Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

The second sign is "sophistry," and over there is Andre's sophistry... no, it's Andre's court.

The sign hanging behind it reads "Punishment, Punishment, Punishment, Punishment, Punishment, Punishment, Punishment." It's the punishment area.

After glancing at the letter in his hand, Lyle swallowed hard and headed towards the room after his "excuses."

Chapter 293 Light Bat Poison Umbrella

Although it's called a courtroom, the interior is more like a reception room. There's no jury, no iron bars, and apart from the lectern that's separately marked to represent the judge, the other areas are just randomly marked with magical dye.

However, the defendant actually had a chair! The only chair in the entire room belonged to the defendant. Lyle later learned that this was to make the defendant appear inferior, thus highlighting his low status.

There was no one else in the room; the judge was already on the podium.

"Nice to meet you, Dr. Epidemic Doctor. I am the judge in this case, and I am the one presiding over the trial. I am a close friend of the law and have heard about your case. Welcome to my courtroom."

"It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Judge." But not a meeting between a cop and a criminal like this! Although Lyle didn't know what the members of the figure club had done, he still felt uneasy.

The judge's mask is very distinctive.

He wore a pale mask, with only the holes that revealed the two soul flames; the rest of the mask was covered with mirror-symmetrical exhaust vents.

This! This is the hockey mask Jason wore on Black Friday! Is it really okay to judge people with this mask?!

The judge seemed to really like his mask.

"Whenever my colleagues see my mask, they fall silent. This mask that I painstakingly crafted seems to be very effective."

That must be the source of Lyle's trembling.

In the Andre Executive Committee Court, the judge, who looked like a character in a horror movie, seemed to hear screams from the eight neighboring penal quarters.

The judge continued his explanation.

“Normally, our committee will make a direct ruling on violators in accordance with existing laws and escort them to the trial area.”

Yes, the legal and law enforcement agencies in Andrei are all run by the committee, and if it weren't for the fact that liches all have their own obsessions, this place would probably become a hell on earth where vigilante justice is abused.

Of course, first you have to be able to arrest people. Someone like the messenger of a certain light has been at large for a very, very long time. The laws Mr. Lei violated—according to the local legal code compiled by the Law Master—all the punishments recorded in them would be considered lenient if applied to him from beginning to end.

“This court is rarely used in normal times. It is only in cases like this, where the situation is ambiguous within our understanding, that there is value in making a defense.”

"Mr. Epidemic Doctor, the reason we invited you here is to ask you to be our consultant and to learn about your organization, the Wheel of the Spine."

Lyle scratched his leather mask. "So those bastards from the figure company are just going to let it go like that?! They're the ones who illegally modified vehicles and caused so many traffic accidents!"

The judge raised his hand, gesturing for Lyle to relax. “Mr. Plague Doctor, the Spinal Wheel is indeed a great invention. We have already experienced its convenience, and there is no doubt that it has brought about a series of changes in our modes of transportation. When systems are changing, some minor hiccups are bound to exist. In cases like this, our committee maintains a lenient attitude; we have already severely punished the driver. Even if someone kills with a knife, it doesn't warrant killing the knifesmith.”

Tsk, aren't those bastards punished...?

"Judge, let's return to the case you mentioned."

The judge nodded, his hands clasped together on the platform, his knuckles interlaced like the spine of a stegosaurus.

“This case occurred within your organization, but we find it difficult to define it.”

"According to the plaintiff, this is a commercially motivated, unethical infringement of private property rights that damages its own interests."

"According to the defendant, this is a love story that transcends race and ethics, about resistance against oppression and exploitation."

Lyle was dumbfounded. What? Is this the same case? And related to the figure company? There are too many technical terms; it's practically an insult to the intelligence of ordinary people.

"Your Honor, could you describe the case more plainly and simply?"

The judge trembled, his frame hunched over.

"Simply put, someone wanted to have an impure romantic relationship with your family's Spinal Wheel, and then got caught."

???

All my words can be summed up in one "Holy crap!" Lyle never expected this.

He knew that liches had no moral bottom line and played wildly, but he didn't expect them to be this wild!

Cycling? Sun Wheel? Fetishism? Developing strange feelings for figurines... It seems quite reasonable to think about it this way.

"May I see the defendant?"

"Of course, we want to try him in person. Bring the defendant in!"

The area marked as the defendant's territory glowed, and a large, red, phantom hand reached out from the landmark, extending beyond the doorway and grabbing several figures inside.

Lyle looked at the three familiar figures.

Manipulation, flexibility, and brilliance.

silent.

Lyle covered his face and pointed at the three guys.

“I underestimated you… I originally thought you were just a tradition of Andrei, but I didn’t expect that you are a unique feature of Andrei.”

