Chương 21: The Room Is Yours

Verin Dast rose, and did something odd. He stepped out into the gangway between our tables, and then approached the magistrate's desk, so that he stood in front of the advocates' desks.

"These two points I can answer quickly, Magistrate," he started.

"I do not argue that the land where the broken wall is, is part of the Bellandi concession. Further, let me now and unequivocally admit that these items come from that chamber. I even insist that they are formally recognised as such." At this, everybody in the room who was not Verin Dast looked up, startled. But before we had time to truly consider his admission and insistence, Dast continued.

"But I would like to clarify one point for the record before we continue. Master Cesare here shared with the hearing that Messirs Vale and Corso are unemployed, and that is not true." Huh? We are not?

"They are, in fact, treasure hunters. Adventurers. And they were acting as, and executing their calling as, treasure hunters, when their path happened to take them into, through, and past Bellandi lands two nights ago. As treasure hunters, Magistrate, they claim the standing that ius expeditionis affords their calling: the right of traversal, and the duties that follow from it, which they have already discharged. This is one of two facts I would like to present to this hearing," he said, and turned to Cesare Vieri.

"As I don't need three." He turned back to face the magistrate.

"So let us start with fact one. My clients are, as I shared, treasure hunters. There is a long-established tradition in Varenza that treasure hunters, relic hunters, and other adventurers sometimes travel through land that is not theirs. Every piece of land and every property in Varenza and its surrounds is owned by someone, somewhere.

If we prevented their traversal, or expected every travelling adventurer to verify the ownership of all the land they walked through, we would be battling monsters at the city's walls. The very reason why we are graced with them and their ilk having been pushed into the wilderness, is because adventurers are given implicit, if not explicit, permission to travel through another man's land." The magistrate did not look impressed so far.

Neither did Advocate Vieri, who stood up, waiting patiently to be recognised by the magistrate. She gestured to him.

"I applaud Advocate Dast for throwing mud into the water, but I want to add two counter-arguments here. First: adventuring law protects only those who hold a relevant Class, or those registered with the collegium. My learned colleague says 'treasure hunters' as if the words alone can conjure those rights. Let him name the qualifying Class, or point to their name in the collegium lists, and let us see it stand up to scrutiny. Second, and more importantly, cuius est solum, eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos.

There was no traversal through Bellandi lands. It was into, and they stayed there." The magistrate gave the Bellandi advocate a nod at this, and it was obvious she followed and agreed with that reasoning.

"The qualification must be established," she said.

"Advocate Dast, are you prepared to do so?"

"Certainly, Magistrate," Dast said.

"We have not had the time to complete the proper registration as an adventuring company, but the qualifying requirement of relevant Class is met." When he turned to me, I felt a fleeting moment of betrayal. I knew immediately what was needed: for me to reveal my Class to the magistrate's inspection. Dast should have warned me that this was part of his plan.

Something nervous inside me squirmed, and I looked at our advocate, who seemed to be leading the hearing directly into a position where I would leave either with nothing but the clothes I was wearing, or the loss of my anonymity. He looked back, imploringly, something in his look asking me to trust him. He knew what he was doing, but he gave me the choice. To trust him or not. He had found the path, but I would need to walk it. This was my decision. In the end, the choice came easily to me.

Any Varenzan learns how to change the information they expose to the world when they are young. For my entire life, I had simply shared my name. The fact of my skill, or my occupation, I had kept concealed from most. It was a small thing to send a mental command into my core, and I nodded at the magistrate when I was ready. Now only she could see it. Marek Vale Class Relic Hunter"I see," Magistrate Bardi said and thought for a moment, then nodded.

"I accept this Class as qualifying for adventuring law." She looked over the room; at us, at the guards and Maestro Bravio, before she turned to the Bellandi advocate.

"For purposes of privacy I will not repeat the name of the Class in this hearing, but I trust you to be satisfied with my interpretation." That was not a question.

"It will also be part of my report, which you will receive later." Vieri bowed. I spoke up.

