“Sheriff? Gods, okay? Are you mad at me or something?” I ask, waking up to an empty bed and none too happy about it.
“Your magic has drawn attention from our government. It keeps me up at night. Figured I’d return the kindness. Tomorrow, 2pm. County Courthouse. Bring James.” He hangs up on me.
“FUCK YOU!!” I shout at the empty air. I’m breathing heavy and feel like flying to Reno to set fire to his lawn. I shuffle with the nightstand drawer and pull out a chew and jam it in my maw. My emotions cool to a crystalline laser core and focus my errant feelings into directed action. I clinically put on my business attire and get ready for my Empress-forsaken day.
The flight to Reno doesn’t take long, but the rigamarole to get access to the Mayor’s office is frustrating and neither the Sheriff or I have the patience for it. After more than an hour of waiting on Empress knows what, we get admitted to the palatial office.
“Benson, this is the girl that brought in the Skinwalker? You can’t be serious.”
I stifle a chuff as I listen to the man in Roman Senate robes disparaging my accomplishments.
“Yes, Governor, she brought down the horror solo, then brought my Northern Deputy in to help parlay with PacNorwest. Tribal leaders didn’t want a Skinwalker in their territory, so they handed sentencing authority to miss Navarro and not Nevarahdo. Her Magic Track deals with Justice, so it worked out. She was lenient, he messed up again, and the Deputy from Washington shot him in the head and killed him.”
A rotund man in a more traditional 3-piece suit waddled forward to look me over. “Your ID does not have you appearing this . . . sturdy. A recent change?”
I quickly reply, “Year and a half, maybe? I transitioned to tier 1 and it came with the rest of my physical changes and a better handle on my Track magic.”
“Reports say you’ve seen this magic James?” The robed wonder asks the Northern Nevarahdo Deputy.
“I have. The magic cuffs and her [Pass Judgement] spell are quite impressive. She is also well-trained in urban conflict.”
Both the Governor and the Reno Mayor bring up some opaque screens and peer around them to look at me periodically as they chat between each other. “We have some questions before we detail our interest.”
“I aim to serve justice as well as I am able, gentlemen.” I say before giving a shallow bow. Their behavior is starting to feel shady.
“Can you pass judgement on anyone?”
“As far as I can tell. The Skinwalker attempted to resist, but it’s not just my aether capacity they are fighting, it’s the System’s intent in giving me the Track and the Talent.”
“Can you enforce any penalty that the courts decide?”
The sixty thousand credit question.
“To a degree. When I cast the spell, I see the crimes they’ve committed relevant to my inquiry—so far—and I can’t levy an unreasonable judgement or one that goes against standing law, or in the lack of president, my personal code.”
“For example, while I was operating north of Vegas, my team betrayed me and put me in a position to chose the lives of innocents or my own. Warram’s laws on betrayal were varied, and my mentor’s views on betrayal were death. I commuted their sentences to half-attributes for six months, restricted Exchange access for a year, and a permanent Oathbreaker title. I never followed up with them.”
The four men in the room discussed for a few minutes and then turned back to me. “What would you do if a man was convicted of a crime and you saw that he did not commit it.”
I think it’s funny that all of their examples are men, but I decide not to mention it. “Magic is about intent, gentlemen. If I pass judgement with the intent of sentencing a specific set of actions, I may not see any other crimes. If he did not commit the crimes he was accused of, I would still have to finish my judgement and notify the judge of my visions. If he was guilty of lesser crimes in the same vein, I would sentence those and move on. Otherwise, if the desired punishment fits the crime in a reasonable way, I would finish the sentence in the manner that the courts decide.”
“Mayor, Governor, stop beating around the bush and just tell her what you want. I’d rather be paid to keep the peace than keep standing here.” James and I smirk at that while the two officious males scowl. Perhaps Benson will not be re-elected if he keeps this up.
“Miss Novarro, we believe the courts are considering sentencing an innocent man and want him cleared of the crime.” I nod, seems reasonable.
“If he’s innocent, I’ll see it. If he isn’t, I’ll see that too. But I will warn you, if I see he’s guilty of something connected to this, I have to judge him, the magic is committed once I use the Talent.”
