"Another night, another drink," The young woman thought as she slammed another tankard down on the table. She brushed her lavender hair out of her eyes as the man that was sitting across from her put his tankard down. "So, any stories?" She said, waving a waitress down for another drink.

"None that we haven't published before," The man said, shaking his head and rummaging through some papers in front of the two. "Crimson Lion squad defends borders, Golden Dawn Prodigy on the rise. It's all the same now."

"There has to be something we can use! Come on Bernstein!" the woman said again, downing the fresh drink as it arrived. "You're the creativity for our papers! You have to be able to put a spin on this!

"I would, but I can only do so much!" He said, ripping up potential news stories. "I'm out of ways to make the same old reports interesting! You try finding something for once Aria!"

"You must be pretty drunk after two drinks!" She said, getting louder and standing up. A few other patrons were looking at her. "I'm the one who finds the news; you're the one who writes it!"

"Well then boss," Bernstein said, taking another drink. "Find me some news that we can use!"

They kept arguing, eventually being thrown out from the pub. A few magic knights were scoffing at the pair of drunks as they stumbled through the streets. They scoured the capital as much as they could while drunk, looking for any news they could use. Nothing, this repeated itself for another week. The news they published were as standard as the kingdom could have. No major incidents occurred, no revelations that would be a surefire success for them.

"Drinks?" Aria said, closing the door to their work behind them. Whistling happily as she turned to the man beside her.

"It's noon," Bernstein said, rubbing his brow. "besides, we have to look for anything we can use boss."

"I mean you aren't wrong," the woman said, starting to walk down the streets. "besides, pubs are always a good source of information!"

"And what children's story did you read to get that bit of wisdom?" The man said, following after his boss.

"It wasn't a children's story! Just my intuition!" she said, giving him a grin. "Now come on I have a feeling we'll find a story today!"

"if you're sure," Bernstein said, Aria putting a hand in front of his face.

"I'm always sure, now come on! Let's find something we can use!" she said, dragging him through the capital. They walked for hours, trying to get any information out of anyone they could. Knights ignored them; bars gave them no rumours, and they were trudging back to their office.

"Nothing again," Bernstein sighed. "So much for your intuition boss," looking around at the slowly emptying shopping district.

"We still have some daylight!" Aria said, taking an overdramatic pose. "We can absolutely. Still. Find something!"

"It's not like a story is just gonna-" Bernstein stopped as something exploded in the alleyway ahead of them. Smoke and debris poured out as someone flew away using a magic spell.

"Get back here!" a voice shouted, a few young knights sprinting out of the dust and chasing after the figure. The pair of newshounds watched as the crowd dispersed to get out of the way of the thief.

"We have a story!" they both cheered, starting to chase after the group. The two weaved through the crowd, chasing after the knights to get their story. They ran into an alley, right as the thief was slammed to the ground by a sword. They stayed partially obscured behind the nearby wall, Aria taking out her grimoire as quietly as she could.

"Seriously dumbass?" one of them said, the robber unconscious on the ground as flames bound his arms together. "Robbing an old lady? Right in front of knights?" the unconscious thief not giving them a response.

"Capture magic: Image capture" Aria whispered as Bernstein furiously was writing on a pad of paper. A small flash went off, managing not to catch the attention of the knights. The magic she used let her store any image she captured on paper, she used the spell a few more times before diving completely out of sight with Bernstein.

"Got good enough pictures, boss?" the man whispered, both of them moving as inconspicuously as possible through the once again crowded streets of the castle town.

"Definitely," she whispered back, looking through some of the paper that had the images of Magna, Asta and Noelle detaining a criminal. "We can at least make something interesting out of this." They went directly back to their workplace, going inside and diving into their work. First, Bernstein wrote the story out, the man writing a far too overdramatic version of what went on.

"How does this sound," The man said, holding up his notes. "Black Bulls Brutally catch Barbarious Bandit!" His boss nodding as she poured over the images she captured, laying them out.

"Sounds good Bern-" She said, pausing as a small detail caught her eye. She managed to get a shot of Asta and Noelle's right hands, both of them adorned with rings on a finger.

"Holy. Shit," She said, waving Bernstein over. The tall man looking at where she was pointing, his jaw dropping. They looked at each other and sprinted out the door.

