Chương 360: The Hearing Part 2

Damion's little speech as he walked to the defendant's chair caused quite the commotion in the hearing room. It was customary for people to have at least a week notice for a hearing, typically longer. As for his accusation of the teleportation platform blocking people from arriving, a number of people were pulling out their communication tablets to have someone go and check.

The only time the platform ever shut down was during large events being held in the area, otherwise the platform sent and received people at all hours of the day and night. This was a White Zone, a hub of humanity, politically and economically. There were three faces of the nine-person council that Damion saw were quite startled by his appearance. Chairman Thorn, a woman to his immediate right and then the person at the far-left end of the table.

The other six people seemed annoyed, but their annoyance was not directed at Damion, it was directed at Chairman Thorn. Clearly, they were not happy with his breach of etiquette. Should what was said turn out to be true, he might be in for a hearing of his own.

"Well, here I am," Damion said, after taking his seat.

"I suppose you want to ask me some questions."

"Indeed, we do," Chairman Thorn said.

"First of all, lets establish the course of events shall we. You…"

"I, on my venture of exploration and mapping of the Yellow Zone borders, discovered a Realm Breach. After entering, I discovered it was a Fire Cave, but since I am an Ice Mage, Fire Caves don't worry me too much, so I cleared it. When I came out I was surprised to find a group of mages wanting to take possession of the Realm Breach I discovered. However, since I happened to have a B Rank containment unit with me, I was capable of taking possession of it myself.

And since I am capable of clearing the dungeon myself, I saw no reason to turn it over to the Adventurer Association or Mage Association."

"And what happens when you grow too strong for the Breach?" Chairman Thorn asked.

"Then I can turn a tidy profit by selling it to a city or guild that has the ability to clear it, though most people I think will want to collapse it."

"Because it is a Fire Cave?" A female Wind mage at the far right of the table asked.

"Exactly."

"And what proof do you have that it is a Fire Cave?" Chairman Thorn demanded. Already prepared for the question, Damion took out a vial of flame liquid from the jar he had collected and offered it for inspection. The entire jar was in the Magic System Inventory, but he had prepared a small vial of the liquid and stashed it in his pocket ahead of the hearing. He was sure the chairman would come up with an excuse or dismiss the flame liquid in some manner, but he would counter that argument when he got to it.

Someone, who Damion guessed had the job of a bailiff or something similar, took the vial from his hand and presented it to each of the members of the council in turn. When the vial was presented to Chairman Thorn, he actually pushed himself back from the table slightly, trying to keep as much distance from the flammable liquid as possible. The sight brought a smile to Damion's face, but he quickly suppressed it, not wanting to appear to be enjoying Chairman Thorn's distress.

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"I will concede that what you have presented us is the flammable liquid found in Fire Caves, but you have offered no proof that this liquid came from the Realm Breach in question." The woman to Chairman Thorn's right said.

"Don't you all use lie detection artifacts like most every Justiciar I meet?" Damion asked. Of course, with True Sight, he could see that several of the council members had such artifacts on, not all of them did, but he supposed they might have aura detection or perhaps had a different form of the artifact than rings.

"Who are you to question our procedures," the woman snapped.

"Damion Wells, S+ Rank Ice affinity and magic talent. Who has been repeatedly harassed and denied opportunities by noble families and even this very Association."

"You are out of line!" Chairman Thorn shouted at Damion.

"Am I? Why not long ago after a murder attempt certain noble families wanted me arrested. Before that more murder attempts by those same noble families."

"Those incidents were perpetrated by the younger generation and the instigators were executed by your mentor. They have no bearing on the matter today."

"Then how about we contact Manger Halsey of the Saung Adventurer Association. He informed me that the Adventurer Association was paid quite a bit of money from certain noble families to deny me access to Realm Breaches." Damion's words brought another bout of murmuring to the crowd and several of the council members leaned in close to one another to whisper their own comments. Chairman Thorn of course had no rebuttal. If he called Damion a liar, all the young mage had to do was contact Manager Halsey.

The Adventurer Association was sure to have banked and notated the payment for exactly what it was. They had no qualms about admitting to accepting a bribe to keep the young man out of dungeons, they were in the business of making money. It was entirely possible that if Damion could offer more money to be allowed to go into dungeons, they would have accepted it and returned the bribe from the nobles, since he would have been the higher bidder.

Standing up again to address the council, Mage Veers cleared his throat and began speaking, "In preparation for this hearing I did some research on Mage Wells' activities since his graduation from Silver Spire Magic Academy. Aside from exploring the wilds and offering his services in optimizing artifacts, Mage Wells has discovered a number of Breaches.

Additionally, his artifact, the auto-mapper, has been a great asset in locating many more and even in creating a live map network of the White Zones, which we are working to extend to the Green and Yellow Zones in the coming months. This network will be able to alert the Association of new Breaches and beast waves instantly and will no doubt save many lives."

"What you say is very nice, but I fail to see how it equates to his possession of a B Rank Realm Breach." Chairman Thorn said dismissively.

"It should be noted that Mage Wells has provided the blueprint for his artifact free of charge and aside from charging a fee to optimize ones built by others, has not profited from their use. The other dungeons he discovered were turned over to either the Adventurer Association or Mage Association, but now that he has one he wishes to keep, you want to deny him it.

For an organization that is supposed to strive to advance magic and help mages grow, I find it odd that he is doing more for the advancement of magic than the rest of this council."

"I will not be insulted, Mage Veers. You might be close to becoming the next S Rank mage, but you are not a member of this council, and you will address us with respect," thundered Chairman Thorn.

"I was merely pointing out facts. Just as Mage Wells was. There was one other thing I discovered while tracking Mage Wells' movements over the last month or so, and that is he is speaking the truth about being denied entry into Adventurer Association dungeons. And I was most surprised when I learned it was the Thorn, Caplan, Sorin and Bianco families that paid the Adventurer Association to deny him access.

"For members of three of those families to now sit in judgement of him I find… distasteful. As I'm sure the S Rank Assembly will should this council not rectify the errors in judgment they have made."