The lightning hit the barrier with a loud CRACK, as all those watching felt sick. "How did he use lightning?" "I hope Striker is ok. He'll be fine, right?" "I think I saw the Vice-Captain jump in!"
They all waited without a sound as a wind mage blew away the dust to show Striker on the ground, as Vice-Captain Langris struggled to remain standing. "Not bad, at least you aren't as useless as these pathetic wastes." A strong voice said as they saw Alucard, walking calmly towards him.
"You could've killed him!" Langris spat as he felt every good thing about Alucard fly out the door. "He shouldn't have paraded around like a fool. If he'd actually bothered to train rather than coast off his innate power, he'd have been fine." He shrugged as Langris felt like ripping into him.
"Enough, follow me!" He decided to deal with it later as he glared at the knights still watching dumbfounded, "What are you waiting for? Get back to training, learn from this!" He yelled. Several knights flinched, Langris never raised his voice.
Langris marched off as Alucard followed, leaving the others to check on Striker and send for a healing mage. As they entered the main building, Alucard grumbled, seeing all the opulent decorations that did nothing to help the squad. "Do you have any idea who that was?!" Langris hissed when he saw how relaxed he was.
"Was I supposed to? Knowing who he was would've only made me target him more; you should know that. Langris Vaude. You know who I am." He liked this version of Langris, the one who didn't hide behind the mask of noble composure. He'd only met him at a few gatherings Mimosa had required him to be present at. They had gotten along decently, but had almost fought when Langris ripped into Finral without any good reason, despite his love for his brother.
"This is your room, you have all the amenities here that you would find in your estate. Don't kill anyone while I'm calming down to deal with you!" Langris nearly pleaded as Alucard entered his room.
It was decently large, though a bit smaller than what he had back home. He didn't mind, however, as he started fixing the room to his liking, putting in the type of window shades that would keep the room dark at night, pulling his clothes out of his storage space. He only put his important clothes, like his suits and fancy clothes that Mimosa and Julius had bought for him over the years. His 'work' and training clothes stayed in the space.
After organizing everything and moving his bed around, his communicator went off, and he answered it, as a magical projection of Mimosa appeared. "What do you need?" He asked as she pouted, "I can't check on my fiancé? I only wanted to see if you'd made it to the Golden Dawn yet. What's their base look like?"
He set her down on the table as he started to do other things. "Well, it's full of snobby brats and noble idiots, just like home. So I'm going to have a lot of fun here." She sighed at the face he was making; she knew her fiance good enough by now to know what it meant.
"I'm guessing you already got into a fight?" He nodded, "You have to ask? It's like you don't even know me!" She giggled at his dramatics as she asked who he'd fought.
"Some noble peacock with more mana than sense, I think his name was Striker? A lightning mage, though not a very good one." She frowned as she tried to recollect the names of nobles with Lightning magic, "Oh, Striker Hapshass. Good job, he once tried to make a move on Mero and almost died."
He cackled at that, as he emerged back into Mimosa's view without a shirt on. "Putting on a show, are we?" She arched a brow as he snorted, "You wish. No, I'm going to try out the hot springs they have. Oh, and Langris is here; he got mad because Striker was so weak he had to be saved. Bye now!" She waved goodbye as he went hunting for relaxation.
He didn't have to go far; following the one signpost helped him get where he needed to be as he entered the steaming hot springs. He heard faint giggles from the women's area but ignored them as he entered the men's area, sighing as he entered the steaming water.
'This makes all this crap worth it. I might never leave.' He let his body relax as he ignored the other few people in the spring as well. They had their corner, and he had his. Life was great.
While Alucard was relaxing in the hot springs, Langris was busy pacing in William's office. "I don't know who we could possibly put him with that won't set him off. He's already gotten that reputation in the noble circles; now the others will realize who he is and ostracize him! This is exactly the kind of behavior that annoys him!"
William smiled, seeing how his Vice-Captain was worrying over the comfort of one Knight. Normally, he was the one who told the noble children to act like real nobles and not pampered brats, but here he was wanting to pamper a royal.
"Calm yourself, Langris. There is an easy solution for all of this." Langris stopped moving as he remembered where he was and took a seat. "What are your orders, Captain?" He asked as he finally calmed down.
"Send Alucard with Klaus. Alucard needs to get used to being around nobility, as they are the ones who request we protect them the most. Klaus, on the other hand, needs to learn to be more flexible; his manner of thinking is still a bit narrow, and he sometimes struggles to adapt to new situations."
Langris thought for a moment, then shook his head, "Klaus isn't ready to face the war. Alucard is going. I'm not going to risk keeping him locked down and agitated, plus he's proven today that he doesn't have a problem with lethal force. I won't send Klaus, however; he'd just be a liability."
"Let's just send him with the next rotation; they aren't going to care who he is. Just that he can fight." Langris suggested as William considered that. "I believe the next group in the rotation is group 8, correct?" Langris nodded as William okayed it, "They might not get along at first, but they'll keep each other alive."
Back at the Royal castle, in the Vermillion family estate.
"Quit pacing, you're making me dizzy!" Mero yelled as Mimosa huffed. Although she knew Alucard would be busy once he joined the Magic Knights, she didn't think he'd never contact her.
She'd already had to call him once, and he'd only talked for a few minutes before going to the hot springs. 'How is he being treated by the others? Is his room large enough? They aren't going to ostracize him, are they?' Her mind raced as she felt panic settle in, when Mereoleona spoke up.
