NOVGO.NET Chapter 414: Public Punishment.
Chapter 414: Public Punishment.
“Now prepare yourselves.
The people are waiting.”
Morvain spoke as she turned sharply, her boots echoing against the stone as she left the hall.
“…was this the correct thing to do?”
The moment the Matriarch walked out of the Hall, a man questioned in a solemn tone. Morvain paused, the voice surprised her. She didn’t think she would be talking to him again this quickly.
“You heard it all, huh…”
The Matriarch commented as she turned and looked at Kael’s face.
“I am still the Warden of Vigilance, it is my duty to see and hear everything there is.”
Kael answered.
“…the consequences of your watch are quite heavy this time, Warden of Vigilance.”
Morvain spoke and Kael…
He just looked at her and—
“You didn’t answer my question, Matriarch.
Was threatening them the correct thing to do?
What if it causes a rebellion?”
He questioned.
At that question, Morvain slowly turned around, staring at the Hall the provisioners were kept in,
“It isn’t to start a rebellion, Dragon Rider Kael.”
She answered.
“The people here are too busy working to have such thoughts. They need a far bigger reason to actually cause a rebellion. A hundred thieving provisioners do not hold that much power.”
“What if… this sows the seed?”
Kael asked another question and Morvain just smiled lightly as she turned back towards him—
“For that, I have you, don’t I?”
She chuckled.
“I am sure the Warden of Vigilance would be able to find any sown seed and pull it out before it grows too big, no?”
“Yes.”
Kael nodded, mirroring the Matriarch’s smile.
Morvain groaned at his confidence,
“This is why I cannot bring myself to hate you, Kael Carter.
Your sense of justice is strong, unreasonably so, but that confidence of yours is quite reassuring.”
She spoke out loud, sighing in defeat.
“I thought my sense of justice was something the Matriarch would like the most.”
Kael muttered lightly.
“It sometimes clouds your judgement.”
Morvain answered as she looked into his eyes, soon however, she glanced at the woman standing next to him and—
“But then again, you have someone to hold you even when that happens, huh.”
In the end, Morvain looked at both Lavinia and Kael and—
“If a God truly does exist,
He shouldn’t have brought the two of you together.
I pity the people you two consider or will consider your enemies.”
Then however, the woman raised her head, staring at the falling snow and—
“Or maybe… the enemy you will be facing is so strong that the God needed to bring you two together for the world to have a fighting chance.”
At those words, a light smile appeared on Kael’s face, contrary to the heavy thoughts that were in his mind.
His enemies huh…
It was indeed quite a complicated matter to think about.
Drakthar,
Xenthalor,
The Twilight,
And…
Nerissa, the woman who killed him and his Dragons in his visions.
Maybe Morvain was right.
Maybe their enemies were truly that strong…
So this time…
He couldn’t lose Lavinia.
Thinking about it, the Hero tightly held the Mage’s hand, an action that the Matriarch did not miss.
However, instead of commenting about it, she shook her head and—
“Prepare for the Public Punishment.
The snow doesn’t seem like it intends to stop,
So let’s settle this quickly.”
She spoke as she walked towards the square.
“Yes, Matriarch.”
Kael nodded, following behind her with Lavinia’s hand in his.
…
Thirty minutes later, the square was packed. Snow still fell from the gray sky, but no one left. The people were angry, they all had already heard about the corrupt provisioners who stole from the old and they wanted to see what was going to happen to them.
They wanted to see justice being served in a way that no one else would ever dare to do the same thing again.
Some wanted direct execution, some wanted exile, not wanting to see these bastards again. All in all, the people wanted severe punishment. Their hatred was so strong that as they all glared at the caught provisioners kneeling in the center with their hands bound, none of the provisioners dared to raise their heads and look back at them.
They could only stare at the floor, their bodies trembling, some with shame, not liking how they were being portrayed as public enemies, others in fear, uncertain of what was going to happen to them.
They could hear how much the people hated them. The murmurs of how most of them wanted them dead were hard to miss, and these murmurs only got louder as time passed.
Heck, some even wanted to beat them to death, the only reason they did not take action was because Kael stood at the very front, his gaze making it clear that he did not want unnecessary movements.
