"I wonder if it"s some kind of event?"
I try to listen carefully.
『The defendant concealed the fact that he was a beastkin, and lazed around during his works all the while deceiving his employer about that fact. This is an unjustified act of stealing wages.』
It seems to be some kind of trial.
I asked Zensan to use 『Whisper Wind』 magic to let everyone observe the situation.
『T-that"s wrong! I was told by my employer to hide my face!』
『Any objection to what the defendant said?』
『Naw, I never did that. This guy had been hiding his face rite" from the start, ya know?』
『Is there anyone who can attest to that?』
『My store"s employees and the store regulars can.』
I"ve got the impressions that the beastkin has been set up by his employer somehow.
『False testimony in a Trial before G.o.d is a crime. As a judge who watches over the scales, I declare the defendant crime be raised by one cla.s.s.』
He was the judge, I thought he was a prosecutor.
Looks like the format of trials in this world differs from my former world.
『P-please wait! I"m not lying!』
『Then do you know anyone who can attest to your testimony?』
『...No.』
The male judge put a stone onto one side of a huge balance scale beside him.
『Well then, as a penalty for the crime of sloth and perjury, you have to return 80% of your wages back to your employer. And for the Trial before G.o.d"s--』
『P-please wait!』
『What is it? Interrupting the judge"s decree, have you no shame?』
『I"ve been working harder than anyone! Crime of sloth can"t be right!』
『Do you know anyone who can attest to that?』
『Other folks who worked with me should know it.』
『Can anyone attest to his labor?』
The judge looked back at the employer and men who seemed to be other employees, but no one did anything drastic besides some who awkwardly averted their gazes.
Well, looking at their behaviors, it all but proves the beastkin"s innocence.
『It doesn"t seem like anyone can attest for you.』
The judge then put another stone, and the scale tilted toward the employer.
『N-no way! I worked the hardest! Those guys lazed around while they made me do their job! I worked for real!』
『It appears that the defendant has a habit of lying.』
『I-I"m not lying!』
Really, what a sickening one-sided trial.
"This is all nothing but a kangaroo court. Master, aren"t there magic to go back in time and show the past or something?"
"Magic that can manipulate time doesn"t exist, you know."
It"d be easy to prove for him if there were.
"I wonder why they couldn"t interrogate him with a Truth Discerner?"
Sera muttered so.
Oh right. I forgot because this looked like a trial, but this world had Truth Discerners who could see through lies in an interrogation.
Looking around at the Map, there"s no Truth Discerner at this place.
They seem to be serving under the country, a great majority of them is inside a building called Judicial Bureau, while the several remaining ones are in the Main Temple.
Lots of them seem overworked and with Stamina gauge nearing zero, I"m guessing that they can"t afford to send them to trivial trials.
『I shall pa.s.s your judgment! The defendant shall reimburse his employer with 200 emir, and pay the same amount to the court for the crime of perjury. In case you cannot pay right here and now, you will be detained as a debt slave.』
『M-my wage wasn"t that much! My entire pay is 3 emir!』
The currency of this country, emir is silver coin, thus even converted to s.h.i.+ga Kingdom"s, that"s still 40 gold coins.
If you just think about it, that"s an abnormal amount for a common worker"s wages.
"SSatou-san..."
"Could you do something about it?"
"Leave it to me."
I nod to Zensan and Sersan, I step forward before these guys.
"Foreigner, you"d do well not to trespa.s.s upon a Trial before G.o.d."
"Please excuse me. I am Earl Pendragon of s.h.i.+ga Kingdom."
I silenced the unfair judge with the brand power of a large kingdom and my peerage.
"Allow me to pay the penalty for that beastkin."
"You will?"
"Yes."
"Are you acquainted with this beastkin?"
"What good is in telling you that?"
I try to behave as haughtily as I could.
These types of people tend to be weak with social ranks after all.
『Master, you"re not gonna kick them hard in the guts?』
Arisa talked to me through s.p.a.ce magic [Telephone].
『Don"t worry, I"m still laying the groundwork, hold on a bit okay.』
I wait for the judge"s reply after responding to Arisa.
"V-very well."
Since I got his agreement, I paid for the beastkin"s penalty.
Of course, the beastkin looks really anxious.
Please endure it for a bit, I"ll explain to you later.
I talk to the employer who"s counting silver coins while chuckling to himself.
Might as well use this chance to use two mind magic to loosen his wariness.
"The employer over there. Was this beastkin good at his works?"
"Naw, he was useless, always skipped out on works."
He was so engrossed he forgot to use polite speech against a n.o.ble.
"Has he been working under you long?"
"Since half a year ago--you have a problem?"
"Nah, it just piqued my interest a bit."
Now that I"ve got the employer"s words, I talk to an employee who seems like a senior.
These employees seem to have been promised shares by the employer, they"re focusing on the silver coins he"s counting.
"I presume you"ve been working at his store for a long time."
"Yeah, been there for 10 years."
"Hee, you must be very skilled. Your wages must be quite high too."
"There"s no way that stingy manager woulda pay much."
"Was it 20 emir a month?"
