Chương 420: (413) 6.27. Take the Stand

"We will now begin Terra's first official trial," Spur declared, his eyes slowly scanning over the crowd of people packed into the newly built courtroom before he motioned toward Abby.

"Bring in the first defendant." As Abby motioned for her guards to fetch Waltz, Vin did his best not to look like he was incredibly uncomfortable while he took in his surroundings. The courtroom layout was fairly simple, designed almost more like a theatre with seating available on the ground level, as well as a second layer of seats on the next floor up.

This allowed for far more people to squeeze themselves into Terra's new courtroom than he had expected, and he was pretty certain they had a good three or four hundred people watching the trials today. Rather than any sort of split section with opposing benches, there was a small platform directly in front of the council where the defendant would be standing so that everyone could see them.

There was also a second platform closer to the council designed for witnesses to take so that their words could reach out and be heard by everyone. And where a judge would normally sit, there was a line of five seats. Spur sat in the dead center with Phil and Alice on either side of him. Witherson sat on the far left, and Vin on the far right, and all of them faced the giant procession going on.

Vin tried not to focus on the hundreds of eyes that he swore were hungrily staring at him more than anyone else as he waited for Waltz to come forward.

"Damn, I think everyone came here just to look at you," Alice leaned over and whispered, grinning at him as she gave him a wink.

"Better not do anything too crazy in front of everyone unless you want some new rumors floating about by dinner time."

"I'll do what I can," Vin murmured back, focusing as Waltz was brought in from one of the temporary holding cells built into the courtroom itself. The beastkin looked pretty much the same as always, other than the fact he was missing his two signature crossbows that were always holstered on his belt. His face was hard and his eyes tired, and he followed Abby's directions without a word as he stepped forward and stood on the indicated platform in the center of the floor.

Vin wasn't sure what Abby's plan was in the event they ever needed to have another one of these trials with someone who wasn't necessarily willing to follow orders peacefully, but he supposed he'd just have to wait until such an event unfolded in order to find out. As soon as Waltz was in position, Spur raised a hand, and the mass of whispers and hushed voices ceased.

"From my first day here on Edregon, I've made no attempts to hide the fact that I'm not really one for proper procedure or formality," Spur called out, his voice easily carrying across the large courtroom and up to the second floor of seats.

"That said, this is a serious matter, and there are thousands of people outside this room who would happily accept an offered seat in order to watch what is going on in here. During the trial, Terra's guards will be monitoring the audience. If anyone decides this trial is an appropriate place to make a fool of themselves or cause a disruption, you will be escorted out, and your seat given to a more respectable citizen of Terra."

Vin felt like he was back in a classroom for a moment as Spur paused to look around, allowing his words the chance to sink in. Once he was satisfied he'd gotten his point across, he nodded.

"Excellent. Now, with that out of the way, let's make one more thing I've been saying since my first day here crystal clear. This is not Earth. We will be doing things our way, and the council's word is law. The sole purpose of this public trial is to give everyone the chance to see the different sides of the story and better understand why we make what judgements we make. Regardless of what anyone else in this room thinks, at the end of the day, the council's word is final.

That's how Terra has survived and thrived up until now, and it's how we are going to continue to do so. We are one town, one people, and one hell of a force of nature when we work together!"

"Wow, it's easy to forget Spur is actually a pretty competent leader when he rarely does stuff like this," Alice muttered as hundreds of Terra's citizens throughout the crowd started clapping and cheering as Spur thrust a fist into the air to finish up his speech. Vin merely nodded, watching the patriotic crowd as they got that out of their system and the cheers eventually died down.

"The trial is going to be simple," Witherson called out, taking over to explain some of the finer details.

"As the defendant is one of the Bands, the person speaking for him shall be one as well. The person speaking against will be Abby, our very own vice-captain of the guard. Waltz has agreed upon both of the members selected to speak here today, and we as a council have also noted how cooperative and helpful he has been regarding this entire ordeal since the incident that took place yesterday.

As a twice-prestiged Scout, it is no secret that Waltz is arguably the fastest person in all of Terra at this moment, naturally, with the lone exception of the Roamer. If Waltz wanted to, turning and running away from all this would be a trivial matter for him." This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work. Vin tried not to frown or glare at Witherson as he felt everyone's eyes once again jump from Waltz over to himself instead.

While it was true he could probably beat Waltz in a race if he utilized Redirect Gravity to fall across the fragment, he didn't really think that was all that fair of a comparison.

