Verse Four

"Until you are proven innocent or guilty of the charges pressed against you, your right to graduate has been withdrawn."

That was the gist of CK's visit to the administration building. Aside from hearing what the professors had to say, she didn't attempt to clear her name or assert herself. She simply left, finding herself a place to be alone with her thoughts. 

'This is ridiculous,' CK frowned to herself. If her graduation becomes a larger issue, it could make things very difficult in the long run especially if she wants a long-term career as a wordsmith.

She eventually found herself walking down the hallways of the amphitheater's annex building. She could hear incoherent echoes from the amphitheater, but her footsteps were louder in the silent hallways. She came to a pause and looked at the walls, her eyes glimmering at the sight of the portraits lined up in golden frames.

The Hall of Alumni. It was a place to commemorate the batch valedictorian and their achievements, serving as inspiration for the future generations(quite sentimental, isn't it?). The further CK walked, the more recent the years of graduation were. Most of them were just blurry faces of her seniors, but there was a face everyone could not forget.

CK paused in front of the portrait of a young man with swept back hair and luminous orange eyes. Even though it was just a portrait, the depiction of his eyes resembled gradient red and orange, like living flames. A stark contrast to his emotionless gaze.

"It's amazing, isn't it, Winnie?" CK giggled, "Soon, your portrait will be hung on the same walls as the Emperor himself. Ah, so many students will be jealous of you."

CK turned to the side, where the same young man from the amphitheater's front rows walked towards her. His gaze turned to the portrait in front of CK, but he hardly shared CK's sentiments.

"Had you not sabotaged yourself in the last minute, it would have been your portrait instead," he said. "Why do you look more defeated than I am?" CK asked amusingly, "Cheer up. That's not a face you should let your juniors see." 

"Winnie" was none other than Winslow Danchev, the running valedictorian of the graduating batch and praised to be the best summoner for having over 34 angels at his beck and call. CK constantly prattles dramatically about constantly losing to him and always being second best, but everyone except the professors could tell she does it for satire. 

Winslow sighed at her response. "Never mind. It's not like you'll change any time soon," he said and crossed his arms, "What happened back at the amphitheater?"

"You probably heard about it already. The school wants to withdraw my right to graduate and pressed charges against me," CK said. Winslow's eyes widened in alert.

"What did you do?" he asked. "Gee, thanks for believing in me," CK said, then shrugged, "I might not graduate with the rest of you as long as this case is pending. But don't worry about the details. This doesn't concern you, after all."

Winslow's alerted expression faded with a sigh. "When is your trial?" he asked, "The professors have too much on their hands to prepare for the graduation rites. Let us hope your case is just a misunderstanding."

"I don't think so," CK shrugged. "I'm serious, CK," Winslow said grimly, "You need to clear your name, or your academic and job careers will both be in terrible shape. All those years may go to waste."

The Nonaphrontistery may just be a magic school to its students, but to the outside world, it's a symbol of power. It is also known as the Schools of IX, where they teach the eight Muses of Syntaxis, languages that were dedicated to the eight Archetypes that shaped Syntaxis as they know it. A practitioner of any of these languages is called a 'wordsmith', and they're often given much recognition due to their abilities.

The Nonaphrontistery takes students from various worlds, ignoring their statuses at birth or the family prestige (if there's any). But despite this fact, the school's population does not exceed 1, 000 students every year due to considering a student's proficiency in Syntaxis. This significantly raises the 'net worth' of its students once they leave. 

Compared to the education a wordsmith could get outside of the school, the Nonaphrontistery is a treasure trove. Most of the school's graduates take up various positions of power in their selected careers. Some are leaders of business corporate, others are outstanding members of prestigious organizations. Being a graduate has more benefits than consequences if it involves the Nonaphrontistery.

However, heavy is the head that wears the crown. The Nonaphrontistery's word is like gospel to outsiders. Should there be a case that the Nonaphrontistery chooses to condemn one of its own students, it'd be akin to blacklisting that student in a majority of job careers outside the school.

In short, CK is doomed if that case of hers gets out of hand. She sighed and stretched her arms above her head, "First was the master. Now, this. So annoying~"

Winslow glanced at her after she spoke. "Are those two incidents related?" he asked. "That's what I want to know, too. Imagine if it was," CK mused, "I'll be in a bigger heap of trouble."

Winslow frowned. "Right before the graduation rites, too…" he muttered to himself, then looked at CK blankly, "The school must really dislike you."

