Asta of the Hunters'Guild

Chapter 1: Meeting the Hunter

(No one's p.o.v.)

In this world, people possess the power of mana, an energy that is found in both people and nature. It is the source of all magic. Since time out of mind, people had been relying on magic for everything, agriculture, crafting, even military use. Because of this, people have the arrogance to believe that magic is everything, and this has lead to a great problem: discrimination among the social classes.

The aristocrats of nations are born with the most amount of mana, and have innate talent in using magic, while the commonwealth have much less and have to practice for a long time. Because of this, the aristocrats look down on the commoners and deem them as insignificant, and the commoners harbor great disdain for the upper call for the unjust treat place upon them. This is especially true in the nation of Clover Kingdom, where discrimination is commonplace. It's lands are split into 3 realms. The Noble Realm, the central realm where nobles and royals live. The Common Realm, the region where citizens with less magic power live under somewhat less comfortable conditions. And The Forsaken Realm, the outermost realm where the citizen with the least amount of mana reside, and it's in this region is where the story begins.

Hage village, Clover Kingdom

One foggy night in the village of Hage, the cries of infants can be heard from the doorstep of the local church. The resident priest opened the door to find two boys in baskets. One has ash blonde hair and green eyes. The other had black hair, gold eyes, and a necklace with a light blue gem. The priest picked up the babies and brought them inside the church. He set them both down and asked himself various questions, such as, 'Who were these kids parents?', 'Why were they left on his doorstep?' , and 'Are they siblings?' He soon dismissed as he knew that it wasn't important at the time. What was important was the children themselves.

  The priest got a good look at their clothing and saw that the boys names were written on their shirts. The black haired boy was named Yuno, and the ash blonde boy was named Asta. Since then, the priest had raised the boys with the nun who also lives there.

  (Asta's p.o.v.)

  It had been 4 years since Yuno and I had been left at the church's doorstep, and now we were at the age where children develop their magic. Yuno had wind magic and an enormous amount of mana. As for me, I didn't have even a single scrap of magic power at all. Because of this, I had been mocked, bullied, and neglected by everyone in the village, except for Sister Lily Aquaria, the nun who helped Father Orsi Orfai raise me and Yuno. The Sister always told me that she would support me in whatever I decided to do with my life.

Everyone else called Yuno the prodigy and hope for Hage village, even going so far as to say that he would be the next Wizard King, the  strongest Magic Knight in the kingdom as well as the leader of the Magic Knights Order. The prejudice against me for my lack of magic, the feeling of being ignored and forgotten that you even exist, it hurt me so much. But, I was too stubborn to give up and moping wasn't going to help either. So, I decided to try and compensate my magiclessness by honing my physical abilities. I had been doing various exercises out in the woods. Push ups, squats, sit ups, etc.

  I had been training my body for the next 4 years and had built up good amount of muscle. However, the harsh treatment I had been getting from the villagers did not get better at all, it only got worse. I had been growing to despise everyone in the village and Clover Kingdom more and more as each day passed. Then one day, something happened to make my hatred for Clover Kingdom grow beyond what I thought possible.

  It was around sunset, I was training under the skull of the Giant Demon that was killed by the First Wizard King 500 years ago. When I heard a familiar voice say to me, "Asta?" I stopped and turned to see a nun with blue hair and teal colored eyes. This was Sister Lily, the only one in the village who cared about me. She had face devoid of emotion which was concerning to me. I asked, "What's wrong, Sister?" She paused a moment before saying, "It's best if you just stop training, it won't amount to anything." I was shocked by what she said. Sister Lily, who said that she would believe in and support me with any decision I made, was telling me to give up out of the blue. I couldn't believe my ears and asked her, "What are you talking about?" She replied, "I know that you want to prove to everyone that you're not worthless, despite not having any magic, but no matter how much you train your body, you still won't be able to win a fight against a mage. It's harsh but true." I felt like my heart had just cracked. I then asked her something that I quickly came to regret, "But you always said that you would support me in whatever I'd do with my life, that you believed in me. So, why are you telling me this?", I asked in a sad and hopeful tone. I honestly wanted to believe that it was just some sick joke, but that hope was completely crushed by her answer, "I just couldn't bring myself to lie to you any longer." My heart had just shattered, and all the love and respect I had towards the nun, who I saw as a big sister, was replaced by a deep hatred for everything in Clover Kingdom. I didn't even bother trying to listen to her anymore, I just started walking out from underneath the giant skull. Once I passed Sister Lily, I heard her say, "Asta, I'm sorry." I didn't care and I said as I continued to walk, "Never speak or show yourself to me again."