Chapter 326: High Priest Turned Inquisitor

Chief Kurt stood up, pointing aggressively at the stage. "This is a classified police briefing! This is not a courtroom, and this is not a trial hearing! No matter who you are or what academy you represent, you cannot be in here!"

Balzac smiled, leaning back comfortably in the folding chair. "I am simply overlooking the discussion. I am here to take my student out of your custody. Furthermore, this does not look like an official judicial conference. It looks significantly more like a briefing where you are all just tossing theories around and playing detective.

So, my presence should not be an issue. No matter what you discuss or conclude in this room today, it will not provide any legal value or binding precedent to your supposed case against my student or other suspects."

Balzac paused, shifting his sleeping mask slightly. "I also do not like waiting around in stuffy offices until meetings end. So, I will just sit right here. Of course, if anyone actually has a legitimate problem with my presence, I will leave immediately. But if I am going to be asked to leave, the person with the highest authority in this room should be the one to speak, not some inferior desk jockey who clearly does not even understand what he is talking about."

Kurt’s face flushed a violent shade of purple. He shot up from his chair, fully prepared to draw his weapon and physically drag the professor out of the hall. However, Commissioner Vane shot him a sharp, warning glare, silently ordering him to sit back down in protest.

Vane looked at Balzac, and then swept his gaze across the tense room.

’I honestly could not care less about this bureaucratic nightmare,’ Vane cursed inwardly. ’I just want to retire in peace. It is a good thing that that corrupt corporate guild was finally destroyed, but obviously, as the City Commissioner, I cannot publicly express those thoughts or show any happiness about the massacre. I do not know for a fact who the culprit is, but it was undeniably a terrorist attack. ’

’The bomber might have just targeted The BlueYorker’s Shield purely as a coincidence, or perhaps because it was the largest guild int he district. They could have easily targeted any other guild headquarters in the city instead. So, I cannot admire the vigilante or entertain this case lightly. We must find the culprit, no matter what their underlying reason was. The city’s overall safety matters more to me than a single corrupt guild.’

Vane cleared his throat loudly. "Since we desperately needed to verify the suspect’s statements regarding his academy alibis anyway, this might actually be the fastest and most efficient method. Now that Solomon’s legal counsel is present directly from the academy, we can immediately verify the statements he made during the interrogation."

With the Commissioner’s reluctant approval, the conference officially resumed.

Balzac did not say a single word during the entire briefing, which dragged on for three grueling hours. Every single precinct captain had their say, voicing their opinions and throwing out wild theories regarding the explosion. The lead investigating officers from Districts Six and Seven provided their detailed reports, outlining the progress of the ongoing investigations and presenting their preliminary findings.

The forensic team commanders delivered live, continuous updates directly from the crime scene and the crime labs. They detailed the structural collapse of the skyscraper, noting that the explosive residue found in the sub-levels matched high-yield magical charges typically used in deep-earth mining operations.

They also reported on the gruesome state of the bodies recovered from the upper executive floors, confirming that dozens of elite enforcers had been systematically dismantled by blunt force trauma and clean, impossibly sharp blade lacerations before the building even detonated.

They also presented the bizarre case of the ’Good Life’ financial company massacre, noting the eerie similarities in the brutal, hand-to-hand combat methods used to clear the floors.

Once the extensive briefing finally concluded, Vane stepped off the podium. Balzac casually stood up from his folding chair and walked over to the microphone.

He looked out at the exhausted crowd of detectives and sighed. "I have never seen such a mismanaged, entirely incapable team or a more disorganized discussion in my entire life. But let us not talk about your procedural failures right now. From this moment on, I will hear every single argument, statement, and legal accusation you currently hold against my student, Solomon. And if you cannot prove exactly how Solomon is related to this terrorist attack with concrete, undeniable evidence, I will be walking out of this building with my student today."

Kurt immediately jumped up from his seat again, unable to contain his rage. "You cannot just barge into a police precinct, call yourself a legal counsel without providing any official documentation, and act like a high-powered defense lawyer! You are just a mere professor at a streaming academy! You absolutely cannot decide who is innocent and who is guilty! There are strict legal procedures and judicial proceedings that must be followed!"