"If that was the case, they should have just let me out in a few more weeks, not detain me and prolong their suffering," CK snorted, "Like I said, don't think too much about it." 

She grinned. "You should be happy, you know? At least, they won't have to pit us against each other while I'm out of the picture," she said. "I suppose so," Winslow crossed his arms, "I'm tired of Ms. Dulia constantly threatening me that you're 'catching up' to me. So what if you are."

"Heh. You'll be seeing more of her after you take a position in the same church as she does. How pitiful," CK taunted. Winslow did not answer and looked at her seriously.

"You better not give the Nonaphrontistery any reason to press charges against you," he said, "I don't know your reasons for suddenly behaving inconsistently this past year, but I sincerely hope they are valid reasons…and not the cause for your current troubles."

"And if they were?" CK tilted her head. "You'd better hope not," Winslow said firmly, making CK giggle.

"Look at you worry. I know what I'm doing, Winslow. Don't get yourself into an unnecessary twist. It's not gonna look pretty in the pictures," she said and looked at the portraits of alumni, "I wonder, how many more of our seniors got a situation like this right before they graduate?"

"Probably none of them," Winslow replied, causing the girl to smirk. "Then that makes this year a lot more special," CK said, causing Winslow to mutter to himself tiredly about her, "I'll be sure to return the favor, hehe."

Trials at the Nonaphrontistery shared some resemblance to judicial trials. But they all share the same thing: the defendant has to stand before a judge, which in CK's case, has to be the entire faculty with at least one Core Instructor present.

CK stood idly at the center, surrounded by the professors' round table, where a quarter of the seats were empty. Professor Kitmar, as head of the faculty, was the judge of the hearing. His seat was elevated and was directly in front of CK. 

Despite the calm look on her face, CK was pensive. She may or may not have intrusive thoughts of being in one of the school's infamous trials, but she never expected it to happen in reality. 

Professor Kitmar looked at every professor present. Nearly all were there, except for the rest of the Core Instructors and the Headmaster. He made a slight nod to this.

"Let's begin," he said and looked at CK, "Case No. 2: The Nonaphrontistery versus CK of House Vincenzo. You are accused of violating the Individualist Law for All Entities by forcefully coercing a non-human and sentient entity into compliance for your graduation thesis submitted this semester of the Year 20XX. Before you plead yourself guilty or not guilty and as a sign of respect, we will allow a hearing for you to express your side of the case."

'Like Winslow must've thought, they'd like to think of this as a misunderstanding', CK thought. 'Let's see how far I can go with this one.'

"First, may I make a request?" CK spoke. "What is it?" Professor Kitmar asked. 

"If it's not too much, can you explain to me how I am being accused? If there's evidence of it, I'd like to know about it, too," CK replied. "Request granted. Ms. Dulia, as one of the panelists of the semester, you may present relevant information to the defendant," Professor Kitmar gestured towards the woman at the right side of the round table.

"Hmph," Ms. Dulia said and picked up a few papers in front of her, "I'll make it brief: Ms. CK's thesis was focused on proving that sifts are created from the convergence of Syntax energy…and that wordsmiths may be able to open sifts as well as create one of their own to their liking. An ambitious topic, and one that shouldn't be tackled by someone incompetent."

Sifts were pockets of space that come in forms of dungeons or portals. The Art of Syntaxis has existed for centuries, but the complex nature of how these sifts came to be is still a topic of research. Studying the mechanism of sifts is already difficult, and proving that a wordsmith can create a sift on their own…

CK received a few glances as Ms. Dulia emphasized details of CK's case. Quite daunting.

"The relevant study cases are few due to its scope, but are all verified to be true and accurate, thus valid. During the student's thesis defense, she was able to provide a well-off presentation of data that will prove her hypothesis to be true," Ms. Dulia spoke, "However, a cross-examination of the thesis revealed that the method of collecting data to be a little…questionable."

CK glanced at Ms. Dulia, who placed the papers aside and crossed her legs. "How so?" CK asked, and she caught the glimpse of arrogance in Dulia's gaze.

"Do you still remember the defense, Ms. CK? Upon asking how you verified your hypothesis to be true, you presented data of a sift that you claimed to have created on your own. But remember that sifts, as you said in your thesis, are the result of the convergence of Syntax energy. However, a sift is not born out of a cluster of energy alone. You will require large amounts of energy to create a sift and keep its structure within its spatial capacity," Ms. Dulia pointed out, "You may be adequately proficient in Syntaxis, but your body could not house that same amount of energy needed."

