Until now, there had never been a time when the Beast’s Heart failed me.
Of course, I had only fought once before.
Still, those opponents had been considerably skilled.
The ferocity and superior martial prowess of the northern tribes were renowned, after all.
Yet even they had fallen in droves before my gavel.
The moment the skill activated, it was easier than twisting a child’s wrist.
But the monster before me was a being that defied common sense.
An attack… blocked? In mid-air, no less?
It felt as though some invisible barrier or formless power had interfered.
I swung the iron gavel once more.
If the previous strike had focused on speed, this one poured every ounce of my strength into it.
“Haaah!”
KWACHING—!
This time the result was different.
The hammer head still collided with empty air, yet the monster’s massive body shuddered and was pushed backward.
“Oh? So it can’t completely nullify attacks after all?”
That changed everything.
It meant that when the impact exceeded a certain limit, even that ability shattered.
I gave a faint smile and lightly rolled my shoulders.
The longer the skill remained active, the more murderous intent welled up from the depths of my chest.
Beast’s Heart was a skill whose power increased the stronger one’s desire to kill became.
But I must restrain myself.
My purpose was to uncover the truth, not to beat just anyone to death.
The boundary between reason and rampage.
Maintaining the exact middle point was no easy task.
Yet I could do it.
Had I not nearly reached enlightenment dealing with utterly unreasonable complainants back in my old life?
“This is nothing!”
SHWAAAAANG! CHJJEEEONG!
The gavel, enveloped in crimson flames, whipped through the air.
A deafening boom that seemed to tear eardrums was accompanied by a shower of sparks.
It looked exactly like molten iron splattering from a furnace.
—GWAAAAARGH!
The monster screamed in agony.
The crimson energy had pierced its barrier and struck its entire body.
Evidently in tremendous pain, it writhed and hurriedly retreated.
Yet a single blow was not enough to bring it down.
—You bastard!
The monster’s eyes flashed as it began emitting beams of bright yellow light.
Rays that shot straight forward before suddenly bending sharply.
An extremely difficult attack to block.
Their trajectories were completely erratic, and there were dozens of them.
But I knocked the yellow beams away without much trouble.
KWAGWAGWAGWANG!!
Huh! It actually worked?
Honestly, this one had felt a little dangerous.
I never imagined it would launch such a high-level attack.
Well, it was a monster.
I had assumed it would simply charge mindlessly with its horns.
TADADADAT!
I closed the distance in an instant.
It surely couldn’t fire such powerful attacks continuously.
As expected, the creature failed to respond properly.
—S-stay back! How dare you lay a hand on this great being’s body?
“I don’t know about great, but I have an investigation to conduct, so move!”
—What investigation do you dare speak of?
“Ugh, you’re seriously annoying.”
BAAK!
The gavel swung sideways toward the monster’s leg.
But the moment it lowered its thick arm to block—
The trajectory twisted sharply upward and slammed into its jaw instead.
BAAAANG!
—KRAAAAAAGH!
Despite it being a simple feint, the monster fell for it surprisingly easily.
For some reason, this thing feels like it has almost no real combat experience.
In that regard, I wasn’t much different.
But I had the experience of carrying criminals on my back in my past life, plus everything Abel’s body had mastered.
That tiny difference created a massive opening.
PUK! PUBEOK!
—GWAAK! KRGH! S-stop!
“Can’t hear you, sorry.”
—I surrender! I said I surrender, you bastard!
“Is that any way to act when surrendering, you man-eating freak?”
—I’ll cooperate, so please stop! Sob sob!
“Good. You should have started with that… Wait, why did your attitude flip so fast?”
I tilted my head at the absurd speed of its turnaround.
If it called itself a god and acted all high and mighty, shouldn’t its mental fortitude be far stronger?
The monster cowered in the corner.
Eventually, I examined the chunks of meat and bone fragments it had been eating.
Huh?
Something was strange.
No matter how I looked at it, they were markedly different from human remains.
No human had a skull this elongated, no matter how oddly they were born.
“Anyone can see this is animal. Hey. What do you usually eat?”
Why is he suddenly asking that?
“I told you, I’m here to investigate. Want to answer after another beating? Or just answer? For reference, I’m still in the middle of an arrest in flagrante delicto.”
…I usually eat roasted meat. The kind that man over there provides.
The monster, lying flat on the floor trembling, pointed at Viscount Erseth.
The result was different from what I expected, and I frowned.
“Have you ever eaten a person?”
—I am a very refined gourmet. Unless it’s premium cattle raised on grain, I won’t even touch it.
“You say that after just now crunching raw meat like it was nothing? That pisses me off.”
—Sometimes I eat yukhoe too. If I only ever ate grilled meat, I’d get sick of it.
“Ugh, this thing—”
I raised the gavel, then lowered it with a sigh.
What would be the point of beating a creature that was already subdued?
Especially one that flinched in terror at the slightest movement.
Still, if this monster hadn’t eaten them, then where on earth had the miners gone?
“Was it really just an accident where they were buried underground? And this guy merely tried to cover it up?”
—Buried, you say?
“The miners disappeared. I heard that sort of thing happens often here.”
—Collapses in the tunnels are common enough. But they could definitely have been avoided.
“What do you mean by that?”
At the monster’s casual remark, I narrowed my eyes.
For some reason, this thing seemed to know a lot.
