Judgment (5)

Naumov had little fear however, because along with the truth of his words, the former trainee confessed to refusing the arrest warrant. Although his excuse was something within reason, the nature of the Kingdom didn't mean that logic and reason was apparent everywhere, and refusing the arrest warrant of royalty was one of those things. It was much better for one to fight against the arrest in court rather than directly oppose the warrant.

This was why there were little troubles for Gallows arrests, the only ones fighting back likely being those with especially apparent crimes and knowing full well that upon their presence in court, their lives were over. With this thought process, Naumov had little fears, as he saw Iris Gallow rise from her seat once Mirinda sat down, little emotion visible on the short womens face.

"What was your experience as a trainee within the First Knight Brigade like?"

Everyone in the courtroom went quiet at Gallows words, clearly not expecting a direct question like that. They were all curious as to what the trainees' thoughts were regarding his experiences, and the true source as to why the trainee ended up the way he is now, however the relevance to the trainees past in regards to the present case was something in question.

As such everyone predicted that Mirinda would directly oppose the question, rising to her feet and shooting it down swiftly, however instead she just sat there in silence, with clear discomfort on her face. Only did people realize that the King was shooting her a strong glare, equally curious as to the man's past despite being rather well aware already.

As for Commander Fluev, he merely sat in silence on the sidelines, not caring one bit for the risk to his reputation, which was already in question. Should the trainee try and speak ill of the Commander, he was plenty willing to testify of Cerin's supposed negative impact on his unit, such as speaking ill of others or directly disobeying orders.

Whether these facts were true would be unknown, but in the current time and space, no-one would push hard for the truth, especially with the Crown Prince Derik backing him right now.

"Poor, I didn't fit in well with the others and found the experience too difficult for me."

It's clear Cerin was holding back on his thoughts and words as he stood there shaking furiously, it being an already admirable sight that the man could contain his fury towards his commander right here and now. This also made it apparent to Gallow especially that Mirinda had expected her question and had prepared a multitude of answers that wouldn't directly damage Commander Fluev's image whilst at the same time making it apparent that Cerin remaining in the First Knight Brigade was out of his best interest.

That didn't stop Gallow from asking a multitude of questions toward the former trainee, clearly intent on making the young man speak out against Fluev. Every question seemed to have some impact, the shaking and hostile look on the former trainee growing more and more extreme, so much that the guards by his sight reacted and gripped their weapons even tighter. There was no success for Iris however, as clearly Mirinda had prepared well for Gallows' questions.

With her questions about the young man's experiences in the First Knight Brigade ending, Iris then focused towards the events in Trowan, however with Cerin having already explained everything to a thorough degree, her questioning ended with little results. Cerin soon was sent to sit down back amongst the others who had yet to receive their judgment, as the other side of the story had yet to be heard.

"Commander Naumov, please rise to the stand."

This time it was the King who called Naumov forward, as he was one of the only two people present in the room which held greater authority to the Commander. Not even Crown Prince Derik had absolute authority over the experienced knight, the latter having the freedom to refuse any request of the former should it be within reason.

The only other person which could force Naumov to move was the Queen, however she was more involved with the matter of the nobility instead of the knights, and clearly held little interest in commanding the flow of the trial.

Not wasting a moment, Commander rose to his feet and moved to the center of the room, ignoring all those who looked at him with hostility and ill-will. The most apparent which held a negative view of the Commander were Fluev, Cerin and the representative of the Adventurer Guild, as not even the representative of the Merchant Guild seemed to care much.

After giving a short bow to the King, of which he only nodded in response, Naumov then turned back towards Iris Gallow, of which had already risen to her feet, clearly intent on getting first round of questions. A wide smile formed on the Counts face, where many thought of it simply as seeing a friend or a minor advantage in the trial had fallen into her hand, only a few realized the case might be more serious.

"Please state your name and occupation for the court, as well as what your role in Operation Eyeless was."

There wasn't much need for this, as everyone in the room already heard indirect references as to all these facts, yet some level of formality was needed, as such there was little in terms of opposition to the slight time waste.

"Commander Naumov of the Third Knight Brigade. My primary task was to provide military insight and manpower to Count Iris Gallow and Operation Eyeless at the request of Crown Princess Adjest Ether."

With his words, many observers couldn't help but whisper under their breath, each all sharing their observations and opinions. There were already plenty of rumors regarding the Crown Princesses involvement in Operation Eyeless, and the Commanders words were the final nail in the coffin, now the matter being completely unrelated to the Crown themselves.