"This will be a fairly simple ordeal. We'll hear the different viewpoints, potentially call on a few people to speak for or against Waltz' behalf if we believe such a thing is necessary, and then we as a council will make our judgement," Spur explained.

"This is not going to be a multiday event. All of us here have important things we need to be doing in order to strengthen ourselves and the town before the next monster wave, so we will do our best to keep things short but fair. With that in mind, and without further ado, we will begin. First, speaking on Waltz' behalf, we have Golrim. A well-known figure within Terra's walls, former advisor to the king of his old kingdom, and former leader of the Bands before they merged with Terra."

There was a polite round of applause, from both the Bands and the Earthers throughout the audience, as Golrim stood up and walked forward, nodding toward the council as he took his spot on the second platform facing both the council and most of the crowd.

"Like Spur, I intend to keep things brief," Golrim said, gazing unflinching at the hundreds of faces staring at him.

"For those of you who were not aware, after finally escaping from the horrific prison we were trapped within, some of us for countless years, the Bands were then made to suffer at the hands of the Red Dawn. As a talented Scout, Waltz was one of our small village's first defenses against the bloodthirsty marauders, and he witnessed first hand just what horrors the Red Dawn were capable of time and time again.

Not only that, but he'd viewed Curash, the former leader of the Red Dawn, as something of a close friend during his time locked away. It was a combination of that betrayal and the terrible acts he'd witnessed that led to his desire for revenge. When he realized Curash had arrived in Terra, he didn't think about collateral damage or the innocent people in the park yesterday. He saw, in his eyes, the face of a monster he'd once trusted and thought of nothing more than putting him down for good.

"I feel it is important to note for the record that while there is no discounting the pain and suffering Waltz caused with his actions, not a single member of Terra was permanently wounded or killed from his actions," Golrim continued.

"Frank has already finished healing up each of the wounded citizens. With that in mind, seeing as Waltz' actions didn't result in any death or permanent damage, I believe a simple call for a temporary exile from Terra is more than fair, at least until the upcoming battle for wave seven. The council should take into account everything that Waltz has done for the Bands and Terra's citizens all this time.

Any combat classes who fought the last few waves of monsters would have witnessed Waltz running around, utilizing his impressive speed and accuracy to help out those wherever he could." There was another wave of polite clapping, and a large number of nodding heads as Golrim turned to nod toward the council once more, before leaving the platform and heading back to his seat. As Spur gave the audience a chance to whisper to one another, Vin leaned over toward Alice.

"That's it? I always thought these sorts of things were supposed to take ages. What about evidence? Arguing lawyers? Stuff like that?"

"Spur said it himself, we've all got far more important stuff to be doing than spending the next week here at trial," Alice shrugged, giving Abby a curious look.

"There's more here going on that you're not aware of. I'll explain later once everyone is done talking."

"Now then," Spur said, silencing the last few whispers.

"Speaking on behalf of Terra and those who were temporarily injured, we will now hear from Abby. Another well-known figure within Terra's walls. One of the first guards appointed by myself back before we even had an official town guard, and now the vice-captain of the guard, serving under Phil." There was another polite smattering of applause, and Vin almost laughed out loud when it became apparent that Golrim had received a warmer welcome than Abby.

Neither of them were necessarily saints, but there was no question Golrim had caused far more chaos in the past few months with his actions than Abby had.

"Golrim has already explained why Waltz did what he did, so I won't waste any time on that," Abby said after reaching the platform. The guard stood ramrod straight as she faced the gathered citizens, her gaze cold and hard.

"The fact of the matter is that Waltz shot twenty-six people during his attack on Curash. Regardless of the reasons why he did what he did or the fact that those twenty-six people have since been healed by Frank, that is not a small-scale attack that the council should take lightly. With that in mind, I feel it is only appropriate to suggest a full, permanent exile from not only Terra, but from our entire fragment as well.

Taking Waltz' impressive speed into account, if he is allowed to remain anywhere even remotely close to town, then nobody within our walls can truly feel safe. That is all." There was another small wave of applause that sounded almost caught off guard as Abby finished speaking and left the platform practically all in one breath. Vin knew the vice-captain of the guard wasn't one to mince words, but even he was surprised with how succinct she'd been.

"Having heard the two different viewpoints, the council believes this matter is cut and dry enough that we don't require any witnesses or further arguments in order to make our decision," Spur said, silencing everyone as he stood up, motioning for the rest of the council to do so as well.

"We will take a few minutes to deliberate and then give our verdict. We have one more trial we need to cover today that is a tad more complicated, so we won't be long."