Chapter 146

The face of the Necromancer transformed into a kaleidoscope of emotions.

Disbelief. Distrust. Understanding. And then, rage.

“Don’t spout nonsense! I didn’t kill anyone; I just fiddled with a few corpses! Am I supposed to rot in prison for eternity over that? Where’s the justice in that?”

“The act of desecrating the dead is something the Lord takes very seriously,” the priest Lord continued solemnly.

“However, sin must be weighed with gravity and punished with deliberation. If you cannot accept this judgment, then claim your case before the Scale. You may still have words to defend yourself.”

“Of course I can’t accept it! Do I look like I will?”

The priest’s gaze fell upon the massive emerald Scale.

– Rrrrrrrr!

The Scale trembled with a low growl.

Upon witnessing this, the priest shook his head.

“You’ve spoken all the excuses you could muster. Any further defense would simply be a waste of breath.”

“Th-that’s!…”

The guilty man, who had been gnashing his teeth, finally let out a subdued laugh and slumped his shoulders.

“Ha, right. Taking this seriously was foolish of me. I’ll pay the fine. Turns out, that was all you wanted, huh? You must be doing quite well for yourself.”

“You seem to misunderstand; the value placed on the Scale does not come to me,” the priest clarified.

“I don’t care! Just let me pay the damn fine and end this grueling performance already!”

“Hmm.”

The Lord turned his gaze toward an official nearby, and the official began to read a document with a polite demeanor.

The document detailed the list of assets confiscated by the Guards from the culprit.

“-That’s all, my Lord. Seizing about 90% should balance the Scale.”

“Understood. Proceed with the execution.”

“Ha, what a blatant mugging. I swear I’ll never set foot in this hellhole again.”

The man gritted his teeth but made no further objections to the judgment.

Perhaps he thought it would be pointless.

At that moment, when the audience presumed it was over—

“Now, let us begin the second trial. You stand accused of harming others and exploiting souls through the corpses you obtained and the offerings you made. If you deny it, please present your counterarguments.”

The culprit’s eyes widened.

“Don’t be ridiculous! That’s not—!”

“Are you denying the charges?”

“Well, um, that is to say—”

The guilty man’s eyes flickered back and forth between the ground and the Scale.

He wanted to deny it, but fear of being discovered by the Scale’s powers left him speechless.

“…….”

The guilty man’s choice was silence.

The official frowned.

“My Lord. This man intends to play petty tricks until the end. By not denying his guilt through words, it is essentially an admission of guilt; thus, we should proceed with the judgment.”

“Calm down. In front of the Lord, everything must be clarified. A decision should not be hastily made based solely on suspicion.”

The Lord gently reassured the official.

“Please keep him in the castle as a witness.”

“Understood.”

As the official gestured, the Guards began to seize the Necromancer and take him away.

The Necromancer seemed resigned as he was dragged along.

Or rather, he appeared to act as if he had given up.

“Eek!”

“Gah!”

Suddenly, the two Guards holding the Necromancer clutched their necks and chests and collapsed to the ground.

At the same instant, a green aura surrounded the Necromancer, and the ropes binding his hands and feet instantly decayed and snapped.

Thud!

As the crowd stared in bewilderment, not fully grasping what was happening, the Necromancer swiftly pierced his thigh with the edge of his hand.

The blade-like hand sliced through flesh, and he pulled something out from within.

It was a small orb, roughly the size of a ring formed by pinching together his thumb and forefinger, soaked in red blood.

He crushed the orb lightly in his grasp and then hurled it toward the center of the courtroom.

The Tin Knight decided it was time to end the spectator sport.

Honestly, he wanted to keep watching, but he instinctively felt that whatever the Necromancer had thrown could put Adel and Sophia in danger.

With a leap, he swung down.

Before the orb hit the ground and unleashed its ominous magical energy, the Tin Knight buried it under his shield with a thud.

Ka-boom!

The earth quaked violently.

While the shockwave attempted to push away from the center of the orb, the Tin Knight discharged magical energy from his back to neutralize it, continuously pressuring it with his shield.

The initial attack that should have blasted in all directions was halted by the Tin Knight’s shield, and the poison and curse that oozed out with the explosion had no effect on his metallic body.

“This is ridiculous—”

The Necromancer’s curse, tainted with horror, was abruptly cut off.

Unbeknownst to him, the Lord had moved around behind the Necromancer and firmly grabbed his head, slamming it onto the ground.

Ka-boom!

Although it didn’t match the Necromancer’s ace up his sleeve, the impact was enough to crack the ground.

