Chapter 718: Weaklings

"It is in human nature to feel unease about what cannot be understood."

Ezra spoke calmly.

His voice reached the students through the microphone on the podium.

He stood behind the podium, looking at the crowd gathered before the stage.

There were still many gazes directed at him.

Some students continued to watch him with suspicion, while others seemed to remain curious about what he would say.

A few had their arms folded, and some stood with their hands behind their backs.

"I mean, here I am, standing in front of you all to address a matter that revolves around the lives of fellow humans and even blood ties to me."

He said straightforwardly, looking at the gazes fixed on him.

His hands rested lightly against the sides of the podium.

He didn’t appear nervous, nor did he make any effort to avoid looking at the students.

"One must be thinking... there’s no way it’s possible for me to perform that atrocity. And if he did, then what kind of person is he truly? Is he someone who is not scared of killing, or this and that?"

Ezra said plainly, without any care for how the others looked at him.

A few students exchanged glances.

They hadn’t expected him to speak about the matter so openly.

Most had assumed he would begin by defending himself or denying the accusations.

Instead, he was describing the very questions that had been troubling them.

"I don’t blame any of you, to be honest."

He said, moving a step back and placing both hands on the podium.

The words made some of the students with complicated expressions focus on him more.

They had expected resistance, perhaps even anger, but Ezra was acknowledging their uneasiness.

For a brief moment, the crowd remained quiet.

"Because this is caused by how weak-minded many of you are."

Ezra said flatly.

Many students’ eyes widened almost immediately.

"Weak-minded?"

One of the students who supported Ezra’s expulsion repeated in disbelief.

Several others turned towards him.

Some looked at one another, seemingly checking whether they had heard him correctly.

Ezra had just called them weak-minded.

And he had done so in front of the entire gathered students.

"Has he finally lost it or what?"

Felix asked Gareth, looking confused about what move Ezra was going for.

His eyes remained on the podium.

He had expected Ezra to defend himself, perhaps use the sympathy of the students to weaken the accusations.

That would have been a reasonable move, especially with so many people already questioning the article.

But this?

Felix couldn’t immediately understand what Ezra was trying to accomplish.

Murmurs of slight annoyance erupted among the crowd.

Some students frowned, while others began whispering to their companions.

A few looked ready to shout at him, but Ezra continued speaking before anyone could interrupt.

"Again, I’m sure some of you will already be asking yourselves... what is weak-minded about not wanting a person capable of killing his own family to be in the same space as you?"

Ezra continued.

His gaze moved across the crowd.

He wasn’t raising his voice, and there was no change in his expression.

The students who had been whispering gradually turned their attention back towards him.

"Well, you have every right to think like that. But is that the best you can really think of? When we have the conflict of Academy points to fight for?"

He asked the crowd of students.

Some of them frowned at the question.

Others seemed confused about what Academy points had to do with the accusations.

The Royal Academy was a place where students competed for rankings, privileges, and opportunities.

Academy points were part of that system, and everyone present understood how much they mattered.

Still, it wasn’t something they had expected Ezra to bring up.

"Fool! We have to get rid of a killer like you before you run wild in the Academy!"

Prince Daniel shouted at Ezra.

His voice came from the stage, drawing the attention of several students.

Daniel leaned forward slightly in his chair, his expression displeased.

His followers remained standing around him, while Aldric and the other members of the Student Council continued watching.

But before the students supporting him could even speak...

"Then can one of you tell me in which possible situation do you see me coming for anyone of you?"

Ezra asked another question plainly.

Silence...

No one could actually answer.

The students looked at one another.

A few seemed ready to respond, but their mouths remained closed.

They had been arguing about the possibility of Ezra harming them, yet when he asked them to describe an actual situation in which he would do so, nobody came forward with an answer.

Daniel’s expression tightened.

The question had been simple.

But it wasn’t one they had prepared to answer.

"W...Wait."

A first-year student raised his hand.

He looked nervous because of how quiet the others were.

His eyes moved between Ezra and the students around him before he finally spoke.

"But like you said, the Academy is a place where we are all fighting for the best positions, so... so..."

He hesitated.

A few students turned towards him.

The boy swallowed before continuing, seemingly trying to arrange his words.

"I’m not saying you will come for students like us, but what about you planning to harm students like Sir Ravenor Burnwick or even Lady Vera Ashenlocke, whom you are close to?"

The First-Year asked nervously.

A few other First-Years nodded, finding the question to be a good one.

The concern wasn’t entirely unreasonable from their perspective.

Ravenor and Vera were among the students who held high positions, and Ezra was known to be really close to one of them.

Prince Daniel smirked, looking pleased.

At least someone had raised a question that could bring the discussion back to the direction he wanted.

"Don’t we have assignments, tests, exams, and competitions for that? Even positions like this, to gather points, are all available. And I’m not lacking anything to the point of needing to plan harm towards any students."

Ezra replied straightforwardly.

He didn’t need to raise his voice to answer the boy.

His hands remained on the podium, and his gaze shifted briefly across the students before returning to the one who had asked.

There were already ways to compete within the Academy.

Assignments, examinations, competitions, and the positions available to students all offered opportunities to earn points and improve their standing.

He had no reason to resort to harming someone.

