There were no signs of trouble, but suddenly the situation got out of control. Will returned to the castle without Sigrun and reported that the city guards had captured her for wounding one person. At the wrong moment, she decided to play the hero and is now in custody for her action. We were planning to leave the city soon and head with Granid to the royal capital, but, firstly, he was still sleeping and secondly, this incident happened.

What the hell made you suddenly decide to do this, Sigrun?

I was mentally perplexed as I walked with Incartia to the count’s office.

Not right away, but I was eventually allowed into his workplace, which was a rather large luxurious room, decorated with all sorts of things, armor, furniture, paintings, indoor plants and cages with small animals, and servants and assistants scurried around while the count himself sat at his table with several stacks of papers while a chandelier burned with candles above his head.

I had not yet had time to greet him, and he already knew why I had come to him. Count Laroy put aside his writing materials and crossed his arms over his chest and fixed an unfriendly gaze directly on me.

“I already know why you came here. One of your women killed a member of the city guard. Did you come here to free her? Well, I’m afraid it will be difficult.”

Killed? So the wounded man has already died?

I was surprised by his words and shuddered slightly, realizing that our conversation would now lead to nothing good.

You'll have to take responsibility for your man and try to get Sigrun out of prison. Who knows what will happen to her and what is happening to her now. I would not like to lose another person, even if this person himself is to blame for the tragedy that occurred.

"I am responsible for her."

I said, causing the Count to raise his eyebrow with my words.

“I didn’t pay enough attention to her and her behavior. And I know that I won’t get off with a simple apology here, since you suffered losses, and this may be unforgivable for you.”

“That’s right, this is unforgivable. And understanding this, what are you going to do, Boris? Ask for forgiveness? Will you kneel before the relatives of the deceased? Or maybe pay for your ward’s crime?”

"First of all, I sincerely apologize."

I said, bowing slightly before the count, and then added with a certain amount of reluctance and fear.

“Secondly, I suggest that I myself bear the punishment instead of her.”

“Do you want to be punished yourself?”

The count grinned as he adjusted his position in his chair.

“You do understand that for attacking a guard, and especially for killing him, she will face the death penalty?”

Hearing his words, I could only swallow, imagining similar consequences. Sigrun is going to be executed and, apparently, they will do it publicly: the wild laws of the primitive world are making themselves felt, and I really don’t like them. If I ask to be punished instead of her, then I am essentially offering myself to him as a sacrifice, and not a single platoon soldier would agree to this. Likewise, no one will agree to have Sigrun executed.

I can’t allow either one, so how can I get out of such a difficult situation? What do I need to do to get the Count to agree to release Sigrun? I can't even imagine.

"I understand you perfectly."

Meanwhile, I answered, clenching my palms into fists.

“However, I would like to avoid execution. Can this punishment be changed in some way?”

"Lifelong slavery, gouging out eyes, cutting out tongues, tearing out nails, hunger strike. Are these options acceptable to you?"

The count said and I could only look at him in shock after the options he proposed.

What the hell kind of laws are these?!

I was angry with myself, not ready to do any of the above.

I was so angry when I heard these words that, clenching my fists stronger than before, in a stern voice, almost spitting, I answered him:

"Are you kidding me? Do you even know why she killed your man? Why does this punishment have to be so severe?"

The Count shook his head in disappointment, he clearly knew something that I didn’t and immediately answered:

“She wanted to help the thief avoid punishment and somehow mortally wounded my man, he soon died from heavy loss of blood. I can allow you to meet with her and talk so that you can see this from her personally, but let her go and even more so have mercy We cannot afford her. She must be punished as the laws of our kingdom dictate."

SHIT!

I clicked my tongue, realizing what a mess we were now in because of her action.

I can at least meet and talk with her, since the count himself suggests. It’s better to wait for Granid to wake up and offer his own course of action, and if he doesn’t, then the issue will be resolved with blood, fire and lead.

"I want to talk to her."

"Fine."

The count nodded and turned to one of his servants.

"Siles, take our guest to the prisoner."

"As you wish, my lord."

