Chapter 79: Tracing the Source
In the few minutes of waiting, the atmosphere in the hall beca even more peculiar. People whispered to each other, speculating about what Andre was up to. Ryan stood calmly, his gaze slightly lowered, as if in deep thought or, perhaps, indifferent to what was about to unfold.
Soon, the side door was pushed open again. Two guards, dressed in Garcia family attire, nearly dragged a man inside.
The man appeared to be around thirty years old, wearing filthy, coarse clothes, his hair greasy and matted. His face was covered with stubble and dirt, his eye sockets sunken, and his eyes glazed. He reeked of low-quality alcohol mixed with the stench of decay, a pungent sll that hit the air.
His steps were unsteady, and when the guards brought him forward, he stumbled, nearly falling, causing a wave of low gasps and disgusted hisses from the crowd.
Ryan’s gaze fell on the disheveled man, and the corner of his mouth twitched into a slight smile.
Hank.
The missing deputy leader, Hank, had appeared in such a sorry state, right here in this solemn hall.
Andre’s smile could no longer be hidden. Despite the pain from his injuries causing him to grimace, his eyes shone with the light of impending victory. He walked over to Hank and slapped him on the shoulder, almost knocking the dazed Hank to the ground.
"Everyone, look!" Andre’s voice was sharper and winded with excitent, "This is the mysterious person Ryan Velt claid had disappeared and might have been silenced—the key figure, Hank! He didn’t disappear at all! He was just drunk out of his mind with the other guards at the Old Horse Inn, and sohow ended up asleep in the haystack in the inn’s backyard!"
He turned to Hank: "Hank! Tell everyone, was the temperature-controlled crate that contained the ice crystal flowers tampered with that night at the Old Horse Inn? Was there any anomaly?"
Hank, jolted by the slap, groggily lifted his head. His eyes wandered in confusion over the unfamiliar faces and the towering ceiling. Fear and disorientation crossed his face. He shrank back and spoke in a hoarse, dry voice.
"N-no... Sir... that night... Team Leader Barton and us... we drank a little... the crate was left outside the warehouse door in the backyard... no one ca close to it... It was only when Team Leader Barton got up in the middle of the night to check, that he said the magic imprint on the crate seed a little off... Maybe... maybe soone brushed against it by accident... But it didn’t matter, really... it didn’t matter..."
Andre nodded in satisfaction and turned to the crowd, his voice booming: "Did you hear that?! No one tampered with it! The so-called crate opening fluctuation was likely just caused by them getting drunk and accidentally bumping into it! Ryan Velt."
He suddenly pointed at Ryan, his tone nacing, "You’ve been claiming that the issue was with the transportation process, that a key person went missing, and now he’s found, and his testimony is here! What do you have to say now? Was it your guild’s poor managent and mistakes, and now you’re trying to shift the bla to a drunk servant, even inventing a lie about him disappearing to avoid responsibility?!"
He paused for a mont, adding with a sarcastic tone: "Think about it, if Hank really was that important, why didn’t anyone look for him when he passed out in the stable for two days? Why hasn’t the Velt family done anything to search for him? Perhaps they wanted everyone to think Hank had disappeared, so they could shift all the bla onto him!"
This one-two punch, coupled with Hank’s appearance and testimony, imdiately reversed the situation in the hall.
Many of the onlookers now looked at Ryan with suspicion and condemnation, believing Andre’s argunts were reasonable. Even a few of the advisors on the high platform showed thoughtful expressions.
However, Ryan’s face displayed no sign of the panic or anger Andre had expected. Instead, a faint smile slowly appeared, clear as day.
It was a subtle, almost beautiful smile, entirely out of place in this tense situation.
"Oh?" Ryan gently spoke, his voice not loud, but instantly drawing everyone's attention, "Mr. Hank, are you sure everything you’ve said is true? Can you vouch for every detail from that night at the Old Horse Inn, and your whereabouts over the next two days?"
Hank, caught under Ryan’s calm yet sharp gaze, instinctively shrank back. However, seeing the nacing Andre and his guards nearby, he straightened his hunched back and tried to appear defiant.
"Of, of course, I can guarantee it! What I said is the truth! That’s exactly how it went! If you don’t believe , you can call the other two n who were drinking with us that night. I guarantee their answers will match mine!"
"Since that’s the case..." Ryan nodded, as though accepting his statent, but the smile on his lips deepened. The joy didn’t reach his eyes. Instead, a chill radiated from him.
