In the court.
The necromancer grew increasingly agitated as he spoke, "It has been 19 years. Ever since I came to the Bone Burial Abandoned Village, I've only done a few small-scale researches and you guys are pestering me every single day because of that!
"If it wasn't for me having a good temper, I wouldn't even tell you guys! All of you are just wicked people!"
The grand justice glanced at him, and the necromancer slowly fell silent.
In the public gallery, the emotions of the crowd were running wild. A weak voice drifted out with difficulty. "That's my femur…"
Sadly, this voice was soon drowned out by the voices that condemned the necromancer's evil conduct.
Xu Nan felt a headache.
What the hell was this? He finally knew what was going on. But for this second round, choosing the defendant's side was clearly a path leading to death, right?
Where would an accused bring evidence of his 'crimes' when being tried at a court of law?
The necromancer was simply conceding by doing so, right?
This necromancer didn't have the attitude of a suspect. On the contrary, he seemed very pleased with himself and was incomparably arrogant. He even started to argue and scold the villagers when he was speaking in his defense.
For a time, the court was as noisy as a supermarket. Xu Nan glanced at the necromancer who had his hands on his waist and was currently scolding the villagers. All of a sudden, Xu Nan saw a somewhat familiar insignia on his wrist.
The insignia was a bit unremarkable and easily blocked by his sleeves. If the accused hadn't been putting his hands on his hips as he argued with the villagers, Xu Nan wouldn't have been able to see the insignia.
"Eh?"
When Xu Nan was contemplating, the grand justice once again cast the silence spell.
"Silence!" The grand justice rapped his little wooden mallet.
Warlock Jason, who was acting as the prosecutor, started his speech.
He coldly laughed while staring at the arrogant necromancer. "Seems like you have confessed to your crimes. In that case, there's no need for me to say anything much. Of course, it isn't your fault that you love to do research on corpses as a necromancer.
"But the graveyard of the Bone Burial Abandoned Village is the place where the undead is born. The majority of corpses buried there have a high chance of becoming the undead in the future. In other words, these corpses could become villagers of the Bone Burial Abandoned Village.
"If I didn't remember wrongly, the Bone Burial Abandoned Village, as a gathering ground for the undead, abides by the Hammo Code formulated by the nineteen monarchs of the world of death.
"The code spelled out clearly that any actions that negatively influenced the birth of the undead will be considered a crime!
"Sir, you stole corpses and skeletons from the graveyard and have seriously affected the peace there. By doing so, your actions also affected the normal birthing of the undead, and this can already be considered a criminal activity. Also, you are suspected of stealing the femur of an ordinary villager…
"Your honor, I feel that the situation is already very clear. Based on the Hammo Code, please immediately convict this necromancer who doesn't show respect for the undead!"
Xu Nan frowned. This fellow came prepared indeed. If he also failed to win in the second round, wouldn't the hidden treasure in the Bone Burial Abandoned Village be out of his grasp forever?
The grand justice, who was a lich, had no expression on his face. (Superfluous, how would a lich have expressions?) "Is the defense attorney going to justify or defend the accused?"
Xu Nan muttered irresolutely to himself before speaking, "Your honor, I request for this court to be temporarily adjourned!"
The grand justice asked, "Reason?"
"The prosecutor's accent of the common language is too heavy. I basically cannot understand anything he is saying!
"I hope to use the period of adjourning to learn more about the common language, so I can clearly understand the nonsense he is spouting."
Xu Nan smiled as he stated.
Even before Jason could interject, the grand justice rapped his wooden mallet. "Fine."
"Court will adjourn for three hours!"
Thud!
With a command, the court transformed back into a stage. All the circus members went up upon seeing this, and the atmosphere turned lively once again.
The villagers seemed to have forgotten what had just happened earlier. They began cheering for the fantastic performances on the stage again.
Jason ran over in anger. He cast a ruthless glance at Xu Nan. "You actually said the accent of my common language dialect is heavy? I want to sue you for regional discrimination! Also, my common language's standard is at the 10th level. It's impossible for me to have a heavy accent…"
Xu Nan couldn't be bothered with him.
He pulled Soupy alone and they disappeared within the crowd.
He needed some time to investigate some things.
Three hours later.
The court session started again.
When it was Xu Nan's turn to present his defense, he just smiled as he stood there. He spoke frankly with assurance, "Actually, is the matter as serious as what the prosecutor has said?"
"The law this village abides by is indeed the Hammo Code, and the graveyard is also the place where the undead is born. Moreover, my client did indeed take a few bones in passing…"
Jason's pale and weak-looking complexion had a look of satisfaction on it.
"...But from what I know, these bones and corpses had run out from the graveyard themselves and begged my client to do research on them with tears in their eyes. Since both sides were willing parties, it cannot be considered theft."
Xu Nan spoke nonsense with a straight face; his words were even more ridiculous than the necromancer's.
When the necromancer heard this, he smiled and gave Xu Nan a thumbs up. Most probably, this meant that he had met a kindred spirit in Xu Nan.
"Nonsense! Those corpses and skeletons have yet to become the undead, how could they run out?"
