Chương 421: (414) 6.28. Smoke and Mirrors

"Well, I'd say things are going fairly well out there," Spur said after the five of them had moved to a tiny, isolated room built into the back of the courthouse.

"Let's take a few minutes to make things feel more official before we go out there and give our verdict."

"Uh… Aren't we supposed to, you know, deliberate and all that?" Vin asked, glancing between the four other council members.

"Oh, we already made our decision yesterday," Spur said, waving a hand dismissively.

"Golrim, Abby, and the rest of us came together and talked it all out, coming to an agreement as to the best course of action. We're going to go with a permanent, modified exile. With the exception of the remaining monster waves, Waltz won't be allowed within Terra's walls. However, he will be allowed to remain within the Bands' little offshoot village directly adjacent to Terra and the fragment as a whole. We figure that's a decent enough compromise that will keep everyone happy."

Vin merely stood there with his jaw dropped, staring at Spur as the Commander picked up a cup of tea someone had prepared for him and began sipping at it. Sputtering, Vin tried to say three different things all at the same time.

"But the trial… you all… why didn't anyone tell me?!"

"We actually sent a runner to go get you, but Scule informed us that you'd all but locked yourself in your new basement and were busy working on a new spell," Alice admitted, giving him an apologetic smile.

"…He also threatened to poison the town's water supply if we interrupted his morning again, so we decided it was best not to force the issue and to just explain everything once we all gathered here during the 'deliberation.'""Okay. That's fair enough," Vin admitted, remembering how he'd told Scule to turn away anyone who showed up unless it was a genuine emergency.

"But still, regardless of springing this on me… Is nobody ashamed that this entire trial is a farce? I mean, doesn't that just feel wrong to anyone?"

"You're looking at this the wrong way," Witherson said.

"It's not so much a farce as us showcasing the exact discussion we all had yesterday, prettied up and with a bow on top. We made it clear under no uncertain terms that the decision as to what was going to happen to Waltz was entirely up to us as the council. What does it matter if we already made the decision ahead of time?"

"It would be a different matter if we brought witnesses up who chimed in with information we weren't already aware of, but like I told everyone, this isn't Earth," Spur explained.

"We already knew all the facts of the case. The trial's primary purpose was to show everyone that, and to ensure the Bands watching in the audience felt like they were being justly represented. They might be slightly annoyed at the news that Waltz is being exiled from Terra, but hearing how he will be allowed to remain the de-facto mayor of their offshoot village should alleviate that."

"I even rigged the 'lottery'," Alice snorted.

"You think it was a coincidence that almost a third of the people in the audience are Bands when the Bands don't even make up a fifth of the population of Terra? Like Spur said, this whole thing is for them." Vin could only shake his head, utterly blown away at the revelation. While he followed what they were saying and even agreed with them to an extent, the fact that Terra's first official trial was little more than a theatre act just felt weird to him.

Though he supposed the courtroom's layout that made it feel like an actual theatre suddenly made a lot more sense.

"Okay… so is Curash's trial following Waltz' the same?" Vin asked, looking between his fellow council members.

"Anyone want to cue me in on how I'm supposed to feel about that one?"

"Actually… Curash's trial is going to be legitimate," Spur said slowly, looking like he still wasn't the biggest fan of the idea.

"What happened with Waltz was rather cut and dry, and beyond some temporary pain, nobody was really hurt. Even if everything Curash did was just because he was following orders, his actions still resulted in the deaths of innocent people. With the existence of truth-gems and the like, we don't want to shoot ourselves in the foot later on by deciding what to do about such a complex situation without allowing others to weigh in.

The last thing we need is someone with a Historian class or anything similar to go digging a few months or even years from now and try to find a smoking gun they can use to put a crack in Terra's founding."

"So… does that mean Golrim is going up on trial as well?" Vin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I mean, he literally commanded Curash to do what he did. The man is soul-bound, Curash didn't really have a say in his actions."

"People always have a say in their actions," Phil said curtly, chiming in for the first time.

"We already checked with Curash himself, he confirmed the soul-bond doesn't prevent him from taking his own life if it came to that. Though more importantly, by his own admittance, he didn't even argue with Golrim all that hard about the plan to create the Red Dawn in the first place. He accepts full responsibility for what he did, and for that reason, we're not going to mention the soul-bond or Golrim's involvement at all." This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

"Golrim is a special case," Spur said carefully.

"Obviously he did a lot of bad things before joining us, but the fact of the matter is that Golrim has become too critical a resource to risk losing at this stage in Terra's growth. Not even including the long weeks of dedicated work and sleepless nights handling town logistics, the man has literally given blood, sweat, and tears fighting for us at this point time and time again.

We believe if anyone ends up uncovering the tie between Golrim and the Red Dawn down the line, we'll be able to show everything the man has done for Terra as well. He's a genuine redemption story. The tale of a changed man. And the fact of the matter is all Golrim really did was come up with the idea of the Red Dawn. It was Curash who made the idea a reality. You can't very well put a man on trial for having an idea."

