Ugly Guy, Hardcore Fighter-Chapter 86: Gratitude Tribunal (Patreon)

-Thank you DCRangeRange, Dean Dexter and CannedbreadFollow me on Patreon via Linktree https://linktr.ee/Mnotia-

The Gratia Assembly Hall was in front of the royal palace.

It was a roofless building made of white stones piled in a circle.

Blue awnings cast shadows over the gallery, and only the center was touched by the morning light. It wasn't an underground prison, nor an arena for making a spectacle of criminals.

A place for all the people to watch the town's discussions.

At least, that's how it looked.

The four of us had come from the branch to observe: Seiji-san, Seika-san, Rizu, and me. Kato-kun and Ria kept working, recording how the system actually operated. Reia-san refused to come along, saying, “A trial? Even if I listened, I'd just sleep,” and she really was sleeping at the branch.

“Do you think this morning's words will appear again?”

Seika-san placed the cloth-wrapped newspaper on her lap.

“I don't know. So let's make sure we don't miss the moment it gets rewritten.”

The bell rang three times.

A man entered the center.

He was a little past forty. He had a belly, but thick arms. Stains of oil and mud remained on the cuffs of his old work clothes. He wasn't in chains. Flanked by officials in white clothes, he walked with his head down.

“Defendant, Dario Basque.”

The auditor read out the name.

“He created thirty-seven false requests. Through mutual gratitude with accomplices, he fraudulently obtained 120 Gratia. He is suspected of purchasing food, fuel, and medicine, then reselling part of it for the foreign currency Lira.”

Angry voices rose from the gallery.

“Give back the bread!”

“Was it your fault we didn't have enough medicine?!”

Dario didn't look up.

Abel, seated in the high seat of the assembly hall, raised one hand.

“Please be quiet.”

It wasn't loud.

Even so, the assembly hall fell silent at once.

“Hating the crime and having everyone torment one person are different things. This isn't a place to throw stones. It's a place to confirm the facts.”

Abel descended from his seat and stood on the same ground as the defendant.

Just that changed the atmosphere in the gallery.

He wasn't a king judging from above. He was a king listening beside the criminal.

If it was staging, it was skillful.

If it wasn't staging but his true heart, it was even more impressive.

The recorder touched the crystal slate.

A history of gratitude appeared in the light.

Records showed the same five people repeatedly sending gratitude to one another, requesting roof repairs that never happened and food that was never delivered. The wheat, dried meat, and herbal oil that had been purchased. Even the date and time they were handed over to a merchant outside the city remained.

“Do you admit to altering the records?”

The auditor asked.

“...I admit it.”

Dario's voice was hoarse.

“And the resale?”

“I did it.”

“Of the 120 Gratia, there are twenty-one records claiming they were legitimate gratitude for your own labor. Explain them.”

That was when Dario looked up for the first time.

“I've been hauling cargo along the waterways for twenty years.”

His thick fingers were trembling.

“If the sluice got clogged in the middle of the night, I dived in. If the warehouse flooded from rain, I carried sacks until morning. When the gratitude system started, the government office said: if you do work, have the person you helped register it.”

“For the twenty-one jobs you actually did, the requesters are treated as nonexistent.”

“I fixed the waterway before it broke. I stacked sandbags before the warehouse got wet. Who's gonna thank me? The people who drink the water don't even know my face.”

I remembered the 0 on the bracelet.

“So at first, I recorded it myself. I didn't write down jobs I hadn't done. I just made what I did into a form someone could see.”

“Then why did you add false jobs?”

Dario shut his mouth.

“Answer me.”

“...Because it worked once.”

The gallery stirred.

“I worked. And still couldn't make a living. Just by writing a name on paper, I could buy the shoes for my daughter I couldn't buy before. My daughter was happy. Next, I claimed I'd fixed a place that wasn't broken yet. After that, I claimed I'd passed work to my buddies. Before I knew it, writing paper had become faster than working.”

The defense official stood.

“The defendant's wife is bedridden, and he has two daughters. Part of the fraudulently obtained funds was used for treatment and living expenses. Three former colleagues from the old waterway bureau testify that the defendant's income dropped sharply after the system transition.”

Next, a woman from the medicine shop that had suffered damage testified.

