The Magic Council's Fiore branch.
The soldiers stopped at the door after escorting Ryoma and did not follow him inside.
A frog-like envoy led him through a long corridor, eventually arriving at a giant door.
Creak—
This was the Magic Council's Fiore branch's floating council hall.
Ryoma slowly walked to the center of the hall, stopped, and looked up. Above him was a circular, tiered seating area where a group of people sat. They looked down at Ryoma from above.
In the topmost central seat sat a man with a somewhat wide build. He was the current chairman of the Magic Council, Crawford Seam.
Below him, in nine side-by-side seats, sat the Council members.
Ryoma's gaze slowly swept across faces that were either stern, indifferent, or scrutinizing. He quickly spotted a few familiar faces.
Sitting on the left was a neatly combed, somewhat short old man, who was Makarov's long-time friend, Yajima. At this moment, he was looking at Ryoma with a worried expression, his brows tightly furrowed.
On the other side, Ryoma's gaze lingered on two people.
One was a young man with striking blue hair, Siegrain.
The other was a woman with long black hair, possessing a mature and enchanting aura, Ultear.
Ryoma's lips curved slightly, forming an almost imperceptible arc.
Jellal and Ultear... one a puppet manipulated without his knowledge, and the other an undercover agent for Grimoire Heart.
It seemed this trial wouldn't be so boring today.
Just then, an angry voice from above broke the silence.
"Criminal Ryoma!"
The speaker was a tall council member wearing a helmet, a hoodie, and sunglasses, Leiji. He was notoriously prejudiced against Fairy Tail.
He pointed at Ryoma below, his voice stern and furious, and demanded, "Do you plead guilty to destroying multiple branch guilds of Phantom Lord and assassinating one of the Ten Wizard Saints, Jose Porla?!"
The voice echoed in the empty hall, carrying an undeniable tone of judgment, as if Ryoma's guilt was already sealed.
"Now, now…"
Yajima, next to Leiji, immediately interjected to smooth things over.
"Leiji, it's still just the investigation stage. He's only a suspect, you can't just declare him a criminal."
Yajima tried to ease the atmosphere, but Leiji clearly wasn't going to give him that courtesy.
Ryoma didn't even look up at the shouting Leiji.
He simply looked around, speaking in a tone so calm it bordered on indifference, "I presume you've all seen the Lacrima recording how Phantom Lord attacked Fairy Tail's guild members?"
"Phantom Lord's people vandalized the guild, attacked my comrades, and you, the Council, turned a blind eye."
"Now that something has happened to Phantom Lord, you immediately aggressively rush to Fairy Tail to arrest someone, directly pinning the blame on me."
"Hmph!"
Before Ryoma could finish, Leiji snorted coldly and rudely interrupted him. He looked down at Ryoma, his eyes filled with disdain and contempt.
"Stop trying to twist the facts and change the subject!"
"Your Fairy Tail is already notorious for its misdeeds, constantly causing trouble and damaging public property! The complaint reports in the Council are piled higher than mountains!"
"This conflict might even have been deliberately provoked by your Fairy Tail!"
His words were full of prejudice and conjecture, completely devoid of reason.
"Hahaha…"
Ryoma suddenly chuckled softly.
The laughter wasn't loud but clearly reached every council member's ears.
"This council member's demeanor is truly… eye-opening."
Ryoma looked up, meeting Leiji's gaze calmly, his tone laced with undisguised sarcasm.
"Casually interrupting others' statements, disregarding evidence, and making arbitrary judgments based solely on personal preference and prejudice."
"Is this the standard of a Magic Council member?"
"Truly admirable."
Ryoma's words were like sharp icicles, mercilessly piercing Leiji's heart.
"You…!"
Leiji's face instantly turned a purplish red.
Bang!
He abruptly stood up from his seat, slamming his hands heavily on the table in front of him, shaking the entire council hall.
He was trembling with rage, his finger pointing at Ryoma also shaking.
"Impudent!"
"What kind of attitude is that?! Are you disrespecting a council member?! Disrespecting the entire Magic Council?!"
Leiji's roar was deafening.
However, Ryoma remained calm and unruffled, not even twitching an eyebrow.
Just then, an even louder, more authoritative voice came from the highest point.
"Quiet."
Crawford slowly spoke, his voice not loud but instantly quelling Leiji's anger.
Leiji glared at Ryoma resentfully before reluctantly sitting back down.
The entire council hall returned to silence.
Crawford's sharp gaze was fixed on Ryoma.
"Young man, we are not here to discuss the personal conduct of a council member." His voice was low and powerful.
"The Ten Wizard Saints are the pillars of the entire magic world, symbols of order and power."
"Even if Jose had a thousand faults, he should have been judged by us, the Magic Council, and not executed by anyone through vigilantism."
"Ryoma, I'll give you one last chance."
Crawford leaned slightly forward, attempting to pressure Ryoma with his authority.
"Confess truthfully, and don't harbor any illusions of getting away with it."
"Otherwise, if the Magic Council uncovers anything on its own, the consequences… might not be limited to just you."
Blatant intimidation! Threatening him with the entire Fairy Tail!
"The chairman is right!"
"This incident severely violated the ironclad rule that guilds cannot wage war privately! It must be severely punished!"
"A Wizard Saint died so inexplicably, this is an open provocation to the Council's authority."
"I propose severe punishment for the criminal Ryoma! At the same time, Fairy Tail, which is incorrigible and poorly managed, must also face the most severe sanctions!"
"Disband Fairy Tail!"
One council member led, and the others who supported him echoed his sentiments. Their voices converged, as if they had already pronounced a death sentence for Ryoma and Fairy Tail.
Yajima was sweating profusely, trying to speak several times but being drowned out by the surrounding clamor.
Ultear's lips held a faint, almost imperceptible smile, watching Ryoma with interest, expecting him to be flustered.
Next to her, Siegrain remained expressionless throughout, like an outsider, not particularly concerned with these matters.
Ryoma stood quietly in the center of the hall, listening to the noisy judgments, his face still devoid of expression. But in his heart, he was sneering.
Indeed, trying to reason with these people was inherently ridiculous. They simply didn't care what the truth was. They didn't care if Phantom Lord struck first.
They only cared about the Council's reputation, about their so-called authority.
Jose's death was just an excuse, an excuse they used to suppress Fairy Tail, which had always resisted their control.
Disband Fairy Tail?
In the depths of Ryoma's eyes, a cold glimmer of killing intent flashed and vanished.
He didn't care what charges were brought against him. He could leave anytime, and these people couldn't stop him.
But if they dared to target the guild and his comrades, then he wouldn't mind letting this so-called Magic Council experience the taste of Phantom Lord's overnight annihilation.
With that thought, Ryoma's heart was completely calm.
He looked up, his gaze sweeping past the clamoring council members directly to Crawford at the highest point.
"Chairman."
His voice was calm and clear, instantly overriding all other noise.
"You just said that the Ten Wizard Saints are the pillars of the magic world?"
Ryoma's lips curved into a sarcastic arc. "Then I'd like to ask something."
"A guild master who, out of jealousy, orders his subordinates to destroy another guild's headquarters."
"A scoundrel who sends people to attack ordinary members of an opposing guild just to provoke a counterattack."
"Does he, too, deserve to be called a 'pillar of the magic world'?"