Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Instead, he pulled out a batch of lodestones from his pocket, filled his core to the brim, and ordered Seyethe energies to swirl about his hand. Without waiting, he started walking towards Kasna with quick, yet unhurried steps, wearing an expressionless face and a level gaze.

Kasna looked at Endra and then at the swirling mass of Seyethe energies in his hands. He seemed confused and unsure of what to do, but the bodyguard he'd brought with him did not hesitate and began chanting. A wall of ice rose in front of Kasna, followed by a body of water rapidly flowing towards Endra.

Endra had countless methods to deal with the spell, but he let the spell hit him in the stomach. He managed to take one deep breath and cover his nose, before the water rose up to cover his face. Evin was ready to create an explosion if things got too dicey, but for the time being, he needed to wait. Ten seconds later, Endra felt the water moving away from his body, and then heard the loud gasps of the surrounding spectators. The people close to Evin had especially worried faces, but they calmed down when Endra gestured that he was okay.

"What is the meaning of this?" Alvich demanded, though Endra couldn't tell if he was saying that to him or Kasna's guard. He looked up at the old Inspector and udnerstood that the latter was talking to him. He freed his core from the Seyethe energies and spoke.

"Your honor, I was just wondering what would happen if I walked towards Baron Kasna over there, overloaded with mana," Endra said. "If nothing happened, I planned to simply shake his hand and admit that my grandfather murdering his son was wrong. That Ssatsko was too impulsive to straight up stab Ilhan Kasna in the head."

Understanding replaced the anger in Alvich's eyes.

"But now that you were attacked?"

"I'm starting to think that what Ssatsko did was quite reasonable. If I get encased in a prison of ice by just trying to walk at baron Kasna, then it's natural that Ssatsko would choose to kill in that situation. Anyone in his shoes would do the same."

Endra's voice turned louder, so everyone in the square could hear what he was saying.

"Imagine you're lying in your bed in the dark, unable to sleep, and then you hear your door opening at night. You go check it out, you see two mages sneaking through your house. Not only that, they're practically bursting with mana.

"Now, if you were a powerful mage like them, you wouldn't worry too much. You reveal yourself and ask them what their business is. But the problem is, you're not a powerful mage. You're only a Hornbearer, who can access only two Worlds and even then, you can barely absorb one lodestones worth of mana.

"You start worrying about the two mage's intentions. What are they doing in your house in the middle of the night? Certainly, you've never seen them before… Are they trying to rob your house? Or… are they trying to kill you…? Even worse, what if they have ill intention towards your daughter and your granddaughter?

"You know you won't survive the fight if you face them fair and square. So, what do you do? Of course, you decide to even out the odds and assassinate one of them before they know you're aware of you."

Endra looked around the crowd and saw that mostly everyone was convinced.

"Well, we all know the rest of the story, so I won't bore your honor with that," Evin said.

"Mm."

Alvich's expression was still. Same as the crowd, he looked convinced, looking slightly impressed as well. But oddly, he also looked somewhat indignant.

'He finds me baiting Kasna interesting, but he doesn't like it?' Endra mused. 'How wholesome."

Endra wasn't worried. What he did was just a cheap trick and though it could give him a bad rep, it wasn't anything incriminating.

"Baron Kasna, do you have anything in your defense?" Alvich finally spoke.

"He tricked me!" the old man bellowed, desperation seeping from his voice.

"He did indeed," Alvich agreed. "But it proved his point quite clearly, so I'm willing to accept his stance…" Hesitating, the old man continued. "I'm afraid that you must also accept it. What Mr. Ssatsko did was not the best thing a man could do. But we cannot expect men to act in their best."

Baron Kasna was silent. His towering figure was nowhere near as intimidating as how he looked when Endra first saw him. His wide shoulders were now slouched, his ever-wrathful gaze had turned unfocused, and his loud denials were now silent. Kasna was finally registering that his son was dead.

He could function earlier because his wrath against Ssatsko distracted him enough from the grief, but now that he was forced to face reality, he was crumbling down.

Kasna was a strong man, but he was still all too human.

Endra was all to familiar with the scene, he himself experienced the same thing many times. Thus, he knew it wasn't his place to speak. There was also no need, as Ssatsko's safety was practically guaranteed.

He sent a glance at Alvich, who sighed and started speaking.

"Baron Kasna, I'm sorry for your loss. If you want to, perhaps we can take a small break now."

"…"

"…"

"I'll stay," Kasna replied. "I want to know what happened to my son."

Alvich nodded. Endra did so as well, respecting the old man's strong will.

"In that case, we shall continue," Alvich said. "Your son has passed away, but I shall do my best to uncover why. We've asked Mr. Ssatsko if he had any previous histories with your son, but we could not find anything. Thus, the only clue to this case is the prime candidate for the escaped mage, Lyudvik Armbron."

With this statement, the trial continued towards the next phase. Endra now needed to find out who attacked Evin's family and why.