Chương 54: Book 2 Chapter 6 - A Forced Judgment

The second to last judge spoke next, another lady.

"Would you submit yourself to a test, Lady Yountal? We have an artifact here that will measure your tier, adding credence to your story." Kiara knew for a fact that the artifact wouldn't work on her. Lord Grivalt had tried something similar, and it had registered her as a mortal, someone with no magical prowess. Dustin was shaking his head at her ever so slightly, indicating that she didn't need to submit to the request if she didn't want to.

She remembered that they had the support of the wealthy families in the city, and could take the matter to Count Dremond if needed. That being said, she didn't mind having the artifact test her. She was curious herself, to be honest. Maybe Lord Grivalt's artifact had simply been broken.

"That's okay," she said, nodding.

"Where's the artifact?" The lady who had asked the question gestured to one of the clerks who was present. The clerk stepped forward, carrying a small wooden box. They approached the dias where Kiara was standing, then opened the box to pull out a silver cylinder with a handle on each end.

"Simply grasp the device on each end," the clerk instructed, handing it to her.

"It will change colors based on which tier it registers you at." She nodded, and took the device from him. The spectators all leaned forward in their seats, curious to see for themselves just how strong she was. As she placed both hands on the cylinder, it temporarily flashed blue, indicating the enchantment had activated. The cylinder remained silver afterward, not changing colors in the slightest. The clerk looked confused.

"Uh, try one more time, if you please? Lift one hand off the device, then grasp it firmly one more time with both hands." Kiara followed his instructions, and the device flashed blue one more time, but remained silver afterward. Whispers of confusion echoed around the gathered crowd. She handed the cylinder back to the clerk, who placed it back in the box then walked over to the judge who had summoned him. They had a quick whispered conversation, after which the clerk returned to his seat.

"The artifact shows that you have no magical power whatsoever, Miss Yountal," the lady said loudly. Whispers broke out again as the confusion in the room built. They were beginning to doubt her story.

"Do you wish to amend your story in any way?" the lady asked.

"No," she responded.

"Everything I have said is true." The judge looked exasperated.

"The device clearly showed beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are incapable of defending yourself against a tier 2 mage, not to mention thirteen of his guards."

"Your device must be broken then," she responded simply.

"That's what happened."

"Would you allow me to scan you myself?" Baron Norshod cut in with a barely concealed snarl. Kiara raised an eyebrow. Her [Magical Sense 3] allowed her to sense the general strength of other individuals – Baron Norshod must have a similar ability.

"By all means," she said with a nod. She was curious how she would register on an ability like that. The baron stood from his seat, then stepped down off the raised platform and made his way to the central dias where she stood. Once he got within fifty feet of her, he showed up on her own magic sense radar. She could tell that he was a tier 3 mage. He stopped when he was about thirty feet away, then frowned. He stepped closer until he was only a few feet in front of her.

His voice low enough that only she and Dustin could hear it, he said, "You're clearly a mortal, Miss Yountal, I can discern that much with my magic sense. What game are you playing at here?" Interesting. Even his magic sense didn't seem to register her power level.

"No game," she responded simply. His eyes took on a predatory glint.

"Then would you be open to a public duel? To prove your story is true?" She smiled and leaned forward, taking on a predatory gaze of her own.

"Are you offering?" He took an involuntary step back, his gaze faltering at her immediate confidence. Dustin, emboldened by Kiara's actions, chimed in, "Indeed, my lord. Are you challenging Lady Yountal to a public duel?" Baron Norshod glanced between the two of them, then took another step backward.

"N-no, of course not. Don't be foolish!" Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. He turned and hurried back toward the raised seating, his quick steps betraying a sense of fear. Dustin spoke up again, loud enough for the crowd to hear now.

"We have answered all of your questions, my lords and ladies. Lady Yountal defended herself against an egregious attack by Lord Grivalt. Every single one of us here has the right to defend ourselves in times of exigency such as that. House Yountal is a well-known, respected house here in Yountal." The crowd was nodding along to his closing speech. He continued, "We expect that this issue will be considered resolved as of today, and that the notes from today's hearing will indeed be delivered to Count Dremond.

Should the need arise, we are happy to appear before the count directly to discuss this matter." The tribunal judges bristled at the idea of the matter going over their heads to the count. Baron Norshod himself looked alarmed at the prospect. That would reflect poorly on his image with the count, especially if the count sided with House Yountal. A barrier of silence was deployed around the judges' seating area, so they could discuss the matter in private, without the crowd overhearing their deliberations.

Dustin leaned close to Kiara again.

