Black Clover - Another Clove (Patreon)

A humble little town within the forsaken lands of The Clover Kingdom. None would think anything of it as it borders along the witch's territory. The small town of Hersh had only a population of around eighty people. Buildings dot the town center but most were far apart from one another. The community of people are just farmers and being closer to the forest at times they grow trees themselves for lumber. Though as with many within the Foresaken lands, most of the magic the town had access to was nothing to be shown praise about. This sadly meant the town was plagued by troubles often. Strange beasts from the witch's forest, or just wild animals running around and eating crops.

“Though as luck would have it… all of those things are what lead me to meeting the hero of the forsaken lands…” Brushing off the back of my dirty skirt I try to be mindful of not speaking to myself too loudly. I never want people to think I’m that strange, only a little strange. Looking down at my diary I close it tightly shut, even though I write in it often, my handwriting was sloppy. “The Black Bulls… Asta… he’s really here. I can’t believe they actually accepted the quest the mayor sent out.” Staring at their backs was all I could do for now. Asta at least was easy to pick out. When the news would reach the town, he tended to be a fuss in some corner article. A lot were snobby towards him, but for people without magic, for people thought of as lesser. “He really is a hero…” I mumble again under my breath like I tended to do. Though I couldn’t just stand around mumbling and watching his back like a stalker. Pushing up my thick-rimmed black glasses I brush my long brown hair back over my shoulder. I looked like someone worse than a commoner, it made sense for the area I was in. Asta knew about our struggles though, his own home may have been a bit nicer but it was still in the same lands. “N-now I can d—”

THUD

It was an accident, I knew that right away, the shoulder bumping into mine pushing me aside. I’m usually hard to notice, I’m pretty short as is, though I’m nothing anyone would notice anyway. “Oh excuse me… I didn’t notice you there.” The girl’s voice is calm, polite, refined in a way. Though at the same time it seemed like she was a little flustered herself. Her eyes glance back toward Asta, and my heart stings a little. “I helped fix your town's bathing area, you should use it!” The girl's whitish purple twin tails flutter as she twists around on her heel boot. She was a black bull, but she had nicer clothing under her cloak. The comment she made was rude though, did I smell? Whatever she did mean did not make me feel better but, was she a noble?

Tugging at the sides of my skirt I look at all the small dirt blotches. My hands hand them too. She was calling me smelly, dirty in her own way, acting like she was better cause she’s a noble. Looking at MY Asta with eyes like that. “I can’t believe this…” I squeeze at the skirt and slowly walk over to the bathhouse. It was a community bathhouse of course, but it looked much nicer now than when I had seen it. The brick had been cleaned off, opening up the door steam pours out as well. I could not use magic myself, but it was clear several different people did. Water, fire, reshaped earth, perfectly cut stone slabs to repair pieces of the floor. It looked like the place had been fully renovated. “Amazing…” It was hard for me to not gawk in awe with my mouth a gap. Magic could do so many things, but I’d never know the pleasures of using it, having access to it. Still even if the noble was being passive-aggressive to me, the water was luring me in. They even had an area to wash the rags for clothes we villagers had. Asta kept himself clean so I had to do my best too, bratty noble comments or not.

SPLASH, SIZZLE

The water felt divine against my skin. The steam fogged my glasses but that was still comforting too. Dirt and grime wash off my body and drain off into some other dirty pool of water that looked like it was draining back into the ground. “At least I have some moment to relax…” Gently I run my hands along my rough skin. I was a girl but nothing like that noble girl. My skin was darker and rough from working farms, not pale and smooth. My hair was not silky but rough and knotted sometimes. The water was helping clean it a bit but I was still so plain. Brown hair, green eyes, I was more or less fully grown for a girl now but my chest was as flat as the washboard people were using for their clothes. “I could never be pretty like her… she has her eyes on Asta… if I talked to him now… he’d probably think I’m gross. His… his home is nicer than here too.” Biting at my lip I shake my head against the water, I could be pretty too still, couldn’t I? I was like Asta after all. That had to mean something. I couldn’t use magic and he could not as well. Though I never even got a book. “Asta did… what if he thinks I’m a loser then… I’ve tried to read more about him so often but… m-mm—" I sink into the water and stop myself from talking, instead I let bubbles fizzle out of my mouth to the water surface. I always did stuff like this, overthink so much. The villagers would get mad at me already trying to make inventions that don’t need magic since most of our village has no magic that’s super strong or practical beyond mundane things. “I still thought using the power of steam was a good idea… heh, but yeah magic would make it simple. But without it… I wish they could see things my way.”

SPLASH

Another person entered into the bath, common enough, it was a community bath. Though the figure rather than mind its own business got closer to me. They looked, rather beautiful in a way, a slender figure, short and cute, though the silhouette seemed to have a pair of long ears on top of their head. “Helllooo~!” The girl's voice giggles, she was directing it toward me it seemed. “Just coming in for a quick soak in the new tub here! Hehe, I didn’t know this was a normal service, seems kinda convenient—Though I guess they did pull that big wagon with supplies.” The girl gets closer, and closer till finally, she sits down right beside me. She had snowy white hair, her long ears too were that white color. She really was a beauty with such flawless skin, though I had not noticed any other nobles come with Asta’s group. The strangest thing was looking into the girls’ eyes, they were not some normal colors. Instead, they were black and white, a checkerboard style in them. She smiles at me running water over her rather flat chest before speaking again. “My name’s Elica. What’s yours?”