He turned to Dean Edgar, "Minister, then, I request the summoning of a witness and the presentation of new evidence."
Dean Edgar gave him a look, nodding slightly: "Request granted."
Ryan gestured toward the back of the hall. Soon, a middle-aged man, dressed in the Northern Star Guild’s uniform, with a simple and honest face but eyes filled with anxiety and anger, was brought in. Upon entering, his eyes locked imdiately onto the disheveled Hank.
"Hank! You bastard, where have you been?!" The middle-aged man didn’t wait to steady himself before shouting, his voice trembling with emotion. "Such a huge incident, where the hell have you been these past few days?! We searched all around the Old Horse Inn and even had people inquire in the Northern Border, but we couldn’t find any trace of you! What the hell..."
"Silence!" Dean Edgar knocked his gavel, halting the middle-aged man’s outburst. "Witness, please state your na, identity, and the facts you wish to prove. No shouting."
The middle-aged man took a deep breath, suppressing his emotions, and bowed to the high platform: "Barton, Team Leader of the Northern Star Guild’s transport. I want to prove that Hank was completely out of contact after the incident at the Old Horse Inn.
It wasn’t as he claid, that he drunkenly passed out in the stable and no one looked for him! When we discovered he was missing, we imdiately searched the inn and the surrounding area.
We asked everyone, including the innkeeper and the stableman—no one had seen him! We also reported it to the guild and the Velt family imdiately! We’ve been looking for him all this ti!"
Barton’s words were firm, completely contradicting Hank’s vague testimony and Andre’s inferences. The hall erupted into even more commotion. Clearly, one side was lying!
Hank’s face turned even paler, his gaze flickering as he avoided Barton’s angry eyes. He mumbled in a dazed voice, "I... I was just in the stable... maybe... maybe you didn’t look carefully..."
"Enough." Ryan interrupted the pointless argunt.
He took out the most formal-looking docunt from his file bag—several pages of trade records written on high-quality paper and sealed with multiple clear stamps.
"The debate over the cause of the accident may be temporarily set aside," Ryan’s voice clearly drew everyone’s attention back. "But as for the source of responsibility, I would like everyone to take a look at an earlier record."
He handed the docunt to the approaching clerk, who presented it to Dean Edgar and the advisors on the high platform.
"This is the initial procurent record for the ice crystal flowers supplied by Northern Star Guild to the academy." Ryan spoke loudly to ensure everyone could hear, "As we all know, while the Velt family’s fiefdom lies in the Northern Border, it is situated further south. The high-quality ice crystal flowers only grow in the deeper, colder areas of the Northern Border. Therefore, the ice crystal flowers our guild sells in the fall have always been sourced from superior production areas further north."
He paused briefly, his eyes sharpening as he slowly scanned Andre and Wood.
"This record clearly shows that the batch of ice crystal flowers supplied to the academy did not co from the Velt family’s territory, nor from any other neutral area." His voice suddenly turned cold, each word deliberate, "They were all sourced from—Viscount Garcia’s territory, and from the ice crystal flower mining areas under Viscount Wood’s territory!"
"Boom——!"
It was as though a silent thunderclap exploded in the hall. Everyone was stunned, their eyes fixed on the docunt being circulated, before swiftly turning toward the plaintiff’s seat, where Andre and Wood had instantly gone pale.
Just monts ago, they had been so forceful in accusing the Velt family of supplying inferior materials, but now they stood frozen, as though struck by lightning.
Ryan stood behind the defendant’s seat, still upright. His voice was as cold as the northern winds as he continued:
"If, as Comrade Garcia just insisted, there were no issues during transport, and the temperature control asures were intact, then if these ice crystal flowers are truly as low in quality and dangerously close to losing control, as you accused... " He tilted his head slightly, a smile with no warmth erging on his lips. "Then tell , where did these inferior products co from? Who should bear the responsibility for the loss of control in the first place?"
"You accuse my family’s guild of supplying poor materials, yet you never ntion that the source of this batch of materials lies in your own territories!"
"Now, please tell —" Ryan took a step forward, his blue eyes sharp and piercing, "Who is trying to cover up the truth? Who is muddying the waters? Who... should ultimately bear the primary responsibility for this possibly defective batch of ice crystal flowers?!"
Each word was like an ice pick, each sentence a blade.
The hall fell into dead silence. The sound of a needle dropping could be heard clearly.
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