213 Criminal list
It was a brutal place where torture was a daily occurrence and prisoners were kept isolated from each other in tiny cells while being given the bare minimum of food so they wouldn’t die of starvation, guaranteed that their minds would torture them when the jailers were too bored for that.
Between starvation, constant darkness and isolation, prisoners almost begged their jailers to torture them, just to have company.
“I’m not seeing many guards today. Doesn’t security seem too lax?” Eirin asked suddenly, noticing how silent and empty the halls were.
“No, quite the contrary, security is at its maximum to ensure the elders’ safety, but we kept the VIP area empty to ensure the trial went smoothly.” The wizard answered and cleared his doubts.
They walked in silence for some time, their footsteps echoing through the empty halls until they reached the end of the hall, where a magical steel door was. with the symbol of the order painted. Two guards wearing enchanted adamant armor stood beside the door and bowed in awe as they saw Eirin approach.
They opened the door and announced Eirin’s arrival, though the room was practically empty. The jailers made a point of calling Eirin and the elders she had summoned to speak in secret first, so the only ones who had arrived were the fire and air elders.
The room was a perfect octagon of approximately 15 meters square and paintings on the walls, each wall with the color of a different element. In the center of the room was a table made of magic wood in an octagon like room.
Seven chairs were arranged on each side of the table, while a luxurious throne was on the opposite side of the room, the seat reserved for Eirin. The colors of his seat and the wall behind him were silver, although none of the elders knew why.
The truth was, it was just her favorite color, and since there were no other element colors available, Eirin allowed herself the freedom to choose whatever she wanted.
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Eirin passed the elders present in the room without saying a single word and sat on her throne, waiting for the other elders to arrive.
The next to arrive was the light elder, but his expression didn’t look good. He hurriedly walked and looked anxious while sweating profusely. The light elder slightly widened his eyes when he saw that Eirin had already arrived and forced a smile, ignoring his seat and the two elders present and walking towards her.
‘This is going to be annoying.’ Eirin thought and Canan nodded.
“It’s a pleasure to see you in such good health, Lady Eirin. It’s a shame that we’re meeting again after so long in such an unfair situation, but I’m glad I can at least see you in the midst of such misfortune.” The light elder started fawning over her as soon as he opened his mouth, making Eirin purse her lips and Canan memorizes the man’s face to get rid of him later.
‘Calm down and stop trying to stealthily cast a tracking spell to hunt him down later, or at least wait for the war to end.’ Eirin spoke and stopped Canan from completing the spell.
“ELDER Yami, go to your seat, the meeting will start any minute. Also, please refrain from calling me anything other than my title. Titles exist so I don’t have to hear my name from people I don’t like. ” Eirin spoke with a cold tone, making the light elder’s expression twitch involuntarily.
“Pfft...” The fire elder Valk was unable to control himself and laughed, further increasing Elder Yami’s embarrassment.
‘You really are a master of ice magic.’ Canan didn’t have to hold back and laughed heartily in her mind.
“SUPREME elder, I think your words were a little harsh, don’t you? We’ve known each other for so long that-” The light elder Yami felt his pride wounded by her words and tried to protest, but Eirin silenced him.
“I said go back to your seat.” Eirin repeated, releasing her aura to silence him. This time, she only released her aura without synchronizing with her brother, so the only colors in her aura were black, blue, and yellow, the natural elemental affinities Eirin possessed.
Alone, his aura was at the same level as a demigod, but he was still much stronger than any of the elders.
Valk suddenly found herself unable to breathe and covered in cold sweat, her body completely frozen in fear. The golem just fell onto the table, as the air elder was far away and not suffering from the effects of Eirin’s aura.
The light elder, on the other hand, was hit by the aura with all of his strength and knocked to the ground without being able to resist. He slammed his face against the ground and broke his nose, fighting with all his might and releasing his own aura to try to resist, but it was useless.
The difference between a fifteenth layer mage and a demigoddess was like heaven and earth. His bones began to crack under the constant pressure and blood seeped from every orifice in his face and he quickly gave in, realizing he would die otherwise.
“I surrender, supreme elder. Please suppress your aura.” Yami pleaded in a nasal voice and stopped resisting.
Eirin still left him on the ground for a few seconds before suppressing his aura and releasing him.
The light elder got up with some difficulty and easily healed his wounds, the only remnant of what had happened was the bloodstain on his robe and the slight smell of blood on his clothes, but Yami quickly cleaned himself up and sat on his seat.
An awkward silence ensued as Yami cursed Eirin internally and the others tried not to laugh at him, at least not out loud.
The door opened again a few seconds later and the guard announced the entrance of the missing elders, making everyone look towards the door.
The elders arrogantly entered as if they owned the place and chatted in good spirits. They greeted each of the elders before taking their seats, their smiles particularly wide as they greeted the light elder.
Yami just huffed irritably at this cheap tease and shooed them back to their seats so the trial could begin. The elders were surprised that the arrogant yami kept his composure, but they didn’t care too much and returned to their seats.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmEirin looked into the faces of each of the elders present and sighed wearily. She stood up as she resisted the urge to leave, quickly followed by the other elders.
“Everyone’s time here is extremely valuable, so let’s get straight to the point. Let’s start the trial of dark elder Louis Zahara, for having destroyed the portal tower and all the crimes that our investigations have revealed.” Eirin said and tried to start the trial, but light elder stopped her.
“With all due respect, supreme elder, but I believe you are mistaken. It has already been revealed that the destruction of the portal tower was caused by the new species of undead that emerged on Mirkor and interfered with the portal, causing the anomaly that destroyed the portal.” Yami stood up and spoke in defense of Louis, but the water elder laughed at his words.
“Don’t lie to us, light. Dozens of witnesses confirmed that the anomaly only got out of control after the zombie dragon controlled by the dark entered inside the portal. If not for that, the anomaly would have naturally disappeared and the portal tower preserved with minimal damage.” The water elder countered.
He appeared to be in his late 60s, with thinning hair and gray with age. His face had numerous wrinkles caused by time and black eyes with a thin nose. His name was Thersec Ripha, the ancestor and founder of House Ripha.
“Save the discussions for when the trial starts and refrain from interrupting me again.” Eirin clucked her tongue and the two Elders fell silent again.
“In addition to deciding whether the tower’s destruction was accidental or a crime, we will also be reviewing all crimes that have been revealed.” Eirin went on and touched the wooden table, activating the enchantment on it.
A hologram appeared in the empty space in front of each elder with a list of all the crimes the dark elder was being accused of and containing evidence that pointed to Louis.
‘Oh God.’ Yami thought, looking at the bottom corner of the file, where it showed the number of pages the file contained. ‘Page 1 of 279.’
‘This will take time.’ Eirin thought dejectedly.
*************
Just like she said, the trial was incredibly long and tiring. Each crime was evaluated separately and the elders of each faction vehemently discussed each crime to try to prove the dark elder’s guilt or innocence.
Their arguments more than once nearly erupted into fights, and after fourteen hours of non-stop arguing, Eirin was tempted to allow them to kill each other just to end the torture.
She looked at the two neutral faction elders who weren’t involved in the discussion with envy, as they didn’t need to be attentive or debate in the discussion, just agree with everything she said.