"Would it be possible…" The magistrate was listening, and nodded at me to continue.

"Would it be possible to keep this information out of the official record?" She considered my request for only a moment.

"Yes," she said simply. And then she turned to Master Cesare.

"And I expect you to maintain this privacy." Again, the Bellandi advocate simply bowed. Verin Dast had waited patiently through this, with a calm expression, and when he continued it was as if the interruption had not happened.

"The second fact, and where we get to the interesting part of our argument, we find in an older ruling made in this very building some twenty-one years ago." He reached into his coat and brought out two documents. One he handed to Cesare Vieri, the other to the magistrate.

"Maffei against Orsini," he said. He stood still for some heartbeats, letting the magistrate and the advocate read his reference. I noticed a slight tension coming over the Bellandi advocate's bearing, and the magistrate sat back ever so slightly in her chair, a small smile playing on her face. Dast continued.

"As you can read from this document, in Maffei v. Orsini, twenty-one years ago, Iudex Celi ruled as follows: Orsini, a carpenter, owned the surface and the workshop above; the artificial cellar beneath was unknown to him, absent from every map and property record, and unknown even to the city surveyors.

Maffei, his neighbour, found his own way into that cellar from his own property and used it as a privy, and in an explicit and intentional exception to the cuius est solum principle quoted by my esteemed colleague, Celi held that Maffei could keep it as its finder." Dast had said these words on a single breath, his excitement carrying the string of words. He now paused and breathed in, a grin on his face. I looked up at the magistrate. She was in deep thought, and I could see her writing something down.

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"It follows," Dast continued, his grin no smaller, "that what lies under a property is not automatically part of the formal land grant. I will not pretend my clients entered by accident; they entered deliberately, as adventurers pursuing their calling, into a chamber that is likely to have been built before the city of Varenza, and that no deed, survey, or schedule records. They filed notice of their claim at first bell today, before any apprehension and seizure, and they have offered compensation for the wall.

And that leaves us with a legal knot that has suddenly become undone by itself: In this dispute of title, the laws and precedents of Varenza give us a straightforward answer. Sers Vale and Corso have finders' rights that give them ownership of the chamber itself and any items found within." Vieri stood, this time not waiting to be recognised before speaking.

"My colleague has a way with words, that is for sure. That was a nice speech, which somehow forgot to mention that these two men entered Bellandi lands, then they broke through a wall, before sneaking away into the night. Maffei was about a neighbour tunnelling from his own property, which is hardly relevant here."

"My clients," Dast replied, calmly and efficiently, "are ready to compensate Bellandi for the wall with their most sincere apologies. But here again, I refer back to my first point. Adventurers, treasure hunters and their like will sometimes need to act in haste to achieve their goals. Nothing new here, and the tradition is that as long as any damage is compensated, that is the end of it."

"Regardless—" Advocate Vieri responded, but Bardi raised her hand.

"Master Vieri. The grant. Does it enumerate the foundations and inspection voids?"

"It does, Madam Magistrate. A schedule of vaults and voids, surveyed and sealed at the grant's renewal."

"Is this chamber on the schedule?" A pause.

"It is not," Vieri said.

"Because the grant speaks of the whole structure. The schedule is a list of rooms and structures, not a boundary."

"That is Maffei exactly," Dast replied.

"The chamber is not Bellandi property described imperfectly. It is, so far as any record in the world is concerned, nowhere."" They broke through the wall," Superior Advocate Vieri was worked up now, leaning over his desk and speaking in the short, clipped tone of one who was holding down his temper. He took a deep breath and was about to launch into another argument, when Bardi held her hand up. The room went quiet, except for Corso's knee bouncing up and down. I put a hand on it, and it stopped.

"This is what we are going to do," the magistrate said at last.

"First. The court finds no sufficient ground to hold these men as thieves. Master Vale has shown a relevant Class before this bench, and it follows that ius expeditionis applies: the breaking of a wall, in the execution of that calling, can be compensated in florins." She looked down at her desk.

