"...n.o.ble Litr will be stripped of all of his a.s.sets in the coming days. He will a.s.sist the Home Guards to dismantle his entire wealth and help unveil any hidden operations that have been going on away from the public"s eye." King Rex announced the verdict, yet he could literally hear the crowd outside.
Apparently, the public wasn"t satisfied with such sc.u.m getting off easy, and demanded more justice.
"Don"t you think you"re relieved a bit early, Litr? I have yet to bang my hammer. " Rex smirked as he drank from a cup of water to quench his thirst.
"Because of all the atrocious crimes you"ve committed, especially against all these poor children, I hereby also sentence you to life imprisonment in Paradiso as soon as it is rebuilt. For the moment, you will be kept in the maximum cell security prison under the Central Police Station. We"ve prepared a cell for you which cannot be unlocked unless I personally come over to fetch you." Rex added.
"All of your statuses is hereby erased, and your entire household will be placed under arrest until investigations have cleared their names. Until then, they will be treated guilty until proven innocent. All of their a.s.sets would also be freezed. There is no way out for you no matter how you see it. You are not allowed to appeal nor request for bail. The sentence I give would be absolute."
"Lastly, you will be receiving five strokes of the cane on a daily basis and be kept alive for eternity. Don"t you worry. I won"t let you die that easily. We will b.u.t.ter your a.s.s up with lots of medicinal oil if we need to." Rex said with a gentle smile, but it spoke volumes of terror which Litr could not comprehend at that moment.
Litr stared at the absurdity of the sentence, and tears started to leak out of his eyes pleading for leniency. "Please my liege! I have admitted to all my crimes! I have even voluntarily given you the names of those involved. Don"t I deserve a lighter sentence for my cooperation?"
"No, you do not. For decades you have been involved in shady business. You did not care about the well being of others. You have sent children into Paradiso because they "betrayed" you as you claim, ignoring the circ.u.mstances they had to live in. You confessed because you did not want to bear with the pain as you saw the guillotine upon your neck already coming down. Such behaviour does not deserve any sort of lighter punishment. That"s all." Rex replied firmly.
Soon enough, those officials would all discover that there was actually a second part to Evon"s truth serum. If someone tried to keep the truth by not saying anything, it would come along with more and more excruciating pain.
However, as to not waste any time, all Evon had to do was to activate the truth serum via his own chi and the accused would be forced to speak the truth while at the same time still suffering the pain. The Fox of Drugs did not have to worry about death since they would either die and disappear forever or resurrect at the church and continue with the trial. It was a lose-lose situation for them, considering the resurrection point couldn"t be changed.
"Now, you"ve wasted enough of my time. Guards, bring him away and get the next official or n.o.ble to the podium." King Rex ordered, and the Home Guards were delighted to comply with their new King"s commands.
As the next official came, it was ironically Minister Phaspho who had a.s.sured Litr that this was just a show of power. "Ah… Minister Phaspho, I heard much about you too. You"ve witnessed how I shall conduct these trials, so let"s proceed quickly, shall we? We have wasted too much time exposing n.o.ble - oops I meant Litr." Rex"s grin at that moment wasn"t any less evil than Kraft"s, and the foxes could never imagine how happy Kraft was when Rex enforced such cruel justice.
Phaspho was under the impression that touching the book of "truth" would cause him to spill out his secrets, and with defiance, he tried to avoid it as much as possible.
But refusing the "book of truth" did not change anything as long as Evon was there. All Evon had to do was to increase the dosage or activate his chi for it to spill his entire life"s story.
Thus his resistance to swear an oath was futile for Minister Phaspho, and Rex began his line of questioning without further ado. (After all, there was a line of "criminal" ministers waiting to be judged.)
Similar to Litr, multiple crimes got exposed to the public, and by now almost the entire population of Demon Metropolis was earnestly watching the entire broadcast. Many were angry that the people who were supposed to act for the common good were so corrupt when they promised things to get done.
After each accusation against the culprits, King Rex"s sentences ended up based on the offences they admitted to having committed and soon after, it was the next official.
Only after 74 hours of non-stop interrogation, the longest trial ever to be held did Rex let the hammer fall for the last of the officials. The Home Guards had already scheduled rotations so that they would not get overworked but for the accused officials and n.o.bles… They were not allowed any rest except for toilet breaks which were also supervised in case they tried to make a run for it.
No food or beddings were provided, and they had to kneel until the end of the trial session. Naturally, most of them ended up sleeping in that position, but what surprised even the Home Guards was King Rex being around for the entire time without breaks. (Although there were slight stretching during intervals.)
For that period of 74 hours, Rex had not eaten a single piece of food nor taken a wink of rest. His focus actually got sharper as the hours went by, and even Evon had shown his ability to stand all day, by his side.
The entire Demon Metropolis was in a way moved by the dedication of their new King, but at the same time couldn"t help but question his purpose.
For the past 74 hours, the Home Guard had been busy raiding the accused houses for jewels, treasures and money. Yet, all that ill-gotten money was technically still taxpayers" income. What was Rex intending to do with it?
Was this trial just a way to ama.s.s all the wealth or would he be distributing it back to the people, or at least use it for the people"s wellbeing? The critics were still sceptical about it even though Rex had conducted a brilliant job clearing the current administration. The second problem the critics in the news industry pointed out would be getting new officials to take over for their jailed predecessors.
Those ex-officials might have been corrupt, but at least they had been somewhat competent in their work. By arresting them all, it left a big gap, which might actually prove to be disadvantageous to the new King.
Yet, the King who after slamming the hammer to conclude the trial session had no qualms with that especially when he had the System and the foxes by his side.
In no time, Pei got a.s.signed to be partially in control over the health ministry department. Although Kraft teasingly told Pei that she did not need to be with them any longer, she refused adamantly yet demanded Rex to allow her to work remotely.
Tsu and Kai had been a.s.signed to deal with internal affairs, and mainly the coordination of departments. Ixa was a.s.signed to the transportation department while Itori the education department. As for their brother, Ixel decided to head the police department while General Vual became the sole defensive force after the Demon Metropolis" defeat against Pandapolis.
Even though Kiyu was currently working for her mission, her position in the Metropolis would be foreign affairs as Rex knew how that girl could sweet talk anyone.
Evon had been appointed to head the science and research department while Kraft… was given nothing.
"Big Brother. I am so hurt. I"ve been nothing but good to you, and this is how you repay me?" Kraft asked overly dramatic via the System Channel.
"Knowing you, I believe it"s best not to give you any position," Rex admitted, and the group could hear a relatively quiet snort from Pei. "But because of that, you will not have to report to anyone, not even me. Feel free to probe at everyone"s stuff."
"That"s equivalent to the King"s position…" Kai pointed out, and Kraft literally jumped with joy.
"BIG BROTHER KNOWS ME BEST!" Kraft shouted as he instantly disappeared from the chat.
"You sure it"s a good idea, King Rex?" Pei asked, mentioning his t.i.tle with some lofty sarcasm.
"It"s not like you do not know him. If I were to give him something official, he would just get bored after a while. After all, he hates having someone tell him what he can and cannot do. Besides, despite his devilish ways, he always gets the job done and often he is going the extra mile." Rex tried to defend his proposition.
"More like childish ways…" Pei resigned to that fact and looked up the Demon Metropolis health policies and related items. Even though all these jobs were temporary until a suitable official could be found, it was still a good time killer for Pei while protecting Jin.
The reform of Demon Metropolis might have started, but the toughest part has yet to come.