BXBX NOVEL Chapter 125 - Is All Your Fault
In the hall, Alfonso was sitting on his throne looking at the people in front of him, the couple of husband and wife were sitting on the right side while Camel and his daughter, Zeti, were sitting on his left side.
Artemis and Demeter were standing behind him while Ribeiro was taking note. At the other side of the hall, Deferio and Cease where guarding the front door with other ten soldiers. In the middle the hall, eight men were standing nervously in front of Alfonso, these eight men represented the eight heads of the ten families that worked in the farm Area, Alfonso make these arrangements, so he could make this a public judgement.
"We are here today because of a serious accusation, Camel and her daughter, Zeti are accused of being thieves and stole goods from his highness, as you all know, Camel was designated by his majesty as the one who managed the goods that you produced and exchanged them for food, however, one of the heads of the ten families, Usurios had proclaimed that Camel hadn\'t do a fair transaction and has keep more meat for him and his family, Usurios, as you may know, this is a serious accusation and, by disposition of his highness Alfonso Lockheart, if you dare to continue then you will face serious consequences if you don\'t have proofs nor concrete evidence for this accusation, do you still want to continue?" Said Ribeiro while standing up.
"I agree!" Shouted Usurios.
"Correct, as well for Camel and his daughter, betraying the trust of his highness is worth the death penalty, however, his highness is magnanimous and has declared that, if you confess your crimes, he will not kill you, however, the consequences won\'t be less severe, do you still want to continue?" Asked Ribeiro.
"Yes!" Said Camel.
"Good, first lets heard what the witness of this conflict has to say, the right hand of his majesty, Demeter, if you would please" Said Ribeiro while making a gesture to Demeter.
Demeter walk up and make a reverence before Alfonso.
"Demeter, describe the events that happened there" Said Alfonso.
"Yes, your highness, I was going on a patrol to see the progress of the Farming Area, when I got there, I saw Usurios grabbing a lot of meat from the back of Camel\'s house while shouting something to Camel, the both of them enter in a discussion while Zeti was trying to separate the both of them, the other sisters of Zeti were frightened on the back so they didn\'t intervene, the wife of Usurios was shouting curses on the back, when I got there, I forcefully separated them and bring him back to my lord" Said Demeter.
"Good work, you can back down now" Said Alfonso.
Demeter nodded and went back.
"Usurios, what happen that lead you to a fight with Camel?" Asked Alfonso.
"My lord" Said Usurios while kneeling.
"For days, I have been neighbors with Camel for years, in fact, when the husband of Zeti die, I was always there for her, however, I began to suspect something a few days ago when I saw Camel and their family eating, the amount of food that they had was too much!" Said Usurios while turning around.
"Everyone! You won\'t let me lie, all of us work hard every day to earn food, the ten of us agree to distribute equally the amount of food that we get from the harvest, however, for some reason, Camel always has more than the rest of us, so I investigated for several weeks, today , I went to Camel\'s house and rebuke him about this matter, however, he refused to answer, so I enter his house and take a look at his warehouse, my lord, I can tell you that my suspicions were true! I saw a huge amount of meat in his warehouse, at least two or three times more than the rest of us!" Said Usurios.
"Camel is stealing!?"
"But... that can\'t be true!"
"But Usurios saw it with his own eyes"
A discussion between the heads of the families appear after the declarations of Usurios.
"Silence!" Shouted Ribeiro.
The room became quiet once again.
"Camel, what do you have to say?" Said Alfonso.
"My lord" Said Camel while kneeling.
"As you may know my lord, my family is big, so we have more expenses than everyone else, so the food that I gain from the harvest, so I used the money that we gain from the harvest to buy the extra meat from someone else-"
"Bullshit!"
Before Camel could finish, Usurios interrupted.
"My lord! As you can see, he is lying, you can asked everyone in this room, in fact, you can ask everyone in Wasteland Valley, no one is willing to exchange something for gold! After all, gold is useless here!" Shouted Usurios.
"Well, that\'s true"
"Yeah, I wouldn\'t trade even a single potato for all the gold of the world!"
"Yeah"
The families enter in a discussion once again.
"Enough" Said Alfonso.
"Camel, who did you exchange your good for?" Asked Alfonso.
"Well…" Said Camel while looking at Alfonso, or, to be more precise, behind Alfonso.
Artemis looked at Alfonso and then walk up in front of him, she bowed and then looked at Camel and the rest.
"It\'s true" Said Artemis
"What!?"
"Someone is that stupid to exchange food for gold?"
"Do you want to exchange with me!?"
