by Funa
The officials present were as follows: the prosecutor (a retainer of the lord), the chief justice (a retainer of the lord), and the presiding judge (also a retainer of the lord). None of these men were specialized in their positions; they were merely vassals of the lord who had been temporarily appointed to these roles. In terms of legal counsel—there was none. Thus, this was a perfectly fair and honest trial (or something like it).
A trial of this scale was a rare thing to see in a backwater fief like this, and so the usual courthouse was far too small for it. Normally, petty criminals would just be handled in the military barracks, but for this occasion they chose to use the manor proper. Within the lord’s domain, all branches of power—legislative, executive, and judicial—lay within the lord’s hands. The bulk of the questioning had already been completed before the event, so this was merely for the sake of making a formal and public announcement of the findings… Or so it would be, normally.
Because a portion of the defendants in this case were members of the Guild, the guild master and several other guild employees were present in the gallery, along with the master and several employees of the Merchants’ Guild. Also present were two B-rank parties from the town and about ten other citizens. Even if they already fully expected the sentence the lord’s men might hand down, they were poised and ready to protest any punishment that they found to be outrageous—a role that they could not neglect. The fact that they were allowed to do so was proof of the fact that the lord was a just man.
The lord himself could not influence the trial, but as he appeared to have great interest in this particular one, he sat to the side in a special seat that had been furnished, watching.
After a brief confirmation of the charges, the announcement was made first to the main bandit crew.
“You have all been issued an A-rank lifetime sentence of hard labor.”
The bandits were stoic and unflinching. Reacting would have achieved nothing. There could have been no other sentence for them, and considering the circumstances, what difference did it make if they were sentenced to a term of life or of 800 years? It was improbable that anyone would take extenuating circumstances into account in the case of such a blatant offense. The fact that they were not given capital punishment was something they should be grateful for.
Unless there were no other options, criminals were not usually sentenced to death. The only individuals to receive a sentence of execution were typically those who might refuse to labor seriously out of defiance, as well as bloodthirsty fiends, mages (whose escape would be difficult to prevent), and those who committed crimes against nobles or royals—individuals of particularly malicious intent.
Naturally, the fact that mages had so very many avenues by which they could make ends meet contributed to why there were so few magically adept criminals. However, the fact that they were so much more likely to be sentenced to death if caught also played a huge factor. Even if one were to bind and gag a mage upon capture, there was still the chance of them suddenly attacking with a wordless spell, so many, fearing this, were not particularly inclined to grant them any leeway.
Indeed, most mage criminals, when caught, were dispatched immediately at the scene of the crime—even if they were not particularly competent or the crime they had committed was relatively trivial.
The sentencing continued.
“E-rank hunter, Ivick, you are sentenced to death. Hunters’ Guild employee Dallam, you are likewise sentenced to death. Furthermore, Dallam’s family will be sentenced to twenty years of hard labor.”
“P-please wait! I don’t care what you do to me, but, my family?! My wife and daughter?! They have nothing to do with what I’ve done here!!!”
The judge who had announced the decision brushed off the protest without so much as a reply. No voice was raised from the gallery either.
The fact that Ivick was registered as a hunter did not mean that the Guild was cooperating with the bandits, but rather, that one of the bandits had secretely registered as a hunter. His role was to gather information and forward the intel he got from Dallam to the other bandits.
The Hunters’ Guild was an organization whose trade was built on reputation. They were an international enterprise, spanning across borders. When their rules were violated, they were not a group who let bygones by bygones. They did not have the authority to directly interfere with the official decision, but they carried enough clout that it would be easy enough for them to put pressure on the lord. That said, it was not something that they would go out of their way to do, and a capital punishment was more than customary in cases such as this one.
Then, there was Dallam, the guild employee who had raised the objection.
According to his interrogation, the bandits had threatened to harm his family, and this much did appear to be true. However…
He had betrayed the Guild. That fact was not something that could be undone or ignored.
If he was being threatened, then he had a duty to report it to the guild master. As it stood, not only had he not reported this, but he had dutifully obeyed the criminals, forwarding information that had led to the murders and kidnappings of countless innocent travelers. Furthermore, though the money was only a pittance, it appeared that he had been paid for the intel he provided.
So that no one in the future would ever think to do the same thing “for the sake of his family,” none present could bring themselves to excuse his relations. Thus, the logical argument would be that, even if he was merely following orders, he had still damned his own wife and daughter, and that the only correct choice in his position would have been to report the matter to the authorities immediately.
Dallam was an accomplice to countless murders, and if his family was his reason for this, then by extension, his wife and daughter were guilty of the same crime. In Japan, such reasoning would be utterly unacceptable, but in a civilization where order was weak and recognition of human rights was slim, such measures were necessary to ensure the safety of the general populace.
