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CHP 07: Chaldea Court Session
🕑 Added 2023-12-15 15:02:20 +0000 UTCNicholas flipped the bird to the man sitting across from him, "You're going down."
"Your actions here..." The man in question, Lev Lainur Flauros gestured around the Director's office with his eyes, nursing a fresh bruise on his face with the only hand not in a cast, "Just serve to prove my point further."
Nicholas only shrugged, "We'll see, Disney reject."
"I am your superior officer!"
The teenager completely ignored the professor and looked around, "Why are we here again?" He asked Romani who was sitting next to him. It hadn't even been two days since his last trip here thanks to Lev and now he was here again. He noticed that Olga's seat was empty and wondered where she was before sending a glance towards the other three people he'd strung along.
Kadoc Zelumpus was shifting in his place nervously, hands pressed together. Hinako Akuta (Yu's cover) was boring holes into him, a book resting in her lap while the third, Kirschtaria Wodime... Well, Nicholas had never really talked to him so even he didn't know why the prodigal magus was here.
Narrowing his gaze, Nicholas sipped on his coffee in thought.
"Well, Lev submitted a complaint to the Director about your... behaviour." Romani sweatdropped, chuckling nervously, "I'm just here to placate the Director's wrath." Aw, the doctor was trying to help him out. It seemed even he was noticing how close to a courtroom the situation was looking.
With three people sitting behind them, two of them sitting at one table and then Lev sitting at a table to the side, with multiple clipboards in front of him.
That gave Nicholas an idea.
When the door slid aside and Olga stepped in, the teenager rose to his feet and stomped on the ground, "All rise." Kadoc quickly straightened himself before realising where the voice came from and sighing. Kirschtaria simply narrowed his eyes and stood up out of what may have been respect.
"D-Director, can't we just overlook this?"
Olga just sighed in defeat and treaded over to her seat with an exasperated smile, "Yes yes, this might as well just be formality. I've already made my decision... Why are members of the A-Team here?" She sat down and crossed her arms, visibly amused.
"The Court of Chaldea is now in session, the hono- questionable judge Olga Marie Animusphere presiding." Finishing his lines, Nicholas sat down and returned to his coffee, unbothered by his situation. Lev took his silence as relent and rose to his feet.
"Hey, I'm fair! ..." Olga shrunk when all gazes became focused on her, "I-I mean, I'm impartial to my subordinates!"
Lev cleared his throat and started talking once she'd settled down, "Right, Director. I request that Nicholas Martel be handed over to the Clock Tower for questionin-"
"OBJECTION!"
Before Lev could ignore the shout and continue, a white cup smashed into his face, drenching him in scalding coffee and ruining his green suit, "...GODDAMNIT! Control yourself!" The Professor shouted in exasperation at the perpetrator.
His outburst came as a surprise to the others there who knew him to be a calm, gentle and easygoing individual who got along with just about everyone.
But it was understandable.
Over the past few weeks, his lab had been burnt down on three accounts, his clothes put into a shredder on 12 accounts, his food replaced with empty notes on 15 accounts, his behind kicked on 30 accounts and his face punched on 60 accounts. The 60th being right before entering the Director's office.
And that was what they knew.
Who knew what else he'd gone through?
But something surprising happened.
The harsh and stuck up Director hid her mouth in the palm of her hand, "E...Explain your actions, Nicholas."
"Wut?"
"..."
"I mean, I plead not guilty on account of Professor Lev being a dick."
"Overruled." Olga deadpanned at Chaldea's eccentric newest master, "Please continue, Professor Lev."
Lev Lainur hid his grin under a sigh, actions like these just made his case more concrete, "Nicholas Martel shows complete disregard for authority, a complete lack of self control, and has continually refused to cooperate even when asked. In light of this, I believe it right for him to be excommunicated at the very least and handed over to the Clock Tower for questioning regarding his origins."
"Where's your evidence?!"
