Tap. Tap.
The rhythmic sound of the gavel striking its base echoed through the courtroom.
The previously noisy crowd immediately fell silent.
No one dared be charged with "contempt of court," and no one wanted to challenge the judge's authority.
There were those who had tried in the past, but in the end, they were all ruthlessly—and justly—dealt with by "Ox" Mizaistom.
"Silence." Mizaistom, seated behind the long table, announced. "Court is now in session."
On the spectator bench, Germain sat quietly, calmly observing and listening to everything around him, keeping a low profile.
Mizaistom, still dressed in his signature black-and-white cow-patterned outfit, had two people seated to his left and right.
One was Steiner, an official from the International Travel Permit Bureau.
The other was Oito, the Eighth Queen of the Kakin Empire.
They quickly noticed Germain seated among the audience and nodded at him with a smile.
Germain returned the gesture with a nod of his own.
At last night's grand celebration held by the Hunter Association, both Steiner and Queen Oito had been among the first to express their gratitude to the one who had saved their lives.
After the chaos of that night, they had tried to speak further with Germain, only to be told by Netero that he had already left the coastal fortress to carry out a secret mission.
Both Steiner and Queen Oito had been disappointed and puzzled.
What mission was so urgent that he had to depart immediately, leaving them no chance to speak with him again?
It wasn't until they saw the prisoners Germain and his team brought back that they realized the truth—
They had gone to capture members of Beyond's expedition team.
Shortly after Mizaistom declared the court in session, Pariston—hands cuffed—was the first to be brought to the defendant's stand behind the iron bars.
As he passed by Germain, Pariston even winked at him playfully, his expression relaxed.
Pariston didn't fear interrogation. He didn't fear death or imprisonment. Nor did he fear moral condemnation. Whatever the verdict would be, he simply didn't care.
His only true regret was this—
He had schemed for so many years, plotted with such care, only to be caught less than a month after setting foot on the Dark Continent. And he had nothing to show for it.
In other words, all of his past schemes and carefully laid plans were meaningless — washed away like water under the bridge.
But that didn't mean Pariston was going to surrender quietly in the courtroom.
He would do everything in his power to make things difficult — argue, lie, manipulate, and try to resonate with the jury.
Pariston's goal wasn't to clear his name, but to drag the trial out as long as possible, making Mizaistom, and the others suffer through every second.
He might even deliberately put himself in a worse position, just to later pull off a dramatic comeback.
Mizaistom knew Pariston's nature well.
He understood just how much trouble Pariston was going to stir up.
As the judge, he would do everything he could to keep the situation under control — to avoid letting the pace of the trial fall completely into this cunning man's hands.
Within fifteen minutes of the trial starting, Germain got up quietly from the audience seats and left.
He had no intention of sitting through the war of words unfolding inside.
The trial would take a long time.
Germain wasn't interested in listening to all of it.
Besides, Chairman Netero, Mizaistom, and the others had already given him a rough idea of what to expect.
The New Continent was severely short on manpower.
Pariston, Saiyu, and Muherr along with others were more likely to be used by the Hunter Association — not sentenced to death.
There was precedent for that.
Razor from Greed Island, and the prisoner examiners from Trick Tower — their situations were similar.
Razor made guarding Greed Island his lifelong duty, while the prisoner examiners took the job in hopes of reducing their sentences and regaining their freedom.
Pariston, Saiyu, and Muherr— whether they liked it or not — would be made to serve at the coastal fortress and the BW1 wreckage.
When Germain stepped out of the solemn courtroom, he immediately saw Ging leaning against the wall in the corridor.
"Yo."
Ging raised a hand in greeting.
His back left the wall as he walked toward Germain.
"You're not going to watch your former colleague's trial?" Germain asked, gesturing with his thumb toward the courtroom doors behind him.
"Forget it. That kind of trial is boring as hell. Pariston, that guy... he'll definitely drag the whole process out just to make everyone miserable."
Ging had already predicted how it would all unfold.
"True." Germain nodded. He had only listened for a short while before deciding he'd had enough.
Pariston's shamelessness and hypocrisy were unmatched—yet everyone was still forced to listen to his nonsense.
Ging scratched his spiky hair, tied up by a headband.
"I have no interest in being part of Pariston's little game… If I sat in the audience, he'd probably drag me into it without hesitation."
"How would he drag you in?" Germain asked.
"By blatantly lying," Ging replied.
"He'd make claims we all know are false, but because of procedural rules, we'd still have to investigate them."
"For example, he might say I'm also a spy planted in the Hunter Association by Beyond, which is why I've been so persistent about researching the Dark Continent."
Germain thought for a moment and said, "Yeah, that definitely sounds like Pariston. But even if you're not there, can't he still drag you in?"
"Yeah. Not just me—Chairman Netero, the Zodiacs, the professional hunters, and the association's specialists… He'll try to pull in as many people as possible and toy with them."
"But at the very least, I don't want to see him right now."
Ging's eyes shifted as he glanced up and down at Germain.
"But I think… he probably won't bother targeting you."
"Why?" Germain looked at Ging. "I could be just as 'suspicious,' don't you think?"
Ging pointed to Germain's chest and said, "You can read Pariston's thoughts. That makes all his scheming look like a clown's act in front of you. He's just in it for fun, not because he's brainless."
Normally, Germain refrained from reading people's minds out of respect.
However, when it came to Pariston, he certainly wouldn't hesitate. Not even a bit of resistance.
"You waited here on purpose, didn't you?" Germain asked. "What do you want from me?"
Ging pointed down the corridor and started walking.
Germain understood and followed.
They soon arrived at a quiet, secluded corner.
"In the four months you've been gone from the New Continent, Pyon and I haven't been idle. We've been investigating the temple of the 'God of Resentment' in depth."
"Any discoveries?"
"Plenty. That ruin may have emerged overnight in a hurry, but it still contains a wealth of details about the 'God of Resentment.'"
Ging continued, "The murals, the carvings on the stone pillars, the structure of the palace and the mass grave… all of it confirms the deity's once formidable status."
"Besides that, you've probably noticed those cube-shaped stone pillars outside the ruins, right?"
"That's right. They're exactly what you think—same material, same style as the ancient labyrinth. It confirms that the labyrinth was indeed one of the 'God of Resentment's' creations."
Ging concluded, "One of the purposes of the ruins is to prove the existence of real history."
"The temple and the labyrinth corroborate each other. It makes it clear that what my ancestor, Don Freecss, once said—was true, reliable, and accurate."
"The future of this world… the end of time… it's dangerous. We really do have to do something about it."
"Germain, your persistence was right all along."
*******
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