[disclaimer- as of this chapter, i'm not going off the anime or manga so if it doesn't seem canon to you, that's why. i will be going back to the manga once it gets to the point where they have to fight devils]
—/<3/—
if she was being honest, elle didn't really see much of a difference from when she was a princess to when she was a queen. the workload was about the same, only she was the one making the decisions this time. she started by ordering the delivery of necessary provisions to the poorer regions, for example food, warmer clothing, school supplies, wood and tools to help rebuild their homes after the elf attacks.
the thing she was happiest about was that she got to continue her work within the golden dawn. she had risen in the ranks due to her participation in the defeat of the demon and made it to senior knight despite being so young. she was glad she got to continue to work alongside her best friends.
as of now, it was time for elle to attend an examination which would determine who would go to the heart kingdom to represent clover and fight against any future devil threats. elle was set to go with them and remain there for the first week to finalise the plan she and loropetchka had been working on over the past couple months and then she would return to clover and resume her duties as queen.
the exam would not be like it was for the royal knights since too many casualties resulted from it, including exhaustion that put many out of work for the day after. elle wanted to keep the magic knights in their best conditions since so much work still needed to be done with fixing the capital and overall recovery after the elf attacks.
elle had already spoken to yuno and offered him a placement alongside asta, having experienced first hand how powerful he was after the shadow palace, though he refused. he explained that since he had just been elected vice-captain he would like to remain in clover and train on his own accord, claiming that since he was captain william's second in command he should stay and help out as much as possible. elle supported his decision, secretly happy that she'd still get to spend time with him.
elle found herself with an entire new wardrobe of clothes after her coronation and despite liking her old clothes she wasn't complaining. lance had told her that her mother had designed them all for her before she died as a present and her father thought her coronation would be the best time to give them all to her. elle decided on her new daily outfit and twirled around happily, thoroughly enjoying her new clothes.
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[art by SAKI19755 on DeviantArt]
upon arrival at the examination arena, elle was met with dr owen, dressed as himself for once rather than posing as the wizard king, yami and finral, who were escorting many of the black bulls members to the sign up table, and gaja, who had made a long journey from the heart kingdom just so he could see the lineup ahead of time in order to prepare, though he decided to stay hidden, brooding in the corner of the room.
elle got comfortable in her seat beside dr owen who would be taking physical fitness examinations whilst elle would be examining mana. asta was taken into account for this of course and since he was the knight elle was building this team around, he didn't need to take part but out of support for his friends he decided to watch. elle, asta and dr owen chatted amongst themsleves whilst they waited for the room to fill up.
—/<3/—
"next please," elle called for probably the hundredth time that day. she had moved from her seat and to the field, testing the amount of mana each knight had as well as seeing if they had adequate mana skin to protect themselves.
not many passed and elle felt awful for sending them away at first, so instead she reminded herself that sending them to the heart kingdom and then to the front lines would only end badly, with injury and possible death.
in the end just over a dozen passed. leopold, noelle, mimosa, charmy, luck, nero, charmy, rill, charlotte, finral and magna. these has passed both the physical and the magic exam and would be joining asta in the heart kingdom next week.
