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Chapter 51: The Village Trial (1)
Ikarum spotted Damion and strode toward him.
The crowd fell silent, holding their breaths.
Jedrick didn’t look at his brother; instead, he watched Olga, who was sitting down.
She, too, was gazing at Jedrick with sorrowful eyes.
Her entire body was caked in dirt, and she looked exhausted.
Scratches and bruises, invisible in the firelight of the banquet hall, were now visible on her face and forearms.
They seemed to be marks left by Ikarum’s rough handling and her being shoved around.
‘I should’ve sent Olga home. A hag must remain enigmatic, but that mystique has completely vanished now. Even if this uproar dies down, she can’t be made a hag anymore.’
Ikarum stopped in front of Damion and declared,
“The Haktus Mountain has erupted. This is a sign that the God of War, Akamantum, is enraged by the decision you made yesterday.”
Ikarum pointed to the northern volcano.
Jedrick translated his brother’s words, and Damion looked north.
Though the mountain had reportedly erupted, nothing was visible yet.
It wasn’t uncommon for eruptions to remain unseen.
Jedrick, in his childhood, had heard the sounds of volcanic explosions a few times, occasionally followed by red flames or black smoke, but such phenomena weren’t guaranteed.
“I made no decisions yesterday,”
Damion said.
“You stopped the punishment. That decision must be reversed,”
Ikarum replied.
Jedrick quickly translated, hoping to minimize the tension between them.
“So, you want to punish them now? Then follow your customs. Present evidence, witnesses, and let the villagers vote on the verdict. I’ll abide by the result.”
Before translating this, Jedrick explained,
“What Ikarum means is, a duel must decide the outcome.”
“Because the mountain erupted?”
“Yes.”
“Then there’s nothing for me to do, is there? Do whatever you want.”
“Yesterday, Ikarum and the elders decided you’d deliver today’s ruling.”
“So, the duel can’t begin without my permission?”
As the two conversed, Ikarum spoke,
“Conqueror, Akamantum wishes to hear your decision.”
Jedrick translated, adding his own opinion,
“You should allow it.”
The atmosphere among the gathered Geronian warriors was tense.
The royal knights also seemed on edge.
Fifty warriors had assembled, surrounded by twenty knights.
Even if the warriors grew agitated and started a fight, the armored and armed knights could subdue them.
However, it would tarnish Damion’s rule from the very start.
“As I said, this is just an annual ritual for us. Someone will die in the duel, but it won’t be your responsibility,”
Jedrick explained quickly.
Damion, deep in thought, turned to Terdin.
“What do you think, General?”
Jedrick feared Terdin might dismiss this as superstitious nonsense, but the general knew the Geron well.
“I agree with Chief Jedrick.”
Damion addressed Ikarum,
“The duel is permitted.”
Ikarum immediately shouted to the warriors,
“The duel is accepted!”
The warriors erupted in cheers.
Ikarum then described what Hak Maraka had done yesterday, with witnesses testifying to his actions.
Normally, Maraka would’ve been allowed to argue his case or present counter-evidence, but in this situation, none of that was necessary.
“For Maraka, those willing to fight on his behalf, step forward now, or remain silent forever in Akamantum’s name.”
Three men raised their hands, and they conferred before one stepped forward.
His name was Eorantan.
“For those who support executing Maraka, step forward now, or remain silent forever in Akamantum’s name.”
One man raised his hand first—Einder.
A couple of others hesitated to raise their hands but lowered them when Einder did.
It wasn’t that Einder was particularly skilled in combat.
Everyone simply knew about the history between Eorantan and Einder.
The two had been on bad terms for a long time, clashing multiple times during battles under Adian.
Ever since, they blamed each other for losing the war.
While no one believed either of them alone had caused the defeat, they themselves were convinced of it.
Duel trials often devolved into petty personal vendettas like this.
“If Maraka is found guilty, what happens?”
Damion asked quietly.
“He’ll be executed on the spot. Duel trials are battles for survival.”
“Do the accused ever fight for themselves?”
“Yes, if they lack someone to fight for them or believe in their own combat skills.”
“What if the not-guilty side wins? Will Maraka go free?”
“Yes. But Ikarum won’t let someone who caused such chaos walk away scot-free. While you’re here, he’ll likely be imprisoned.”
“Hmm.”
Ikarum approached Damion and said,
“We need swords.”
All Geronian weapons had been confiscated and stored far outside the village, a deliberate decision to keep them out of easy reach.
Damion instructed the knights,
“Lend them your swords.”
None of the knights volunteered.
Annoyed, Damion pointed to two of them.
