Mortal's Jobs Aren't So Bad Afterall

 After more than 50 years of battle, or to say more accurately, Zagtonan beating Jack, they finally stopped.

"Good, I'm drained now!" Zagronan said with a smile.

The pressure is now completely off him. He no longer feels an urge to slaughter. As for his edges, they still are amputated, but this battle acts as a distraction for him not to feel the pain of his loss.

"What? Why did you stop?" Jack asked with annoyance. Even after this long, his mind is still not in rank 12. It's getting closer and closer but has yet to reach it truly. 

"Hmm? You liked it?" Zagronan had a weird look. He had seen many demons who liked suffering, but this Jack is on another level.

He beat this guy for decades, and he wants more?

"Yes, I did! Continue!" Jack said.

Zagronan shrugged and took Jack, then started again!

...

Two centuries later, Zagronan had a calm smile. His mind was now as serene without the slightest trace of murderous intent.

He gently put Jack down.

"Continue!" Jack said with closed eyes

Zagronan's calm mind began to have waves; he was a bit annoyed.

"Are you still not tired?" he asked with astonishment.

"No," Jack replied, frustrated. He is only half a hair away from rank 12, but this half a hair seemed like a great river.

Zagronan frowned and continued hitting Jack.

...

60,000 years later, 

Zagronan stopped."We're done!" he said. 

He was truly tired of beating Jack; he wanted peace now.

"Please, continue!" Jack said. He still hadn't reached rank 12 in mental condition. He never imagined it would be so difficult.

That half of a hair is now like 0.0001 of a hair, still not there.

This time, Zagronan did not continue. He had other things to do. Lana must be missing him! Just kidding, she probably long forgotten he ever existed! 

Still, he couldn't just forever pound on Jack.

"No, sorry," Zagronan declared.

Rachel smiled and, before Jack could say anything, teleported Zagronan away. 

The illusion world, now without its support, started slowly disintegrating.

"Sigh! Rank 12 is too difficult!" Jack thought. His mental strength was already many times stronger than rank 11, but the rift between rank 11 and 12 was too big. 

Jack was trapped in the illusion with his real body, and Zagtonan, as an illusion rank 12, did manage to damage him. 

As a result, Jack's body also got stronger with each pound, but after only 10,000 years, it got strong enough that the illusion rank 12 Zagronan could no longer damage him. 

A true rank 12 can easily do it because they control a universal law, but Zagronan only had the illusion of the physical power of a rank 12. Even in the illusion, his real power was only quasi-rank 12 in the physical body of rank 12s; it was not truly rank 12.

Jack's body reached a point where it could no longer be injured; therefore, Jack voluntarily put it away and controlled a mortal body. 

Because with his main body, Zagronan could not damage him, and therefore, his mental condition could not improve. It is a rare opportunity he must use. No other illusion he had ever seen had this ability. 

As a result, only Jack's mental condition improved. As for the soul and talent, etc., the main body must be damaged for them to improve, too. For example, when Zagronan punched him in another body, the talent and soul of that body improved, not his real body.

In this whole process, Jack never moved his soul out of his body. Transferring mental condition is like possession; he possesses others as a whole. He just takes over the soul of the body he is possessing.

Raking his soul out is dangerous; he would never do it. 

Now that Zagronan left, he started thinking about the future.

"It's best if I find him!" He decided to contact Rachel. He also has a Rachel, but it is not on him now; still, this place is made by Rachel, so he should be able to find his way back easily.

...

This is a rank 11 world with around 10,000 complete laws. 

Rachel has a share of 16% in this world. The rest of it is part of other civilizations, mostly corporate types. 

The corporate types love investment, shared ownership, complicating things with convoluted laws, etc. 

This world is named after the initials of a few founders: ELSTWHLOETC. 

The name is a complete mess. The "EL" at the beginning is named after Rachel, the biggest shareholder. She didn't use her initials to remain anonymous. 

She tells others that her name is Eleven Link. It's nonsense, but everyone believed it. After all, civilizations have all sorts of bizarre names. 

The "ST" is named after Street civilization, a rank 12, independent, and ancient civilization. They control 8%. 

"WH" is named after Whiteboard Civilization, another rank 12. They control 6%. 

