Chapter 38 - Mamaaa... I Killed a Man

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I tied Holiés’ hands with an improvised rope and we walked out of the forest. As soon as we reached the fields behind Clarisse and Jacques’ house we were met by a small crowd, led by Jacques’ father. As soon as the cheesemaker saw Holiés he tried to run towards us but he was stopped by some of the people around him.

“Let me go! I’m going to kill that little cunt!” the man shouted at the people who were holding him.

We soon found ourselves face to face with the man and he said, “Holiés! Just wait until I can get these hands of mine on you and you will see!”

“Mister, I already proceeded to arrest Holiés and he will receive a fair trial, this bloodshed can stop here,” I said.

“Shut up you bitch! You’re probably in this just as much as he is!” he shouted at me before spitting on my shirt.

I sighed and said, “take him away before I decide we should also have a trial for injury today.”

One of the men who were holding him nodded and said something to the others before going away, bringing the angered father with them.

“Tell the village chief to prepare a jury, we’re going to hold the trial in the church in a hour,” I said to the people around us before I resumed walking holding Holiés from his arm. The people of the village let us pass through, their eyes ranging from hatred to pity.

Soon we reached his house. When we entered I saw Clarisse and Clementine sitting at the table in the main room, the mother massaging the back of her crying daughter. Hearing the door closing behind us they raised their gaze to meet mine, but their eyes soon fell on the tied Holiés.

Clarisse sprang up from her seat and ran around the table and towards us, the small effort of her mother to stop her completely futile. She soon was in front of me and she shouted, “you! You were supposed to stop him!” she hit me on my chest, “why didn’t you stop him!?” she hit me again, “why!?” she hit me again, her punches weak and trembling, “why?” she clung to my shirt, “why?”

I put a hand over her head as she rested it against my chest without saying a word. In her sobbing she turned her head, looked at her brother and said, “Holiés, how could you?”

“Clarisse, I-”

“No!” she shouted at her brother, “I don’t want to hear any excuse from you! You killed Jacques!”

“Yes, I killed him!” Holiés shouted back at her, “and I would do it again after what he did to you!”

“You didn’t know him!” Clarisse cried, “he isn’t that kind of person… he wasn’t that kind of person… he just… he just…”

“He just what? Let’s hear what you have to say for him,” he said, full of anger.

“He just hit me! He was just mad for what happened yesterday to him! You didn’t even know what kind of person he was and you killed him!”

“Should have I stood here to watch as you came crying again and again because of him?”

“Yes!”

(Ok, I think we can close the dances here) I thought and, using water magic, rendered them unconscious like I did earlier with Clarisse, though Holiés proved to be much harder to affect.

In a second I was holding the two unconscious siblings as their mother looked at me terrified.

“What… what did you do to them?” she asked, her voice shaking.

“I just put them to sleep for a bit, don’t worry, madam. Them shouting at each other more would have only made matters worse.”

“I see…”

“Actually, if you would be so kind to bring Clarisse to your room while I take Holiés to his bed I would really appreciate it,” I said, shifting the two around a bit as that they wouldn’t fall.

“Oh, of course,” she said and got up from her chair to come take her daughter.

As she lifted Clarisse in a princess carry I said, “I’d like to talk to you for a bit afterwards, if you don’t mind.”

“Sure,” she said before leaving for her room.

I bent down a bit, got Holiés over my shoulder and walked to his room. Once inside I put him down on his bed before walking back to the main room.

Clementine came out of her room as I was sitting on a chair. She walked up to the table and sat on the chair opposite to me.

“What’s going to happen, Lady Fortuna?” she asked.

“Holiés admitted to his crimes. I can’t pardon him and you know that,” her face clouded as I spoke, “still, I don’t plan to send him to the executioner.”

“You’ll let him live?” she asked, a hint of hope in her eyes.

“Yes, but it will be the life of a slave.”

“I… I don’t want to see my son turned into a slave, there must be other ways.”

“It’s the axe, the cell, or the collar in this situation, Clementine, and you know it.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

“But still…” her eyes started to tear up as she talked, “they’ll make him work in a mine or something, or keep him in some dirty room as the plaything of a noble or… or… I don’t even know. He’s a hunter, Lady Fortuna, it would be worse than being in prison for him.”

“Don’t worry,” I said, taking her hands in mine, “I know of a certain noble woman who likes adventuring who would really like him tagging along with her.”

“Really? Who is she? Are you sure she’ll treat him well?”

I sighed and said, “I’m talking about me, Clementine.”

“Oh,” she said a bit baffled but relieved, “you should have told so from the beginning! I can rest assured knowing that he’s going to be with you.”

“Actually, that’s not the only thing I wanted to talk about with you.”

“What did you want to talk about?”

“You see… Holiés would rather die than leave you and Clarisse here alone. So… I have a proposal for you,” I said, taking out the letters from my storage, “here are some letters of recommendation, there’s one for the guildmaster in Vilfori, one for the guildmaster of the capital, one for His Majesty the king, and one for one of the king’s maids, Lucilla.”

Clementine stared at the letters in complete disbelief, babbling, “I-I… I don’t… I don’t… I don’t know…”

“I trust you and Clarisse to be ready to act as my personal maids when I’ll be back to the palace in the middle of dis.”

