Bermuda

"The subject of deliberation, Leonardo Blaine's...?"

All the lights went out simultaneously with a crisp friction sound. It was before the legal affairs officer could even finish his first sentence. People's murmurs rose in the darkness.

Maria covered her mouth with both hands and turned to look at the culprit beside her.

"...Shorendo, are you crazy?"

However, the Council's Lumen who had cut off all the light seemed to be enjoying the darkness that had dyed everything, grinning to himself.

"Wow, it actually works."

"What's going on!"

"Turn on the emergency lights immediately!"

Urgent voices from the council members echoed. There was nothing more humiliating than becoming the talk of the town for poor facility management at a trial of this scale. Council members and doorkeepers who had been on standby scrambled about, replacing mana stones in the stone pedestals set up throughout the courtroom.

Soon, as light balls began to rise one by one from the observer seats, the ceiling lights flickered a few times with the power of luminous stones before lighting up again. Shorendo clicked his tongue in disappointment and tried to turn them off again, but Maria next to him quickly grabbed his wrist.

"You'll get caught if you keep this up. Stop it."

"But ending with just one time is too short."

"Be quiet~!"

As the courtroom stirred once more, the judge shouted loud enough to make one's ears ring. Everyone who had been murmuring, including the two of them, was startled into silence.

"Don't make a fuss over trivial matters. The more you do, the more the proceedings will be delayed. Legal affairs officer, please start again."

"Ah, yes!"

The judge, seeming to think it was just a momentary incident, appeared to want to proceed with—and conclude—the trial quickly. The legal affairs officer must have sensed this too, as he began reciting the prepared case overview at a somewhat hurried pace.

"Case number 999-RT(Redemption Trial)-0024. To discuss the charges against the subject of deliberation, Leonardo Blaine, and his legal release..."

However, Shorendo, not giving up, repeatedly turned the lights on and off by wiggling his fingers. He realistically simulated flickering as if the fuse were about to blow, making it seem like the lighting conditions in the courtroom were poor.

As visibility alternated between bright and dark, the legal affairs officer's words became increasingly drawn out. Coughs could be heard intermittently from the council members. Some of them turned to look at the Deputy Commander who came to mind when thinking of "light."

"...Thus, for the past two years and six months, he engaged in profit-making activities as an unregistered illegal mage, not only ignoring the Council's stern summons but also disregarding [N O V E L I G H T] regulations for social order, posing a threat to the community. What needs to be pointed out here is that, as a former soldier belonging to the imperial army, he was in a position to fully understand how much anxiety an uncontrolled high-risk mage could cause to ordinary citizens."

Fortunately, Maria pulled Shorendo's finger down as if about to break it; otherwise, he might not have escaped disciplinary action if he had been even a little late. As Shorendo rested his chin on his hand and looked straight ahead, the council members who had been eyeing him suspiciously turned their gaze back to the front.

"I object, Your Honor. The legal affairs officer's statement is an unfounded speculation that does not consider the previous situation at all. The subject of deliberation fell into a position of being shunned by the entire nation in an instant, making it difficult for him to even show himself publicly. In his weakened state of mind and body, he merely evaded pursuers to live quietly away from public attention, and there is no evidence that he intentionally threatened the community in the process. This is merely self-defense to preserve one's personal safety, and rather, it was state institutions and imperial citizens who threatened his safety after his parole from Amphitrite—"

"I object, Your Honor. The defense counsel's statement includes personal opinions unrelated to the facts. This may unduly influence the judgment of the voters..."

Shorendo glanced around and let out a sigh of relief when he saw that all eyes on him had disappeared. He hadn't expected to be suspected so quickly, even after all that. As Maria had said, if he did it one more time, he felt he'd be caught immediately.

Moreover, even though the flickering had quickly subsided, they were still confronting each other so intensely. It seemed that both the legal affairs officer and defense counsel gathered today were quite formidable. They proceeded smoothly without even looking at their prepared briefing materials, despite the chaotic situation.

