Ascension Of The Failed Mage

"Noir Novo... Are you responsible for the death of the esteemed lecturer of the Southern Empire's Magic Institute, a man who goes by the name of Richard Lawcroft?!"

This time, his question was met with silence.

A smile slowly formed on Noir's face, unnoticeable by everyone present.

'Finally, we're getting somewhere!'

There was unease in the air since the question asked was of the utmost pertinence.

"I do not know who that is," Noir stated flatly.

The expression he had on his face was that of confusion as if asking the moderator whether he was supposed to know the identity of the lecturer who he had just spoken of.

"You should be reminded that everything you say must be the truth, if not, the magic around you will react.

Noir grinned to himself.

'What magic?'

He had already disabled the truth-finding magic the moment he entered his cubicle. Not only that, but he even configured his own version of it using CODE.

It wasn't too complicated since he was familiar with the concept.

'Everything I say will be regarded as the truth.'

To the surprise of everyone, the truth-seeking magic didn't go off, meaning Noir was still within the bounds of truth.

"Perhaps you didn't know that was his identity. Did you kill anyone while within the school grounds?" The moderator asked.

'This idiot. Shouldn't he ask me what I was doing on the premises, to begin with? Or is he trying to pry incriminating truth from me? How impatient.' Noir mused.

Still, he had to answer the question.

"I did not."

Well, that wasn't a lie... He didn't succeed in killing the shady man who escaped.

"He's... telling the truth...?"

There were now murmurs among the crowd, and Galand triumphantly smiled in their midst. He was happy that Noir was proving his innocence.

"What I mean to say is... it's unfortunate I couldn't finish the job. My target escaped before he could die by my hands."

This new statement sent the crowd into confusion. Galand couldn't believe Noir just shot himself in the leg. Just a little more and he could have proven his innocence, only being charged with unlawful entry.

However, with Ciara and Galand to vouch for him, the whole issue would be resolved. Yet, Noir was making things more complicated for himself.

'He must have a reason for this. I shall trust Sir Noir...' Galand reasoned.

"What did you just-. So you admit to fatally wounding Professor Richard!" The moderator stated, twisting Noir's confession.

However, the calm-faced man already expected this much.

"I didn't kill your professor or fatally sound him. My target was a criminal, one who threatened the very life of my employer, Miss Ciara Versacee."

There were more hushed sounds, some whispered words of disbelief and suspicion while others began to reason Noir's words. Perhaps they were true.

"Hah! You just shot yourself in the leg. Your employer, Miss Ciara Versacee has always been under the safety of the Institute. No harm has befallen her ever since she entered this place. Yet, you claim to justify unlawful entry into this institute and nearly committing murder with that reason?"

The scales once again began to tilt away from Noir. He was tempted to address the incident between Ciara and Mia, as well as the group of students who were caught in the mess. The institute had swept it under the rug, but that didn't mean Noir didn't know the details.

The only one lying was the moderator himself.

'It's better I don't mention that. It only makes things more complicated...'

"I beg to differ. You say the Lady Ciara was safe, however, she was not. I cast a protection spell on her, but it was broken recently, forcing me to intervene and rescue her."

Once again, the magic everyone thought was working indicated that Noir was being honest.

"What are you saying? There's no way a dear pupil of ours was-"

"You clearly stated that I'm incapable of lying. Are you saying that is wrong as well? In that case, there'd only be one liar in this room."

Noir's audacity caused the room to be enveloped in an uproar.

"That's enough. Mr. Noir Novo. You've said enough and have quite made your point." The lead judge intervened.

The moment he spoke, the room fell silent. It could have been out of respect, or out of fear... but the man was able to demand the silence of everyone just from his voice.

"There's no need for further questions from you, Moderator. We'll take it from here." The second judge spoke, while Trevor only smiled at Noir.

'What's his game? I can't read him... as expected of the man who bested me.' He thought to himself.

"Noir Novo. It appears our narrative is contradicting yours. To correct this gap in information, we'll explain to you the cause of your arrest, and the basis on which we would render you criminally liable should you be found guilty." The lead judge spoke.

Noir looked to the desk where he sat, same with the other two, and found their names written there.

"Senior Head Professor Julian Resoor"

"Asst. Senior Head Professor Tyman Lenard"

"Head Professor Trevor Netherlore"

"One of ours, Professor Richard Lawcroft died. We have no idea when this happened, however, his body was found yesterday in his Office. It was also confirmed that he attended lectures during that day, so it had to have been very recently that he died." The Senior Head Professor began.

"It's strange that you were also found a couple of moments after Professor Richard's body was, and since there appears to be no other culprit, you are the only one who can be held to be guilty."

As the man concluded his statement, he focused his eyes on Noir in an attempt to appear intimidating. This didn't unnerve him in any way as he looked the same.

"It seems you do not have an idea of the Professor's identity, but you profess to have indeed lethally harmed a person."

The man's tone was calm, almost as though he wasn't harmless, though Noir knew that wasn't the case.

"So, I will ask you this... does this resemble the man you assaulted?"

With a snap of his finger, yellow light shone, indicating the casting of a Tier 2 spell.

In front of Noir, a picture appeared out of thin air.

The person in the picture was the man in question, the one who had died and whose death was blamed on Noir.

"So, tell me once again... Do you recognize that man in the picture?"

Noir smiled internally. Things were truly going according to his plan.

The whole murder farce had been orchestrated by him since the beginning.

The shady man, whoever he was, had gotten rid of Richard's body. However, since Noir had been observing his activities, he ensured to reconstruct the body and hide it in case he needed it.

And so, after the shady man went after Ciara, Noir planted the real Richard's dead body in his office, and cast CODE on the cleaners to find it and report the body if he gave the command.

It was his insurance plan, in case things went south, which they did.

Once he noticed the security officers drawing near, he activated the command, causing the cleaners to find Richard's dead body and report it. The guards apprehended Noir, and soon the connection was made between the two of them.

They suspected that he killed Richard!

"I do not recognize this face. The one I attacked had a different look entirely." Noir replied calmly.

To everyone's amazement, he appeared to be telling the truth.

"It seems you're all confused. You're hell-bent on painting me to be the criminal, yet you overlook another simpler alternative." He added.

Trevor had gotten enough of the suspense. He wanted to know Noir's endgame.

"And what's that?" Netherlore spoke for the first time as a Judge since the Trial started.

"Instead of blaming me, a bodyguard of the daughter of one of this Empire's Duke, wouldn't it be preferable to actually think to the person I tried to apprehend?"

"W-wha-?!" The Judges exclaimed together.

"Am I wrong? The Duke officially rewarded me due to my bravery in escorting Ciara, and my job's duration was extended for as long as Ciara remains in Artemis. Yet, you would dare look down on the Duke's employee and choose to label him a murderer, instead of actually looking into the criminal I tried to apprehend?"

After he made this statement, it was obvious that things just got complicated.

As highly revered lecturers, they were without a doubt some of the most powerful figures in the Academic institute and the city of Artemis. But, a Duke's influence far outstripped their own, and should it leak that they had dared look down on one, they would suffer some grave consequences.

Worst of all was the fact that Noir had not been seen telling a lie even once, proving his innocence.