"No. I used a spell to nullify my emotions—I'm functional now."
"How is it different from your normal self?" Vanessa couldn't help but ask.
Akeru's change pulled her out of her concern for his earlier state.
How can a person operate without emotions?
It might sound plausible, but emotions drive action.
They are an integral part of what it means to be a human.
"To say it simply, it's more like I am taking all the decisions to achieve my goals, from a pure logical stand point of view." Though Akeru sounded the same, Vanessa noticed the difference.
'Colder than usual? No… more indifferent.'
"I see, that does sound interesting. But how do you define your goals?" Vanessa asked, confused.
Goals usually come from emotions.
"That would depend on my already established goals, and my mental schema till now."
Before she could ask more, a spatial rift opened beside her.
"I am back," Finral said.
"Well, let's go," Akeru said while going through the portal.
A person greeted them at the entrance.
"Who got my call? Take me to him." The man nodded and led him in.
Finral and Vanessa could only go to the lobby and wait.
The person who had received his message now stood in front of him.
"I want you to find the records of that guard's identity from the description your men got from others. Search all his information quickly and send the file to the meeting that will happen now."
"Yes, Sir!"
Akeru nodded and then disappeared from the room.
Though he hadn't been here much, he could sense the gathering of multiple high mana reserves in a room, where he went next.
"Yo! It's been a while," Rill said, his usual enthusiasm palpable.
For the first time in a while, he had not one but two people closer to his age in the Captain meetings.
It wasn't a Captain meeting, but with so many Grand Magic Knights, it felt the same.
Akeru nodded at him and took a seat beside him.
'He seems colder than usual. Did something happen? Is it related to this meeting?' Rill instantly observed the change in his friend's bearing and held himself back from the chattering he wanted to do with him.
Other than him, the room consisted of Jack the Ripper, Nozel Silva, William, and Dorothy.
Charlotte was the next one to enter the room, and she took two seats beside Akeru.
Fuegoleon was next to come, and Akeru nodded at him.
He ignored the chatter.
"Brat, did you get in trouble again? Your luck is terrible." Yami was next as he put his palm on Akeru's head.
"It is what it is."
Yami took the seat between Akeru and Charlotte.
"You are weirder than usual, kid."
To Yami, the life signature of the brat was off at the moment.
Yami's words attracted everybody's attention.
"I am currently using a spell, maybe that's why." Akeru said, lying, while activating 'Silent Nobody' for a moment.
In that moment, some people in the room flinched as they couldn't sense the presence of Akeru despite their eyes seeing him in front of them.
The paradoxical feeling and the clash between their brains and instincts were unusual feelings for them.
Yami didn't look convinced, but let it go.
The captain of Purple Orca was the last captain to enter the room and took a seat immediately.
After him, the one who came was Langris, who took a seat between William and Rill.
The latter was doing some small talk with him, which he entertained.
"It's quite weird to see multiple Grand Magic Knights from the same squad," Rill said, hinting at Black Bulls and Golden Dawn.
"Doesn't Crimson Lions also have a similar status in that regard?" He asked while looking at Fuegoleon.
Mentioning Mereoleona shut everyone up.
She was pretty famous, or more specifically, infamous among the people present here.
Before Fuegoleon could say anything, the door opened again and Julius entered, prompting everyone to stand.
Julius motioned for everyone to sit while taking a seat himself.
"It's been a while since we gathered like this—and we've grown," he said, glancing at Akeru and Langris. He said while glancing at Akeru and Langris.
"I'd love to have introductions and all, but this is urgent. Marx briefed me, but I want to hear it from the source." His gaze turned to Akeru.
All eyes turned towards the expressionless boy.
However, Akeru remained silent and turned his head towards the door.
Next instant, a knock came, and a man entered after Julius gave permission.
He handed out papers, bowed, and left.
Akeru scanned the pages, his mind racing.
"Noel Rosemberg." Somebody muttered while reading the document in their hand.
It was all the information that was quickly scoured by the information body of the headquarters.
"Who is this guy?" Jack asked as he looked at the paper with disinterest.
The man wasn't interesting enough for Jack to want to slice him.
He seemed like an insignificant bug to him.
"Why is my squad involved again in such stuff?" Gueldre said with a sigh.
"Your squad's full of thugs. Maybe try a moral screening next time," Charlotte said with clear disdain.
"Emotive Magic? That's rare. Why didn't we hear of him? Did he skip the exams five years ago?" Fuegoleon asked, setting the paper down.
"I wonder who is to blame for that," Nozel said while looking at Gueldre.
The latter had an expression screaming that he was being wronged.
How is this his fault?
"Let's not start blaming each other. Akeru, tell us what happened." Julius decided to intervene before people started ganging up on Gueldre.
It was not that guy's fault.
"Noel Rosemberg... was holder of a Four-leaf grimoire."
The room froze. Akeru had their full attention.
"Wait, what? Like Yuno?"
"That doesn't make sense. If that were the case, the news would have blown up by now. Why is that not the case?"
The room broke into chaos—four-leaf grimoires were incredibly rare.
In fact, just hearing the presence of one four-leaf grimoire in one's life is considered rare.
"Akeru, are you sure about this? You also said that "he used to have it". What do you mean by that?"
"Yes. I have seen it with my own eyes. He had a Five-Leaf Grimoire with him, and I am sure it belonged to him."
"Wait, Five-leaf grimoire also exists? I thought it went till 4 only." Yami said while picking his ear.
Akeru didn't know if this was due to Yami's ignorance or the captains were unaware of the knowledge about the 5-leaf grimoire, but he didn't really care when he told them about it.
"Normally, a grimoire has three clovers, representing three virtues in our kingdom." He said while looking at nobody in particular.
Most people would be nervous, but Akeru wasn't.
"From what I have come to know in recent years, A 4th leaf symbolises luck. Extraordinary luck. Killing a 4th-leaf holder is pretty hard due to that fact. However, there were ways to kill a 4th leaf holder.
You need to plunge the person into intense despair, like losing everything meaningful to them.
Then a fifth leaf sprouts—despair.
A Five-leaf grimoire has unique properties. One is that it doesn't disappear after a person dies. And two, that a devil could use that grimoire as an anchor to stay in this world permanently. He could also give the grimoire holder its powers through it." Akeru finally stopped speaking.
Everyone had a contemplative face as they digested this fact.
"So, are you saying Noel Rosemberg is contracted with a devil?" Nozel asked.
"Actually, no. I have dealt with multiple devils this year, and I confirmed that Grimiore doesn't indicate any signs of holding any devil. It seems to have reached this state due to facing a recent traumatic experience."
Akeru didn't mention the trauma--but the file spoke for itself.
"I see. Though that's a relief, I could see this individual having impressive records. But, why is he important to this discussion?"
"He can copy memories—and mimic skills with decent accuracy."
***
Join my Patreon to support me and get up to 20 advanced chapters:
- DESIRE96
(search it up)
Check out my other works.
Join my Discord to talk to our community. The link is in the synopsis.