The "LO" is named after Loving civilization, another rank 12. Loving controls 5%. 

Loving is a hardcore corporate type that squeezes profit out of everything, so the name is very ironic.

"ETC" represents the rest, consisting of some other rank 12s and many small rank 11 and 10s who invested in the creation of this world. 

This same group of civilizations teamed up and created many other worlds, too.

ELSTWHLOETC is a world with a unified, kind of democratic system. 

People get to vote and elect their leaders, who can even order immortals; here, immortals are also bound by the laws. 

But not everyone's vote is equal, nor is it the usual, where nobles get more votes. 

The voting power of each person is based on one's achievements. A doctor starts with 100 votes, a nurse with 60, a farmer with 5, a building engineer with 110, a driver with 10, a jobless person with 3, and a child with 1. 

Older people close to their passing will have their voting rights halved. The logic is that they will die soon, so they shouldn't have as much voice about the future, which they won't see anyway.

These are default votes; one doctor can increase their votes by, for example, finding a new cure for some disease. A farmer can increase their vote share by inventing something. A jobless person can make a company that makes a lot of money, and their votes increase significantly in the process. 

Like ever, the question is who decides? The answer is 'voting committee'.

There are many voting committee branches everywhere; they decide based on what they perceive as merit; of course, the federal parliament passed many laws about this, so there are defined criteria,' and it's even possible to appeal it; the committee does not have that much autonomy.

The committee almost always downgrades the votes of people who commit crimes; for example, if a doctor is sent to prison, the committee, on its initiative, would downgrade them all the way to 1. The courts that sentence people can also do it, but usually don't and leave it to the committee.

A rank 0 gets 5 votes in addition, a rank 2 gets 20 votes, rank 3 gets 60 votes, rank 4 gets 120 votes, rank 5 gets 300 votes, rank 6 gets 700 votes, rank 7 gets 3,000 votes, rank 8 gets 10,000 votes, rank 9 gets 50,000 votes, rank 10s get 1,000,000 votes, and rank 11s get 100,000,000 votes! 

However, there are relatively few high-ranking mages, and the world population is in the twenty-digit range, so super votes, the term referring to votes cast by mages, cultivators, etc, may affect local elections. In national elections, though, it has little impact.

There are two types of elections: federal elections and local elections.

In federal elections, voters vote for a parliament, and the parliament chooses a prime minister for a fifteen-year term. The voters can oust the prime minister by a referendum that is held each year. If they oust the prime minister, then the parliament must choose another prime minister in 3 months; if they fail, new elections would be called.

If voters oust two prime ministers consecutively, the parliament will be automatically dissolved, and new elections will be called.

In local elections, the voters choose state/provincial parliaments, city councils, mayors, governors, police chiefs, judges, etc.

Local laws differ, so in some places, voters elect much of the government, and in others, they only vote for the state/provincial parliaments.

States/provinces have a lot of autonomy; most decisions directly affecting people's lives are decided at the state level.

...

John is the provincial Minister of Justice. 

His job is different from that of the Attorney General. The Attorney General is the chief law enforcer, defending criminal convictions, clamping down on crime, etc. 

The Minister of Justice, on the other hand, runs the justice system.

John is the sole person responsible for appointing all lower court judges. He is the one budgeting courts, managing the courts and the public defenders, and has many representatives in many committees. 

His most prestigious role is choosing judges.

He usually chooses very accomplished people. However, today is different. 

He looked at the strange man before him. 

He has golden-orange eyes and is very muscular, barely fitting in his body. 

The provincial first minister 'ordered' him to appoint this man to a judgeship. This request was extremely inappropriate; still, the first minister must have a good reason. As a good friend of the first minister, John agreed.

John smiled at the man and handed over the paperwork. The man, Zagronan, took them and left the room.

"Rude!" John shook his head.

...

"Why are we doing this?" Zagronan asked.

"We're working on your mental condition! Your mission is to act like a judge! Go and try to be fair," she said.

"Are you seriously expecting a demon like me to be 'fair'?" he was doubtful.

"Yes! You should be able to do things like this to succeed! Do you want to succeed or not?" she asked.

"Yeah, but..." he said.

"No buts!" she cut him off.

He sighed and moved to the designated location.

...

Sam was sitting in the court, waiting. 

