"I think I saw enough."Pulling myself out of the influence of the stone, I promptly reached for the second part of it with a strand of entropy, swiftly dissolving one with this chaotic force while crus.h.i.+ng the other one within the palm of my head. Turning myself back to the Gabriel, I looked him deep into the eyes, before loosening up.
"Tell us what you saw."
After this little show that was aimed to prove that even if I lacked knowledge about something I didn"t mind sacrificing some of my time to verify it, it was finally the turn of my most trusted retainer to speak his mind.
"Barely an hour after I left, I felt one of my stones going off. With how I had quite a lot of them in total, I believed that due to the increased distance, there was some interference between them, so I didn"t really pay it any mind. Only half a day later, when I finally crossed the river and set up a small tent to have a rest before going back to my travels, did I sat down to check on the stones."
While it was only the beginning of his story, one could already see that recalling those memories put a great strain on the old servant of mine. Without even a hint of hesitation, I picked him up by his arms and dragged him to the throne at the centre of the square.
"My lord!"
Even though Gabriel protested when he realised what I was aiming to accomplish, I didn"t pay him any mind, even going as far as locking him down on the chair with a small bit of my energy weighing him down on his lap.
"Ughh… Okay then. Almost immediately after I placed all the stones in front of me in order to access them one by one and find the source of the problem, the bridge that I used to cross the river… Suddenly collapsed! Considering how it was nothing but an improvised work for the sake of scouting the other bank of the waterway, I didn"t pay it any mind as my own people claimed that its pylons could give up at any given moment. But I still wasted quite a bit of time trying to look at whether the river would be still pa.s.sable before returning to checking on the stones."
With his complexity turning worse and worse as he neared the memories that had to put a strain on his mentality, I cast a glance on the princess, only to see her face turning white as she grith her teeth and clenched her fists.
"Locating the problem was simple. As you might"ve seen by yourself, my lord, when active, those stones will s.h.i.+ne just a tiny little bit. Seeing how rather than a single, already the two of them malfunctioned, at first, I wanted to re-establish the connection, as those kinds of problems can happen. Yet, after only G.o.d knows how many attempts, I realised that either something tragic happened, or the stones simply broke apart. With no other choice, I focused my attention on the other stones…"
At this point, Gabriel couldn"t even continue. With the tears flowing down his cheeks, I could see a deeply engraved pain screaming through his eyes.
"... I connected with Hereal stone, only to see this princess plunge a knife in his heart!"
As soon as Gabriel said those words, the entire sanctuary erupted with shouts. If not for the thin barrier that I set around the middle square, all of the prisoners lying on it while still gasping for the air would be instantly smashed by all sorts of stones, wood and carvings that were broken out of the walls and floor only for the people to throw them at the murderers.
"Before I could even manage to end the connection, I felt his pain, his fear, his coldness, his desperation! I LIVED THROUGH HIS DEATH!"
With Gabriel"s emotions reaching the breaking point, he somehow managed to break free from the restrains I placed on him in order to keep him sitting at the chair. As he raised, with his hands high in the air, I could see a hint of madness seeping from his eyes, as if what he went through back then changed something very deep inside his soul.
"But killing the three of them wasn"t enough for you!"
Dropping his arms to point his finger at the princess, Gabriel"s face twisted in the horrible mix of hate, pain and scorn, with his muscles fully tensing up as he attempted to break free from yet another set of magical chains I put on him in order to prevent the preemptive execution.
"If not for the fact that she most likely didn"t know about those stones, I wouldn"t be able to warn the others, effectively leading them to escape from the city, as her own guards patrolled the streets in look for any opposition that might disagree with her becoming the new ruler this world of yours, my saviour!"
Seeing that he wouldn"t be able to exact his own vengeance on the princess, rather than breaking his body apart in the continued attempt to do so, Gabriel turned back to face me and fell to his knees.
"My lord, I implore you! Please bring peace to the poor souls of those innocent, murdered people!"
Hearing the entire Gabriel"s story, I still had some questions like what made him remain outside rather than doing his best to return to the city in order to force the princess away, but all of them could wait. With how filled with wrath his eyes were, I could tell that if he had any chance of succeeding at it, he wouldn"t hesitate to do so!
"Everyone! I think we heard enough! Not only is the princess guilty of the manslaughter, but also orchestrating an oppressing regime, manipulating her own trial while hiding the truth as well as going against the lawfully chosen rule of this land, and you all!"
With my voice slightly cracking at the end due to the fact that I didn"t really know what I was supposed to say in order to remain my lofty image of the amiable lord while condemning her to the worst kind of death. Considering the fact that I never really studied the ways of forcing someone in the h.e.l.l of a pain, I decided that rather than doing it myself, pus.h.i.+ng this responsibility and enjoyment for the victims themselves would be a better choice.
"As the retainers are guilty of the crimes of the lord, we can"t spare them either. Not only did they support the princess unlawful rule, they also shut all the voices of protest, going against not only my will that I declared by placing Gabriel on the ruling seat, but also against the will of the people! As such, they will be all subject to the same fate!"
With an idea suddenly popping up inside my head, I consulted Bonger about its feasibility before playing around the runes carved in the ground with the use of my entropy for a moment. Only when the stage was fully prepared, did I release the choking magical chains from all the prisoners at once, only to glue their feet to the ground, while locking their arms on short magical chains to the throne at the centre of the square.
"Everyone! Rather than punis.h.i.+ng them myself, I will give the luxury of deciding what their fate will be to you all!"
The small set up I created on the spot would ensure that a small percentage of the power of everyone at the tribunes would be sucked away, travel all the way to the square and through the chains, would be transferred into the prisoners, nouris.h.i.+ng and healing their bodies up. In this way, as long as there was enough people on the tribunes, no matter how brutal the punishers would be, all of this sc.u.m would end up healed back up to their best form!
"But before we start, lets set some rules. Only ten people at once can enter the square, and as soon as they will have enough, they are to leave this place and do not come back until the time of the destruction of this building will come. As for those waiting in the halls, whenever there will be a free spot on the tribunes, make sure to take it as the northern tribune will have priority in entering the square! As for the last thing…"
Taking a moment to make sure the tension would rise up to a satisfying degree, I breathed in while taking up a huge smile on my face and finis.h.i.+ng my words.
"Do not use any weapons. We don"t want to give them a quick death, do we?"