Shepherd Tantra

Chapter 39 Hanging Square
The specific location of the Legal Plaza is at the southeast corner of the White Queen District, at the intersection with the Lloyd District, and the "Prince Lloyd Avenue" links the two areas.

Because a long, long time ago, this was the location of the Attorney General's Office of the Kingdom of Avalon.

Even though the Legal Affairs Office was later abolished and its functions merged into the Law Court, the Minister of Law became the manager of the Law Court...but this place is still called the Legal Plaza by the residents.

Aiwass did not walk to Legal Place.Instead, he took "Anne Alexander" and his son to a carriage.

"I'll test you, Anne."

Aiwass sat in the carriage, clasped his fingers and pulled Lulu's hand beside him.

In order to keep her from being bored, and also to relieve her stress, Aiwass asked casually, "Do you know which area Legal Plaza belongs to?"

"...Lloyd District."

Lulu froze for a moment before realizing that "Annie" was calling her name.

So she replied without hesitation: "After all, it is on the east side of Prince Lloyd Avenue."

"But in fact, from the perspective of residents of Lloyd District, Legal Place has never belonged to Lloyd District."

"……what?"

Lulu froze for a moment: "Why?"

"Because it is completely paved with marble on a large area of ​​flat ground, and there are many pure white buildings as official symbols, which are not in harmony with the 'port area' style of the Lloyd District, but are similar to the streets and architectural styles of the White Queen District."

The biggest difference between Red and White Queens is the color of the road and buildings.Most of the buildings in the White Queens are based on white, and the roads are also white or off-white; the Red Queens tend to be more brown, dark brown, and brown-red.

"In that case, it seems reasonable." Lulu nodded thoughtfully.

"However, from another perspective, the residents of White Queen also do not agree that Legal Place belongs to White Queen."

The corners of Aiwass's mouth raised slightly, revealing a wicked smile: "Because it's too dirty—the environment is dirty and smelly, and the law and order are chaotic.

"Since the previous generation of King Tudor III, people prefer to call it Hanging Square—"

……why?
Such doubts just surfaced in Lulu's heart.

But the next moment, her pupils began to vibrate violently!
Not long after Mr. Fox finished speaking, she saw two full rows of gallows on the marble square.

Two rows of corpses hang quietly above.

No more, no less, exactly forty.

There are about six or seven of them, and there are obvious signs of decay, and mosquitoes and flies are flying around the corpses.The rest of the hanged corpses are still fresh, no more than two days old.

Most of the clothes on the corpses were incomplete, and many people had obvious bloodstains and incompleteness on their faces and bodies.Some corpses had hollowed out abdomens, and others had missing limbs.It is not known whether it was left before death or left by violence after death.

Obviously, hanging was more civilized than beheading, but there was a looming and lingering bloody smell in the square, seeping in through the carriage.

Lulu subconsciously wanted to break away from the hand held by Aiwass and cover her mouth.Because she was worried that she would vomit and appear disrespectful.

—but Aiwass held it so tightly that she couldn't break free.

Instead, he held Lulu's hand even tighter, until she felt a little pain.

But because of this, Lulu was distracted, but instead slightly dispelled the strong sense of discomfort in her heart.

"Are you all right, Anne?"

Aiwass asked with "some doubts" concern: "Have you never been to Legal Plaza before?"

"...It's the first time I've seen so many corpses."

She murmured in a low voice: "I have seen many dead people. I have long been used to contact with death..."

However, this was the first time she had seen such a "brutal death".

She thought she would spit it out, but in the end she didn't.Now Lulu only felt a kind of speechless visual shock.

"Sunday is the execution day every week. We missed the execution day... On Sunday, many people who are free will come to watch the execution. That is also the most active day for pickpockets."

As Aiwass said, the carriage passed a corpse that was hung high.

Lulu stared in astonishment and fear at his hideous face, which was missing an eyeball and half of its face was covered in blood.

Leaning close to her ear, Aiwass pointed at the corpse maliciously and murmured softly: "Look, this corpse is still very fresh, it has only been dead for two days. Otherwise, there will be maggots in his eye sockets... His eyeballs It should have been stolen and sold on the black market. The man’s left eye will be used in some rituals of the Demon Scholar—look at the opening in his crotch, the contents must have been stolen as well.

"It seems that 33 people were executed this week. Because there are still seven corpses left last week."

"...is this more or less?"

"It's normal in this day and age."

Aiwass only answered half of the answer.

After 14 years, the death penalty rate on the Isle of Glass has dropped considerably.

But that's not because of the improvement in law and order...but because of the collapse of the mining area seven or eight years later, more labor is needed.

"Fifty years ago... oh, 50+ years ago, that was the peak of the death penalty. Small crimes like stealing were punishable by death, and death wasn't the end, nor was it the harshest punishment - there were many Cruel torture during life, and some after death.

"Queen Sophia abolished the thirteen cruel death sentences including beheading, and only kept the hanging. She also lowered the punishment of other crimes a lot...Many crimes that were sentenced to death before are now only exiled, imprisoned, and forced labor .During the war, there is still a chance to perform crimes and make meritorious deeds..."

As Aiwass said, the carriage stopped suddenly.

"gentlemen."

The gruff coachman said, "How do you get to the bar you mentioned?"

"Oh, it's almost here," Aiwass said in a warm, good-natured voice, "You just need to put us here."

"Then you have to be careful about strangling the party."

The coachman kindly reminded: "Besides, it's only five copper coins to get here—it's half a copper coin for you."

Avalon's copper hourglass, the minimum denomination is not "1".Below that there are halfs and quarters, two-thirds and half the size of a copper respectively.

This is a less commonly used token.One quarter of the copper coins ceased to be minted 20 years ago.One-half of copper coins also stopped issuing five years ago, leaving only stock circulating in the market.

But today, 14 years ago, half copper coins were still relatively common units.

Hearing this, Aiwass looked at Lulu.

Lulu was stunned for a while before realizing that the money might be in her hands.She rummaged around for a while, then pointed out a red coin, stepped forward and handed it to the driver with both hands politely.

This red coin is equal to ten copper coins, which is twice the price.

"There's no need to look for it, sir."

She said seriously: "You have worked hard."

"You are beautiful and generous, madam."

The coachman praised him, took the money happily and left.

After he left, Aiwass came over with a smile.

"You should remember that everything here is false, right?"

he said softly.

"I remember," Lulu nodded, with a complicated expression, "I just feel... even if they are fake, but my mood at the moment is real. I don't know what I can do... so I can only give He pays."

"This is a bit biased towards the path of dedication, my dear Annie?"

Aiwass said calmly.

"I don't care," she said without hesitation. "Like other children born on Glass Island, I was educated on the path of authority, but I still walked on the path of beauty. Because I just want to To do what I want to do...what I feel I should do.

"I just like the principles of this path and its mysterious skills. It's not for the extraordinary abilities it brings me, and I don't intend to tie my own personality and life to it."

Lulu, who always seemed to have no assertiveness and confidence, seemed to touch some sensitive point when talking about this topic, and said a lot of things that Aiwass did not mention in one breath.

"...That's not easy."

Just at this moment, a cold, immature, deliberately suppressed voice suddenly sounded from behind them.

A young newsboy who had been staring at them motionlessly since they got out of the car suddenly came over and said softly, "You are walking on a naive and extremely dangerous road.

"The path to transcendence is destined to abandon humanity... Mrs. Lulu."

(End of this chapter)