Editing Toaru Majutsu no Index:GT Volume16 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 4===

A heavy jangling rang through the darkness.

They had been made to walk a long way with their arms and legs bound by metal chains.

Over and over, the corridor took right angle turns, they ascended and descended spiral staircases, and he had completely lost his bearings.

Was this even still part of the Tower of London? Or were they below some other place?

Hamazura couldn’t make any sense of it.

Eventually, they arrived in a large square room.

It had no windows.

But that didn’t necessarily mean it was underground.

“A…courthouse?”

“Indeed,” someone said from up above. With no expression. “This is a court for divulging and judging magical crimes which must remain undocumented. It has long served as a location for witch trials.”

“Defendants Narthex Coded Cathedral and Hamazura Shiage, we have gathered here to weigh the sins of your souls.”

“Frank, Sheila, Tsumoru, Flourish, Fourier, Serre, Sonnet, Elise, Noel, Thomasia, Eleanor. Judicial role call complete. Eleven Court Officers, take your seats. Court is now in session.”

Eleven Court Officers.

The only part of that Hamazura understood was the number eleven. They appeared to be a mix of genders and races. Or maybe a group like that had been gathered intentionally. And Hamazura had no clue how British courts worked. Was it American judges who used the wooden hammer? They didn’t seem to use them in Japan at least. And what was a ''witch'' trial?

So many people gathered with emotionless masks for faces was intimidating on its own.

He would have found it more of a relief if they were all hiding their faces behind masks like at a masquerade ball

Maybe that was why.

In his extremely confused state, it took him a while to realize he could understand what the Eleven Court Officers were saying.

The trial had already begun.

Tsumoru, was it? Tsumoru Judicial. The one who appeared to be Japanese spoke.

“Narthex Coded Cathedral. Magicians deserve death. For they are magicians.”

“No objection.”

“It is the natural conclusion. With the exception of the few who serve our United Kingdom, it is only fitting for wicked magicians to atone through death.”

“No objection.”

It sounded like a meaningless exchange.

At first, Hamazura had no idea what they had said.

Weren’t they supposed to explain the defendant’s history and the charges against them at length?

“D-death?” he muttered without thinking.

Narthex herself said nothing.

“Did you just say death!? Without even giving this child a second chance at life!?”

Fitting?

To atone through death?

That was natural?

How could they say that to a young life that could probably live another eighty years if she worked at maintaining her health? She should at least be given the chance to turn over a new leaf and live the rest of her life regretting what she had done!

Hamazura’s eyes widened as the court officers moved onto the next part.

This time it was a tall redheaded woman. He remembered her being Sheila, the second one to be named.

“Hamazura Shiage. He is not a magician and did not properly understand Great Demon Coronzon’s value. Thus, he should not be judged under magic law.”

“No objection.”

“An outsider who assisted her without appropriate awareness of the threat and danger she posed cannot be held accountable for that crime. However, a full acquittal could reinforce the misapprehension that ignorance of the law excuses all crime. Thus, I propose he be released after 30 days of disciplinary imprisonment.”

“No objection.”

It all happened so fast.

Like they didn’t want to give him a word in edgewise. And it didn’t look like any of them was going to argue against these decisions.

“Are there no defense attorneys…or witness testimonies?”

“Why should we waste our time with that?”

“Because we have rights!! This trial started less than five minutes ago! I haven’t even had time to learn all you eleven whatevers’ names!!”

“There is no causal relationship between your learning our names and the administration of justice. Thus, it can be omitted.”

He didn’t understand.

It made no sense.

He had helped Coronzon. So he was guilty. But weren’t they at least going to explain ''what'' he had done, ''how'' it had helped her, and ''why'' that had influenced the incident in Academy City!? He didn’t even understand on what basis one of them was sentenced to death and the other would be released!

“W-wait.”

Doing this wouldn’t help his case in this trial.

He could tell that, but Hamazura still set aside those calculations and raised his voice.

Because if this continued, Narthex would be killed.

