029. A Foe

Ruby frowned, "I'm sorry, who did lie?"

The man said, "We all know this story. That night, Count Traze wanted to do something called first-night ritual or something. He wanted to bed the bride but the groom and her family refused.

So the count cruelly tied the whole family of the bride and the groom and then raped the bride in front of them. The whole family wailed and cursed the count, but he continued to do that atrocity.

Then a villager heard the wailing and the cursing of the family. He then told everyone in the village. The villagers were so angry, all men came to the house of the bride and tried to save the family. But the guards of the count prevented them to enter. So a conflict occurred between the villagers and the guards. Some villagers were hurt but they successfully immobilized the guards.

After they entered the room, they were shocked looking at the still wailing family and the groom who were tied and the bride whose eyes were empty. The count who had already worn his clothes stared at the villagers coldly and then control all the utensils in the house to slaughter the villagers and that family.

What you told was only a vicious scheme of aristocrats to beautify the truth. All of you nobles are rotten."

Hearing the man, the crowd debated among themselves which version was the truth and the lie. Some said the man's version was the truth, some said that Ruby's version seemed true. But a few people said Adam's version was more popular so it was the truth.

Seeing their discussion became chaotic, Ruby looked confused. Adam then sighed and took Ural card. He wanted to use Ural's roar to make the crowd silent.

But before he could unsummon Ural who was still with the others, he felt that he was flowing in the sky. Cool and comfortable air made him feeling fresh. Below him were a forest and a small creek that was flowing inside it. He then felt his chest became hot.

'Wait! It's an illusion,' he then activated golden aura to free himself. The sky, forest, and creek were disappeared. Everyone around him including Ruby was motionless with a peaceful expression. He then looked around and found the man with black hair looked him with a dumbfounded expression.

"Interesting, that skill can negate my skill, and you look like only level 3 mage. It's an honor to meet you, Sir. I'm Ivan. Only an AAM member in Silverpool City," The man with black hair said politely.

Adam surprised. He didn't think, this man would confess his Identity. Adam then tried to examine him. Adam couldn't find any flaw in his demeanor. 'He was a tricky person,' Adam concluded.

But his demeanor felt too natural. As is he was educated as a noble, 'A noble became a member of AAM? What a joke. You should find a more believable lie,' He then had an idea.

"Nice to meet you, Sir Ivan. Could you stop your skill?"Adam said with a slight smile.

Adam then saw a glimpse of surprise and then anger in his eyes for just a split second, but he then came back to normal, "It's like you misunderstand Sir, I just...,"

"Do it now!" Adam said coldly while taking Veronica's card. Ivan seemed wanted to say something more. But Adam didn't want to hear anything more. He felt this guy was plotting something.

When Ivan saw the card in Adam's hand, he felt a dangerous creature stared at him, as if a predator he couldn't face wanted to pounce on him. 'It's impossible. Isn't he just a level 3 mage? How could he use a high-level item? Was the information wrong? Damn it. It so close.'

He gritted his teeth, but he still did what Adam asked. He then broke something in his palm. Adam could only saw the crumbs of clay thing falling apart from his palm. Then, one by one people woke up.

"What happened?" Ruby asked as if didn't remember what had happened. Adam felt weird. As if she had lost some of her memory. He then found out that the black-haired man had already gone.

What made him more confused was, there should be a high-level mage who protected Ruby. But, it seemed she had already been neutralized or didn't realize that something dangerous would happen to Ruby.

"Adam, what are you thinking? Don't daydream. Okay, I will explain what I know. If we look at the past, we will know that AAM was founded in the Cameron Kingdom 15 years ago...," Ruby then repeated what she had already said.

'Huh, So that man tried to erase or restart some of Ruby's, no! All people's memory who heard Ruby's explanation. but for what? The key point is if that thing that the person operated worked much more longer, What would happen? If Eve is here I can confirm more things.'

'Do you miss me?' then Eve's voice reverberated in his mind.

'Hei, don't surprise me. You missed something very weird, Eve. I...,' Adam wanted to tell her what he felt, but Eve interrupted him.

'But now you are safe and sound. that's enough. We will talk about it later. Damn it, Ural. He did it again. Sorry, I'm busy. Bye~," Eve seemed didn't want to talk anymore.

"... The count as the perpetrator also lost his left eye because a fork penetrated into it when his power went rampage," Ruby's explanation then came to the last point before she drank her juice. Adam decided to stop thinking about it for some time and focus on listening to Ruby's next explanation. Because he felt it was also quite important. He couldn't find this information in the former Adam's memory.

But this time, instead of drinking her juice, she continued her explanation, "The person who experienced it was an aide of the count who worked as a bodyguard of the count.

He was also the one that told the chronology of the event that night in front of the noble tribunal which was held sometime after the tragedy.

As a note, the count was in vegetable condition when he was judged. The rampage of his magic had made some of his nerves was injured. But for some reason at that time, it wasn't publicized."

"Why? Isn't the atrocity that was happened that night made many protests emerging in the Cameron Kingdom?" Adam asked.

"Yes, why?" One of the listeners also asked.

"Huh? Since when?" Ruby as if just realized not only Adam and the man with black hair who was listening. Many of the cafe's customers also came to listen.

"Adam. This?" She then whispered to Adam, as if asked his opinion.

Adam then nodded and said," Go on. like me, they are also curious about it."

"O-okay, actually the people of Cameron Kingdom haven't held a grudge yet. And the reason is exactly because the nobles didn't publicize the real condition of the count. If they publicized the condition of the count at the moment, maybe many people would think that the nobles conspired to close the case protecting the count."

"So how could AAM was founded, if the people of Cameron Kingdom was contended with the trial?" Adam asked.

Ruby smiled, " There was a law in the Cameron Kingdom and the other member of Seven Alliance that stated if a noble as the ruler of a fief died before his heir at the age of adulthood which is 15 years old, the fief would be transferred to the oldest brother of the dead noble. And if the dead noble didn't have a brother, the fief management will be temporarily maintained by a council which was led by the mother of the heir, until the heir came to adulthood.

As we know, the punishment of a mass killing without any reasonable reason in Seven Alliance is hanged to death if the perpetrator is a commoner and poisoned to death if the perpetrator is noble.

So Count Traze had a son who was still 9 years old and a brother who became a merchant. as the law stated, if the count was sentenced to death, then the position of count would be given to his brother.

So how could the family of the heir's mother let it go of the heir's right? And the count's wife came from a Duke family, so the Duke as the grandfather of the Count's heir did all he could to postpone the trial.

The brother of the count also didn't want to let go of this opportunity. With his wealth and the help of some of his connections, he funded a people movement to pressure the Kingdom to as fast as possible begin the trial. The struggle of the Duke and the brother of the count intensified as the year changed.

At some point, Raymond Republic also took advantage of the situation in the Cameron Kingdom to spread his ideology to the people of Cameron kingdom who started dissatisfied with how the kingdom handled the case," Ruby then sighed. Her face then became cloudy.

Looking at Ruby who was silent. Adam became more curious about what had happened next, "So?"

Ruby then said, " Then, something that should not happen happened."

***