“The herbal oil was bought up, and for two days we couldn't put it out in the shop. If the portion sold abroad had come back, it could've been used for children with fevers.”

Dario gritted his teeth.

“My wife needed that oil too.”

“That still doesn't make fraud okay.”

The woman's voice was trembling too.

This wasn't a story where you could make just one side the villain.

But the fact that Dario had actually lied and bought up limited goods couldn't be erased either.

The auditor checked the records one by one.

He didn't stop testimony favorable to Dario or unfavorable to him. If the gallery grew noisy, Abel quieted it.

Seiji-san watched the whole time with serious attention.

“It's fair.”

He said in a small voice.

“At least, the procedure is. It isn't hiding the defendant's circumstances.”

All the testimony ended.

Abel stood before Dario.

“The twenty-one jobs you first recorded. I've confirmed that they were work you actually did.”

Dario looked at the king as if startled.

“The nation also bears responsibility for the fact that no one noticed that work. You were doing work that deserved gratitude.”

Seika-san's expression softened.

From the gallery too, breaths resembling relief leaked out.

“However.”

Abel's voice grew stern.

“After that, you created fictitious jobs, sold gratitude, and bought up limited goods.”

Dario couldn't say anything.

“What you forged wasn't just the gratitude records.”

Abel looked at the medicine shop owner at the witness stand and Dario's family in the gallery.

“It was the bread and medicine someone was supposed to receive tomorrow.”

The words fell straight into the assembly hall.

If the story ended there, even I couldn't argue.

“The fraudulently obtained Gratia will be confiscated. The resold goods will be recovered. The accomplices' accounts will be frozen until the investigation is complete.”

Dario's wife began to cry.

Abel turned his face toward her.

“The minimum ration for the family will continue. He committed the crime, not the children.”

The crying grew louder.

“Dario Basque. You will relearn the system and your own actions at the 〈House of Gratitude〉. No fixed term. When you sincerely repent and are recognized as able to work for others again, you may return to your family.”

Dario's knees gave out.

“You won't... let my family starve?”

“I promise.”

“...I obey.”

The moment I heard those words.

I saw the relief that appeared on Abel's face.

It wasn't the face of someone pleased to punish a criminal.

It was the face of someone who finally felt reassured after having his own righteousness acknowledged from the other person's mouth.

Come to think of it, I'd seen it a little while ago too.

When Seika-san talked about the system's problems, Abel nodded as if confirming each of her words one by one.

It was the same face as then.

I know the type of guy who makes that face.

As long as he's recognized as right, he can be endlessly kind.

But when he's denied, who knows what'll happen.

I touched the four-folded paper in my pocket from outside.

Abel has Special Notes.

But-

I wasn't about to label this guy a villain based on Special Notes alone.

Even now, I don't intend to.

Still, I have a bad feeling.

Applause spread through the assembly hall.

Gratitude light born from the bracelets gathered toward Abel in the morning sun.

The official in white made Dario stand.

There were no chains. As if flanking him on both sides, they led him out of the assembly hall.

At the main gate, a white carriage with closed windows awaited.

On its door, the destination was written in blue letters.

〈House of Gratitude〉

“Dad!”

His daughter called.

Dario turned around and forced a smile.

Then he got into the carriage, and the door closed.

The white carriage entered the road leading deeper into the royal palace and disappeared.

The trial was over.

“I think it was a splendid verdict.”

Seiji-san said as we left the assembly hall.

“It didn't condone the fraud, protected the family's livelihood, and acknowledged the system's responsibility too.”

“I think so too.”

Seika-san nodded.

“If there's anything we can do at the House of Gratitude to help Dario-san return—”

“...Um.”

Rizu unusually interrupted Seika-san.

“Is something bothering you?”

“The king looked more relieved when the defendant obeyed the order than when he admitted his crime.”

Apparently she'd been watching the same thing I had.

“That doesn't necessarily make him an enemy.”

Seiji-san said cautiously.

“If you bear the responsibility of guiding people, words of obedience can sometimes bring relief.”

“Yeah. Today's trial made sense.”

I couldn't deny that either.

“It's just... too perfect.”

“What is?”

“Ah, no, don't worry about it. It might just be my imagination.”

There's a criminal. The king judges him. He saves the family. Everyone gives thanks to the king.

If that were all, it might just be a common flow.

But.

There's someone in trouble.