The young man bowed and led us into prison.

"Please follow me."

After that, we followed him into the dungeon, and a group of four guards followed me and Incartia. Meanwhile, I was trying to figure out a way in which I could get this fool out of prison. However, as the count said, murder is punishable and, moreover, it is severely punished here, so I need to somehow either cancel Sigrun’s punishment or, if possible, mitigate it.

Soon we reached the dungeon, dimly lit by torches and stinking of a terrible smell of dampness and some kind of rot. These are the conditions in which prisoners are kept here, and I certainly didn’t like it. Sigrun has been here for several hours and is probably already suffocating from this nasty stench.

Having passed through narrow passages and gone down a spiral staircase, we found ourselves in a spacious stone room behind bars of which a black woman was sitting in the corner, covered in a gray robe and shivering from the cold. There were several more people here, whom the count's guards had imprisoned here; they ran up to the steel bars and looked at the arriving guests with curiosity, but the guards, with a nasty ringing sound, hit the bars of the bars with their blades, forcing the prisoners to remove their hands and step aside for fear of injuries and sparks.

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It was simply painful to watch. It’s as if they are not keeping people here, but some wild animals that can do absolutely nothing to their captors. The guards stood behind me and carefully made sure that we didn’t do anything wrong here.

It's just a nightmare. They must be here dying in droves... otherwise I don't know what that stinking smell is.

I stopped at the bars behind which was Sigrun. She sat and trembled, with her head down, it looked like she was crying, which I was not surprised at. This is the first time for her that she was detained like this and kept in such terrible conditions, or maybe she cried because of what she did out of stupidity, or maybe all at once. Anyway, I'm here to talk to her.

"I'll take off the ring."

I said to Incartia, who also looked in fear at the girl who once took care of her.

I took off the ring with the Babylon spell and handed it into the hands of the young sorceress, and then squatted down and spoke to Sigrun in English:

"Sigrun, it's me Boris."

The girl raised her face to me and yes, she really cried, even on her coal-black skin there were reflections from long streams of tears. She wiped them off with the back of her hand and greeted me with a sniffle.

"H-hello, Boris. You've finally come for me... tell me, what will happen to me now?"

"You will be executed."

I said gloomily, not believing that this could really happen.

“The Count allowed me to talk to you. I suggested to him that I bear the punishment instead of you, but his version of the punishment has not changed. He can mitigate the punishment, for example, make you a slave forever, gouge out your eyes, cut off your tongue, pull out your nails, go on a hunger strike and things like that. I haven’t decided on any of this yet. I think I’ll ask you something first before deciding what to do.”

"Fuck."

The girl swore, clearly blaming herself for what had happened.

"And what came over me?"

"Really, what? Tell me."

Sigrun didn't answer for a while, she tried to find words and calm down. Luckily she could talk to me. Usually she is not a very talkative girl, but when she has a special desire to speak out, she simply does not shut up and attacks her victims with long monologues in waves. I would never have thought that such a cheerful optimist could break down. What broke her?

Meanwhile, Sigrun finally took a deep breath and began to explain what happened:

"They wanted to kill the child... I couldn't just accept it... I myself was a child who was almost killed. So."

"And this was the reason for killing a person?"

“I didn’t kill anyone, I shot in the leg, and what’s more, the cartridge was blank, so that guard’s wound is not serious... probably.”

"But the Count said that that guard died. Did you really shoot with a blank?"

"Yeah... but... maybe not. I don't know. Maybe... maybe the gun had a regular cartridge... crap."

Sigrun's face became even more gloomy, it seemed she did not expect such an outcome and I must admit it made me a little angry. Surely she should have understood that we shouldn’t change anything here? We really can’t change anything here, it’s not in our interests and especially not in our power. Let’s say the guards really wanted to kill the child, but they weren’t going to kill us. That is why we should not have interfered, but continued our path to the 127th Army.

However, now thinking about it, I begin to understand that if I were in the same position as Sigrun, I also could not restrain myself and attack the guard so that he would not kill the child. Fortunately, now I know the reason for her action and now I knew what I needed to do.

