“Initiating Judgement Hall protocols.”
“Requesting permissions from the main database.”
“Permission received.”
“Accessing main database.”
“Retrieving records.”
“Reading records.”
“Cross referencing records of your Blood Card.”
“Verifying sequence of events.”
“Verification complete.”
“New information detected.”
“Activating record overwrite protocols.”
“Creating new entry in the main database.”
“Filing new records in the main database.”
“Crediting Blood Commander N 00 23127 for providing the relevant information.”
“Error detected.”
“According to the protocols of the Judgement Hall, all Contribution Points and Blood Coins, and most of the privileges of Blood Commander N 00 23127 are frozen until proven innocent.”
“The credited Contribution Points and Blood Coins are to be withheld until the Judgement is over.”
“Disengaging from record overwrite protocols.”
“Verification of records is completed.”
“Blood Commander N 00 23127, please select the charge you wish for the Judgement Hall to examine first.”
“Charge 1: Maliciously sabotaging the Trials of fellow Trialists.”
“Charge 2: Helping…”
“Charge 3: …”
“…”
Alnea glanced at the long list of charges, and after some thought, decided to go through them in chronological order.
“Charge: Blood Commander N 00 23127, along with his teammates, forced other Trialists to leave the Final World, preventing them from completing their Trial.”
“Evidence: The city has records of Blood Commander N 00 23127, along with his teammates, defeating a total of 1503 Challengers in the Prison World F S 00357, directly killing 376 Trialists, and causing indirect deaths of another thirty seven Trialists, forcing the rest to abandon their Final Trial.”
“Records in contradiction to Evidence.”
“1. The Trial assigned to the Star Seekers was in direct confrontation with the Trial of the other Trialists. The very premise of them clearing their Trial rested on sabotaging the Trial of their Challengers.”
“2. The Star Seekers were assigned a mission to defeat their challengers, and thus, cannot be held accountable for fighting other Trialists.”
“3. The Star Seekers were challenged to a Final Trial to clear their personal grievances. Any casualties suffered thereof cannot be prosecuted.”
“Judgement: The charge has been deemed malicious, and invalidated.”
…Though Alnea had already expected such a result, after he saw the city’s judgement, he still could not help smiling to himself.
“Compensation has been deducted from the accuser, and will be credited at the end of the Judgement.”
Accusers… Those Grand Wanderers? They must be feeling quite distressed at the moment. Not for compensating him, of course. They could afford to lose some Contribution Points and Blood Coins. But the face they lost in front of his master and Daes’ mother…
“Please select the next charge you wish for the Judgment Hall to examine.”
Those Grand Wanderers should be fuming at the moment, thinking of how to punish the people who gave them him information, but he was not done with them yet.
“Charge: Blood Commander N 00 23127, along with his teammates, helped the Heterodox Wanderers.”
“Evidence: Blood Commander N 00 23119, previously a teammate of Blood Commander N 00 23127, admitted that his team, in destroying the relics smuggled by Heterodox Wanderers into the Prison World F S 00357, helped them activate their Ritual, thus endangering the lives of all the Orthodox Wanderers in the Prison World F S 00357. This statement has been further corroborated with the records of other Trialists.”
…It looked like the deal that Fran made with the city’s council involved more than just cutting off his ties with the Star Seekers. Still, Alnea refused to believe that Fran would betray them. It was probably the council’s idea to frame his words in a different way, and use them to add to his crimes. They must never have imagined this matter to reach the Judgement Hall. Unfortunately for the city’s council, they were going to disappoint the Grand Wanderers once again.
“Records in contradiction to Evidence.”
“1. The Star Seekers subdued all the Heterodox Wanderers, forcing those, who could still be saved, to leave the Trial, and killing the rest, saving the other Trialists instead of endangering their lives.”
“2. The Ritual was already completed the moment the Star Seekers found the relics of Heterodoxies. Destroying those relics only triggered the Ritual in advance.”
“3. Triggering the Ritual in advance caused its main effects to fail, preventing the Heterodox Wanderers from summoning external forces, which would have compromised the Prison World F S 00357.”
“4. By killing the Wanderers who prepared the Ritual, the Star Seekers helped the Prison World F S 00357 recover from its effects, dispersing the Mysteries corroding the Trial grounds.”
“Judgement: The charge has been deemed malicious, and invalidated.”
“Compensation has been deducted from the accuser, and will be credited at the end of the Judgement.”
“Please select the next charge you wish for the Judgment Hall to examine.”
Alnea did not even bother thinking about anything, as he moved on to the next charge.
