Chương 77: Technicalities

An atmosphere of consternation had descended upon the court chamber. The assembled guildmasters glanced at each other uncertainly; while they'd come here prepared to deal with political turmoil, evidently they'd only expected the Royal Sentinels to be their main adversary. The Church normally didn't concern themselves with adventurer affairs; they were too busy dealing with the myriad of dark creatures, eldritch horrors, and other assorted forces of darkness out there.

Had the Church formed a secret pact with the Royal Sentinels? Was the balance of power finally upset after centuries of the status quo? No, that wasn't it. Judging by the confused but pleased looks on the two Royal Sentinels' faces, they were just as caught off guard by the Cardinal's interjection as the adventurers. The Church was acting on their own. For the first time since the trial began, a flicker of fear crossed Liliya's face. From behind the Cardinal, she shot Levi a questioning glance.

Levi didn't need telepathy to know what she was thinking. Do you have a way to defend against [Truth Imposition]? Levi smiled back. Liliya began to relax, only to tense back up again as Levi gave a minute shrug of the shoulders. Not a clue. Cardinal Dominic Winchester was one of the three Cardinals of the Holy Church, the second-highest rank of the clergy that answered only to the Pope himself. In terms of the command hierarchy, he ranked above even the six High Priestesses.

He was old, in his sixties, perhaps even seventies. His magic was sure to have matured to a potent, formidable level.

"If there are no further objections," Cardinal Winchester said in a soft, austere voice, "then may the Goddess grant you grace, Levi Ironwood." He reached out and touched Levi's forehead with two fingers. Levi resisted the automatic reflex to sever the Cardinal's hand from his body.

"[Truth Imposition]." Holy magic flooded into Levi. He stiffened at the foreign intrusion and had to force himself to not immediately purge it from his system. The skill took effect in less than a second, the magic dying down and the Cardinal lowering his hand.

"Please state your name and level."

'I am Liliya Volkov, level 84,' Levi tried to say. Instead, what came out was, 'I am Levi Ironwood, level 14." Cardinal Winchester blinked. He seemed surprised – was it because Levi's level was too low? – but he recovered quickly, his expression becoming cold and unreadable once more. Levi, meanwhile, was busy trying to analyze the skill. There didn't seem to be any active magic in his system. How was it compelling him to tell the truth–? Oh. Oh, that was fascinating. His eyes widened slightly in shock.

The Cardinal's [Truth Imposition] was impressive magic. Unlike most compulsion magic, which affected the mind and therefore could be resisted with either adequate willpower or magical mental barriers, [Truth Imposition] physically altered the brain itself. It biochemically rewrote the section of the brain responsible for deception, making it physiologically impossible for an individual to tell a lie. Levi assumed the changes would naturally reverse after some time due to the brain's inherent neuroplasticity.

The Goddess's magic really was something else. Levi had no idea where to even begin coming up with a counterspell. His magic sparked to life, crackling across his brain trying to heal the damage, but there was nothing to heal. Technically, his brain was perfectly healthy. Which meant Levi had to somehow deceive a spell that compelled him to tell the truth and only the truth. His lips quirked. This should be fun. Cardinal Winchester examined him for several moments.

Then: "What were your thoughts regarding the Hollow cultist known as Edmund Hawke?" Levi blinked. What? Where was this coming from? Well. This was a good opportunity, actually.

"I both pitied and condemned him."

"Oh? Do elaborate."

"I condemned him because he massacred numerous villages and slaughtered countless innocent lives. I pitied him because he was only driven to that point due to the failings of adventurers." This evoked a strong reaction from all the adventurers present, councilors and guildmasters alike.

"What do you mean?"

"A decade ago, the city of Elysia, Hawke's hometown, was afflicted by a dungeon break. If the reinforcements from the nearby city had arrived in time, then the city would've been safe. However, the reinforcements had been late for entire hours because they'd been too busy gambling. Because of their negligence, the monsters were able to break through the walls and kill Hawke's one and only daughter. This incident was what drove him mad."

"And this justifies him becoming a Hollow cultist?"

"No, of course not," Levi said.

"But it certainly explains it, don't you agree?" The Cardinal examined him for several long moments.

"You make a valid point. In which case – would you ever form a contract with the Hollow?"

"Yes." The Cardinal's eyes narrowed.

"Only under specific circumstances, though," Levi continued.

"For example, if I was up against a greater enemy that threatened innumerable lives and I required the Hollow's power to win."