He was charged with murder, but he argued it was self-defense. 

As his attorneys were debating, someone said, "All rise." 

Then, the judge entered. 

He was tall and muscular, with golden eyes! He was very atypical of judges. 

The judge sat down and said, "Begin!" 

Everyone looked around confusedly. They expected some speech, case numbers, etc. 

Just 'begin' seems ... not judge like.

The prosecutor started, "Your Honor, this case is straightforward; the defendant murdered his brother, Dean, in cold blood for a little money." He went on to detail the horrific things Sam did to Dean. 

The defense attorney stood up, "Sam had no choice! His brother was threatening him not to say anything about the money. Sam disagreed, and Dean attacked him." He continued by talking for a few more minutes, basically repeating the same lines in different manners. 

"Your Honor, those are all allegations! There is no evidence of any of that!" the prosecutor said. He continued talking for minutes more. Lawyers are good at speaking for a long time.

Zagronan yawned and said, "What is the maximum punishment?"

Everyone looked in confusion. 

Is it appropriate for the judge to ask them these questions? 

The prosecutor said, "Execution!" 

The defense attorney said, "Fine of 100 EL." 

Zagronan scratched his head and said, "I thought you guys have a code of laws? How can you disagree on the punishment?" 

The prosecutor said, "It's first-degree murder! There are aggravating circumstances such as..." he continued for five more minutes. 

The defense attorney said, "Your Honor, this is simple damage to public property! There is no murder here! We intend to sue the government for abuse of discretion later!" 

Zagronan straightened his back and said, "I found him guilty! 

Execute him!" 

Everyone was shocked, even the prosecution. 

These things take work; the wheels of justice spin slowly. What this 'judge' did here is like taking out the wheel of justice and eating it. 

"Your Honor..." Before the defense attorney could say anything, Zagronan waved his hand and said, "Next!" 

"But, Your Honor!" the prosecution also spoke up. 

"Someone, throw these two in jail!" he shouted. 

The bailiffs, who were also confused, came and obeyed. Their job is only to follow, not to think. 

The defense attorney and prosecutor were sent to jail while the next group of people came in.

...

 "These kinds of jobs are hard," Zagronan said as he sat at his desk, feeling tired. 

He had worked a lot today, giving death sentences to more than 10 people. 

Surprisingly, he looked forward to the next day. The looks on those people's faces were funny! He smiled. 

"Maybe ordinary mortal's jobs are not that bad after all."

...

 Many reports about a particular judge started pouring into the Minister of Justice's office.

"Only after one day on the job?" he was astonished. 

How can one do this much damage after just one day? 

He took out a pen and paper, wrote something, stamped it, and sent it to the clerk's office. 

He recommended suspension for the new judge. 

He is a friend of the First Minister, but friendship also has limits. John is sure that if the first minister sees the mess, he will agree.

John cannot fire judges by himself. After all, any country in which a single person can fire judges is a banana republic.

Here, to fire a judge, the process is lengthy. 

First, the Minister of Justice must recommend suspension. Then, it would be reviewed by a team of 11 randomly selected judges. 

If they unanimously vote to suspend, then the judge would be suspended indefinitely until the matter is sorted. 

The matter would then go to the state/province Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court can remove judges; if they rule that there is no way to discipline, they will fire the judge.

But this is not the end. If the judge in question still thinks he/she doesn't deserve suspension, he/she can take the matter to the state/provincial parliament. If two-thirds vote to reinstate him, then he would be reinstated. 

If the legislature doesn't take it up, then the Supreme Court's order sticks, and the judge would be removed, and he can never again hold any government position.

...

The letter went to the clerk's office, and a team of 11 judges was quickly formed. They all unanimously voted to suspend Zagronan. 

It was so outrageous that no matter who looked at it, suspension was the only option.

...

Zagronan looked at the letter.

"Hey, look, Rachel! They suspended me!" he was half happy and sad.

"I'll fix it. You get ready for the next hearing!" she said.

"Let's go back! I don't want to be here," he pleaded.

"Get ready for the next case," she said.

...

A few hours after the suspension, the federal attorney general sued the state minister of justice in federal court. Less than an hour later, the federal court issued an order reinstating Zagronan!

...

Zagronan sat in his courtroom and said, "Next!"