"No need for further explanation, Your Honor, impose severe punishment! Please deal with these three severely! What have you done to my creation?! Do you think this is some kind of magical girl raising game?!"

Mr. Manipulator, Mr. Flexibility, and Mr. Shining looked at each other.

"Boss, what are you saying?"

"Stop playing dumb with me! You've all been sued. No wonder you were so interested in modifying the Spinal Wheel. It wasn't research; you were just playing a dress-up game! Disgusting... disgusting!"

Shining took out a black box the size of a basketball from behind him and placed it on the defendant's chair.

“Boss, the three of us are the plaintiffs, and the person in this box is the defendant. Because we were sitting together, we were brought here together.”

"Huh? Is that so?" Lyle quickly realized his mistake. That's true, these three don't seem like they're experiencing first love; they probably don't have such fetishistic thoughts, after all, they're liches.

"Seriously, boss, if we really want to play, we'll definitely take you along. We're a figure club, so let's share the good times. If you're interested, we can take you to Mr. Dexi's place right now to experience it."

"..."

Nia ignored the sparkly flirtatious remarks, and Lyle looked at the small box. Was the defendant inside?

"what is that?"

Nia's tentacles twitched in her ears, and Nia responded with delight.

“Nia knows! Nia feels it! It’s a light bat inside! It’s the heartbeat of a light bat!”

A light bat? Falling in love with the Spinal Wheel? Andrei's year-end magical comedy?

At the judge's signal, the iron box was opened with a flash. A small shadow immediately shot into the air, only to be pulled down by a red, illusory arm that ejected from the seat.

It was a bright red light bat, energetically flapping its wings and squealing restlessly.

"You bad guy! My love for Elizabeth and I is unstoppable!"

It sounds like a male bat, but Lyle can't just jump to conclusions, after all, love is a matter of personal freedom.

Traditionally, the names of light bats come from the food their parents tasted: males are named after vegetables, and females after fruits.

"Mr. Light Bat, what is your name?"

"Poison Amanita, sir." The Light Bat still maintained its good manners.

"...Your father is a ruthless man."

Chapter 294 Am I Being Sued?

Mr. Poison Umbrella must be a maverick light bat, a view that can be demonstrated from every angle.

Someone so unique must be an oddity even among the Lightbats, unlikely to have many normal friends. Thinking this way, Lyle could somewhat accept that he had taken a liking to his Wheel.

Lyle already had a certain fondness for the polite and small group of Lightbats, and he could guess that the reason Shiny and the others were suing him was probably because they had disturbed his work.

It's just a light bat; let's try to give it a light punishment.

Lyle had already mentally identified himself as the defendant's lawyer.

The judge struck his gavel, a human-shaped arm with a clenched fist, the bones of which echoed like a gong as they touched the table.

It is said to be a body part that fell off when a lawbreaker was punished, but that guy obviously didn't take it seriously. In accordance with the principle of making the most of things, the judge used it as a gavel.

"Plaintiff, state your complaint."

The scales on Shiny's face moved like two small eyes as he patted the poison umbrella's head.

“I would like to hear what the defendant has to say; frankly, I am very interested.”

“This…” The judge looked at his colleagues’ manipulation and flexibility, and they all nodded in agreement.

Lyle finally understood: these three people hadn't brought Poison Umbrella here to seek a fair ruling from the committee, since they couldn't possibly be at a disadvantage against a Lightbat.

They came to the courtroom to have fun.

Poison Umbrella heard Shiny's words, blinked, and clearly hadn't realized what was happening. He bowed to Shiny with his small body, just like a gentleman.

"Sir, thank you so much for giving me this opportunity. What I want to say is..."

"Your Honor! I have something to report!"

The tiny mouth roared out the loudest sound, as if the poison umbrella was spewing out its anger.

The judge struck his gavel again. “Since the plaintiff has no objection, you may say whatever you want, defendant, but don’t expect to escape trial.”

The poison umbrella nodded and began its testimony.

"I took over the lighting work for the Necromancer Figure Company a week ago. I was very excited to be able to take over this job from my colleagues."

"Because it is rumored in the Light Bat Swarm that the Necromancer Figure Club is the light of necromancy and the future, I am naturally happy to shine in such a club."

"At the time, I had no idea that I was witnessing such suffering."

"The wheel of the spine, a beautiful creation."

“Isabella was one of them; I watched her being born before my eyes…”

Wait, you were talking about Elizabeth last time, weren't you?

"At first, Elise was no different from the other Spine Wheels in my eyes. I lay on my lamp stand, watching the busy liches working below."

"I hate myself for not realizing it sooner. Ignis has already endured so much torment in front of me!"