The murmurs continued until the Matriarch arrived.
The moment she walked up to the front, silence fell all over the square, the Men of the Watch saluted her, and she nodded, before her eyes swept over the people, then the bound provisioners, before she finally turned towards the people again and—
“It is a regretful day for us all,”
She began, in a low but very audible voice.
“To think… among our own brothers and sisters, there were those who chose to steal. Not from strangers, not from enemies, but from our own blood.”
She paused for a moment, glaring at the caught provisioners as the silence weighed on everyone.
“I will not lie to you—I was surprised when I found out about it.
I did not wish to believe it myself.
But truth does not change when we look away from it.”
Her gaze hardened, turning to the kneeling figures.
“They are guilty.
They took from the weak, from the old, thinking they would not get caught by targeting the weak.
That cannot be forgiven.”
“Exactly!”
“They cannot be forgiven!”
“Traitors! That is what they are! We need to get rid of them!”
The people muttered angrily, nodding at the Matriarch’s words as their fists tightened, but the Matriarch lifted her hand and steadied them, her next words quickly steered the attention away from the provisioners.
“Yet, in times like these, when betrayal cuts us from inside, we must also give thanks. For without vigilance, without sharp eyes, this rot would have spread further.
And so…
I feel like I have been saying this more and more frequently now, I give my gratitude to Dragon Rider Kael.”
Morvain smiled a little, praising Kael openly—
“He saw what others did not.
He protected us from this hidden danger.
And for that, the Velmourn are in his debt again.”
A ripple of nods and murmurs of agreement spread through the crowd. Many started chanting the words Dragon God, the fervor in their eyes was strong.
It seemed as if they had absolute faith in this man—no, God.
Something that the Matriarch did not miss.
At first, it was just the Men of the Watch who had fought the Stonefangs under Kael’s command and the people close to them. However, as more and more hours passed, the number of Kael’s ’followers’ was rising at a surprising, almost terrifying rate.
Morvain wouldn’t be surprised if she was told that the number had already reached a thousand.
In the end, as the chants were getting out of hand, Morvain raised her hand again, silencing them.
“But now… we come to judgment.”
She spoke, her eyes turning frosty as she glanced at the provisioners again.
“These men and women will be punished.
Each will take twenty lashes under the eyes of their people. Let their pain be a mark of the betrayal they have committed, and let their scars remind them of the shame they brought on themselves.”
The crowd stirred.
“What…?”
“Twenty lashes…? For stealing from the old…?”
“That’s it…?”
While some of them nodded silently, agreeing with the Matriarch’s decision, most believed that twenty lashes were too few.
Their crimes were far worse than a mere twenty lashes. Many feared that this would only make these people braver and that they would continue stealing more than they did before, and seeing them, more provisioners would follow.
And it wasn’t just the people who were surprised, the provisioners too seemed taken aback. Twenty lashes was indeed far better than whatever they had in their minds.
Was it the Matriarch’s way of secretly helping them out?
Some of them began to wonder, beginning to reform their lost trust in her.
Morvain, however, didn’t react to their gaze, she just stared at the crowd and—
“Some of you may think this punishment light. That it is not enough for the crime they committed.
But I tell you this—Velmourn blood is precious.
Every hand, every back, every ounce of strength we have must be used to endure this winter.
I will not waste a hundred workers on useless torment when they can still serve.”
She then raised her voice and—
“My goal is not to punish them, it is to make them realize what they have done.
My goal is to make sure these thieves will know hunger.
From this day forth, these thieves will no longer work as provisioners, for the next three months, they will work in the forge, the mines, and the farms with double the labor, yet receive only half the rations.
They will sweat.
They will starve.
They will feel what it means to take food from others.
And through that, they will learn.”
The murmurs in the crowd shifted, now mixed with grim approval.
“They will not die by rope or blade,”
Morvain finished, her gaze sweeping over her people.
“Instead, they will live—and their lives will pay for their crime. The rest of you, honest Velmourn, will see their example and know: none may betray their kin. None may steal from their own.
If you do,
You will share their fate.”
The Matriarch spoke, letting her words settle before she turned towards her subordinate and—
“Bring the whips.”
Source: .com, updated by novlove.com