"You're finally here!"
When the fat man saw the Guards approaching, he crawled over to them as if they were his own parents.
"Officer, this fellow not only colluded with the Treasure Hoarders to steal my goods, but he also assaulted me! Please, you must uphold justice for me!"
"Arrest him and throw him into the Meropide Fortress!"
The fat man gnashed his teeth, wishing he could swallow Xavier whole, even demanding that Xavier be imprisoned immediately.
"Sir, could you please explain the situation?" the Guard politely inquired.
The fat man explained, "My name is Klinger, and I am from Snezhnaya. Today, I was bringing a batch of goods into the city to sell, but I didn't expect to be surrounded by a group of Treasure Hoarders…"
Although the sequence of events he described was similar to what happened, Klinger was clearly exaggerating.
He even claimed that he saw Xavier from afar, and instead of coming to help, Xavier exchanged secret hand signals with the Treasure Hoarders.
"Sir, what is your name? Is everything Mr. Klinger said true?"
Xavier couldn't help but roll his eyes and say, "He's spouting nonsense. I was just passing by. He doesn't even thank me for helping him drive away the Treasure Hoarders, and now he's slandering me."
"You say you drove them away, and I'm supposed to believe you? I won't believe you!"
Klinger, emboldened by the presence of the Guards, was not afraid of Xavier at all.
The small Melusine thought for a moment and offered a fair suggestion: "This matter seems highly contentious. I suggest we return to Fontaine to properly deliberate on it."
"I agree!" Klinger raised both hands in approval.
"I have no problem with that either."
Xavier hadn't done anything wrong, so of course, he wasn't feeling guilty.
Xavier just hadn't expected that his entry into Fontaine would be like this.
If Furina knew, she would definitely laugh at him.
Upon arriving at a place similar to a police station, Xavier and the other person were surrounded by many Guards.
They kept sizing up Xavier, with a mix of curiosity and novelty.
"So, Mr. Xavier, you are from another world, just like the Traveler before, is that right?"
The Melusine who brought Xavier back repeated what Xavier said, her face filled with surprise.
Xavier shrugged and said, "That's right. I just arrived here and encountered this situation."
"If that's the case, then it will probably be even harder to verify the truth of this matter."
Another Guard spread his hands and said, "Regardless of whether what you say, Mr. Xavier, is true or false, we currently have no way to prove your innocence."
Xavier said, somewhat speechless, "I didn't do anything wrong, so why should I provide evidence? Mr. Klinger should be the one to provide evidence that I am a Treasure Hoarder, shouldn't he?"
Klinger pointed at Xavier and cursed, "You must have already cleaned up all the evidence!"
"Idiot!"
Xavier cursed and gave him the middle finger.
Although he didn't know what the gesture meant, Klinger inexplicably felt it was very vulgar and was utterly exasperated.
"Gentlemen, we need to discuss this matter before we can provide you with a solution."
A group of Guards gathered together, muttering for several minutes.
After they finished speaking, one of them said with a solemn expression, "Because the circumstances of this matter are quite special, we must proceed with a trial!"
"No way, even this requires a trial?"
Xavier was truly confused. Does everything in Fontaine have to go through a trial?
"Uh, if you hadn't said you were from outside this world, Mr. Xavier, we would have followed normal procedures."
Apparently, these Guards were somewhat suspicious of Xavier's identity, but Xavier's attire was too peculiar, making it difficult for them to make a decision for a while.
"Alright, a trial it is then." Xavier felt like he was being forced into it.
Thus, as someone who had acted heroically, Xavier hadn't expected it to come to this.
But Xavier wasn't flustered at all, because he had a trump card.
The reason he hadn't used this trump card was simply to see how Fontaine would handle this matter.
Currently, there didn't seem to be any major problems, after all, his identity was indeed a bit special.
But now, before he even met Furina, he was having a trial.
Inside the Palais Mermonia, Neuvillette was reading the reports written by his subordinates.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in."
Upon receiving permission, a Guard walked in and respectfully said, "Lord Neuvillette, there is a case here that requires your attention."
Neuvillette, after all, was a judge who had presided over countless cases.
After taking the draft, he originally intended to just glance at it.
But upon seeing Xavier's testimony, his expression became somewhat subtle.
"This person named Xavier is from outside this world?"
Such testimony looked like nonsense no matter how you viewed it; perhaps this was a mentally ill person.
However, he trusted the Guards under his jurisdiction, so how could they make such a basic mistake?
"Although it sounds a bit outrageous, Lord Neuvillette," the Guard scratched his head and said, "But this person really doesn't look like someone from other nations. In short, he just doesn't look like it at a glance."
"I understand. The trial will begin in half an hour."
Neuvillette rose from his seat. He was quite interested in this special trial.
Sitting in the defendant's seat, Xavier was a bit bewildered.
He hadn't expected the people of Fontaine to be so efficient, bringing him here so quickly.
Moreover, more and more people came during this process; they seemed to enjoy watching the spectacle.
This truly was a traditional art of Fontaine.
During this process, Xavier even saw a few people he knew.
"I didn't expect Lyney and Lynette to come…" Xavier looked at the audience and murmured to himself.
Besides them, there was even Navia.
In the plaintiff's seat, Klinger looked arrogant and confident.
He seemed to have decided that Xavier was the culprit, and that someone who would use an excuse like being from outside this world certainly wasn't smart enough.
Although his losses this time weren't significant, he had to get this guy thrown into prison to vent his hatred.
As more and more people arrived, the entire Opera Epiclese became somewhat noisy.
"Silence!"
It wasn't until someone arrived and shouted for silence that everyone quieted down.
"Clorinde!"
Xavier recognized him at first glance: a cool, aloof man with a powerful aura!
After everyone quieted down, a tall and imposing figure slowly walked towards the judge's seat and finally took his place.
That's right, this person was, of course, the Hydro Dragon Sovereign—Neuvillette.
Even just sitting there, he already exuded a powerful aura.
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