Amid the surging condemnation from the crowd like a tidal wave, the noble dean raised his hand and made a few downward gestures towards the surrounding people. Those noble and distinguished individuals were extremely cooperative and instantly fell silent.
"Leonardo de Lucas, although I would very much like to immediately order the deprivation of your student status, the academy regulations stipulate that the accused also has the right to defend himself. So, I'll give you five minutes," the noble dean said in a haughty tone and then leisurely sat back in his seat.
Leonardo took a deep breath, trying his best to control his emotions and prevent anger from interfering with his thinking.
The current situation was extremely unfavorable to him. Any ordinary defense would be hard to convince people. Therefore, his goal was not to persuade these ignorant people but to plant seeds of doubt in their hearts. Once the seeds of distrust took root and sprouted, the room for his manipulation would increase significantly. Otherwise, if he allowed the enemies to smear him wantonly, he would most likely be deprived of his student status and then thrown into some unknown mine cave, never having a chance to rise again.
Having finally been reborn in this fantasy world, Leonardo didn't want to spend his whole life digging stones in a mine cave!
He slowly exhaled and said in a calm voice, "I, Leonardo de Lucas, swear in the name of my family that if there is even half a lie in what I'm about to say, the de Lucas family will be despised by both gods and men!"
As soon as these words came out, many nobles raised their hands to cover their mouths and let out exclamations. Swearing in the name of the family was as serious as a noble raising the blood flag to avenge a relative, a situation of life and death. Even the most incompetent noble would never dare to joke about the family's reputation.
The noble dean frowned. Although he hated the young man in front of him, he also keenly sensed that things were not as simple as they seemed on the surface.
"Then, tell us about your experience," the dean tapped on the armrest and said.
"I fell victim to a carefully planned scam, and the swindler is Sophia standing on the stage. Before the trial began, Sophia proposed to team up with me. Considering that we had known each other since childhood and out of trust in my friend, I agreed and made her trial task my top priority. I thought I had fulfilled all the obligations that a friend should have, but Sophia repaid kindness with ingratitude. She mixed a dizzying potion into the drinks, knocked me out, and stole all my possessions, including an official-level staff..."
Before he could finish speaking, a furious shout came from the second-floor platform.
"Absurd!!! You're not even a high-level apprentice. How could you possibly possess an official-level staff?"
People usually only believe what they have already determined. Once someone took the lead in questioning, others naturally followed suit.
"Yes, it's extremely difficult for high-level apprentices to obtain a staff of the same level. You, a low-level apprentice, why should you have one?"
"Nonsense!!! An official-level staff may not even be in the treasury of ordinary nobles. You're not the heir of the family. What makes you qualified to possess it? Could it be that your elder is an official-level powerhouse and passed the staff to you after passing away..."
Hearing this, Leonardo suddenly raised his head. The one who said these words was the blond playboy. From his memories, this guy had always been at odds with him. The reason seemed to be a stage actress. Both of them had a crush on an actress at the same time. In the end, the actress accepted his invitation to dinner. Since then, the blond playboy had held a grudge against him and had always been looking for trouble with him on weekdays.
While Leonardo was thinking about it, the blond playboy spoke again. He performed a flawless noble salute to the people around him and then said loudly, "Dear tutors and seniors, instead of just listening to the one-sided story of student Leonardo, I think it would be better to listen to the evaluations of his classmates. Besides, I've also collected a record of his performance in the academy. I believe that after you adults read it, you'll be able to see clearly what kind of person he really is..."
The blond playboy distributed the documents to the tutors of the academy. After reading them, the tutors frowned even deeper.
Then, the blond playboy invited a group of students. As expected, none of these students said anything good about Leonardo. They all accused him of various "evil deeds" in the school. In their descriptions, Leonardo was portrayed as a spoiled brat who bullied men and women and committed all kinds of evil deeds.
While these people were accusing him, Leonardo didn't refute but was thinking about the connection between the blond playboy and this incident. Inadvertently, Leonardo noticed that the blond playboy showed a mocking sneer at him. At the moment he saw this expression, Leonardo had a guess in his mind.
It was said that the blond playboy was the brother-in-law of the Great Mage of Svel... If he was manipulating all this behind the scenes, then everything would make sense. No wonder Sophia dared to appear in front of him so blatantly after betraying him. It turned out that she had hooked up with this big shot.
As expected, all of his possessions should have fallen into the hands of the blond playboy. These two people were the masterminds behind framing him!!! They carefully planned this whole conspiracy. From the initial beauty trap to the current frantically pinning crimes on him, the purpose of everything was to make sure that he would never turn things around, so that they could use his possessions openly and enjoy the sense of superiority of controlling his life and death.
Leonardo clenched his teeth tightly, grinding them with hatred. He couldn't wait to rush up immediately and tear these two enemies into pieces! But his reason told him that he must not act impulsively at this moment. Once he made a move, he would fall right into the enemy's trap. There must be a plan in the other party's scheme that if he took action, he would be "accidentally killed" on the spot. So, even though he was extremely angry inside, Leonardo couldn't show it, because the situation was stronger than him.
...
The blond playboy had already become the focus of the scene. After presenting those absurd "henchman" testimonies, he took out a set of seemingly self-consistent evidence.
He took out the vampire teeth and the task scroll from Leonardo's package and said loudly, "Dear tutors, this is the task of student Leonardo in this trial. The goal was to hunt down the vampires that were harassing Silverhand Town. According to the information collected by the academy, the difficulty of this trial task was at the intermediate apprentice level. To complete it, at least a team of more than six intermediate apprentices would be confident. And as far as I know, student Leonardo is still just a low-level apprentice, so it's impossible for him to complete the task. Then, where did these things come from? Surely they couldn't have been obtained by student Leonardo by killing vampires alone..."
As he spoke, the blond playboy made an extremely exaggerated "surprised" expression. The people around cooperated and let out a burst of laughter that made Leonardo feel extremely embarrassed.
Leonardo was so angry that his whole body trembled. The excitement when he learned magic had long disappeared without a trace. At this moment, his heart was filled with almost overwhelming resentment.
Why should he suffer all this! Why could the other party rob his possessions without restraint! Why could they humiliate him even more after stealing his things!!! Just because he was weaker than them!!!
The blond playboy's words were like the last straw that broke the camel's back. First, there was a murmur in the auditorium. Then, under the instigation of some people with ulterior motives, the noisy discussions converged into a unified voice.
"Execute him!"
"Execute him!!"
"Execute him!!!"
Hearing the deafening shouts around him, the noble dean knew that it was time to make a judgment. Although he knew in his heart that there must be something hidden behind this, he didn't intend to dig deeper. He planned to do the tower master a favor. Anyway, it was just getting rid of an outsider and almost useless family heir. It was no big deal.
"Student Leonardo has committed the most unforgivable taboo in the Magic Academy. In the Principality of Rhein, insulting a woman is punishable by death. If it weren't for the blood of the de Lucas family flowing in your veins, you would be executed on the spot. You should be grateful for your surname, as it has saved your life. Now, after discussion among the academy leaders, the following judgment has been made for you. The academy will officially deprive you of your student status and report your crimes to the Noble Council. The subsequent punishment will be determined by the Noble Council. Now, you are ordered to leave the academy before sunset. Criminals are not welcome to stay in the academy."