"You stand guilty of the slaughter and defiling of 2 children and murder of 3 adults, what are your final words, plunderer?" The executioner said, holding his battle axe at the ready.
"I-It wasn't me!! I'm just a merchant, nothing more!!!" The man said on his knees, his head on the chopping block.
The townspeople uproared in disagreement.
"Liar!" One person from the crowd yelled
"Criminal scum!" another one shouted
"If those are to be your final words then allow me to do my part, by sending your wretched soul to the Cursed Pits." The executioner said in a cold tone.
"N-" Before the man could finish his final plea the executioner's axe beheaded him.
His head rolled a bit before the executioner picked it up and tossed it in a wagon with the other heads.
"May the souls of those killed by that man find peace in the Pure Land." Said a priest as he raised his right hand to the sky.
"Next!" The executioner yelled
A young man with brown olive skin started approaching the chopping block, hands bonded.
His curly black hair was tangled and dirty.
He looked at the sun, his gray eyes, now shining like silver.
"It's so hot today." He thought to himself as the crowd of upset people yelled profanities at him
The executioner grabbed the young man's head and slammed it to the chopping block still bloody from the last execution.
"Rollo, you have been found guilty of the murder of Baron Maga, what are your final words?"
"Is it just me or is it unusually hot today?" The young man said not a bit of concern in his words
The executioner was dumbfounded and caught off guard by his comment.
In all his years seeing the final moments of people, he's never met anyone who treated an execution like a morning stroll. This enraged him.
"Grrrr let's see how cocky you are when you walk, lost in the Cursed Pits for eternity." The executioner said barely managing to maintain his calm tone
He lifted his axe and with all his might he brought it down on the young man's neck.
The axe shattered into pieces.
The crowd let out a loud gasp.
The priest grabbed his holy pendant of a feather and began praying.
And the executioner stood there, once again, dumbfounded.
"Sorry but it'll take more than a rusted dull axe to pierce my skin." The young man said his head was still on the chopping block.
"Impossible, my technique was flawless!" The executioner said confused, scared and everything else in between.
He went to grab a next axe this time testing the sharpness by running his finger along the blade.
Blood dripped from his finger.
"Alright, now let's get this over and done!" He said walking back to the chopping block, new axe in hand.
"It won't work, I'm trying to save you from getting a new axe." The young man said his tone still nonchalant
The executioner winded up the swing so it could be even more stronger than the last strike.
He struck, but once again the axe shattered.
"He has to be a demon from the pit!" The priest yelled before running away.
"What…are you?" The executioner said as he dropped the handle of the axe, fear now in his voice.
"A murderer apparently." Rollo said his head was still on the chopping block.
"Enough for today! Take him back to his cell!" The Lord Mayor of the town yelled.
The executioner signaled for the guards to take Rollo.
They brought him back to the jailhouse and threw him on the ground, hands still tied.
"Well that was definitely…an experience." Rollo said as he cracked his neck, left and right.
"You're a former Paladin aren't you?" An ominous voice said coming from the shadows of his cell.
"Who's there?"
"No ordinary human can survive an executioner's death. You used mana to harden your body."
"If you won't come out then I'll make you."
A figure stepped out from the shadows.
A man with blond hair, and green eyes stepped out in a gray cloak.
Rollo recognized the man, it was the Lord Mayor of the town.
"The Lord Mayor visiting me? I'm honored, welcome to my humble abode." Rollo said in a playful tone as he bowed.
"I didn't think I'd actually find someone like you in a middle of nowhere town like this." Said the Lord Mayor.
"Someone like me?"
"It's obvious you're a former paladin."
"This is the second time you've said that, what makes you so certain? I could just be a really powerful criminal, y'know." Rollo said as he made his way to his cot and laid down.
"Someone as powerful as yourself could've broken out of my jailhouse but you stayed and didn't cause any harm."
"I was found guilty of a murder…by you actually." Rollo said as he turned on his side so his back faced the Lord Mayor.
"I know that wasn't you. It's obvious it was one of his kinsmen, his entire fortune was gone before we even put you in the cell."
"And you were just going to let me die, just like that?"
"Yes, I was. For what it's worth it wasn't out of malice more so out of laziness. Affairs dealing with the nobles are always such a headache."
"Speaking like you aren't one yourself, Lord Mayor."
"You aren't upset at what I did?" The Lord Mayor asked, confused.
"If there's one thing you can count on in life it's for people to behave like people. And my situation could be worse."
"You really are a strange one, I apologize for not making things right and I apologize for what I am about to do."
The Lord Mayor unsheathed a sword hidden in his cloak and walked over to the cot, Rollo's back still facing him.
He swung the sword but all off a sudden the blade split in half before it could even touch Rollo.
"You apologized and tried to kill me a second time within the span of moments yet I am the strange one, right…"
The Lord Mayor began choking, it was getting hard for him to breathe all of a sudden.
He fell to his knees and dropped the broken sword.
"Now…what to do with you?" Rollo said as he rose from his cot.