Today, Oasis City is unusually oppressive.

This is the first public trial against a city hall official since Pope Carlo took office. The officials of Oasis City and the clergy members of the Church Court have been busy all afternoon, continuously sending letters to the Holy City, hoping Carlo would find a way to quell Mary's anger and stop the trial from happening.

They didn't know whether Heriot's death was directly related to Mary, as the audience present at the time stated that sitting next to Heriot was a suspicious veiled woman. They originally suspected her to be a young lady from a noble family, but subsequent screening revealed that no such person existed in Oasis City.

The detectives have already considered this mysterious and suspicious woman as the prime suspect, until the fire at the Hawke estate and the resurrection of Saint Mary.

However, by sunset, there was still no reply from the Holy City.

What truly terrifies Oasis City's officials is not the loss of Heriot and Hawke, but the precedent opened by the public trial. If Mary conducts a thorough investigation, few of them would be clean.

Today, it's Hawke being sent to the guillotine; tomorrow, it could be any one of them.

Yet...

Mary's power over them isn't just her title as Saint, but also her reputation as the strongest person of an era. With the private militia they currently control, they can't possibly compete with a Saint. They can only hope Carlo will find a way to send this trouble away.

The officials believe Carlo will definitely help them, as the decline of Oasis City and the Far West owes much to Carlo's influence.

The trade of power and money between them and the Church Court happens with Carlo's tacit approval, making them even more reckless—if even the Goddess of Life's spokesperson allows such behaviors, surely the Goddess's wrath won't come upon them.

As night fell, the citizens from the Lower City queued up, passed through the checkpoints set by the Security Office a few days ago, and before setting off, they made arrangements with the family and children they left at home. There was a high possibility they wouldn't return once the security officers in the Upper City started a city-wide search, and they'd have to hide in the sewers.

The craftsmen from the Lower City have dug an escape route out of Oasis City in case of emergencies.

Everyone was prepared to fight, even to die in battle.

However, when they reached the central square of the Upper City, what they saw was beyond their expectations. They actually saw Hawke tied up tightly, gagged, and forced under the guillotine. That medicine dealer, who never gave them a second glance, was now flushed with embarrassment.

Watching over all of this wasn't the familiar officials, but a somewhat unfamiliar yet familiar-looking woman.

"It's Ave-Margaret!"

Someone recognized the dignified woman on stage, whom they often saw in the newspapers recently as the young Imperial Prime Minister.

"No, it's Saint Mary."

Soon after, another rumor spread quickly among the crowd. The first to mention it was a youth with deep dark circles under his eyes, looking listless in the crowd, his youthful spirit seemingly reduced to a flickering candle.

A good young man turned into such a state!

Those around him felt regretful and blamed Oasis City's officials.

It's obvious that Oasis City's officials did it—they often took young and strong men to do hard labor.

Mary's appearance was like a beacon in the darkness, leading the commoners to decide to stand still and listen.

Most commoners had heard of Mary's renown, though few had actually seen her or knew what she looked like. They also knew Mary and the Crimson Epoch were millennia past, even before the empire's establishment. The resurrection of a Saint thousands of years later to personally preside over a trial was nothing short of divine intervention.

Or perhaps... the Church Court hadn't completely decayed.

They also saw the officials of Oasis City looking ashen-faced, an expression rarely seen.

They thought to hear Mary out before making decisions.

This was a formal trial, and once everyone arrived, Mary opened Hawke's file. When she began to speak, the central square of Oasis City fell silent, leaving only Hawke's crimes echoing among the crowd.

The manipulation of drug prices, bribing church personnel—these were numbers the commoners knew of.

However, there were more charges that they didn't know and couldn't access; these made many officials in attendance look increasingly grim. It practically revealed how Oasis City's city hall and the Church Court operated over the years, pointing out the unfair trials and how they disposed of those who reported them or liked to question things.

Even Ethan, mixed in the crowd, was impressed by this account. He once thought "a list of countless crimes" was an exaggeration, but in Hawke's case, it was fitting.

Ethan sincerely thought it was a skill of Hawke to commit a crime every day. After all, not everyone could manage something as beneficial as "an apple a day." Yet since becoming the director of Oasis City's Pharmaceutical Bureau, Hawke never forgot his original intentions, day after day, for years.