Chapter 116: False Accusation
"Where's Mara? Why hasn't she shown up yet?"
A few more days went by. Loren ate his way through every restaurant in this coastal city, but still saw no sign of Mara.
To make it easy for her to find him, Loren didn't hide his whereabouts at all. Soon the whole country knew the Master Mentor was here. Many people traveled thousands of miles just for a chance to meet Loren in person.
A lot of people had questions for Loren and wanted his guidance. Loren didn't stingily withhold advice, but he didn't want to be bothered too much either, so every afternoon he set aside a few minutes to answer questions in the order people arrived.
With the Church of the God of Vows and Wind screening requests, Loren didn't have to worry too much about chaos.
Many who had only heard Loren's name finally saw him in person, and many doubters of Loren's reputation fell silent at that moment.
Two continents were separated by the sea, so news spread slowly. Only members of the Church of the God of Vows and Wind found it somewhat easier to cross the sea. With people from the Kingdom of Anselm spreading the word, it wasn't impossible for Loren's reputation to echo across to the other continent.
"Master Mentor, there's another execution about to happen. Can we go watch?"
Today the Kingdom of Anselm was holding a public trial again. All the cases here were open for everyone to observe.
"Let's go." Since Anna wanted to go and Loren had nothing better to do, he agreed to go watch.
"Yay! I want to see rivers of blood!"
"......"
Even after being raised by Loren for so long, Anna's personality hadn't changed much. She still loved killing—especially watching evil people die—and in that regard Loren had definitely led her astray.
To Anna, killing one villain meant saving many good people. She firmly believed the lesson Loren taught her.
And anyone sentenced to death by the Church of the God of Vows and Wind had to be truly wicked.
Loren arrived beside the trial platform in the square. Unlike the makeshift tribunal they had seen in Bardo, this was Anselm's most formal courtroom.
When the people next to him discovered it was Loren, they instinctively made space for him. Loren's status was not below the Pope's, yet he still willingly answered ordinary people's questions—something that wasn't his obligation.
So they respected Loren from their hearts.
Loren recognized the two people on the bench;
they were the couple they had encountered before.
"What is it with these two and so much drama?"
Loren had already labeled them in his mind: turtle man and clinging woman, a match made in heaven—by which he meant a mismatched, irritating pair.
The people of Anselm strictly respected the law. The formal trial and the execution platform rarely restarted, but now, after so long, it had been reopened because of two tourists.
"Plaintiff claims the defendant raped her. Is there any evidence?"
The trial was presided over by a Wind Messenger. Compared to the ones Loren had seen before, this one was much fatter, with a bit more flesh on his bones.
"I have proof. It happened yesterday. He raped me. There are marks on my body..."
"According to the Church's investigation, you two are lovers, and there are no signs you struggled."
"That's because I knew I couldn't resist..."
Before the woman on the plaintiff's seat could finish, the Wind Messenger interrupted:
"Wind heard your conversation. Your real motive was that he refused to buy things beyond his means for you, and after seeing the king executed, you formed the idea of making a false accusation."