Number 244 on Horseshoe Street is where the Seventh Street Courthouse is located.
Black roof, slightly old wooden two-story building, vines winding up the wall corners, covering half of the wall with green in the summer, but now withered brown stems make the whole building appear desolate.
Only the sculpture of the St. Muto with rough workmanship in front of the door reminds people that this is a solemn place.
Although it is only an ordinary third-class courthouse that can only handle trivial cases, it is still the first step in Albert's career.
Who knows, one day Albert might enter the noble court and make fair judgments on cases even the king would attend.
Albert had visited the first noble court in the new district of Flondeck, where a single trial room is big enough to accommodate three hundred people.
It is said that there is a wizard in the noble court who is proficient in mental magic and can easily make even the most stubborn and cunning person speak the truth about the facts.
God, a wizard! Albert has never seen such a mysterious person.
No matter which country it was, wizards were a rare sight, like oases in a desert. It was worth boasting just to have a conversation with them.
The heating was on full blast in the courtroom. Albert took off his coat and stuffed his sheepskin bag into the drawer of his desk. He nodded at the several record keepers who greeted him and then proceeded towards the office of the presiding judge.
Albert couldn't tell if it was because of the bad weather causing the wooden planks of the corridor to rot, or if it was his excited mood, but he felt like he was stepping on smooth wool felt, soft and fluffy.
Today is the day he appears in court for the first time as a prosecutor.
The presiding judge, Baron Ross Silva, was a lean and sharp old man. Upon seeing Albert, he closed the large notebook in front of him and motioned for him to close the door.
"Sir Fraley, what are your thoughts on the case you are responsible for?" Judge Silva pushed his glasses up his nose and asked.
Albert has been studying this case that is about to go to trial for a long time.
Two young barons had gotten drunk at a bar and assaulted, tortured, and raped a young girl in an alleyway. The girl's father arrived upon hearing the commotion, and then something even more tragic happened.
The young men, overcome by alcohol, punched and kicked the father of a young girl until patrolmen intervened. By then, the poor old man had taken his last breath.
At first glance, this seems like a simple case of violent assault, and even as nobles, the accused will have difficulty avoiding legal consequences.
According to the Noble Code, any lower-ranking noble who causes the death of a commoner can only avoid death by paying a hefty sum and performing long-term hard labor.
However, the key point is that the victim, the young girl's elderly father, is not purely human, but rather a sub-species called a Goethean.
Goetheans look like ordinary people at first glance, but often have small scales in concealed parts of their bodies or bone protrusions on their foreheads.The first Goethean in the canon of the Church of Light was Judas, the traitor who betrayed the Son.
His bloodline was cursed, and his descendants henceforth possessed non-human characteristics.
Over time, while Goetheans are no longer indiscriminately hunted and killed like before, they are still viewed as a lowly class. Imperial law does not recognize non-human races as citizens eligible for rights, a non-negotiable iron rule established by the founder of the Byron Empire, Komo I, who was known in historical records as an obstinate human supremacist.
As a result, the young men who are still being held in custody are feeling proud and claiming that they will not make any compensation in order to uphold the dignity of humanity and the emperor.
After all, the astronomical numbers set by the legal code for compensation are painful for ordinary noble families to bear.
Nevertheless, a living being has died, and how to deliver a fair judgment that upholds legal justice while not offending the royal face is a headache for any judge.
This is also the reason why the case, after being delayed for several months by the First Noble Court, was transferred to the Third-Class Court.
The Seventh Street Court, whose qualifications were not enough to handle such cases, naturally became the sacrificial lamb to cover for the higher-ups.
And Albert believed he had also become one of the sacrificial lambs.
As a rookie prosecutor, he was the perfect candidate for sacrifice.
“He's a great kid, but from now on, he'll have to say goodbye to his position in the court. Maybe the dismissal fee can give him a little extra.”The court leader has already imagined Albert's fate. “Prosecutor, I hope you can be rigorous in your role and not make any laughable moves in court.” He looked at Albert with pity.
“I understand.” Albert nodded determinedly. He knew this was a trap, but he also knew it was a huge opportunity.
Putting on the black robe that symbolized justice and solemnity, with the light grey wig made of horsehair, standing in front of the mirror, Albert felt extremely confident.
'The stage is set and this will be my first performance. I can't mess it up.' He silently prayed as he pushed open the door leading to the courtroom.
The hearing room was already full of people. Many important figures had condescended to come to this dilapidated place.
The two defendants stood in the dock, indifferent, whispering to each other from time to time.
The other lamb in the script: the presiding judge, was an old man who was about to retire. He sat weakly in his seat and announced, in a muffled voice,
"Court is now in session."
In court, lawyers and prosecutors are like gladiators in the arena, never giving up until defeating their opponents completely.
The lawyer for the delinquents interrogated the witness for the prosecution, who was the young girl who had lost both her virginity and her father.
"Ma'am, may I ask if you have any Goethean ancestry?" the lawyer asked.
"It was them, they killed my father," the girl repeated.
"Please answer my question. Do you have any Goethean ancestry?"
"It was them who killed my father," she replied once more.