Noelle had a headache, what should've been a simple shopping trip turned out to be a nightmare. Magna had begged them to let him help pick out clothes for Asta's family back at Hage village, and for some reason, she and Asta agreed.

They were regretting it as he kept on picking out clothes that matched his style, not the kids. Leather jackets, dark sunglasses, things that belonged on him rather than thirteen-year-olds and younger children. Eventually, the older knight got the hint and stopped.

"How about these?" Asta said, looking through a few piles of clothes picking out incredibly basic shirts.

"We can go fancier Asta," Noelle said, picking out some more expensive sets of clothes from the store. The fabric was smooth, smoother than Asta was used too as he felt it. "Besides, you know money isn't an issue," She continued, picking out a few more shirts and pants of roughly estimated sizes. Asta nodding and helping her pick out things. Magna managing to give some suggestions once he had a better idea of what Noelle wanted to buy.

They purchased a, frankly ludicrous, amount of clothes for the orphanage. All three of them compromising on things, jackets, shirts, pants and even pairs of new shoes for the younger kids. They bought the clothes and left, Asta, leading the group to a toy store to grab new toys for the youngest kids.

Noelle was stifling laughter at the toys Asta was suggesting they get, strange looking plush animals and imagined creatures. Her partners unbridled joy at buying things for his family was making her heart beat a little faster than it had in a few weeks. Magna and Asta being themselves and comparing which strange toy looked cooler as a store assistant kept on pressuring them to buy more.

"All right Dorksta, we have enough," Noelle said, taking the toys they agreed on buying and handing the store owner the money. The trio of knights walking out with only a few of the toys. Asta and Magna splitting the number of things they were carrying between them.

"Remind me why you aren't carrying anything Noelle?" Magna snarked. "After all it's your stuff I'm carrying!"

"And who's the princess here?" she said, smiling as she walked next to Asta. Magna sighing as he kept walking.

"You are," The two other knights said, Asta still incredibly happy at the day's events. Magna sighing since he knew his younger friend wouldn't back him up on her carrying some of the items.

They walked a little farther, not noticing the two people following them at a respectable distance. The taller of the two furiously writing out a story as the other captured pictures with her magic. They followed until the knights reached where the broom they flew in on was and took off.

"Got a story, Bernstein?" Aria said a slightly manic grin on her face as they watched the overburdened broom fly into the distance.

"More than enough for a few stories," The man said, both of them turning around and walking back to their workplace.

"Time to tell some stories." both of them thought.

The next morning everything was quiet, people across the kingdom waking up to start their routines. Asta, as per usual was waking up Captain Yami as part of his morning duties. Sprinting away from the room that the now enraged man was running out of.

"Don't fucking wake me up!" he roared from his room, causing the young knight to start sprinting away.

"You ordered me too!" Asta screamed, rounding the corner away from the captain's room. He kept running, back towards his and Noelle's neighbouring rooms. His partner stepping out of her room, and sighing as the sounds of yelling could be heard from the main hall. He took her hand as he slowed down, blushing as he got a good morning kiss. They walked together, talking about getting a lift to Hage village to hand deliver their gifts as the smell of breakfast wafted through the base from the dining room.

"What the hell!?" Magna shouted, looking at a newspaper on the table. The entire squad staring at it, their faces told the couple something was wrong as they walked in. "Who the fuck writes shit like this!?" the Yankee kept yelling.

"Can I kill them?" Luck said his face in a murderous smile. None of the other knights telling him no as they glared at the paper. "There's going to be so much blood~,"

"Wait what's going on?" both Asta and Noelle said, Vanessa, taking the paper and showing them the front page story. Their screams audible through the entire base at the story.

"Royal scandal?

Princess of the Silva family engaged to A Knight of the Black Bulls!?

The pair was seen buying children's clothes, could this mean a possible baby on the way? Their servant, another knight of the Black Bull squad, was seen buying and carrying things for the pair. Who is this princess's lover, does the Silva household know of this forbidden love?! And is there-"

The paper and table it was on were destroyed, Asta's greatsword and Noelle's magic turning both into kindling for a fire. Their faces were disturbingly calm as they put their grimoires away. The rest of the squad pulling up chairs as they started to discuss how to find the writers of the article.

