WeTried Translations

Translator/Editor: WeTried

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ I Made a Tier List the Transcendents Are Obsessed With ◈

Chapter 27: Trial

──────

Geumbi found her location even faster than expected.

It had only taken three days. At first, I had planned to handle things more gently.

She seemed to be working as a maid for a mage family, so there had to be a better way than barging in and taking her away.

"...She's a girl."

The unexpected part was that the protagonist was a girl in this life.

Then again, there was no telling what form a soul would take during the process of regeneration.

Of course, constitutions and talents born with yang energy were often more advantageous, and there were more male-bodied Transcendents than that ratio would suggest...

But her talent was not something divided by trivial matters like that.

She had been born on an entirely different level from ordinary(?) Transcendents.

In any case, I had originally intended to settle this peacefully.

Getting one maid out of there would not have been difficult.

My position as a 4-Star regular mage of the Winter Tree Mage Tower, a faction large enough to be called a major power, would have helped as well.

But then I saw it.

A worthless maggot who was not even fit for dog food was beating this child.

The one I had watched through dozens of lives, accompanying her through every moment of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.

That insignificant piece of trash had been abusing her.

"You, you...!"

Across from me, the trash's father was shouting.

His bloodshot eyes and resentful cries expressed his anger that his child had become crippled.

Perhaps that was only natural.

To me, he was no more than a lump of shit, but to that man, he must have been a precious son.

But what was I supposed to do about that?

"Now, now... Calm down. This is something that has to be resolved in court anyway, isn't it? Oh dear, please don't swear. It could put you at a disadvantage later, you know?"

A mage in a black robe stood between me and that bastard.

Hyeondeok City was a place where only the logic of strength mattered. If I had been weaker than him, this would never have reached this point.

But publicly, I was a 4-Star mage, while he was a 3-Star mage.

Naturally, direct retaliation against me was impossible. I also belonged to a major faction.

All they could do was report me on charges such as trespassing, property damage, attempted murder, and robbery.

Which was why...

I was currently inside a courthouse.

After taking Judy to my private room at the Mage Tower, I had been "formally" detained before being released.

The solitary cell in that detention center had been nearly as comfortable as my private room, so I did not particularly feel liberated.

"...It doesn't seem like they have any intention of settling."

The mage who had been stopping that outburst for some time came over and whispered quietly.

"What can we do? We'll have to proceed with a formal trial."

"Haah. What a troublesome person."

The dispute mediator shook their head as they spoke.

The father across from me, who had witnessed the entire situation firsthand, could not say anything despite his face turning bright red.

After all, the robed mage was a Dispute Mediation Commissioner, an overwhelmingly powerful individual who had mastered the Creation Realm in martial arts and reached 5-Star as a mage.

"The trial will probably be held tomorrow. Please bear with it for one more day."

"Thank you for your consideration. May I leave now?"

"Yes. The guards should be waiting for you."

There was a strange chill hidden beneath their kindly smiling face.

You could tell at a glance they were a psychopath. Oddly enough, that was not disadvantageous for me.

With them seeing me off, I left the room first.

Two guards waiting by the door each took hold of one of my arms.

"...Let's go."

"Do you have to hold my arms?"

"There are many eyes on us, so we have no choice. We ask for your understanding."

"It's fine. It's not particularly uncomfortable."

The guards escorting me looked more apologetic than I did.

At this point, it was hard to tell who the criminal was.

After returning to the detention center with the guards "escorting" me and spending the night there...

"Case Number 21995. We will now begin the trial of Defendant Jin on four charges, including attempted murder and aggravated robbery."

The trial began.

* * *

A public trial at the Hyeondeok City Court was not a common occurrence.

That was because everyone knew that everything was normally decided by the logic of strength.

Thus, the spectators attending this trial...

Most of them were Hyeondeok City's "nobles" with positions of some standing.

...And they had a rough idea of what would happen next.

"Defendant Jin entered the Morrison family estate and attacked Rohal Morrison several times with magic while he was disciplining a servant."

The prosecutor somehow seemed lacking in spirit.

After reciting the circumstances and sequence of events, the prosecutor roughly finished explaining the grounds for the prosecution and took a seat.

Then came the defense counsel's argument.

"Rohal Morrison attempted to kill a servant who was incapable of resisting."

The judges nodded at words that would ordinarily not be an issue at all.

"...Afterward, Rohal Morrison repeatedly made insulting remarks and threats toward the defendant, who had tried to stop him. The defendant merely took the minimum defensive measures. The fact that the result was limited to injury despite the clear difference in their levels proves this."

The narrative was completely reconstructed in a different direction.

Of course, the "injury" Rohal Morrison had suffered left him doomed to live forever with only his consciousness intact, his limbs permanently twisted.

But a "minor" matter like that was simply concealed.

