Chapter 1574: The Last Crime
Ning felt the change in his body wanting to happen for a small duration before the energy inside of him dissipated.
‘What was happening?’ he wondered. ‘Why did it stop? Because it couldn’t do what it was trying to do? Or because the energy dissipated out of me?’
There was something there for him to look into. He would have to do that when he was out of here. Speaking of which, why was he still doing here? Why were they taking so long?
“Can we continue this?” Ning asked the Major General.
“You have somewhere to be?” the Major General asked.
“Anywhere is better than here at the moment,” Ning answered.
“Hmph! No respect,” the man said. “You just proved that you are a criminal and you want to be somewhere else? How about the prison?”
Ning narrowed his eyes. “How did I prove that I am a criminal?” he asked. “All I did was convert something into something else. Is that not allowed?”
“You created Dust just now. Do you want us to believe that you did so in just a single day? You should have been an addict for a long time to be able to learn this. Doing Dust may not be as horrible as making it, but that is still a crime that you committed.”
Ning was flabbergasted by the man’s words. Was he purposefully trying to screw with him? It didn’t seem like it, but it definitely felt like it.
“I am not an addict, nor was I ever,” Ning said. “I learned how to make Dust in a single day in order to complete the mission I was given. There is nothing more there than that.”
“You seriously expect us to believe that?” the man asked.
“Yes,” Ning said. “Because I’m very talented. I only just learned I could even use Spark like a month ago. And I could barely purchase any Spark while we were on Zoultan. Now that we’re in Urelon, I’ve been on this mission for an entire week. At what point between then and now do you think I was an addict.”
“You could have been one before that,” the man said.
“Certainly is a possibility,” Ning said. “But there is no evidence. You can’t charge me with a crime when you don’t have any evidence for it.”
The man thought for a moment and nodded. “You’re not wrong there. I do need evidence to do anything. But since that is not the only crime you have committed, let us move on.”
“You took a bribe from the criminals,” the man said.
“I sold a bit of Dust to get into their organization to find out who their supplier was. The money I got transferred was what they paid for my Dust. It was not a bribe.”
“Will I be punished for doing what was an overall good for everyone living in the cities?” Ning asked.
The man thought for a bit. “No, you will not. And this had indeed been for everyone’s good. Finally, regarding your last crime. What do you have to say about it?”
“Is this the one that says I broke into someone’s house?” Ning asked.
“Yes, it is,” the man said.
“I did that because I needed to know who was funding the group making Dust. So I followed the young man who turned out to be General Cord’s Son. I know it is a crime to break in, but this was for a good reason. Should I not be pardoned?” he asked.
“You are pardoned for that,” the Major General said. “But that is not the one we are talking about here.”
Ning paused. “Huh? What do you mean? What else is there except that?” he asked.
The Major General stared at Ning, trying to see if he was acting innocent or if he truly didn’t know what his crime was.
“You broke into the house of an officer and destroyed it. He says that you beat him. He was so scared that we nearly had to torture him to find more from him.”
Realization finally dawned on Ning. “OH! You’re talking about Nirun,” he said.
“Yes, I am,” the Major General said. “Breaking and entering alone, I could pardon, but beating someone so senseless that he is forever afraid of you is not something I can pardon. The authority given to you is not something you can use to step on others.”
Ning scratched his head. “I didn’t beat him though. I did scare him a lot, but I didn’t beat him,” he said. “He was just afraid because he tried to fight me and couldn’t.”
The Major General frowned. “You didn’t beat him?” he asked.
“I may have hurt him once when trying to get the bottle of Spark from his hand, but I definitely did not beat him more than that. Definitely no senseless beating. The only ones I beat senselessly are gods.”
“Gods? What are you saying?” the Major General asked.
“Nothing. That accusation is just completely wrong,” Ning said.
The Major General nodded. “Why were you in his room?” he asked.
“I had only just learned from Captain Redaime that Nirun was supposed to be Sparkless and yet he was using his powers so freely. I have recently made a friend who went Sparkless a few weeks ago, so I wanted to know how one could revert it,” Ning answered.
“You can’t,” the Major General said. “And you found out that he lied. That makes sense for now. Can we ask what the name of this friend of yours is just to confirm your story?”
“Sure. Her name is Katie, and she lives in…” Ning gave the information that they would need to find her and learn her side of the story.
The Major General nodded. “We will postpone judgment for another day. We will meet again a week later. Until then, everyone is to search for evidence that either goes against this soldier’s claims or helps it.”
“We will gather back in a week and everyone will present what they want to,” the Major General said. “Until then, this court is adjourned.”
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