“Charge: Blood Commander N 00 23127 released prisoner F S 00357 from his shackles.”
“Evidence: Records from Blood Soldier N 03 05137’s Blood Card suggest that Blood Commander N 00 23127 released prisoner F S 00357 from his shackles. This record was further corroborated by the Blood Lords sent to investigate the Prison World F S 00357, who confirmed the traces of Blood Commander N 00 23127’s breath entangling with the breath of prisoner F S 00357.”
“Records in contradiction to Evidence.”
“Error.”
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“You do not have the privileges to see any information about Prisoner F S 00357.”
Insufficient privileges?
“Judgement: The charge has been deemed malicious, and invalidated.”
…At least he was proven innocent. And if he was lucky enough, then maybe, just maybe, even those Grand Wanderers should not have enough privileges to view information about the Fire Spirit. That would save him a lot of trouble…
“Compensation has been deducted from the accuser, and will be credited at the end of the Judgement.”
Who was he kidding? Why would Goddess Ilea suddenly decide to bless him? Especially on the last day of Inkah’s month, when the Curse of his fate was at its strongest…
“Please select the next charge you wish for the Judgment Hall to examine.”
…Forget it, Alnea thought. Since he had chosen to believe in his master, why was hesitating?
“Charge: Blood Commander N 00 23127 pushed his fellow Trialists into being Enthralled.”
“Evidence: Records from Blood Soldier N 03 05137’s Blood Card suggest that Blood Commander N 00 23127 pushed his fellow Trialists into being Enthralled.”
“Records in contradiction to Evidence.”
“1. The Trialists in question had already begun the process of being Enthralled long before their last encounter with Blood Commander N 00 23127.”
“2. The Star Seekers were challenged to a Final Trial to clear their personal grievances. Any casualties suffered thereof cannot be prosecuted.”
“Judgement: The charge has been deemed malicious, and invalidated.”
“Compensation has been…”
“Please select…”
“Charge: Blood Commander N 00 23127, along with his teammates, destroyed the Trial grounds of the city.”
“Evidence: Traces of destruction discovered by the Blood Lord sent to investigate the Prison World, and the records from Blood Soldier N 03 05137’s Blood Card suggest that…”
“Records in contradiction to Evidence.”
“1. Given the number of Trialist who challenged the Star Seekers to the Final Trial, large scale battles, involving release of destructive Mysteries, were inevitable. Any actions taken thereof, cannot be used to hold them responsible for damaging the Trial grounds.”
“Judgement: The charge has been deemed malicious, and invalidated.”
“Compensation has been…”
“Please select…”
Alnea paused, his finger just a tenth of an inch away from the Assistant Panel. He could already imagine what the look on the faces of the Wanderers watching his Judgement would be in a while, and for the first time, he did not feel happy about their distress. But he had already made up his mind. And he believed in his master. So, after Slashing the hesitations in his Heart, he pressed his finger on the Assistant Panel, which, in turn, quickly changed the symbols it was displaying.
“Charge: Blood Commander N 00 23127 used unknown means to deceive the city’s reward and privilege system into rewarding him and his teammates with higher privileges.”
“Concern: The Star Seekers received unusually high privileges in reward for completing their Final Trial, and thus, must be investigated.”
Concern? Not evidence?
“Note: Since the accuser could not provide any evidence for the charge, she must pay 10,000 Contribution Points to have the city investigate the accused.”
…They brought him to the Judgement Hall without any evidence? And they even had to pay 10,000 Contribution Points?
“The Contribution Points have been paid.”
…The poor Wanderer who made up the charges and handed them to the Grand Wanderers was going to have a lot of explanations to do.
“Beginning investigation.”
“Retrieving the breakdown of Blood Commander N 00 23127’s reward for successfully completing his Final Trial.”
“Initial privileges: ☆.”
“Trials of the Blood Hall.”
“Perfect clearance of all Trials: ☆.”
“Clearance of all Hidden Trials: ☆.”
“Final Trial.”
“Main mission: ☆.”
“Side mission: ★.”
“Total Privileges earned: ★★☆.”
“Final privilege: ★★★.”
“Retrieving the breakdown of Blood Commander N 00 2312…”
“Retrieving the breakdown of Blood Commander…”
“Retrieving the breakdown…”
“Retrieving…”
“No discrepancies found in the rewards.”
“Closing the records.”
“Result of investigation: The Star Seekers earned their rewards fairly.”
“Judgement: The charge has been deemed malicious, and invalidated.”