"So that's the defense we're going with, huh?" Vin asked. Spur at least had the decency to look a tad embarrassed, but Vin merely sighed, nodding his understanding. Just like with this whole trial business to begin with, he didn't like it, but he understood why it had to be done.

"Alright, I'm with you guys on everything thus far. Any other bombshells you want to drop on me, or are we good to get back out there? Once all this is said and done, I think I need to go hit up a brand-new fragment or two just to clear my head and get away from all this for a bit."

"Nope, no more bombshells," Alice said, clapping him on the back.

"But remember, Curash's trial is legitimate. None of us know how that is going to go down, so don't feel too guilty about all this." That actually did make Vin feel a little better, and he nodded, following Spur as he led them back out into the courtroom. Their entire deliberation hadn't even taken up ten minutes, but that was long enough that most of the crowd was on the edge of their seats, eagerly waiting to hear the announcement.

Waltz himself clearly hadn't been privy to the knowledge that his fate had already been decided, as the tired beastkin looked up at them with nervous eyes.

"The council has reached a verdict," Spur said, standing and ensuring everyone's eyes were on him.

"In light of all that Waltz has already done in the defense of Terra and her people, as well as the fact that his actions resulted in no deaths or lasting injuries, we as a council have decided that Waltz shall receive a permanent, modified exile from Terra's walls. He will be allowed to remain within our fragment, and is welcome to continue living within the Bands' offshoot village nearby.

However, beyond the remaining monster waves, he will no longer be allowed within Terra's walls, unless during other such emergencies as declared by the council. That is our judgment, and the judgement is final." Waltz let out a massive sigh of relief at hearing that he wasn't going to be kicked out of the Bands' small village, and the vast majority of the audience stood up, clapping and cheering at the council's decision.

To the Earthers in the crowd who wanted to see just punishment, hearing that Waltz wouldn't usually be allowed within Terra's walls going forward was a huge win. To the Bands who were scared of losing their leader, hearing that he would still be presiding over their village was all they cared about. Looking around at all the happy faces, Vin had to admit.

Even if the trial was more for show than anything, it seemed Spur's idea to allow everyone to view the different sides of the argument and see judgement being cast was probably a good idea. Of course, that might change with the trial to come. While Abby had one of her guards escort Waltz out of town, seeing as he was officially exiled and no longer allowed to be within Terra's walls, not a single person in the audience got up to follow him out.

The happy smiles and excited eyes had rapidly shifted to anger and impatience as they waited for the next defendant to be brought out before them. A few of the guards monitoring the audience looked worried, as though only just realizing that if the few hundred people in the audience were to form an angry mob, the guard wouldn't really stand a chance at holding them back.

"With the matter of Waltz out of the way, it is time to begin today's second and final trial," Spur announced, giving everyone a hard look.

"I doubt this needs to be said, but any attempt to interfere with our trial will be met with swift and appropriate consequences. We're not running a circus here. Though I admit I'd love to meet the person who thinks they could take on myself, Phil, and the Roamer, all at the same time." The quick reminder that three of the most powerful people in all of Terra were presiding over the trial did a number on calming down some of the unrest that was spreading across the crowd, and Spur turned to nod toward Abby.

The vice-captain of the guard vanished into the back rooms once more, before returning with Curash in tow. Like Waltz, Curash's bow and arrows were nowhere to be seen, but Vin knew that wouldn't stop the man if he felt as though he had good reason to kill anyone. Above all else, Curash was dangerous. The twice-prestiged Hunter of Men was the only other person in all of Edregon Vin had encountered who moved like Alka did.

He'd seen his fair share of deadly warriors, but only Alka and Curash fought as though combat came as natural as breathing to them. They were genuine prodigies, and forces to be reckoned with. As Curash took his position on the central platform, Spur continued.

"Just like with the previous trial, we will have someone speak for and against Curash. Though as the man's crimes before you all are far more serious, and the elements surrounding this case are much more complicated, we ask all of you to listen carefully to the following accounts. The Bands were far more impacted by the Red Dawn than we Earthers were, so in the effort of fairness, we asked ahead of time for the Bands to come together and elect a speaker to speak against the defendant.

Speaker, if you would approach the platform?" Vin watched as a dwarf he didn't recognize got up, nodding at a few hands that clapped him on the back or squeezed his arm as he made his way out of the crowd and walked forward. The man chosen to speak for the Bands wore dirty leathers that looked as though they'd never even heard of the word 'water', but his beard was neatly braided. Giving a slight bow to the council once he was on the platform, the dwarf cleared his throat.

"My name is Vurnon, and like you all, I value my time as well, so I'll keep this brief." Thrusting a finger toward Curash, Vurnon scowled.

"This man needs to die."