Gulping back some spit I had no idea what to make of this girl. By first glances, she seemed like a noble, but no noble would randomly use a freshly redone commoner bath. More so a bath in the forsaken lands. She wasn’t making fun of me yet either or telling me to leave. Though hesitant I decide to tell her my name. “My name’s… it’s Annabelle; Miss.” Yes, that’s correct, a rather common name but my name. Annabelle, I didn’t even have a last name seeing as where I am from. In a way, I hated the name, because of how common it was. Even someone like Asta had a name I had never heard of. How would someone like him ever notice just plain, Annabelle?

Poke, poke

Elica smiles sheepishly at me, her finger poking at my chest. “Helllooo? You get lost in thought a lot don’t you, hehe. You’re silly.” Before I could get a chance to react she slumps back into the bathwater. Every time she speaks she sounds so bubbly, cute, in a way I wanted to gag but something was also endearing about it. Like she really was earnestly like that. “So, Annabelle hm? You like Asta right?”

I pull my head under the water quickly hiding it, but from the heat and need to breathe I am thrusted back up gasping at air. “Wh-wha-what?!” My voice stumbles over itself, I could barely believe what I was hearing. Was I that obvious? “W-who the… wh-who the heck told you anything about that?! I-I was just looking!”

The girl’s long ears twitch and a grin parts her lips as she leans in close to me. It was like she wanted to whisper but she was not exactly talking softly. “Ooooh, just looking huh? I was just asking if you like him. Hehe, with that reaction I know my suspicion was right! You kept running away when he was coming around. I saw you~! Looking all cute and shy, but being too nervous to approach. Aaaah, young love.” Looking off blissfully to the steam Elica’s head snaps right back to look into my eyes. “But! You can’t keep running! He’ll never notice you like that! You had a chance earlier, how come you ran over here?”

As much as I wanted to yell at the long-eared girl, I could not rightly answer. I wanted to talk to him, though that other girl with him, I just could not bring myself to. “It’s just… I mean… I really wanted to just.” Elica stares deeply into my eyes, those checkerboards swirling were almost hypnotizing me to cough up some kind of answer. “It was that noble girl, the one that had the pretty whitish purple hair!” I splash my hand against the water huffing like a child. “She… she’s nothing like me, Asta was smiling and chatting with her though! A-and she was doing the same back. If that’s the kind of girl Asta likes I don’t have a chance to be together with him. I’m not a noble, I don’t even have fair skin like yours or hers. I’m as plain as they come! Even Asta is a commoner but still has unique traits about him!” Panting through my frustrations I splash some water again and sink back down into the oversized tub. “Nothings special about me… no one would ever really pick me over someone else.”

Frowning Elica shakes her head. I really was not sure what to make of the girl. I thought she would be fussy right back at me since she seemed like a noble. Though instead her eyes looked softly to me. They were calming, like telling me to take a slow breath to process what she was saying in her childish yet soothing voice. “Annabelle. You’re your own person.” Elica scoots herself closer to me and rests her hand against my shoulder. Her hand really was soft, like some kind of light pillow is how I describe skin like hers. “You have things about you that no one else does. Pain, joy, love, strengths, weaknesses. Some could be better, or worse, though no one will be you. If people don’t like you for who you are, are they really worth the trouble? If people run as soon as you show any flaws or weakness, are they really worth it?” The girl sighs slowly, her eyes actually seemed a bit pained as she spoke, like she had gone through situations like this too much. “If you really want to change. I can be of help. Though why don’t you try and talk to Asta yourself first before coming to me? If you tell me, you really want to change. I’ll more than gladly help you do whatever it is you wish.”

I feel the hand lift off my shoulder and I bring my head slowly back up. Part of me wanted to tell Elica it was okay, but when I turned my head to look at her she was already gone. “H-huh?” I mutter to myself and look around the bath confused. We were by the back wall, she would have had to walk back to the edge and climb out. “D-does she have some strange magic? I never even really asked if she was with the Black Bulls did I?” The matter was confusing, but regardless of who the long-eared girl was, something about her I felt I could trust. “Well… she’s right either way. I have to…” Gulping back my nerves I stand up in the bath my legs wobbling a little as I start walking over to the edge. “I have to actually try talking to him. Nothings going to happen if we don’t actually talk… I’ll just look like some sort of creepy stalker.”

“YEEEEAH!”

Crates thud to the ground, the dreamboat himself was right there. Asta’s defined glistening muscles, that wide smile showing his cute teeth. He was really right there! Currently, it seemed he was working with some of his teammates to put a fence around the town. It would be attacked by monsters or have random animals wander through, so a fence would help. “Okay Anna… you can do this… stop talking to yourself and just go talk to him.” Asta’s loud voice keeps echoing through the town, it really was charming if I say so myself. You could tell by his yelling just how excited he was, just happy to be helping other people. You never really saw that attitude with even other commoners. Some people are friendly but not everyone would willingly just give without taking. “Well… actually he’s probably getting paid for this I guess… but he’s still nice!”

THUD

Everything seemed fine but of course, I bump into the person right in front of me. Some guy with shaggy hair was holding a picture. “O-Oh my beautiful Si—” Before he can start spewing toward me I fall back to my base camp behind the bathhouse. The weirdo was mumbling about his sister it sounded like. I always had heard the Black Bulls took in rather colorful people though.

Trying to focus back on the task at hand I peer around the corner of the building to stare back at the people working on the fence. They had made steady progress for sure. Though I no longer saw Asta around. “I-I couldn’t have possibl—”

“Heeey! Whatcha doing back here all by yourself!?”