And at that very moment, Viscount Erseth suddenly jerked his head up.
“My lord! This is different from our contract!”
His voice fired out like rapid-fire rap.
I hadn’t expected him to react so sensitively.
He must have something he desperately wanted to hide.
I gave a meaningful smile and asked,
“What contract?”
Treating that thing like a god could be considered personal freedom.
But a contract?
Wasn’t that extremely suspicious?
And the moment I asked, Viscount Erseth shut his mouth.
He wasn’t going to confess anyway, so I turned to the monster.
“You’d better speak quickly. My gavel isn’t very merciful.”
HWARRRRR!
I lightly stoked the Beast’s Heart.
Flames erupted from the hammer head, and the monster’s broad face turned pale as a sheet.
It immediately began spilling a very interesting story.
—I can locate mineral veins with relative accuracy. In exchange for providing near-prophetic information, that man trusted and followed me.
“So you received expensive food in return for finding veins?”
—Yes. But I clearly warned him. I told him there were places with unstable ground.
“Was it like that every time? Or is this whole area generally unstable?”
—It varied each time I pointed one out. There were also places that were far safer.
“So they forcibly dug in dangerous spots, and the tunnels collapsed?”
—Definitely. Whenever I warned him about a dangerous spot, a few days later I would hear a tremendous boom.
“Mines are noisy places anyway, aren’t they?”
—The sound of a collapse is on a completely different level from pickaxes. You’d know if you heard it.
Thanks to the monster’s cooperation, the investigation wrapped up in no time.
Thus, there was only one conclusion.
The workers had died because of reckless mining.
Moreover, the mine had systematically falsified evidence.
I cast a chilling gaze at Viscount Erseth.
“Is what my friend here just said true?”
“T-that can’t be. I know nothing about it. How could anyone see clearly through the ground? It’s common sense—”
Criminals’ mindsets were all so alike; this place was no different.
Even with everything exposed, Viscount Erseth kept denying to the end.
Of course, for now the only witness…
Well, the monster that could testify.
No definitive physical evidence had surfaced yet.
But finding it was simple.
“Hey, horned friend.”
—What is it.
“Can you find human corpses too, besides ore? The workers buried underground.”
—Of course.
I turned back to Viscount Erseth with a rotten smile.
Checkmate.
This vicious employer’s fate would be sealed with this.
Yet Viscount Erseth brazenly raised his head.
“Heh heh! Do you really think the miners will dig there?”
The case of the Erseth miners’ “flight” took a completely unexpected turn.
Because of that, gossip flew everywhere.
Originally, it should have ended with an insignificant verdict.
But my order for reinvestigation opened a new chapter.
And today, the result would be revealed to the entire world.
“I hereby reopen the trial regarding the Erseth Mine wage arrears and missing workers case. All rise and salute the Chief Justice.”
Today, Judge Joseph Padiya shouted in an especially solemn voice.
Everyone in the courtroom stood and paid their respects to me.
I never get fully used to this, no matter how many times I see it.
Even modern judges could never experience this feeling.
There, everyone stands too, but they don’t show this level of extreme courtesy.
I savored the strange sensation and took my seat.
Looking around, one major difference from before caught my eye.
It was not the miners’ families but Viscount Erseth and Prosecutor Kals Avery who now sat in the defendant’s dock.
I spoke with a sardonic smile.
“Proceed with the formalities.”
“Yes, Your Excellency.”
Prosecutor Corbin Sears shot to his feet and answered.
He had originally been a rookie—the one who once summoned priests from the temple.
But after I beheaded a few useless prosecutors, he ended up as the lead investigator.
Yet today, something about him felt different.
“We discovered gold bars of unknown origin at Prosecutor Avery’s home. This proves that the previous lenient investigation was bought.”
He spoke clearly while presenting the evidence, sounding exactly like a veteran.
I nodded in satisfaction and asked,
“Who gave the bribe?”
“Investigation confirmed it was Viscount Erseth. We also arrested the coachman who transported the gold and secured his testimony.”
“Bring him in.”
“Yes, sir!”
In truth, doing this could get him ostracized by the prosecution for cutting down a senior.
But this wasn’t the modern world.
When someone of astronomically higher status gave an order, who cared about seniority?
If anyone complained about something like this, they could all lose their heads—literally, on the guillotine, not just their jobs.
Yet right in the middle of the proceedings,
An unexpected voice rang out.
“I refuse to acknowledge this.”
Despite evidence piling up one after another, Viscount Erseth feigned innocence.
His argument was this:
“Where is the proof that the workers were crushed to death? Did you even find bodies?”
The place where the workers were supposedly buried was a tunnel with weak ground.
Digging there could cause another accident and more casualties.
That was why I had been unable to force the issue.
I couldn’t sacrifice lives just to uncover the truth.
So we only had testimony.
Without direct evidence, he could act this boldly.
But I was not impatient in the slightest.
It should be about time.
When I said nothing, Viscount Erseth grew even more arrogant and shouted,
“This is exactly what it means to kill someone with words! You say there was a coachman who moved gold? I don’t even know such a per—”
But his voice abruptly cut off.
An unforeseen being had appeared in the courtroom.
CREAK!
—Here is the evidence you were screaming for.
The beast that suddenly opened the door and stepped in dropped several corpses onto the floor.
The entire gallery fell into shock.
“I-it can’t be!”