"Vieri, you will see from the notification made to the registry this morning that it also includes a self-declaration of damage to the wall, made before any apprehension, and I find that this is sufficient to satisfy the requirements — for now." I breathed out slowly, but the magistrate must have heard me, and she looked to us.

"Sers, I expect compensation to be paid in full, and swiftly." I nodded, as Corso muttered assent.

"Furthermore," she continued.

"And now we approach the heart of the dispute. I find Advocate Dast's application of Maffei inspired, and possibly relevant. However, I do not accept a state of things where adventurers and fortune seekers can traipse around our city and knock down walls at will when they think there is treasure to be found. I do not believe this was the original intent of the Signoria, and I do not want my ruling to establish that precedent. I declare the question of ownership of the items escalated from magistrate to iudex.

It follows that the items in question pass into the court's keeping. They will be inventoried and sealed. Breaking that seal will follow from the iudex's ruling." What? I looked at Corso, who looked back at me. They are confiscating our items? But before I had time to think further, the magistrate continued.

"Third, and lastly, the chamber itself. Mirroring my ruling on the items: I find the method of entry suspect. Even if I suspect Maffei is at least partially applicable, I also recognise the need for a precedent issued by an iudex. The chamber is closed. Neither party shall enter it, remove from it, repair it, destroy it, or materially alter it." The Bellandi advocate stood, and Bardi recognised him.

"Madam Magistrate," Vieri said smoothly, "we must be able to secure our own bridge. There is now a hole in the abutment wall."

"Then secure it," Bardi said.

"The Bellandi may fence, board, guard, and seal their own approach, on their own side of the broken masonry. Their works stop there. One brick past it, and the court will consider it trespass." This time, Verin Dast stood and waited to be recognised.

"The petition of first entry and finding," Dast said carefully, "stands?"

"It stands, for now. It was correctly registered. Its implications and standing are something for a iudex to consider. That was well manoeuvred, Advocate Dast." Then she looked at her clerk and gave a nod, and he rang a small bell. And then it was over. * In the corridor, Dast leaned against the wall, smiling with his eyes shut.

"What happened in there?" Corso asked.

"The room is yours. Perhaps. I think so. She leaned towards us, but took the careful way out." Corso looked at the ceiling.

"The room is under their bridge."

"Yes."

"They own the hole down to the room."

"They own the approach," Dast said.

"Their own side of the broken masonry. And for now, your claim lives. I need to do some work now. I think Maffei will be strong in the trial, but I have a couple of other ideas." He paused, looking at us.

"Knocking down that wall…" He laughed, obviously delighted.

"That gives me another puzzle to solve." Vieri passed us on his way out and stopped.

"Master Dast. Maffei was well found. I had forgotten about that privy." Then he left, and behind him we walked out into the square. The afternoon had arrived while we were inside the hearing rooms, and sunlight filtered through the buildings around us. We said our good-byes to Dast, and went to a stall where Corso purchased two hot pastries with some of our last coppers. When he turned back from the stall towards me, he found me staring out into the distance.

"Corso," I said, accepting the pastry.

"What now? We apparently owe for the repair of a wall. I have nowhere to live, we have no jobs. They took our relics."

"Eat," he said, grinning.

"And then I have something for you." His hand went into his pocket, and he held it up. A ring. A golden signet ring. From the chamber.

"I put it on," he said at last, quietly.

"Down there. And then when we left I forgot about it, and it was there until we visited the assessor. When I saw what was about to happen, I slipped it into my boot."

"The court's order says two bronze rings," I said, looking at the ring reflecting the sunlight.

"This was never in the satchel. Marek, if they'd found it on me—""They didn't. Sit down." He sat, and held the ring out to me. I picked it up and triggered my skill and the sense came up through my fingers, cold and exact. RELIC LINK DETECTED Relationship CACHE Target Type Military disbursement station Bearing East / Beyond the walls Estimated Salvage 12, 000–50, 000 florins"Marek." Corso's voice came from somewhere above me.

"You're white. What is it?"