"Interesting. A commendable, albeit misguided mindset. If you ever find yourself in such a scenario, I suggest you pray to the Goddess instead. Nothing good ever comes from forming a contract with the Hollow."

"Noted."

"What is your relationship with High Priestess Anastasia?" Levi blinked again at the seemingly random question.

"I greatly respect her and consider her a valuable friend." He didn't need to give a half-truth here. The Cardinal's gaze softened just a fraction.

"I am glad to hear that." Then, his expression became serious once more.

"What is your relationship with Qorbin Ravenbane?" Now was time for the hard part. Levi selected his words carefully.

"He is my master." Which was technically true. On paper, Levi was registered as Qorbin's apprentice.

"Did you know about his plan to attack Montague Castle ahead of time?"

'Ahead of time' implied that Qorbin had first decided to attack Montague Castle and then told Levi about his plans afterward. That wasn't what happened; Qorbin and Levi had concurrently decided to attack Montague together. Such was the logic, anyway. Would it hold up for [Truth Imposition]? Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

"I did not." A flash of triumph shot through Levi.

"Did you kill either Alan Montague or Theodore Montague?" Levi had been hoping he would ask that.

"I did not."

"To your knowledge, did Qorbin Ravenbane kill either Alan Montague or Theodore Montague?"

"He did not." Hushed muttering broke out in the crowd once more. The Cardinal ignored them.

"Did Liliya attack the two Royal Sentinels?"

"No, she did not."

"Did she know about the attack ahead of time?"

"No, she did not." Cardinal Winchester nodded.

"I see. That will be all. Thank you for your cooperation, Levi Ironwood." Levi suppressed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness. He'd gotten lucky; the Cardinal's questions had been–"Oh, one last question," the Cardinal suddenly said as an afterthought.

"To your knowledge, did Liliya Volkov kill either Alan Montague or Theodore Montague?" Fuck. He jinxed it. There was no way he could get around this direct question. Time for Plan B. If he couldn't heal his brain because there was nothing to heal… Then he just had to change that, didn't he? Without any hesitation, his magic pierced into his brain and destroyed the section that had been altered.

It probably wasn't his brightest idea, considering how much damage he'd already inflicted to it the night before, but fuck it, he was already here. His brain regenerated a moment later, fully healing with no remaining alterations. And Levi smiled at the Cardinal.

"No. She did not." In unison, the other four councilors turned to stare at Councilor Arlington, who suddenly looked very awkward.

"Excellent," the Cardinal said.

"The skill should wear off within the next two minutes. After that, you'll return to normal." Then he turned to the Council.

"Thank you for allowing me to ask my questions. Now, I believe you were about to make a vote?" The Council voted. Four to one. Liliya Volkov was cleared of all charges.

"What a bunch of colossal bastards," Liliya groused.

"I cannot believe they actually tried to pull something so underhanded."

"Professor Merriweather was right," Levi agreed.

"I didn't think it was even possible for my opinion of the Adventurer's Guild to be lower, but here we are." With the trial concluded, Levi and Liliya had made their way back down to the ground floor of the Adventurer's Hall. Several of the guildmasters had given them their private congratulations before disappearing off. Levi was pretty sure a couple of them even made Liliya some offers to join their guilds. Notably, none of them had spoken to him.

As before, they didn't seem very fond of him, but for some reason, the way they looked at him had changed. They seemed a bit more uneasy. Was it because of how he'd defended Liliya during the trial? Or perhaps it was because he'd brought up Hawke…

"I'm surprised you were able to argue the case so well."

"Not really. The only reason why my 'argument' worked was because we were in an informal Guild trial. If it had been an actual trial in a real court, my direct and cross-examinations would've been torn apart by anyone even remotely competent. In that regard, we should be thankful to the Council. You should send them a letter of appreciation." Liliya snorted.

"In a real court, a trial like this would never be allowed in the first place. They'd be legally obligated to assign me counsel – not to mention I'd have the full political protection of House Volkov's banner. That is why they had to reinstate me as an adventurer first, to drag me back under their jurisdiction." She sighed.

"Well, I suppose I'm an adventurer again, so it worked out." Levi smiled.

"Indeed."

"I presume my brother met up with you beforehand to come up with the strategy?"

"Yeah." Levi paused.

"About that… I may have gotten a little angry at him earlier. If he mentions anything, I do apologize in advance."

"Huh? What does that mean? What did you do?" Levi coughed, searching for a distraction. He found one.

"Speak of the devil. Hey Dmitri," he greeted. Liliya turned around to see Dmitri stepping up to them.