The loud voice startles me, I jump up in place looking around worried. I knew who it belonged to right away but part of me was more afraid to turn around and confirm it. “U-Um—” My voice trembles and stutters, was this really how it was gonna be? Turning around I stare at the white-haired boy, no boy would do Asta wrong, the hunk of a man! He even had his shirt off still! I could see his abs and everything, glistening so brightly and being so defined I could grate cheese on them. Trying not to drool I shake my head and look him in the eyes. He was not exactly tall but not short either. From the news papers I thought he would be shorter than me but he was about at my height at the very least. Well, it was probably for the worse since my avoiding his eyes was even more apparent. If I stared at them too long, I was worried I’d blush far too much. No one really wants to see that.

Asta tilts his head side to side for a moment, he was confused a bit. “Are you alright? You seem pretty nervous, reminds me of a friend of mine.” I had not really heard him talk more normally yet, through hearing his voice now, something about it was soothing in a way. Maybe that was me just playing to my fantasy though. “Hope I didn’t scare you. I just saw you were watching the rest of us work. Thought I’d say hi.”

My heart was beating out of my chest but somehow, I managed to keep myself from falling. Lifting my head slightly I look into Asta’s beautiful green eyes. His were nothing like mine, his shined brightly. If he did not start turning his head confused, I probably would have stared at him the rest of the day. Alas, not all dreams happen right away. “I… you’re. Asta.” He looked like he wanted to say something, probably that it was indeed his name or something like so what. Though I could not have that, I blurt out the rest of my words. “You’re a hero to the people here Asta! I-I’m really nervous cause I never thought someone like me would get to meet someone as amazing as you. You’re strong, handsome, a-and you have a really nice smile!” Hiding my face into my hands I let out a muffled scream like some sort of fangirl. I mean I am a fangirl but besides the point.

Asta’s cheeks turn a little red, he starts rubbing the back of his head, I could hear his hair rustle as he did it. “W-wait you were nervous because of me?” He sounded so amazed in a way. I knew he got the treatment now and again, though he clearly was not used to it. “I… Well thanks! I can say I’m pretty strong! N-not sure about the handsome thing but I try and keep myself clean! The others get mad if I don’t take a— I mean yeah I’m pretty amazing, aren’t I?! Hahaha!”

Was he really nervous now because of me fangirling over him? I wanted to glomp him so badly, maybe glomp was the wrong word but something about it felt right. “Asta!” I speak up for once lifting my face from my hands. He was smiling, still rubbing at his head, swaying a little even. Adorable, I almost could not take it but I did! “I-I actually have something to ask you, if that’s okay!”

With hands-on his hips Asta smiles widely again. “Oh, you wanted to ask me something? Not sure if I can help but sure ask away!”

I try my best not to stamper over my words. “W-well y-you—” I was a bit unsuccessful already. Shaking my head a few times I use all of my willpower to form a proper sentence. “Asta! I-Is there anyone you like?!”

Asta sees to ponder the question for a moment, his eyes slowly wandering to our town's church as if asking for a proper way to answer. “Yeah, there is. Though me and my, friend, both like the same girl.”

I did not want to feel dismayed over such remarks, my heart did sting a little but I was glad he was honest at least. Still, even with that, I had to push a little bit more. “W-well, what about anyone else? Do you like any other girls the same way? Even if you and your friend like this one. What if another girl liked you—like you both like her…?” I say my question with a little pause. I felt like I was confusing myself but it more or less got the point across.

“Huh…” Asta though seems to ponder on my words a bit more than I thought he would. He puts a hand to his chin even and starts scratching at it lost in thought. “Honestly… I never really thought about it much. I’ve always been trying to prove myself. I never really thought if anyone else well… likes me like that. Can’t know if they don’t tell you. But I guess if I was ignoring them, they may feel bad too.” Asta ruffles his hair with both hands seeming a bit frustrated, his cheeks blushing a bit. “Aaaah now I’m worried if I’ve been a jerk to other girls I know! But if they actually like… but wait no that’d make me seem like a bigger jerk!”

Dealing with some inner turmoil I chuckle under my breath. Asta had been training for a long time, trying to prove to the magic world someone without magic could make it. Even if it still tugged at my heart, it made sense that he would not be thinking about girls all the time. He may be a teenager but if you hyper-focus on a different goal you only get to act childish and blindly in love every so often. “I didn’t mean to make you worry over it… I’m glad you have anyone you admire yourself. Even if they feel out of your reach. You’ve… you’ve done a lot for the Kingdom Asta. People know you, a-and I don’t have magic myself! So, people like me look up to you too!”

Taken aback a little by my rather forward words Asta nods slowly taking all of that in. “Well… thanks, really. Ahaha, I’m not always great with more serious talks like this. Guess I’m getting a bit more awkward myself. But ah, I should go help the others with the fencing still. Did you wanna say anything else?”

This was my big moment! The moment I had trained for, or at least went over in my head a lot. “Well Asta, I actually… I lik—"

WHACK

The purplish-white twin-tails flutter in the air as a pale-skinned fist whacks my precious Asta’s skull. That noble girl again, Noelle was her name. I already did not care for her. Hurting my Asta just made me care for her less. “Come on you idiot we need to finish the rest of this work up tonight, get a move on!” Her voice was so rough now too compared to her tone before. How was that anyway for a lady to treat a would-be lover?

Asta sighs and looks toward me for a moment. “Noelle, just hang on a second I was talking to thi—”

Cutting him off mid-sentence Noelle pushes Asta forward as he wobbles along. Clearly, he did not want to push back against her out of kindness but the whole situation seemed to play against me. “Just get a move on already alright! You can stop bothering the villagers!” The girl then has the gull to wink at me with that comment. Her smile told me everything I needed to know. She was pretending like this was some favor to me. Though she clearly was declaring war. No, she was marking her territory as if to say a battle could not even start. “We’ll be off now!” She waves me aside and leaves with my Asta just like that.

