Only Wisdom Awakened - Chapter 186

Chapter 186: The Law
“My power will become… the power of someone who belongs to this city”

“And how do you intend to do that?”

The doubtful voice of the man in front of him asked.

“First of all… we need to wait for the battleground to be ready…

———

A few hours later, Preston opened a large door and entered the room, causing quite a stir among the people sitting all around him.

It was a courtroom, where both his opponent for that debate and the witnesses were already waiting.

The scene was aired on TV, and in his house, watching from behind a little screen was a middle-aged man.

It was one of Preston’s assistants, and the last one to leave him.

“Preston… you don’t know when to give up.

In life, there are some things you just shouldn’t do.”

Even if most people were thinking like that, some spectators still hoped for the best for Preston.

And opposite to him, on the other side of the room, was a young man with silver hair, dressed in an elegant white suit.

His skin was so clear that it was almost difficult to tell it apart from his white clothes, on the contrary, his dark eyes were recognizable.

Someone else entered the room.

An old woman dressed formally with a couple of files in her hands made her way from the door up to the wide desk standing in front of the two men.

Everyone in the room stood up as a sign of respect and then sat back down when she reached her destination.

The woman spent a couple of seconds placing her files on the desk before speaking,

Causing the silence that had enveloped the whole place to break apart.

“Citizens of San Diego, as announced a few hours ago, today you are here to witness the dispute caused by the sudden appearance of an A-rank gate near our city.

The matter at hand is the following:

Preston Monroe, current acting branch leader of the San Diego association branch,

And Steven Anderson, current Guild leader of the S-rank guild: Twilight, will express their opinion regarding the rightful ownership of the gate.

This event will be conducted following the rules of public debate, meaning that all of the citizens, even you who are watching from home, will have the right to vote for the side you wish to support.

If the votes on one side surpass seventy percent of the total, then the following side will be granted ownership of the gate without any further inquiry.

However, if the votes are uncertain, and none of the two parties surpass seventy percent of the votes, I will be responsible for judging which of the two shall be granted the ownership.

Because of the graveness of the situation, this matter shall be closed today, and the final judgment will be made before 15:00.

Without further ado, you shall begin backing your choices.”

Both men immediately stood up, waiting for the woman to give one of them the right of speech.

“Steven Anderson, please enlighten us”

Preston sat down, while Steven began talking about what he believed to be the right choice.

The man spoke for almost fifteen minutes non-stop, explaining the current situation of the city, and the dangers they would risk if the gate would not be raided on time.

He also pressed a weak point of the Association branch, continuously hinting at the fact that they did not possess the necessary power to back their words and that they would not have been able to complete the gate raid.

When he stopped speaking, almost all the spectators had already chosen the side they would back.

However, the situation turned around as soon as Preston finally had the chance to speak:

“Thank you for your reasonable explanation, Mr. Anderson.

Mr. Preston, it’s your time to talk, if you do not choose to back down that is.”

“Thank you, your honor.”

Without even circling the issue, Preston got directly to the most important part of his speech:

“International Awakened Law, number nineteen of chapter twelve regarding the Gates’ ownership.

The laws clearly state that the gates’ ownership is usually granted equally among the major powerhouses residing in the said city…

But there are some exceptions:

Exception number nine dictates that whenever a Private organization, such as a Guild, whose authority can rival or surpass that of the Awakened Association Branch in the said city, tries to acquire ownership of a gate that could potentially grant them the necessary means to establish a monopoly of the high ranking gates in the area, their request must be rejected.

It also clearly states that even attempting to buy or acquire such a gate could result in many penalties being issued.

This exception was created specifically to prevent any organization from controlling the market of various cities and keep the most dangerous guilds in check.

Is that enough of an explanation?”

“Objection your honor”

Said the other man in a calm tone.

“Even if those laws have been set to prevent private organizations such as the Twilight Guild from obtaining overbearing authority regarding the raiding of high-ranking gates, there are some conditions:

Following the same article Mr. Preston was talking about, we will discover that this article can only be applied when there are any other powerhouses in the said city capable of handling the catastrophe in case of a gate break.

Even if it hurts me to say this, the current Association branch does not have the necessary power to handle the gate, and the Harvest Guild has already conceded, leaving us, the Twilight Guild, the only organization capable of closing the gate.”

“Mr. Preston, do you have anything else to say? If you do not, I will sustain Mr. Anderson’s objection, invalidating your argumentation.”

The woman who was in charge of that debate asked for Preston’s opinion, but she knew that the Twilight Guild had already won.

The Association Branch had lost all its power, their highest ranking awakened didn’t even belong to A-rank after Caleb left, leaving them powerless when competing against the city’s biggest guild.

“I do”

‘Mh? What is he thinking of doing?’

Thought Steven.

‘I have known Preston for many years, he is anything but a stupid man, why would he make a fool out of himself in front of the whole city?’

“All this matter is because of the association branch’s lack of power isn’t it?”

A few seconds of silence covered the room before the woman replied:

“Yes”

“Does that mean that if we were to have the power to clear the gate, no one would argue with our decision?”

“Mr. Preston, where are you trying to fish?”

“May I allow someone to come here for me?”

The judge’s keen eyes observed him for a bit before she replied:

“Do as you like, but I won’t wait any more than five minutes”

“Thank you, your honor, it won’t take more than a minute”

Preston took the phone out of his pocket and texted Hans…

[come in]

And just a few seconds later, a knocking sound was heard throughout the courtroom.

“My honor, it’s my guest”

“You are free to enter”

Said the woman with a curious look on her face.

The door opened, and entering the room was a young man.

His black hair and amber eyes were recognizable to most of the spectators, and even the woman who acted as a judge, couldn’t help but feel like she had seen this person somewhere before.

But the biggest reaction was the one displayed by the Twilight Guild leader, who just stared with his mouth open as Hans leisurely walked towards Preston.

No one spoke a word, even the people watching from home were confused by the sudden entrance of the young man.

‘I swear I’ve seen him somewhere before… but where?

A young man like him… I should be able to remember him.

Let’s see what Anderson is-

As the judge turned her head to see Anderson’s reaction, she was shocked to see his astonished face.

‘What?!

That Anderson… the serious and unwavering Anderson that I’ve never seen either laugh or smile, whose emotions are hidden like a treasure under his facade.

For Anderson to react like this, what is the boy’s identity?!

She was about to open her mouth and ask Hans to introduce himself, but she was taken by surprise by the words that slipped out of Mr. Anderson’s mouth.

“Hans… Richter”

Even if he was whispering, because of the silence inside that room, that name was heard by the whole court.

“Wh-what?! Did he say, Hans Richter?”

One of the spectators commented, standing up to get a better view of Hans’s face.

“You mean the seventh circle mage?”

Another one asked while standing up.

“For god’s sake… it’s… It’s really him!”

“What!”

“What is happening right now?”

“Are you sure it’s him?”

“Yes, I’m 100% sure! I could recognize those eyes from miles!”

As tumult was rising in the crowd, the judge was trying to make sense of what was currently happening…

‘Hans Richter, the youngest seventh circle mage on the face of the planet, whose spells razed to the ground a whole colony of Yetis, I remember him now!

But… what is he doing here?!’