Even though her crime should have been lighter than his.

“But why am I being released while Narthex is guilty? And why is she being sentenced to death? What the hell is wrong with you!? I was free to choose whatever I wanted and I chose for myself to bet on Coronzon. So I’d get it if you called that a crime. But Narthex was raised without knowing anything other than Coronzon and she was only trying to get that back! So how is it fair for her crime to be heavier than mine!?”

They didn’t bat an eye.

Not the silver-haired brown-skinned man named Frank, not the tall redheaded woman named Sheila, not the Asian man named Tsumoru, not the blonde Hispanic woman whose name he didn’t remember, and not the rest of the eleven. They didn’t even seem to feel any displeasure toward the villains they were judging.

They were not fighting an enemy.

They were determining the fates of human lives as dispassionately as they might complete paperwork at their desk.

Judicial.

The Eleven Court Officers who had all been given that surname spoke impartially.

“Redundant claims are meaningless. If you would like to raise an objection, you must submit additional evidence and counterarguments to add to those we have already prepared.”

But they hadn’t prepared anything.

Plus, how was he supposed to submit additional anything.

He had no lawyer and they had even confiscated his phone. He had been trapped behind bars, unable to contact anyone. He had no way of acquiring any “new evidence” that had to exist out there somewhere in the world! Besides, they hadn’t even said what that new evidence was even supposed to prove!

“Otherwise, our decision will stand and this court will be adjourned,” flatly stated Frank Judicial.

“Coronzon was all Narthex ever had. Her feelings over not arriving in time to see Coronzon’s final moments turned to anger inside her! Surely that counts as extenuating circumstances. But you’re just going to ignore all that and sentence her to death!? Did you forget your human emotions at home!?”

“You could say that. We have no emotions.”

One of the court officers – Elise – brushed back her hair with a hand, revealing a gruesome scar running behind her ear. It was a surgical scar.

“That needless fat has long since ''been physically removed''.”

Hamazura fell silent.

He needed to say something, but the shock and panic were too much for his brain to function.

These people would go that far for their idea of justice?

Meanwhile, the conversation was advancing.

“We eleven have no sense of camaraderie or solidarity. In fact, we exist to monitor each other’s opinions and provide rebuttals.”

“Yet here even we are in agreement. That makes it unanimous.”

Hamazura had fundamentally misread the situation.

They were a precise microbalance. They were a machine that could only review the end result and the material evidence and accurately weigh the crime.

Noel and Thomasia joined the conversation.

“Even if a conclusion hurts our own case, we are willing to accept it if it is correct.”

“Indeed. And mutually understood language is one aspect of impartiality.”

“I do not like that we could not sentence Hamazura Shiage to death, but I cannot ignore the correct conclusion at which I have arrived.”

“If you believe our treatment of Defendant Narthex to be unjust, then proclaim your own justice. If you cannot, then our conclusion cannot change.”

That sounded fair at first, but their tone was dripping with the confidence of one who knew they were asking the impossible.

They were the judges and they were fundamentally cut off from those being judged. They saw the judged as residents of another world, so nothing they did to them could pain them. They were sentencing someone to death, but they had set aside their sense of guilt somewhere. They were following a truly irresponsible flowchart.

“The sentence has been given.”

So the Eleven Court Officers did not ask about motive.

There was no waver or hesitation in Tsumoru Judicial’s voice.

Crime was crime and punishment was punishment.

It was a single definition. So they had no interest at all in the bitter path a criminal had taken before committing their crime.

To them there was no difference between someone attacking and killing a passerby for money to enjoy and someone fighting back and accidentally killing the person about to kill their family.

They had lost track of the fundamental reason that people judged people.

Sheila made a loud pronouncement.

“This sentence cannot be overturned unless new evidence is submitted.”

Crime was crime and punishment was punishment.

''These microbalances took the privileged view that no decent person would ever commit a crime over the course of their entire life.

Frank settled it.



“The sentence is death. If no objections are raised, it will be carried out today. Court is now adjourned.”