"The decision ultimately rests with Baron Norshod, but the judges on the city tribunal get to advise and counsel him on the matter. If they advise him to exonerate you, it would be rare for him to go against their counsel. With the support of the houses gathered here today, I suspect that's exactly what they'll do."

"Lord Grivalt never held a tribunal like this when he… passed judgment on some people I knew," she replied softly.

"Were they commoners?" Dustin asked with a knowing look. She nodded. Dustin nodded grimly.

"Without the support of the houses gathered here tonight, even this trial may have ended poorly, and you are no commoner. Maintaining power at the top is a balancing act for the baron. He is stuck in between the count and the powerful houses that reside in his barony. Actions taken against powerful houses in a tribunal such as this have to be justified to both parties to avoid any backlash." Kiara watched the baron confer with the six other judges.

His gaze repeatedly went from her (with a look of disdain mixed with fear), to the many houses and nobles who had attended the hearing (with a look of resignation). If she had to guess, his desire to punish her for what happened at Lord Grivalt's estate was warring with his desire to avoid angering the powerful houses gathered here tonight, mixed with a hint of fear from their interaction a few moments before.

True to Dustin's prediction, the verdict came in favor of Kiara having acted in self defense, and she was cleared of all charges. The same clerk that had announced the beginning of the proceedings announced the verdict, after which Baron Norshod stormed out of the room without looking back. The crowd erupted into applause as the verdict was announced. Dustin leaned over one final time.

"Apologies in advance, but we may be here for a while yet. There are quite a few people here who would love to make your acquaintance, Shian. With how much support they've offered us here tonight, it's the least we can do to thank them." Kiara groaned inside, but nodded her agreement to the request. She wasn't unusually shy or anti-social in most circumstances, but the hob nobbing of the elites was something that required too much mental focus. It was draining in a way that normal socializing wasn't.

The court room quickly turned into an impromptu social gathering of the wealthiest families in Easton and the surrounding cities. Just about everyone who was someone had turned out for the event, and they were already dressed to the nines. None of the city officials made any moves to stop the event from happening, and within fifteen minutes, real-life, honest-to-goodness waiters and waitresses had appeared with cocktail trays.

The night got even more bizarre when a few minutes later, a live band appeared and started playing music. Kiara wasn't sure how much of that was pre-planned, and how much of it happened spur of the moment, but Dustin took it all in stride, so she rolled with it too. She met dozens of important people, chatting with each one for a few minutes before the next one appeared.

It was like they had some kind of agreed-upon time limit they were all adhering to, and once the time was up the next person in line would jump in for their turn. By the end of the night, her cheeks hurt from the smile she had plastered on her face. Looking back though, she realized the night hadn't been as bad as she'd expected, and she'd actually enjoyed meeting some of the less pretentious lords and ladies. She debated attending the next ball or party that Dustin was invited to.

When they pulled into the estate, she felt a weight lift off her chest that she hadn't realized she'd been carrying since Lord Grivalt had attacked her. Her family was safe, she had been exonerated, and everything seemed right with the world. * Kiara practiced her adjusted sword forms every single spar that week after she discovered it while sparring with Ron. She focused on learning everything she could from the spars, rather than solely on taking every opening she found.

She ended up winning three of the spars, but lost to a fairly talented student on Thursday, in addition to her loss to Ron. She continued practicing the three sword forms that she was still learning as well, both during her personal study time in class, after class each day, and even in her spare time at night. By the end of the week, they felt comfortable, familiar even, but she still hadn't quite reached the mastery stage of them yet. She hoped another week or two would do it.

Friday, after practicing her sword forms after class, she visited the leaderboard again to see how she was faring. She was still ranked 29 out of 31 with 61 points to her name. Having missed the opportunity to teach two weeks in a row, she hadn't advanced in the leaderboard, despite winning most of her duels both weeks. Ron had 68 points, and was seated comfortably at rank 20. Not quite to the middle of the pack, but Kiara felt that spot fairly accurately reflected his abilities currently.

Henry had an outstanding week, and was still in first place with 98 points. Olga and Seltzer were ranked 10 and 13, respectively. Neither one of them seemed to ever teach the beginner's class, and Kiara wondered how many points they would have if they did. They rarely lost their spars, and were some of the best swordfighters in the class. Saturday, Kiara jogged out to Poston to see her family. She couldn't help but wonder about the provenance of the name Poston.

She had never heard it called that until her tribunal, and wondered if maybe people used to just refer to the village as 'that no-name-village out past Easton' which may have eventually shortened into just 'past Easton', which in turn morphed into 'Poston'. It was a silly thought, one that popped into her head while jogging. She had absolutely no evidence to back up or even suggest such an origin for the name of the village, but it seemed as likely as any other theory.