"Now then." The wizard king stood in front of the room. "Lets begin the ceremony."
Looking at the current line up, Grim noted everyone's appearance but with someone like the wizard king standing before him, it was kind of hard for him to focus on anything else. It was like every fibre of his body was fighting to keep him rooted to ground.
"With seven stars earned, step forward Leopold Vermillion of the Crimson Lions."
'Vermillion? Isn't that Mimosa's family name?'
Stepping forward, a young man with spiky orange hair stood before the wizard king.
"Your majesty." He lowered his head.
Smiling at his actions, Julius asked him to raise his head.
"I hereby grant you the title of intermidiate magic knight second class." He then gave him what looked like a medal or something before giving him some words of praise.
Remembering that Theresa used to belong to the Crimson Lions, Grim couldn't help but take notice of the orange haired young man before returning his attention back to the wizard king.
"With six stars earned, Sol Marron of the Blue Roses, please step forward."
"Your majesty." A dark skinned woman in a white tube top stepped forward and lowered her head to Julius.
"For your dynamic and creative use of your earth magic in the face of danger, I hereby grant you the title of intermidaite magic knight third class."
"Thank you your majesty." She bowed and recieved her medal.
'Earth magic...' Grim's eyes lit up slightly.
The next couple of awards went out to a few more people, most of which didn't catch his attention. In fact the only ones that caused him to slightly look in their direction was the ones surnamed Silva, and that only because they seemed to be relatives of Noelle and used water and mist magic.
"Now then." Julius started. "To thank you all for what you've all done for this kingdom, I've prepared a little banquet for you all to enjoy. Oh, I almost forgot, I've invited some special guests for today."
Hearing that, everyone turned to face Grim's group.
"Make sure you get along." He smiled before leaving.
Feeling the scorn in their stares, Grim felt his lip twitch as he was doing his best to hold back smiling.
---
"HEY GRIM!! YOU'VE GOTTA CHECK OUT THIS SHRIMP!!" Asta yelled.
Having never eaten such expensive food before, Grim happily obliged and went over to Asta.
"Erm Grim!" A gentle voice suddenly sounded out behind him.
"Hmm?" Turning around, he saw a slightly red faced Mimosa.
"D-Do you mind if I eat with you?!"
Feeling confused as to why she was asking permission to eat food that the wizard king had provided, Grim merely shrugged.
"Knock yourself out."
"Y-YES!!" She nodded and followed him to the shrimp table under the watchful eyes of the others.
[A/n: Okay, lets be honest, shrimp is the best sea food out there. Yes, even better than lobster.]
---
"You were right Asta, this is pretty good."
"I know right! I feel like were kings!!"
Hearing the conversation between the two, one of the senior members of the Golden Dawn couldn't help but look at them in disgust and mutter "filthy commoners."
Hearing him, other people also started to voice their complaints.
"How dirty, to think that filth like them dare desecrate these walls with their presence."
"What was the wizard king thinking when he invited them?"
"Just because he has a little bit of mana he thinks he belongs among us." One of them said focusing their attention on Grim.
"Humph! I can't even feel any mana from the other one, I bet they got lucky in that dungeon."
---
"Wow, these guys aren't even trying to whisper." Asta spoke with his mouth full."
"They're probably more skilled at talking than they are at fighting." Grim ignored them and focused on the food. While he admitted that some of the people in the room didn't look completely weak, none of them were good enough to catch his eye and thus he considered them below him.
Listening to them badmouth Grim and the others, Leopold walked towards the Golden Dawn member that started it all.
"If we're talking about commoners, then don't you also have one in your order?"
Turning to look a Yuno, a flash of disgust and malice passed through the Golden Dawn member's eyes.
"He's nothing more than gutter trash that thinks he's special because he has a 4 leaf clover. We of the Golden Dawn don't expect anything from him, we'll be the ones to bring captain Vengeance's dreams to fruition, not some slum rat!"
Having heard enough, Klaus wanted to speak up for them. "With all due respect sir but-
"The same goes for you as well Klaus!"
"Huh?"
"Fraternizing with lower class beings like it was normal, aren't you ashamed of yourself!"
"I..."
"And you Mimosa!" He turned his attention to her. "I heard the while you were in that dungeon, you were immediately injured and had to retreat from the front lines, as a member of house Vermillion how can you stand here proudly!"
"I-I'm sorry..." She quickly lowered her head.
"Mimosa..." Noelle muttered her name.
"Now, now, we can't forget the most useless fool here can we?" One of Noelle's siblings said in a light tone before walking over to her.
"Hmm?" Listening to the conversation, Grim kept stuffing his face with food which did not help their image.
"S-Solid." Noelle trembled.
"Not being able to control your own magic, you truly shame the name of house Silva." He smiled before pouring a glass of water on her head.
"Hahahaha, you've already been disowned and yet you still have the courage to show your face here, how much more shameful can you get?"
"N-Nebra." Walking over to her brother's side, a woman with silver hair also started to mock Noelle.
'Damn these guys are relentless.'
Feeling someone with a larger clump of mana approaching, Grim stopped eating his food and started to watch what was going on.
"Big brother Nozel..." Noelle whispered.
Drawing attention to himself with his arrival, Nozel of the silver Eagles stepped onto the scene and approached his youngest sister.
'Wow, does everyone in this family beside Noelle have a fucked up hairstyle?'
"Noelle." He spoke in calm tone. "Did you think you were special because of one achievement? Coming here with such gallantry, haven't you shamed the Silva name enough."
"I-
"You do not belong here. Leave."
Nozel's words seemed to hit Noelle hard as she suddenly started to shake before lowering her head and walking towards the door.
"Y'know." Grim's voice suddenly echoed out. "I'm not one for teamwork nor do I have any special feelings of community, but I'm getting real sick of listening to you guys talk shit about me and my comrades." Standing up on the table, he turned to look at the people who had insulted him.
"Earlier you guys said that I was cocky because I had a little bit of mana right?" He chuckled lightly before continuing. "In that case it shouldn't be a problem for you guys to deal with it right?" While saying this he switched to breath of flames and started heating up the surrounding area shocking everyone with his abundance of mana before speaking again.
"Now then." He grinned. "Its time for all of you to learn your place."