“Do you ever judge positively?” the Mayor asks.
“Hasn’t come up yet, but I don’t think even I would volunteer to be judged like that and the System gave the Talent to me.” I guess the System already judged me enough to trust my morality, using Divine Aether after all.
They nod and wave for me to follow. The State Courthouse is the next building over, and the prison for the cases on trial that day are below it. I guess they decided not to move the man to a long-term penitentiary before I could take a look.
When I use my critical eye skill on the man I see that he is a Dentist, surgery track, tier 1. I can’t see his skills and talents, but that’s not relevant really as the system won’t take talents away, even if I ask Andromeda nicely.
“Let’s see the accusation list.” The robed dandy began speaking when James hits me with a folder. Four Rape accusations, six sexual assaults, profiteering, and insurance fraud. Sounds like a great guy. Ten years in prison and 10k credit fine? For four rape convictions? Are you fucking serious right now? I do a quick search on the local info net and at least one of the victims committed suicide. I don’t see this going well and the two officials seem to think he is guilty of less. I take a breath and brace myself.
“[Pass Judgement]” I touch his forehead and say it aloud to steel my nerves.
Two men, long friends open a practice together. His partner was the true deviant, but his first dip was enough to taint his mind. He developed a relationship with his second and last victim, but when she found out that he’d taken advantage of her while under anesthesia she killed herself. His partner used that death as a way to shed his guilt to his partner.
I tried to block out the depraved acts but to my horror, I have to witness them. The first girl, they shared. The second, he walked out as his partner violated the woman. His actual second violation was a woman he hadn’t had the courage to ask out, and his will broke as the anesthesia took hold. He kept it from her for five years. He knew his partner continued to violate patients and never turned him in.
I want to take his profession from him and send the money he earned to his victim’s family. I want to get my visions as a video account and stuff it down his partner’s throat, I want to . . .
No, I want to do the other things.
I also want him to carry the Title ‘Rapist’.
The world comes back into focus and I feel James close with his hands under my arms. “Shit, thanks man. That’s always a little intense.”
The Mayor and the Governor look at me expectantly as my buddy Deputy props me up against a concrete wall opposite the cell. Sherrif Winchester gives a gesture to the men that makes them pause with mouths open. I not at him and order some juice from the Exchange, making it look like I took it from personal storage.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
“Good news and bad news gentlemen. The dentist is guilty of two-counts of rape, his partner is the one that encouraged him to participate the first time, and most certainly lumped the accusations levied against him to the family’s accusations against the prisoner. I have offered to advocate a reduced sentence if he rolls on his partner.”
The two political magnates discuss amongst themselves as I slam my juice and order some aether-food to replace my severely depleted levels.
If you reached less into every aspect of punishment, you would use less mana. Such as confiscating payments and remitting them to the families.
That does not sound like something I’d pass up. The families deserve that money Tova.
Yes, I agree, but many of these cases will be years past the inciting action. Also, you incited an extra-normal penalty of all of his wages instead of his wages since the incident, thus more energy. Before you ask, I’ve been recording the flood of data that happens when you judge and have reviewed them. Judgements outside the bounds of ‘normal’ cost more mana.
Ugh, gods, I hate that. I make mistakes, but what happens to the other money, the other assets?
Eww. That feels gross beyond measure. Can we, I dunno, give 5k to the courts for this trial, keep 1k and set up an abuse foundation with the other 39k?
That . . . that seems an appropriate use of the money. Perhaps, set aside the 9k for prosecuting his partner?
Oh! Tova you brutally brilliant bitch! I take a moment to menu, transfer, and add to my ‘judgement’ results and publish them in a sort of decree? Can I do that? A silver scroll drops into my hand.
Silver? Uh, does that mean that the System doesn’t fully back me? I read the document. It tells me that the 5k for the family and the courts was fully backed and that my judgement required additional funds. My judgement was indeed backed by the System, but the remaining action was not enacted by the system, but by me. I read this as legally deniable, but not punishable by the System itself. Okay, wiggle room is apparently a thing. Silver contracts. Weird. Wait, the side agreement that I would advocate for a lesser sentence is also there. Huh, Andromeda is leaving that and the additional funds to me, but backing my overall play? Is that like assessing damages?
It could be viewed as that, I suppose. It seems to be, and acknowledgment of understanding shades of grey, not merely the black and white. I’d be guessing as to why that was the case, as the system agreed that stripping a man to his base track was a gold contract.
Well that just makes everything a crystal bowl full of mud now doesn’t it. Damnit. I hand over the document to the Governor and tell them that I’d be available for anything the court needed me to support.
“Great! We reconvene in two days.” the Mayor exclaims.
Fucking great. Woo new job as a witness.
***
“Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, so help the deity of your choosing?” The bailiff asks me as I have been called as an expert witness by the defense.
“I so swear to the extent of my knowledge.” A golden scroll falls onto the lectern.
“What is that?” The presiding judge asks.
“A system contract, judge. Between me and the court.” I open the scroll and see the signatories as me and . . . the Governor? Interesting. “Apparently, the court is backed by the Governor.” I hand the scroll over to His Honor. He reads it.
“That’s It? Half of it is blank.”
“It is blank so far, it will fill in as I am encouraged to make additional statements.” He looks down again, the lifted eyebrows should correspond to the additional wording added.
“The defense wishes to admit that scroll as exhibit ‘F’ and the scroll of her judgement results as exhibit ‘G’”
“A moment, Defense Counsel,” The Judge pushes his direction aside and looks at me. “On this agreement of truth, what happens if you lie?”
“There will be red text if I lie knowingly. Orange or yellow of truth with intent to deceive, and shades of green are . . . less defined. My current guesses are truth as far as a person knows it and the resultant is either benign or mostly true.”
“That last part showed up green, instead of regular black.”
I shrug, “It’s based on a personal supposition on things that have objective truths, your honor. I don’t know the facts of the matter, but I have educated guesses.” He studies my response.
“I’ll allow these admitted into evidence. Your witness, Counselor.” He said to the defence.
The slick older woman, nice suit and short, well-styled hair approaches my position.
“Miss Novarro. Did you have these magics before or after you were accepted to the Sheriff’s office?”
“Before. I believe I was accepted because I have a form of Judgement magic in the Talent [Pass Judgement].”
“And have you used this magic before, to ‘pass judgement’ on another human being?”
I squinch my eyebrows while thinking on how to address the race discrepancy. “The male started as a human, I guess, but he was a Skinwalker when I used my Talent, at the Wymahnto-PNW border in front of Deputy Kinsey and a representative of PNW law enforcement.”
She nods, looks back at her bench where I see the sad dentist, then returns to look me in the eyes, “How do you experience the evidence that informs your judgements?”
I sigh, knowing I have to remember a vision and collect the information that I generally try to excise from my mind. “It’s multi-sensory, multi-perspective. Sometimes I see from the perpetrator’s perspective, sometimes from a third-party, but never from the victim, especially since the victims were sedated for the crimes committed. Sight, sound and smell seem most common. Taste haven’t happened yet, and touch . . . really hasn’t been the focus of the ‘visions’.”
“Yet you feel that your visions are substantiated by sight and sound alone?”
“The squelching sound of sex and the grunting of a male are fairly convincing when you have the close-up focus of a penis entering a woman from the man’s perspective. Perhaps you would like me to describe the slurping noises of his mouth, or the whimper as he felt her with his fingers?”
The lawyer shudders as the Judge cuts in, “That will not be necessary, miss Novarro.”
“Objection! Hearsay!” The prosecution demands.
“Defense, bring the scroll to the stand.” They do so, he picks it up and reviews the contents. “Miss Novarro, did you see and hear the events from Mr. Granger’s perspective?”
“I did, your honor.” He pauses,
“From only his perspective?”
“No, your honor, I was shown from a third perspective that he was alone, and . . . enjoying the encounter.”
I can’t tell what he saw, but the Judged believed in the System. He must have a judicial Track. “Overruled. If confirmed by this scroll, the account will be considered a first-person account.” The prosecutor fumed.
“Miss Novarro, have you seen this man commit fraud in relation to the dental care he provided?”
Bitch. She’d read the judgement and knew that there was misconduct, but not in response to the dental care. “No ma’am”
“How about embezzlement?”
“No, ma’am.”
“No further questions.” The dense lawyer nodded at the Judge.
“Your witness, Prosecution.”
The man stood, sloppy in his presentation, but a posture that lent to that he was once an important man.
“So your judgement is base on magic is it?”
“Visions provided by the System, a physical . . .”
“It was a rhetorical question, your response . . .”
“Rhetorical questions are manipulative in a courtroom setting.” I respond.
He sneers a little, reigning himself in before he says something stupid. “And you would say that this magic makes you a credible witness.”
“Yes.”
“But were you there?”
“I viewed the events through the eyes of those present.”
“But were you there, in person, with your actual body, eyes, ears, etcetera.”
“No.”
“So you agree that your testimony is not an eye-witness account?”
“OBJECTION, leading.”
“Sustained. Prosecution, her recount of the events have been entered into evidence.”
He nods, “My further questions pertain to her credibility as a witness.” The judge nods. “Thank you, your honor.” He turns to me, “Miss Novarro, have you killed people?”
“I have, all sanctioned or absolved by local authorities.”
“So you believe you replace the will of the court?”
I smirk at that. “As large as Reno Metro is, counselor, Nevahrado is not as robust as the city is. Not only that, the prisons we have are meant for people, not monsters like the Skinwalker. But to answer your question, no. I do not plan to replace the court. I want to have my efforts and the efforts of the Reno and Colorado Springs courts to respect each other and honor each other’s agreements.”
“And if your judgements overlap?”
“OBJECTION, Relevance.”
“Overruled. Prosecution is warned to keep questions to the case at hand and not to the topic of Jurisprudence.”
Prosecution huffs and straightens his shabby coat. “Do you think your judgements are legally binding?”
“They are system binding, yes, and the System can levy many fines and consequences that the courts can and cannot. I have also submitted the judicial priority that my Talent uses as a litmus for crimes, as far as I know it.”
“Have you ever added a personal tint into your judgements?” The man smirks as though he knows me.
“Assaults are not all equal, Counselor. Getting beat up sucks. Getting shot is a mind fuck because you could have died. Sexual assault is a different beast. The assailants, usually male often use armed, aggravated assault to perpetrate rape, and then the rape can then be considered a form of torture whether the event ends in death or not. There are of course forms of sexual assault that are not rape, butt touching, crotch grabs, rubbing, licking, all manner of forced conduct that the court barely differentiates between.”
“No further questions.”
“In this case . . .”
“Witness,” the judge interrupts. “You will adhere to the procedure of the court.” I huff, but agree. “Redirect?”
“Yes, your honor,” the woman stands and rests her elbow on the stand. “You indicate that you would judge a rape as tantamount to torture?”
“I would. Repeated assault against a person’s will can be construed as torture.”
“I see,” the woman steps away, stares at the jury and asks, “Miss Novarro, considering the circumstances and the anesthesia involved, would you consider this instance of rape a form of torture.”
“No, but the mental implications . . .”
“No further questions.”
I’m about to scream at her but the Judge raps his gavel twice and stares at me. Message received, ass. I’m dismissed as a witness and led out of the courtroom by the bailiff. Apparently the zoo is not interested in the whole truth, fucking animals. Despite my anger, I get that legal proceedings are largely unsatisfying and decide to leave it be.
I sit and read through my notices and scoff at the ‘rewards’ I’ve been given.
/successes beyond your skill level convey increased experience
/discovering recipes conveys increased experience
/discovering recipes above your current tier conveys increased experience
/Cooking and Alchemy cover the intermediate steps that would be considered ‘Brewing’
/Establishing a government conveys additional experience.
Well, at least if I use the potion I made, it’ll put me up in the Expert tier. I really need to read my messages more as the Matrix still keeps the advancement in limbo until I read the system messages. Freaking Penny setting a precedent.