The lecture hall was filled with a small number of people as everyone started pointing fingers at one another. Peony who walked in raised a brow, "Huh? What are you all doing? Looks like I walked into the wrong room. Anyone who is still lost please find the staff stationed outside for guidance."
There was laughter in the air as one of the guys who had it snorted with nose high in the air, "Looks like you're the one who's lost."
"Is this how an adult should act?" A teacher who looks around the other's age stood up with a look of disappointment.
As the other got out of his seat, this buff teacher approached her hurriedly, "We're sorry for his behavior, miss. What brought you here? Are you looking for someone? We're a little wrapped up for an important meeting."
Seeing that the person was sincere despite being inexperienced, Peony smiled, "Haha. Yes. Then, it looks like I came to the right place. Thank you for your concern, but you may return to your seat, Professor Cronk."
Everyone was stunned as she made her way to the pedestal. The teacher followed her instructions without hesitating and looked to her in confusion. Peony took a seat reserved for the judge much to their utter disbelief as the other teacher pointed out, "Hold on! Just what do you think you're doing?"
She raised a brow, "Starting the trial, of course."
"But the judge of the trial should be…"
Peony sighed and pulled out a few documents and a couple of scrolls in her hands. With a snap of her finger, copies of the sheet of paper appeared in front of them. She began as she calmly rang the bell with her magic. Hearing the sound of the bell echoing with a strange flow of mana into the room, everything went silent as Peony opened her mouth, "I, Peony Xue, shall be the acting judge of this trial in absence of my teacher, headmage Trill."
"You got to be kidding me!" The rude teacher jumped out of his seat, "You're just a little kid! What's happened to the actual criminal!"
There was a gasp as all eyes turned to the teacher in disbelief. Peony raised a brow as she watched him yammer on, "How dare he go into hiding and out some kid in his position! Where is that guy?!"
Peony looked at him with amusement, "Oh, so you have some dispute against this decision? Unfortunately, we don't have any securities left to spare, so-"
She snapped her fingers as the guy in the seat vanished and she shook her head feigning a sigh, "First the golden gate's student tries to assult my assistant, then the representative decides to act inappropriately in a hearing. Oh well. I'll leave this matter alone. Let's see."
She took a quick read of the paper and frowned with a grumble, "You guys really made a mess of things. The last record of something like this was about more than a century ago. So, the first candidate, Rollo Flamme started the Flame Lotus incident endangering the city and all mages within the city. Moreover, this was all calculated with Malleus Draconia being the main target. Let's get the lawyer to explain, shall we?"
The lawyer stepped up and presented the papers to her as he spoke firmly, "This is the case of what happened. My client does not deny what has happened the prior night. The motive for this was due to an event a decade past where no magicians stepped up to save the student's younger brother who fell victim to his own magic."
Peony skimmed through the paper and put it down next to her documents, "Right, due to lack of supervision, adult guidance and family conflict, the younger brother tried to use magic to defend himself and the client who had yet to awaken his magic. The result was the child lost his life in his own magic fire. Is there any witness to that incident?"
The lawyer nodded and spoke up, "Yes, the baker next to the site of the incident saw it happen. His name is Pierre."
Peony turned to Zhong Li, "Summon Mister Pierre."
The attendant hurried out and brought in a man who wore a shaggy suit with a sloppy tie. Peony looked to him calmly, "It seems you've been very busy."
"Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry for the sloppy appearance." The baker looked to her in surprise upon recognizing her face and the man next to Rollo.
She nodded without much attention to it as she continued, "After that incident, I don't expect anyone to come in prepared as we are, especially as you are running a business. I've been told that you've seen the incident that happened decade ago involving a couple of siblings. May I ask for your relation to the candidate?"
The man hesitated before nodding his head, "A little over a decade ago, the kid came to our bakery with his teacher and baby brother. They were probably not much older than four and one. I remember clearly because the old fella was a regular and a fan of our croissants. He never told us that the boy was a candidate, but we were told that they were grandchildren of his friend."
"Are you acquainted with his friend?" She raised a brow in surprise.
"Yes." He nodded his head, "I was. I knew the former candidates since I was little. Both candidates visited my pa's shop so I've known them since I was little. The candidate Flamme's son came over a few times as well. However, we never quite got acquainted very much."
"And, you saw what happened that day?" She inquired.
He nodded, "Yes, that day I was throwing away the trash with my wife. It was our break and we wanted to chat about how our customer liked the bread and any new ideas when I noticed the two boys who had been with the headmage. I wanted to greet them, but I stopped."
"Why is that?"