"Where did you get the source of Syntax energy, I wonder?"

CK's brows rose slightly. "I don't remember saying that I 'created' a sift, per se. However, I do know my thesis like the back of my hand," she replied, "Aside from creating sifts, wordsmiths can also open them by themselves without relying on an existing portal. You can just create one yourself. It is similar to phasing, but instead of going from one place to another, it's one separate dimension unto another."

"The sift I presented during the defense was a pre-existing sift that exists closely to the Nonaphrontistery. I simply had to prove that a wordsmith can manually enter a sift and go as they pleased by carving out their own way in," CK shrugged.

"So…how were you able to come across this pre-existing sift?" Ms. Dulia asked. "Master Erzem—" CK stopped speaking and her eyes widened, as if realizing something, "Don't tell me…"

Ms. Dulia's smirk widened. Got you.

"Let us proceed to the nature of the charges pressed against you, shall we?" she said pleasantly, "The sift you presented during the defense is pre-existing, as you said. However, that sift was not any ordinary sift. It was a dungeon that is home to a dangerous creature known as a daemon. And this daemon was not so ordinary either."

"Yvonna, if you would please," Ms. Dulia turned to the woman on her side, who nodded. Ms. Yvonna cast a translucent screen above CK for everyone to see. CK looked up at the screen, and her eyes widened in alert.

There were pictures of Professor Erzem from outside his office windows. He was seen inside, standing in front of a blurry apparition resembling a cage made of white dust. Inside the blurry cage was a kneeling figure garbed in dark clothing. On a close-up picture, the figure is seen to be smirking up at Erzem, his eyes being purely gold in color and with long eyebrows that each resembled a feather.

"We've sent professionals to investigate what these pictures indicated. The cage of white dust seen on the pictures is a product of an advanced incantation known as the Chalk Prison, an incantation that can only be cast by wordsmiths who practiced Magna Alkemia and is Syntaxis Level IV: Rudimentus Chapter. So far, only Professor Theodore Erzem is a Magna Alkemia Major that is also at Level IV. It is only wise to assume that the Chalk Prison in the picture was cast by him," Ms. Dulia said, "As for the entity inside the prison…"

A few professors gasped when a profile was presented on the screen. Depictions of monstrous entities were also displayed, which CK frowned to. "The daemon inside the prison is known to be Malphas, one of the 72 strongest daemons in their habitat, Almadel. His strength and sentience has long surpassed that of an ordinary daemon, thus earning a Code Red for the dangers he may present," Ms. Dulia said, "From what we see, Professor Erzem has imprisoned Malphas in Chalk Prison, making him unable to intervene should his dungeon be influenced by certain strangers to his territory."

"Haha…Hahaha!" CK giggled, causing the rest to look at her, "Are you perhaps implying that the Master imprisoned Malphas so he can't stop me from touching his dungeon?"

"Your words, not mine," Ms. Dulia said with a smirk, "The Chalk Prison is not a simple imprisonment incantation. At the will of the caster, the prison may subject its prisoner into all forms of torture by transforming its chambers accordingly. It is more of a torture chamber rather than a prison. Malphas may be a dangerous entity, but he still falls under protection of the Individualist Law for all Entities, which states that all human and non-human entities cannot be subjected into any form of mistreatment or prejudice from other entities."

"Professor Erzem has actively subjected the daemon, Malphas, into imprisonment as well as torture by casting Chalk Prison. What reason may he have other than to allow his student to study the sift? From the nature of daemons, Malphas would naturally not allow outsiders into his dungeon so easily. To make the study easier, the owner of the dungeon was imprisoned against his will. But that is not all," Ms. Dulia stated and turned to Ms. Yvonna, who cleared her throat.

"Professor Kitmar, allow me to add a few more information to the case," she said, making the head professor nod grimly. "Proceed," Professor Kitmar spoke.

"Thank you. A recently-concluded auditing has shown inconsistencies in Professor Erzem's transcript. In the reports he submitted, there was a total spending of 200,000 credits. But upon cross-examining it with his current savings and spendings in the institution's databank, there is actually a missing sum of 300,000 credits. There is no record found of where the professor may have spent this sum upon, which makes us believe that a transaction has happened outside of the institute's knowledge. It perhaps involve a third party outside the institute," Ms. Yvonna said. CK's eyes widened.

