The next morning after I finished some chores around the farm, I started my run towards the village. Val should already be at the market when I finish my non-ability run so finding him shouldn’t be a problem.
It was a sunny morning kind of reminding me of the hot summer we had. It will take about another month and a half before all their leaves start to fall, I will need to go to the iron oak so I can collect this year’s harvest of leaves and acorns.
When I got to the village something felt off. There was less movement than normal, and people were huddled in groups talking about something. Further into the village, there were even more people like that. It seems something serious has happened. “Do you know who it was?” I heard a person ask in one of the groups I walked by. “No probably some young bad apple who recently arrived.” Someone else answered.
Even the entire market was not functioning as everyone was just talking and no one was buying or selling anything. Deciding that I could speak with Val later I moved further in towards the village hall. “I heard that he was caught when he was returning the gold necklace. So, he was probably just training his skill.” I heard someone speak, but someone quickly answered him. “Stupid excuse, we shouldn't have those kinds of people here. It would be best if they sent him away or even killed him for his crimes.” I then heard a spitting noise probably from the person who spoke last.
So, we finally got our first crime if you don't count bar fights. I am quite surprised it took so long but perhaps this was the first time they were caught. It’s interesting that he was returning the necklace when he got caught. If he was just training his skills, then perhaps this case is a bit more complicated. I picked up my pace a bit and quickly reached the village hall where I got some more information from a legionary.
“Yes general, the thief is currently inside and the council members who are in the village have been invited to give judgement on the young man.” Answered the legionary. I gave him a nod and quickly went inside. The court case was being held in one of the bigger rooms and when I approached, I heard a discussion.
“How long should we wait I think everyone who is in the village is already here.” - “Shouldn’t we also try to get Rich here? If he’s in his homestead, he should be able to get here fast.” – “Who knows where he could be? He was reported to be in his homestead, but he could currently be halfway across our nation hunting some monsters.” – “You are correct we will try to message Rich but if he's too far away we will start this immediately.” Answer David, the only voice that I could recognize.
When I stepped through the doorway silence filled the room. I looked towards the young boy who was around 15 years old. The moment his eyes landed on me he tried to move away but from his kneeling position it was hard to do so, especially because he was wearing manacles that were connected to a ring mounted onto the floor. For a moment I paused. When did they add that to the floor?
My momentary pause made the young boys shiver even more and I could see the sweat running down his neck. He was wearing decent clothes but everyone in the village was. A chair was brought for me, and I sat on it. I was now facing the boy along with every other council member and a few others who were probably appointed to take care of lawbreakers. One of those people finally called for order and started the proceedings.
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“We are all gathered here to verify the claims of thievery against this man. Late last night the legion guards were informed that a gold necklace went missing from apartment building 5 apartment 7C. Three night guard legionaries went to investigate and during their investigation a window was opened and the thief proceeded to climb in. The necklace was on his person, and he was caught by the legionnaires before he could escape.” He then looked at the young boy and spoke. “Please state your name and anything else you want in your defence.”
It took a little while until the young boy was able to gather himself and start to speak. “My name is Benjamin, but my friends call me Benji. I was back in the apartment because I was returning the gold necklace I stole, but I was never going to keep it. I just did it so I could level up my skill. I would never steal anything for real, not from here. This place has treated me better than any other. I just wanted to level my skill and that is the truth.” His voice broke at the end and he started to cry.
“If he was returning the necklace then can we actually charge him with a crime.” One of the council members asked and that started the discussion. I stayed quiet as I didn’t know what to think of this. Advancing your skills is important but how long until he decides to keep something? After about half an hour there were two different sides that were currently arguing.
“There is no need for harsh punishment we can give him community service or perhaps place him into the legion. In the end, he seems to only have tried to level up his skill level which is perfectly understandable to us all.” One of the council members once again argued the same thing they have had for the past 10 minutes and as I suspected he was opposed by the other side who had been keeping their opinion firm for the past 10 minutes.
“This is just a start we should banish or kill him. That has always been the punishment for thievery and no matter if he returned the necklace, it’s still thievery. Eventually, he will get good enough that none of us can catch him. We need to be harsh about this otherwise we will soon have an underground of thieves and assassins and we will never be able to get rid of them.”
This time the council members’ argument had a small difference which the others didn’t catch but I did. He probably didn't do it consciously but the line, eventually he will get good enough that none of us can catch him. There was more meaning behind that sentence than at first glance.
If he could get that good that means others probably already have. Most of the council members don't yet accept this fact but we will be connected to the outside world and there will be a lot of noncitizens in our towns simply because of our trade plans for the future. That means eventually thieves will get into our towns and as demonstrated by my ability that indicates people's intent with a coloured dot it only truly works when they are planning to kill. It will not show thieves not to mention there are probably hundreds of ways to fool the ability.
I let them argue while I looked at the young boy and started to flesh out the idea I have. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a lot more time to truly think this idea through, but I think it will be important in the future.
The current plan was to cut one of the hands off the young boy and then make him do five years of community service which was seemingly quite lenient. I mean there’s a reason why there are almost no prisons in this whole world. People are usually killed or sent away when they do something against the law.
That also made me wonder why there are even thieves if simply stealing can get you killed. I guess that death is not that special especially now after the plague. “Stop I have a few questions for the accused,” I spoke before the judgement was passed. Everyone turned to me, and I was invited to ask what I wanted.