A/N I GOT MY FIRST FANART! Thank you @mochirex for their wonderful depiction of Delphia. The eyes are spot on to what I imagined them being! Now on with the chapter!

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Black Clover Trivia #6: William is the fourth most liked by animals.

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"You sent your rookies out as well, Captain Vangeance?"

The man chuckled at the younger mage. "You've become so formal since I was made Captain. Please, Lady Rotta, I've known you since we were children. Call me, William."

"And yet you continue to call me by my own title," The woman quipped.

"As you say, Delphia," William smiled fondly, "I believe the new recruits will handle the dungeon perfectly fine. They are also under the capable hands of their mentor, Klaus Lunettes."

Delphia hummed thoughtfully, taking a sip of the tea William was kind enough to have prepared when she had arrived.

"It's too bad they weren't here. It would have been nice to see how much the four-leaf holder had grown since joining." Delphia mused.

Outside of her own squad, it wan't often for her to read the potential of the other Magic Knights. It was quite intriguing to see how much they have changed since her initial reading. At the moment, her squad, except for Noelle and Asta, was stuck at an impasse. They have yet to reach the crossroad that will allow them to achieve the highest aptitude in their magics.

"I'm sure you'll have your chance soon enough," William chuckled, "How is Yami?"

"You know him," Delphia deadpanned, "He's either asleep, drinking or creating more paperwork for me."

"I'm sure he means well."

At the blank stare, William couldn't help but let out a nervous chuckle. Clearing his throat, he finished signing off the last of his documents.

"I have a new project for us to work on."

Delphia straightened, eyes almost sparkling. If William hadn't known Delphia as long as he had, he would have been fooled by her relaxed composure. Luckily he knows her well enough to realize she was practically jumping in her seat in excitement from the look in her eyes alone.

Her enthusiasm for ancient history was on par with Lord Julius's love for discovering new and unique magics.

Seeing how the captain was holding back a laugh at her expense, Delphia's cheeks puffed up a smidge in annoyance.

"Out with it, William. This was one of the rare days I didn't have much paperwork," She huffed.

William nodded, lips quirked up in amusement. "Of course, Delphia. One of my squad members came across some ancient texts during one of their missions out in the forsaken realm. Apparently, they've been hidden and sealed away. It was only luck they had even stumbled across it."

"And their condition?"

"Whatever sealing magic was used kept the books in perfect condition. As if they were frozen in time."

Delphia's interest was piqued. Unless hidden away in a dungeon, most ancient texts lose essential aspects due to time. Even those in the Castle's Royal Library had lost some information, mainly due to translation mishaps when they were re-written.

"Where are they?"

William smirked at his companion's apparent interest.

"We were only able to take a few from the hideaway. The other texts seem to have been sealed under more complex spells. They probably hold more sensitive information. The ones we were able to obtain are currently safe in our library."

With a nod, Delphia finished her tea and made her way out. At the door, she quirked a brow, staring pointedly at William.

"Well, are you coming?" Delphia drawled, "There is research to be done."

* * * * *

"These look like journals..." Delphia mused, flicking through the books, taking in the illustrations and their details, drawn meticulously on the pages.

Whatever sealing spell the texts were placed in, definitely had a hand in preserving their conditions. None of the ink had faded nor had the pages browned. It truly was as if the texts were suspended in time.

"That is most likely the case," William agreed, going through his own journal, "Probably an inventor's journal from all the illustrations, though the language is unfamiliar. Have you come across it in any of your own discoveries?"

Delphia hummed, tilting her head as she tried to grasp what language lay within the pages.

"It's not native to Clover, that's for certain," Delphia frowned, brushing a gloved finger over the foreign script. "There are no similarities between this writing and that of any found in our history. But it is oddly... familiar."

"You can't recall?"

Delphia shook her head, eyes focused on the journal. She has seen this language. She knows it, but for the life of her, she can't remember where.

"I'll have to visit the manor and cross-reference the journals with my own notes in my study. Will it be alright if I borrow one?"

"Of course, Delphia. I trust you to take care of it well," He chuckled, "Now if you said you were bringing it back to your hideout, I might have said otherwise."

The two shared a quiet laugh, knowing his words held truth. Anything near the chaos that was the Black Bulls was in jeopardy of being destroyed.

The two quickly found themselves in an amicable silence as they worked, only interrupted when one came across another fascinating discovery that they hastily took note of in their personal research journals. Even without an understanding of the written language, the pair could decipher some of the information by using the the illustrations and patterns found within.

Glancing up from her notes, Delphia couldn't help but let a smile slip past her usually expressionless face. Despite their rather busy work ethics, William seemed to always find time to do research with her, even if it wasn't his most favourite of past times. She knew he'd rather enjoy spending his days out in action on a mission or tending to the messenger birds in the aviary.

She was rather thankful that William was there to encourage her love for history by roping her into doing pointless research on things his squad had come across on their missions. Meaningless in the way that they really had no need to do such research less it was for the benefit of the kingdom and with their king, if it was not jewels or a weapon against the other realms, then their research was useless.

"Have you found something else, Delphia?"

The lavender haired woman smiled, causing her companion's eyes to widen behind his masked. She bit back a laugh, shaking her head.

"No, just... thank you, William."

Masked eyes softened, his usually polite smile now filled with warmth.

Even if they held themselves with formalities and hardly have time for themselves, William was undoubtedly one of her greatest and trusted friends.

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A/N It's a shorter chapter than I usually do, I know. I just thought that it was a really good place to end it so I thought, why not! But hey, we got an inner look at William and Delphia's relationship. 

Hope you all liked it! Comment your thoughts! I enjoy feedback and bouncing off ideas on you all. 

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UPDATED: 09/05/20