Do you have a problem with necromancers?

Chapter 31 There is a conspiracy

With Bersalia's help, Dia settled the artisans and laborers she had poached from Searock City at high salaries throughout the city.

The knights' quarters were to be a separate two-story watchtower on the outskirts of Bloodfortress, designated as a knights' camp, which was subsequently taken over and managed by Ellina—to repay a favor she owed to Renn.

Iron Harbor City is surrounded by mountains to the north and borders the sea to the south. Therefore, the southern city wall runs along the coastline, while the northern city wall follows the mountain slope, making the entire city long and narrow.

Ellina divided the city into three sections: the west, central, and east, assigning them to knights and squires on a rotating basis. Patrols were conducted in three shifts, and full armor was required; removing armor to slack off was not permitted.

These attendants were all teenagers of sixteen or seventeen, most of them still looking quite young. But once they put on leather armor inlaid with steel plates and shouldered iron swords and shields, they immediately looked like fierce and menacing men, drawing stares from passersby.

After all, it was to repay a favor, and Elrina was doing her best. She personally led the patrol in the morning, explaining to the knights and squires:

"A knight's fighting ability depends on his physique, equipment, skills, and bravery."

"Of all qualities, courage is the most important. For even if a sheep grows sharp claws and teeth, it is still just a herbivorous sheep."

“You are still young and your bodies have not fully developed, so it is not suitable for you to participate in the tempering of iron and fire. Therefore, we will start with patrolling and guarding the city.”

"Remember the way the common people around you look at you. It's cowardice, it's fear, it's the look of sheep looking at lions."

"Treat yourself like a lion!"

The knights and squires looked around and saw that the commoners were indeed looking at them with fear and timidity. They couldn't help but straighten their chests and felt their hearts filled with boundless courage.

Inside the castle, Dia and Bersalia have begun to assume the responsibilities of lords, listening to the petitions and demands of their people.

Seeing the two men fighting on the sidelines, Dia couldn't help but sigh and told the castle servants to quickly separate them.

"Your Honor, we beg you to uphold justice!" one of them cried. "This neighbor was having an affair with my wife, and when I found out, he beat me up. Please punish his evil deeds severely!"

“My lord, you have the best eye!” another man exclaimed. “His wife seduced me first, and then he suddenly barged in, demanding 10 gold crown coins from me! Where would I get that much money!”

The two argued more and more fiercely, and it seemed they were about to start fighting. The wife, standing nearby, immediately burst into tears, saying pitifully:
"What seduction? That's completely untrue. My neighbor had malicious intentions towards me first, and then turned around and framed me. I don't want to live anymore..."

Dia felt a terrible headache coming on. She thought the woman was crying so pitifully that she probably wasn't lying.

"Besalia, what do you think?" she asked the dark elf, turning to her.

Bersalia smiled slightly. The Dark Elf race was generally morally deficient; what kind of unruly commoners hadn't the Rose Queen encountered? She quickly interrupted the three's bickering and said authoritatively:
"Since the three of you have conflicting accounts and cannot provide any evidence to prove your innocence, then you shall all be convicted and sentenced to the maximum penalty."

"An unmarried man who commits adultery with a married woman, or a married woman who initiates adultery, shall be sentenced to death by throwing stones at her; those who extort money shall pay ten times the amount in compensation."

The moment the words were spoken, the man and woman sentenced to death froze on the spot.

"Take him away and execute him!" Bersalia waved her hand and said sharply, "Execute him immediately!"

"My lord, please have mercy!" The wife below suddenly collapsed to the ground, sobbing, "It wasn't that I intentionally committed adultery, but that my husband gambled away money and refused to pay it back. He forced me to seduce the neighbors in order to extort money from me! I was completely coerced by him!"

The husband, upon hearing this, refused to admit it and immediately began arguing fiercely with his wife. However, given the suddenness of the incident, how could he possibly come up with a plausible and unconvincing excuse? At one moment, he claimed that there was absolutely no coercion and that his wife was falsely accusing him; at the next moment, he said that his wife was the mastermind and that he had been misled.