Balzac looked down at the furious Police Chief from the corner of his eye, without even bothering to turn his head.

"I used to be a High Priest, personally appointed by the late Holy Emperor of the Holy Empire," Balzac revealed, his lazy drawl completely vanishing, replaced by an icy, authoritative tone.

As soon as Balzac spoke those words, the entire atmosphere in the room shifted violently. The air grew heavy, and several detectives visibly tensed.

"Before passing away, the Emperor personally ordered the High Inquisitor to officially appoint me as an Inquisitor of the Church Union," Balzac continued, staring directly at Kurt. "An Inquisitor is vastly more than qualified enough to handle any legal case, criminal investigation, or judicial proceeding in any and all worlds across the realms. And if I choose to formally invoke my absolute divine authority—which I graciously will not do today—this simple briefing can instantly be legally considered a binding trial."

Absolutely no one in the room dared to say a single word. Rudy sat in the front row, looking profoundly impressed by the professor’s overwhelming credentials, while Kurt sank back into his chair, visibly frustrated and completely outmatched.

"Are there no strict legal proceedings for locking up a teenager on purely suspicious bases when you possess not a single shred of physical evidence?" Balzac asked, leaning into the microphone. "I am here to get my student."

He gestured to the silent room. "Please. Start your accusations."

The detectives immediately launched into the exact same arguments and questions they had repeatedly asked Solomon during his interrogation.

Why was he located at the site of the explosion?

What was he doing driving a scooter in District Seven in the middle of the night?

They raised concerns about his SSS-rank talent, his uncanny physical strength, and his potential involvement in the massacre.

Balzac responded to every single question with the same logical deflections Solomon had used. When the detectives brought up the holy relic, Balzac easily confirmed that Eden’s Penance was currently sitting safely inside the Grandmaster’s office at the academy, and that the sword was official institutional property, meaning Solomon could not legally transport it anywhere without administrative permission.

The detectives then pivoted to the argument of Solomon’s ’coincidental’ presence at the crime scene. Balzac immediately shut the angle down.

"Why do you people keep bringing up the same circumstantial point when you literally do not possess a single shred of physical proof?" Balzac asked, adjusting his sleeping mask. "Being near a burning building is not a crime."

A lead detective from District Six stood up. "We are bringing it up because of the ’Good Life’ financial company massacre earlier this week and the subsequent Six Savers guild attack in District Six earlier today."

"And what exactly does a corporate bloodbath in District Six have to do with the explosion in District Seven?" Balzac asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Solomon Ketzer resides in District Six," the detective explained, reading from a digital tablet. "We conducted a rapid background investigation and discovered that Solomon’s family was heavily indebted to the Good Life financial company."

"Furthermore, according to verified eyewitness confessions from the commercial sector in District Six, several enforcers from Good Life visited his parents’ diner early that morning to enforce a collection. Solomon was present during that altercation. Later that exact same afternoon, the financial company was completely annihilated."

Rudy sat in the front row, his eyes widening slightly. ’I already figured out that Solomon was behind the Good Life massacre,’ Rudy thought to himself, ’but I honestly did not expect the District Six investigation team to connect those dots so incredibly fast. Of course, this is just a speculation and they have no proof to prove it.’

He glanced over at Deputy Chief Valerina, wondering if her unit had spearheaded that investigation or if another department was pushing the narrative.

Just then, Valerina stood up from her seat. "My team has already finished investigating the Good Life case," she announced clearly. "We have proven that the massacre was the result of a violent internal feud between the corporate enforcers. We secured a surviving whistleblower who confessed to everything."

She sat down but then immediately stood up and added, "He also submitted a cache of physical documents exposing a highly illegal, coordinated real estate scheme between the Good Life company and the Six Savers guild. He has also uploaded a video on the network which is trending in all social media channels. They were playing with civilian lives, utilizing the threat of a dungeon break as a weaponized business tactic to crash local property values."

Balzac turned his body toward Valerina. He stared at the Deputy Chief, looking mildly offended by her sudden interjection. He absolutely despised getting interrupted while he was presenting a legal defense. However, he quickly realized she had just made a highly valid, officially sanctioned point that worked entirely in Solomon’s favor.