"Because they were with their pa. I don't know about other parents, but, I know when people I don't know approach my children as though they knew them, we'd get nervous on who those people are. My wife suggested that she greet the mother when the children comes back to our shop another time. However, we were concerned because behind the shop is an alley and the father looked a little strange. No parents would take their child through the alley unless they have specific reason, even if it was safe. My wife was discussing how to approach the father because he was giving off a difficult vibe when we saw that he raised a hand on them. I jumped in but someone pushed me from behind. When I looked back, a crowd had gathered and one of the kid were on fire. It was so strange. One minute the alley was bare empty and the next was bustling with a crowd. My wife and I were horrified and we tried to hurry in there, but we were pushed out!"
"Was it just that busy?" She raised a brow in surprise.
"No." He shook his head with a solemn frown, "I tried a few more times, but that's when I started realizing that there were hands literally pushing me out! I asked my wife about it too. However, she saw no one. She didn't see the crowd that I saw. Not only that but she couldn't approach the kids either."
Peony nodded, "I see the last test conducted for this trial proved that your wife was born with weak magic, but she has an ability to nullifies magic casted on her. Quite a rare ability to have, but it won't work if the magic is cast on the environment and not on the individual. What happened after that?"
"After that, the crowd just stood there staring at the kids. This time, I was able to get through and contact the authorities. However, his younger brother... He was already gone."
Seeing the hesitation, Peony nodded, "Where was the father?"
The man frowned shaking his head, "I never saw the coward after that. It was only later that I found out he had scurried back home."
"What did you do after the authorities came?"
"I stayed with the kids and my wife closed up shop to come with me." He responded hesitantly, "I remember he was really unable to focus. So, my wife and I stayed with him for the entire day there."
"Where was his mother?"
Pierre shook his head, "She didn't come until that evening."
Peony received papers from her attendant as she skimmed through it and sighed, "I see. Did you remember anything from the meeting?"
"Yes." Pierre nodded, "I was uncertain, but I remember seeing their mother hurry over to her son. We didn't make comments because we aren't certain of the family situation. However, we both noticed that she was wearing a long sleeve dress in the late summer. She was also lost control when her child didn't respond to her."
"I'm surprised you'd take a long sleeve dress as something to remember."
"I remember because it stood out to me during a license test I took. While studying, I also learnt how to watch out for signs of distress from customers and how to best approach it. Luckily I didn't have perform those practices yet. However, I found that very unusual. We wanted to stay, but we knew the authorities would not allow us and it is true that we had no family relation with the child. So, we had to leave. It was after we left when my wife and I shared our thoughts."
Peony grumbled in dismay as she jolted down notes at a fast pace. She nodded and continued, "Is there anything else you wish to add?"
"Yes." He nodded and took a deep breath, "A few months after that incident, the child came back to my shop for lunch. The one who greeted me was the guardians because it turns out the child lost most of his memories prior to the incident. They told me how they attained guardianship over him. They requested that we don't inform him of his candidacy to the position believing that this was what caused all of the tragedy. So, we kept our lips shut. However, a year before the kid started highschool, my son noticed someone approached him and asked to share a table with him. He alerted my wife right away and she quickly cleared the table for the other customer. When he left, I saw that he was reading a book about plants. I thought that maybe he gained an interest in plants just like his old gramps. Thinking about it now, I actually don't think Rollo ever brought his school materials to our shop before."
Hearing this, there was gossip amongst the teachers who were either confused or startled.
The lawyer stepped up and spoke up, "Ma'am, if I may."
She nodded her head, "Go ahead."
"After hearing that, I did some digging into matter of the mysterious person. If it was just a chance encounter, it'd just be brushed off, but just the fact that Rollo who had never had exposure to plants, suddenly picked up the hobby had left me feeling unsettled. After some research, I discovered this." He placed a magic orb on a small pedestal as he continued, "This is the magic orb the Pierre's son installed. It records everything that happened throughout the day. I tracked back a few years back and discovered this..."
The orb lit up as the image of the interior and exterior of the cafe was shown. A young boy probably in his late teens was seen placing a small plastic bag into the book. He noticed another magic orb outside of the store and crushed it with his magic across the street before walking in and purchasing a croissant. He approached the Rollo who was in a different suit with a different school emblem on it. They talked for a few seconds before he sat on the other side while the baker's son having noticed the malfunctioning of the other crystal orb was about to hurry out the door but paused when he noticed someone sitting next to Rollo. After taking a quick glance outside, he shook his head before making his way to the back... before bolting to his mother. As the mother cleared a table quickly, the guy placed a book on the table and was staring at his phone. Then, the mother came and quickly led him away. It was only after a minute that he tossed the crossaint out and hurried out the door. Rollo stood there motionless in horror as he noticed the man keep an eye on him across the street and only left after he picked up the foreign book! The crystal ball finished its recording as the room bursted into conversations or outrage and horror. She sighed and muttered in annoyance, "Order!"