Chapter 116 Execution
Daneel had long gotten used to the itch that accompanied the deployment of the development techniques by the system. Reveling in the feeling of growing stronger, he lost track of time.
Only, he felt that it ended all too soon. After all, he only had a few hours before he had to go to sleep.
Looking forward to the time when he wouldn't have to sleep, Daneel crashed onto his bed.
His dreams had lately been becoming more and more weird. This time, he dreamed about an ancient castle with green wyverns flying about in the air.
As he could find no rhyme or reason in the images, he simply discarded them for now as the result of a tired mind.
....
In front of the inner city gates in the Capital of Lanthanor, a large wooden stage had been erected overnight.
Similar to Earth, the most common type of execution was death by suffocation(similar to hanging). According to Kellor, this was the method chosen because the struggle for air which every criminal went through before dying served to assuage the grief of those watching, giving them time to maybe let go of all the hatred in their hearts.
The only difference was that instead of a rope, either the Court Mage or the Grand Court Mage cast the spell to remove the air elementary particles and suffocate the criminals.
Although Kellor abhorred such suffering, he knew that it was necessary.
Yet, that morning, the previous Grand Court Mage had approached him and asked whether he could be the executioner. Although he did not give any reasons, Kellor passed on the message to the King.
As it was a formal event, Daneel's retinue was the same as when he had entered the throne room, along with a squad of elite soldiers.
Looking back in the hallway before exiting the palace, Daneel noticed the previous Grand Court Mage standing respectfully and waiting for an answer.
Whenever he saw this man, all he was reminded about was the previous King. Hence, he had so far ignored his existence for the most part, resolving to make a decision about him later.
Yet, the man had approached him himself.
Although Daneel was a bit skeptical about the man's loyalty, he still agreed to the request. After all, he was oath-bound.
Kellor turned back and nodded, making the man come forward and join the retinue. With everything taken care of, the King finally set off for the execution stage.
...
Although the domination corps had still not chosen what they would do, they still followed the orders to set up panels across the capital like before.
Helena and Dalia were in one such marketplace. Fearing that she would lose her daughter in the crowd if she chose to go the inner city gates, Helena had chosen to watch the execution on the panel.
Indeed, it turned out that the man who had been responsible for her husband's death had actually killed many others, making it so that he was marked for execution along with 128 other nobles.
Considering the fact that the whole of the nobility only consisted of 177 individuals not counting the women locked away in the palace, this was quite a high number. Even among the rest, many had been sentenced to life imprisonment.
In fact, those like Eloise who had kind hearts and strived to do good were very few. Only 16 such people had been marked for an official pardon after the execution was over.
Throngs of people had already gathered in front of the stage.
The King's retinue made it over first.
Daneel's retinue now also consisted of soldiers from the Mage Elites. With 5 of these mages working together, the whole retinue rose into the air and stood just like the individuals from the three hostile forces had done so before.
As the people who had gathered saw their beloved King rise into the air, they first bowed before screaming his name again at the top of their lungs.
"ALL HAIL KING DANEEL!"
He was, after all, the reason why such a momentous occasion could even take place.
Amid the screams, people started appearing on the stage one by one.
The man who had once been the right hand of the King was teleporting each onto the stage and immobilizing them using metal shackles which he conjured out of the air.
Finally, all 129 stood on the stage, while the atmosphere in the area got more and more tense.
Although a barrier had been erected around the whole stage, Daneel doubted whether it would be able to withstand the impact of thousands of people bearing onto it.
Indeed, almost each and every one in the crowd had red eyes seeing those on the stage. They had already controlled their anger once when reporting the crimes in the courtroom.
Yet, faced with a situation again when the people who ruined and trampled their lives were in front of them, many couldn't control their emotions. Snarling with rage, they tried to get to the invisible barrier and breakthrough, as if they wanted to do the deed themselves.
Mothers, daughters, sons, wives, fathers; so many relations had become mere memories due to the people standing on the stage.
The minimum number of counts for murder to warrant execution had been set at 10. Yet, many of these crossed that limit many times over.
They were truly scum who enjoyed the suffering of others.
In fact, when Daneel had checked the records, he had been shocked to find out that it had been the Eldest Prince who had the most number of crimes.
It seemed that every time he came to visit the Kingdom from the sect, disasters would occur. So far, his death count had already crossed 1000.
1000 people! Daneel had almost gone mad seeing this number. He had even considered giving him a life of torture, but felt that a public execution was best to erase this dark period of Lanthanor's past and move on to a bright future.
Even many of the others who had resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people had been inspired by the Eldest Prince. They treated commoners like ants, just waiting to be squashed at their whim.
Seeing the frenzy in the crowd growing, Daneel gave the signal to begin the execution.
The order was set so that those with the lowest counts would go first. Seeing the list, the previous Grand Court Mage grabbed a woman's hand and dragged her to the forefront of the stage.
Seeing this, the crowd only grew more unruly.
It was only when the saw the woman's body start shaking with fear as she approached the front that they finally calmed down, knowing that they were finally going to witness what they had been waiting for for years.
As the mage pointed his hand at the woman whose hands and legs were bound by shackles, she started convulsing on the stage, struggling because the air she could breathe was slowly becoming lesser and lesser.
She had already lost control of her body, yet she still stood straight due to another spell cast by the mage. It was as if some massive pressure was on her chest, threatening to crush her into pieces while she did all she could to get away.
Slowly, she found herself getting sleepy as she entered a groggy state. The sensations coming from her body were disappearing one by one, while everything she had done so far played through her mind.
Throughout her life, she had been pampered and given everything she wanted. Her every wish had always been fulfilled.
Due to the attitudes of those around her, even she started seeing other people as insignificant things which only existed for her amusement.
Besides, their antics had been amusing to watch. Breaking apart families; watching as they cried with loss and misery; laughing as they begged while clutching at her dress for mercy only to be kicked away and beaten to death; these were all things she had taken pleasure in.
She understood that she was now in the same helpless situation. At this moment, she was specifically reminded of a little girl who had drowned in a lake because she had dared to laugh when the woman tripped and fell by mistake.
She had watched as the girl struggled in the clear water, fighting for air while trying to reach the surface.
She was now in her place. If she had grown up different, she didn't know if she would still have chosen to do all those horrific things. Yet, such thoughts were pointless now.
The crimes had been committed, and now the price needed to be paid.
Giving in to the sleep, she drifted away into the peaceful embrace of death while many in the crowd collapsed to the ground-finally seeing the demon that had destroyed their lives be brought to justice.