“She really…” I could not believe any of it. The noble girl just thought she could do whatever she wish because of what, status? “She didn’t have to rub it in… how did she even see us from here?” Biting at my lip the reason was obvious. She was watching, waiting, biding her time just to make a fool out of me. “I-I can’t take all of this!” Storming off I slam my way back into the bathhouse. No one was there again even as time had moved in the day. Most of the men were still at work, and the women were making their dinners or helping the farms. “E-Elica…?” I whisper the words as if to make sure only she would hear. Though if there was no one there, no one would hear anyway. “I-I um…” I wasn’t sure why I was so nervous. Maybe because of how Elica sounded when she posed her conditions. “I would like your help…”

SPALSH

“Oh, oh, oh! Did you call me!?” The girl's energetic voice beams across the bathhouse. I had not seen her at all, but it sounded like she was treading through the water now. Closer and closer she jumps from the steam over the edge of the tub and when she lands, glossy black shoes click against the ground. She was fully clothed now in a blue dress with a white apron. Her white hair was dry and her long ears were twitching eagerly. “So?” Putting a hand on her hip she smiles happily at me, her eyes glancing me up and down. “Tell Elica all of your woes. What makes you call upon me for help?”

I begin to regale my plight to Elica. She listens with intent though I can sense some sort of judging from her swirling eyes. “And… and then she hit him, but winked at me, mocking me… Showing that I could never have Asta like she can!”

Standing on her tiptoes the girl starts to pat the top of my head. She was a bit shorter than me but not by a whole lot. Still, it felt odd to have a girl petting my head. “You poor, poor thing. It sounds like fate itself is against you.” Even as she says the words trying to be soothing something about her voice sounded like she wanted to let out a laugh. I could not exactly blame her for that though. “It really feels like you’re not met in this world, doesn’t it? Like someone threw you into this life just to be a pawn in someone else’s enjoyment?” She was saying odd things, but it had felt like that before. I’m not the main character of a book. I feel more like someone’s self-insert. No, it’s worse than that, I’m supposed to represent envy or something. A character that would see but never gain. “If you really want to change your life. To be in the spotlight of the story… so to speak. Then take… this!” So serious one moment, then the next Elica is thrusting a small stuffed doll that looked just like Asta. Stubby arms, bead eyes, the white fluffy hair. It was so plush, stitched neatly. Honestly it was so cute I already grabbed it as soon as Elica thrust it out. “Hehehehe well, well, the eager one aren’t we?”

Loosening my grip on the stuffie I look to Elica trying to choose my words carefully. She clearly had a magic of some kind, and it was far beyond anything I had seen. “Well… I got excited. But um, I would accept it regardless! What exactly is this cute… small… What exactly is this supposed to do for me? What am I supposed to do?”

With a smirk on her face, Elica gives me another pat to the head. “Well young one, simply go to Noelle with that little cutie in your hands. And… give it to her. Your life as you know it will be changed. What you do after is up to you.”

I think it over and reach my hand toward Elica. “W-well… alright th—”

Whish

My hand goes right through her body. She smiles one last time then, and the mist that was her body simply vanishes into the steam of the bath. “Was…” I wince my eyes back and squeeze at the stuffie in my hands. “It’s real, I’m awake… even what it says in the news, books, I’ve never heard of magic as diverse as hers. Clothing, vanishing, making dolls? It seems like too much variety.” Sighing slowly I walk out of the bathhouse. It was finally nighttime now. “How long had I been in there…? It shouldn’t be this dark already…”

THUD

Someone hits against my shoulder as they walk out of the bathhouse. “Oh excuse me Anna.” It was one of the villagers. They walk on by like nothing was strange. I was just in the bathhouse though and I saw no one else inside it but me and Elica. Confused as I was, it only confirmed how powerful someone like Elica was. She probably called me young one on purpose, to express just how vast her wisdom and strength were. Squeezing at the stuffie again, I now had my goal in sight, and the steps to reach it right in my hometown. I only needed to find the noble brat causing me grief.

Creeeeak

I could see them all there. Sleeping in some bunkhouse of an inn for the night. They were gonna get back to work tomorrow of course so it made sense. They probably would have never thought that I’d be here, on the ceiling beams. “There she is…” Noelle was in a sectioned-off part of the room with two other girls from the Black Bulls. They looked normal enough; one just was a little short. Noelle luckily was not that close to them. The short one looked like a heavy sleeper, and the pink-haired one seemed passed out drunk, almost like everything was working in my favor. “Alright… I just need her to take the doll. Though… she didn’t tell me what else to do.” Biting at my lip I start to overthink, worry. Though I was already standing on a thin roofing beam after sneaking in through the window. I had to do something. “Alright… time for my rope skills to come in.” Typing myself up around the waist I tie the rope to the beam and carefully slip myself off using the side of the wall as a means to hobble myself into the room nice and slow. The last thing I wanted was to fall on top of Noelle and create a scene. I wouldn’t want Asta to think I was some sort of thief either. I had to be nice and careful.

Creeeak

The side of the walls creak, the beam I was standing on was creaking too. The place was in a commoner, well less than commoner to nobles, village. I knew it was old but I thought maybe it could be a little quieter! “Wh-whatever for now just get down Anna.”

Tap

My feet hit against the ground and I slowly walk over to this so-called Noelle. If she could see me now, she would probably say I was acting like some common thief. And I suppose in some ways she could be right but I was giving her an item so it was completely different. Telling myself in my head to not start talking to myself was indeed hard but I managed. Hovering my hand over Noelle I reach toward her and gently tuck the Asta stuffed doll under her arm. It was a cute doll still, part of me wanted to smack Noelle for even holding onto it. Regardless of my stray thoughts the deed that Elica had told me to do was now done. Though as far as I could tell nothing was happening.