At this rate, it wouldn't take long for the legal affairs officer to finish speaking and verify the facts. If only he could tell the defense counsel—who would have the floor next—to stall for time. Given this atmosphere, there was a high possibility that the proceedings would continue without even an intermission where they could make contact.

Shorendo stared at the small amplifier glowing in the form of a magic circle on the podium where the legal affairs officer stood. If he could just do something about that, he could delay the proceedings, but it was frustrating that he couldn't suddenly launch an attack spell from here.

"I wish someone could break it without being noticed..."

"What? Which one?"

At that moment, Shorendo flinched and turned his head at the voice that came from right beside him. Delua had appeared at some point and was leaning in close.

Shorendo, who had been flustered, suddenly brightened.

"Battalion Commander Rivera, can you break that?"

*****

Bang–!

Pieces of stone fell from the wall where the entire door had been torn off. Though this wasn't the peninsula, the interior of the VIP room was no different from a lawless zone. Chilly steam rose around Hugo.

He might get an earful for the property damage, but that wasn't important right now. His cold blue gaze fixed on the pantry door directly in front of him. Behind him, private security guards employed by who knows who were already on their knees, declaring surrender.

Without facing a single challenge, Hugo strode purposefully toward the final space.

Unlike the previous two doors, this one was far too fragile to protect anything. He thrust his frozen fist through, piercing the wooden door with his arm.

Unfortunately, it seemed to be a bit low, as a shrill voice leaked up from the floor beyond the door. Hugo, staring at that spot with his gaze lowered, tore off the entire door panel with his arm still piercing it.

The wooden door he threw backward clattered to the ground, and the burly security guards covered their heads and prostrated themselves.

Looking down at the presiding judge trembling in the same posture as them, Hugo—his eyes glowing in the backlight—coldly intoned:

"Come out."

*****

"What's going on now?"

"How did they manage it..."

Leonardo gradually calmed his irregular breathing while scanning the murmuring crowd. For him, who had been suffering from trauma since entering the courtroom, these strange phenomena that occasionally interrupted the flow were helping him regain his composure.

When he realized Hugo's absence, he felt as if he'd been left alone in front of hundreds of arrows. His mind was filled with shouts calling for him, and his condition worsened to the point where he felt he might not be able to breathe. However, from the moment the lights flickered, Leonardo regained focus and began to read the atmosphere.

'Is there a force interfering?'

He corrected his posture, which had appeared composed to others as he slumped in the chair, and sat up straight. Even with that small movement, dozens of gazes from the front fixed on him. Eyes like those watching a fierce beast that had just woken up from anesthesia.

Leonardo leaned his upper body slightly forward to meet their expectations. His gaze held a calm yet chilling temperature.

He didn't know where he was, but Agrizendro had said that trials were about "momentum."

'No one here can beat me in momentum.'

Thump, thump–

"If the same problem recurs, we will proceed with live voices without amplifiers or separate equipment. I ask the organizers to pay more attention to equipment management."

The judge, who had looked back at Leonardo, summarized the situation again.

In the end, the council members who had been scolded kept badgering their staff and attendants to find out what had happened. Whenever the legal affairs officer tried to say something, the amplifier would make a loud noise and then suddenly cut off.

Even after replacing it several times, the same thing happened, and each time the atmosphere in the courtroom became distracted, causing the judge to raise his voice more than once.

"Also, if any deliberate attempts to disrupt the proceedings in this sacred courtroom are detected, not only will immediate removal be enforced, but severe punishment will be meted out without separate deliberation."

For a moment, Delua, feeling guilty, trembled her fingertips slightly. The dry twig that had been targeting the small magic circle of the amplifier suddenly dropped. Delua, who had hastily pulled it back for fear of being caught, clutched her heaving chest and sighed.

"They didn't notice, did they?"

"You interfered with only one side too much. It's better to restrain yourself now."

Maria whispered in a worried tone. Nodding in agreement, Delua picked up the dry twig that had scraped across the floor and put it back in her pouch.

