Magicapita

Cæ calmed down as the conversation moved on from the exact details of the sequence of events from his point of view. One of the things that he could rely on was the fact that he had perfect recall ever since he got Acquired Savant syndrome.

When he closed his eyes, he could remember not just the exact positions of Miranda and Serulia, but also the other people in the environment. This allowed him to figure out exactly what plausible deniability he had. For instance, if he claimed that the magic circles were active at a particular moment where another person was within the field of view, Miss Morspen could realize that he was lying by interrogating said person.

This allowed him to minimize risk to an extent, although it was hard to say exactly who was looking where at what time, which meant that his precision was low.

This was the limit of what he could do; if he still got caught, then he could blame it on the fact that he even bothered saving Serulia, a decision he had already decided that he did not regret.

From this point on, what would happen would happen.

'I'll need to speak to Headmistress Lenolia the moment I get back to the magicademy.'

He needed her help desperately to get the Nelnmonts off his back. However, the biggest problem was that he wasn't sure how he was going to explain why he wanted to use this weapon to get the Nelnmonts to back away.

She did not know that he was a pure mage.

Nor did she know that he used it to save Serulia.

Thus, she wouldn't understand why he wanted the Nelnmonts to back off so desperately. The case wasn't about him, and even though he was risking his life by agreeing to show up as a witness and offer testimony, it had nothing to do with the Nelnmonts.

'…Damn, do I really have to pull the Serulia card?'

Many people already erroneously thought that they had an intimate relationship; Cæ couldn't even be bothered to try to dispel the gossip because of how unimportant it was compared to the other things that he had to deal with.

Now, he found a potential use for it.

He could pretend that he was in love with Serulia, then try to convince the Headmistress that he wanted the Nelnmonts gone because he wanted justice for the young lady that he was smitten with.

"Mr. Cæ, did you hear what I said?"

Cæ broke out of his engrossed inner thoughts, turning to Miss Morspen.

Everybody in the conference room was staring at him.

"…Sorry, I zoned out there for a bit." His tone was slightly apologetic.

"I was saying that the first thing that the Nelnmonts are going to do when it comes to tackling your testimony is look into your background and try and find anything that can be used to destroy the credibility of your testimony by attacking your character or by proving a track record of lying or deceit or anything of the sort," Miss Morspen informed him with a serious tone. "They will also search for any and all ties that you have with the Vritra Family and use that to cast suspicion on whether your testimony is truthful or whether you are simply a bribed witness."

Cæ nodded with a serious expression. "I don't have any history of deceit or a criminal record."

That didn't mean that Cæ hadn't committed crimes, just that there was no law enforcement in the slums to catch him for it. He had stolen more things than he could remember, and lying was simply a tool for survival up until he got out of the slums nearly a decade ago.

"We will do a heavy background check on you," she informed him. "Not to spy or pry into your past, but to find any and everything that the Nelnmonts could use against you and undermine your testimony. We need to find it and be prepared for it because the Nelnmonts are not to be messed with inside a court of law. If there's anything…"

She stressed the word intensely, "…that you have in mind that meets the criteria of what I described, then I request you to reveal it to us. We are perfectly willing to sign nondisclosure agreements and go over them in private, if you wish."

Cæ heaved a deep breath as he fell into thought, reflecting on his life, searching for anything that had been used against him. In truth, because he had been dead serious about getting out of the slums and was one of the very few people who had actually succeeded, he had been extra-diligent to ensure that he never got into trouble once he got into the inner districts, thanks to the generosity of Mr. and Mrs. Selvig.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

In reality, he couldn't think of anything that the Nelnmonts used unless they made the most extreme classist appeal to his background and the fact that he was rejected by banks for a loan for a long time because of the fact that he lived in the slums.

However, there were two things that he was deeply afraid that the Nelnmonts would find if they dug deep.

The first was his Acquired Savant Syndrome.

It was documented in his medical record. In fact, he was shocked that it hadn't come up when Serulia had done a background check on him when preparing against him. He was shocked that the Nelnmonts hadn't found it when they considered him as a partner for Melia. It should have been very easy for them to get access to it with the power and influence that they had.

Another thing that he would much rather that nobody found was the sealed investigation records into Lilia's death. He didn't want anybody to find out who was responsible for Lilia's death, for they would learn at least a small part of Cæ's motivations for gaining power.