“M-mm…” Noelle however was stirring herself awake. Her arm squeezes at the Asta doll and she starts to rub at her eyes like some sort of child. “Nnngh… so noisy here… ugh.” The girl's whitish purple hair swarms around her body as she sits up from her bed. Her eyes seemed dazed but she was staring right at me. Most would ask why I did not run right then, or when I saw her stirring. Too little time, I would have ended up waking everyone else up if I rushed away. “Y-you…?” Though maybe luck was playing in my favor, or maybe it was the doll already at work. As Noelle looked at me, she was not angry, just stared at me confused. Her voice was even hushed as she began to wake up a bit more. “You’re… You’re the girl from before… the one Asta was talking to, right?”

At this point, I could only hold onto Elica’s words. This doll had to be doing something for me. I was not sure if it was a prolonged effect, if it was triggered, I had no idea at the time. Though assuming it would do something I could only play into Noelle’s questioning. “Yes… that’s me. You.” Swallowing back spit I decided I should be honest and see what exactly Noelle would react with. “You interrupted me. I was trying to talk to him, but you cut me off and even hurt him right in front of me.”

Her lips dip into a frown. I could tell from the look in her eyes the hit was intentional for sure. “Oh, that. You really wanted to talk to him? I thought he was bothering you. I didn’t know you were actually trying to talk to him.” It was odd, when she said those words part of me thought she was serious. Like at that moment the doll was doing nothing, and she was some kind person. As she looked down at the doll in her arms though and squeezed it to her chest. I could see her noble side showing clear as day. “Why… why is this here? Actually, how did you even get in here? Were… were you mad at me?” Noelle’s eyes scan over the room noting the rope hanging from the roof's beam. “Ah… did you slip and, did… did this doll fall into my hands?”

I could barely believe what I was hearing. Was she trying to make a fool out of me just for her next act? It was like she was trying to pretend she could only see the best in people. She knew I didn’t fall, she just wanted to frame it that way so she could get me into worse trouble. “I was mad at you. Yes. If you must know I was very mad at you. Asta is important to me. And… and you just had to but yourself into our conversation!” I raise my voice a little and Noelle stands up and grasps onto my wrist. “H-hey what are—”

Shaking her head, she nudges her head toward her sleeping friends. “I’m bringing you outside alright.” We somehow leave things there. She walks with me in her nightgown out the front door of the little inn and even walks with me a bit away from the building. Oddly enough though she keeps her arm clenched onto the doll. “Look.” She stops finally by the side of one of the farms and turns toward me. Her purple eyes looked rather striking in the night if I’m honest. They went well with her hair. Though they were a bit stern now. She clearly knew something was going on. “I wasn’t trying to get in your way. I didn’t know Asta meant that much to you.” She sighs, though I could not believe any of her words. “I-I… I mean, I guess…” Her cheeks start to blush then and her voice stutters suddenly. She was like some kid with a crush, finally showing more of her true colors. “I care about Asta too, okay?! So it’s not like I don’t get it, that idiots likable I guess.” She really had the gull to insult him and praise him at the same time? The noble really could never put aside her hate for the common folk, yet she falls in love with one. What a joke she is. “So just understand, I meant nothing by it! If you really wanna talk to him by yourself…” Her cheeks start to blush a bit more, her fingers twiddling over one another. What the heck was this girl even thinking? “I mean… wh-what exactly were you going t— NO! I don’t wanna know! It’s just As— Well no— I mean—” She grabs her hair in frustration and squeezes tightly at the Asta doll. “Ugh… maybe I should get one of these for myself… did you make it yourself?”

Noelle was acting very odd, even for a noble girl. Her hands were grasping onto the doll too tightly. I had no idea why but, part of me wanted to grab onto it as well. “Just… forget it. I don’t need to tell you. The point is I shouldn’t even be having this conversation now. You should have let me speak to him. But…” I close my eyes for a moment and take a breath. Something in me was burning and I wanted to express that. “You’re so insecure. So jealous and stuck up just like any noble trash. I should have figured this would have all happened from the start.” My voice was suddenly harsh, it was a bit too harsh. She was a snobby noble but I was starting to be just like her then was I not? Her face looked so confused from my speaking, but I kept prattling on out of anger. “You really think someone like you could have Asta all to yourself? You’re pathetic. Given some great magical power by blood and you think you can go grabbing any man you wish?” Right as she is about to speak up angrily herself from my comments I dart forward and slap my palm to her mouth silencing her. “Don’t try to suddenly have the gull to speak to your better!”

CRACK

My black-rimmed glasses drop to the ground cracking against a pebble. Had I been so blinded by anger my body wanted me to be blind literally? Though strangely enough what would usually be fuzzy up so close I could see as plain as day. Noelle staring at me with a bit of fear in her eyes. I could see my reflection in her eyes. My hair was different, my bangs looked discolored. “Wh-what…?” My voice finally speaks out normally and I release Noelle taking a few steps back to examine myself. Around the tips of my fingers started to discolor. My usual rough tanned skin was suddenly pale and felt smooth but just at the fingertips. Like something had clung to my body and was trying to travel through it. “What’s happening?! What are you trying to do to me?!” I turn my eyes back to Noelle. How was I supposed to understand magic if I never had it myself? Though to my dismay, she looked just as confused as I.