Since she had only targeted the legal affairs officer's amplifier, she felt that continuing further would arouse suspicion.

"Defense counsel, continue your statement."

"Yes, understood."

Leonardo's defense counsel, who had now taken the floor, checked the clock before resuming:

"To emphasize again, the Elder Millie Peninsula was a barren and dangerous land that even the empire couldn't handle until now. According to the report materials from investigators who participated in the subjugation, the peninsula was one giant nest with its own independent ecosystem, and it was confirmed that at the top of the food chain existed an ancient demon called the queen of monsters."

The defense counsel, listing the facts, scanned the audience and appealed in a persuasive voice:

"We could fully realize the ferocity of those creatures and the devastation of that time through the deaths of the fallen warriors we bid farewell to at the joint funeral a few days ago. However, can we disparage the merits of the hero who contributed the most to defeating such evil just because there were many casualties? If it weren't for the empire's hero here today, we might not be in this place. It means that even the survivors who safely returned to their families' arms might have gone cold in the swamp of disaster. Your Honor, I request the disclosure of relevant materials to clearly convey the facts."

"Granted."

After the judge's answer, a large photo was projected onto the white wall behind the podium where the defense counsel stood. Leonardo's gaze followed it as people reacted with gasps of surprise.

The photo contained the image of a monster so grotesque it made one's brow furrow even now. Though it couldn't capture its full size, it was more than enough to shock those seeing it for the first time.

"Can you see? This is the form of the monster that brutally slaughtered our brave warriors who fought valiantly. Does this truly look like it's on the same level as the monsters we've seen so far? If something like this had invaded beyond the peninsula into our territory, at least the southern part of the empire would be annihilated by now."

Speaking with that disgusting form displayed behind him, the crowd quickly grew solemn. The reason for letting in observers who weren't originally planned must have been to induce an atmosphere of rejection, but ordinary people facing the reality of Elder Millie for the first time couldn't possibly think straight.

The legal affairs officer, sensing the quieted atmosphere in the courtroom, seemed to be hurriedly searching through his materials for something to refute. Leonardo let out a small laugh at the ironic situation, never expecting the persistent queen bee to be helpful in this way.

"I will submit as evidence the aerial photographs taken during the battle with the monsters, witness statements of those who observed the subject of deliberation's achievements, and the subject of deliberation's medical records. And next—"

Beep–

At that moment, a light came on from the council member seats that had been quiet all along. It was to express intent by pressing a button when requesting the right to speak. Although interrupting during the defense counsel's statement was a clear violation of the rules, the judge didn't particularly restrain it and answered:

"Speak."

"First, I've heard the defense counsel's words well, but in my personal opinion, that claim stirs misleading emotions based on speculation about situations that didn't occur."

"Your Honor—"

"Of course, I acknowledge that the subject of deliberation contributed partly to the subjugation, but I disagree with the statement that the southern part of the empire would have been annihilated if it weren't for him."

"Your Honor, voters do not have the right to raise objections during the defense team's statements except during debates—"

"Our Council members are well-trained warriors who do not fear even death, and they set out prepared to sacrifice their lives for the empire. Regardless of the level of the enemy's destructive power, it means it was a battle that could have been won sufficiently if more support troops had been deployed. Isn't it inappropriate to present this as an achievement solely of the subject of deliberation? Our members fought honorably until they became dew on the battlefield, and it's not as if we're differentiating between lives—"

Beeeep–

"..."

The courtroom suddenly fell silent. It was because of one person who had suddenly pressed the speech button.

The crowd unanimously turned their heads toward where the red light had come on. The judge's disgruntled gaze also shifted in that direction.

Originally, during the defense counsel's official statement, voters other than the legal affairs officer or judge were not allowed to raise objections or speak. However, there was one person free from all these restrictions, and that was the subject of deliberation himself.

Leonardo fiercely stared at the council member who had been rambling on, his hand on the blood-red buzzer.