Chapter 4: Transmigration
Location: Rolls's Office, Third Floor, Adrian Law Firm.
Rolls lay sideways on the long sofa, one foot propped up on the armrest, as scenes from the courtroom flashed repeatedly through his mind.
Despite the calm and confident front he had put up for Locke Grant, Rolls knew deep down that he had nearly "flipped the cart" today. Had he not already become a Sequence 9 "Lawyer," he surely would have lost the case.
His original plan was to use his words to make Raul Hendler lose emotional control. Just as he had told Locke, once a person loses their temper, they leave openings for a "Lawyer" to exploit. Had that happened, this case would have been a quick victory, just like the ones he had handled over the past fortnight.
Unfortunately, just as Rolls was making progress in guiding Hendler's emotions—only needing a few more sentences to achieve his goal—he was interrupted by Burton Chester. This forced him to shift his questioning to his own client, Wood Johnson.
Whether it was his past self or his current soul, neither liked questioning their own clients. After all, some clients were nothing more than "curly-haired baboons"; a single slip of the tongue in court could put Rolls on the defensive.
Furthermore, restricted by the laws of the Loen Kingdom, Rolls, as a barrister, had to maintain an objective stance. He was supposed to collect information through a solicitor and was forbidden from contacting the client directly. Even when contact occurred, it had to be in the presence of a solicitor and lasted only a few minutes before the trial.
This was never enough time for Rolls to truly "communicate" with his clients. Thus, he usually secured victories by "emotionally guiding" the opposing party. His predecessor had been widely praised for this very tactic.
Today, however, Rolls had been forced to question his own client. Fortunately, Mr. Johnson was "cunning" enough. Rolls knew well that Johnson's appearance in court—that of an honest, kind man bullied by a cruel master—was a total facade, a mere disguise.
The "Lawyer" potion didn't just grant him Beyonder abilities in eloquence and persuasion—allowing him to distort or guide a target's thoughts to an extent and make himself seem trustworthy—it also granted him extraordinary insight.
While not as miraculous as a "Spectator," who could see through a person's true thoughts, it was enough to perceive emotional fluctuations and judge whether a target was lying based on their expressions.
The members of the jury were nothing special—just a bunch of idle, wealthy, and brainless fellows. Combined with Wood Johnson's decent acting, they were easily deceived. They could not, however, hide from a man who had consumed a potion.
The reason he nearly failed today was Burton Chester's interruption.
Based on my observations, Burton Chester should just be an ordinary person, Rolls thought. As for why he managed to interrupt my "guidance" at the perfect moment, it was likely just his years of experience as a barrister. The legal profession had always demanded high levels of experience.
Burton had been a barrister for over twenty years; having such intuition was reasonable.
It wasn't that Rolls was overly suspicious, but rather that this world was too insane. As a transmigrator, Rolls had to learn from the future protagonist, "The Fool" Klein—he could not afford to be reckless.
Yes, transmigration. Yet another transmigration. Nowadays, crossing over to another world was an extremely common occurrence. Having read many transmigration novels, Rolls had accepted reality quickly. In his previous life, he was a man with no strings attached; crossing over might even lead him to the pinnacle of life.
However, as Rolls integrated his predecessor's memories and gained a detailed understanding of this world, he immediately regretted it. He had transmigrated into the world of Lord of the Mysteries.
As Cuttlefish's most brilliant work, Rolls had naturally read it. He had even imagined himself consuming potions—provided they weren't from the "scary" pathways like "Demoness" or "Abyss." He could even accept the "Mother" or "Moon" pathways; after all, he didn't plan to climb too high. He knew the principle: the stronger you became, the closer you got to madness.
But regardless, Rolls had never actually wanted to cross into this world. In other worlds, a transmigrator—especially one who knows the plot—is incredibly lucky. It means the world's secrets are like a naked girl, ready to be toyed with.
In this world, however, knowledge is poisonous. The more a secret contains, the more dangerous it is. The more you know, the faster you die.
Rolls still felt a lingering fear. Upon realizing where he was, the secrets and conspiracies flashing through his mind should have been enough to make his head explode or cause him to mutate into a monster.
Yet, after several days of living in fear and finding that nothing had happened, he realized he must possess something that could shield his inner secrets. But even after half a month, he hadn't discovered anything special about himself, so he simply stopped thinking about it.
He was now in a "barefoot man fears no shoes" situation—whatever happens, happens. And in this half-month, while he made no progress on that front, he had unraveled the secrets of his predecessor.
Rolls Adrian, twenty-three years old, graduated from the Tingen Lincoln Law School. His father, Mason Adrian, died of heart disease two years ago, leaving behind a generous inheritance.
This included over 7,000 pounds in deposits, three properties in Backlund, one in Tingen, a holiday villa in Desi Bay, and Mason's life's work—the Adrian Law Firm.
The predecessor had been hardworking. He graduated from law school five years early with honors, quickly became a barrister, and won several lawsuits. He not only successfully took over the firm—which had been unstable after Mason's death—but also significantly boosted its reputation.
But these were only the things on the surface. If that were all, Rolls could have happily enjoyed the inheritance, perhaps quit being a lawyer, and just managed the firm in peace.
It was precisely because the predecessor had left behind a mountain of trouble that Rolls was forced to continue practicing law.
The predecessor was no ordinary man; he was a Beyonder who had consumed the Sequence 9 "Lawyer" potion. That was the real reason he had graduated five years early.
Normally, one needed seven years of study and a year of internship to graduate. The predecessor had bypassed the latter by choosing a "tool" as his solicitor, leveraging Mason's connections, and donating a large sum of money to the Bar Association.
These things weren't the main trouble. The trouble lay in the source of the potion.
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