Divine Beast Ascension

Chapter 369: Interprefectural Trial

“Descend.”

Lord Zrand nodded, following Lady Narja with precision. He dove into the clouds below and continued toward the city below.

Rather than being built on a mountainside, it seemed the enormous mountain at the city center was erected only to hold up the higher levels of the city. Then, the city continued stretching out, nearly covering all of Zrand’s view. The city’s size could rival a region, and its population could rival some of the smaller prefectures. City walls separated the many levels of society, with thirteen city districts altogether.

But Lady Narja paid no attention to the outer areas of the city. She led her cooperative suspect directly toward the top of the mountain, toward District 1. Gold and platinum lavishly covered the mountain top, glittering under the night sky.

Soon, they landed in an open courtyard near the palace center and they immediately started walking in silence. Narja and Zrand nodded at the guards as they entered the marvelous palace stretching across all of District 1. No one guided them though, as it was unnecessary for someone of Lady Narja’s status.

They very quickly reached a grand set of double doors, practically coated in precious gems.

Nodding to the guards, Lady Narja turned and held up a hand to Zrand, stopping him. They waited only a moment as the guards opened the door and announced their arrival. “Lady Narja has returned, along with Lord Zrand!”

.....

“Enter...” a calm yet demanding voice replied.

Lady Narja and Zrand nodded once more, offering a quick bow as they entered with haste.

As Zrand raised his head and waited behind Lady Narja, he showed no sign of nervousness or worry. Yet he was furiously playing out what he may need to say in his mind. It was the point of no return and he understood how adeptly he would need to walk the tightrope that was the imminent questioning.

The scheming prefecture lord eventually stood still and looked up to the man at the room’s center. Atop the gigantic throne was a human man, or at least the man’s human form. The man’s eyes were filled with boredom and disinterest. They didn’t blink but they wandered endlessly as they scoured over everyone in the room. The man’s clothes matched his palace, extravagant in every way. It seemed as if he was wearing gold and platinum directly, not just a robe embossed in similar materials. But that didn’t seem to affect the man at all. He kept swaying his head side to side, occasionally leaning on an arm or ruffling his fingers through his greying, dark brown hair.

Lady Narja and Zrand were standing nearly fifty krin away from the throne, slightly to the right of the main carpet running up to the throne. To their left, only five krin away were two others. There was a man dressed identically to Lady Narja, who offered a small bow to the new arrivals. The other was a man in simple attire, a black robe with red accents and a golden sash. That man bowed only to Lady Narja, offering Zrand nothing more than an irking glare.

“Now that the defendant has arrived, the plaintiff will restate his case and the trial will officially begin,” stated the man above everyone. “Please, Lord Draco, repeat your case.”

“Thank you, your omnipotence.” The man in the black robe bowed deeply, swooping back his long, dark red hair as he did so. “It has come to my attention that Lord Zrand has defied interprefectural law. He has plotted and scouted one of my regions for his own as a means to disrupt my prefecture. Also, he has pressured one of our growing territories by sending multiple king-level cultivators on various occasions.”

“Anything else?” asked the man on the throne.

Nodding, Lord Draco continued, “Not only has he tried to silence a promising territory and claim one of my regions as his own, but he and his subordinates have also ruined my prefecture’s relationship with the Toxic-shadow Prefecture. This was done by one of his most loyal kings, who traveled across a dozen regions and two prefectural borders in order to kill Lord Treeda’s only daughter, who was gifted the very region that Zrand now tampers with illegally.”

“Anything else?”

“That is all.”

Sighing and yawning, the man atop the throne turned to the accused. “Lord Zrand, what is your response?”

With a humble bow, Zrand stepped forward. “Your omnipotence, I am innocent of such tampering. I admit it was a king under my power that illegally crossed prefecture borders and killed Lord Treeda’s daughter. However, this was not done on my orders and the aforementioned king has been duly punished for his deed.”

“Were repercussions paid to Lord Treeda, in order to prove Lord Draco innocent of the matter?” asked the man.

Zrand shook his head slightly. “No... And that is my fault. Such actions shall be taken immediately, and I can assure you that the repercussions shall be paid many times over to compensate my tardiness.”

“Very well... And what of the other accusations?”

“I’m innocent of those as well,” replied Zrand.

Finally showing a glimmer of intrigue, the man smirked. “So, you can prove your innocence?”

Zrand nodded confidently and emphatically. “Of course. I have done no such tampering and have caused the Nova Prefecture no difficulty.”

Before the man on the throne could say something else, Zrand added, “However, I do admit that I have sent scouts to a border territory which coincidentally belongs to the region that Lord Treeda’s daughter formerly controlled.”

“... And why is that?”

“Though my subordinate king acted foolishly and selfishly while illegally crossing prefecture borders, he learned of a few things during his encounter with the region...” Pausing to test the man’s interest, Zrand continued after feeling some of the pressure lessen, “First, I learned that a fugitive of my prefecture had taken up refuge in that very region, even leading their clan to claim the territory in question.”

“A fugitive?” the man asked. He also noted the surprised twitch of Lord Draco’s stare. “Which fugitive, Lord Zrand?”

“Dioro of the Iron-body Gorilla Clan.”

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