The necromancer’s face went through a range of expressions.

Bewilderment. Disbelief. Understanding. And then anger.

“Don’t talk nonsense! I didn’t kill anyone, and you’re telling me to rot in prison for life just for messing with a few corpses!? Where in the world is there such an unreasonable judgment!?”

“It means the Lord considered the act of desecrating the dead to be that serious.”

The priest lord continued with a solemn attitude, “However, sin must be measured solemnly and punished gravely. If you cannot accept this judgment, tell the scale. That you have remaining words to defend yourself regarding this case.”

“Of course I can’t accept it! How could I!?”

The priest’s gaze turned to the giant emerald scale.

– Woong!

The scale trembled with a low cry.

Confirming this, the priest shook his head.

“You have spoken falsely. You have already spilled all the excuses you could make. Any further defense would be just a meaningless string of words.”

“This, this…!”

The criminal, who had been grinding his teeth red and blue, soon dropped his shoulders and gave a wry smile.

“Ha, right. I was an idiot for taking this seriously in the first place. I’ll pay the fine. Now I see that’s what you wanted from the start. Your business must be quite profitable.”

“You seem to misunderstand, but the value placed on the scale doesn’t come to me.”

“Enough! I’ll pay the fine, so hurry up and end this tiresome play!”

“Hmm.”

As the lord turned his gaze to a nearby official, the official began to read a document with a polite attitude.

The document’s contents were a list of the criminal’s assets seized by the guards.

“That’s all, my lord. If we confiscate about 90%, it will balance the scale.”

“I see. Proceed with the execution.”

“Ha, there’s no better robber than this. Let’s see if I ever come to a place like this again.”

The criminal gritted his teeth but didn’t object to the judgment any further.

Perhaps he thought it would be useless, anyway.

Just when the watching audience thought it was over,

“Then, we will begin the second trial. There are charges that you harmed others and exploited souls through the corpses you obtained and the sacrifices you offered. If this is not true, please refute.”

The criminal’s eyes widened.

“Don’t be ridiculous! That, that’s!”

“Are you denying the charges?”

“That’s, well, I mean.”

The criminal’s eyes darted incessantly between the ground and the scale.

He seemed unable to continue speaking, wanting to deny it but afraid of being caught by the scale’s ability.

“…”

The criminal’s choice was silence.

The official frowned.

“My lord. This person is trying to use petty tricks to the end. At the point where he can’t deny it verbally, it’s essentially the same as admitting guilt, so let’s proceed with the punishment as is.”

“Please calm down. Everything must be clearly revealed before the Lord. We shouldn’t pass judgment carelessly just because something is suspicious.”

Gently soothing the official, the lord said, “Keep him in the castle as a person of reference.”

“Understood.”

At the official’s signal, the guards began to move, holding the necromancer.

The necromancer gave up and was docilely dragged away by them.

Or more precisely, he seemed to have given up.

“Hup!”

“Kheuk!”

The two guards holding the necromancer suddenly clutched their throats and chests and collapsed to the ground.

At the same time, a green energy surrounded the necromancer’s body, and the ropes binding his hands and feet rotted and broke in an instant.

Tadat!

While people were still dazed, not properly recognizing what had happened, the necromancer pierced his own thigh with the edge of his hand.

The mana-imbued hand chop cut through the flesh, and he pulled something out from inside.

It was a bead about the size of a ring made by joining the thumb and index finger, soaked in red blood.

He slightly crushed the bead in his hand and then threw it towards the center of the courtroom.

The Tin Knight decided to stop watching at that point.

Honestly, he wanted to keep watching to see what would happen, but he instinctively felt that the “something” thrown by the necromancer might endanger even Adelaide and Sophia.

With a leap, he struck down upon his target.

Before the bead touching the ground could emit its ominous mana and activate, the Tin Knight’s shield crushed the bead and buried it in the ground.

Kuwoong!

The ground shook greatly.

It was the result of the Tin Knight continuously pressing down with his shield, offsetting the shockwave trying to bounce him upwards from the center of the bead by emitting mana from his back.

The attack that should have spread in all directions and swept the surroundings couldn’t overcome the Tin Knight’s shield, and the poison and curse that leaked out with the explosion had no effect on the Tin Knight’s metal body.

“This, impossible—“

The necromancer’s curse, colored with shock, didn’t continue to the end.

The lord, who had somehow moved behind the necromancer, grabbed the back of his head and slammed it to the ground.

Kuwoong!

While not as powerful as the necromancer’s trump card, it was strong enough to create cracks in the ground.