She looked at me, swallowed,and said, “of… of course, Lady Fortuna,” bowing a bit on her chair.

I nodded and said, “do you have any sealing wax or beeswax here?”

“I have a beeswax candle, if it’s fine.”

“That will be good enough.”

She nodded and went to open one of the cabinets in the room, from it she took a dark yellow candle that was obviously meant to be kept for more important occasions. She then offered the candle to me and went back to her chair.

I took a gold coin and a couple of silver ones and put them in one of the envelopes.I then heated the lower part of the candle, where there was no wick sticking out, and pressed it against the paper to seal it, then I took my badge and impressed the seal on the warm wax.

I passed the letter to Clementine and said, “this is the letter for the guildmaster of Vilfori. Inside there are the details of a request to escort you two to the capital and the reward for it.”

“Lady Fortuna, this is a bit too much.”

“It all helps me, don’t think of it as charity,” I said, as I sealed the next envelope.

“I don’t understand.”

“Holiés is too good of a hunter to leave him rot in a prison or see his head fly by the axe of the executioner. Consider all of this as an investment on my side.”

“That’s…” she stopped what she was about to say and pondered for a second, “I understand.”

“Good. This one is for the guildmaster in the capital while this one is for His Majesty,” I said, giving her two sealed envelopes.

“Finally,” I said, sealing the last one with wax, “this one is,” I kissed the wax, impressing the shape of my lips instead of my seal on it, “for the maid, Lucilla.”

Clementine stared at me with wide eyes as I passed her the envelope.

“Don’t worry, she’ll understand,” I said, to reassure her.

“That’s not the problem here, Lady Fortuna. Wasn’t it hot? Are you fine?” she asked troubled.

“Don’t worry, it wasn’t hotter than a warm cup of tea to me.”

“If you say so…”

“Well then,” I said, getting up, “I’ll wake up Holiés, we have trial to take. I’ll leave with him immediately after and I’d prefer if you at least waited until tomorrow to depart. I’d like those two to see each other only after they’ve calmed a bit.”

“As you wish, Lady Fortuna.”

“Thank you, Clementine,” I said, getting up from my chair.

When I entered Holiés’ room he was already awake, staring at the ceiling from his bed.

“I should have also used lightning magic like the other time,” I said as I walked up to his bed.

“Very funny,” he said, sitting up, “have you talked to my mother?”

“Yes, I explained her everything, they’re going to depart tomorrow at the earliest.”

“Good,” he said, looking back up to the ceiling.

“Quit this overly dramatic shit, it doesn’t suit you.”

“Could you please show a tiny bit of sympathy? I’m dealing with a lot of shit here in case you didn’t notice,” he said, obviously mad.

“You made a choice, a shitty one, but still a choice, and now I’m here cleaning after your ass. Not only that, you also did it after I explicitly told you not to move from your bed.”

“I’m… I’m sorry,” he said, lowering his head.

“Good, now get up, we have to go.”

“...yes,” he said, getting up from his bed.

We exited his room and walked towards the front door, as we passed Clementine only gave Holiés a reassuring, silent, look.

Once we exited the house we started walking towards the church, with me holding the tied up Holiés as I did before.

We reached the church after a few minutes, in front of the building, that was no bigger than the other houses around it, were already gathered a few dozens of curious onlookers.

We entered the church and found ourselves in front of ten people, three of them I recognized, the village chief, the priest of the small church, and the man who I told to gather people for the trial to.

“Good afternoon, misters. I would have preferred for us to meet in a different and more joyous occasion, but we have a duty towards the kingdom and our goddess to fulfill, so, if everyone is ready, I'd like to start with the trial,” I said, with what was probably the most fake smile I made in a while.

(I'm going to empty that fucking crate of liquor tonight.)

“Lady Fortuna, good afternoon to you. We're ready to proceed at any time,” the village chief said.

“Good, let's get on with this then.”

I made Holiés kneel in front of the altar as the priest and village chief went to sit behind it, while the other eight men sat on the two benches in the first row.

I then reached the village chief and the priest behind the altar and said, “we're here today for the murder of Jacques, the main suspect being Holiés, who is now here in front of us,” I saw the village chief write what I was saying on a piece of rough parchment as I talked, “Holiés, what do you have to say in your defense?”

“Nothing. I declare myself guilty,” Holiés said, looking up at me.

“Good, this makes things easier. What does the jury have to say?”

The eight men on the benches murmured for a bit between themselves, then, after a series of nods, the one I had spoken to before said, “the jury accepts the confession and declares him guilty, Lady Fortuna.”

“Very well. Then,” I took my badge out from my storage, “in the name of the Holy Olivedias Kingdom and our Lady, I, Fortuna Tullius, declare you, Holiés, guilty of the murder of your brother in law, Jacques. The punishment will be lifetime slavery. Two thirds of the proceeds from the sale will be given to the family of the deceased, the remaining third will be repartitioned as by the laws of the Kingdom.”

My badge started shining lightly, I got up from my chair holding it and approached Holiés. Once I was in front of him I placed it on his forehead and pushed lightly. When I lifted it a black mark, resembling the symbols on the badge, was on his brow.

“I declare the trial closed,” I said, putting my badge back inside my storage.