Chapter 16

The Silver Eagles captain was hoping to have a good morning, Nozel walked through his base receiving the usual salutes from his knights. What was unusual is how awkward some of them looked as he passed them. A newer recruit was reading a newspaper, folding it closed as Nozel approached and saluting. The knight's face was twisted in a mix of emotions before Nozel motioned for the paper.

The Silver Eagles base was almost immediately devoid of any newspapers. The gross article managing to get under the captain's skin, and resulted in him ordering everyone to forget the paper existed. The man threw all papers with that insult to his family into the fire as he marched out into the capital, looking for the authors to educate them on their mistake.

His siblings walked after him almost confused as to why he was so outraged; he stopped their questioning with a look.

"I may not like it," he thought, still walking in the early morning streets of the capital. "But, I gave her my word I wouldn't interfere, and that means no one else can either."

Yuno had woken up earlier than usual, he was being forced to take a mandatory day off, and he was going to use every minute of it training. He grabbed a light breakfast, despite having a lavish cooking staff for the base he rarely took advantage of it. He preferred the simpler foods, they reminded him of Hage Village and helped keep him from getting a big head. After he ate, he walked back to his room to grab a few things for training.

"Yuno," Klaus said, the senior knight walking towards him from the other end of the hall. A newspaper was crumpled in his hand, the knight gently handing it to him as he pushed up his glasses. "You should probably read this."

Yuno took the paper, knowing that Klaus would pester him about it until he either left or read it regardless. He sighed and unfolded it, his eyes widening at the title of the article. He scanned through it before taking a breath.

"And you're showing me this why?" he said, folding the paper up and handing it back to his superior. Klaus was taken aback by his calm demeanour. He pushed up his glasses again.

"So I could make sure you don't do anything reckless," The older knight said.

"Since when have I done anything reckless?"

"Do you want the list of times you have disobeyed orders and rushed in without following the plan?"

"I followed the plans," Yuno said, slightly embarrassed that Klaus had a list of all the times he disobeyed orders. His superior gave him a quizzical look before sighing.

"If you want to do anything regarding that story, be subtle and don't get caught," Klaus said, "I can't stop you from doing anything since you ignore my rank, but at least TRY to act with discretion."

Yuno paused and took another look at the crunched paper in Klaus's hand. "I won't do anything reckless Klaus, you have my word," he said, trying his best to give an encouraging smile. Klaus nodded and walked off, giving Yuno one last warning about not being reckless. Yuno continued on his way, grabbed a broom and flew off.

A similar situation was happening at the Crimson Lions base, with Leopold doing his best to calm down after reading the article. A few of the other crimson lion soldiers were helping, at least until their captain walked in.

"Get to work you lazy assholes!" Mereoleona yelled, getting everyone but her brother up and moving to their duties. A flaming paw grabbed Leopold's head since he didn't move. "That means you too shrimp."

"Yes sis," he said, almost folding up the newspaper before the captain took it.

"Oh good," she said, "you already know what I want you to do today."

"I do?" her younger brother said, still floating helplessly in the flaming paw.

"You do," she said, holding up the paper and grinning maliciously. Leopold taking just a moment to follow her logic, before grinning as he was set down on the ground.

"I'm coming to help, my Rival!" Leopold shouted triumphantly before sprinting out the door of the base.

"You're really letting him go off and not train captain?" one of the knights asked. Mereoleona's grin was telling them all they needed to know about what would happen when he got back.

Nozel, Yuno and Leopold, all from their different bases went towards the capital, one single goal in mind.

"I'll stop whoever is slandering them."

Meanwhile, the Black Bull base's living area was full of noise, Asta, Noelle, Magna, Luck, Finral and Vanessa, uncharacteristically focused on the table in front of them. A map of the capital, and pins marking certain locations they would walk around in.

"So," Asta said, leaning over the map a bit too much. "Noelle and I just have to act like we normally do right?"

"Yes, just act all lovey-dovey you two," Vanessa said, using her threads to move some of the pins on the map. "Then we wait to see if whoever took those pictures is around for more."

"Then me and Magna get em!" Luck said, electricity sparking out at two of the pins.

"Yeah, alive you lunatic," Magna said, getting a laugh out of the group. "We jump them, tie them up and then we have fun."

"And we teach them not to mess with royal-, us," Noelle said, holding Asta's hand as they rolled up the map.

"Damn right!" Magna shouted, "We'll teach those bastards to mess with the Black Bulls."

