4 Grimoire Ceremony

"I'm back" a joyful voice called, Kuro was excited for his reward considering he's been out all day without getting caught by any witches or guards, though there were a few close calls but nothing big.

The Witch Queen looked up from her crystal ball towards Kuro. "Congratulations Kuro, come, we need to talk" she stood up from her throne and started to walk towards the dining room, Kuro silently followed behind.

Walking into the dining room the Witch continued towards the end of the table, sat down, and waited. Seeing her like this Kuro sat down as well, after a while maids walked into the room with tea and slices of different kinds of cake.

Once they left Kuro stared intently at the cakes making the queen let out a sigh, what did she expect? He never had any type of desert since he got here, turning his head towards his mother he saw her gesturing for him to eat.

Kuro didn't hesitate to head for the vanilla cake, as he took his first bite he felt the cake melt in his mouth, letting out a small hum he continued to eat the as the queen watched silently as a small unnoticeable smile formed on her face. "Kuro"

He swallowed the piece of cake he had in his mouth before responding to his mother's call. "Yes?"

"You'll be leaving the witches forest in a month for Nairn, the moment you leave this place you'll be on your own and we won't see each other for some time, there will be no training during this time so you can do what you want" the Witch Queen spoke taking a small bite of her cake.

*Clank*

Kuro's fork fell from his hand and hit his plate, his eyes widened at the thought of leaving, it wasn't bad, just surprising. "Is there any reason for this?"

"Of course there is, the Grimoire acceptance ceremony is in a month, did you forget?"

Those words struck him like lightning. 'How the hell did I forget about this?!'

"And you should know that once someone leaves the forest they aren't welcomed back unless I permit it, though you're my son I can't let you escape this rule as well unless it's something serious"

Kuro nodded his head while letting out a silent sigh. "I understand, is there anything else I should know?"

The queen closed her eyes for a moment, opening them again she shook her head. "That's all for now, I would suggest getting mana control in, it helps more than you think."

****

-One month later-

Kuro could be seen on the balcony with the queen standing in front of him, she was wearing a red dress this time with the same design as the lime one.

"I guess it's time to go"

"Indeed, I wish you luck, if I find out your grimoire is under average I'm dragging you back here and locking you in a cage for a month" as she said those words Kuro broke into cold sweat, then calmed himself down, and calming down turned into utter disbelief.

The Witch Queen's eyes had stopped being cold and her face wore a motherly smile, of course, this only lasted for a second before she went back to being her former self. "This is goodbye for now"

Snapping her fingers crows surrounded Kuro and in the next moment he was gone, seeing this the Witch Queen turned around and walked away as her figure disappeared into the shadows.

---

After a minute or so Kuro reappeared near Nairn, looking around he saw people around his age heading in one . 'We finally made it!'

'*Whistle* Congrats, though we aren't welcomed in the forest anymore I heard about something called the magic knights through your old memories, well what's left of them.' a feminine voice within his head said.

'Like we were ever welcomed there anyways, I'm still shocked from that last scene.' he thought with a chuckle, Kuro continued to walk with the crowd while looking around, it wasn't what he was used to considering the witches' homes were up in trees.

There was one place in particular that caught his attention, a restaurant, it wasn't anything special but he felt something trying to push him towards it when he saw who was working there. Through the glass he saw a girl older than him by what looks like a year with an average height and a slender, curvaceous build, she had long, wavy red hair and navy-blue eye as well with a child on her back, sitting in the back there were four other kids that had red hair and blue eyes as well, two boys and two girls.

Kuro turned around to look at it one more time trying to shake off the need to go there, but the girl turned her head towards Kuro and stared back at him. 'Was I staring too long?'

Kuro did a slight wave and walked away.

---

After an hour or so of waiting, Kuro found himself inside a huge library setting, books everywhere. He was surrounded by teens, many had looks of anticipation, some were on their knees, and others were crying. The ones who were confident were silently wishing for luck.

'If mother was here she'd probably execute them on the spot for acting this way- what the hell some are crying when it hasn't even started yet!' Kuro silently tried to distance himself from them.

'Of course they should be nervous, this determines their place in the world, those with good magic would have a higher chance to get a good job while those that are lower will have a harder time.'

'That's it? The pressure is real, but not for me!' Kuro leaned against the wall and closed his eyes, trying his best to ignore the scenes going on in the background, a guy breaking down while another came to berate him saying stuff about the kingdom and how he should man up.

After all the people stopped swarming in, a voice was heard making all the teens silent, without wasting a second Kuro made his way to the center of the room for a better look.

An old man with crimson robes stepped onto the stage and gave a speech, which Kuro may or may not have ignored but nonetheless heard some of it.

"All of your journeys start here. I wish you luck, hope, and faith" the old man said as his steps echoed through the hall, until he finally stopped in front of a podium and opened his arms.

"Let the ceremony begin!" as his shout resounded through the hall the books on the shelves started shaking slightly before flying towards their new owner. Green, orange, red, and blue. Many colors for different magic.

Many joyous cries and shouts resounded through the hall.

"Check it out!" a random guy shouted as he showed an oversized grimoire.

"I can save the family business" a woman shouted holding a blue grimoire.

They continued to get louder until a grimoire shining brighter than the others silenced them. It was a black grimoire with a 3 leaf clover, the clover was surrounded by a pinkish purple lotus symbol. people continued to stare as the light dimmed down and the grimoire flew down towards Kuro who was watching it intently.

"Interesting.." the old man said to himself with a huge smile forming on his face stroking his beard, the teens started mumbling to each other as they watched the book float down towards Kuro.

'If you stare that hard you're going to make the grimoire blush' Mori said teasingly.

Kuro rolled his eyes and grabbed his grimoire, without waiting for anything else he left the building. 'So what's next on the list?' he asked moving out to see people laughing with their family.

'I just told you, the magic knight's exam is in 6 months, You should prepare for that. So in the meantime go get used to your magic'

Kuro did a small nod and focused on his grimoire, feeling the mana spread through his body, and when it felt just right- "Excalibur!"

The word left his mouth and his figure vanished, in his place stood a 6ft tall white suit that had grey as a secondary color going from head to toe with red accents that traced it. the head didn't have any holes on it, only a rhino like horn curving up, on its torso the suit had 2 neon lights installed and another on its right shoulder.

Kuro took deep breaths as he finally spoke "Whew, this feel kind of weird" he lifted his right hand, ignoring the stares he was gaining, he tightened it into a fist before releasing it. "I definitely feel stronger"

Kuro did a couple of hops as he felt a bit lighter as well, tightening his hand into a fist once more he threw out a punch without holding back which caused a small bang. 'Nice! Alright, alright, let's go, I can test my new strength another time but I want to visit that restaurant from earlier first.'

Thinking of leaving the suit, his body appeared while the warframe fell on its knees the moment after, Kuro walked circles around it trying to get a good look. 'Wait if I can summon a warframe could I summon a weapon?' he focused his mana into his hands and a skana appeared.

Letting out a whistle Kuro tried manifesting a heat sword but it wouldn't appear no matter how many times he tried, huffing out a sigh he gave up and turned to his new partner. 'Now how do I make you disappear?'

'Maybe think of not needing or just putting it away?' Mori suggested looking through Kuro's vision intently and excitedly.

Thinking of what she suggested, he put it into action. He thought of not needing it which made the Excalibur warframe vanish along with the skana, Kuro smiled in satisfaction and turned towards the restaurant to make his way there.