“Compensation has been…”
“Please select…”
…Another tricky charge. And the one that Alnea was most worried about. If his guess was correct… And if those people learned of his secret… This charge was probably the main cause behind why Daes and Tia kept failing to trigger Yuri’s Roots. And the last manifestation of the Curse of his Fate. At least for the current year. He would have to face the curse again in the next year…
Forget it, Alnea thought. There was no use in worrying so much. Anyway, his master was omnipotent. She had defeated the Curse of his Roots before. She could defeat it again. Especially since she even had Daes’ mother to help. With the two of them together, even if they faced seven Grand Wanderers at once, they should not have a problem bringing him and girls out of the city. Along with Daes and Tia, of course.
Though he had not completed the formalities, Alnea already considered them as his Dependents. He was not going to leave them behind. And neither would Daes’ mother. But first, he had to get out of the Judgment Hall.
“Charge: Blood Commander N 00 23127 used unknown means to deceive the city’s reward and privilege system into rewarding him with 10,000 Contribution Points.”
“Concern: Blood Commander N 00 23127 received 10,000 Contribution Points from just completing his Final Trial, and thus, must be investigated.”
“Note: Since the accuser could not provide any evidence for the charge, she must pay 10,000 Contribution Points to have the city investigate the accused.”
“The Contribution Points have been paid.”
“Beginning investigation.”
“Retrieving the relevant records…”
“Warning! Warning!”
“All records of Blood Commander N 00 23127 have been classified and shifted to ■■■■■■■■.”
…What?
“Judgement Hall does not have the authority to retrieve the records.”
…Alnea stared at the Assistant Panel in confusion, as the symbols on its surface kept scurrying around to quickly rearrange themselves.
“Requesting permission to retrieve the records of Blood Commander N 00 23127 to judge the charges levelled against him.”
“Warning! Warning!”
“Judgement Hall does not have the authority to judge Blood Commander N 00 23127.”
…Then what had it been doing until then?
“All judgements made by the Judgement Hall in case of Blood Commander N 00 23127 have been invalidated.”
…It did not have to answer so quickly. And what did it mean by invalidated? What was he going to do about the crimes that those Wanderers had put on his head?
“All charges levelled against the Blood Commander N 00 23127 have been invalidated.”
…Assistant Panel indeed. Answering his doubts before he could even ask them… If it could only also delete the records it had retrieved…
“All records of Blood Commander N 00 23127 stored by the Judgement Hall has been deleted.”
“…Is it really reading my mind?” Alnea mumbled to himself, as she kept staring at the Assistant Panel with wide eyes. But the surprise had just begun.
“Blood Commander N 00 23127 has been compensated with 100,000 Contribution Points and 100,000,000 Blood Coins.”
“…Hundred thousand? A full hundred thousand Contribution Points? And is that a hundred million Blood Coins?” Alnea mumbled, before shouting into the darkness. “Hey, are you sure that this is not a mistake? You won’t charge me later for stealing all these Blood Coins and Contribution Point later, right?”
“10,000 Contribution Points have been credited to Blood Commander N 00 23127.”
“Huh? Why are you still giving me more Contribution Points? Are my long lost ancestor?”
“Request Blood Commander N 00 23127 to please leave—
“…Tsk. I knew you were not my ancestor, but you did not have to react so overdramatically.”
“The permissions of the Judgement Hall are being rewritten.”
“…Now, you are just giving excuses.”
“The Judgement Hall @#$%&.”
“…Judgement Hall what?”
“@#$%& ^*!$: <&@% >&@%…”
“…Assistant Panel. Assistant Panel,” Alnea said, knocking on the blood red curtain with his knuckles. “What new language are you using?”
“■■■ ■■■■■ ■■ ■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■ ■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■…”
“…Now you are not even trying. At least think of a better excuse.”
“■■■■■■ ■■■ ■■■■■ ■■■■■■■■ ■■■■■■ ■■■■■ ■…”
“…Fine. Fine. I get it. You just want me to leave, right? Show me the directions and I will go.”
Alnea glanced around himself, looking for the exit. Yet, all he saw was the Assistant Panel, following the movements of his head to always stay in his line of sight.
“What? Changed your mind?”
The Assistant panel responded by scattering all the gibberish on its surface, rearranging them into the familiar symbols from the Lost City’s language.
“Let me tell you, I am not so easy to—
Alnea stopped midsentence, staring at the Assistant Panel with wide eyes, as all the symbols on its surface arranged themselves into a sentence. One that caused his heart to stop.
“Nice to meet you, Alnea Oathkeeper.”
