The Swordsman of Faerûn

Chapter 273 Locke's Prisoner Carnival ([-])

On the square in front of the central lord's mansion in Locke Town, a group of soldiers were nervously building a wooden platform, and the wooden platform was already surrounded by people.Among them were local residents and foreign business travelers, including those in William's camp.More and more people gathered around the square. In fact, the entire Locke Town has a population of nearly 3000. Except for those who are too old or young, few people are willing to miss this grand event.

When William brought his family into Locke Town, the square was already buzzing with people.Because of her conspicuous size, Finia didn't come together. William hugged Misha, and Yasuna resisted Miluna. The two human-shaped rollers were rampaging unstoppably in the crowd.It's just that even though they had unparalleled strength beyond ordinary people's imagination, they still spent a lot of physical strength to find a good position. Yasuna mercilessly cleared away the original owner who occupied this position like throwing a haystack.

In front of the wooden stage, Misha and Miluna occupied William's shoulders from left to right. It was probably the first time in their life that they saw so many people gathered together. The two little guys looked at the lively crowd around them with trepidation. Excited, although the little face was flushed, it was surprisingly quiet.

When the sun rose above the eaves, a group of heavily armed soldiers escorted several unkempt and scarred prisoners to appear in front of the square. They struggled to line up the crowd and came to the wooden platform, where they hung the prisoners on specially prepared wooden shelves What surprised William was that there was no Selyse in it.

Then a middle-aged man in a strange robe quickly stepped onto the wooden platform, holding a few thick parchment scrolls in his hands, with a strange smile on his face.It was really hard for William to imagine that this unremarkable, somewhat gloomy, middle-aged man actually had such high confidence. When this man appeared, the crowd around the wooden platform suddenly burst into applause. Prestigious beings like Las Drona probably won't be more popular than that when they appear in public.

William always felt that his subconscious seemed to reject the middle-aged man on the wooden platform, which made him doubt whether he judged people too much by their appearance at first, but it didn't take long for William to understand the reason.

A total of five prisoners were hung on the wooden platform, and beside each prisoner stood two soldiers with knives and axes as executioners. The middle-aged man unrolled the parchment rolls in his hand and glanced at them one by one. Distributed to the soldiers next to each prisoner, whispered a few words in the ear of one of the soldiers, and waved him away from the wooden platform.

The middle-aged man walked to the center of the wooden platform and raised his hands high. The onlookers immediately let out louder cheers, which made the two little girls on William's shoulders tremble.When the middle-aged man's arms fell, the audience became silent again, only the sound of breathing could be faintly heard, he cleared his throat, and said loudly in a surprisingly high-pitched voice: "Everyone, Fitani People of Lord Red Blade! Friends from afar! I, Jarrard Pierjan, a loyal magistrate of Locke Town, presides over this prisoner carnival on behalf of the wise and wealthy Lord Fetani Red Blade! [-] The fate of this sinner will be here! Under the witness of the gods! Accept the judgment of all of you!" There was another wild cheer from the audience, and this time even the two little girls echoed loudly.

The cheers from the audience were a little calmer, and the magistrate Jarrard Pierjean went on to say: "There are five criminals on this trial bench, each of whom has committed a shameful crime, and the evidence is solid, they will be sentenced Inescapable heavy punishment. Of course, for the sake of fairness and justice, I will state to you the crimes they committed, and listen to their answers to these crimes announced, and the final judgment will be decided by you The audience cheered like thunder, and the two little guys danced on William's shoulders like little lunatics, so that he had to hold them tightly to prevent them from falling.

"Then, let's hear the story of the first criminal, a despicable and cunning thief - Flynn!" Magistrate Jarrad Peel asked the soldier next to the first prisoner to hand over the parchment, He also signaled the soldiers to move the thief Flynn and the wooden frame that hung him to the front of the wooden platform. While looking at the parchment, he said loudly: "As a homeless man who has been wandering in dark streets and stinky sewers all year round, there is no doubt that Flynn Not a gentleman of good character, theft and robbery have been with almost every breath of his life. The most serious charge of this vile man is that he attempted to steal the magic son of a hardworking and kind farmer, and that poor farmer spent nearly his life. savings"

"Mr. Flynn, are you willing to admit to the crime I have announced?" Magistrate Jarrad Peel asked very friendly with a gentle smile on his face.

