Alucard personally sat beside Fuegoleon as he lay in a bed provided by Owen. Several other mages had come to check on him once things started to settle down, and even Nozel made a brief stop to check up on him.
Now it was just him, Mimosa, and Leopold sitting in silence as they watched Fuegoleon's chest rise and fall. Leopold looked the worst out of them all, his eyes heavy with unshed tears as Mimosa kept glancing at Alucard, finally elbowing him into action.
"There was nothing you could have done, Leopold." He flinched as Mimosa smacked him. "What?" He mumbled as Mimosa turned towards her cousin. "What he means is you need to stop beating yourself up over this. From what you and Alucard have told me, Fuegoleon let himself be taken. Whoever did this to him is much stronger than you, so there's no reason to bear such an unnecessary burden."
Leopold nodded silently as his mind seemed to clear. "You're right, both of you. My brother wouldn't want me to sit around sulking when I could be getting stronger." Alucard nodded in approval as voices got closer.
"Look who's back!" Noelle burst inside with a wide smile as Asta and Julius followed behind her. Alucard narrowed his eyes at the boy but did nothing as Leopold went over to talk to him. Julius let them be as he walked over to his son and friend.
"He'll survive, though I did notice something," Alucard said as Julius glanced at Fuegoleon's still form, immediately seeing it. "His pendant." "Exactly. Whoever attacked the Capitol did so to distract us, to get his pendant." Julius considered this for a moment before sharing how they even managed to break into the Capitol.
"Several mages in charge of maintaining the magic barrier were either missing from their posts or found dead." Alucard frowned at that. Since the defense of the Capitol was so important, not many knew where the magic nodes for maintaining the barrier were, much less who stood guard and kept them running.
"A traitor then." Julius nodded solemnly before patting his shoulder. "I'll start looking into it. For now, you stay close to your friends. I'm sure they've caught the attention of our new enemies."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
After opening a portal for Asta and Noelle, Alucard and Mimosa bid their goodbyes to Leopold, who stayed the night beside his brother. Upon returning to their shared room, Alucard was busy taking off his robes when Mimosa came up behind him.
"I was so worried when we were moved out of the city." She said softly as she embraced him, holding him tight as he tried to formulate a response. "Thank you for your concern." He finally said as Mimosa pouted and pinched his side.
It did nothing as he finished changing and went to bed. Mimosa curled up beside him as she held him close, wanting to be near the warmth emanating from his body for as long as possible as they drifted off to sleep.
The next day, Alucard is up bright and early, going through his morning routine when he is called into the Captain's office. "You wanted to see me, Captain Vangeance?" He nodded and waved him in as he shut the door behind him.
"The Wizard King has started searching for any clues pertaining to this new terror group, and there have been reports of activity along the border with the Diamond Kingdom. You and the Gravewatchers have been assigned to patrol the region for anything of interest."
Alucard nodded and met up with Carter and the others before opening a portal and taking them as close as he could to the border. Once there, they went their separate ways as Alucard covered more ground on his own. As he flew over the land, he thought about what they would do if they did find anything.
'I could probably destroy them by myself, if the few weaklings present at the Capitol are anything to go by. But there is the unknown that is Fuegoleon's attacker.' Alucard was no doubt very strong, but Fuegoleon was no slouch either. He couldn't confidently say he could wound him as quickly as he had been.
As he flew through the countryside, he felt a pulse of mana in the distance and sped up to investigate. As he drew closer, he realized that a small village was under attack by Diamond Kingdom mages, and he opened fire.
"Enemy attack!" A few were able to shout before a cluster of spells slammed into them. Screams of pain reached his ears as barriers formed over civilians. A few mages were able to rally and tried to fire off spells, but Alucard was faster.
Parents pulled their children closer, shielding their eyes from the bloody scene before them as the Magic Knight landed. "Is anyone injured?" His voice rang out as a few flinched. He was tall and seemed to either be scowling or impassive as he went around to those who were injured, healing them with his magic.
"Is he here to save us?" A small child asked their parents, who glanced at each other, then towards the man speaking with their village chief. "Yes, see that robe?" The boy's father pointed it out as the man lifted into the air with his mana.
"That robe means he's one of the Magic Knights, the protectors of the kingdom."
'Ironic,' Alucard thought as he left the village. He'd heard what the man told his son, but didn't bother sticking around as he swiftly burned the enemy bodies before moving on with his patrol.
For the next week, Alucard was busy patrolling the area, looking for anything that might lead to the Eye of the Midnight Sun base, or at least clues. He found nothing and was quite agitated.
Mimosa was also agitated; she'd just gotten her fiancé back from the frontlines, only for him to go back! She didn't really understand why it bothered her so much, since she knew he was more than capable of taking care of himself.
When Mereoleona finally showed up to check on Fuegoleon, she shared her concerns with her. "Wow, it's worse than I thought." She teased seeing Mimosa pout. "It's ok, Mimosa, and normal. You were telling me how you two got closer after taking down that dungeon, so now you're just more aware when he's not beside you.
Sure, it can be scary at times, but that's part of being with someone. There will be times they have to go fulfill their duties, and you will have your own as well someday. So stop moping and let's go train!"
Mimosa let herself be dragged away as she tucked away the first smart thing Mereoleona had said in years. She decided to take her cousin's advice and threw herself into training so that in the future, when Alucard stood tall against the world, she could stand right beside him.
Asta, Yuno, and Noelle were also busy training. Yuno was feeling the pressure increase on him every time he met Asta and saw how fast he was catching up, and being around Alucard all but forced him to get stronger.
With the Wind Spirit Sylphs awakening, he now had another source of magic to master, so each day he threw himself into training as he vowed not to be left behind.
Asta, for his part, was busy trying to fit Alucard into the mental map that was the plot of this world. Knowing that Noelle was close with him, he asked her, and she only told him what he already knew.
"Years ago, the Wizard King went missing for a week and returned with him. He only said that his mother had died, and he was his son. He was raised like the royals and is very powerful."
Deciding to ignore the literal walking plot hole, Asta refined and expanded his sword skills as he learned how to better wield his two blades. Noelle also helped him, shooting water bullets at him to dodge, deflect, or destroy, and they both grew stronger together.
All the while, the Wizard King continued his search for his new foes, as he kept a close eye on the board, watching as piece after piece fell into place.