“Just stand still!” Shaking her head to help herself refocus she summons her spellbook to her side and it immediately falls to the ground before it even had a chance to glow. “What the?!” She lets out a surprised gasp and suddenly her expression turns serious. She must have thought she was under attack by some foe. Right away she tries running toward the inn. I could tell her mind was seeking Asta’s protection and to see if she could protect him from the unseen threat. Though unfortunately for Noelle she too falls just like her book.

THUD

What was I to do? A poor defenseless noble girl was sprawled out on the ground before me in just her nightgown. Of course, I could not just leave her out in the cold night. Despite the thoughts in me at that point I pick up her spellbook and start flipping through it. I never actually held one before since I had no visible talent for magic. Though I had to say it felt amazing. “This feels amazing—” I could barely believe the power I felt just holding it. Was that the reaction a normal common girl should have?

Drip, drip, drip

Even with that thought in mind, the book in my hands was starting to drip with water. The pages were even faintly glowing! I was doing nothing; I could not even read the words on the page but for some reason, it was reacting to me. “Do I… Could I really?” Pressing my palms against the pages of the book my mind felt like it was blank. Only one thing was in my head. “This magic… it’s. It’s mine.” Smiling widely, I swish my hand over the pages of the grimoire and watch them flip faster and faster. The blue glow from the book grows bright and torrents of water shoot up from both my sides!

Psssssh

The water has a constant flow and I feel it drip against my skin and drench Noelle under me. “What a miracle, what cleansing water! This is amazing!” Something about my speech felt off, no a lot of things felt off, yet right at the same time. The water shooting up into the air at both my sides for example. For someone just unlocking magic was that amount of power normal, maybe it was because I lacked control. The torrents were about five feet wide and shot up roughly ten feet into the air. “This… this seems like so much. I could of… ha, I could have made farming so much easier if I had something like this sooner.” Biting at my lip I try and brush off the thought. It's not like I needed to worry about farming right now anyway. I had magic was the main point, I proved everyone around me wrong. “I could… I could join the Black Bulls like this!” I wanted to jump for joy, and surely enough water pressure builds at my feet. My magic was seemingly listening to me and bending to my will in the form of water. The torrent under me was the same size as the other too but somehow, I could stand on the water. “This… this really is amazing.”

Noelle however had to ruin the moment. Her groaning and whining as she lay in the grass still hugging at the Asta doll. “N-ngh.. my head.” Part of me was surprised she woke back up, though I was mostly interested in why she seemed so weak. Her hair was different too, the roots atop her head were brown now. “Why am I soaked?” She grabs at her nightgown and rings it out onto the ground looking slowly at the torrents of water I had so easily created. “What the hell is all of this?!” Jumping to her feet that brat of a noble glares up at me glancing at my spellbook with envy in her eyes. “Give that back to me! I don’t know how you’re using my spellbook but this isn’t funny!”

I laugh atop my watery tower looking down at the pathetic sight. “Your book?” The more she spoke the more her words rang incorrectly in my head. Just how could she think all these things true. “I was given this book at a young age. You must be mistaken, or not right in the head. Wandering around in the dead of night in some wet rags doesn’t give you the right to ask for handouts!”

The stupid poor girl looked dumbfounded at me like she had not understood a word I said. Instead of acting with a shred of respect, she starts yelling in a plead. “Annabelle right?! You have to stop this! You… even I can tell somethings screwed up here. Someone’s controlling you! You have to fight this!”

The girl was really a piece of work. She kept on pleading like something great was at risk. Though in my head at that moment, I knew what the real risk was, and it was right there under me. “Your right, I do have to fight this. You keep babbling more and it’s getting rather sad honestly. So sad that it’s becoming an annoyance.” Waving my hand to my side the torrent of water to my left smacks the sad girl tossing her onto the ground soaking her further. “Hah, can’t even more out of the way of a simple thing like that.” Brushing my long purplish-white hair over my shoulder I turn my head in a huff. Part of me felt a bit odd still though. My hand streaking through my hair, it was different than normal. My hair was a little thicker, as well it felt like it had been cared for by special products a commoner could never hope to have. The water around me finally made me realize more. Tendrils of water like some sort of tentacle were tying my hair up in twin tails. The color of my hair was no longer my original brown anymore. It looked exactly like Noelle’s and for some reason, the water thought it best I even copy the girl's usual hairstyle. “I don’t understand exactly what’s going on.” Closing my eyes for a moment I think of the doll and my eyes look at it then. Noelle was still carrying it, tucked between her arms. Even though she was soaked and on the ground, the doll seemed to not have a drop of water on it. Even as the girl holds it close to her breast. “That doll… give it back to me at once.”

Slowly getting herself back to her feet Noelle stands, water dripping from her body. Her cheeks were a bit flushed too as her nightgown was becoming see-through from how damp it was. “Y-you!” Her eyes stare at me angrily. Her voice was even angrier than that. Though what was interesting for me to note was that her hair too was changing. Just I was able to see it happen before my eyes. That silky lovely noble hair of hers was becoming rattier. The dull dark brown, the unkempt bangs, and split ends. She had the hair of common trash now for sure. “I’m not going to just hand this thing over to you! You stole my spellbook, just give it back to me already! Augh, I don’t even know how you’re using it!”

Ignoring her words now I look at the doll in her hands again. It no longer even looked like my Asta. The face was smiling now when it was blank before. The hair atop it was different as well. It was more like mine and Noelle’s, just one side of the head was the purplish-white, and the other was that ratty commoner brown. “Hmph, did Elica mean for something like this to happen?” I take a step forward and slide down the torrent of water. I had no idea why the doll would give me such a mastery of water magic, though I was not going to complain. From the little I was allowed to read from newspapers it sounded like it took Noelle a long time to find her talent. “If it’s making me like you this is odd…” my feet tap against my dirty shoes a bit cleaner from the water. “Noelle… I think you should give me that doll if you know what’s best for you.”