"All evidence indicates that you have half Goethean blood, and your father was a pure-blood Goethean," the lawyer stated.
"They killed my father!" the girl screamed in anger, her beautiful gray eyes seeming to shoot flames and her white teeth biting her lips, drawing blood. "Why don't you focus on the culprits and their crimes, and pick a better day for the gallows, instead of being concerned about my poor father's bloodline?"
Looking at the out-of-control girl, the lawyer smiled with satisfaction and made a graceful gesture to indicate the end of the questioning.
Albert remained silent, constantly writing something on his paper.
The lawyer then called several witnesses who provided ironclad proof that the victim was indeed a Goethean person who was not protected by the law. The lawyer even shouted, "If my client is guilty, then does this absurd court and everyone here want to ignore the greatness of the Emperor Komo and challenge the royal prestige?"
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Albert remained silent from beginning to end. In the eyes of everyone at the courtroom, the prosecutor had already failed, a rookie completely shut down by the lawyer, destined to become a joke in the legal world after-dinner conversations.
It was not until the presiding judge asked if the defendant should be declared innocent and released that Albert spoke for the first time.
He said, "The merciful King George VII, the father of the current holy king, once added a rule to the law that prohibits the slaughter of any rare animal."
It is well known that the previous emperor was a monarch who loved painting and poetry, and his sensitive, artistic temperament made him love all things vibrant in the world. Not only did he have generous policies that reduced taxes for the people, but he also issued notifications to protect various endangered animals in the realm.
In the southern part of the empire, the "Heavenly Bird," with its beautiful feathers that were perfect for decorating noblewomen's hats, was brought back from the brink of extinction, thanks to the protection under this law.
"The defendant disregarded the laws of the former emperor and slaughtered precious animals like the Goethean? Can anyone here tolerate such a crime? " Albert exclaimed.
The noisy courtroom suddenly fell silent, and everyone was stunned. A rookie like Albert actually used animal protection laws in a criminal case!
"According to the defense's argument, Goethean are lowly creatures not worthy of protection. My goodness, what have you done? You have raped an animal?" Albert exclaimed with exaggeration. "Only heathens can commit such a filthy act. God above, this will be punished by the stake!"
The Bright Church, which was above all kings and lords, clearly specified in its doctrine that all animal-human sexual activities were prohibited.
It is not uncommon for nobles to lose their titles because they have favored orc slaves.
Sitting in the audience, the Bishop of the Flondeck region who was invited to attend closed his eyes devoutly, crossed himself on the chest and murmured, "May the Holy Fire of The Abyss purify the sins of the guilty."
The lawyer, who had fallen from heaven into hell in an instant, suddenly felt that admitting to the charge of murder seemed much less severe than the prosecutor's accusations.
"Thank you for getting justice for my father, but I still curse you because you insulted my father's reputation," said the Goethean girl as she left the court, then she kissed the rookie prosecutor. Albert felt a hint of bitterness, it was the taste of the girl's tears.
"I knew that young man could do it, but I didn't expect him to be so great," Baron Robert exclaimed with joy to the senior prosecutors who were listening beside him, "He doesn't look like a rookie at all."
Albert won his first case in life, beautifully.
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As the sky gradually darkened, and the dim yellow light from the windows of each household, the sound of children playing at the dining table, and the affectionate scolding of adults were interwoven in the alleys of Flondeck, which made Albert a little confused.
The charcoal fire in the fireplace was burning brightly, and the family sat around the dining table chatting happily. The smell of buttered potatoes and fish soup in the kitchen made the little dog at their feet restless.
How long had it been since he had enjoyed such an atmosphere?
Five years? Or ten years?
His parents' passing left his childhood to end earlier than anyone else's.
Suddenly, Albert longed for Jenny's warmth.
He checked his pocket watch. It was a quarter past five. There was still a long time before Jenny finished work.
Albert wouldn't have wanted the little stray cat to continue working at the bar if it weren't for Jenny's grandmother needing expensive medication all the time.
Although since knowing Albert, Jenny has never gone to a small room with anyone else, but the drunken patrons do not mind squeezing a handful on the sexy bodies of the bar girls as they pass by.
"Just wait a little longer. The salary of an official court magistrate is three times more than that of an apprentice. By then, I will be able to rent a larger apartment and bring her and her grandmother over."
Albert thought as he reached out to touch the sheepskin bag at his waist. It was filled with various herbs from the Far East.
This was one of the hobbies his father had left him.
At that time, his father was almost obsessed with the study of herbs. He tried to combine herbology and alchemy to create a potion that could bring his dead wife back to life.
Resurrection and the soul ultimately belong to the realm of the gods, and until his passed away, no progress was made in this research.
However, there were several interesting discoveries in his father's experimental notes.
Anesthetic soup was one of them.
Boiling a mixture of unique Eastern plants such as Datura and Belladonna in water in a certain proportion can create a concentrated soup that can put people into a deep sleep after drinking it.
For sick and painful patients, a good sleep is better than anything else.
This anesthetic soup was also the only savior for Jenny's grandmother during her unbearable pain, but its high cost prevented Albert from producing it in large quantities.
