Almond arrived at the GAA branch at the same time and departed to Sillor City, where the headquarters of the Earth Union was situated.
After arriving at their headquarters and entering the ground floor’s hall, Almond spotted Admiral Rudra sitting on a public longue chair like a nobody.
As if sensing his gaze, Admiral Rudra turned off the hologram and looked at him.
In the next second, he was already in front of Almond without disturbing air or anything. “Are you sleepy?”
“Not really,” Almond shook his head.
“Let’s take a walk then.”
“Sure.”
The duo left and began walking towards the left area, where a decorative garden was built with benches and a fountain in the center after leaving the hall.
“Let’s hear an update on your improvement first.”
Almond smiled and stretched his arm halfway, his palm upward as a perfect orb of golden lightning manifested, crackling and sizzling the air.
Admiral Rudra showed visible surprise.
Almond told him about his adventures in the dungeon and how he managed to acquire Lightning elemental mastery to S-rank along with the lightning element variant—Golden Haze Lightning.
Then they talked about what Almond planned to do the next few days and other things.
“You’re doing good. Keep it up,” Admiral Rudra smiled. “It won’t be long before you’re caught up to us. Jenkin Roid held the fastest record this year of reaching Platinum rank within 1 year and 16 days, but you’ll surpass that and catch up to us faster.”
“How’s it going on the 10th Floor?” Almond curiously asked.
“It’s very big. Three times the size of the 9th Floor.”
‘Every tenth floor is an important one, after all. The 10th floor will likely transform once cleared,’ Almond thought. He had fuzzy memories, but he was sure that every tenth floor became a sort of hub or something and transformed.
“But the problem is that I am having bad feelings,” Admiral Rudra sighed. “It’s gnawing my mind that something is going to happen because of those people in the dark.”
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Almond raised his eyebrows, “Did you get some clues or anything about them?”
“Yeah, yesterday,” Admiral Rudra nodded. “A seemingly ordinary warehouse in Folgeron city’s dark zone. That place gave off creeps in my senses. I felt some sickly presence there, though it was empty. But I believe in my hunch. I am going tomorrow to other dark zones with a friend to investigate.”
“But I just can’t shake off the feeling that something bad will happen, so I am not doing anything aside from finding them and clearing up this feeling,” Admiral Rudra’s eyes coldly glinted. “Even if it means I have to bring some destruction and attract danger.”
“Well, you do what you want to do, Admiral,” Almond grinned. “Destroy them.”
“For now, I’ll destroy you. Come, let’s spar and see how much better you got.”
“Sparring with me for real, old man? Let’s go!”
“Old man? *Cracks knuckles* I’ll teach you how an old man fights.”
…
Trial Room #1.
Five people of varying ages, two men and three women, from mid-thirties to sixties, sat on judge seats facing a small podium ten meters away from them in the center of the room.
To the left of the audience seats sat Zoren and his father, Zolen.
Right as the clock hit 10 a.m., the big door opened as Almond and Admiral Rudra walked in.
“Almond Crowshade. Stand at the podium, please.”
Zoren winced and trembled, muttering that he was scared as he saw Almond and snuggled into Zolen.
Zolen’s eyes were bloodshot as he looked at Almond and felt his son’s condition.
“You will pay for this, brat!”
The youngest judge, the beautiful woman with silver hair—Selena Lock, glanced at the father-son duo and curtly spoke, “Do not speak unless given permission, Mr. Zolen.”
But she wasn’t just a judge. She was also the daughter of the Earth Union’s president and a frontline adventurer. She wasn’t on the leaderboard as she hadn’t participated in previous rankings, but she would participate in the Rising Star Tournament’s end section that would determine the new rankings of Platinum rank adventurers.
“I apologize,” Zolen said as he took a deep breath and turned back to Almond, his gaze hateful.
Admiral Rudra walked to the right side’s audience seats and sat down, his back straight and arms crossed. Turning his head to the judges, he nodded at the oldest member of the judging panel, who was also a lady—A beautiful old lady in her sixties with gray hair and a serene expression.
The lady nodded back at Admiral Rudra with a calm smile before the one sitting in the center—A man in a black suit with short black hair and wearing rectangle rims spoke, “The trial shall start now.”
“So, Mr. Almond. You have been charged with attempted murder, unlawful assault, and deliberate psychotic damage to the victim. Would you care to state the reasons that led you to do that?”
“I couldn’t bear to see a piece of trash like-“
“Please be mindful of your language,” admonished the third lady, who was in her forties with short, curly, pale red hair.
“Ahem,” Almond cleared his throat before he spoke again, “I couldn’t bear to see a deplorable, heinous, repugnant, degenerate, wretched of a human being like Zoren act like laws were beneath him, so I had to take action and stop his atrocities that…his father was also a part of.”
“W-what nonsense are you spouting?!” Zolen shouted.
“Silence, Mr. Zolen.”
“And Almond, can you tell us and provide us some proof of Zoren’s so-called deplorable acts?” asked the man with brown hair in his forties, wearing a formal robe, his expression flat.
“Of course,” Almond nodded, his expression turning sharp, his eyes narrowing. “I met him for the first time this month on the Labyrinth’s 1st floor. He tried to capture my female friend and even used magic cuffs on her. He wanted to sexually assault her, but we stopped him.”
“We can verify the truth of this matter if you are willing to use Truth Seeking Orb or another method to verify the truth,” Selena said before she paused and added, “But that is a different matter to this one. Do you have any more allegations to make?”
“He bragged that he destroyed a girl’s life. It should be on the video, but I suppose the one you all saw wasn’t a complete one,” Almond smiled.
Zolen raised his hand, his expression bubbling with anger, along with a vile glint in his eyes.
“Speak, Mr. Zolen.”