When the lord raised his hand again, the necromancer’s appearance was miserable.

His nose was completely collapsed, few teeth were intact, and blood was profusely leaking from various parts of his face.

But that was only for a moment.

As white light leaked from the lord’s hand, the necromancer’s body was quickly healed. While lost teeth didn’t grow back, everything else was nearly restored to completion.

While people were dazed, unable to follow the sudden turn of events, the lord declared, “O Scale! Though there is no testimony, the criminal has proven his guilt through actions, not words. If not for the brave knight’s efforts, innocent and good citizens would have been injured or even met death due to his attack! I request that you measure his sin!”

The emerald scale, which had been in balance at the end of the first trial, began to tilt again.

The white plate up. The black plate down.

The lord opened a book with his empty hand, confirmed its contents, and then pronounced in a loud voice, “Death sentence!”

The necromancer, caught by the lord, struggled, but the lord didn’t budge.

The white light enveloping his body was protecting him perfectly.

The lord spoke to the necromancer, “Criminal. Will you accept the judgment, or will you substitute it with value?”

It seemed like a question that didn’t even need to be considered.

The necromancer answered with a somewhat slurred pronunciation due to his missing teeth, “I’ll bay! I’ll bay the pine, so, blease!”

“Very well. First, let’s put all of your remaining assets on the scale.”

Thinking he had escaped the crisis of death, a faint relief appeared in the necromancer’s eyes.

It was too early for relief.

The lord announced, “The punishment has been modified. One year imprisonment. Execution at the end of the imprisonment period. Will you accept the judgment, or will you substitute it with value?”

The corners of the necromancer’s mouth trembled.

“I, I choose to substitute!”

What he thought was probably something like “I’ll work later to pay off the lacking part”.

But he shouldn’t have made that choice.

The lord stared at the necromancer for a moment, then tapped the ground with a thud.

Standing on the scale, the lord placed the necromancer on the white plate and shouted, “O Scale! The criminal has denied the punishment and chosen to pay with value! I request settlement!”

The emerald scale trembled as if responding to the call.

And, the next moment.

The necromancer’s right leg, placed on the plate, unraveled.

Since the scale itself was so large, it was difficult for people on the ground to properly grasp the situation on the plate.

Therefore, the only one who properly witnessed that sight was the Tin Knight, who had quickly moved to a nearby rooftop.

The Tin Knight’s will-o’-wisp-like eyes narrowed as if feeling puzzled.

The necromancer’s leg was strange.

It wasn’t crushed, it wasn’t eaten by something, nor was it melting.

As if the body itself had turned into thread and then been pulled out, the leg decomposed into countless strands and disappeared into light in the air.

“Hik, hiiik!”

The necromancer screamed in fear and confusion.

There seemed to be no physical pain, but the mental shock seemed indescribable.

As the right leg disappeared into light, the white plate that had been raised high went down, and the black plate that had been lowered rose up.

But one leg wasn’t enough to balance it.

Left leg. Both arms. Stomach.

The body parts making up the necromancer’s body unraveled one by one, turning into light.

He raged, begged for mercy, and spewed resentment.

But no matter what emotions he held or what he did, the scale calmly executed the sentence.

The scale reached perfect horizontal balance when only the necromancer’s head remained.

“He, huhe, hehehehe.”

Surprisingly, the necromancer was alive.

There was no body left to move at will, and his mind had collapsed, drooling, but still, he was alive.

In a way, it was natural.

He had refused the death penalty, after all.

“The execution is over,” the lord uttered in a calm tone, then lifted the necromancer’s head.

Just minutes ago, he had been roughly handling it, grabbing the back of the head with one hand, but now the lord’s touch was extremely polite and careful.

It was as if he was claiming that once the punishment was over, he could no longer treat him as a criminal.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

With a brief greeting, the lord placed the necromancer’s head on the ground.

Those who were surprised by the lord coming down from the scale holding a person’s head had seizures when they realized that the head was alive and grinning.

As the Tin Knight jumped down from the roof and landed on the ground, the lord bowed to the Tin Knight and greeted him.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, we were able to prevent innocent people from getting hurt.”

The Tin Knight didn’t answer.

Ignoring the bowing lord, he picked up the head that was rolling on the ground, laughing as if insane.

And silently left the courtroom.

Adelaide followed in confusion, and Sophia followed silently.

Despite being blatantly ignored, the lord didn’t get angry.

He just watched the party’s retreating figures with his usual kind and gentle smile.

***

https://ko-fi.com/genesisforsaken