What a grand and majestic trial! Sir Villiers cried in his heart.

Sir Villiers stood up from the chair he had specially set up, enjoying the attention of everyone who suddenly gathered around him, and said loudly to everyone:

"Everyone——"

Hearing this shout, the crowd gradually quieted down, and they looked at the lord on the platform with complicated eyes.

Sir Villiers was not very popular in White Orchard because he had done many ridiculous things.

But today he was looking for the missing child of the beekeeper, which was one of the few things he did to truly uphold justice for the villagers, so at this moment there were actually quite a few faint cheers coming from below.

This made Sir Villiers enjoy it even more.

"My people, I think you all already know why I gathered you here today - yes, for the beekeeper Cole and his missing child."

He pointed in the direction where the guards were bringing the witcher.

"Just two days ago, this demon hunter came to our White Orchard. Then, our poor Cole lost his child!"

At this moment, Sir Villiers seemed to be immersed in the role of the presiding judge and did not notice that among the gathered onlookers, in addition to the villagers, there were gradually more mercenaries coming from afar and some wanderers.

In addition to the merchants and bards he was expecting, there were also dwarves and a team of more than a dozen soldiers.

Lann left some cavalrymen to look after the horses and luggage, and only brought out the cavalrymen who had rested and regained their energy. This way they would be smaller in size, and he could temporarily watch the fun with the travelers from the outside.

Yarpan rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a bag of dried fruits. He threw a few raisins into his mouth and politely handed them to Lann with an expectant look in his eyes.

Lan picked among them and unexpectedly found walnuts, which he gladly accepted.

Sir Villiers shouted on the stage: "Now, let us invite the first witness~"

A man dressed as a beekeeper with red and swollen eyes came forward and bowed to Sir Villiers while trembling.

The whispers among the crowd let Lan know that this was the beekeeper who had lost his child.

"My Lord, please understand... My poor York Joan disappeared two days ago. Now my mother has fainted from crying, and my wife was beaten by this barbaric foreigner. Not only did he kidnap my child, he also..."

The witcher, his hands bound by shackles, said coldly: "You come to me with pitchforks and axes without trial, and I don't remember there being any women among that group."

"quiet!"

Sir Villiers shouted, and immediately a guard came forward from behind and hit the witcher's back hard with the scabbard of his sword.

The unarmored demon hunter bent his knees and almost fell to the ground.

The crowd was startled by the guards' actions and shouted, their expressions becoming slightly excited.

"It's time for the witnesses to testify!" Sir Villiers declared solemnly. "Let the beekeeper continue talking!"

"Thank you, Lord. That day the demon hunter came to my house to buy honey, but he was greedy and didn't want to pay. He also beat me and my wife. I thought he was holding a grudge against us, but I didn't expect that my Yorkjoan went out to play with his friends the next day and never came back..."

"Beekeeper, are you sure it was the next day, right after the witcher came to White Orchard, right after the witcher bought honey from your house and left?"

"Yes, my Lord, I am sure of it. And he didn't buy my honey, he didn't pay for it!"

"Very good, go on, beekeeper. You have enough evidence, let's call on the next witness."

The beekeeper thanked the lord profusely and spat at the witcher before leaving. The guards ignored the witcher and went to summon new witnesses from a pile of chairs.

But this is obviously not in compliance with regulations.

The demon hunter, whose hands were bound, gritted his teeth and interrupted the process: "My Lord. I should have time to defend myself now."

"I have not given you permission to speak!" cried Sir Villiers. "Guards!"

The scabbard hit the witcher's back again, causing him to stagger. The crowd exclaimed, becoming even more excited.

House, who was watching outside, frowned and talked to several of his attendants: "This is totally inconsistent with the trial process, and the evidence provided by the beekeeper is not worth mentioning."

The dwarf Zoerwa had been paying attention to this. He nodded and said, "I hate those elves who are pretentious, but it is undeniable that the procedures they set up are important at times like this. What is in front of us does not seem to be a trial, but a farce that a noble uses to please himself."

Yarpen stuffed another handful of raisins into his mouth and agreed, "I've heard about this lord. He's like a saddled pig."

Inside the venue, the "trial" continues.

The next witness was a peasant woman who said, "I have seen this... witcher. He lives in our hotel. He always has disgusting marks and a pungent smell on his body. He is terrible. He often stares at the children passing by with scary eyes... My poor Samo disappeared two years ago. Maybe it was the witcher who did it..."

The jailer also took the stand as a witness: "While in the cage, the witcher kept sitting in a strange posture, mumbling something. He wanted to use magic to leave the prison."