Jason stared at Xu Nan in anger.
The grand justice glanced at him. "Both sides have the freedom to present their cases."
"That's because your standard isn't high enough. My client has the ability to communicate with the skeletons and corpses; he could sense the happiness, joy, sorrow, and anger from each piece of their bones. He heard them calling out, and he felt that they were too bored and depressed being buried in the graveyard. They strongly requested my client to help them out of this sea of bitterness. This was what caused the earlier misunderstanding to happen."
Xu Nan was incomparably calm.
In the public gallery, a clamor arose. Some villagers started to curse at Xu Nan.
Xu Nan glanced at the system's notification. The villagers' impression of him was rapidly declining, but he felt neither sorrow nor joy in his heart.
Jason coldly laughed. "Absurd! How can mere bones have emotions?"
Xu Nan's eyebrows twitched. "Are you looking down on them?"
Jason seemed to have realized something. "No, I'm not, I didn't…"
"Why can't skeletons and corpses have emotions? Isn't everyone here formed from bones? The vengeful spirit sister wearing white at the side, can I trouble you to compress yourself and move toward the wall? I don't want to see you now."
Xu Nan continued to speak insane words, "Can you prove that my client doesn't have the ability to communicate with bones? You can't? I'm sorry then, I feel that my client is not guilty. I believe that everyone in the jury and your honor feel the same as well.
"This case was still on-going even though 19 years have passed? Why is it so? Isn't it because all of you wicked undead don't understand how to empathize with my client's painstaking effort? It has been 19 years, and you all have been hounding him every day. Can you guys elevate your thinking and awareness?
"I'm speaking to all the plaintiffs. Does the graveyard belong to you? When you saw my client walking out from the graveyard with a few corpses to free them from their suffering, you couldn't distinguish between right and wrong and immediately sued him in court. Your actions made an innocent man suffer for 19 years."
"Touch your own conscience, do you feel guilt in your heart?!"
The plaintiffs subconsciously touched their chests.
"I apologize. I've forgotten you guys are undead. It's normal that you all don't have a conscience."
Xu Nan calmly continued, "But you guys should still have the most basic ability to distinguish right from wrong, correct? My client absolutely did not commit a crime. If you guys have the slightest bit of conscience, dropping the lawsuit can still be considered a case of merit."
Jason coldly laughed out loud.
He had calmed down now and discovered that Xu Nan was basically talking nonsense. Xu Nan's method was clearly giving up on the normal way of defending the presented facts!
With such a defense, how could he possibly gain the recognition of the jury?
He glanced at the members of the jury. Although they were all undead, he could still sense their emotional fluctuations.
They were all extremely enraged now.
Xu Nan's words were basically a provocation to the entire court of law!
Jason then relaxed. He contemplated a little and wanted to refute Xu Nan's warped logic.
But at this moment…
After the few plaintiffs muttered to each other, they weakly raised their hands. "Your honor, we decided to drop the lawsuit."
Pak!
The mallet slammed down. The grand justice decisively spoke, "In that case, the lawsuit is dropped. The accused is hereby pronounced…"
Jason stared at the villagers in disbelief, yet he discovered the soulfire in their eyes flickering incessantly.
"What did you do to them?" He seemed to have understood something. "You used [Bluff] and [Negotiation]?"
"Why did you guys drop the lawsuits?" he asked the plaintiffs.
The skeletons grouped together. After thinking for some time, they gave a shoddy excuse. "...We have a guilty conscience."
"What? Do you guys even have a conscience?"
Jason was so angered that he almost coughed out blood. Although he didn't know what had happened, he had to fight for this.
He looked at the old skeleton who was limping in the public gallery.
He hurriedly rushed over and helped him walk toward the court. He then pointed to the necromancer as he asked.
"Is this the person who took your femur?"
The skeleton answered in a trembling voice, "Yes."
It was like Jason had managed to clutch the last life-saving straw. He fiercely spoke, "This necromancer is guilty of terrible crimes…"
However, that old skeleton interrupted his words. "This...this lord necromancer could tell that I was in pain when he saw my old femur being infected by rheumatism...Hence, he broke it off and helped me bring it away.
"Without that femur that is infected by rheumatism, I'm now very nimble when walking! Look at me, I can even jump on one leg! I thank lord necromancer for your warmhearted help!"
The old skeleton then hopped away with a single leg.
Jason was dumbfounded.
In the public gallery, the villagers stared at this scene in disbelief.
"...pronounced innocent and discharged!"
The grand justice lich gave the final verdict.
Even the necromancer didn't expect that he would be pronounced innocent and discharged. He had an astonished look on his face.
...
15 minutes later, in the backstage area.
A person wearing a black cloak walked over. "Mr. Xu, please follow me."
"The grand justice wishes to see you."
Xu Nan's lips curled up slightly.
"Alright."
The strategy of this Jason was too lacking.
This had been a clear case of theft, yet why had it remained on-going for 19 years?
Naturally, it was because the accused necromancer had a good father!
Who said that a lich wasn't able to have descendants?
This couldn't be confirmed.
Maybe, his honor, the grand justice, had a son before he turned himself into a lich.
...