Of course, in the past on Earth, there were also places that utilized a similar system of guilt by association. In some nations, this persists even to the present day. Likewise, in this world, it seemed it was only a matter of course that Dallam was inviting trouble upon the shoulders of his family by granting them a direct connection to his crime and putting them in a position where they benefitted from his actions. The fact that no one observing the proceedings, save Dallam himself, had made so much as a peep, was a testament to that.
Ivick the infiltrator and Dallam the traitor.
The Crimson Vow had been summoned by the guild master before the caravan had arrived in town, with the express purpose of allowing him to extract the true identities of the two and apprehend the two before they had a chance to flee. Within that first wagon, he had tortur—er, questioned—the bandits for the identities of their two accomplices and then returned to town to arrest them, arriving back before the caravan had arrived.
For the bandit leader, a life sentence of hard labor was as certain as his capture, but the off chance of him receiving a death sentence was not entirely out of the question. Therefore, all it took was a little bit of pain to make him talk. Really, the fact that he did not squeal immediately was merely a bit of posturing, for the sake of looking good in front of his subordinates.
Up next were the rookie bandits, the first to have been captured.
“C-rank hunters, the ‘Hurricanes of Flame.’ As you have committed the act of banditry twice, it has been judged that this was not an impulse but something that you intended to make a habit of. However, we have taken into consideration the fact that in truth, there is only one set of victims of your crimes. You killed no men, merely selling all your victims into illicit slavery, from which they can be recovered. Thus, you have been sentenced to a B-rank lifetime sentence of hard labor. Furthermore, if all of the victims are able to be recovered safely with your cooperation, your sentencing shall be reevaluated and reduced to a C-rank
sentence, or your term of service diminished appropriately.”
The C-rank hunters of the ‘Hurricanes of Flame’ bowed deeply, tears welling in their eyes. Their sentencing had been far more generous than expected, given that their heinous crimes—banditry and human trafficking—were two-fold. Given how much the trafficking had been emphasized, however, it was clear that the fact that they had not killed the men of the party, who were troublesome and would sell for very little, had left quite the good impression, showing that they were still decent men, at least in some sick, twisted way…
A C-rank lifetime sentence of hard labor was really not such a bad thing at all. The work would not be so unbearable, and there was little chance of being killed on the job. They might be provided with ale now and then, and while it was rather rare, if luck was on their side and their behavior was good, they might be awarded a clerical position. Better yet, if they could be upgraded to a term sentence, while they would still have no freedom and would earn no money, they wouldn’t be treated terribly, and when the appointed day came, their emancipation was assured.
If they had not acted as reasonably as they had, they might have been facing an A-rank sentence. Their tears of joy were inevitable.
After each party received their sentencing, they were escorted to the next room. The guild officials and hunters in attendance only nodded sagely, apparently having no objections to raise to any of the decisions thus far.
Finally, they came to the last group, the four woodcutters and the four hunters, the Soaring Twin Dragons, who had been apprehended second. The judge read out the decision.
“The four woodcutters are found innocent of the crime of banditry. However, impersonating bandits and threatening young girls for your own gain, an act committed of your own volition for the sake of profit, is still an illicit act and shall be strictly punished.”
The woodcutters, who thought that the court would go easy on them because they had been deceived, went pale.
“You are hereby sentenced to one hundred lashes each and to work diligently at your own jobs, aware that you will face no such kindness next time. In fact, the only reason we are granting you such lenience now is because of a direct request from your victims. Truly, you ought to be sentenced as the allies of bandits and punished accordingly!”
Hearing this, the woodcutters all bowed their heads deeply.
Receiving one hundred lashes was no light matter. It was not like being swatted on the behind as a child—they would be struck on their bare backs or buttocks with a whip or a rod of bamboo with a fringed edge. This punishment, which could only be administered by a professional so as not to break anyone’s bones or damage their internal organs, was one that petty criminals feared; not only was the pain unbearable, but the aftereffects would last for a while longer, leaving them unable to even sleep face-up for some time.
That said, after hearing the sentences of execution and enslavement handed down just before, their punishment was as good as a godsend.
Finally, the proceedings came to an end with the “kindhearted” party who had concealed their identities.
“C-rank party, the Soaring Twin Dragons. You are sentenced with an A-rank lifetime term of hard labor.”
“Wh—?! That’s absurd! We were merely trying to rescue a young noble and her party who were being assailed by bandits! I’m not saying we deserve a medal, but what is the reason for such harsh punishment?!”
Obviously, the young men were grasping at straws. If they were bandits, their punishment would be unavoidable. Thus, they had insisted all the way through three days of interrogation that the woodcutters truly were bandits, and that those men had merely been spewing lies upon their capture, trying to get the hunters embroiled in their crime.
“Yes,” said the judge, “but it was not only the woodcutters who attested to your crime but the victims as well. Deny it all you like, but it does not change the facts.”
