Chương 138: Chapter 133. Verdict

Rayne calmly stepped out of the room after Duke Hellar dismissed him. The moment the door shut behind him, the pressure eased slightly from his shoulders, though not completely. The corridor outside was far quieter than before, and he quickly noticed that the crimson soldiers were already gone. That alone relaxed him a little. Without them glaring at him every second, the place felt far less suffocating.

Rayne walked a short distance down the corridor before sitting down on one of the wooden benches placed against the wall. The cuffs around his wrists clinked faintly as he rested his arms on his knees. For a while, he simply sat there in silence. Part of him still wondered why the crimson soldiers had even been sent to drag him here in the first place. He would have come here willingly without them grabbing and beating him across half the city. The more he thought about it, the more it felt deliberate.

Either Duke Hellar or Gredrick had probably ordered it to humiliate him before the trial even began. Both of them clearly wanted the harshest punishment possible for him, even if they showed it differently. Duke Hellar was open with his hatred while Gredrick hid everything behind calm words and expressions. Honestly, Rayne preferred the duke. At least with him, he knew exactly where he stood. Still, despite everything, the trial itself hadn't gone as badly as he feared it would.

Captain Verella's presence had helped more than he expected. If she hadn't been there to occasionally redirect things, the interrogation could have turned far uglier. And because of that, Rayne allowed himself a small amount of hope. Maybe the verdict wouldn't be catastrophic. Maybe they wouldn't throw him into some suicidal punishment like sending him against minotaurs to die in guise of some quest.

Though the thought itself made him pause slightly, and wonder what sort of a skill he might get from slaying one such beast. Rayne had heard stories about them before. Massive creatures that lived deep in ancient ruins. Some supposedly possessed abilities tied to strength, rage, and even earth aspected mana. A few could apparently speak as well. That line of thought distracted him from the trial enough that his shoulders loosened slightly as he sat there imagining a battle with a minotaur.

But before he could drift too far into it, the door to the trial room suddenly opened again. Rayne stiffened immediately. His eyes snapped toward the movement, expecting Duke Hellar or Gredrick to step out, but instead only Truthsayer Lana emerged from the room. She glanced around the corridor briefly before spotting him. Then, without hesitation, she started walking toward him. Rayne straightened slightly on the bench as she approached.

"Have they already decided whether they want to kill me or not?" he asked dryly before she could speak. Lana smiled faintly at that.

"No," she replied.

"Verdicts take much longer than that, especially for the nature of the trial you just had." Once she reached the bench, she glanced toward the empty space beside him before casually sitting down. Rayne immediately felt slightly uncomfortable with how natural she acted. Truthsayers held an important position in the kingdom. Even nobles treated them carefully from what he understood, yet she sat beside him like they were simply two soldiers waiting for orders. And honestly, that alone made him suspicious.

Rayne had spent too long around people who hated him or wanted something from him. At some point, he had simply gotten used to assuming that anyone acting casually around him without reason probably had some hidden motive. Either they wanted something from him, or it was some kind of trap, but as he looked at Lana properly, he slowly realized something else. She simply looked curious. Not hostile, not manipulative. Just… curious.

Somehow, that almost made things stranger, but then it suddenly struck Rayne that she might simply be bored. She certainly didn't seem like she had anywhere else to be. After a moment, he looked back toward the closed trial room door before speaking again.

"What did you mean by the nature of my trial?" he asked.

"Was it different from the ones you usually deal with?" Lana chuckled softly at that.

"Yes," she admitted.

"Normally, things are very different. Most trials involve murderers, thieves, smugglers and that sort of people." She leaned back slightly against the bench.

"Though these days, we do get nobles from time to time too." Her expression shifted slightly with amusement.

"Mostly because King Xander is paranoid they might be plotting against him. And I probably don't need to explain why, especially to you." Rayne slowly nodded. That honestly didn't surprise him at all. He hadn't heard much about the king beyond scattered stories in the army, but any ruler would become paranoid after surviving a coup attempt by one of the ducal houses. The dukes were among the few people in the kingdom powerful enough to genuinely threaten the throne itself.

It only made sense that the crown kept a close watch on them and the other nobles afterward. As Rayne thought that over silently, Lana looked toward him again.

"You really don't talk much, do you?" she asked. Rayne turned his head toward her. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"I speak when necessary," he answered calmly.

"And no offense, Truthsayer Lana, but I don't really know you." He glanced briefly toward the trial room door before continuing.

"You're part of the judgement group here while I'm the defendant. It doesn't really make sense for me to act casually with you." Lana blinked once hearing that. Then, unexpectedly, she laughed quietly to herself.

"I'm not part of the judgment. I'm merely an apprentice." Rayne tilted his head.

"I was informed you were there in the room in an official position to judge my truth from lies."

"I'm, but only because my master doesn't like the other truthsayers. Says it's in the nature of our professions to not lie, but that also alienates him from the other truthsayers. He doesn't have a honeyed tongue, quite the opposite actually." Rayne could already imagine how that would go. If someone truly only spoke the truth at all times, then that person would most likely be hated and isolated. No one wanted to hear the truth. If he had done that, Captain Edran himself would have probably cut his head himself.

Still, the thought brought another question into Rayne's mind. He hesitated for a few seconds before asking it, unsure how much truthsayers liked speaking about their magic, but eventually decided he had little to lose anyway.

"How exactly does truthsayer magic work?" he asked.

