Around mid-morning the next day, Luca was awoken by his cell door rattling open. A man in leather armor, amateur grade based on the System's quick scan, entered, a small ring of keys jingling in his hand, F-grade equipment was the highest quality one could expect outside of small cities, and most of the town guard was equipped with such gear due to their status as peacekeepers and defenders.
The guardsman gruffly spoke, "You'd best not resist, kid. It'll only make this worse for both of us." Thanks to the Andor System, Luca already possessed the [Common Language: Lv 5 (MAX)] skill, an ability that was almost impossible to not possess as a human, therefore making it possible for him to understand the guard. As he was released from the wall chains, his hands and feet remained shackled, and then the pair of guard and prisoner made their way to the guard-post prison exit.
Momentarily blinded by the sunlight as he stepped outside, blinking a couple times to readjust his eyesight, Luca's bare feet, already blackened from dirt and grime, stepped on many rocks and cracks on the old dirt road as he was half-led, half-pushed to a semi-rectangular area near the guard-post, about 100 paces away. A low, small wall of stone surrounded the space, which seemed to be the town's combat training ground, except for the center, which had what looked like a block of stone carved into the shape of a headsman's chopping block. Outside of the stone encircling the training grounds was what seemed like the entire townsfolk, few of which weren't yelling obscenities. The two angriest people, however, were the two men standing in semi-fine cotton robes and F-grade leather tunics. One had grey hair that matched his bushy beard, while the other had brown hair and a goatee that looked like it had just been trimmed. The latter was Anderson Bradley, the father of the two Bradley boys and the current Greenwood Town mayor, while the latter was his own father, the preceding mayor, Level 3 Mage and current head of the Bradley Family, Darius. As the respective father and grandfather of the victim of attempted murder, it was understandable for them to be enraged.
A rotting fruit, probably an apple, collided with the side of the lad's head, exploding on impact as he was marched to the headsman's block. A rather built man, at least by the standards of the townsfolk, stood half-naked beside it, wearing only beast-hide breeches as he leaned on the large single-edged axe, the edge of which shined as if being recently sharpened.
Anderson Bradley's loud voice, most likely amplified by his father;s magic, came over the noise below, "Silence, please!" Quiet overtook the crowd as the mayor continued, "The convicted is charged with attempted murder and possession of an illegal substances. According to the guard reports, the convict attempted to lace the victim, Adrian Bradley's cups and plates with Swamp Python venom, which should have caused him to stop breathing and die in a few short minutes. The victim was fortunate to only ingest half of the poison, as the convict escaped before finishing the lacing. Thanks to that, the victim was able to live long enough for the previous mayor to force the poison out. After failing to escape, the convict was tracked by the venom's scent trail and was quickly taken into custody of the guards."
Another loud clamor cut off the next sentence Anderson started as an onslaught of explitives and death threats raged through the crowd. This was quickly stopped once again by Anderson's shout for silence, after which he continued, "How does the convicted plead?"
All eyes in the area turned to face Luca, who, after a minute of silence with his head down, raised his head with a rather intimidating grin for his diminutive stature, bright eyes looking directly into Anderson's as he shouted loudly, "May the wrath of heaven's lightning destroy my soul if I am guilty of that which I am accused, and free me if I am not!" Having not expected the boy to make such a vow, as it was well known that vows on the heavens were heavily enforced, silence enveloped the area as most heads tilted to watch the sky. After several minutes of silence, a crackle of thunder echoed across the empty sky before, out of the clear blue emptiness, a thin bolt of lightning carved through the air and struck Luca's shackles, breaking them apart into little more than scrap metal, before disappearing just as fast as it appeared. Now that lightning had broken Luca's bonds, and he remained unharmed, after his vow was made, the crowd understood that the heaven's viewed him innocent.
A very awkward cough broke the following silence as Anderson spoke again, this time rather embarrassed about his anger towards an innocent child. "Seeing that the heavens answered you, and thus approve your status as innocent, I will release you from custody with our most sincere apologies."
Luca cut into the mayor's next sentence, rather calmly stating, "The wrath of a parent is terrible, not to mention one who is angered. I understand."
In all honesty, Anderson didn't expect for the boy to be so passive. Any other person who had been wrongly accused would be quite angry, but Luca responded to his apologies with such an understanding tone instead of an angry one. "That being said, I would like you to answer one question for me. Why were you covered in the poison that was used in the crime?"
A grim expression crossed the lad's face as he spoke of his experience, "I remember sitting in the spot I was arrested at for a very long time. Several hours at least. I believe I ended up dozing off there. I recall waking up to the feeling of being hit by water, only to realize it was a silvery liquid instead. I looked around quickly, since it had to have been thrown at me by someone nearby. At the end of the alley, I saw someone use a Wind spell to jump over the wall. They turned as they did so, so I got a brief look at their face, though it wasn't clear." He was quiet momentarily before continuing, "They were also in a rush, as I noticed their hands had the same silvery color on the ends of their fingers."
Amazed at the boy's mental recollection clarity, the mayor immediately followed Luca's words with another question, "If you saw them again, could you point them out?"
The dirty boy nodded, "I can, sir. I see them right now, actually."
"Where!?" shouted Darius, who had overruled his son's voice out of anger.