Knight and Wand

Chapter 61 Lord's Court
Following Balfe on horseback, he went to Lonka and Pleyton to recruit gravediggers.

The two villages were just as he had roughly understood from previous conversations.

Longka is close to the woods, and the environment of the village is quiet and peaceful. It's just that the yards of those leather workers make the village smell very bad. I must tell Lohak not to choose a downwind location when he lives here in the future.

Pleyton is very close to the town main road. There are many stalls at the entrance of the small village, and there is even a small trading station with several horse-drawn carriages transporting goods.

With the help of Knight Balfe, Leon recruited more than seventy people from the two villages. He also found the old village official of Pleyton and asked him to go to the town with a deposit to order a large number of coffins.

The two territories were not far from Selva, and it was not even sunset when Leon and Balfe rode back at full speed.

The next morning, the laborers from outside the village arrived as scheduled, and then they dug the cemetery together with the villagers who were still able to work.

Azerien was still recovering from his injuries, and Leon happened to have nothing to do for the time being, so he asked Olivia to find a few villagers to help identify the body and record the identity of the deceased on a wooden sign.

As they had no time to make tombstones, they could only temporarily carve the deceased's names in abbreviated form on wooden boards so that the young and strong people could identify the graves of their relatives when they returned home.

With sufficient manpower, the work efficiency increased several times. It took only three or four days to dig all the graves in the remote woods outside the village.

The wooden coffins ordered from the town were delivered to Selva in batches over the next few days.

After recuperation during this period, Azerien was finally able to walk normally, and even took the time to visit his territory with Lohak.

Seven days later, all the bodies were buried according to family order, and Knight Balfe, who had fulfilled his guidance responsibilities, also left Selva.

Shortly after the laborers of Lonka and Pleyton received their wages from Leon and left, the young man guarding the windmill tower outside the village hurried over to report the news.

The young and strong people from every household have finally returned.

On the dirt road in the countryside, led by the village official Tok, dozens of young and strong militiamen wearing leather armor, chain mail and iron helmets, carrying spears, anxiously crossed the hillside and rushed towards the village at the foot of the mountain.

They had learned the bad news from the officers at the border fortress, but they did not know the safety of their relatives. Everyone just wanted to return home as soon as possible to make sure their relatives were safe.

However, when people walked into the village, the silent atmosphere really gave them an ominous feeling.

The young and strong men instinctively quickened their pace and soon arrived at the open space in the village market, where they saw the women and children who had just gathered.

The women and children cried with joy and ran towards their families whom they had not seen for a long time, sobbing.

The men who heard the bad news hugged their wives or their only surviving children and cried bitterly.

But there are still many young and middle-aged people with confused brains who keep shuttling among the crowd, trying to find even a familiar face of their relatives.

A futile search is doomed to fruitlessness.

The men shouted in panic, hoping to get any response. Over time, the voices calling out their wives and children's names turned into heart-wrenching cries.
In the cemetery, young and strong men covered their faces in front of their family members' graves, crying uncontrollably. They didn't even have the chance to see the bodies of their relatives.

But the soil and coffins isolated many of the devastated bodies, which, to some extent, was the last mercy bestowed by fate.

The men who were left alone were heartbroken and stayed in front of the graves in the cemetery for a long time.

However, after paying his final respects at his parents' graves and wiping away his tears, the village official Tok could not find the grave of his second son, who had caused him so much worry.

Taking his eldest son with him, Tok asked the surviving women around him about Boris's whereabouts, but what he got in return were hateful and complicated looks from the survivors.

If it weren't for Toker's praised character in the past, the surviving woman would have wanted to spit on him.

It was not until he found Brian the blacksmith that Tok learned the whereabouts and background of his second son from him.

".How could I have given birth to such a poor little bastard!"

Toke's voice trembled, and his self-blaming face seemed to have aged a little.

The charge of robbery was heart-wrenching enough to hear, but when Tok heard that Boris knew about the disaster but still abandoned his fellow villagers, and that he had lost his elderly relative, his eyes had dried up from crying and he could no longer shed tears.

Boris is his son.

But the deceased father and mother are also his beloved relatives.

Toke couldn't understand. He just disciplined him a few more times, but this heartless bastard even ignored the lives of his grandparents?

The man covered his face, lowered his head, and his shoulders trembled constantly.

Old Brian patted Tok's shoulder and said, "The new lord has decided to wait until everyone is present before trying Boris. But if you cannot accept this fact, he will allow you not to participate in the subsequent judgment."

After hearing this, Toke could only shake his head indifferently.

