but the stories existed.
Even within the Kingdom, one of the current Magic Knight Captains supposedly possessed two attributes.
But three?
She had never even heard of such a thing.
Is that something a normal mage can do?
Just what is he?
For the first time, Mariella felt that Yuuki's claim—helping her exact vengeance and not fearing the Diamond Kingdom's retaliation—was no idle boast.
Lost in shock, she momentarily forgot he had taken her grimoire.
Then—
shhhk!
The spatial passage reopened. Yuuki stepped out once more.
"I've added a communication imprint to your grimoire using a magic tool," he said, handing it back. "If you activate your grimoire three times in a row at a specific frequency, I'll sense it."
In truth, the ancient magic tool—the Communication Box—couldn't accomplish that.
Yuuki had simply fully replicated Mariella's grimoire.
A grimoire he had copied was naturally under his complete control.
Given his current level of mana, replicating her grimoire consumed almost nothing—he didn't even need time to digest it.
"Yes, my lord," Mariella replied, accepting her grimoire with deeper reverence than before.
A moment passed.
She heard no further instructions.
When she looked up, Yuuki was already gone.
"Hope for revenge… is it real or just a dream?"
She exhaled softly, a mixture of longing and uncertainty flickering across her face—before her expression hardened back into emotionless calm.
She opened her grimoire and examined it thoroughly.
No abnormalities.
She couldn't detect any trace of the communication imprint.
"So well hidden…" she whispered.
After surveying the surroundings one last time, Mariella disappeared into the night.
Morning — Inside the Tavern
Yuuki sat alone in the main hall, writing a letter to the church in Hage Village.
It had been about a month since he arrived in the capital.
He hadn't written since the last reply—Asta and Yuno had probably already sent their letters.
He briefly described his current situation and enclosed 5,000 yul.
Asta and Yuno earned 200,000 yul each month as Magic Knights, so they could afford to send more home.
Yuuki, meanwhile, had an entire dimension filled with gold and treasure, but he couldn't send too much at once.
Otherwise, Father Orsi and Sister Lily would only worry.
After sealing the letter and stretching his arms, Yuuki decided to mail it later.
For now, he needed to watch the tavern.
Rebecca was out buying non-perishables for the grand opening in a few days.
Marl, Luka, and Rebecca's younger siblings had gone to the town church.
Lots of children gathered there—the church served as a place to play and learn basic reading and writing, acting almost like a school for common folk.
Thinking of the church—
Yuuki remembered a little girl there named Marie, Gosh's younger sister, who wielded Mirror Magic.
Marie left a strong impression on him—she was one of the future reincarnated elves, possessing the rare Eye Magic, capable of binding an enemy's body and mana just by looking at them.
That was with no grimoire.
Just the innate mana of a reincarnated elf—yet her magic was already that terrifying.
Unfortunately—
Because of her age, Yuuki couldn't extract that magic.
Without a grimoire as a medium, he had no way to replicate the magic within her soul.
"If I could master a soul-type magic… maybe I wouldn't need grimoires as intermediaries at all."
Yuuki murmured thoughtfully.
It was worth experimenting.
But in the entire world of Black Clover, only two people possessed magic connected to souls.
One was Rades and his Corpse Magic.
Yuuki had coveted that magic for a long time—but it wasn't time to copy it yet.
He needed Rades' deep hatred to push his Corpse Magic to evolve—into magic that could manipulate souls—before he replicated it.
Otherwise, he'd only obtain the basic version that controlled corpses.
It was just like Vanessa's Thread Magic.
It looked ordinary, but no one would ever expect that simple threads could touch the power of destiny.
Magic had the potential to evolve.
(End of Chapter)
⭐ Enjoying the story?
You can read ahead and support the translations by joining my Patreon! Your support helps me update faster and take on more projects. Thank you for reading!
Read up to 50 chapters ahead!
patreon.com/AminaSims
Next bonus chapter at 700 powerstones.