"Don't worry, Sigrun, I'll get you out of here."

"You better hurry up, they don't even feed me here. I'm afraid I'll starve to death faster than I'll be executed."

Bastards.

I clenched my fists as I rose to my feet and decided to say goodbye to the girl for today.

"See you soon."

I said, and then got to my feet and turned to Incartia, asking her for the ring.

"Ring."

"Here you go."

The young sorceress gave me a ring and tilted her head and asked me.

"What's next?"

After I put the ring with the Babylon spell back on my finger, I decided to return to the count’s office, and I informed Incartia about this:

"I'll talk to the Count one last time."

Going up to the count's office, I saw the same picture. He was sitting at his table, and servants were scurrying around, and then I heard him ask:

“I see you talked to her. So what did you decide?”

I thought about it a lot, I didn’t know what to do, but I didn’t have much choice. We will have to do what is necessary for the platoon to return to the army safe and sound.

"This is your country, you write its laws and abide by them. It is up to you to decide what to do with the criminals. She is completely guilty and must be punished for her crime."

The count's look became somewhat puzzled, and Incartia completely gasped after hearing what she heard, not believing what she had just heard, and I could not believe what I was saying.

"Indeed it is so."

Laroy said looking at me strangely.

"She will be hanged tomorrow at noon, but what I'm interested in knowing is why did you accept it so easily?"

"It wasn't easy for me."

I confessed.

“I am a citizen of a republic, a state where observance of laws is comprehensive and obligatory for everyone. To break the law that a society follows means to go to war with this very society. Even if the criminals realize this and blame themselves for the crimes they have committed, the laws insist on their punishment and it doesn’t matter be it imprisonment or death penalty: the punishment must be carried out."

"And your people are very principled."

The count said with a smile.

“Neither honor, nor justice, but the law. That’s what motivates you and I admit, it sounds very wild to me, but this is a good reason for respect for you and your people. Such honesty and restraint are not within the power of every person, and you accepted the law of an alien you state and follow it. I think I can think about mitigating her punishment."

Although there seemed to be a possibility in his words, I didn’t care. I have already decided everything and I don’t need his handouts.

"Solve this without me."

I answered indifferently and decided to say goodbye to him.

"In that case, I will go. We will need to leave the city soon and head to the capital. We must meet the king and make a deal."

"Farewell, Boris, and I wish you all a pleasant journey."

The count said, and I left the count’s office following the guard to the barracks.

While I was walking with me, Incartia spoke in English, removing the ring from her finger, and I did exactly the same when she asked me:

“Are you going to leave her? She didn’t specifically want to kill anyone, it was just an accident.”

No, this is not an accident, but her unnecessary heroism.

I answered mentally, but I didn’t dare say it out loud and instead, clenching my fists more tightly than before, I snapped at her:

“Do you think Count Laroy would listen to our excuses? He wouldn’t do anything, he would punish her anyway, even if I asked to take the punishment instead of her.”

"Is this a reason to leave her?"

“Did I say that I would leave her?”

Incartia's gaze became surprised again. The girl looked at me and finally understood something:

"You... what are you going to do?"

"We'll get her out, no matter how many people here die."

"WHAT?!"

She exclaimed and covered her mouth.

“Quiet... I’ve decided everything and there’s no need to dissuade me.”

"But you said..."

"Do you have a better suggestion? Well, tell me how to get Sigrun out?"

“We can wait until my teacher wakes up and...”

“And when will he wake up? Do you know? I don’t know either, but we won’t wait. Sigrun will be executed tomorrow, which means that we have to get her out right now.”

Compliance with laws? I do follow the laws, but that only applies to the laws of the Republic. The Kingdom of Lakuus is no match for us, neither for the Republic nor even for a tenth of our army; we can easily wipe this country off the face of the earth if we want. Why should we then respect the laws of this country? We shouldn't do this. We must defend our rights, our freedoms and our interests. If I leave her here, firstly, my conscience will torment me, secondly, the tribunal will torment me, can I really do that?

No way.