NOVEL NEXT Chapter 193: Verdict
Now the entire group of people gets antsy. Clearly, being misled in such a way makes everyone doubt the person who is standing next to them. It doesn’t take long at all before people are getting up and are starting to raise their voice at one-another.
In response, my sister gets up as well as I sense magic starting to flow through her. “Shut up and sit down.” My sister commands with her booming voice, it was the same skill she’d used back at the siege of the Dwarger capital. It silences the entire area. She coughs, lowering her voice again. “Our comrades are currently looking into the sabotage deal as we speak. It is a scary thought to not be able to trust the people closest to you. But also don’t let that fear blind you. That’s exactly what the people who committed the sabotage want. So stay calm everyone, as for us, let’s deal with the other gripes we have with each other, okay?”
My sister’s calm and collected speech calms down the situation for the most part. There’s still a bit of murmuring going on, but it’s at least manageable now. My sister then nods to Hilda.
“Alright, let’s set the well business to the side for now and let us move on to the next point. Who wants to come and testify?”
A couple of people from both groups raise their hands, with the soldiers winning the coin toss so they can have their turn first.
It’s a group of a couple of soldiers who step forward and into the ring of truth. Almost making the circle a little bit too small, but it’s just doable.
They look at me to wait for their turn to start talking.
I nod. “Go ahead.”
They start telling us about an engagement they had a while ago which was a combined operation between them and a group of adventurers. What they say however, is that while they were fighting, the adventurers were supposed to guard the backline, consisting of mages and healers, so they wouldn’t get overrun. The adventurers broke rank and during this, the rear guard pretty much got decimated. Again, when they are telling this, it does not look like anyone is getting affected by the circle of truth.
A couple of adventurers get up aggressively but the angry gaze of my sister swiftly makes them think twice about causing a scene. They do raise their hand though as they still clearly want to say something.
We invite them to the front as well, keeping the other group still near the front in case they need to make a response.
It seems the adventurers who came forward are part of the group that was also in the same engagement.
They say that it’s true that it was agreed upon that they would guard the mages, but that during the engagement they had noticed a large group of enemies encroaching on the flank of the front-line and if they wouldn’t have engaged, the entire frontline would have gotten decimated instead. Furthermore, they also say that they did leave some people behind, but that that group also needed to deal with an imminent threat.
Again, not a single lie was noticed.
“But there were no bodies!” One of the soldiers remarks.
“We know.” One of the adventurers, still in the circle, replies. “And we told you this, the moment we had slain them, they just vanished into thin air.”
The soldier looks baffled at the man and then looks down at the circle he is standing in. “H-how?”
“Do you think they were illusions?” Hilda asks.
“If they were, they were incredibly realistic.” One of the other adventurers replies. Clearly some kind of fighter archetype. “We felt resistance on our hits and they bled just as much as we do. And their hits hurt us just as much. It’s just that the moment they died, they just vanished.”
“Just gone or did you see some weird effects?” I decide to ask a question as well.
“Like turning to ash but that ash disappearing like melting snow hitting a hot plate. Before you ask. We’ve been asking around in our circles to see if they know any sort of magic that does this. But we have had no luck.”
“And what about the units you were engaging?” Lise asks the soldiers.
One of the soldiers steps into the circle again. “They just died and their bodies stayed. No vanishing at all.”
“So you were actually defending us?” One of the other soldiers steps up too.
“That’s what we’ve been saying the entire time but you didn’t want to believe us.”
While it looks like the soldiers and the adventurers are finally making up thanks to our circle of truth, both my sister and Hilda lean to me.
“This is pretty bad, isn’t it?” Hilda says. “These are deliberate tactics to split forces up and sow hate. This is definitely not the work of just some bandit camps. Not to mention the weird magic that was used…”
“It’s very, very disturbing.” My sister nods. “The fact that they disappeared meant that they were specifically supposed to be sacrificial units too.”
“At least there’s one good thing coming out of this.” I reply, looking at the people in front of me who are now shaking each other's hands, something I hadn’t expected to see any time soon, especially not today. “But it is definitely something we really need to look into.”
“And what should we do about the verdict, considering nothing else pops up?” Hilda looks at me.
“To me it seems that no-one really is at fault, apart from a certain individual who made matters worse.”
“Yeah, that’s the only person I’d say is guilty. You can’t fault the adventurers and the soldiers for mistrusting each other considering the circumstances.”
“Alright.” I stand up from my seat and cough a couple of times to pull the attention of the room. “Was this the last major point of contention?” I ask.
Everyone looks around, but noone raises their hand further to bring up something else. One of the officers does take the opportunity to say something though. “Well, I am sure there are some minor things, but those can be arranged in between one another. I think you have proven today that our mistrust is mostly to blame thanks to circumstances we could not have seen through ourselves.”
“I couldn’t have said it better.” I smile. “Is it okay that we then announce our verdict already? I know we’ve not been here for that long and you’ve all spent a lot of effort setting this up. But from what we can see, it would be rather pointless to keep this tribunal going and start focusing on something more… pressing.”
The fighter-like adventurer speaks up too. “I think that would be for the best.”
“Okay. Then would you all please go back to your seat?” I don’t need to elaborate any further as everyone just listens to my request. It gives me plenty of room to give our final conclusion, that the nobleman who I’d almost cleaved in half earlier today was the only person who we truly considered to be guilty, apart from the outsider influence. Noone, apart from the nobleman himself, really had any issues with our statement. But that did leave a question as to what his punishment should be. Something I was not really sure of myself until the officers of the army came forth once more.
“Might we suggest something?”
“Go ahead.” I nod.
“Would it be okay if the Empress decides his punishment?”
My sister frowns. “But, you said that he was considered to be untouchable when it comes to the royal family, didn’t you?”
“His guilt has already been set in stone by the Goddess of Justice.” The man replies. “It would show of great respect towards the Empress that, even though you’ve declared his guilt, you still allow her to decree what sentence should be attached to his crime.”
“Won’t he get off easily then?” My sister raises another valid point.
“I don’t think he will.” The officer shakes his head. “Considering the situation and who declared guilt, I don’t think she could let him get away with it easily. But it would be wise to deliver the man upon her grace yourself, so there is no middle man and so he can’t declare that what happened to him was a coup.”
“Hmm. That does sound like a good idea…” I look at Hilda.
“I feel a but incoming?”
I nod and lean in to whisper in her ear. “What do we do about logistics? It’s not like we can go bring him now, that would waste too many days, wouldn’t it?”
“I think we can make something work with the other adventurers. Time zones are a thing after all, so not everyone needs to sleep at the same time. A couple of them can guard him on rotation while we take care of other business first. I’ll go talk to some of the most reasonable ones. I’m sure we can come to an agreement.”
“Okay.” I nod and give her a smile before I turn back to the officers. “We will go with that course of action. But we will keep him around in custody for as long as we need to before we move him to the capital.”
“Absolutely no problem.” They reply. “And if you need some more people to guard him, there’s going to be plenty of volunteers.”
-One issue down, just a couple more to go. At least I don’t have to be the judge anymore for the time being…-