Apocalypse: Fairy System by Macronomicon (fox in socks read aloud txt) 📕

that didn’t really serve any purpose other than to irritate the judge and stir shit up. Jeb didn’t need the man angry to start; he needed him calm and confident.

Gotta keep an animal calm and relaxed before you slaughter it. Spoils the meat otherwise.

So he stood along with the rest of the crowd as the judge sauntered in, preening under the gaze of hundreds of citizens of Solmnath.

Jeb idly touched the supplies in his breast pocket, to make sure they were still there. Tweedle Dee had passed the copper plate and gold earring to him when they were getting Jeb dressed.

Ron’s zombies were outside, posing as day labor and common rats. Once Jeb shook this tree, the semi-autonomous creatures would follow the audience and eavesdrop on their conversations. That should allow Ron to point Zlesk in the right direction.

Then Zlesk and Colt smash.

Thinking of Colt, Jeb was tempted to rub his eyebrows. The boy obviously had an excellent magic for crowd control, but he kept trying to 1v1 everyone. He needed to embrace the chaos.

“Thank you, my friends,” Judge Elkor said, waving as he sat down at the raised dais in front of Jeb. “You may be seated.”

Jeb put his butt to wood, along with several dozen others.

“We gather today for the trial and sentencing of the reaper responsible for the death of so many human children here in Solmnath.” The judge bowed his head in what Jeb assumed was a show of sadness.

The audience, roughly a third human, booed and hissed. A camera flash went off, and then a battery sailed down and bounced off Jeb’s wounded shoulder, drawing a hiss out of him.

Well, the crowd seems to already have their mind made up, Jeb thought, scanning them. Getting humans involved in law proceedings was a great way to integrate them as a whole, but Jeb didn’t wanna be the scapegoat to make that happen.

“Silence,” Elkor rumbled, waving his hand dismissively. A pulse of sea-green Myst hit the crowd and in a matter of seconds, they quieted down, placidity recovered.

“Let’s begin.” Elkor clacked a pair of sticks together, each bound by rich red rope with a golden tassel. Perhaps the offworld equivalent of a gavel?

“Bailiff, will you read the charges?”

The melas beside him held up a scroll and cleared his throat. “Ahem. Jebediah Trapper stands accused of Trafficking children with intent to Reap, Reaping, owning and operating—”

The bailiff was cut off when a baby in the stands went from fussy to literally bursting into flames, engulfing its mother in a pyre. Thankfully the woman had seated herself carefully, close to the exit and surrounded by melas.

No damage was done except for the smoke-smudge on the stone ceiling.

“Madam, get that baby out of my court,” Judge Elkor said, pointing to the door.

The walking pillar of fire nodded and left while the surrounding melas poked fun at the baby for throwing a tantrum.

The bailiff cleared his throat again. “Owning and operating an orphanage without a permit, failure to register no less than six slaves with the Office of Labor, and the abuse thereof.

“That is all,” the bailiff said, closing the scroll.

“Wow,” Jeb muttered. Way to make me look like an asshole, which I suppose is the point.

“Jebediah Trapper,” Elkor said, his gaze boring into Jeb’s skull. “You are scum. I wish I could punish you separately for each of your crimes, but we all know there is only one punishment for Reaping. So this court will decide the matter of Reaping and Trafficking first, then execute the penalty.”

“Yeah! Whoo! Punishment!” Ron shouted from the spectator stands, throwing another battery at Jeb, bouncing it off the arm in a splint.

Goddamnit, Ron. The necromancer’s acting was far too enthusiastic, but he was in the middle of an angry mob and inhumans. They weren’t looking for bad acting.

“Quiet,” Judge Elkor said, clacking his Important Sticks together.

“Bring out the confession.”

A nearby melas secretary ran up to the judge and whispered in his ear.

“What do you mean, there’s none?” he growled, then looked down at Jeb’s bruised and battered form. “You’re an irritating man, Jebediah Trapper.”

So I’ve been told.

Jeb bowed his head. “I apologize. I wanted to—”

“You do not have permission to speak!” Elkor shouted over him. A wave of sea-green rolled over Jeb, settling into his bones. Everything seemed to dim for a moment, every muscle in his body relaxing as he lost control over them. His jaw, on the other hand, seemed to tense up, locking into place and preventing him from speaking.

A moment later, Jeb’s Core flared and shrugged off the effects of the Myst. In this scenario, Jeb was the unruly cat, and the judge was the human. The man had a great deal more raw power than Jeb did, but the judge had budgeted the spell expecting a gerbil.

Judge Elkor stared at him with furrowed brows as Jeb shook off the magic and flexed his jaw, rubbing out the cramp. Jeb deliberately chose not to speak, respecting the conventions of the court. Gotta keep the meat calm.

He glanced at the bailiff and tugged the man’s sleeve.

“I believe the reaper would like to speak,” the bailiff said.

Judge Elkor studied Jeb for a moment, then subtly arranged a shield of sea-green energy around himself, presumably to stop Jeb from messing with his head, if that was a thing Jeb could do.

“The court recognizes Jebediah Trapper.”

Jeb carefully arranged the words in his mind to be both entirely truthful and deceitful as all hell. It was harder than it sounded.

“I apologize for the inconvenience. I understand how bad my situation is. See, back on my home planet, there were things called ‘plea bargains’. I know that without an extraordinary event, I’m definitely going to be convicted. I can see the direction this trial is going.