Diya observed and listened throughout, and finally confirmed that the couple had conspired to extort money from their neighbor. She then picked up the "Imperial Law" next to her and sentenced the couple to punishment for false accusation and for adultery by their neighbor, and punished them according to the corresponding legal provisions.

"Phew, I almost got fooled." After the trial ended, Dia let out a long sigh of relief and smiled at Bersalia, "Luckily, you saw through the couple's lie."

“Little Dia, let me teach you a lesson.” Bersalia said lazily, resting her chin on her hand, “When you’re sitting in the judge’s seat, upholding justice is the last thing you need to care about.”

"An excellent Minister of Justice can flexibly circumvent the limitations of legal provisions, making the public believe that the law protects everyone's interests; a mediocre Minister of Justice can only mechanically cite legal provisions to adjudicate cases, leaving the public resentful but helpless." "The most unworthy Ministers of Justice are those who possess a strong sense of justice. They blindly favor the weak, even at the cost of angering the strong; the gratitude of the weak is worthless, but the hatred of the strong can weaken the authority of the law and even shake the foundations of the kingdom's rule."

Dia remained awkwardly silent, knowing that Bersalia had keenly noticed the sympathy and pity she had shown when facing the wife who was pretending to cry.

“But it doesn’t matter.” Bersalia stretched and said with a smile, “Because you’re not the Minister of Justice yet, just a minor official in charge of affairs for the Salt Island lord, there’s no need to think so far ahead.”

Daiya nodded, but felt somewhat lost.

She felt that Berthalia's statement was too extreme and did not align with her ideals of law and justice.

But this incident has proven that favoring the vulnerable will only lead to greater trouble.

Just then, the castle butler rushed in.

"Lady Bersalia, Lady Dia." He quickly bowed. "There is something I need to report to you both: a new shipload of corpses has been delivered to the port's fleet base. Nearby residents are claiming that the stench is unbearable. Should we contact the fleet?"

Dia frowned in disgust. She was already aware of Kalicch Faher's penchant for feeding corpses to seagulls. At sea, no one could stop him, but Iron Harbor was Rein's territory. Should she remind Rein to intervene?

Berthalia's thoughts deepened, and she glanced at the castle steward with great interest.

Kalic is Renn's uncle, not someone to be trifled with. Anything that might offend him is best left to Renn's men to handle themselves.

If things escalate and anger Kalic, Ryan can feign innocence and say, "I knew nothing about it; my subordinates were doing it behind my back," thus easing tensions with his uncle.

Being able to quietly arrange an escape route for one's superior is something not everyone can think of.

“I’ll go talk to Raine,” she said, rising gracefully to her feet.

At this moment, Raine was reading a letter in her study at the top of the castle. Although she had relinquished her position as a senior member of the Amazon Society to Berthalia, Martha seemed to have become even more convinced that Raine was a friend "worth getting to know better," and she often wrote to him to exchange letters and chat.

Seeing Berthalia enter, Renn casually tossed the letter aside and asked:

"what's up?"

"Can't I come to see you if there's nothing wrong?" Bersalia giggled as she sat on the desk, intentionally or unintentionally revealing her figure.

"Heh." Renn sneered. Although he didn't speak, his eyes clearly conveyed three words.

Bersalia paused for a moment, then said:
"Your uncle with his peculiar hobbies brought a ship full of corpses into the port, and the nearby residents complained about the stench. Does he think Salt Island is his own territory? Does he think he can do whatever he wants with it?"

“Don’t underestimate him,” Renn said calmly. “For my father to entrust the escort fleet to him, I, his uncle, am definitely not a fool…”

At this point, both of them were stunned.

Kalic is not stupid, so he must know that transporting the body to Salt Island without authorization might displease Rein, but why did he do it?

Reversing the line of thought, this reveals Kalic's reason for knowing the risks involved but having no other choice but to do so.

“There’s a hint of conspiracy in this,” Bersalia said with a smile, her crimson eyes gleaming with excitement.

Raine didn't answer, but just looked at the seagulls on the windowsill outside.

It was carrying the leftover fries that Ryan had eaten at noon.

(End of this chapter)