She grips the doll even closer to her chest shaking her head. “No way! I’m never giving this to you; not till you return my spellbook!” She was serious but I could not understand her way of acting. “You keep acting like a different person! Someone has to be controlling you. Remember who you actually are!” She seemed convinced that I was acting odd, like one moment I was a villain and the next a normal confused girl. “Hah… even now you're rolling your eyes again. Your hair even changed… your hands.” Saying the words aloud Noelle looks to her own body then and yells. “W-wait why am I changing too!? I’m… I’m starting to look like how you did!” Grabbing at her hair she tries to rip it off like it was a wig but the hair was not coming off. “This… can’t be real. The others had to hear all this by now. I got to… I gotta get help.” I was not sure why, but something about her desperation was calming. Watching her struggle was fun. She runs ever closer to the inn, only this time her body smacks against a wall and she falls back to her knees just like any commoner would. “What?! There’s nothing even here why can—” Her eyes go wide, the hope in them deliciously draining as she realizes what’s actually there. The torrents of water were still pumping away. The whole time they were creating a nice little dome around us. It seemed to act like a shield spell. Though with my mastery I could make the barrier as thin as I wanted. I did this little trick to make sure Noelle did not run from me, and it seems I was correct to do so.

“You really are pathetic, aren’t you? Hmph.” I turn my head from the sad sight but offer my hand out toward her. Not to help her though. “Now, give me the doll. I’ll let you run along after that.” The skin of my hands was far paler than before. It was just the fingertips at first but my whole hand now was this different skin tone. It stopped at the wrist but it looked like I had cut someone’s hands-off and attached them to my body. Yet somehow it did not turn me away. I had a theory that the doll had already worked its magic, that was why I wanted it. I was becoming a noble myself with its power, my life really would change. Though if it already worked its magic that meant I needed to take the doll and hide it away somewhere. “Hurry up.” Losing my patients, I grab at Noelle’s nightdress and lift her off the ground. I would say it was my strength but threads of water were helping me lift her. Her skin too was changing. Around her neck were splotches of the dirty tanned leathery skin I had grown accustomed to from working the fields. I looked similar to her, was she becoming like me then? Swapping places completely with some noble. To make her suddenly become a commoner felt punishing enough. Well a less than commoner being in the forsaken lands.

Teeear

Noelle’s clothing becomes tatters on the ground. I was simply holding her, but my water threads seemed to deem this necessary. “Heeeey! What the heck are you trying to do to me! Just let me go already! You can see whatever the hell is going on is affecting our bodies can’t you!?” She yells and squirms in my grip but I do not let go. That would be far too easy after all. Instead, I squeeze at her neck and thrust her against the water shield. It acted as a solid surface luckily. Then grabbing the stuffed doll from her hand, I glare into her eyes. They were changing color as well now, from that purple to dull green. “N-nck… y-your eyes?” She apparently was seeing the same, I could not tell exactly what color mine was changing too though. “Y-You’re not me!”

She tries to struggle more in my grip but I thrust her naked body more forcefully against the water wall. “Shut up already! The hair… my skin. Your right! I am becoming you. I thought I was just becoming some noble but hmph.” I give a flick of my hair and grin at Noelle. “If I’m becoming you it seems like I’m becoming a much better version if I do say so myself. And guess what that means?” I lean in close to her, my lips grazing against her ear as she keeps struggling. “That means you get become me, who I was~ Nothing more than a piece of trash out in the Forsaken Lands Clover Kingdom doesn’t care to take care of. A little magicless girl~” Squishing Noelle’s cheeks in my hands I make her stare me in the eyes as she keeps her evil hating glare on me. “Oh and the best part? Asta will never even remember you. To him you’ll just be some… filler character. A person he walked by, no one that will be remembered.”

THUD

I drop her to the ground again, she grasps at her neck and gasps for air. The sun was beginning to rise. Soon the day would begin for many. Farmers would start waking soon and the other Black Bulls staying the night would get back to working on the fence. “I’ll be a part of that team from now on too…”

Or so I would like to say easily, but Noelle scrambles to her feet and starts shaking my shoulders violently, screaming yet again. “Please! You have to snap out of this! You aren’t being me! You’re… you’re just making yourself look like me. I don’t understand this either but you have to stop all this!”

Snapping my fingers, I have water circle in front of me and create a reflective surface. It worked well enough as a mirror, better than using someone’s eyes. In it I did have Noelle’s hair, touching at my nose I could even see it morph to the correct shape. Like it was correcting imperfections. My eye color was now purple, my skin that same pale, I had magic. I was Noelle now, wasn’t I? I was how Noelle should be, this is the real Noelle. I’m the real Noelle. My slightly toned yet plump thighs, my modestly sized bosom, my somewhat short height yet noble posture. The appearance was all that mattered. “I am Noelle. Just look at how beautiful I am… I really am a princess, aren’t I? Powerful beauty, what more could my Asta desire? I can give him everything like this.” Maybe staring at myself awakened something within me. I felt pure bliss seeing who I was now. The rest of my skin turning to that soft smooth pale, my eyelashes flicking up perky, my butt even getting a bit of a lift. The changes were small at first, but I really was her, no one would be able to say otherwise.

“You’re not me!” Noelle’s voice sounded so foreign to me. She really wanted to still argue even now? “Just please stop this. Listen to reason I don’t wanna have to knock you out!”

