A suffocating silence fell.

Everyone was at a loss for words at the sight of a person suddenly dying and turning into light right before their eyes.

“T-the guards are killing people!”

“Those bastards have gone mad!!”

When one person managed to open their mouth and shout, others also raised their voices, clamoring one after another.

However, even in such a situation, the guards’ attitude remained aloof.

Despite receiving all sorts of condemnation and criticism, their eyes showed no anxiety or fear.

They were only filled with the conviction that they were absolutely right.

Adelaide felt a sense of dissonance in that appearance.

The guards she had seen while staying in Justitia were not like this.

Their behavior of trying to look good to the special existence of the Justitia lord, and using the authority of the Kingdom of Heaven to mock others asking if they wouldn’t comply, while not necessarily right, was extremely human.

But now?

“Come, confess your sins. The scale will judge them.”

“If you are truly innocent, you will suffer no harm. Isn’t it such a simple thing?”

The guards didn’t look around at others. They weren’t wary of anything.

They were infinitely confident and righteous.

No, they even seemed intoxicated by their own actions.

Even though they had just blown off someone’s head for the sole reason of not complying with the trial.

That light.

Looking at the emerald light enveloping the guards’ bodies, Adelaide’s eyes narrowed.

She realized that after being enveloped in that light, the guards’ attitude had suddenly changed.

It wasn’t mana.

If anything, it was closer to the holy power Sophia used, but while Sophia’s holy power gave an infinitely benevolent and gentle feeling, this light, though brilliant and beautiful, was cold.

Like Justitia’s scale that drew a predetermined conclusion based on given conditions.

While Adelaide was hiding in the shadows and pondering how to move next, the situation quickly progressed.

“Is there no one who will comply with the trial?”

“Those who fail to prove their innocence within an hour will all be treated as guilty.”

At the guards’ overwhelmingly confident attitude, the eyes of some citizens wavered.

Among those looking at each other, one carefully stepped forward.

“Ahem. Well, if all we need to do is prove our innocence, I’ll do it.”

“Welcome. Now, you just need to confess to this scale.”

The citizen cleared his throat and then confessed to the scale, “I have not committed any crime in this city… Is that how it’s done?”

A soft light flowed from the scale the guard was holding and formed a small ring above the citizen’s head.

The citizen waved his hand above his head in confusion, but the ring of light seemed to have no substance and just passed through his hand.

The soldier nodded.

“Confirmed. Now, please come this way.”

The face of the citizen who had stepped forward first brightened.

That was the beginning.

“I’ll do it too!”

“No, me first!”

People rushed to confess their innocence to the scale, and emerald rings appeared above their heads.

Those who received the rings were delighted, as if it were some grand award.

But not everyone could participate in this.

When a young man with a stern expression declared his innocence towards the scale, the scale trembled and the guards’ gaze turned cold.

“You have spoken falsely.”

“Uh, no, w-wait a minute! I saw it too! Some masked guys were going around beating people up! You’re doing this to catch those guys, right? I have nothing to do with it!”

“Do not arbitrarily judge the scale’s intentions. No crime will be an exception.”

“Ugh, alright, alright! I just need to pay money, right?”

“Before that, first confess your sins. The judgment will come after.”

“Fuck, you want me to talk with all these people around? Somewhere less audible—“

“I’ll say it one last time. Confess your sins.”

“This is really fucking annoying. I did some pick-pocketing! Satisfied now?”

The scale’s trembling stopped, and one of the two plates went down.

“Looking at the markings, it seems this wasn’t just once or twice. Eight years imprisonment. Will you serve the sentence, or substitute it with value?”

“Of course I’ll substitute! Who the hell wants to serve eight years!?”

“Understood. O’ Scale, substitute this one’s sins.”

The young man grumbled but took out his money pouch and held it out, and people thought the soldiers would take that money pouch.

But that wasn’t the case.

Slash!

The swords of two soldiers flashed, and emerald trajectories brushed past the young man’s arms.

The next moment, everything below the young man’s elbows disappeared.

A scream of pain escaped from the young man’s mouth.

“Money accumulated through sin is not full value, so we’ll take arms for what’s lacking. O’ Scale, substitute the value.”

The sight of the two severed arms disappearing into light was imprinted in people’s eyes.

With the young man collapsed on the ground foaming at the mouth at their feet, the soldiers spoke with truly reverent expressions, “Now, everyone. Not much time remains. Prove your innocence.”

***

Clang! Clang!

“…Amazing durability. If we could make armor out of this, it would change the tide of war,” Maris muttered, withdrawing the sword energy she had been emitting.

Unlike her somewhat leisurely tone, her voice contained considerable impatience.

Although she had unleashed attacks to create an escape route, not even a small scratch appeared on the wall that seemed to be made of emerald.