"..." Lev blankly gestured to his bruised face and broken arm, "He also possesses naricissitic tendencies." He pointed at the silent Kirschtaria, referring to how Nicholas had believed his own problems took precedence over his leader's.
"In his defense, your honour. I don't know the man so there is no reason for him to stop for me."
Hinako and Kadoc both froze before their heads shot towards Kirschtaria, "What the hell just happened?"
Had... Had the cool and pragmatic leader of the A-Team just gone along with one of Nicholas' shenanigans?!
They stared gobsmacked at the blonde standing with his hand raised.
Romani smiled knowingly at a pleasantly surprised Nicholas who was staring at Kirschtaria in an entirely new light, "Yeah, what he said."
"And Professor Lev..." Kirschtaria looked at Lev Lainur, "Respectfully, I believe his behaviour to be somewhat warranted in this specific case." He spoke coolly, a hand over his chest.
"...What?"
"Pardon the intrusion, but it is my duty as leader to investigate any prospective members of my team. I reviewed the footage myself." Even Nicholas could notice Lev flinching at the blonde's words, "Was it not you who sent Beryl Gut to investigate him, a known serial killer? I can not glean your reasoning or judge what occurred thereafter but the events themselves are undeniable."
"Damn, I got a free lawyer." Nicholas for one, didn't mind Kirschtaria's taking his stage, instead, it gave him a new respect for the man.
Romani patted his shoulder with a small grin, "Told you he wasn't a bad person."
Listening attentively, Olga nodded along, this was information available to her all along.
"A punch, while banal, is warranted for that. But the number of attempts you've made at removing him in the wake of the incident are astounding." Kirschtaria respected Lev for his achievements but, older people trying to kick down the new out of spite, a sense of unfounded superiority and jealousy was a truth he was more intimate with than most.
Something he could never permit happening to another.
"He damaged us!" Lev's eyes widened as he tried but failed at cutting himself off, having spoken out of frustration.
Nicholas couldn't help but feel that those words meant something far far deeper than a broken bone or bruised face.
"I... I may have gone too far." Lev sighed, relenting, "I apologise, Director. And to all those who had to participate in this farce. Excuse me." He turned around and walked away quickly, seemingly ashamed and placated. Even he recognised that the image the rest of Chaldea had of Nicholas was too strong for an exposed confrontation.
"See? He's not that bad."
"Yeah, now he's going to resort to the same tactics he's using to get you." Nicholas deadpanned at the naive smiling Olga who sighed at his words and pinched the bridge of her nose. In truth, it was surprising that a coward like Lev would face him upfront.
Nicholas had managed to frustrate the man more than he'd thought.
"I... I still can't wrap my head around that..." Olga shook her head, "Anyway, what did you three want?"
"Well... he dragged us along calling us... witnesses and well, I wanted to help." Kadoc admitted nervously, scratching the back of his head. He'd genuinely just wanted to help someone he thought was a friend.
A hard thing to come by in the world of magi.
That was why Olga smiled.
Hinako (Yu) blankly pointed at Nicholas, "If someone isn't watching over that idiot, he's going to get into trouble he can't just punch his way out of." It definitely wasn't because he was the first person in millennia to not hate and prosecute her for what she was... definitely not!
"I and Miss Ophelia merely wished to acquaint ourselves with the one who removed Beryl Gut." Kirschtaria Wodime turned to stare at Nicholas, "You should thank her for investigating you on my behalf if you have the time. I will take my leave now, Director." He gave a small bow and left with graceful steps.
"Why?"
"Nothing, I just so happen to know how unfair it is to be hated by adults for something beyond your control." Kirschtaria Wodime, had managed to completely misunderstand why Lev so hated Nicholas, attributing it to insecurity over his overwhelming prowess outshining the professor's, an event he'd gone through before himself, "Professor Lev seems to believe his mask perfect..."
"It is not."
With those words, the leader of the A-Team left the premises.
Olga Marie Animusphere hit a book with her hand, "The session is adjourned."
She then shrunk into her seat when all heads turned to her.
"W-What?!"