"Ezra faced Maxwell, who was clearly a Meister Alchemist rank, with all he had. If he truly was that type of person, then maybe he would have threatened to harm Cherry to get Maxwell to drop out or something worse."

Cyrus’s voice echoed plainly within the crowd.

The students turned their attention towards him.

Cyrus stood with his arms folded, his gaze directed towards the stage.

He had been watching the discussion from among the crowd, but now he had decided to speak.

Maxwell narrowed his eyes at Cyrus.

Beside him, Cherry immediately hid behind Maxwell in complete terror.

She moved closer to his back, peeking out only slightly as she looked towards the person who had just mentioned her.

"No offence."

Cyrus said, not looking at Maxwell’s gaze.

"I mean, I even ran away from fighting him. You saw those Golden Flames. Only a crazy person would even think of facing a monster like him... not that I’m saying you are crazy, Ezra."

He said, quickly correcting himself as he looked at Ezra.

Lucy narrowed her eyes at him.

Cyrus could now feel two narrow gazes on him.

One came from Lucy, while the other belonged to Maxwell.

He slowly turned his head, noticing the expressions directed at him.

His arms remained folded, but his confidence had clearly taken a hit.

"I will be quiet now."

He said awkwardly.

But his words had done their effect.

The students began looking at one another again.

Cyrus hadn’t made a complicated argument.

He had simply reminded them of an event that had already happened.

Ezra had faced Maxwell, a Meister Alchemist, during the Combat Festival.

If he truly intended to harm other students to improve his own position, there had been opportunities to do so.

But he hadn’t.

"I mean, if you think about it, then there’s really no reason for him to come after any student’s life because of ranking."

A First-Year said in slight realisation.

Another student nodded.

"Ezra Ashenlocke doesn’t even act suspicious, to be honest. He goes to the library, studies a lot, trains, and... overall, he has a good record."

"I know, right... If that article never existed, I wouldn’t be scared."

"I think we really thought too deeply into things."

The discussion and complicated expressions began to reduce among the students.

Some of the boys and girls who had been arguing earlier lowered their voices.

Others looked back towards Ezra, no longer wearing the same expressions they had shown when Tristin was speaking.

The change wasn’t sudden, but it was noticeable.

A few students who had been supporting the accusations were now silent.

Some seemed to be reconsidering their earlier opinions, while others still looked uncertain.

Prince Daniel and his group all noticed this.

What the hell is happening?

He asked himself in confusion and faint panic.

His eyes moved across the crowd, observing the students who had begun changing their expressions.

He quickly glanced at the first-year boy from his faction.

The boy nodded hurriedly.

"So, are we just going to forget the article just like that?!"

He asked loudly.

His voice drew the attention of several students again.

"But..."

Many students couldn’t say much, because to them...

What were they supposed to even think about anymore?

The article had raised questions about Ezra, but his answers had also raised questions about their own assumptions.

They had been looking at him as someone who might harm them, yet nobody had been able to explain when or why he would do so.

Even the boy who had raised the question about Ravenor and Vera had no further response.

The students remained standing below the stage, watching Ezra.

"I’m not telling you people to see me as a good person or a bad person."

Ezra said directly.

Many eyes turned back to him, shocked again.

He had neither asked them to trust him nor demanded that they forget the article.

Yet again...

His answer was different from what some of them had expected.

"We are Alchemists, so we are always meant to think wider than normal. But it’s because we are Alchemists that we tend to find answers for the things we don’t understand. We face mysteries without fear. That’s what made up this Kingdom’s history."

He said calmly, while walking slightly away from the podium.

His steps were unhurried.

He moved just far enough to stand beside it, his attention still on the students.

A few of them followed his movement with their eyes, while others remained focused on his words.

"The path of an Alchemist is not filled with roses... even breaking through is filled with pain and a need for mental fortitude."

He stopped walking.

The students listened.

There were different paths in Alchemy, but none of them were without difficulty.

Becoming stronger required effort, and even advancing through the ranks came with its own challenges.

Pain and hardship were part of the process.

Ezra looked at the crowd again.

"If this is enough to make all of you waver, then how would you fare against an Elder Ghost Crawler? Is the Royal Academy raising Alchemists or weaklings?"

He asked the crowd again, as plainly as ever.

The question brought another wave of reactions.

Some students frowned at the comparison, while others looked towards their companions.

Tristin suddenly raised his voice.

"How dare you call your fellow students weaklings, all because they know you are a killer!"

He shouted, pointing at Ezra.

His finger remained directed at the young Alchemist, and his expression showed his displeasure.

Ezra turned his eyes towards him.

"I’m saying it because I know you all are weak-minded."

He replied flatly.

Tristin opened his mouth in bewilderment.

For a moment, he seemed unable to decide what to say.

Ezra hadn’t withdrawn his words or tried to soften them.

He had repeated his point without hesitation, leaving Tristin with little room to turn the exchange into something else.

The students also remained quiet.

Some looked offended, while others were still thinking about what Ezra had said earlier.

"Like I said, I don’t care about your emotions towards me. Just stop using those emotions around me, and focus on your election. I’m not going to play hitman because of any faction..."

Ezra shrugged as he spoke straightforwardly.

"I mean, what do I have to gain by killing anyone when I can just keep studying as always?"