"Shouldn't we intervene?" Leopold asked seeing grimoires shining.
"It's fine, I will intervene at the perfect moment," Akeru refused him as he had different plans.
"Fine, also that guy is really interesting. I guess what you said was really true Mimosa," Leopold said while pointing towards Asta.
"Heh, so are you trying to say that you didn't believe me until now?"
"Hey now! It's one thing that you have heard something and it's another when you are seeing that with your own eyes. I was just sceptical of what you said," Leopold hurriedly said.
"Guys, though I want to talk a bit more with you two, I-"
"Only a bit?" Mimosa interrupted Akeru with a teasing grin.
"Ahem, well, we would be sitting and talking for hours on a later occasion anyway, what I was referring to is just about now. Anyway, I will go and greet others," Akeru raised his hands in surrender.
"Oh well, we will let you leave then."
Akeru just rolled his eyes as he waved his hands before walking away.
'I don't think Patoli will make his move on the Royal Capital anymore as he had already gotten the stone he was supposed to get from Fuegoleon in the Canon.'
Akeru activated '3D Witness' on instinct to inspect the hall.
'Oh well, checking a bit won't hurt, at least in the hall.'
After sweeping his gaze throughout the hall, he found something weird.
'Who is hiding under the table? And why hasn't anybody noticed it yet? Oh, that's probably due to nobody having their mana sensory field active.'
Akeru moved towards the table while greeting some people he was familiar with on his way.
On reaching the table, and observing the spatial presence of the person, he instantly realized who it was.
He stood there for a few seconds before naturally taking a dish from the table and started eating it.
He "accidentally" dropped his spoon and crouched to pick it up.
"So... why are you here?"
"Duh, coz food is good."
"Sigh... Just don't get caught, okay?"
"Kay!"
Akeru couldn't blame Charmy for being here; the food was really good.
After looking around, he noticed Langris and headed towards him.
Langris was sipping on his glass while calmly looking at the fight happening.
Akeru stood beside him and watched the battle in silence.
'Anyway, I ignored the fact that she has grown a spine after so long. At least, she is not afraid of her own family, then again, even if she still was, I really can't blame her. Her family is really messed up.'
"So, I wasn't expecting you to be the brother of Finral-senpai, that really came as a surprise to me."
Akeru's sudden words brought a frown to Langris's face.
"Well, sometimes I also wonder how that good-for-nothing is my brother..."
"Heh now, I think that's a bit harsh."
"Is it now? Let me explain then, I am better than my brother in almost all things despite being younger. And before you say something about comparing him to me, let's just look at him individually. What are his strengths?... What was the word again? Lascivious? His attitude is lascivious."
"Hey! I think that's taking it too far. Finral-senpai... might be a bit 'loose' with flirting, but I think you are going a bit extreme with that."
"Hmph, anyway, I think this all supports my point."
"Hmmm, maybe you are right, I don't think Finral-senpai would be able to catch up to you in power anymore. His attitude might not be what a proper noble should possess. But, I don't think knowing all this changes my perception of him. It doesn't change the fact that he is still your brother, does it?"
Akeru was half-expecting Langris to attack him by now, as he was clearly walking on landmines.
"Yeah, it doesn't change the fact."
However, his acceptance shocked Akeru.
"To be honest, I always used to think that I needed to be better than my brother in all aspects to be loved by my family. It made me happy when I was appointed as the future head of House Vaude instead of my elder brother. However, I was also angry at the fact that my brother was praised for his kindness and his other traits that I considered insignificant.
That along with the fact that after a certain point, he started flirting with random women, made me hate him more than before.
Well, looking back, I think that the most annoying thing about him is that despite my apparent hatred of him, he never hated me back," Langris took a sip of his wine.
"I guess the only reason I hated him till now is due to the fact that I couldn't be like him..."
"You can't be like him? Like you don't have it in you to flirt with random women?"
Several veins popped on Langris's face as he was barely holding himself back from assaulting Akeru.
"You clearly know that I didn't mean that."
"I was just pulling your leg, anyway, that was your past view, no? What changed?"
"Well, after I have reached the Grand Magic Knight, I have realized that not many individuals could compete with me anymore and Finral has almost zero chance to reach this level. Though I already knew that he wouldn't be able to catch up with me, this just solidifies the fact.
Well, after that realization kicked in, I noticed one thing...this didn't really make me happy. I used to believe that if this fact was solidified, I would be happy as my family would love me more. Well, that might hold some truth, but I realized that I don't really care much about that as they would have loved me even if I didn't reach this level.
This realization made me think whether I really need to be better than Finral in all aspects. Well, the answer is clearly no, still, it makes me feel that the dream I was pursuing was a lie altogether.
To be honest, I still don't know the answer. What I know is that a person's worth is not decided entirely by their power. Power does play a significant role, but I think this question entirely depends on the criteria by which we are rating a person.
Like, if we are talking about Magic Knights, then yes, power matters. But, I guess, if we are talking about being a baker, will power matter? No, it won't.
Well, this might sound cringy, but if we rate a person overall, a lot of other factors have to be accounted for... At least, that's what I think now."
"Damn, to be honest, that kind of seems obvious in hindsight, but it clearly isn't as even if people know about this, acknowledging it would be tough, especially if you have an inferiority complex. I think that's the reason why Nobles and Royals berate the talented commoners," Akeru was shocked at the philosophical jargon Langris spewed out.
'There goes my plan to have a battle with Langris to stop Noelle's battle, oh well, it is what it is.'
If somebody heard Akeru's thoughts, they would be shocked.
"Yeah, though you shouldn't say it in public."
Silence returned again between them.
"People do change after all, maybe Finral-senpai would change too."
"Maybe," Langris just shrugged.
"Maybe he would lose his habit of instinctively asking girls out on his first meeting too."
Langris choked on the drink he was drinking.
"That's impossible!"
'Maybe, I don't remember the canon Finral's nature in the future, but I thought that it was impossible for Langris to change his ingrained views on his own, yet he proved me wrong.'
Akeru thought that it was not impossible.
It was just the removal of a habit.
How hard could it be?
Akeru blinked as he noticed Nozel making his move.
He blinked again when he realized that Fuegoleon wasn't in the hall at the moment.
'Fuck, would I have to make a move personally? I didn't really want to...' Just as Akeru was going to make a move, an absurd idea came up in his mind.
'That could work.'
***
A/n- Did I do justice to Langris's character? To be honest, I had careful introspection about his character. I think though he didn't like Finral, it was not up to the extent of killing him. That was likely due to the Eye of Midnight Sun's intervention. So, he was redeemable in my opinion.
So, when thinking of what would happen if Langris reached Grand Magic Knight level, I realized that this development is reasonable.
What do you guys think?
***
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