House of Trials (2)

"No!"

"Don't do it!"

"Silence! In light of you two having been used, your punishments shall be reconsidered. However, you had best be on your best behaviours. Send them out of the court."

"No,"

"It's okay, you two. Believe in me."

With Shui's reassurance, Fatty and Serina reluctantly followed the guards out of the court. Reinhart shook his head at the scene.

"How despicable. They knew it would be difficult to place all the blame on him, so they used those two as pawns to make him accept it willingly. And then the judge promised leniency so that he couldn't back out. Is that judge really an esteemed elder?"

"The little Prince did the right thing from an emotional perspective, but will he be okay?"

No one could provide a response to Luke. Once Fatty and Serina were taken out of the court, Alos was about to resume questioning when Shui interrupted him.

"Judge, before we go any further, can I take it that there are no other charges that I'm being accused of?"

"That is indeed the case."

"Very well then; please allow me to summon my own witness."

Gasps emerged from spectators both inside and outside the court. Even the judges were taken aback because Shui shouldn't have had any time to gather witnesses.

"Mr. Shui, might I remind you that witnesses should be available for questioning shortly before they have been summoned?"

"That shouldn't be a problem. I informed them beforehand, so they should be at the side entrance by now. Would you please allow them inside?"

Still sceptical, Alos allowed the guards to open the door. No one appeared from the door at first, but soon a sickly-looking young man entered the court. The young man appeared to be an unfamiliar mortal, so he attracted looks of confusion, but Shui's explanation cleared up his identity.

"Before returning to the manor, I was a little worried about my friends, so I decided to take a look at the areas where they were likely to pass in case something held them up. While checking the route that led back to the manor, I managed to overhear a rumour in a certain village. Apparently there was a fight involving disciples from the manor and a demonic cultivator. Worried as I was about my friends, I decided to investigate the incident and happened upon Jaret here, someone who had witnessed both instances in which the demonic cultivator, posing as an old man, was seen with disciples from the manor."

Shui was naturally lying about the coincidental nature of his discovery. Suspecting foul play, he had secretly returned to the city by himself and got information from Artisan Palace about the trap being laid for him. Thankfully, the enemy had finished the stage in advance and made little effort to conceal it, so once he found out the details, he only needed to make his own preparations. It was at this point that everyone realised that Shui had seen through the trap laid for him and had come equipped with countermeasures. 

"It looks like he's not planning on fighting his way out," said Reinhart to Kate through intent communication.

"Then we have nothing to worry about!"

Once they realised that Shui had come prepared, two of the judges began to panic. As they had already offended Kate and Shui by taking on this role, failing to fulfil their tasks would leave them without allies. For the core elders, it wasn't too much of a problem because of their stable positions, but the elders of the inner and outer sections were well aware of the future consequences of angering talented disciples.

"You can't just bring a random man and claim that he's an important witness! Why should the court believe you?"

The outer section elder was eager to obstruct Shui, but his argument was one of the first possibilities that Shui had considered. 

"Right you are, judge. That is why I brought a handy item to prove that my witness can be trusted."

Shui then took out a golden sheet of paper. It was an item that few had even heard about, but among the wealthy heirs present, some were able to recognise it.

"It's a heavenly-bound contract!"

Although the Punishment Department didn't require that witnesses swear an oath to tell the truth, such an oath naturally increased the reliability of the witness' statement. Mortals without cultivation weren't usually able to make such oaths, but heavenly-bound contracts could bind mortals in a similar manner. Unfortunately, these contracts were very expensive to make, so only wealthy big shots that dealt with mortals would have them. Shui was only able to get this one thanks to his connection to Artisan Palace.

To prove the authenticity of the contract, Shui allowed both spectators and judges to check it. With no room for the enemy to play tricks, they had to admit that the contract was real. However, there was still a loophole that could be exploited.

"Wait!" the outer-section elder shouted. "How can we be sure that you haven't manipulated his memories? I hear you're quite skilled in spiritual techniques."

By signing the contract, the young man wouldn't be able to lie for the duration of the trial, but that didn't mean what he said was the absolute truth. Anything he believed to be true wouldn't be a lie, even if it was wrong. 

"Of course I do have a way to prove that his memories haven't been tampered with, but since the court wishes to doubt my sincerity, wouldn't it be fair for the court to also prove that it hasn't received any tampered evidence? We're talking about a demonic cultivator who knows what sort of evil tricks they've employed."

"That's-!"

"Enough. You may proceed with questioning the witness after they've signed the contract."

This time, Alos interrupted the outer-section elder. They had originally prepared their own witness from the village to support their statements, but if they contradicted the words of Shui's witness, they would need to show proof of his honesty. This meant the witness would be unusable if they allowed Shui to continue. Still, compared to that, proving the genuinity of the evidence presented would bring far greater damage. Furthermore, they wouldn't be able to deny his request as it was within his rights as the accused, and their refusal would be too overt an abuse of power. While they seemed to be doing as they pleased, if they were too flagrant with their methods, it would give others an opportunity to halt the trial. Even so, he hadn't given up on taking advantage of this incident.

"Thank you, judge."

Once he received permission, Shui brought the contract to Jaret. 

"Just sign this and talk about what you told me."

"Y, yes!"

Jaret bit his finger and then added a bloody fingerprint to the bottom of the contract. Writing his name in regular ink would have been enough, but for illiterate mortals like him, this was the most common signature method. It was also one of the reasons why mortals were easily exploitable by malicious cultivators. After signing the contract, Jaret felt a jolt run through his heart, but he bit his lips and suppressed a yelp. In exchange for becoming his witness, Shui had healed his terminally ill sister, so he was prepared to lay down his life for this role. 

Once the contract glowed white to signify that Jaret was bound to it, Shui started the questioning.

"Now for my first question, do you know when that old man moved into the village?"

"No, I don't think he ever officially became part of the village. He only appeared in the village when disciples from the manor showed up."

"You mean that he waited for the disciples to enter the village before he appeared?"

"That's what it looked like."