Since it was still early before the scheduled time, Albert decided to go home first and process some herbs.
In his father's research, Datura needed to undergo more careful processing, otherwise it could be a poison that could cause people to suffer greatly.
Albert's apartment was located on 3rd Street in the old district, and these old houses, which existed when Flondeck was just beginning to prosper, had long since fallen into disrepair. The wealthy families had moved away, leaving behind residents who were mostly laborers and poor clerks.
Compared to the homeless in the slums, they at least had their own houses and could escape the cold winter.
Passing through the entrance hall and carefully climbing the creaking stairs, the room on the second floor, which was thirty square meters, was Albert's home.
The furniture inside was old, and the Baroque-style cutlery cabinet in the corner of the wall was carved with decorative four-leaf patterns that had been worn beyond recognition. The two-tiered shelf demonstrated that this was an antique passed down from his grandfather, and only a viscount deserved a two-tiered cutlery cabinet.
The oak dining table on the other side had also exceeded its lifespan, and the protruding joints and sockets of the base had become loose. Even a slight force could cause it to wobble.
Only the bed was somewhat new, but the ceiling was empty and lacked a bed curtain. Expensive fabrics like that were still a luxury for Albert.
As for the research equipment that Albert owned: a delicate scale, an alcohol lamp, various glass test tubes and filters, and a pot for boiling herbs, all of these things cost him most of his savings.
As Albert stretched and yawned, he realized that it was already late.
He felt anxious thinking about the little stray cat waiting for him.
Flondeck at night was not a safe place, especially with rumors about the Midnight Butcher, a lunatic who roamed around killing people. Although the news was tightly sealed, as a government employee, Albert had heard some things.
That is a madman who specifically appears in the deep night and kills wantonly. It is said that many patrol members have changed their preference for meat because they have seen the bodies mutilated by the butcher.
Instantly, Albert was frightened by one of his own imaginations.
He hastily put on his coat and ran to the Green Agate Square, where he always went to pick up Jenny when she stayed overnight at his apartment. Even though he gave her the key to the apartment, this habit had continued.
"Waiting for the embrace of her lover, hoping to be welcomed back to the castle by him, is every girl's natural right," said Jenny, always looking at Albert with green eyes flowing with laughter, her tone so soft it caressed the treetops like a gentle breeze.
The moon emitted a pale glow, and the frigid wind roamed through the winding alleys, emitting a wailing sound, making the red brick and broken tile houses look particularly desolate in the wind.
The accumulated water dampened the garbage scattered in the streets, causing Albert to stumble a few times.
As he approached the corner of Emerald Square, he collided with something soft, followed by a scream.
Jenny sat on the ground, her hair damp and her small face twisted in fear, without a trace of color. When she saw that the person who knocked her down was Albert, she desperately threw herself into his arms. "Someone is following me," Jenny pointed behind her, trembling violently.
Albert instinctively reached into his pocket and felt around. The only thing he had that could be used as a weapon was a set of keys. This inconspicuous little thing, when tightly gripped in his palm with the pointed end protruding from between his fingers, was just as powerful as a claw.
The street was even quieter under the moonlight, empty, and there was no suspicious person in sight.
But Albert noticed that the cover of the underground waterway in the distance was uncovered. He walked over and looked down, but couldn't see anything in the pitch-black darkness.
Perhaps it was a sanitation worker who forgot to put it back. Albert thought as he used his foot to move the cover back to its original position, feeling angry at this irresponsible behavior.
In the patrol team's records, there were far more people injured by uncovered underground waterways than the elusive butcher's prey.
"I swear, someone was following me just now, and my eyelids kept twitching." Jenny grabbed Albert's clothes corner and secretly looked around. When she was sure no one was there, she breathed a sigh of relief and explained, "You know, this has always been effective. Last time, I almost got hit by a flowerpot blown off the third floor by the wind. It was the twitching of my eyelids that reminded me to be careful."
“Don't worry, maybe it's just a hungry stray dog.” Albert put the key back in his pocket and wrapped Jenny in his coat. Seeing the girl unharmed, his heart, which had been beating heavily, finally calmed down.
"Ouch." Jenny frowned, her foot just twisted, and she leaned against Albert, complaining, "Liar, you said you'd come to pick me up as soon as the tavern closed, but you're only here now." As she spoke, she twisted the tender flesh around Albert's waist a few times to vent her grievances.
"Mary sister disappeared at night, be careful I disappear one day too." Even after Albert carried her on his back, Jenny's mouth didn't stop. When this girl gets angry, she's like a temperamental little cat.
"Okay, I'll rub it for you later and soak your feet in hot water." Albert knew that if he didn't change the subject quickly, she would keep talking all night. "I changed the bed sheets today." Albert hinted.
Jenny's complaints disappeared, and after a while, she leaned her head close to her lover's ear and said angrily, "If you're responsible for breakfast tomorrow, we can do it three times, or maybe four times if you can handle it."
Jenny's hair made Albert's neck itchy, and he suddenly felt that the road from Green Agate Square to home seemed a bit too long.