Some noise came from the farmers while hearing the answer of Artemis, after all, food was the most important thing in Wasteland Valley, if someone really exchange that precious resource for something so useless as gold…
"It can\'t be… someone is really that stupid!?" Though Usurios.
"Wait! My lord, even if… even if what he said is true, the amount of food doesn\'t fit! The family of Camel is big, they eat a lot every day, even If someone else sell their food, the amount of food that I found was at least three times the usual amount!" Shouted Usurios.
"Stupid trash" Said Artemis while making a disgusted face, she turned around and stood behind Alfonso once again.
"You are wrong about that, many of you don\'t know but you can ask everyone in Wasteland Valley, Artemis is the head of the hunters, she can hunt whatever she wants, the amount of food that she brings every day is enough to feed us for days, I wouldn\'t be a surprise that she can hunt even more" Said Ribeiro.
"But… but that\'s not fair! Why only the family of Camel can enjoy such treatment!?" Shouted the wife of Usurios.
"That is the food I hunted, I can do whatever the fuck I want with it" Said Artemis.
Instantly everyone became quiet. Although they felt a little wronged, it was true, the commoners had to give part of their hunt to the palace as a tribute, however, this person in front of them was part of the palace, he didn\'t had to follow that rule, however, despite knowing this, the families of Wasteland Valley were grateful to Artemis and the rest, because they managed to learn their hunting abilities from them.
Usurios made a grave expression before sitting down.
"I have a question though" Said Alfonso looking at Usurios.
"Why didn\'t you report this incident to the wolves or the guards, but instead, tried to take justice by your own hand?" Asked Alfonso.
Usurios suddenly felt his heart beat faster and faster.
"Well, that\'s…"
"In fact, I want to know something, who gave you the authority to forcefully enter in a house and guff around in their warehouse?" Asked Alfonso.
Usurios didn\'t know what to say.
"It seems that you don\'t want to talk, however…"
"There is someone else that have something to say, isn\'t that right Zeti?" Asked Alfonso while looking at Zeti.
Since the beginning Alfonso had looked at everyone in this room, however, the only one who wasn\'t looking at him directly was Zeti, she was with her head down… like she was struggling, however, what catch Alfonso\'s attention the most was when Usurios say the day he discovered the extra meat, Zeti seemed to tremble a little.
"I am one hundred percent sure about my guess, however, I want to hear it from her" Though Alfonso.
"I-I-" Zeti murmured
"If you don\'t say the things on your heart loud, then, they will stay there forever, be brave" Said Alfonso to Zeti.
Zeti looked at Alfonso and then back to Artemis, she took a deep breath and, after one minute, she spoke.
"Th-the true is… that day… after, Usurios came to our house… he notice me and told me that if I didn\'t want everyone to hear about this, I should give him some of our food…I…I accepted and give him for some days, but, that day, he came early in the morning and… told me that he wanted more than just food…so I refused and he-"
"LIES! MY LORD! YOU MUST NOT LISTEN TO THIS WHORE!" Shouted Usurios.
Alfonso looked at him and made a gesture to Deferio and Cease, they nodded and grabbed Usurios from his back and throw him in front of Alfonso.
"You didn\'t answer my question" Said Alfonso coldly.
"Why didn\'t you report the stealing before?"
Usurios was sweeting and his heartbeat could be heard in all the room while his wife stood there in disbelieve.
"Usurios, you…" Said his wife with some tears on her eyes.
"Its…" Murmured Usurios.
"ITS ALL YOUR FAULT, STUPID PRINCE!" Shouted Usurios.
Everyone couldn\'t believe what have Usurios have said, even Demeter and Artemis were stupefied, the only one who didn\'t see surprised was Alfonso.
"HOW DARE YOU!?" Shouted Deferio while lifting his sword.
"KILL HIM! WHOEVER DARES TO INSULT HIS HIGHNESS NAME MUST BE TIRED OF LIVING!" Shouted Cease.
"YOU CAN KILL ME IF YOU WANT, BUT THAT DOESN\'T CHANGE THE FACT THAT YOU FAIL AS A LEADER! YOU BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE THE BIG DEAL BECAUSE WE CALL YOU LORD!? LET ME TELL YOU, EVERYONE KNOWS THAT YOU KEEP ALL THE FOOD FOR YOU WHILE WE SUFFER FROM HUNGER, YOUR LORDSHIP IS KILLING THIS TOWN WHILE YOU LIVE HAPPILY IN YOUR MANOR,YOU ARE WORST THAN A ANIMAL, IS NOT A SURPRISE THAT YOU WERE SENT HERE TO DIE, YOU FAILURE OF A PRINCE!" Shouted Usurios.