The Tribunal

"If it were Norton and Samson who emerged, then Jiu De Yaji and Ye Sheng are likely already dead." Luo Qiusheng pondered this in his mind as he walked down the mountain.

In truth, he had felt a lingering sense of regret when he first read the novel regarding the deaths of those two; after all, it only took a slight bit of immersion to empathize deeply with them.

The work of dragon slaying naturally required one to be prepared for sacrifice, and since Luo Qiusheng was a new student at Kassel, and most dragon-slaying operations were highly classified...

"I wonder if those old fogies at Kassel will go insane when they realize I've suddenly vanished with Constantine's dragon bones."

He was well aware that there were ghosts among the Kassel College board of directors and the elders of the Secret Party.

Descending the mountain and arriving at the main gate of Kassel College, the sky was only just beginning to turn a grayish dawn, obscured by a layer of haze that made everything look indistinct.

"Did you hear? Senior Caesar killed the King of Bronze and Fire, Norton, a few hours ago!"

"The Kassel College forum is going crazy right now! As expected of the Student Union President!"

Luo Qiusheng discovered that his hearing seemed to have sharpened. Could this also be an effect of the dragon bones?

He jogged a few steps to join the crowd of students returning to Kassel, and it wasn't long before someone recognized the suddenly reappearing Luo Qiusheng.

After all, the appearance of an S-rank among this year's freshmen was bound to attract attention on the forum, and with Finger frantically hyping up Lu Mingfei, it was hard for Luo Qiusheng not to be caught in the crossfire.

"Luo Qiusheng!? You... you, weren't you dead?"

"Who is spreading rumors about my death?" Luo Qiusheng retorted, annoyed.

Luo Qiusheng soon mingled with the group of Kassel students, only to be taken away by members of the Kassel College investigation team.

Luo Qiusheng looked at the two walking in front of him, with one person on each side and one behind, forming a near-perfect encirclement.

"I say... isn't your intent a bit too obvious? I'm just a freshman who just enrolled; is this really necessary?"

The investigation team shouldn't normally appear at this time. Could it be those old men from the board of directors?

The Kassel College investigation team (also known as the Board of Directors' investigation team) reported directly to the Kassel College board, while the board's shadow superiors were the Secret Party's Council of Elders.

The sky gradually brightened, and after several hours of fermentation, the news of Luo Qiusheng being taken away by the board's investigation team exploded on the Kassel College forum, becoming common knowledge.

Yet, the top trending topic remained Student Union President Caesar killing the Dragon King Norton...

Kassel College, Valhalla Grand Conference Hall, 9:00 AM hearing.

A square wooden enclosure was set up in the center of the hall, and Luo Qiusheng stood within it. He scanned the unfamiliar faces in the audience; those present were mostly people irrelevant to the plot, though a few good brothers he'd befriended upon his return were sitting in the seats.

Luo Qiusheng, like Lu Mingfei, had joined the Student Union—not for any other reason, but simply because he felt Caesar was a decent guy. No business trip expenses, no travel expenses—what could be more charming than a free ride?

Finally, the trial began once all the seats were filled.

"Luo Qiusheng! You disappeared for a period of time and took away Constantine's remains in front of the entire school. What is your explanation?"

Luo Qiusheng frowned slightly as he looked at the man presiding over the trial, Andrew Gattuso.

"Are you asking me?"

"No one knows where I went. Even if I told you now, you would just say it's hearsay, and any self-justification would carry no weight. I'm right, aren't I, Andrew?"

"You!" Andrew Gattuso realized he hadn't successfully steered the conversation as intended and immediately changed his rhetoric.

Trying to step on me to climb higher? Your scheme is quite loud!

"Besides, I have an objection!"

"You brought me here by force without verification, and my personal freedom has been restricted. I could overlook that, but you all saw Constantine's state at the time—even if he fell into the lake, the water would have evaporated instantly. You say I took Constantine's dragon bones, so I ask you: how did I get close to him? And by what means did I suddenly escape from under the noses of you people, including but not limited to the board of directors!?"

"Please provide corresponding evidence, otherwise your accusations cannot stand!"

Andrew Gattuso clenched his hands into tight fists. He didn't speak because even he couldn't refute what Luo Qiusheng said. It was a joke—that was Constantine, the King of Bronze and Fire. The Dragon King-level Lust for Flame had a temperature exceeding 3000°C, capable of melting metal, igniting air, and distorting heat waves. It could evaporate almost anything in the world.

You want me to prove why you weren't evaporated!?

After a long silence, seeing Andrew's expression look as if he were constipated, Luo Qiusheng smiled and spoke again: "Then now it's my turn to ask: is your investigation team Kassel's investigation team, or the board's? Or is it directly under the Council of Elders, and is all of Kassel to become a mouthpiece for the Elders!?"

Someone in the audience couldn't bear it any longer and stood up to walk out of the hall. Where there was one, there was a second, and eventually, the entire Valhalla Grand Conference Hall was left with only the fearless Luo Qiusheng and the members of the investigation team staring at each other, beads of cold sweat trickling down their foreheads.

Even Andrew began to regret it. "You... what are you saying?"

No one in Kassel had dared to bring such matters into the open—not because they didn't want to, but because they were afraid. Afraid of the Council of Elders' immense power, afraid of being purged from within.

The departure of these Kassel students was within Luo Qiusheng's expectations, as they were generally just cannon fodder here; once it involved those big shots...

"Forget it. Let me go back, or... expel me. The choice is in your hands, isn't it?"

Luo Qiusheng had already planned his subsequent path in his mind. When he first learned this was the world of Dragon Raja, his first thought was that he had to get into this school. Thus, he had been at the top of his class throughout his three years of high school. He hadn't attended Shilan High School, so he had almost no interaction with Lu Mingfei or Chu Zihang, ending up as mere nodding acquaintances.

As for his biological parents, one of them was likely a dragon-human hybrid; he didn't know where they were. Besides, being a hybrid was a high-risk profession to begin with.

At first, he had been drawn by Kassel College's generous scholarships and its imaginative teaching methods, but later he concluded that it "wasn't safe" here.

A thought flashed through his mind: Are you going to live this life in a daze, or become the player of this game?

He would navigate the departments of alchemy, execution, and society. He wanted to become stronger, because only then could he avoid being killed by others, and avoid being killed by dragons while dragon slaying!

Just after Constantine died protecting the unawakened Norton (Old Tang), it felt as if something in his mind was guiding him to touch that corpse.

Now that he possessed the bloodline of the First Generation of Constantine and the medium of world-traveling, it seemed this college wasn't a place he absolutely had to attend...