"I didn't feel any spell inside the room." Lana smiled slightly at the question. Then she raised her chin a little, almost proudly.

"That's because it's an extremely rare form of magic," she explained.

"In the entire kingdom, there are probably less than ten actual truthsayers who received the class from the gods in a decade. Our magic isn't cast outward like elemental spells," Lana continued.

"It's placed inside our body well before we are present in a trial." She tapped lightly against her own chest while speaking.

"It allows us to distinguish truth from lies through the nature of mind itself." She shrugged casually afterward.

"It's not flashy like fireballs or lightning magic though." But instead of sounding disappointed, she almost sounded proud of that fact. Rayne found himself growing more curious the longer she spoke.

"What else can it do?" he asked.

"I'm guessing it doesn't come under the usual elemental aspects?" Lana nodded immediately.

"Yes, it doesn't. Most people just put it under non-elemental magics." She counted lightly on her fingers as she spoke.

"Mind, chaos, time, null… things like that usually fall into the category." Rayne blinked hearing some of those names. Time? There was magic that could manipulate time? He knew that there was more to magic than he knew, but doing anything with time sounded far too absurd. But Lana continued before he could ask more.

"I don't know many advanced spells, sadly, but my aspect is very powerful. My master doesn't allow me to learn too much too quickly." She rolled her eyes slightly before adding, "But I can still do some things. I could influence someone's thoughts a little, push them toward certain decisions, or even charm them if I really wanted to." The more Rayne heard, the more interested he became. If someone could influence thoughts directly, then truthsayers sounded far more dangerous than his expectations.

Without even realizing it, he leaned slightly closer toward her. Though, Lana didn't seem bothered by his interest at all.

"I'm guessing truthsayers are mind mages then," Rayne said after a moment. She grinned immediately.

"Yes, you're smarter than most forsakens I have seen. Have you learned magic before?" she asked curiously. Rayne shook his head.

"Not formally. But I learned a little from Mage Casper in my warband." His expression softened slightly while mentioning her.

"She's been very helpful." Lana nodded knowingly at that.

"Then now that you're in Valers, you should definitely visit Astra Academy," she said.

"You'd be able to learn far more there than in the army. And maybe we could even—" Before she could finish her sentence, the door to the trial room suddenly opened. Both of them turned immediately. Truthsayer Jakab stepped out into the corridor with his usual calm expression, though his eyes immediately settled on Lana sitting beside Rayne, and a scowl appeared.

"I leave you alone for ten minutes," he said flatly, "and you're already getting chummy with a traitor." Lana stiffened at once. The old truthsayer didn't wait for a reply. Instead, he pointed down the corridor with clear annoyance on his face.

"Let's leave. Our work here is over."

"Yes, master," Lana replied quickly. She immediately rose from the bench and bowed her head slightly toward him. But by the time she straightened, the old man was already walking away down the corridor without another glance back. Lana hurried after him right away. She didn't even look toward Rayne again as she followed behind her master, disappearing down the hall within seconds. As she left, Rayne noticed one important thing. The door to the trial room had been left open.

At once, his stomach tightened as he realised what it meant. The verdict was ready. A dozen emotions flooded through him almost instantly. Tension, nervousness, dread, and something close to panic rose inside his chest all at once, threatening to overwhelm him for a moment. But Rayne forced himself to calm down. He had survived worse than this. Panicking now would change nothing. Taking a slow breath, he stood from the bench and walked back toward the open door.

Each step felt heavier than the last until he finally entered the room once more. The moment he stepped inside, all three people watched him silently, their expressions completely blank. For some reason, that made Rayne even more nervous. He quietly shut the door behind himself before starting toward the chair, but before he could sit—"There's no need for that," Duke Hellar interrupted sharply with a scowl.

"Just hear the verdict." Rayne stopped immediately. Captain Verella gave a small nod as well, though her tone was far softer than the duke's.

"We don't want to drag this out any longer, Rayne." Her words made his chest tighten slightly as she continued.

"After discussing the matter amongst ourselves, we have reached a verdict regarding the killing of Fredrick of House Lanrice." Rayne felt his body stiffen instinctively. Beside her, Gredrick lowered his eyes toward a piece of parchment resting on the table. The noble's expression remained calm as he began reading.

"You were accused of the heinous crime of killing a serving noble of the kingdom," Gredrick said evenly.

"A crime that would normally carry the punishment of death through torture. However, after reviewing the reports surrounding the incident, hearing testimony from those present during the campaign, and receiving your own testimony under truthsayer supervision, the council has reached another conclusion." For the first time since the trial began, bitterness appeared openly on Gredrick's face.

"Even if the council accepts that Fredrick of House Lanrice possessed motive to kill you and that you acted in self-defence," he continued slowly, "we also suspect that you deliberately chose to kill him rather than subdue him and bring him back alive for punishment." The noble's eyes remained fixed on the parchment as he spoke.

"The council believes your prior hostility with Fredrick influenced your actions." Rayne clenched his jaw slightly but stayed silent.

"And because of that, punishment is still required." The room felt as quiet as it could be as Gredrick took a breath.

"Rayne Frayser is hereby sentenced to one year of mandatory service within the godless ruins, whether alone or with his warband." Gredrick paused briefly before finishing.

"Your assigned objective during this period will be the recovery of at least three ancient artifacts from the lost Sanctum of the Sage, and there will be additional punishment in case you fail. We wish you good luck!."

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