It was possible that the people responsible for her death would be made aware of the fact that they would die at Cæ's hands one day, and he certainly didn't want that.

He shook his head. "Aside from the rumors of my conspiring with Headmistress Lenolia to launder money or whatever nonsense that the Nelnmonts themselves came up with, there's really nothing I can think of that can be used against me to undermine my testimony. The fact of the matter is that not only am I a member of the student council, but I am also the Director of the Outer City Talent Acquisition Program, and I fulfilled my role perfectly. I don't have anything going against me."

"I see, well, do let me know if you do think of something," she replied. "And what about your relationship with the Vritra Family? Do you share any kind of transactional relationship?. Do you have a history with them?"

He turned to Serulia, who simply nodded at him.

"…I don't have a history with the family. And I have not had a transactional relationship with them… yet," he clarified. "I will soon be signing a contract with the Vritra Family that will have them invest in my soon-to-be medical business venture in exchange for my agreeing to offer my testimony."

Miss Morspen frowned, taking her round spectacles off. "…That is problematic. I'm sure you can see how easily that can be weaponized to make it look like you're accepting a bribe."

"Yes, that is true," Cæ replied. "However, I'm afraid the deal is an absolute necessity for me. I can't risk my life for this for nothing."

"What deal you make is entirely your business, but this does give our opponents a lot of ammunition to cast doubt over it." She frowned. "They will ask you point-blank under oath whether or not you have any kind of transactional relationship with the Vritra Clan, and you will be committing a crime if you lie."

Cæ shook his head. "I have absolutely no intention of committing perjury. That is a level of liability that I absolutely cannot afford to take."

"I am not asking you to perjure yourself, but it will make our case significantly more difficult than it currently is." She heaved a deep breath. "You said that you have yet to finalize the agreement, which means you haven't signed anything yet."

Cæ nodded. "My company lawyer is going through it at the moment."

"…Could I ask you to delay it?"

Cæ shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

She heaved a sigh. "Very well then. We will work with what we can. I hope the contract does not include a nondisclosure agreement, which will make it much easier to believe that it is a genuine agreement and not just a shady bribe disguised as an innocuous agreement."

"I mean, it is a bribe, just a bribe to get me to tell the truth, not to get me to tell lies," Cæ replied.

"That distinction is impossible to make, I'm afraid." She shook her head, heaving a sigh. "Regardless, we have collected information to build our preliminary case. This has been a fruitful first meeting. We will be meeting many times from this point forward. Sometimes with me, sometimes with my associates. It will be a while, but once we are ready, we can commence with the process and ensure that you get the justice that you deserve."

Serulia nodded with a serious expression. "I am willing to do whatever it takes."

The meeting didn't last very long after that. Miss Morspen tried building a basic rapport with both Cæ and Serulia while keeping the atmosphere professional. It wasn't long before Cæ bade her goodbye, returning to the luxury car waiting for them outside, along with their bodyguards.

CLACK

Cæ heaved a tired breath as he got into the car with Serulia. "This might be more difficult than I imagined."

"You do not have to get too involved in the process," Serulia assured him. "You just need to memorize exactly what your testimony will be and then learn to deal with the interrogations, and you can leave the rest to the team and us. We will deal with everything that needs to be dealt with."

Cæ nodded as he fell into thought about the entire matter.

"What are you thinking of?" She tilted her head, gazing at him with a curious expression.

"Just that justice was always something that I thought of as a privilege for the rich, but now I'm realizing that even the rich struggle to get justice, at least, when dealing with other rich people," Cæ remarked, turning to her with a hint of envy in his eyes. "Still, at least you have the power to fight for it. I…"

His voice faltered as his stormy gray eyes grew hazy with thought.

He couldn't help but think back to how desperate and helpless he felt when he tried to get justice for Lilia.

Ultimately, it hadn't worked.

Now, he had settled for vengeance instead of justice.

Serulia gazed into his eyes with a knowing expression. Having done her own background check in the past in preparation for the combat contest, she knew about the fact that he had a lover in the past and that she had passed away.

Yet, she never dared bring it up.

It felt different from other details that she could profess to know.

Talking about it without him bringing it up first felt… invasive. She didn't want Cæ to dislike or feel unpleasant about her; thus, she ensured that she never broached the issue, hoping that he himself would open up about it one day.