Chapter 458: Leading the Way

The next day, Xia Duo's second field mission for the Judgment Court began. This time, the mission was not carried out by him alone, but by a small team of five people, led by an Intermediate Mage named "Ouge." Besides Ouge and Xia Duo, two of the other three people were also Intermediate Mages. This team was of quite high quality. In addition to the Mage team, there were fifty Commoner soldiers.

They were mainly used for odd jobs, basically assigned at a ratio of one Mage to ten soldiers; if needed, more could be requested.

"Move out!"

At Ouge's command, all the Mages summoned their Magic mounts; this was standard equipment for adjudicators. Yesterday, they had received quite a few 【Summon Mount】 Scrolls. As for the Commoner soldiers, they could only run along behind.

Of course, saying they ran behind isn't quite right; they ran surrounding them. Fortunately, the Mages' speed was not fast, otherwise, these people would certainly not have been able to keep up over a long period of time.

……

The destination this time was a place called "Lettuce Town." The mission was similar to the one Xia Duo had received yesterday, also to investigate Faith in demons, only this time it included an additional task of elimination.

Upon arriving at the territory, before entering the area of Lettuce Town, Ouge ordered everyone to rest briefly, had all the Mages cast their Spells, and then continued forward.

At the same time, he sent two Commoner soldiers ahead, shouting, "The Judgment Court has arrived, everyone assemble!"

By the time the Mages arrived, a group of people was already standing sparsely in the town's open space, and more people were arriving one after another.

Xia Duo noticed that there were both men and women among these people, but the proportion of pregnant women among the females was not as high as in Black Stone Town, which he had visited yesterday. Just as Xia Duo was wondering what Ouge would do—

He heard Ouge suddenly call out, "Hadun!"

A thin, middle-aged man immediately emerged from the crowd, bowing his body, looking quite sycophantic toward Ouge, with a smile plastered on his face, "My lord, you have finally come!"

But Ouge did not give him a pleasant look, only saying coldly, "Point them out. Remember, don't try to be clever."

"Yes, yes." Hadun agreed hurriedly, his body bowing even deeper.

But the moment he turned around, he straightened his back, changed his expression, and began to call out names triumphantly, "My Town Mayor, step out. Your business has been exposed!"

"Me?" At this moment, the Town Mayor looked bewildered, not yet knowing what had happened. He looked at Ouge with some confusion, but Ouge remained silent. Having received the signal, Hadun stepped forward a few paces and dragged the Town Mayor out of the crowd.

At this time, a team of soldiers immediately stepped forward, separating the Town Mayor from the crowd. The townspeople immediately became restless, but in the end, they did not make any unusual moves.

It was not because of Magic; after all, they had also received Magic Education, but they had ultimately failed to become Official Mages. The vast majority of them had even been weeded out back at the Apprentice School.

They knew the limitations of Mages. With only five Mages, if they had swarmed them or scattered in a panic, they might have actually resisted, but with those fifty Commoner soldiers present, resistance was made almost impossible.

Not to mention, with the might of the Empire looming, their hearts were not united. Suspicious of one another, how many were willing to sacrifice their lives to resist for others? Then, Hadun continued to call out names. This time, he didn't need to drag people himself; whichever one he pointed at, the townspeople would look at, and the soldiers would rush over to grab them.

By the time nearly half the people had been named and pulled out, Hadun seemed to still be unsatisfied, but in the end, he did not try to be clever.

And as more and more people were pointed out, the people on the Town Mayor's side seemed to gradually realize why they were being pulled out separately, their expressions gradually turning fearful and uneasy.

"Aidi, Zhake, you two take these people outside the town first," Ouge ordered.

Zhake was the other Primary Mage in the five-person judgment team. Xia Duo and Zhake exchanged a glance, both having doubts in their eyes, but the order had to be obeyed.

These Commoner soldiers must have undergone extensive training beforehand. The two teams belonging to Xia Duo and Zhake immediately pointed their weapons at the rounded-up Town Mayor and the others.

These nearly one hundred people, being pointed at by twenty people with weapons, actually had no sense of resistance and were numbly led away. Xia Duo felt some doubt about what exactly this so-called Faith in demons was good for.

"Zhake, do you know what is going on?" Xia Duo lagged behind and whispered to Zhake.

Zhake was also looking bewildered at this moment, his tone even carrying a trace of unease, "I don't know either. This is my first time performing a field mission."

It wasn't until they reached outside the town that the nearly one hundred people being escorted reacted slightly. The Town Mayor first pacified the townspeople, then said to Xia Duo and Zhake, "Two lords, is there some misunderstanding here? We are all law-abiding Commoners of the Empire!"

Xia Duo and Zhake both remained silent. Aside from the aspect of reproduction, the Empire's laws were relatively lenient toward Commoners. The only possibility was the "Faith in demons" mentioned in the mission.

But in "Aidi's" memories, other than demons resembling humans, being handsome in appearance, and being adept at luring people into depravity, there was nothing else—not even a specific image of a demon.

And as for the deeds of demons, apart from the attacks that had gradually increased in recent years, there was mostly just the literal "causing people to fall into depravity." There was nothing more concrete. Not to mention Xia Duo, an outsider, even "Aidi," a native, felt something was abnormal.

At this moment, coming to judge Faith in demons, aside from the mission and orders, one could probably find no other psychological anchor.

People always tend to stand from the perspective of "justice," regardless of whether this "justice" is truly just, as long as it conforms to their own cognition. But now, the adjudicators' "justice" seemed to not hold water.

These were all ordinary Commoners; were they to be judged just based on the words "Faith in demons"?

Looking at Zhake, whose expression was gradually worsening, Xia Duo also sighed silently in his heart.

Before long, Ouge brought over a dozen more townspeople, and at the same time brought the final verdict—these people were all demon believers.

"Aidi, Zhake, how should demon believers be dealt with?"

The Empire had no laws regarding this, but demons were the natural enemies of humanity; the Empire's attitude toward demons was the same as its attitude toward demon believers.

There was only one word—

Kill!

Before Xia Duo and Zhake could answer, the Town Mayor and the others had already completely lost their composure. They had also received the Empire's education, only they hadn't been able to become Mages; they still knew a thing or two about demons.

Some people, upon hearing they were identified as demon believers, immediately collapsed to the ground. Most were extremely panicked and afraid, nearly kneeling to beg for mercy. Only the Town Mayor's reason remained somewhat normal, and he tried to explain, "My lords, we are not demon believers! We are all law-abiding Commoners, how could we be demon believers?!"

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(End of chapter)