"The heck, yer" one digit off. At most I got 6 emir a month--"
The senior employee who got ahead of himself noticed his verbal slip.
"No, wai--"
"Judge!"
"Objection!"
I called the judge before the senior employee could correct himself.
For some reason, Arisa shouted while striking a pose from a famous trial and tribulation game.
She must have been waiting for this timing, no doubt about it.
"What is it, Earl-sama."
"This guy just confessed to his crime. He"s caught red-handed in a fraud."
"--Fraud? Don"t be foolish."
"Who do you think you are making fools of earl-sama!"
Arisa shouted at the stunned judge.
I contested to the shrinking judge, that if a diligent long serving worker only got paid 6 emir a month, there is no way that a lazy beastkin who had only worked for half a year got more than six times that amount at 40 emir.
As it was right after a careless remark by him, the judge readily accepted my point.
"Since he tried to fraud Earl-sama, he"d be punished into becoming a crime slave, wouldn"t he?"
"Y-yeah..."
"P-please wait, judge!"
Toward the still vainly struggling employer, I whispered, "if you still have a problem, would you like to bring this case to the Truth Discerner at the capital?"
Additionally, it appears that the other employees have to pay for penalty for the crime of perjury, but since they"re only reaping what they sow, I"m not going to defend them.
"N-n.o.ble-sama, thank you very much."
"Don"t mind it, it was just a whim of mine."
I hand over the money, that the judge gave me, to the beastkin.
This is different from the money I paid out earlier.
I"m told that 20% of the lawsuit sum had to be deposited before the trial, and I got 40 emir out of that deposit as a consolation.
I handed over all of it to him.
It"s higher than what he originally would have got, but I think the amount is just right to compensate for the trouble.
We parted ways with the ape beastkin who was bowing repeatedly, and got back to our city tour.
◇
"--Eww."
"This was a local specialty wasn"t it."
"But it does taste better than Gabo fruit."
We entered the first diner we saw because we were starving, but the cuisine left a lot to be desired.
Zensan was the only one who continued to eat even while smiling wryly, Arisa and Sera quickly threw in the towel.
"Even forgetting the dry texture, the sour aftertaste was just too much."
"This seems to be called Sheriffa Potato."
I conveyed the info from AR reading to the wincing Arisa.
According to the Map, there"s lots of gallete-like cuisines made from Sheriffa Potato and flour made from it.
"h.e.l.lo, I"m here for your delivery."
A familiar looking beautiful girl entered the door.
"Oh my? This aroma is--"
"Bread."
I remember this aroma.
It"s the bakery girl whom Arisa claimed to have a stalker.
"Oh you"re late, I was waiting for you."
"I"m sorry, landlady-san."
"Is anything wrong? You"re not looking well, you know."
"It"s nothing. I just couldn"t sleep well lately..."
The feeble-looking girl nodded at the worried landlady and went toward her next stop.
I ended up imagining things thanks to Arisa and her stalker stuff.
"Customers, we"ve got some freshly baked bread here, want some?"
"We do, we do!"
Arisa swiftly jumped on the landlady"s offer.
It might not be as good as Lulu-made bread, but it was so good, Sheriffa Potato dish had nothing against it.
I took this chance to ask for the landlady"s permission and got some jam and b.u.t.ter out for the bread.
"Still, this country sure loves its trials."
Arisa grumbled while relis.h.i.+ng on the bread.
Most of the parks we happened to see on our way here had ongoing trials under the blue sky.
"But I"m glad that they were all ordinary trials, besides that one time."
Zensan muttered so while drinking the palate cleanser tea.
"What"s this, are you guys here to attend the Trial of Scales at the capital"s Judicial Bureau too?"
The landlady who seemed like she had nothing to do call out to us.
"-Trial of Scales?"
Come to think of it, the tour guidebook did mention that [Judicial Nation] Sheriffald had a peculiar trial.
"Yeap. It"s a trial that makes use of G.o.d Urion"s sacred treasure 『Golden Scale』 Ulrirab."
I see, the golden series this time is a scale huh.
"Libra, which means it"s the old man... But the younger version and the genderbent version might be available too right now."
Arisa"s inner voice leaked out in low voice.
I know the reference, but control yourself a bit.
"How does it work?"
"It can see through sins that a Truth Discener"s 『Fathom』 and the gift 『Eye of Judgment』 can"t recognize."
The landlady folded her arms like she was done with the explanation.
"That sounds amazing."
I made some random agreeable response.
I don"t really get it but it must be some kind of complicated trial when [Fathom] can"t be used to tell lies, and [Eye of Judgment] can"t distinguish wrongdoings.
I should ask the details when we visit Urion Main Temple.
"Yea, it really is! But that"s also exactly why the waiting time is so long..."
According to the landlady, even n.o.bles have to wait for three months, while commoners three years.
"So if you want to have a trial quickly, you should go to the capital Judicial Bureau and ask Saga Empire hero-sama to be the judge. Apparently, that Hero Seigi-sama also has the power to distinguish evils, you see."
The successor of Hero Meiko who almost became a cripple at the Weasel Empire huh....
"Aren"t you, like, getting a bad feeling about this?"
Arisa, stop setting up that kind of flags please.