"Langris! Go and interrupt the fight!" Akeru says in a whisper-shout.
"Huh?" Question marks appeared on Langris's face.
"What do you mean? Why?"
"Can't you see? Nozel is going to bully weak and innocent people, it's time for you to act as a righteous magic knight and deliver justice!"
Langris' expression only grew more confused as he heard Akeru's next words.
Righteous? Justice? Such foreign terms are to be associated with him of all people.
"Why don't you do it on your own? We both are Grand Magic Knights, so it shouldn't make a difference to be a deterrence force, hmm?"
"I know the guy and he knows me too. Unlike you, I would have to communicate with him in the future and things would get awkward later on," Akeru said in a serious tone as if mentioning a very big problem.
"What the hell? Won't it get awkward for me too?" Langris almost shouted.
He wasn't really understanding Akeru's point.
"With your personality, it won't matter!" Akeru said in a matter-of-fact tone as if he could see the future.
"..."
Langris lost all the words he was going to say.
Didn't he just speak from the heart about his personality shift and his moral views?
Was Akeru pretending to listen all along?
Langris opened his mouth... and then closed it.
This repeated multiple times in the next few seconds before Langris finally regained words in his throat.
"That's not how you ask for favours," Langris decided to find the fault in Akeru's whole approach.
He really didn't want to make this troublesome request.
Akeru smirked in response as if he were waiting for Langris to point out that fact.
"Can't you see? Nozel is interrupting your Grand Magic Knight Coronation ceremony! How could you let him go his unjust ways in such an environment?" Akeru said in a righteous tone with anger apparent in it.
For a moment, Langris even believed that Akeru was angry on his behalf.
'This guy is really dangerous, to say such things with a straight face. Though I might have changed a bit, my ego still wouldn't allow this to happen, especially how he had pointed at that fact in my face.' Langris was truly amazed by Akeru's words and actions.
Despite having a shift in his ideals and views, Langris was still Langris.
People don't change completely overnight.
He never said anything about losing his pride.
In fact, now that he was officially a Grand Magic Knight, his pride should have reached the Ninth Heaven.
"Tch, you owe me one," Langris says and starts walking away without waiting for Akeru's response, towards Nozel who was releasing pressure at the moment.
'Hehe, he really was easy to manipulate after all, but I don't think it would work again. The circumstances were just too favourable for me this time.' Akeru was quite happy with this situation.
He dealt with this troublesome situation without lifting a finger.
"I think these two are not at fault, after all, your squad members were the ones who instigated this in the first place," Langris said after stopping a few steps away from Nozel.
"They were the ones who were defying the honour of magic knights! Such barbarians don't belong here!" Solid almost shouted.
Langris turned his gaze towards Solid, the latter flinched as he looked at the former's smile.
A cold smile as if he could see the depths of Solid's soul.
"Yeah? I wonder about that. From what I could see, some knights had fragile egos, which by the way amount to almost nothing, to be destroyed and leading to throwing a tantrum. I wonder if this is how an honourable magic knight should act."
The words spouted by Langris caused the entire hall to pause.
There was a pin-drop silence throughout the hall.
Nobody was expecting a Golden Dawn member, who also was one of the two central figures of the entire party, to defend Black Bulls.
As if fate had decided to give everyone shock after shock.
Not only was the number of stars given in this ceremony far greater than any of the previous ceremonies, but two Grand Magic Knights had also been coronated.
One of them also was just 15 years old!
And now this.
"It just got inte-" Erza who was spectating the drama unfolding in the hall, had her mouth clamped by Kaiser.
"You are going to get us killed, please shut your mouth," Kaiser almost begged in a hushed tone.
Erza only clicked her tongue but didn't say anything.
Her gaze shifted towards Akeru who also glanced at her.
'I don't have any popcorn left'
'What a shame, it was perfect for the moment.'
As if both of them were in sync, they were able to guess each other's thoughts by just looking at each other's eyes.
'I was expecting for him to make a move, but I am pretty sure that he somehow forcefully made Langris move. Things just got spicier.' Erza internally gave Akeru a thumbs up for the drama he gifted to everyone present.
She really liked the party due to the holy food present.
The only missing thing here was entertainment which somehow was given on her plate to be as intense as the food.
"Vice-captain, I think you a-" A Golden Dawn member, who was earlier berating Yuno and Klaus, tried to stop Langris.
However, he was coldly cut off by Langris.
"You shut up! We are going to have a talk back in the base."
'You had to open your mouth just when I was forced to deal with this unfavourable situation. How unlucky could you be?'
Langris wasn't angry at the fact that the member berated Yuno and Klaus but at the fact that he berated them and got involved in this situation when Langris was the one who had to clean up.
The man was just unlucky.
The Golden Dawn member's face paled as he nodded hesitantly.
He was scared shitless as being a Golden Dawn member for a while now, he exactly knew his Vice-Captain's nature.
He could only pray in his heart that with some miracle he would be saved.
CRACK
The pressure Nozel was releasing suddenly increased by a few folds.
Langris mimicked him.
Colossal waves of pressure met each other as most of the people in the hall were finding it hard to breathe in their presence.
"What's happening here?"
Before things could go downhill between the two, a loud voice interrupted them.
It was none other than the captain of the Crimson Lions - Fuegoleon Vermillion!
Nozel's gaze lingered on Langris for a few more seconds before his aura receded.
"It's nothing." Nozel walked backwards calmly.
Langris shrugged and also returned to his initial position.
"Tch, just when things were going to get interesting."
The silence broke as many people started discussing what they just witnessed.
"That was the first and last time I am going to take on such a troublesome request from you," Langris said with an annoyed expression.
"Now, now, it wasn't as bad as you are making it out to be, it got resolved peacefully, no? Maybe you could do that again in the future," Akeru's lips morphed into a full grin.
Langris just glared at him with an unamused expression.
"I was just kidding, anyway, before you burn a hole in my face, I will excuse myself."
With that, Akeru left Langris' side.
'Who could have expected me to push Langris in this way one day? Certainly, not me at the beginning of the day.'
"Yo Fuegoleon-san! How's it going?" Akeru greeted him with a warm smile.
"It's going well, what about you?"
"I am as good as I generally am!"
Akeru caught up with Fuegoleon about the latest things and about his missions, squad and so on.
Akeru remained in the ceremony for one more hour before leaving.
"Yo! Long time no see!"
"Very funny joke." Mimosa's eyes twitched as Akeru took the opposite seat.
They were sitting in a luxurious cafe befitting their royal status.
"You should have at least laughed, it wasn't that bad a joke, ya know."
"Anyway, let's finally talk." Having enough of Akeru's bullshit of stalling time, Mimosa went straight to the point.
"Well, what do you want to know?"
"Tell me about what and how you have developed your recovery magic. Also, tell me in detail the injuries you have healed, especially ones related to you."
Mimosa stared at Akeru and Akeru stared back.
There were a few moments of silence before it was broken.
"Tch, fine, let's get it over with," Akeru sighed as he gave in to Mimosa's demands.
***
A/n- No, there won't be any recount of events anymore. I don't like repeating things, and I bet you won't like reading it. Also, the chapter title would change next chapter. We are finally going to enter a new arc.
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