"Good work in there."

"The same to you, Lord Ironwood," Dmitri Volkov responded with a polite nod of his head.

"Your plan was flawless. My compliments." Liliya glanced between them, her eyes marginally wider than before. She seemed utterly thrown off that her older brother, a Royal Sentinel and the heir to House Volkov, was acting polite – no, deferential to someone who was theoretically eight social classes below him. Then, Dmitri turned to her.

"Liliya," he said.

"It's been a while."

"Dmitri," she said.

"My deepest apologies that you weren't able to witness my wedding. I know how much you and Father were looking forward to it." Dmitri's eyes flickered with the faintest traces of irritation, even as Levi suppressed a grin. Liliya's arranged marriage with Montague was the product of many years of negotiation between the two Houses. Montague's death must be an immense setback to House Volkov. Liliya bringing it up was like rubbing salt into a fresh wound. Dmitri's expression smoothed over a second later, though.

"It wasn't your fault," he said.

"My condolences for your fiance's death. I take it that's why you didn't return to the Volkov Manor upon returning to Luxanne?" Liliya nodded primly.

"I've been in private mourning the entire past week." Dmitri nodded.

"I see. May we talk in private?"

"I'd rather not."

"Excellent, there are some meeting rooms on the second floor–" Dmitri paused as her words registered.

"Pardon?" He narrowed his eyes.

"I wasn't asking–" Next to them, Levi softly cleared his throat. Dmitri gave a near-imperceptible flinch.

"That is to say," he corrected, "I would greatly appreciate it if you could give me a moment of your time." Liliya didn't respond.

"Please?" Liliya examined him for several moments, then sighed.

"Fine." She turned to Levi.

"Give me a moment. I'll be right back." Levi nodded, and the two siblings departed to the second floor. He was left alone in the lobby, a crowd of clamoring adventurers and clients all around him. Idly, he made his way over to the mission posting board on the wall. It was massive, extending for more than a dozen meters and covered in papers detailing the exact job, the parameters, the pay, and the recommended minimum tier levels. Adventurers surrounded the board, searching for the next jobs.

Levi joined them, examining the papers and looking for any mission that seemed interesting– Something familiar caught his eye. Levi blinked and looked over. Andevar Baker stood next to him, intently examining the mission board. He was the classmate that the former Levi Ironwood had paid to do his homework for him– Levi paused. Wait, now that he knew his counterpart had been a regressor, that surely meant he had the knowledge to achieve perfect marks on the assignments, right?

Which meant the only reason why he had paid Andevar to do his work for him was that he simply couldn't be bothered to do the work himself. Levi chuckled. That made sense; he could totally see himself doing that as well… Hold on. Levi frowned and took a closer look. Andevar looked… well, absolutely terrible. His clothes were even more tattered than before, his eyes were bloodshot and had bags underneath them that rivaled even Levi's own, and his chest let out a wheezing rattle every time he breathed.

What happened to Andevar?

"Hey," Levi said. It took several seconds for Andevar to react. Slowly, he looked over. From the front, Andevar looked even more exhausted than before, like he'd been running himself ragged. His face was gaunt and he had an unhealthy pallor to his face.

"Levi," he said. Several emotions flickered across his face, but he seemed to be too tired to maintain any of them for long.

"You're here."

"Alright, what's wrong?" Levi asked in concern.

"What do you mean?"

"You look like you haven't eaten or slept in days." Levi hesitated, glancing at the mission board.

"Just how many missions have you been on lately?" Andevar paused to think.

"Nine in the past week? No, ten." Levi's eyes widened. Even if the missions weren't very difficult, that was still more than one a day. Wait, and for that matter…

"Where's your party?"

"I don't have one." Levi stared at him. Andevar had completed all of his missions solo? That must have been grueling, not to mention inordinately dangerous.

"Why?"

"Need money," Andevar grunted.

"Can't afford to split the reward." There was a dangerous look in his eyes that dared Levi to make fun of him. Levi didn't. Right. Andevar had been a commoner, only able to attend the Institute due to a scholarship. But…

"Why do you need the money?" Andevar didn't respond. His lips were pressed together tightly. Levi eyed him for several moments. Well, it didn't seem like Andevar wanted to talk about why he was pushing himself so hard. He shouldn't get involved, nor did he really have the time for it. He needed to figure out what was up with the System, he needed to track down Phantasm, he had to formulate a plan to clear Qorbin's name… At this rate, Andevar was going to adventure himself into an early grave. … Levi sighed.

"Mind if I help?"