No matter what, he is my own flesh and blood after all, I must personally witness his end.
On the second floor of the townhouse that had been cleaned by the children, Leon was sitting by the window when he heard the door opening next door. He lowered his head and glanced sideways at the figure downstairs.

The village official named "Tok" was seen walking out of old Brian's house in a daze and gradually going away.

Leon thought that the other party would try to come to him and plead for Boris, after all, he is a father.

But since he didn't come, I can save myself some unnecessary talk.

Boris's crimes were punishable by death, both publicly and privately.

However, compared to the life and death of the village bully, Leon is more concerned about other issues at the moment.

He pondered over his words, then picked up the quill in his hand and dipped it in the ink in the small jar on the table.

It's hard to get used to using this pen, and after a long time I have to use a knife to repair the pen, but it's better than nothing.

Stationery, which was commonplace in the past, is now a luxury item.

Fortunately, there were some capable people in the history of this world who invented paper that was barely usable. Although it was also expensive, it was at least cheaper than the ridiculously expensive parchment.

Complaining about the price of writing tools in his heart, Leon picked up the pen and continued to write a series of Chinese characters on the brown paper.

The little bit of Feru language the original owner knew was not enough to support the explanation of the complete legal provisions, so he could only write down Chinese characters to facilitate his memory.

Anyway, these things are just for myself to read for the time being. Except for a few wealthy villagers like Olivia and old Brian the blacksmith, no one can read.

There was a gentle knock on the door.

"Brother, lunch is ready."

"Oh, bring it in." Leon responded while writing.

Lina opened the door and put the plate on the table obediently.

She looked at her current master and saw the mysterious words written by Leon at the desk. Lina asked with admiration and curiosity: "It's amazing, are you writing?"

"Well, I want to try to draft a code that can be used in the territory in the future, although it is not useful now."

Leon put down his pen, stood up and went to eat at the big table.

"code?"

Lina looked at the paper on the table and blinked, not quite understanding the words that sounded profound and obscure.

"It's a rule book that tells people what they can't do and what the punishments are for doing it wrong."

Leon washed his hands in a bucket of clean water, wiped them clean before picking up the food, and explained to the maid while eating.

In fact, Leon himself doesn't understand the law.

But even as a semi-legally illiterate person, he was not used to this kind of social state with no clear legal rules and regulations.

He didn't even know if there were any decent written laws in the entire Kingdom of Orland.

At least Leon has now realized that there are definitely no such things in small villages like Selva, Lonca, and Pleton.

In the past, only the most basic traditional moral customs regulated people's behavior.

The way to judge crimes is either by collective discussion among villagers led by village officials and elders like in the tea hall, or by handing it over to the local lord for judgment.

How do noble lords judge cases? It is easy to guess that it depends entirely on the lords' personal wishes and preferences.

This social structure is not as good as that of Serian.

At least the Holy Sun Church of the Kingdom of Serrian had priests who traveled between towns and villages to popularize and read the teachings to the people. There were basically written items to check what crimes people committed, rather than just relying on the nobles' mood on the day.

Shaking his head, Leon knew that the existence of laws or not would not mean much to the tiny territory under his name now, but who knew whether he would rule a larger territory in the future.

Now I am learning to record the various customary laws of the people of Orland. If there is a need in the future, I can make some modifications according to Serrian's teachings and use them.

The second day after the young and strong returned home.

The villagers had not yet recovered from yesterday's grief, so Leon sent people to notify every household early and gathered all the generals and people.

Three high-backed chairs were placed side by side in the open space of the village market, facing the village house.

When almost everyone had arrived, Leon and the other two, who had specially put on luxurious armor to show their identities, walked through the crowd with resounding steps and deliberately dignified expressions, and took their seats one by one.

There was no other way. If they didn't put on armor to show off a little, the three of them were so young that they were afraid they wouldn't be able to maintain order among these people.

Holding the hilt of the sword, Leon and the other people stopped whispering and began to speak in louder voices.

"You may have heard others say this, but if you don't know, I will repeat it again. My name is Leon Pendragon. My two companions and I have been knighted by Lord Baron Elliver Farolis and have become your new lords. I hope you will remember my appearance as soon as possible and not make the mistake in the future."

Although most people were mentally prepared, the returning young men still found it hard to believe when they heard the young boy confirm his identity as a knight himself.

Without waiting for the villagers to respond, Leon continued loudly: "I called you here today not only to get to know each other, but also to let you and I jointly judge a prisoner and decide some things."

Leon raised his hand and signaled the two young men at the door of the village house to bring out the village thugs.

When Boris, with his hands bound, was roughly escorted through the crowd, some young men who had not yet been informed of the whole story looked at each other in confusion, not knowing what was going on.