Sir Villiers became interested: "Are you sure, jailer, that the witcher wants to escape trial?"

"Yes, sir, I swear on my mother's name." The jailer replied in fear to the lord's questioning, "He also tried to escape by force, but fortunately I suppressed him. You see, I still have wounds on my body... He also frightened children. Oh, yes, he scared away the kind-hearted child who brought him food. Even in prison, he did not forget his evil intentions!"

The crowd was in an uproar when they heard this. The beekeeper glared at the witcher as if he had seen irrefutable evidence, and he wished he could rush forward with a pitchfork and fight the unarmed witcher one-on-one.

"Oh? Child?" Sir Villiers sat up straight. "Are you sure, jailer, that the child was there?"

The jailer was extremely excited about the lord's questioning. He searched for his target in the crowd: "Leo! There you are, cute boy, come here!"

Sir Villiers said loudly: "Then let us call the next witness, the boy who brought food to the witcher."

Leo was pulled forward by the jailer uncomfortably. He was frightened by the sudden gazes of the villagers. He looked at the demon hunter opposite and suddenly found that the cold snake eyes in the prison seemed unusually calm at this moment.

"Leo, tell the Lord how this demon hunter hurt you, intimidated you, and threatened you when you were delivering food, okay?"

Sir Villiers craned his neck, and all the villagers' eyes turned to Leo.

Leo stammered, "He, he didn't threaten me. I, I wasn't scared by him either."

"What?" The jailer was anxious. "You were so scared that you ran out screaming, and he even knocked over the food you brought him, didn't he?"

Leo stammered, "I, I didn't see it. But I seemed to kick something when I was running. Maybe I kicked the bowl over."

The jailer was delighted.

"Listen, my lord, Leo was frightened by the witcher and ran away. He was so panicked that he didn't know where to go and even kicked over the bowl. How scared must a good boy who is usually frugal and sensible be to do such a thing? He is so scared that he dares not face this witcher until now!"

"Oh." Sir Villiers said sympathetically, "Poor child, another child. Fortunately, this trial happened in time, allowing us to save this child."

Leo started to panic. He was even scared now. He pulled the jailer to talk, but the jailer held him down and wouldn't let him move.

The child looked at the witcher again, at those snake eyes, and found that he was also looking at him.

"That's enough, kid." Leo heard the witcher talking to him, "Thank you for your testimony, but you should go home soon."

"Silence! Guards!"

Sir Villiers shouted, and the guards slammed the scabbard hard on the witcher's shoulder, and the onlookers shouted excitedly.

Yarpan smacked his lips, suddenly realizing that the raisins had lost their sweetness. He put the bag of dried fruits back into his arms with a lack of interest, and crossed his arms across his chest.

House frowned: "If it was in the old Cintra, this lord would be held accountable by the queen."

Milva, with her jungle wildness, was extremely angry at this moment, but she still did not forget her identity.

She looked at the snake-eyed demon hunter whose expression had become unusually calm, then looked at Lann, and said softly: "My Lord Earl, this is a demon hunter, a demon hunter like Mr. Geralt, should we…"

"Not yet," Lann replied.

In the court, Sir Villiers stopped pretending. He saw that the villagers had already accepted the trial process he presided over. He felt a little tired and decided to end this farce. He even skipped the process of letting the demon hunter defend himself and directly made the final decision:

"I have heard of your reputation, demon hunter. You use the excuse of killing monsters to force poor villagers to give up their last savings, otherwise you will massacre their village. I also found a large amount of poison and daggers on you. Obviously, you will also act as an assassin to kill humans from time to time!"

"I can't control what happens outside, but the crimes that happened in White Orchard must be brought to justice!"

Sir Villiers stood up at this time. He had thought of his concluding words in advance, and even deliberately kept it close to the style and tone of the opera for the sake of convenience. Just saying these lines was enough to make him proud:

"You trespassed into my territory without warning, bullied my people, hurt young children, and have refused to hand over his body to this day. Even in prison, you showed no remorse, trying to escape without honor, and hurting children who showed you kindness.

Your cold-bloodedness makes me angry, and your crimes must be punished. As the Lord of White Orchard, I have the obligation to protect my people and to bring justice to them. I also have the right to judge your crimes. I declare: I sentence you, the nameless demon hunter, to death-"

The demon hunter had been kneeling in the same place without moving, but at this moment he suddenly looked up and shouted, interrupting the Lord of White Orchard to finish his words:

"I demand a trial!"