District 42-Chapter 144: Judgment

As everyone fell silent, they were ordered by the advisers to take their sits with them. The General Court was different from a tribunal in Casper’s world. It didn’t have benches to others sit during the judgments.

That one had only the Throne, where the encharged by the judge would sit, and the benches where the advisers would stay, though most of the time they preferred to be standing during the session. The respondent would be standing, facing the judge, on top of that red carpet, and just that.

Every single person who would be in a judgment wouldn’t have someone like a lawyer to defend them or accuse them. The Judge would be encharged to expose the proofs that the advisors would give, and the respondent should be the one defending himself.

Once the princess called Casper, he stopped to try to run away from the scene, breathe in, and just moved on top of the red carpet. Since that messy situation was gone, he wouldn’t need to worry anymore. There was nothing he could do to fix that instead of present the arguments he had planned before and justify his acts.

The good thing of all that ruckus from before was that everyone he needed to be there, was present. However, there were some unwanted visitors as well, which could prove to be a hassle later.

"Ok, I could escape from Halden, that’s good, but it’s just half of what I need to do. Now, the other half: I need to make myself innocent. There is no point in leaving a prison still being a criminal, and I can’t run away forever in a world I don’t know, so I will need to do things right. It’s safe to say that my future is at stake now."

Vick, who was standing in front of the throne, was looking down on him and waiting for him to position himself. All of a sudden, she was that cold princess again, emanating pressure and domination.

Casper was pretty confident that he could do it, though. He had already beat Vick in argumentation once, and could even play with her as well. Also, she was probably more on his side than on the other, since it was obvious that she wanted him to be free again. The soldier knew that the princess needed to struggle to maintain his life and integrity, she had been fighting against people who tried to wipe Casper, and him being labeled as a criminal could make it harsh.

If the White warrior could prove his innocence, it would be beneficial for both.

"With all these points on the table and the judge by my side, I don’t have nothing to fear here if I can make reasonable arguments!"

The princess sat on her throne again, never avoiding her eyes from him, and resting her elbow on the throne arm.

"Ok, Casper, also known as White warrior for many, the one that helped to end with the Midwest battle together with a woman Ridire... You are being accused of serious things here, not just for the mess you did today, but your behavior inside the prison, not to mention the reason as to why you were enjailed in there. Do you want me to enlist each reason?"

Casper gestured with his head negatively. He was more than aware of the bad things he did.

"So, what do you have to say here, that you believe that can turn the tables and get you out of Halden?"

"I have many things to say, Your Honor, but I wanted to start with the one that will sustain all of my other arguments..." Vick raised one brow, looking at him as if she didn’t believe that he had such a thing, but inside she knew he had. Casper always would have.

"The thing here is, Halden isn’t just a prison. It is a place where they drag people for them to be tested in different and inhuman experiments, that most of the time go wrong, and hurt them physically and, particularly, mentally in really bad ways.

"People there aren’t treated like dogs, nor scumbags, or anything like this, they are treated like lab rats, puppets, people the scientists can use to do all they want and make them suffer even more each time. Despair is how I would define that place in one word, or, maybe, cruelty."

All the General Court went silent when Casper said that. However, it was not like they didn’t know about that thing already.

Most of the people there were influential, and Halden’s project was a way they found to accelerate the production of drugs and procedures that could create superhumans to the war.

The only ones that didn’t know about that thing were the advisors, and even some of them who were working there for more time than the others knew a thing or two about that prison.

"Hmmm... You are clever, Casper. As always, maybe you found a way to overcome it, huh?" Vick thought, smiling behind the mask, doing her best to keep her cold and imposing look.

"Also, I am pretty sure that most of the present ones here know something about it, and to be blunt, I know some of them that work there effectively." Casper looked at Rolvur and Amelia.

"That said, you should be thinking to yourselves: so what? And I answer: what do you think that would happen if this information came to public, huh?"

At this point, they were holding their breaths, already thinking in a way of how they could kill the White warrior right there or torture him to keep him silent.

"Just because you went to a corrupted and inhuman prison, it doesn’t mean that you are absolved from your crimes. You still tried to invade the Third Lab for some reason, and still caused all this harm trying to escape from it." Vick replied, and Casper’s argument fell to the ground. "Also, what you are attempting to now is a serious crime as well, and you could be punished for this. It’s a complete danger to the peace of my district."

The soldier smiled, letting everyone see it. He tried to seem as confident as he could to show people around him that he was controlling the situation. That type of pressure would make them back away and don’t get in his way in the discussion.

"Hehehe, you are misinterpreting something here, Your Honor. I am not here just to show Halden to the citizens and denounce it for its inhuman crimes. I am here to prove my innocence." As he saw the eyes of the other people present widening, he continued, with excitement inside his heart.

"My attempt to invade the Third Lab wasn’t something I did out of my individual will. It was a mission that someone passed for me, in name of Main Lab, to infiltrate there and get information. I was used."

The Princess was also animated to see the outcome of it, and then prompted Casper to continue.

"Do you have any proofs? And even if you have, who would do such a thing, and with what objectives?"

"I was thinking that Katarina had made that order, at least until I got into a fake interrogatory lead by Catrina, the Third Lab’s leader."

That story was getting proportions even bigger than the others could imagine. And they couldn’t even tell that it was a lie. The only ones present in the hall that knew the truth about Casper’s crime were Casper himself and Vick.

Alfar was dumbfounded as well, don’t knowing what he should believe. He didn’t know too much about what happened to Casper go to jail, after all.

"All my actions before, like using the Teleporting pads, fighting against the Ridires in Uppsala, and everything else, was just a way to incriminate me to get me in the jail."

"And why she would do that?" Vick was relentless regarding the details. She also needed that Casper’s lie was the most perfect as possible.

"Why you don’t ask for Rolvur there? The one trying to make cruel experiments with my body? Or Amelia, who witnessed those scientists putting my life at risk because they wanted to start the tests as soon as possible?

"They did it because they knew that I am a weapon that can be used in different ways, and they wanted to discover my peculiarities, everything without the consense of the Crown or the Jarls."

Rolvur went pale, trying to object to what he was saying, but there was nothing to refute there. Also, Amelia assertively agreed with Casper, which made anything he would say to defend himself a lie.

"So, Your Honor, I do have my blame share in this situation, but I am just a poor scientist who got tricked by that woman. I beg you to understand my point."

"Even if I withdraw Catrina from her post and end with Halden, also as punish the Third Lab, what will we do with a broken laboratory? And the prisoners?"

That was the perfect question, and for that, Casper nearly giggled.

"I do have an idea. If you let this in my hands, all the damage I caused will be returned with a new laboratory for you."