This wasn't actually that good of news to Iris, as going under the assumption their orders were from the King meant that people would be more afraid of speaking out, too afraid that the consequence would be too grand. Adjets Ether was different, the young women held little authority over the nobility nor knights, and with her current travel towards the Empire, there was little the Crown Princess could do in retaliation.

Naumov and Gallow had considered remaining silent about the direct involvement of Adjest, yet Lothos presence along with rumors regarding a deal between Iris and Adjest already being present, there were little reasons to hide it. Besides, they lacked the ability to directly invoke the name of the Crown anyways, the best they could do was reference the order Gallow had received two years ago to investigate the collapse of the Roguepalace family.

However that came with a large series of risks already seen before.

Completely ignoring the whispers, Iris Gallow continued with her questions, not paying much attention to the over-all matter of the operation.

"Can you express your recollection of the events surrounding and during the arrest of the former trainee of the First Knight Brigade Cerin?"

At the Constable's question, Cerin shuddered a little, the ill-intent in his eyes all the more apparent, yet it was clear the presence of the two knights by his side kept the young man contained. It was clear the young man was still hurt by his swift defeat by the Commanders hand, however no-one cared for his views.

Naumov however merely stood there without a care, he held little opinion in regard to his fight against the former trainee, other than slight sadness knowing that there was likely a grim reason why the young man was so furious. There was nothing he could do now, Cerin had chosen his path.

"Upon arriving at the building, myself and my men were immediately put under siege from archers. Immediately we set up residence inside the houses on the opposite side of the street. Never once were we given the chance to show the documents for arrest.

Within the building my men tended to the wounded whilst myself and a few other knights planned an assault of the building, of which it was decided I would enter the building in a full forward charge and conquer the lower floors in order to remove the archers. The assault proved effective and not long after the archers found themselves defeated, myself and my men moved upstairs, where we encountered Cerin.

Cerin refused arrest and whilst donning a full set of armor, attacked me. The ensuing fight was short and my victory. Soon after was nothing more than simple cleanup and arresting of the residents."

Naumov stood as still as a mountain when recounting the events, not caring for the questioning and hostile looks regarding the difference in stories. He refrained however from talking about the direct manner of the arrest, as that was something Cerin was truthful about when it came to the recounting of the events.

It didn't take long until Cerin reacted from his words, his expression of pure anger in regards to how poorly portrayed the fight between the two was. Knights were trained to have high pride and honor in the matter of fighting for what they believe in, a moral code that was easy to corrupt, yet at the same time allowed for the Knights to remain a separate entity from the Army as a whole.

If there was one thing Fluev successfully taught Cerin, it was how to have the pride and honor of a knight.

"You damn Commanders are all the same, sitting on your high throne and leaving the rest of us beneath you to rot!"

Everyone reacted with slight shock as the knights beside Cerin forced him back into his seat despite the resistance, something which was futile considering how strong and experienced the security was. As for Naumov, he only stared at the furious young man with a saddened expression.

What Cerin didn't understand was just how poorly matched up they were, as his skills were actually comparable to the more elite of the trainees or the weaker branch of the knights, something rather impressive considering his age and lack of direct training. Commander Naumov however did not reach his ranch by pressing papers or gaining favors, but by fighting against the encroaching beasts in the west along with the many bandits and skirmishes the covered the rest of the Kingdom.

Although he was no Okta, Naumov was slightly superior to Rotram in skill, of which was treated as the strongest knight in the Kingdom.

"Silence him, for good."

At the King's words, everyone went silent from shock, even Gallow and Naumov. They had expected to win the mini trial, and had hoped for an execution, despite their pity for the young man, however this was simply unfounded. Commander Naumov in response could only look up in slight horror at the King, which had a cold look plastered on his face despite the pleas of sorrow from Cerin.

The pleas however fell on deaf ears as the young man was dragged out of the room, into the dungeons where unless a change of fate lightened his sentence, his life would end in a couple days.

Naumov couldn't help but feel uneasy, as according to the rumors, the current King was a weak and cowardly man, someone who hid behind his crown and let the vultures claim all the true treasures and wealth. Yet the man in front of Naumovs man was no coward, he was someone ready to bear the hatred of everyone within the room, someone ready to walk a path of absolution.

Naumov and Gallow knew however that a path of absolution was one of destruction, as especially the latter had seen what had become of Nia Roguepalace.