"Are you serious?" she scoffed. "You tell us that, Ms. CK," Ms. Yvonna's eyes glowed with animosity, "As his apprentice, are you aware that Professor Erzem has engaged in illegal transactions for the past few months?"

"Erzem did what?!" Madam Yanyan stood up in disbelief. "Be seated, Madam Yanyan," Professor Kitmar bid her, but his face was just as grim. "This is…" Zeke trailed off.

<I thought this was a trial against you, little CK.>

'I thought so, too. But a lot of things they said made initial sense, not gonna lie,' CK replied to Malphas. Her eyes glimmered with realization. 'That means… Heh.'

"This is the nature of the charges pressed against you, Ms. CK. Do you have any other questions?" Ms. Dulia asked. CK was silent, then her lips curled into a smile.

<Hahahaha! >

CK snorted as she heard Malphas' burst of laughter in the depths of her mind. He was amused… Very amused.

"Now, I get it," CK smiled amusingly at Ms. Dulia, "From your explanation, it is not I that is actively guilty of the charges. It's actually the Master. But given that he is hospitalized…I'm being tried for his actions instead. Am I right?"

"Correct. How do you plead?" Ms. Dulia said. "Hahaha!" CK clapped, strangely in delight, "It's hard to argue with how believable the facts you presented are. Haha!"

"In that case…" CK's eyes twinkled as her grin widened, "I plead guilty."

Professor Kitmar's brows furrowed, and the other professors expressed their own disbelief. Ms. Yvonna and Ms. Dulia frowned as well. She just admitted to being guilty like that.

"This is ridiculous!" Madam Yanyan said in indignation. "You can't do that to a student simply because she is the apprentice of a master! She is hardly related to any of the charges, after all."

"CK has pleaded guilty. We should proceed with the trial and be over with it," Ms. Yvonna told Professor Kitmar.

"CK cannot plead to the charges she herself did not commit," Madam Yanyan hissed, "I move to nullify this hearing at once!"

"That's enough."

The entire room fell silent at Kitmar's order. CK turned to him confusingly as he massaged his forehead.

"This was supposed to be a trial held for a student and not against a professor that is currently hospitalized," Professor Kitmar turned to Ms. Yvonna, "It seems you had the information of the auditing for a while. Why did you not present it sooner and chose to bring it up now?"

"I... We were not sure of whether it was related to CK's inconsistent methodology! Professor Erzem hardly opens up about what he does so we suspected his activity may be related to the spike of corruption. Not to mention that the dungeon losing its master could have been a cause as well," Ms. Yvonna replied.

"A spike of corruption?" CK mused. Ms. Yvonna flinched at the unpleasant gazes thrown at her by the rest, as if saying she had said something that shouldn't be said.

"…The funds are an entirely separate matter and is not related to the issue with the methodology. Do not bring this up again until Professor Erzem has recovered and given his side of the story," Professor Kitmar stated, causing Ms. Yvonna to look away.

"Is it actually related, though...?" CK held her chin. "You seem to know something," Ms. Dulia said.

CK glanced at her. Sure, she knows about the nature of the missing transactions but it's nothing that illegal.

CK's lips curled into a sly smile. Having that said, it wouldn't hurt to give them a little headache.

"Of course, I do. However, I have no proof of whether the transactions are considered illegal or not. All I can say, though, is that he probably used the missing credits outside when he leaves for business trips and that it still involves the credits of the Nonaphrontistery," CK shrugged.

Professor Kitmar held his forehead. "If those transactions are indeed illegal by the code of the institute, you will be charged of illegal association. That adds another crime to your trial," he said.

Madam Yanyan was fuming. Why did the little brat open her mouth?! She could have stayed silent! 

<Heh. I'm not sure if you're incredibly mischievous or stupid, but all of this is entertaining.>

'That makes two of us,' CK smirked as Ms. Dulia and Ms. Yvonna looked at her haughtily. 'These poor souls don't know a single thing.'

"What a nuisance," Professor Kitmar muttered and cleared his throat, "The sudden addition of charges against CK calls for a trial. Although CK has pleaded guilty, there is still insufficient information and inconsistency in her testimony."

"The trial will take place this weekend, five days from now. I'm giving the Nonaphrontistery and the defendant sufficient time to prepare until then," Professor Kitmar declared as he grabbed his gavel, "That is all. This hearing is dismissed."

Bam!