Alien Knights

Bishop Fabian dropped the gavel, and the dull impact echoed in the hall, which represented the official start of the Heresy Trial.

According to the due process, the arraigner should first announce the charges and ask the defendant whether he has pleaded guilty. If the suspect pleads guilty, the trial will enter the church’s probation and teaching stage; if he does not plead guilty, the trial will enter the trial stage. If the suspect is finally found guilty, he will be severely punished as a stubborn person.

This is a bit like the slogan often seen in prisons in previous lives: "Leniency for confession, strictness for resistance".

Father Paul walked up to Todd, and the two looked at each other. The former asked first, "Father! Should I call you Fellow Todd, or Brother Todd?"

This question may not seem strange at first glance, but upon closer reading, it is impossible to answer.

If Todd recognized the title of layman, it would be tantamount to leaning towards the church, and he would definitely lose the support of the monastery; if he recognized the title of monk, it would be tantamount to leaning towards the monastery, which would alienate those priests and knights who had helped him.

Before the trial began, Paul used such a dilemma to force Todd to take sides between the "ecclesiastical" and the "abstinent".

The person involved took his time and read aloud a story from the holy scriptures.

"While the good and merciful saint was shepherding his sheep, a wolf asked him for a sick, young lamb. Thus said the saint, go away, the Lord never abandons the obedient and pious child".

After saying this, the monks and church personnel present immediately understood what he meant.

Whether it is a monk in a monastery or a member of the church, they are all servants of the Heavenly Father. Any act of abandonment or harm is a blasphemy against the holy will.

As a result, the first round of the confrontation.

Father Paul made fun of himself, and was secretly humiliated by Todd using the word "wolf".

The second round begins.

Deliberately skipping the questioning, Paul went directly to the interrogation stage and loudly reported the first charge.

"Falsely reporting the number of holy relics and embezzling church property."

Paul claimed that someone reported to the church that Todd had brought back twenty-eight boxes of crystal relics from the North, but only gave the church seventeen boxes. Moreover, he publicized to the outside world that he was willing to hand over all the crystals to the church. This was deliberate deception, and it was just for fame!

As soon as this remark came out, those who knew the news were first stunned and then angry. The knights and priests who had been members of the visiting group immediately refuted this absurd statement loudly.

Because what you said was really shameless.

Taking a step back, Todd brought the crystals back from the north. Whether he is willing to give it to the church is his business. Even if he doesn’t give a box, he can’t be blamed;

Queen Mary listened attentively to the dispute in the hall, and gradually understood the whole story.

Anyone who wasn't particularly stupid, she thought, would understand that this was a crime imposed on monks, but Todd couldn't argue with it. Because he made a fatal mistake, when the ship went out to sea and docked, he did not take or notify any church member to supervise the ship, and this behavior fell under the radar. The Inquisition could well have said that, by being left unsupervised, Todd had the opportunity to hide the Crystal Relic, committing a crime of great impiety against the Holy Spirit.

The queen turned her head sideways, resting her cheeks with her hands, with a troubled expression on her face. How would you defend yourself if you encountered this kind of accusation? Find the sailors who went to sea or the onlookers, and invite them to testify? ... No, their testimony may not have enough credibility.

After much deliberation, this accusation is completely a deadlock. You know it is a false proposition, but you have no evidence to refute it.

"Todd, do you have something to say?" Father Paul showed a smug look on his face. This is a charge he and the bishop settled after repeated discussions. Once it is confirmed, there is a reason to send the monk to the heresy interrogation room and torture him to extract a confession. Let him tell the exact location where the crystal was found and solve Bishop Fabian's current troubles.

The defendant immediately became the object of everyone's attention.

How would he defend himself?

This question became the unanimous thought in the hearts of everyone present.

After thinking for a few seconds, Todd moved.

He first tapped the floor under his body with his knuckles, and then looked at the wide pulpit in front of him. To everyone's surprise, he suddenly asked a strange question: "Is the wooden box that was sent here to store the crystals still in place?"

The deacon's assistant of the cathedral, upon hearing this, immediately stood up and said, "It's all there, and it's stored in the warehouse now."

"Very good, please take them all here." Watching the church staff get up to get the boxes, Todd walked up to the pulpit, starting from the side at the end, and began to measure the distance with his steps.

Annoyed, Paul threw the indictment on the table and shouted, "Todd! I'm asking you if you're pleading guilty! Don't try to delay time by playing tricks like this!"

The defendant ignored him, but walked among the audience, found the familiar knights and priests in the visiting group, and asked eleven of them to come up and help him.

Then, after some questioning, he found a knight who had dealt with North Island pirates in front of everyone, and asked the following questions.

Todd first asked: "Excuse me, do you know the ship types commonly used by pirates in the North Island?"

The knight nodded and replied: "Yes, there are generally two types of ships. Warships (langskip) and cargo ships (knorr). When going south to plunder, use the former."

"Can you tell me the approximate size and draft of the warship?"

"No problem, the normal size is 17.4 meters long (57 feet) and 2.6 meters (8.5 feet) at the widest point. The draft varies according to the weight of the ship, generally 45 cm to 65 cm."

"In terms of crew allocation, what's the general situation?"

"There are 16 oar positions on each side, and the maximum load of the whole ship is 48 people. If you just want to move the boat, you need at least 12 people."

"Thank you very much for your answer." Todd picked up a hemp rope he had just found, and handed it to the knight: "I have to trouble you with one last thing, please use this rope to make a general appearance of a warship on the ground of the pulpit."

The knight thought for a while, and laid out an "ellipse" shape with hemp rope on the ground.

Queen Mary's beautiful light blue eyes flowed quietly and were as moist as waves. She already had a little understanding of what the monk wanted to do, but she thought she couldn't think of such a whimsical "self-defense".

"It's so interesting..."

The maid didn't hear the hostess' whisper, and asked quickly: "Your Majesty, what did you say?"

"No, nothing."

Soon, the staff of the church brought seventeen empty wooden boxes that had been used to store crystals. Todd also motioned to the eleven priests and knights around him to sit staggered in the oval formed by the hemp rope.

After everyone was seated, the monk said to the church staff: "Okay, please put all the wooden boxes into the ellipse. You can choose any arrangement, but please pay attention to two points, first, please do not put the edge of the wooden boxes over the rope; second, please do not stack the wooden boxes more than 45 cm high."

People put these wooden boxes horizontally, vertically, or sideways, avoiding the twelve people sitting, and after a lot of effort, they finally fit within the range of the hemp rope. There were still some gaps, but that was room for supplies, tents, and weapons.

Almost everyone present saw a fact.

For a pirate warship, even with the minimum number of crew members—twelve oarsmen, in consideration of navigation safety and cargo placement, seventeen wooden boxes of this size are already the limit. The so-called statement of bringing back twenty-eight boxes of crystals is completely nonsense and nonsense.

The so-called crime of "falsifying the number of sacred objects and embezzling church property" is a joke.

The faces of Father Paul and Bishop Fabian changed from white to red, and from red to black. Seeing the angry gaze cast by the latter, the former was startled, and hurriedly shouted: "Now I announce Todd's second charge of heresy."

"Violation of Heavenly Father's admonition, private practice of alchemy and sorcery".

Amid the exclamation of everyone, Todd slowly stood up from the ground, Queen Mary covered her lips with a folding fan, and leaned forward.

The climax of this drama finally kicked off...