Words like that were the final straw, I thrust the doll forward and part my lips into a toothy smile. I would say I had no idea what I was doing, but I think I did. “You’re absolutely correct! I could never be some poor commoner trash!” The doll lets out a laugh in my hands and a black mist shoot forth engulfing Noelle within it. Minutes tick by and I hear no sounds within the mist. With little choice given the sun coming up, I have my water wall finally sink back into the ground. The area was rather damp now, my old broken glasses the only thing that remained. “I guess… I’ll need to at least get her a new pair.” With a little smirk still on my lips, I pick up the glasses and start walking back to the inn.

THUD

Another thud as I walk in through the door. That commoner fell from the black mist finally. Looking down at the doll in my hands, it looked just like Annabelle. That ratty hair, the green beady eyes, the droll ragged ripped dress, even the thick-rimmed glasses. “A reminder? It was Asta though and then… strange.” Why had the doll taken on my appearance? The doll was supposed to be to help me to get what I wanted, wasn’t it? Asta was the object of my desires so the doll took on his form and helped me gain a form that would let me have him. It had no reason to take on my shape. “Well, whatever.” Walking back upstairs to my room, I look to the rest of the girls still sleeping away. It sounded like some of the boys were starting to wake up so good as time as any to get dressed. A nice sleeveless purple dress to cover my chest. A white overcoat dress that clipped to my neck and had an almost feathered skirt to it. The outfit was a bit revealing but clean and noble as one would expect, easy to move in for combat as well. The underwear was a bit impractical but I can go over that another day. The over piece also had sleeves that hugged my upper arms, helps with the chilly morning air. Then the sandal-like footwear I have, ah yes. I barely knew how to get them on at first but something in my mind began to tell me. Lace the bands around the back of the foot, slide the piece up the leg to cover my shins. They were practical enough. Brown belt with a bag around my waist, and of course my Black Bull cloak over my shoulders. Luckily my hair was already tied up so I did not need to worry over that. “It feels so comfortable. Being in my own clothes again.” My hands mindlessly tug at the purple ribbons in my hair just making sure they were firm and would not come loose. “I suppose it is time to start the day.”

Slowly but surely people funnel out of the inn. We get right back to making sure the area is secure, work on the fence more to help the poor common people. I found the day to be mostly pleasant even if I had to deal with some slimy conditions. Oddly enough the other Bull’s did not speak to me much though Asta did keep looking at me oddly now and again. We had plenty of work to take care of, so I could understand us all not being able to speak right away. “WHY THE HELL’S EVERYONE SO QUIET!” Asta shouting suddenly at the top of his lungs though was lucky enough to break the silence and restart the small talk again. Lucky for me he walked right over to me rubbing at the back of his head. “Hey Noelle!” Even if he was seeming bashful his voice was loud as always. “Everyone was seeming a bit weird today, right? Hahaha, like they were all under some kind of spell. So um, guess I’m just wondering if you’re feeling okay.”

I can feel my cheeks start to heat up and I quickly push my palm against Asta’s shoulder. “O-Oh come on you idiot! I’m perfectly fine! It’s just, ya know, doing all this manual labor isn’t always something a lady like me is excited for.”

With a smirk on his lips, Asta rolls his eyes puts his hand to his forehead and starts looking over my shoulder intently. “A lady? Huh? I don’t see her anywhere Noelle! Was she hiding behind you? I hope you didn—”

WHACK

I smack him against the side of his head, but it honestly hurts my hand a bit more than it does him. “Y-you idiot! I’m talking about me of course! Geez, why don’t you just help me you jerk! We’ve got a lot of work to take care of!” It was odd, something was odd about how I was acting. I didn’t want to do all those things or say all of that. Picking up a wooden beam Asta thankfully helps me and we walk it over to a stack close to the fence area we were creating. “Tsk, this place really is trash…”

Asta’s eyes squint at me like he was confused. “What… what did you just say Noelle?”

Smiling back at him I wrap my arm around his letting my breasts gently press into his arm. “It’s nothing Asta~ You’re nothing like all of them. Aaaah, you’re simply amazing.” This was all wrong. Noelle wasn’t acting like this all the time, was she? This was just the kind of two-face acting I assumed all nobles did. “I think I can reward you plenty today too if you’d like, how about you just—”

CRASH

Annabelle. Yes, the person who I was. The one who I made Noelle. She was standing not too far away, a box in her hands. She seemed to have dropped a few things. Her green eyes tearing up a little. Asta pushes me away and runs right over to her. “Hey, hey! Are you alright Anna? It was Annabelle, right? Here let me help you.”

Asta was smiling at her as he helped pick everything up. Even as she was whimpering, she was smiling a bit too. “S-Sorry about all this. Aaaah, I sorta, I well broke my glasses, and well, I don’t know where they even are now. Ugh, I’m too clumsy sometimes. Hah, what I get for not having magic.”

My stomach was turning the whole time I was watching the scene. My hand mindlessly digging into my satchel bag to dig out that doll. “No magic?” Asta asks in question, he was now the one holding the large box. “I don’t got it either! But even if you don’t, me and you can both still do plenty, you help on the farm a lot after all right? I can tell just by looking at you.” He laughs with a slight dumb blush on his face. Would he ever look at me like that? “Come on, I’ll set this over here for you. Know anywhere to get new glasses? I could help you out with that.

They both keep chatting away, and I’m left alone, a few Bull’s behind me reminding me to get back to work. I slowly lift the doll out of the bag and look at its face. “Ahah… Ahahahaha. She told me to just listen and I didn’t. But she never lied either… Annabelle, you’re… you’re the only one smiling now.”