Boris, with a deathly pale face, had been imprisoned for quite some time. He no longer had the arrogant look he had in the village before. His face was filled with confusion, like that of a dead dog.

Toke, who was in the crowd, closed his eyes with a look of pain on his face.

Boris was taken to the open space in the middle of the crowd with staggering steps. Before Leon could say anything, he was roughly forced to his knees by the two angry young men behind him.

Leon raised his eyebrows.

He, who has never liked kneeling, did not arrange this scene. Those two guys were just venting their personal anger, right?

Forget it.

"Prisoner Boris, in front of all the people, I, the Lord of Selva, now accuse you of many crimes.

First, a group of people robbed me and my friends on the road.

Second, using drugs to commit burglary.

Third, knowing that they could have warned the enemy of an attack by the Kantardars, they concealed the danger and watched the massacre take place.”

When Leon said the first few words, the villagers just listened silently.

But when the third sentence was uttered, the emotions of those young and strong men who had lost their loved ones suddenly boiled like boiling water.

Some men whose entire families were killed were impatient and started cursing directly, and even pushed through the crowd to carry out lynching themselves.

Boris's pale lips trembled in fear.

"Quiet!"

Leon frowned, raised his glove-wrapped fist, and slammed the armrest hard with a bang.

Damn, now I understand why judges and county magistrates have the tradition of smashing things during trials.

However, these villagers are too credulous. They didn't even provide any evidence, but were ready to take action to vent their anger just by listening to empty words.

Several surviving young men rushed forward to stop the angry villagers.

Looking at the tug-of-war scene, although Lohak could understand the anger, he really couldn't let Leon's trial process be interrupted, so he had to stand up from his seat.

"! Everyone, be quiet!!"

The tall young man held the hilt of the sword and shouted at the crowd in a high voice.

The shouting voice was extremely loud.

Leon, who was sitting next to Lohak, was startled.

He didn't know that this kid's voice was so ear-shattering when he yelled.

but?

Was Lohak so loud in the past?

Leon glanced sideways in confusion, the changes during the voice change period were too great.

Thanks to his roar, the village man who had lost control of his emotions finally came to his senses and realized that there were three knights sitting on the chairs.

Although they looked so young, they were genuine noble knights, the kind that could cost one’s life if one was disrespectful to them.

The young men pushed the angry villager back into the crowd.

Seeing that order had been restored, Leon continued to try the initial trial process.

"The first charge is gang robbery. There are witnesses Olivia and Hawke, Lohak, Azerien, and many villagers who saw you gathering helpers that day. Do you have anything to defend yourself?" Leon asked Boris on the ground with an expressionless face.

"No! Don't kill me, Lord Leon. I know I was wrong. I was blind that day. Since I didn't accomplish anything that day, please have some mercy on me." Boris cried out without any cooperation.

"Hey, I asked you to explain, not beg for mercy." Leon rubbed his eyebrows helplessly. It seemed that he had to go through such a simple process by himself.

"Forget it, you're right. Your crime was forcibly stopped by Olivia, so just consider it as an attempted robbery."

"Continuing with the second charge, you broke into the house at night and used drugs to commit burglary, which was almost successful.

The drugs and incense burner used in the crime, as well as the dagger, are all evidence. Considering that this method is no different from forced seizure, it is almost the same as burglary. Do you have any excuse?"

In the crowd, a few surviving village girls heard about the so-called incense burner and thought of the incense that Boris had diligently given them a while ago. The girls' faces gradually turned pale.

Boris on the ground moved his mouth and gradually stopped begging for mercy.

Looking around at the villagers' contemptuous and hateful eyes, he realized what they meant.

This was slowly humiliating him, and he was torturing himself to death just to see his own ugly, dispirited appearance.

Otherwise, why should I make excuses? You saw me use drugs to knock down those two little bastards, what else can I make excuses for?
Fear reached its extreme, and Boris was filled with anger.

He struggled to stand up and yelled in anger, "Hahaha. Fuck you, you three little bastards from Serian. Do you think you're noble just by wearing this outfit?"

Boris looked at the villagers around him with red eyes and said, "And you lowly bastards, it's a pity that those Kantadar bastards didn't kill you all.

Just wait, wait for that day. Hahaha, you all have to die, there will always be that day, you all will die!!
Just like I said. I'll go down and wait for you guys first!"

Leon looked at Boris, who was babbling and yelling like a madman, and sighed helplessly.

After all, it is difficult to conduct an orderly trial in today's overly crude environment.

Since this guy doesn't want to be decent, I can only help him to be decent.

I took the time to make a big map, which can be used as a reference in the works.

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(End of this chapter)