He turned toward the dense crowd below the platform, tens of thousands of eyes flickering with unease in the afternoon sunlight.
"What happened to his daughter was real."
His voice was quiet, yet every whisper in the square instantly froze. "But I wasn't the one who did it. Neither was my brother, nor the couple who moved here four years ago and later left."
Vergo dragged another trembling figure over from the edge of the crowd.
The same questions were asked again, and the answers congealed into the same shape in the scorching air.
The crowd began to stir, a belated realization washing across face after face like a tide.
"Enough."
Rossi raised a hand, stopping the next interrogation.
His gaze swept across the crowd below. "Who here ever had any dealings with that couple who gave up their titles four years ago? Even a single conversation?"
Only the sound of wind sweeping up dust broke the silence.
"They thought they could become ordinary people by giving up their status."
He continued, each word like a nail driven into wood. "But what happened once you found out where they came from?"
He paused, letting the silence speak for itself. "You didn't dare go to the Sabaody Archipelago. You didn't dare face real Celestial Dragons. You only dared turn your blades on people who had already laid down their weapons-is that what you called 'Dragon-Slaying Day'?"
He suddenly turned, the tip of his long blade cutting through the air to point at the people kneeling beside the platform.
"Now, who can tell me what crimes that couple committed?"
His voice was as cold as iron on a winter night. "If anyone can name even one, I'll admit that your ** that day was justice."
A little girl below the platform tugged