"Yeah!" Asta shouted, Finral opening a portal to the capital as everyone ran through it. The streets were bustling, families out shopping, knights patrolling to keep the peace, everything was just as they wanted it. Noelle took Asta's hand as they walked out into the street, and the rest of the Bulls following a few moments after them.

"People are staring," Asta whispered, Noelle, gripped his hand tighter as parts of the crowd looked at them. "I didn't think it'd be this fast."

"Then we just do what we planned," She whispered back, both of them nodding.

"Oh, my darling Noelle!" Asta said his tone far too regal sounding. "It's so wonderful not to have to hide our love~." People looking directly at them as Noelle continued.

"It's true my sweet Asta~," She said, more heads turning as they walked down the street. "though the papers definitely exaggerated our love~!"

"If only we could find the people who wrote it!" Asta said, throwing his voice as far a distance as he could down the street. "Then they could get the whole story!"

"Come on, take the bait" all six of the bulls thought, their various positions around the area. They waited, Asta and Noelle still loudly announcing themselves for a while. Civilians were applauding and congratulating the princess on the relationship. They were directly asked about the rumours and got some disappointed looks when they confirmed the story was full of exaggerations. The crowd dispersed after a while, as the Knights regrouped in a side street.

"Anything?" Noelle asked, sighing when the other four shook their heads. "I knew this wouldn't be that simple."

"There's always the chance they're making up new stories about you two," Vanessa said with a grimace. "You two were out for a long time yesterday." Asta and Noelle both flinched at that.

"Great so the bastards could be anywhere," Magna sighed, running a hand through his hair. "And who knows how many weird ideas they got about you!"

"Are you sure I can't kill them?" Luck said, his voice low and dangerous as he bounced around on the tips of his feet.

"No killing anyone! we went over this!" FInral shouted, getting a laugh out of the battle maniac. "I think just us finding them will be enough, but we have no idea where they are."

"The problem is that they aren't coming to us," Vanessa mused, her fingers cupping her chin. "I think our only option is to walk around and do more of what you did yesterday. But even more intense.”

Asta and Noelle looked at each other, Vanessa whispering something to the other three with all of them grinning.

“Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” the couple said, four pairs of hands grabbing them and dragging them further into the alleyway to concoct a plan.

Elsewhere in the capital the two reporters were coming into their office, dozens of bags of yule laying on a safe near the back of the main room. The smaller of the two almost dove into the pile, greedily rolling in the loose coins as her employee sighed.

“Really boss?” Bernstein said, sitting down and starting to look over responses to their story. “Well hot damn, looks like people are loving it.”

“And the PILE OF MONEY I'M ROLLING AROUND IN wasn’t the proof of that?” Aria laughed, throwing a few bags up into the air and catching them.

“We easily got a few hundred thousand Yule!”

“Which means,” the man grinned, setting his papers down. “We don’t have to worry about food or anything for a long while!” His boss staring at him while reaching for a half-empty bottle of brandy.

“…oh, right. Rent and stuff. Yeah that.” She said, slowly backing her hand away from the bottle. “Yes, definitely thinking about that Bern old buddy old pal!”

“We’re not doing another pub crawl,” he deadpanned. Getting a pout from his boss as she started putting money in the safe. “Wait why am I the one acting like the boss here?!”

“Because you’re a stick in the mud and I own the business,” the shorter reporter said, cheerfully counting any loose coins and sticking them beside the bags of yule. “But with the luck yesterday, maybe we’ll be on a hot streak! Let’s hit the streets after this!”

“You sure?” Bernstein muttered, “I have more than enough material for a few more stories.” Some photos of Asta and Noelle getting packed into a bag.

“And miss a chance to get even more?” Aria said, hopping around in front of the door. “A princess getting married is going to cause a big stir! There’s bound to be a ton of people we can interview for this!” Her subordinate nodding and grabbing a few extra sheets of paper.

“No drinks afterwards though,” he said, his boss once again giving him an upset look. Sighing he locked the door as they stepped out into the capital, unknowingly walking to the end of their careers. In one part of the capital, the Bulls prepared a trap for them, even if it was to the couple’s chagrin. In three other parts, Leopold Vermillion, Nozel Silva, and Yuno all searched to find who would defame the couple.

A storm was coming, and the reporters were walking directly into it.