In this world, the veracity of a charge was decided at the presiding judge’s discretion, whether or not there was any evidence to prove it. That meant that even without hard evidence, if there was any circumstantial evidence, or something else that was sufficient to support the decision, that was enough.
Conversely, it was quite the tricky feat to prove that one was innocent even with hard evidence.
“Those fine ladies were merely misled by those woodcutters—nay, those former woodcutters, who have now fallen into a life of crime! They blocked the road and attacked those girls, and we rushed in to try and save them. We would never try to alter that fact!”
“What?!?!” the woodcutters cried, but the leader of the Soaring Twin Dragons did not appear to give a care.
A traveling noble would have no reason to care about the bandits, nor any reason to go out of her way to make a prolonged stop in some nothing of a country town. She and her party had not once looked in during three days of questioning and would have already left the town long ago. She could not have afforded to make such a stop without reason. To detain a selfish traveling noble was to invite grave trouble. If things went poorly, heads would roll…literally.
However, if they were able to pin all of this on the woodcutters, perhaps they might be able to get out of it, thought the leader. Thus, his insistent raving continued.
“Those bandits saw that they were at a disadvantage and tried to drag us down into their sins when we moved in to stop them. They were able to easily deceive that young maiden, who is lacking in experience and ignorant of the ways of the world, in order to make her believe that we were the bandits! That is what happened here. You can ask the Guild—we are upstanding hunters! They can offer you ready proof that we left town but shortly after those young ladies did!”
The attending hunters looked conflicted at this statement. There was in fact nothing so peculiar about the young man’s claim. The bandits had attacked the young girls, and a group of local hunters had rushed up from behind to save them. There was nothing odd about that.
No matter what objection a perpetrator might raise, the judge was the voice of the law, and the decision he handed down was clear. However, there were many guild associates and hunters in attendance, and one would not lightly pass a sentence without everyone present in agreement. And so the presiding judge was troubled…not. In fact, he looked concerned for only the briefest of moments before his mouth twisted into a cruel sneer.
Just then, a voice rang out from beside the chief justice.
“Objection!”
“Huh?”
This phrase was one unknown even to many people on Earth; on this planet, it was utterly unheard of… Lawyering was not an occupation that existed here, and no such role was allowed within the courtroom.
The voice had come from an area to the side of the officials, where four young girls suddenly emerged from behind the group of gruff-looking hunters.
“Y-you all…”
Naturally, the reason that the Soaring Twin Dragons’ eyes were as wide as they now were was because their old friends, the Crimson Vow, now stood before them. Reina and Mavis were still dressed as they had been at the time of their meeting, which is to say that they were clad in their normal garb. However, Pauline was no longer in her maid outfit but in her usual attire. Mile, meanwhile, was wrapped in a large cloak, which concealed her body.
“We were not deceived. Furthermore, you all clearly confessed back at the scene of the crime, did you not? You thought that you could capture us and sell us off to somewhere far away… It should be clear to you that we are not some simpletons who can be easily tricked. Your lies are no exception,” said Mile, an aloof expression upon her face.
The leader glared at her.
“Y-you little…”
A party who everyone thought had left the town already had suddenly appeared. The leader of the Soaring Twin Dragons, disgruntled at Mile’s unfavorable testimony, began to shoot back insults—but then recalled that this was now a debate, a battle of words. If he could talk them down and sway the jud
ge to his side, there was a chance that they could turn this around still. They were local hunters, with a good reputation, while the others were just some young ladies who were passing through. Their testimony was far less reliable. Thinking this, the leader decided it was time to risk it all.
“Surely you must have been addled, hearing the bandits’ claims before. This happens often with laypersons lacking in worldly experience—particularly young ladies. Furthermore, we already apologized for being a bit harsh in our attempts to admonish you for being so foolishly optimistic and getting yourselves into danger. We truly regret that we seemed to be trying to intimidate you. It fills me with the deepest sadness that you would still treat us as bandits, even after that.”
“Oh my, but you do know that providing false testimony is a crime, don’t you?! Could it be that you were purposely hoping to entrap us, so as not to have to pay the fee for our rescuing you? And that you furthermore wished to reap the rewards of our being sold into slave labor? If you do not admit that you were mistaken, you might find that you will be the ones charged as criminals here!”
Indeed, it had been impossible to deceive the young ladies, which was why the hunters had bothered to breathe word of their malicious intent in the first place. However, the ones who they needed to accept their story were not those young ladies but the judge. Thus, the only choice he had now was to frame the young ladies as liars.
Presently, a commotion began to arise among the attending hunters. Each of them surely had plenty of bitter memories of clients embellishing the truth or using falsehoods against them.
Now!
The leader held tightly to this lifeline, the only thing saving his party from tumbling straight off the edge.
I suppose it’s about 8:45, isn’t it… Mile thought to herself.