It was the day of the trial, and a crowd of people flocked to the plaza to witness the event. It was the first murder case in Ceta District. Although the culprit was caught red-handed at the scene, there was much debate as to what conclusion Isaac would make, especially when considering the identity of the criminal and the authority of the Marquis that stood behind him.

The Order of Heavy Combat Knights, which was the pride of the Marquis, assembled and surrounded the plaza, preventing anyone from entering too deep. Many thought that even Isaac had no choice but to yield to the might of the Marquis after seeing the knights restrict and control the area to their liking; it was almost as if it was their home territory. And as expected of the city of gambling, there was a secret wager on what judgement Isaac would hand out for Dogman.

Isaac scanned the populated plaza. It was an amalgamation of knights, tourists, and citizens who were all eagerly waiting for the trial to begin.

“Hm, let us begin. Rizzly.”

Isaac called out for Rizzly atop City Hall’s roof, and Rizzly responded by shouting down at the crowd below them.

“Silence! Sir Isaac, graduate of the College, Rank 1 knight and the Lord’s Representative of New Port City shall make his appearance!”

Confused, the crowd looked to the roof where Rizzly’s words originated from.

Rizzly stepped away from the edge of the roof and brought out a strange looking chair. Everyone wondered why the chair had extra legs behind the seat itself, and their question was quickly answered. Once Isaac sat on the chair, Rizzly lifted him up along with the chair and placed it at the edge of the roof. The extra legs fit perfectly with the small fence which lined the edge of the roof. The employees looked dumbfounded. The chair must have been made for the sole purpose of allowing Isaac to look down at the crowd without leaving the roof, most likely due to laziness and to have unobstructed view at the crowd beyond the fence.

The crowd reacted the same way below. They screamed when Isaac suddenly appeared at the edge of the rooftop, but once the chair was fit on the fence, it almost seemed as if Isaac was floating in midair with the chair.

Isaac didn’t even seem bothered at the dangerous spectacle. In fact, he seemed at home as he looked down at the crowd with his legs crossed and his weight shifted on one of the armrests.

“I will now announce the verdicts.”

“…!”

Trials followed a series of complicated procedures, and the final verdict was typically made only after the procedures were over. However, Isaac suddenly announced that he would skip all of the procedures and jump straight to conclusion, astounding all of the defendants and the crowd.

But what they thought about this was beyond Isaac’s care, and he promptly ordered Kalden.

“Begin.”

“Huh? Y, yes…”

Kalden wondered if it was alright to continue, but he had no choice except to proceed as Isaac ordered. Kalden called the defendant of the first case to stand at the front of the city hall below Isaac’s feet.

“Eh… This is the first trial. Defendant Neidan is charged with theft. He was stealing from one of the grocery shops owned by Rivolden Merchant Guild while he was hired as an employee…”

“Wait. Are you a citizen of this city?”

Isaac cut off Kalden and spoke down at Neidan, who quickly fell on his knees with tears dripping from his face.

“I am sorry! I must have gone mad!”

“Yes. You really did go mad. Charge him with a fine ten times the value of the stolen goods. The city will reimburse the shop first, and the defendant will be subject to unpaid labour until his debt is repaid in full. Next.”

“Huh? That’s it?”

“What? Do you need more?”

“He must be punished for his crime.”

“And I gave you his punishment. Unpaid labour.”

“I’ve never heard of such light punishment.”

“Light you say? Do you want to work this month without getting paid?”

“Huh? Why me?!”

“See. Do you think unpaid labour is light punishment when you’re struggling to make enough money in the first place? Ah! Don’t you think about slacking off just because you’re not getting paid. If we catch you doing so, we’ll send you straight to the mines. Hm… No, this isn’t enough. Hire a supervisor who will watch over those carrying out the punishment. Now we have both unpaid labour and another job.”

Behind him, Cordnell was whimpering, but the noise went into one of Isaac’s ears and escaped through other as he continued.

“Next.”

Kalden muttered to himself and hesitated for some time before bringing out the next defendant to the plaza with a sigh.

“This is the second trial. Defendant Korven was working as a waiter in a restaurant, but was caught in an argument with a difficult customer. The argument escalated and Korven ended up in a fist fight with the customer. He was arrested and charged with assault.”

“What! You assaulted a customer? Why I ought to rip you to pieces with my own hands!”

Isaac burst out in anger when Kalden finished describing the defendant. He then shouted out at the crowd in the plaza.

“I, the Empire’s official, a College graduate, a Rank 1 knight, and the Lord’s Representative, will give you the absolute standard when administering my land.”

Everyone listened keenly as they held their breath. Many people in the crowd were citizens of the city, but there were a number of outsiders mixed in the crowd. Knowing what the lord liked was crucial to determine what they found to be significant.

Once everyone’s attention was at him, Isaac continued with a firm voice.

“Money is truth, justice, and power.”

“…”

There was a brief silence. The people couldn’t understand what Isaac meant and began to murmur to each other in confusion.

Isaac continued his speech as he looked down at them.

“Those who live in New Port City are trash and maggots that don’t even deserve to live.”

“…”

Another wave of silence befell in the plaza, but this time it was a cold one. The abusive words stupefied even those who were standing behind Isaac, whose mouths were left agape in astonishment.

“Why? Because you don’t have money! When something