Considering that her slash could cut through steel as thick as a person’s waist, the stubbornness shown by the wall before her eyes was enough to give a sense of dissonance.

“What about other places?”

“We’ve looked around the outskirts of the city, but couldn’t find any gaps to escape through.”

“More than half of the support team personnel managed to escape outside the city, but all of the execution team got their feet caught.”

“This is about the second or third worst situation.”

Maris had to admit that her plan had been flawed.

The “Kingdom of Heaven’s show of force” she had anticipated was at most political pressure using the whereabouts of priests, or perhaps a physical encirclement through reinforcements.

She never dreamed they would suddenly turn the entire city into a prison and conduct a trial targeting everyone inside.

It was an ability beyond imagination, and a move beyond imagination.

The repercussions this would cause, whether this was the will of the Justitia lord or the will of someone higher up, under what conditions this mysterious “emerald wall” could be used.

Numerous questions arose in Maris’ mind, and she temporarily cut off most of them.

They would undoubtedly become important questions later, but they weren’t what she needed right now.

What she needed to consider now was how to break through this situation.

“Escape is impossible. Confessing wrongs in front of the scale is also… well, impossible.”

It was a problem that it would sully the name of the Lion Duke’s bloodline with mud, but more serious was the scale’s judgment.

I don’t know the criteria.

If it just ended with a fine, it would be one thing, but depending on the case, they might have to give up part of their body, or even their life itself as payment.

Who knew if they might suddenly impose a death sentence for the crime of causing this situation and troubling others?

No matter how much the Justitia lord and his soldiers claimed the fairness of the scale, it was impossible to believe it.

But what about fleeing without receiving judgment?

It was unknown what would happen if they failed to prove their innocence within the time limit, but judging by how things were going, it was clear it wouldn’t be a pleasant ending. To begin with, there was a limit to just running away continuously since they couldn’t get outside the city.

In reality, there was only one option left.

“Gather everyone. We’re going to strike the lord.”

***

Crack!

The Tin Knight’s flash left a long scar on the emerald wall.

But that was only for a moment.

As if rapidly accelerating the process of stalactites forming, emerald extended like a needle and filled in the scar that had just appeared.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ complains that he can’t break through physically!]

It was possible to cut the wall and create an entrance.

Even if the wall recovered, the Tin Knight had the ability to push through with momentum exceeding the recovery rate.

The problem was the mana consumed in doing so.

If he were to break the wall by force and rush into the city, most of his mana reserves would evaporate just from that.

Dorothea wasn’t here, and even if Sophia poured out all her mana, it would barely fill half of the Tin Knight’s capacity.

In other words, while breaking through was possible, they couldn’t come back out again.

It might be possible if they combined with Adelaide’s mana inside, but there was no guarantee they would meet her immediately, nor that there wouldn’t be additional need to use mana inside.

The Tin Knight closely examined the wall before him.

A height about twice that of an ordinary castle wall, with a smooth surface without a single scratch except where the Tin Knight had just touched.

In short, it was the worst condition for climbing.

If there were a slight slope or curvature it might be different, but the wall before him was neither.

There was also the method of creating footholds and handholds by making scratches on the wall with sword energy while moving, but that would consume no less mana than a frontal breakthrough.

As the Tin Knight was pondering what to do, at that moment.

Something flew in from far away in the sky.

Caw.

It was a crow with strangely lifeless eyes.

A piece of paper was clutched in the crow’s feet, which it held out to the Tin Knight.

When he unfolded the paper, there were characters written in a strangely urgent handwriting.

The Tin Knight held out the paper to Sophia.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ requests interpretation!]

“It says she’s coming now, so don’t act rashly and wait a little.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ points out that the meeting spot with Dorothea was set far away to avoid potential tracking, so how did she know to come here!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ wonders how Dorothea knew about the situation here!]

“Well. Isn’t it proof that our worry-prone leader girl kept paying attention to this place?”

Silence fell for a moment.

If Dorothea arrived here, the situation would certainly improve, but the question was how long that would take.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ says it seems like it was a mistake to separate from Adel!]

“No, that judgment itself wasn’t bad. If Sir Tin always stays by her side to protect her, Adel will never become independent.”

Sophia added, “Instead, let me go. Can you send me inside?”

The Tin Knight hesitated for a moment.

[The ‘Tin Knight’ answers that while Adel or Dorothea might not be able to, Sophia probably could!]

[The ‘Tin Knight’ also says it will just hurt a lot!]

“That’s fine. Pain means little to me, anyway.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ points out he already said it’s dangerous inside!]

“That’s fine too. I’m immortal, after all.”

[The ‘Tin Knight’ confirms if it’s okay to believe in her!]

Sophia answered, “Yes, please believe in me.”

***

https://ko-fi.com/genesisforsaken