Tribunal of the Darkened Realm

Within a large building in the form of a dome built beside the Lord’s castle at the center of the city, the construction was large enough to accommodate thousands of people. The building consisted of a single room where in the center lies a wood platform where the suspects had to stand while being surrounded by the elders. Being constructed as a dome allowed every elder to have a concrete vision of the suspect who had to face seven judges.

Outside of the seven seats for the great elders who acted as judges, the room had close to twelve hundreds of seats. Not every one of them was occupied but at least half of them were. Out of the seven seats belonging to the ancient elders, five of them were occupied.

The size of the seats depended on the individual's body size and their structure was related to the one’s power. Listae’s seat was made in a silverish material and shone with the same light as moonlight, it was also of the size of a regular human seat.

At her left lied a large metallic throne which belonged to Mystel’s other hand who controlled the law enforcers; Fortiem. His throne was five times bigger than Mystel’s, showing how imposing his figure was. Sadly, nobody actually knew that the throne was too small for him since he never ever used it…

The last seat on the right belonged to the only other ancient elder which supported Listae; Nekroi. His seat was blackish and of a size pretty similar to Listae’s, but the back of the seat was considerably higher than hers.

His skeletal body barely had any remain of tattered previous skin and his bones were put on display. Despite how slim he was, his height was close to three meters and a pair of small glasses rested on his skeletal nose; giving him a scholar-like impression. He was an ancient lich, a being who once belonged to the ‘wizard’ race who are known for their long lifespan and great inborn skills in magic.

Together with Listae and Fortiem, Nekroi was one of the first ancient elders of the Darkened Realm and the older one among them. It was also the reason why he was extremely opposed to the other elders’ actions in acting against Listae.

Having survived until now wasn’t due to luck but by choosing the right side. He knew what Mystel was capable of and things that even Listae ignored.

Upon his researches on magic, he came upon something that terrified him despite how knowledgeable he was… Something that made him believe that fighting Arsal to death ten times was easier than standing against Mystel.

He simply wished that he could get back to his research on magic… But this world didn’t want to.

Glancing at the seat oriented at the left of Listae’s, one was a gigantic throne made out of flames. It was at least ten times bigger than Fortiem’s and a devilish giant was seated, at his left, a humanly sized demon with pink tails and wings was sitting in a bored way while sighing a few times. Her throne was made of gold and silver, embedded with expensive looking jewels which came from diverse worlds.

Her figure was very attractive to men and even the gigantic devil sometimes couldn’t help but steal a few glances. Known as a succubus queen, her race’s characteristic makes her very popular within the city among men but also women.

The seat next to her was made out of cloud and looked very comfortable, but it was empty. The owner rarely showed himself or participated in the tribunal.

Lastly, the last seat, made of coral and various other ingredients coming from the sea belonged to an old man with a grumpy expression. The top of his head harbored a ‘kappa’ like hairstyle with a huge hole surrounded by hairs. He was the one who thought about this idea of forming this tribunal and who made it difficult for Listae to perform her work; Ranae’s grandfather… Vatrach.

Despite being at least eight thousand years old, he could only be considered as a teenager compared to the other elder and a child if compared to Nekroi. He was the only one among them who hadn’t met Mystel which was probably the reason why he feared her the least.

For him, this tribunal was a way to gather power and support among the inhabitant of the city and a way to oppress Listae. This last reason was also why he had the support of the other elders who were simply looking for a way to pass time…

The whole reason why he was even in this position was simply that the three other elders were bored and wanted to mess up with Listae…

For people who lived for thousands of years, boredness was their worst enemy. This whole tribunal thing was for them a way to kill some time and only Nekroi who experienced Mystel’s whims countless time could predict how she would react if she were to come back.

Most of the time, Nekroi would remain neutral in this type of conflict, but Mystel’s mind was very hard to predict even for him who has known her for tens of thousands years. But he was definitely certain that she would snort at this whole tribunal thing and crush it.

It was one of the reasons why he had to step out of his neutrality and support Listae, being one of the oldest beings in the city, he had seen the other elders grow up in their younger days and rise up to where they are today. Sighing profoundly as another evildoer was being exculpated, he sincerely hoped that Mystel would act mercifully and not exterminate them.

The door of the tribunal opened once again to let the ‘innocent’ suspect walk out with a large smirk. Another suspect entered the tribunal while being dragged by the guards, covered by a black coat which hid the person’s face and body.

After entering the room, the person walked toward the platform and looked all over the place at the various elder before finally looking at the five ancient elders.

The giant demon looked at the person with boredom for a moment before turning toward the guard.

“What is his crime?”

The demon’s vigorous and imposing voice silenced the elders who were discussing. The guard appeared uneasy as if he was hesitant about how to declare the crime. His eyes constantly alternated between the ground and Vatrach, not knowing how to announce it.

The demon’s eyes sharpened and pressured the guard as if to tell him to hurry up. Not able to resist the pressure, the guard simply decided to say the things as they were.

“T-This person’s daughter attempted to kill Kröte, the son of Ranae, killing hundreds of servant in the process. When we arrived at the place, they were all mostly mercilessly slaughtered and Kröte was on the verge of dying.”

Vatrach’s eyes widened as he had not expected to hear the name of members of his family, nevertheless he remained calm despite harboring a slightly angered expression. Despite being angered, he had lived for years and could still keep his emotions in check.

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The succubus glanced at Vatrach, hoping to see him throw a tantrum in anger but lost interest after seeing his calm expression. The demon, on the other hand, felt like there was something else to the story, otherwise, it would be the daughter that would be present and not that person. He nodded once as a sign for the guard to continue while remaining silent.