"I don't see why you're panicking. You know how he is, he's probably relaxing right now after nearly killing someone." Mimosa thought about that, 'Since when did I worry so much about him?'
Sure, they were fiancés, but that didn't mean she had to like him, did she? "Mero, I think something is wrong with me!" Mereoleona rolled her eyes as Mimosa started pacing again, now more frantic as she tried to rationalize her emotions.
"Welcome to being human. We have feelings, Mimosa, don't act like you don't really care about him. I'm sure you've done nothing but think about him since he left this morning, right?"
Mimosa shook her head, "No." She lied as Mero sighed, "This is why he tried to get you out of your shell, and why we need to do the same for him. I'm sure he's got feelings under all that stoicism."
"He made a joke when I called him earlier." Mimosa revealed as Mero grinned, "See, that's progress! Now we just need to get you used to admitting your feelings for him. That's one way to shock him, hahaha, imagine his face if you jumped and he caught you!"
They both froze as they imagined themselves in that exact position, subtly wishing Alucard could return at that moment so they could at least try.
"Julius, you have a message from William, it's about Alucard." Marx entered with a communicator as he set it on the desk before leaving. 'Already?' Julius wondered as he answered, and William's avatar appeared.
"So, what has my son done within the few hours I let him out of my sight?" Julius asked as William smiled softly, "He's nearly killed an Intermediate Magic Knight and my Vice-Captain. That's not what I'm here for, however." Julius was surprised to hear Alucard was already beating Intermediates as he listened.
"We both know how Alucard will be around the other nobles; today was proof of that. The plan is to send him with the next rotation of Knights going to reinforce the border, with Group 8 actually."
Julius went and found the records for Group 8. "Known for disobeying orders when people can be saved. Known for attacking fellow Knights with Noble backgrounds. Known for strange tactics."
Julius ignored all the reports; they were skewed by the nobles. Rather, he read their combat reports.
"Disobeyed direct orders and discovered an ambush as well as two traitors. Destroyed several enemy supply lines when left behind by commanders. Saving civilians before assisting other Knights and even Nobles."
"I think he'll fit right in. Just give them a heads up so they don't try anything, either of them, please. I'd rather not lose them, despite what the Nobility thinks, we need people like them."
William nodded as he disconnected and went to work, as Marx came in and dropped another fat stack of papers on Julius' desk. "Finish this quick and you'll get a break." Julius sighed as Marx marched back out the door. 'I thought I was the boss here?'
After enjoying the hot springs for nearly an hour, Alucard finally left as he formed wings on his back, this time of wind, as he flew around the base. He spotted the obvious main building where the dorms and offices of the Captain and Vice-Captain were.
Down a path, there was the training arena, as well as what looked to be a range for marksmanship. The rest of the base was like the land of a noble, manicured lawn with trees and bushes shaped into figures of power.
He hated it, but this was his home now for better or for worse. 'I wish Mimosa were here, then I'd at least have someone to talk to.' He caught himself thinking as he flew back down and returned to his dorm. He tried to find something to do, but feeling restless, he flew up to the roof of the building.
He found his peace watching the sun set. From his vantage point, he could see the Capitol of the Kingdom as the sun disappeared behind the mountain upon which it was built. Now he was really missing Mimosa and Mero, who were his usual companions when he wanted to watch the sunset.
"Do I even want to know why you're up here?" Langris asked as he appeared behind him. "I'm watching the sunset. Do you need something?" Alucard asked bluntly as Langris was interrupting his sun time, which was almost over.
"I'm here with orders from the Captain, which have been approved and signed by the Wizard King." That caught his attention as he gave Langris his full attention. "What are my orders?"
"As you know, we are at war with the Diamond Kingdom. You will be joining the next rotation of Knights that the Dawn will be sending to reinforce the front. They leave at midday tomorrow, squad 8 will be waiting for you at the entrance to the main hall."
Memorisign who he was stuck with and where he was going, Alucard nodded. "Any reason why I'm being sent to the front as soon as I got here? I thought Captain Vangeance didn't care for politics?"
Langris made a face at him, "This has nothing to do with politics. You just can't get along with the nobles, so to keep you from killing them and giving the Wizard King more problems, we're sending you to accumulate merits."
"Merits? Not sending me to get experience or for some shady guy paid by nobles to get a chance to kill me?"
"NO! Gods, I have no idea how Mimosa puts up with you! You are already stronger than probably all of our Junior Knights. Intermediate is no problem. So we're sending you to put you to work. It'd be insulting if we tried to train you; only the Wizard King himself, or one of the Captains could possibly teach you anything."
Langris nearly yelled again as Alucard cackled at seeing him break character.
"Fine, I'll go kill some Diamond Mages. Any tips, or things I should be aware of?" He asked as Langris nodded.
"Squad 8 doesn't have the best reputation. You'll see why tomorrow. As for the front, the Diamond Kingdom is known for having the sick pleasure of taking an entire town hostage, try to save some lives, please?! And beware of Nobles with grudges, and of night attacks, they're getting a bit desperate for some reason, so be on guard."
Alucard nodded as the sun finally set, and the two returned to the great hall, where everyone was heading for dinner. Alucard joined just long enough to eat for the night before he retired to his room.
Before he finally went to sleep, he wrote two letters. One for Mimosa and one for Julius, and stored them inside his personal space before going to sleep.