"Twenty-two percent of the Morrison family's servants left their employment due to permanent bodily impairments or death. This requires a clear investigation by the city authorities..."

Moral failings that everyone tolerated and ignored were transformed into atrocities that outraged heaven and earth.

Several cries of condemnation burst out from the spectators. Every bit of it had already been written into the script.

And so...

"...Furthermore, the victim has suffered permanent physical damage, so the crime is not minor."

That was the judge's final ruling.

"However, considering that the defendant has admitted to the crime and shown remorse, that some justification is recognized in the course of events, and that the defendant has expressed an intention to compensate for the damages, the court delivers the following sentence."

"Ruling. The defendant is ordered to complete forty hours of repeat-offense prevention education and pay compensation for one listed servant. This concludes the ruling."

That was all.

Along with being mocked, the Morrison family would be investigated by the city authorities based on "anonymous" reports.

In exchange for one trial, they would receive severe legal punishment of a different kind from this hearing.

"Why did they have to be so stubborn... A 4-Star mage in the Inner Tower at that age could become a chief mage someday, couldn't he? Do you think the Mage Tower would just sit back?"

"He couldn't have caused all this over one maid. They must have offended someone badly."

"He's handsome too. It would've been nice if he'd come to our society."

"From what I heard, the recent incident at the abandoned factory was also..."

The result of the hearing had been so certain that no one paid much attention to it.

Instead, they only talked about Jin as he left the courtroom.

A newcomer mage who had entered from outside the city and swiftly reached 4-Star.

The prevailing theory was that several fortuitous encounters lay behind that growth, enough to call him a rising star.

There were also rumors that the Winter Tree Mage Tower was personally nurturing him for some reason.

Amid murmurs blending truth and nonsense in just the right measure, the ash-gray-haired young man receiving everyone's attention muttered as a concern came to mind.

"...Should I change the next topic? That one might be more interesting."

No one here could have understood what he meant.

* * *

I loved the original work of this world and its protagonist.

How could I not?

The world drawn in black lines of text across a white page had belonged entirely to me.

...Of course, once it truly became my world, it had not been that enjoyable.

Still, I could not help feeling attached to the child who bore the name Judy in this life.

And that would help me as well.

The journey she had originally been destined to take.

If I walked it alongside her, it would benefit us both.

The reason I went through a trial I did not need to face was also because of Judy.

It would help for her to have a clear identity later, whether she left Hyeondeok City or even Haedong itself.

"I wonder what she's doing."

On the way back to the Mage Tower, I had left her with Wendy after our first encounter.

Including my detention, almost four days had passed.

I wanted to see her so badly I could go crazy.

No matter how much her appearance differed from the original work, her essence would be the same.

That was the kind of child she was born to be.

[ Finally, today is the day I get to see my kid... ] - Oz

I was a little depressed because I hadn't seen her for several days, but just thinking about seeing her has improved my mood.

When I get there, I'll buy her something tasty, pretty clothes, everything. Hehe.

I shared that joy and excitement with the Gallery as well.

Seeing the comments and upvotes flood in immediately afterward, people apparently had plenty to say...

But this was more important right now.

Whoom!

After leaving the courthouse and reaching a point where the eyes following me had disappeared, I used Spatial Movement.

In front of my private room.

I could sense two auras inside. They were probably Wendy and Judy.

"Hm."

Was Wendy really taking good care of her?

I smiled warmly and was about to enter when the voices coming from inside made me stop.

"Um, so I'm kind of like a stepmom, right?"

"Ooh... Then can I not call you big sister anymore?"

"That's not exactly it, but if you had to put it that way, I'm closer to that than an older sister, right?"

What the hell was she telling the child?

Was she insane?

Bang!

"Aah! Mommy!"

I forced the automatic door open and entered. Wendy looked at me with startled eyes, trembling as though she knew she was guilty.

"Uh, um... You're back already? I thought you'd return later..."

The thoughts in her eyes were plain as she stammered out her words.

If I read those thoughts, they said something like, How much did he hear?

"I heard everything."

"Wh, what? Heard what?"

I smiled and approached the girl as she kept swallowing nervously and watching my reaction.

Perhaps sensing my murderous intent, Wendy slowly backed away. Judy, who had been beside her, had already fled to the other side of the room.

As expected.

She really was a smart child.

"No, no... If you really think about it? I mean, it's hard to say exactly what our relationship is, so... Ack!"

"Be quiet!"

Thud!

Wendy was struck on the crown of her head and collapsed flat on the floor, dead to the world.

Judy, who had been watching from a distance, met my eyes and asked.

"...She's alive, right?"

"Yeah, she's perfectly fine."

Twitch.

I simply ignored the sight of Wendy convulsing as though she strongly disagreed with that answer.

Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried