Chapter 706 706 Trial
The trial continued with the Fae marking various items, each of which was traced back to at least one of the pickpockets, as well as someone in the crowd. Only a few of the victims had left early, but they were all attracted back once they started to mysteriously glow, and heard the commotion outside.
One item after another, the goods were returned to their owners, and some of the thefts turned out to be truly brazen. They had even stolen clothing from performers while they were on stage. The missing items had been reported, in case it was some creepy fan bordering on becoming a stalker, but it had turned out to be a bunch of thieves looking to sell items to that sort of person.
“Can we just send them straight to the Faerie Queen for processing? We’ve got jail cells here, but they’re pretty new, and far too nice for a bunch of panty thieves.” One of the guards asked, as she helped a performer back up on stage to recover her missing garments.
All the accused turned to look at one particular Fae woman, who just shrugged as if this whole matter didn’t concern her.
“We’re almost done. Just a few more items to send back to their owners, and we’re finished.” Wolfe reminded her, then gestured for the Fae casting the finding spell to continue.
The next item was a rather large emerald, cut in an odd shape that wasn’t quite symmetrical. Humans wouldn’t have cut it that way, it bothered their sense of balance, so Wolfe was curious as to who it might end up belonging to.
The Finding was cast, and the Demon lit up, but none of the others, and nobody in the crowd. At least, not at first.
A few seconds later, a portal opened and a gigantic, very irate Wrathbringer was on stage with them, staring at the Fae holding the odd gem.
Then, the obsidian winged Demon looked at the glowing Demon, and at himself, and realized that the Finding had connected him and the thief.
A huge smile showed razor sharp teeth, and the Demon made a polite bow toward Wolfe and the others on stage.
“I take it that you captured the thief? Am I too late for the trial?” The Wrathbringer’s voice boomed through the town.
“You’re not too late. We’ve got a couple of items left to trace the owners of, and then we are done.” The Fae conducting the Finding explained.
“In that case, I would like to petition for the mercy of the Wrath Court.” The new arrival announced.
Wolfe nodded. “Of course, as the wronged party, it is your right to seek compensation instead of imprisonment.”
He had no idea what the word ‘mercy’ meant to the Wrath Demons, but the way the Wrathbringer was smiling, with his wings flexing in anticipation, Wolfe suspected that it involved dismemberment and a very slow death. That wasn’t their law, but it was the Demon’s law, and they both came from the same nation, so sending the Demon home to face justice seemed reasonable.
The slender demon tried to flee, with his legs working at a frantic pace to escape his doom, but Wolfe had never released them from [Levitation] and the Demon’s feet weren’t quite on the ground. All that he could do was flail hopelessly as the Demon ten times his size and twice his Rank gave him a creepy smile.
After hearing Wolfe’s agreement, the Wind Sprite, the first one to come up on stage, gave a vicious smile toward the rest of the pickpockets. “Yes, I suggest that we send the others to the Dark Court for proper rehabilitation of their ways. Perhaps a visit with the Dark Queen would help cure them of the urge to steal undergarments.”
The Fae casting the finding gave a faint smile. “Unfortunately, we don’t have an official agreement with the Dark Court yet. They didn’t care enough about the situation to make an official statement, so all the Fae who came to this world to explore are under the jurisdiction of the Elven Queen.
So, if we’re going to send them back to Faerie, it would be to the Royal Palace’s holding cells, where they could await sentencing.”
None of the prisoners seemed to think that was a suitable option, but the Fae in the crowd certainly did, and the ones up on stage, who had their stolen belongings recovered, thought that it was a fantastic idea.
Wolfe decided to offer an alternate solution so that they weren’t relying on other nations to deal with their criminal problems.
“We could also imprison them for their crimes and then banish them. The banishment would only last as long as the caster, which wouldn’t be a lifetime for most Fae, but it would certainly be within our laws.” Wolfe suggested.
“What would banishment achieve? They already found a way around the Kind Intentions spell so they could steal from us, if they’re banished, who is to say that they wouldn’t come right back?” One of the victims asked.
That was a good point. They shouldn’t have been able to pickpocket, but both the footage from the cameras and the property of the victims showed that they had. Unless it was a mentality issue, and they simply didn’t see anything wrong with the theft, or they honestly believed that they had a right to the belongings.
That was an issue that Wolfe was going to have to work out later today so that he could prevent a repeat of this situation in the future. There were too many loopholes in his casting, it seemed, and he was going to have to alter it to be more strict.
“Defendants, do you have anything to say in your defence?” Wolfe asked.
One of the Fae smirked back at him. “If we were as guilty as you accused, wouldn’t your defensive spells have stopped us?”
The Fae who had been casting the Finding gestured to Cassie, who cast a [Truth] charm, which the Fae overcharged up to Rank Seven efficiency. Then he nodded at the thief.
“That’s right, so how did you manage to steal without it stopping you?”