Free Web NovelChapter 55: Chapter 55: Before the Court
"Are we going to be in trouble?" Lot thought.
He had begun doubting himself. He gave this noob a chance. Would he soon come to regret it? He was unsure.
Valentine continued.
He cited the Merlin Act that was set years ago.
"The policy, you know the one where your Master voted against power balance. He was present back then. You know what I mean by present, right?" Valentine was trying to provoke something in Lot.
"He was present in both mind and body back then. Is that correct?"
"You’re Lot, right?" Val continued.
"Oh, you may not even be able to answer. I mean, from what I hear, you’re not the one in the loop."
"That would be the one we all know as Solomon."
"Where is he, by the way?"
Valentine continued with his taunts.
"Don’t answer that. You’re from the great Circle of Merlin, after all. I’m sure he’s doing something important somewhere out there."
"So you’re left with the light work, huh? Oh, I’m sorry. Back to the topic."
"Following that policy, the Circle of Merlin would be wrong to obtain all three candidates within such a small time frame."
Val paused. The Wise Men were about to turn to the defendant for their rebuttal. Val continued before they could give them a chance.
"There’s also the Circle of Gadmoda. I believe your circle applied this policy even recently against the good people from Gadmoda. I hear they wanted to take on more than a few S-ranks. You all stepped in."
"Hmm."
"You didn’t let them do what they intended."
"I believe you were right for doing so."
"All those S-ranks to one circle? That’s way too unfair."
"What do you think?" fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm
Val ended with the question.
Lot was definitely about to pop a vessel.
He wanted to rip one out.
Ruben stopped him.
He sighed. He was relieved.
"Oh, is that all?" Ruben said.
"I’d like to start by establishing the reason we have the Council. It is to regulate mages and their actions. Is that right?" Ruben asked.
"That is correct," Valentine responded.
"That question wasn’t for you. Sorry, I wasn’t clear with my phrasing. I was directly addressing the Council."
"Why do you exist?"
"Is it not for the purpose I just stated?" he followed up.
They all seemed to nod. They couldn’t quite get where he was going with his point.
"Nodding doesn’t count as an answer. Can I have one?" he asked.
"Yes, that’s the Council’s purpose," Morgana replied.
"Thank God."
"Wiz Valentine, I believe you expect to win this case because of prior incidents. You believe in upholding the law. You believe in fairness, or so you do not?" he asked.
"I do," Valentine simply responded.
"Good. Do you believe in precedent?" Ruben followed up.
"If I didn’t, then how would I have made my case?" Valentine replied.
"Precedent. Good, forgive me then," Ruben added.
’He’s planning something, obviously, but he’s awfully polite with his responses,’ Lot thought.
"Precedent, right? Please restate your claim, Wiz Valentine," Ruben asked.
Valentine stood. He cited the grounds of the case with Vlad’s circle years ago. He reiterated his points.
"I noticed something. You mentioned S-ranks."
"Did you watch the broadcast from a day ago?"
Valentine was about to answer.
"Wait, don’t answer that," Ruben said.
"You’re a great Wiz. Of course you did. There’s no way you would show up without at least catching a recording or something."
"Back to what I said earlier. You cited the cases with S-ranks."
"If you watched the broadcast, there was only one S-rank. Notice I used the plural."
Valentine just laughed.
He was clearly thinking something, but nobody could get a read on him.
Some of the Council members had already begun to worry.
Ruben continued.
"I believe this one here is an SSS-rank mage. Not an S-rank. I should reiterate."
He pointed to Roe as he said this.
"Oh, and this one? I think he’s only C-rank. I think."
"Also not an S-rank."
Now he was pointing to Zach.
"Please, would you like to expand on your claim again?" Ruben asked.
Valentine was about to speak.
"Oh, sorry. I forgot to mention. The Circle of Merlin only came into possession of one S-rank this time around. That’s the girl who presents herself before the Court right now."
"Since you like precedent so much, can you cite a case where a circle was prevented from obtaining a C-rank mage? Oh, and while you’re at it, cite one with an SSS-rank mage as well."
Ruben took his seat. He believed he had set the stage for something magical to play out.
Valentine stood.
He looked at Ruben and clapped.
"That’s impressive."
He got out a flash drive and requested a projector.
"Precedent. We’ll rule with past proceedings in mind."
A projector was brought in.
Valentine passed the flash drive to the cleric who brought it.
"This video I’m about to play contains information from the cited day."
"Merlin?" Roe got excited. He was finally going to hear Merlin speak.
He had talked to him before, but he couldn’t understand him because of his affliction.
The scholars implied Merlin was still normal back then, at least with his communication skills.
The video played.
Roe and Zach seemed especially captivated.
Ten minutes passed. Valentine had shown the segment he wanted to share.
"Okay. You do see that Merlin himself questioned Vlad’s own position in his circle, claiming he was an abnormality of an S-rank himself," Valentine said.
"And where’s all this going?" Lot asked.
"After the policy, some circles had to relinquish a few of their S-ranks. Others didn’t."
"Why was this?" Valentine continued.
"Wasn’t it targeted in the case of Vlad’s and now recently Gadmoda?"
"Using a targeted implementation of the law, it should stand that your circle shouldn’t maintain possession of these superpowers."
"Simply put, as Vlad was seen as an abnormality for an S-rank, is the Circle of Merlin not an abnormality of a circle?"
"Is Solomon himself not an abnormality?" Valentine added.
The Council was gaining back its confidence and edge.
"Back to what I was saying. Using a targeted angle, using the precedent of what your circle did years ago, it stands to reason that the notion presented by the Council of Mages should stand and should, in fact, be upheld much like yours was all those years ago."
Lot panicked.
He didn’t have a personal stack, but he knew Merlin did.
Valentine sat and Ruben stood.
"Good stuff. Nice of you to say all that. I actually forgot mine on my way here," Ruben said.
"Forgot what?" Elijah thought.
"You’ll have to help me out here, Wiz Valentine."
"Sure. What do you need?" Valentine asked, standing up.
"Oh, don’t trouble yourself."
"You can sit. I’ll just have the cleric help me."
"I’ll keep the time code."
"I just need thirty seconds."
"Take the file provided by the prosecutor to the timestamps. 18:42 all through to 19:12. I think that should be sufficient."
Ruben said, taking his seat.
’He’s got timestamps memorized? What, is this normal?’ Elsa thought.