Someone saves them.

The official bulletin reports it.

Gratitude gathers.

It was the same shape as the fake Ardeen.

In Seika-san's arms, the newspaper grew hot.

“It's starting.”

The text on the page vanished all at once.

We stopped walking.

This time, everyone was watching.

Letters appeared in the center of the blank page.

H E L P

The same four characters as this morning.

Below that, more letters bled out.

A B E L E N E M Y

“Abel... enemy?”

Seika-san's voice trembled.

The next moment, the two words shattered.

Black lines ran across the page, and as if nothing had happened, it rearranged into a splendid headline.

『King of Compassion Abel, Extends Salvation Even to Sinners』

The article accurately described today's trial.

The testimony, the verdict, the ration to the family—all were just as we'd seen.

That's exactly why we couldn't ignore the two words from before the rewrite.

It turned the truth we'd seen, heard, and verified into an article faster than anyone.

Those two words appeared before the article that came afterward.

So then, what was the one that appeared first?

“Has the newspaper ever been wrong before?”

Rizu asked.

“Within what I've verified, not once.”

Seiji-san answered.

Seiji-san looked up at the royal palace.

“But we shouldn't jump to conclusions. Let's confirm with Abel-san himself.”

Seiji-san said.

“The House of Gratitude too.”

Seika-san continued.

“Where and how Dario-san will spend his time. Whether the trial is truly just all the way beyond that door.”

Just then, a messenger in white walked over from the royal palace.

He stopped before us and held out a blue sealed letter.

“From His Majesty King of Compassion Abel, to everyone from Visbridge. He wishes to hold a formal meeting regarding the branch's future.”

The sealed letter contained tomorrow's date and time.

It was an invitation as if he'd been waiting for us to have doubts.

The newspaper headline continued to praise the King of Compassion.

Seika-san could no longer innocently hug that page.

Seiji-san and Seika-san started walking while checking the blue sealed letter.

I fell a step behind.

Rizu stayed there too.

“Rizu.”

When I called softly, she turned toward me.

“The newspaper's words. Do you think they're connected to Abel's Special Notes you told me about?”

“Yes. I can't think they're unrelated.”

“Right?”

I took out the paper folded in four from my breast pocket.

It was the memo Rizu had passed me after I first met Abel, making sure no one saw.

If she found dangerous Special Notes, she'd let only me know.

That was the arrangement we'd decided between us.

When I unfolded the paper, Abel's Special Notes were copied out in Rizu's neat handwriting.

The first three lines had no orange line.

They were just words, not manifested as an ability.

『Everyone, believe in me. I'm not a liar.

I'm the real thing. There's no one who works as hard for everyone as I do.

If everyone correctly understood what I've done, they should be grateful to me.』

I don't know exactly what happened.

But I can at least imagine.

I think you worked hard in that other world too.

Even so, the people around you probably didn't acknowledge you. So in this world, you're trying to be acknowledged for sure this time.

I've seen plenty of people in this world who, even after stumbling because of their Special Notes, try to survive somehow.

Ria and Reia-san are like that too.

To me, Abel looked like one of them.

That's why the words “You're working hard too” came out of my mouth.

Later I thought I'd sure talked down to the King quite a bit, but I hadn't meant to mock him.

Having a dangerous power and that guy being a villain aren't the same thing.

But.

From the fourth line onward, an orange line that seemed to scorch the paper had been drawn.

I let my eyes fall to what came after.

At first, I thought this was just complaining too.

Just anger that had welled up on the spot, scrawled out.

If it were only that feeling, I could understand it.

I might've done the same.

『That's right.

I'm the one suited to be king over you lot.

Those guys who defied me should reflect in a cold, narrow cage.

Don't come out until you truly understand what you did wrong.

Use that power correctly for people's sake this time.』

It was distorted.

Even so, up to here, I could still think it was words spat out in anger.

But the next words froze my spine.

『A human who can't even repent doesn't deserve to exist.

No matter how much they apologize, I'm the one who decides whether to forgive them.

Don't think you can leave that cage until I forgive you.

Even if I die, it'll last until this world ends.』(TL Note: Yeah, this guys evil)

-Thank you DCRangeRange, Dean Dexter and CannedbreadFollow me on Patreon via Linktree https://linktr.ee/Mnotia-