“Ranae attempted to save his son, but… That person mercilessly attacked him and almost killed him as well, he was however saved by Listae’s appearance.”

Almost everyone in the tribunal was silent for a moment, not only Kröte but his father as well was almost killed. But the most shocking thing was that they were saved by their political enemy, Listae.

The pair of father and son brought many problem and headache to her, so the idea of her saving them was completely unpredictable.

Not able to believe it as well, the demon looked at the guard with shock while suspecting something. A glint of light appeared in Nekroi’s empty eye socket as he stared at the covered suspect. He rarely spoke within the tribunal since he knew he would not be listened, but this time he had a bad feeling and could not hold back.

“Is that Listae’s version, or Ranae’s?”

The guard hesitated for a moment before opening his mouth.

“This is what we collected from Kröte guards. That person’s daughter kidnaped one of Kröte’s servant and fought. Miss Listae said she would testify for their innocence.”

While most of the persons present were willing to believe Listae’s words, this case greatly involved Vatrach’s family and as such the tribunal would definitely be biased toward Ranae’s side.

Since it involved Vatrach’s family, the flame demon took a step back and left this matter to him. Despite not having a great opinion of Vatrach and using him to bring a few problems to Listae, they were cooperating right now and as such he would not interfere in his matters.

Vatrach nodded at the demon’s sign and took over the matter.

“*Cough Cough* First, let’s hear abo— …”

“Innocent!”

As he was going to speak up, Nekroi suddenly had a flash and interfered in the matter, completely cutting off Vatrach. He had an extremely bad feeling about this case and seeing the glowing dark eyes hiding behind the coat, he realized who was the ‘suspect’ in this case.

This was indeed a tribunal, but the only question was… Who were the ones being judged?

Vatrach coughed a few times before looking over at Nekroi with a strange expression.

“Elder Nekroi… Please don’t disturb the tribunal.”

Nekroi stared at the four elders who were looking at him strangely, he had never been someone impulsive, but seeing how overreacting he had been… They realized that something was wrong.

A strange feeling spread within them, Nekroi who realized that they weren’t going to listen to him merely sat back with a saddened expression as he stared at those whom brat he saw growing up.

Vatrach returned to his occupation and started interrogating the suspect.

“What is your name and which race do you belong to?”

“Who knows? Try to guess.” The person replied with a feminine voice.

Vatrach didn’t get angry at all at the suspect’s response and simply continued with his questions, it was only a formality until they got to the vote and whatever was said wouldn’t change anything.

“Did you commit any crime before?”

“Me? How could I?! Within this city I am as clean as snow.”

“Do you have an inhabitation in the city?”

“Do you take ME as a homeless person? My housing is definitely bigger than yours…”

“How long have you been living here?”

“Long enough to see that succubus brat stuff her bra with socks because of how underdeveloped her breasts were compared to the other succubus, seeing that little flame demon being thrown in a lack after peeing on his father when he was twenty years old… I also remember observing how Nekroi’s skin rot out and how everyone started to avoid him because of the smell... leading to him secluding himself and cry for years.”

“...”

The tribunal once again turned silent at the suspect’s exaggerated answers. The ancient elders were staring at the suspect with surprise at first, but this surprise couldn’t turn into anger after finding how familiar this voice sounded… They started to remember this familiar figure that they hadn’t seen for years…

The only person who knew those secrets other than Nekroi…

The succubus face quickly whitened and the flame demon almost extinguished. Only Nekroi almost cried as that person was the only remaining being that remembered such embarrassing memories… Moreover, she decided to make about those darks and forbidden memories public…

Vatrach who didn’t believe anything any of the suspect’s word continued on his questions without realizing that the other elders were trembling.

“What reason did you have to attempt to kill another inhabitant of the city?”

The suspect’s smile suddenly vanished.

“Why do I need a reason?”

Vatrach closed his eyes and looked in annoyance at that jokester and sat back on his seat.

As he was about to declare the start of the vote, the flame demon tremblingly stood up and voiced a question.

“A-Are you perhaps?...”

None of the elders present understood what his question’s meant, only the succubus and Nekroi knew its meaning.

The suspect took off the coat, revealing an otherworldly beauty with long black hairs and merciless cold eyes.

Both the demon and the succubus fell to their knees while covered with cold sweat.

Seeing their reaction, a cold feeling spread through Vatrach’s body and glaring at that woman’s eyes, an invisible light came out of his eyes and unnoticeably entered her head. Only Nekroi and the woman noticed this light, while she was able to dodge it, she decided to ignore it and allow it to touch her.

Nekroi who knew what Vatrach’s power was sighed and as he expected, only a few seconds later Vatrach’s green hairs turned white and his body fell to the ground.

Nobody knew what happened… Both the succubus and the flame demon looked at the falling old man with shock and quickly dropped their head in fear. None of them knew what ‘she’ had done…

Only Nekroi smiled wryly, a hypothesis crossed his mind. Vatrach’s power allowed him to see within one’s mind, but what exactly did he see inside ‘her’ mind… Nekroi truly wished he could see it as well, giving an answer to the hypothesis that kept disturbing his mind.

But at the same time, was he truly ready to see it? The distorted expression on Vatrach’s face spoke for itself.

He had once asked ‘her’ himself out of curiosity, but the answer she gave him while looking at him in the eyes killed any hope of ever finding the truth...

“Do not encroach upon the ‘unknown’.”