Chapter 317 - Trail

The knight looked at Mercury before she scoffed and spoke in a disdainful tone

"A mere cripple dare challenge me? Fine then"

Mercury turned his cane into a cast around his injured right leg before he kicked off the ground, the knight widened her eyes as Mercury swiftly entered her range, she only just avoided getting punched in the face as she raised her arms to block

"[Forging blows]!"

The armor around the knight's arms shattered as Mercury tuned the [Forging blows] to resonate with the metal, the knight attempted to gain some distance but Mercury stuck to her and delivered a hock to her side shattering the armor there, then he took some distance to the knight and spoke

"If I wanted to you would be dead already, if you continue getting on my nerves I'll happily end you"

"Kuh! You coward!"

"Says the one that wanted to attack an unarmed crippled man with a sword"

"Y-You! You're a kidnapper!"

"According to you, but according to me you are a lunatic that wants to take my child away"

At this point, the noblewoman seemed to have had enough of listening to Mercury and her knight yell at each other and yelled

"Enough! Samantha end this lunatic kidnapper already!"

"Yes, my Lady!"

The knight then drew her sword and used a skill

"[Aura blade]!"

A thin aura quickly covered the sword's blade, seemingly enhancing the blades sharpness, Mercury's eyes turned cold before he stomped his foot on the ground sending one of the cobblestone's flying from the pavement that hit the knight on the side of her helmet sending a loud clang out as she fell down seemingly passed out, from there Mercury ignored the hysterical noblewoman and walked away with Marie and Max

The next morning there was knocking on the door of the weapons shop Mercury, Mercury answered the door and was face first with a squad of knights, one of which spoke

"Mercury, you stand accused of kidnapping a child and are scheduled to appear in court today… Take him"

A couple of knights walked up to Mercury and was about to grab him when he spoke

"Don't… Touch me, I can walk on my own"

"Very well, follow after us, please"

Mercury nodded and followed after the knights that began walking towards the centre of the city, soon he found himself in front of a courthouse where he was brought inside and put into a cell where his hands were bound by metal handcuffs, with nothing better to do he sat himself down and closed his eyes before he used his [Meditation] skill... After an unknown amount of time, his eyes snapped open, outside his cell stood the noblewomen from yesterday, her knight was there too and glared at Mercury while the noblewoman had a rather gloating expression on her face and spoke

"You are going to rot in some cell until you get executed, you know that right?"

Mercury showed a smile

"We'll see"

Then seemingly done with the two of them he closed his eyes again, this ticked off the noblewoman that clicked her tongue before she bragged

"The Ralmet family is rather close with the newly returned Judicator, so a few favours from me and she'll judge you guilty without any questions"

Mercury didn't open his eyes he simply spoke

"I see"

After a bit more bragging and threatening the noblewoman left along with her knight after she left Mercury showed a smile and muttered

"'The newly returned Judicator' huh… I bet you don't know who's woman she is..?"

Soon the appointed time had come, Mercury walked into the courtroom under knight escort, they quickly chained him to the elevated podium in front of the Judicial panel, he glanced to the side and saw that Marie sat in the gallery along with Max, they both looked at him with worried expressions, he showed a smile and turned back to the front and waited soon two crusaders walked into the room and took their places on both sides of the judicator panel and then the judicator stepped into the room, she wore a black and white gown and had a white veil covering their face, she stopped as soon as she stepped into the room, there she stood for a bit before she eventually moved on and sat down at the judicial panel and sat down before she asked Mercury

"Your name is Mercury?"

"Yes"

"Where do you come from Mercury?"

"An underground pyramid"

"How old are you Mercury?"

"I don't know"

"What happened to your right leg?"

"Molten rock"

"Where have you been for the past month?"

"In Salen"

"How many girlfriends do you have?"

"2"

"Is it true that you kidnapped the son of the Ralmet family?"

"Define kidnapped"

"...Did you take him from them?"

"No, I took him from bandits and adopted him after I cured his curse"

A gasp went through the gallery that soon quieted down before the Judicator asked

"...Then why did you not return him to them?"

"He has no memory of his former family"

"Then why did you not return him to the Ralemt family yesterday after they requested it?"

"...If some stranger demands you hand over your child without any explanation would you do it?"

The Judicator sighed before she spoke again

"Not guilty"

Mercury sighed before the Judicator asked

"Where do you currently live?"

"At 'Mercury's weapon's shop' on the east street"

TheJudicator then stood up and walked back out of the door they came from, Mercury felt the gaze of one of the crusaders before they also left the room, then a knight stepped up to remove his handcuffs, Mercury scoffed before he spoke

"No need, [Metal assimilation]"

As the handcuffs rusted away Mercury walked down from the stand and right past the knight over to the gallery where he picked up Max in his arms before he gave Marie a kiss on the cheek and walked out with the two of the… On the way back to the east street a group of rough-looking people suddenly surrounded them on the street, one of them spoke

"Hand over the kid and nobody gets hurt"

Mercury sighed before he muttered

"The Ralmet family sure works fast…"

Then he handed Max to Marie, then he made a gesture for them to cover their ears before he yelled

"Help, kidnappers!"

Then before the rough-looking people knew what hit them Mercury kicked off the ground and slipped into the ranger of the boss looking person and hit him square in the jaw with a right jab as he used [Forging blows] tuned to the boss looking person's bones, his jaw shattered into tiny pieces and dropped him like a sack of po-ta-to-es

"He got the boss, get him!"

"Someone get the chick and the kid!"

Mercury's eyes turned cold before he tapped the ground with his left foot sending a piece of the cobblestone flying up hitting the one that said to go after Max and Marie in the chest and sending him flying backwards, then silence followed  before Mercury spoke

"Have you been paid enough to die here? Because the next one that attempts to lay a hand on my woman or child is going to die"

"Shit…"

The rough looking people quickly picked up their boss as well as the one that got blown away before they tucked their tail between their legs and ran away, Mercury showed a smile as he walked over and took Max from Marie, Max quickly shouted

"Wow, you're super strong dad!"

"Yes, your dad is amazing, you can praise him more!"

Marie watched the two of them laugh before she sighed and showed a smile and walked up next to Mercury and spoke

"You know I can handle street scum like them every day?"

"I know, but I want to look cool in front of you"

Marie sighed before she muttered

"Men are such simple creatures…"

Mercury nodded

"Yeah, we're pretty simple, come now, let's go home… I suspect we're going to have a guest tonight"

"A guest? Oh, you mean the Judicator?"

"Yeah"

After the three of them returned home Mercury took a shower while Marie taught Max how to forge metal, she had been giving him lessons for over a month now and he was starting to get used to it and was even making a gift for Mercury in secrecy with the help of Marie of course, suddenly a knock sounded out from the front door, Marie called out

"One moment!"

After making sure Max wouldn't hurt himself (at least for the next 30 seconds) Marie hurried into the store that was closed for the day and to the front door and opened it, there she came face to face with a person wearing a white veil and a Judicator uniform, at their sides were two crusaders that let out a dangerous amount of pressure, Marie looked at the Judiactor for a few seconds before she showed a smile and spoke casually

"He's taking a shower, please come in in the meantime"