Reluctantly, with grim expressions, the two knights drew their swords and handed them over to Eorantan and Einder.
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Both spat into their palms and gripped their swords.
The knights who lent their swords grimaced as much as they could.
The two made their oaths regarding the duel to the arbiter, Damion.
"To fight honorably in accordance with the will of Akamantum..." and so on.
Eorantan’s pledge was too long to translate, and Einder’s was too short to bother with.
Damion didn’t particularly require a translation either, only interpreting the brief directive from Ikarum to start the fight.
“Akamantum will witness your resolve.”
The two encouraged cheers from the villagers gathered in the square.
Drunk on the long-forgotten excitement of a duel, the villagers shouted with all their might.
Even the children joined in, raising their voices.
The duel ended anticlimactically.
After a few sword clashes, Einder slipped on a water puddle, and Eorantan immediately slashed his neck with his sword.
Einder, whose neck was nearly half severed, fell backward, blood gushing.
That was the end of it.
Eorantan shouted triumphantly, while the wife of the defeated man cried as she took her husband’s body away.
“Is it over?”
Charlon whispered.
“It seems so,”
Damion answered flatly, delivering the judgment.
“The warrior of the side claiming innocence has won. As per your customs, Maraka is declared innocent.”
Turning to Jedrick, he continued.
“I hope I’ve followed the formalities. Interpret it in your usual manner.”
“Formalities aren’t important,”
Jedrick translated Damion’s words as they were.
The villagers accepted the verdict without much reaction.
“Then we’ll return to camp.”
As Damion turned to leave, another loud boom echoed from the north.
It was the sound of a volcanic eruption once more.
This time, red flames could be glimpsed beyond the northern sky.
The villagers, who had been cheering for the victor moments ago, fell silent.
‘Akamantum, what is this?’
Jedrick, who rarely spoke to the gods, found himself attempting to.
There had never been two volcanic eruptions in recent times.
And consecutively?
Now of all times?
Soon, murmurs began to spread.
“Akamantum’s wrath hasn’t subsided.”
“The duel’s victor was wrong.”
“No, those two weren’t meant to duel in the first place.”
“The duel was flawed.”
“This duel is invalid.”
“They need to fight again.”
What began as murmurs grew into shouts, turning the square into a cacophony akin to a market filled with hundreds of ducks.
This was where the Geronians differed decisively from the Southerners.
Here, regardless of class, everyone could voice their opinion, and the Ehodin could not ignore them.
“Arke!”
The word Jedrick had been dreading began to escape the mouths of the villagers.
“Arke!”
“It must be decided by Arke!”
Eorantan, who had won the duel, looked around in confusion.
By now, he should have been basking in praise and adulation, but no one cared about him.
He set his sword down on the ground and stepped back.
Ikarum, his face filled with fury, glared to the north.
Then, with the same expression, he addressed Damion.
“It should have been decided by Arke from the start.”
The situation was spiraling out of control.
The villagers were agitated, and the male warriors even more so.
Particularly the Batu, the high-ranking warriors, beat their chests and roared as if preparing for battle.
With the Batu’s cheers behind him, Ikarum approached Damion with a smug expression.
Three of Damion’s knights reflexively moved to block his path.
Ikarum advanced so closely he nearly bumped into their armor.
He didn’t spare a glance for the knights, focusing only on Damion as he spoke.
“Accept Akamantum’s will, Conqueror.”
Ikarum was uncharacteristically different, as if everything about him were a façade.
The eruption almost seemed orchestrated by Ikarum himself.
‘Ikarum is acting strangely. He’s usually rough, but not someone who forces his way like this.’
The villagers’ voices were growing hostile.
“Arke!”
“Arke!”
“Arke!”
Jedrick turned to Olga.
‘Olga has to stop this.’
By tradition, it was not Ikarum but Olga who should decide Arke.
A volcanic eruption signaled that Akamantum had something to say, and interpreting that message was the hag’s role, not the Ehodin’s.
‘The hag needs to declare this is not a situation for Arke.’
But Jedrick couldn’t bring himself to suggest consulting Olga.
No one could.
The current Olga was not the village shaman but a disheveled criminal.
Even under normal circumstances, it was uncertain if Olga could calm such excessive agitation.
“Jedrick, what does Arke mean?”
Damion asked, frustrated.
Jedrick hesitated for a long moment before replying.
“…It’s a difficult word to interpret in your language. It means that when two people with the authority to pass judgment have conflicting opinions, they must duel to decide… In short, it means a king’s duel.”
“A king’s… duel?”
Damion frowned.
Jedrick explained,
“It means you and Ikarum must duel to determine Maraka’s innocence once more.”
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