Flynn struggled and shouted: "No! I'm innocent, that's what I got for my services to a generous businessman from afar."

Jarrard Pierjean asked unhurriedly: "Really? That is really a generous gentleman. Then, what kind of service did you provide to that generous businessman, so that the other party was willing to pay two Mason's high salary? Can you tell everyone?"

Flynn said excitedly: "Of course, I came up with an idea for that gentleman to protect his goods from damp and mildew during the long rainy season. That's why he gave me two magicians as a reward."

Jarrard Pierjean immediately laughed out loud after hearing it, and he said loudly proudly: "This is the funniest joke I have ever heard in my life. Everyone knows that, except for magic and divine arts, ordinary people are absolutely There is no way to resist the wetness of the rainy season. You say you once provided a generous merchant with the means to keep their goods dry during the rainy season. Are you a mysterious mage or a holy priest?"

"Neither." Flynn's answer was somewhat lacking in confidence, but he shouted again hoarsely: "But I am innocent! That is the wealth I earned through hard work! My method is really effective, using half-burned firewood. I really didn't steal anything."

Jarrard Peel said with a smirk: "Well, well, as a kind-hearted magistrate, I am willing to believe what you say. But... it is useless for me to believe it alone, you The fate of the world is not decided by me, but by the fair people below."

Hearing this, Flynn couldn't help looking at the crowd in anticipation, but:
"Guilty!" an old woman shouted angrily, "he is guilty, he should be ashamed of his shameful lies, and his sophistry makes him face a terrible death!"

"Guilty." "Liar." "Lying." Everyone in the audience cursed Flynn hoarsely, roaring to impose severe punishment on him, except William.As a man of two lifetimes, he certainly knows that using charcoal to dry and dehumidify is effective, but using Flynn's soil method to keep a pile of goods dry throughout the rainy season is definitely not a simple matter, and it requires a lot of effort. toil.

William stood on the spot and watched with cold eyes, carrying two excited little girls on his shoulders. The little guys shouted "liar" and "liar" vigorously. Of course, they didn't understand whether Flynn was really lying, but Just echoing what others say.

The magistrate Jarrad Peeljean on the wooden platform said to Flynn with a cruel smile on his face: "Mr. Flynn, obviously your words cannot be trusted by everyone. But I will give you a chance to let you Go get the skeptics up close. Soldiers! Take our lovely Mr. Flynn for a walk down the stage and let him have an intimate chat with the public."

The desperate Flynn suddenly showed horror, and he shouted in horror: "No! I am innocent, please let me go, sir! I really didn't steal!" Lin took it off the wooden frame and punched him hard on the jaw, driving his grievances back into his throat.

Two soldiers dragged Flynn off the wooden stage. The soldiers who had been preparing for a long time put an iron ring around his neck and dragged the crowd who approached by iron chains.The onlookers rushed towards Flynn immediately, and a strong man who ran in the front punched Flynn's fragile nose fiercely. Poor Flynn immediately let out a miserable cry, with nosebleeds and tears streaming down his face for a while. Immediately afterwards, the onlookers also greeted him with fists, fingernails, saliva, swearing and the small blunt objects they carried.With the soldiers dragging, Flynn was forced to leave the original crowd and continue to accept the beatings and insults of another group of public. He kept screaming and screaming, but this made the beating crowd more excited and crazy .

Gradually, Flynn's screams began to weaken. The magistrate Jarrard Pierjean listened to the "prisoner" moan with great interest. With his rich experience, he could easily judge the prisoner's moans. Whether it can continue to withstand the beatings of the onlookers.Undoubtedly, the beginning of the carnival is the period when the participants have the most physical strength. Flynn was only dragged a short distance. Jarrard Pierjean could hear that he was almost reaching the limit. If he waited a little longer, Flynn would definitely would be beaten to death.

Although there is no shortage of examples of direct beatings to death at the prisoner carnivals hosted by Jarrad Peeljean in the past, in the case of a good carnival host, this is actually a failure. Only living prisoners In order to fully accept the carnival trial.

Jarrad Peeljean promptly rescued Flynn from being beaten to death.If it was in the past, Mr. Magistrate might let him continue to be beaten by revelers for a while, because in the end Jarrard Peel usually asked the mage to cast a healing magic on the prisoner to prolong his sentence, but in recent times almost all All the mages temporarily lost the ability to cast spells, and the magistrate had to be more cautious.

(End of this chapter)