When the Lord raised his hand again, the sorry state of the Necromancer was revealed.

His nose was entirely smashed, few teeth remained intact, and blood oozed from various wounds on his face.

However, just for a moment.

A white light emanated from the Lord’s hand, rapidly healing the Necromancer’s body. Although the missing teeth didn’t grow back, he was almost fully restored.

As the spectators struggled to comprehend the sudden twist, the Lord declared,

“O Scale! Though there are no witnesses, the culprit proved his guilt through actions rather than words. Had it not been for the brave Knight’s intervention, innocent citizens would have been harmed or could have even lost their lives! I implore you to weigh his sins!”

As the first trial reached its conclusion, the emerald Scale that had been balanced began to tilt once more.

The white dish rose. The black dish fell.

The Lord opened a book with an empty hand, confirmed the contents, then raised his voice to proclaim the verdict.

“Death!”

The Necromancer, caught in the Lord’s grip, flailed about, but the Lord remained unmoved.

The white light enveloping him protected the Necromancer completely.

The Lord asked the Necromancer, “Will you accept the judgment, or will you compensate with value?”

It was a question that seemed not even worthy of contemplation.

The Necromancer replied in a somewhat slurred tone as his teeth rattled, “I-I’ll pay! I’ll give a fine, so take me to—”

“Very well. First, we shall place all your remaining assets on the Scale.”

Believing he had escaped death, the Necromancer wore a faint look of relief.

It was far too premature.

The Lord stated, “The punishment has been amended. One year in prison. Execution will take place at the end of the sentence. Will you accept the judgment, or will you compensate with value?”

The Necromancer’s lips quivered.

“I-I choose to compensate!”

What he probably envisioned was something along the lines of, ‘I’ll work off the balance later.’

But that was a choice he should not have made.

The Lord, staring intently at the Necromancer, suddenly slammed the ground.

Standing on the Scale, he placed the Necromancer onto the white dish and shouted, “O Scale! The culprit denied the punishment and chose a payment of value! I request a reconciliation!”

The emerald Scale trembled in response to the call.

And in the next moment—

The right leg of the Necromancer on the dish unraveled.

Due to the sheer size of the Scale, it was hard for those on the ground to fully comprehend what was happening on the dish.

Thus, the only one who witnessed it properly was the Tin Knight, who swiftly moved to a nearby rooftop.

The Tin Knight’s eyes, glimmering like will-o’-the-wisps, narrowed in confusion.

The Necromancer’s leg was bizarre.

It wasn’t crushed, nor eaten away, nor did it melt.

It was as though his body itself had turned to thread, and that was what was being pulled out, disintegrating into numerous strands of light that vanished into the air.

“Hiiik, eek!”

The Necromancer screamed in fear and confusion.

While it seemed he felt no physical pain, the mental shock was beyond words.

As the right leg turned into light and vanished, the raised white dish descended, while the lowered black dish rose.

However, one leg alone couldn’t balance the Scale.

Left leg. Both arms. The torso.

Each part of the Necromancer’s body unraveled in turn, transforming into light.

He grew furious, begged for mercy, and voiced his resentment.

Regardless of his feelings or actions, the Scale merely executed the punishment.

The Scale reached a perfectly horizontal level when only the upper portion of the Necromancer’s neck remained.

“Heh, hehehe.”

Miraculously, the Necromancer was still alive.

Though he no longer had a body to move as he willed, his mind shattered as he drooled uncontrollably, yet he was still alive.

In a way, it was only natural.

After all, he had refused his execution.

“The execution is complete.”

The Lord said flatly and lifted the Necromancer’s head.

Only a few minutes had passed since he had been handling it violently by grabbing the back of his head, but now, he treated the remaining head with utmost care and respect.

It seemed he was asserting that, now that the punishment was over, the Necromancer could no longer be treated as a criminal.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

With a brief salute, the Lord placed the Necromancer’s head down on the ground.

As the spectators gaped in amazement at the sight of the Lord bringing a human head down from the Scale, they erupted in shock upon realizing that the head was alive and grinning.

As the Tin Knight leaped down from the roof and landed on the ground, the Lord bowed to him.

“Thank you. Thanks to you, we were able to prevent harm to the innocent.”

The Tin Knight offered no reply.

Ignoring the bowing Lord, he picked up the grinning head and simply walked away from the courtroom.

Adel panicked, while Sophia silently followed behind.

Even in the face of blatant dismissal, the Lord did not grow angry.

He merely gazed after their retreating figures with a gentle, warm smile.

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