Chapter 66: Judgment

Spark Hall.

Under the crystal dome reflecting countless wars like the sky, the torches on the twelve obsidian prisms burned fiercely, as if they would never go out.

Xia Mingyu came here holding the stack of papers filled with the crimes of the evildoers.

In front of the long table, Tamerlane was teaching Thirteen how to read; seeing him arrive, the two quickly stood up and saluted.

"Your Highness, I mistakenly thought you wanted to have a good dream tonight, so I overstepped my bounds without permission; please forgive me."

Tamerlane apologized.

No way... Is such a small matter worth apologizing for?

Xia Mingyu's mouth twitched; he always felt that after traveling to another world, he had lost the human rights of a normal person and could only be treated with caution as an existence like Homelander or Godzilla.

"It's fine, you two come and help me look at these."

Xia Mingyu took his seat on the main chair and scattered the thick stack of crime papers in his hand onto the long table.

Tamerlane picked up a piece of paper at random, and the content on it made him frown immediately.

Moer, Golden Jasmine Brothel, it is known that under his orders about seventeen people have been killed, thirty-one women have been forced into prostitution, seven men into male prostitution, and the means of coercion were extremely vicious; it is recommended to execute him.

This crime was identified by twenty prostitutes and thirty residents of Langya Town, and he has confessed after interrogation; the interrogator was Danielle Masha.

"Your Highness, these are..." Tamerlane couldn't help but ask.

"I have been living in a territory recently, and under my persuasion, the local lord decided to carry out a righteous execution to clean up all the brothels, gangs, thugs, and hooligans in the territory."

"And these are the crime papers of those captured evildoers; I need you to help me look at them together and see how to judge their crimes?" Xia Mingyu said calmly.

If it were just him judging alone, perhaps it would cause bias; if he added Tamerlane and Thirteen, two righteous people with the same will as him, to judge together, it should be fair and just.

"With the God of Sun and Justice above, Your Highness Mingyu, you are the most righteous person I have ever seen; I never imagined that a noble person like you, located at the top of the world, would be so considerate of the commoners."

Hearing this, the deep blue eyes of Tamerlane flickered with full reverence, as if the Xia Mingyu in front of him was not a living person, but a beacon guiding his path.

Hiss!

It was the first time Xia Mingyu had been stared at by a man with such a scorching gaze; he felt a bit chilled and turned his head to the other side.

On the bronze seat to his left, Thirteen was quietly flipping through those crime papers; after these days of literacy teaching, he was already enough to understand these common characters.

Although his face was covered with countless scars, Xia Mingyu inexplicably felt a trace of heaviness and oppression from it.

"Your Highness, I am honored to judge these evildoers with you; I will try my best to offer my shallow suggestions. If they go against your decision, please ignore my suggestions and follow your heart."

Tamerlane bowed slightly and said humbly.

"... Your Highness, me too," Thirteen said in a deep voice.

Although he didn't think he had the talent to judge evildoers, since His Highness had spoken, he had to complete it.

Rustle, rustle, rustle.

On the bronze long table, the three of them first briefly read through these crime papers.

"Your Highness, I think the primary task in judging evildoers should be to first determine the standard for the death penalty."

Tamerlane frowned.

The numerous crimes of the evildoers on the crime papers, as well as the records of identification by some victims, simply made his scalp tingle.

Rape, cutting off hands and feet to send to parents, bestiality... it made Tamerlane's palms clench involuntarily, and a strong murderous intent brewed in his deep blue eyes.

As a Paladin, although he had also dealt with vicious incidents in the City of the Sun during his patrols, that was, after all, the Holy City of the Sun Church; under the shining glory of the Sun God, there were really not many evildoers who dared to commit crimes against the wind.

Therefore, it was also his first time coming into contact with such shocking evil.

"I agree with your view; tell me what you think the standard for the death penalty should be," Xia Mingyu said lightly.

"In the history of the human race, the king of the first great nation, the Kingdom of Kelai—Joshua Kelai, the King of Stars, once mentioned 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth' as the standard for criminal law when compiling the oldest code."

"I think that any evildoer whose hands are stained with the blood of innocent people should be sentenced to death," Tamerlane said slowly.

"As for evildoers who have not caused the death of innocent people, they should be given imprisonment for an indefinite period depending on the degree of their evil," he added.

"Regarding your view on the death penalty, I think it is very reasonable, but I don't quite agree..." Xia Mingyu changed the subject.

"If all evildoers who have not caused the death of innocent people are imprisoned, then the consumption of food every day is also a not insignificant amount."

Xia Mingyu's expression turned cold; in this world similar to the Middle Ages, food had always been in short supply.

Even if he fed those evildoers the chaff used for livestock, he couldn't accept it; at least livestock were still useful!

"Then sell them as slaves and leave the money earned for the victims to improve their lives?" Tamerlane thought for a while and said.

This kid... although he is a Paladin, he is quite ruthless.

Xia Mingyu looked at the handsome young man in front of him in surprise, and then glanced at Thirteen with his peripheral vision; seeing that his expression was unchanged, he continued:

"A very good suggestion, but I think slavery itself is a system full of evil as long as it exists; sooner or later I will erase it, so it is rejected," Xia Mingyu said calmly.

"Thirteen, what do you think?" Xia Mingyu asked the giant who had been silent all along, just burying his head in reading the crime papers.

"... These people are all sinners; I think they can all be killed," the giant said in a deep voice after a long silence.

During the time the two of them were talking just now, he had already read through all the crime papers; among them, even the evildoer with the lightest crime had committed crimes such as rape or looting property.

No matter for what reason they committed evil, no matter how deep the evil, they should all be classified as sinners.

Since they are sinners, they should be destroyed, including... himself.

Xia Mingyu: "..."

Damn, one is radical, one is extreme; after all this, am I the dove?

"Alright, I plan to sentence three-quarters of the evildoers here to death first, and discuss the rest later; you help me pick out the ones with more serious crimes first," Xia Mingyu sighed lightly.

He is a kind person; only kill three-quarters, and let the remaining quarter slowly starve to death...

"Your Highness, this brothel thug, although he didn't kill anyone, forced five prostitutes and one male prostitute; it is recommended to execute him."

"Your Highness, this gang member forced many townspeople to bear endless debts and become displaced; it is recommended to execute him."

When the prisms of Spark Hall gradually became transparent and the Dreamer of Dawn was about to wake up, the three people who had been busy all night finally confirmed the death penalty list.

"Thank you for your hard work in helping me; I will build a guillotine so that all the victims can see with their own eyes the heads of these evildoers who oppressed them piled up like worthless garbage, and then burn them completely," Xia Mingyu said with a calm expression.

"My honor, Your Highness."

Tamerlane and Thirteen looked at each other and said in unison.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 67 =====