'These guys are something...' Lucian didn't know whether to laugh or cry at their reaction, but it seemed to be working.
The soldiers were no longer treating them as harshly. Their grips had loosened. The blows had stopped completely.
"Your loyalty is commendable," the priest said, releasing Lucian's hair. He lowered the cane in his hand as well, "I apologize for the pain, but you must understand the seriousness of the accusation. A large fight has broken out in the harbor, many got injured and witnesses pointed fingers in your direction."
"I understand," Lucian said, keeping his head lowered, "I'm a man, a human, and proud to be one."
Low ranked shackleds would never say something like that. The high ranked though... they were tricky.
The priest raised Lucian's chin with the end of his staff, making him look up and into his eyes.
"These are human eyes," the priest declared after what felt like an eternity.
'You could have started with them,' Lucian thought, keeping a pleasant smile on his face despite the urge to curse, 'You could have started with the eyes, but no, you had to play the whole show first...what a farce.'
Lucian's Vices were still kneeling, their heads bowed. They were silent and obedient, acting their part well.
'Good boys,' Lucian thought, feeling proud of their performance.
"Very well," the priest patted Lucian on the shoulder with his staff, offering a prayer for his bruises to heal faster, "May the God of Light watch over you and your men. Don't stray from your path, but help others stray back to it, like you've done for your men."
The priest's eyes then scanned the people on the ship, landing on Mad Hatter, saying, "Wrong accusation is a heavy sin to bear, and you've added another burden on the young man's shoulders."
The Mad Hatter gulped, his face pale as he got on his knees to plead for mercy, "My fear for shackleds got the better of me. I beg for forgiveness, please, have mercy on my soul..."
The priest was indifferent to his plight, pointing at Lucian, "This man is not a shackled. The unnecessary pain and humiliation caused to him and his group have to be compensated with the same amount of pain and humiliation received."
The priest continued, "I will leave your fate in his hands and he will decide whether or not to forgive you, or to punish you for the crimes committed against him and his men."
Lucian's men sighed in relief. It meant the church wouldn't interfere in the dispute between Lucian and Mad Hatter, and let them solve it on their own, unless the kingdom's safety was threatened.
"No..." The Mad Hatter grabbed the priest's robes, "There must be something wrong...no, please...he's a shackled! Please, check him again. You must have missed something...there's proof...he had been ruining my trade...my businesses are failing...I lost so much money...all because of him..."
The Mad Hatter's voice was getting weaker and weaker as he realized that the priest was not going to help him anymore, and that the soldiers had already lowered their weapons.
Shackled paranoia used to be an easy way to settle personal matters, but the Rocheforts' influence had put a stop to it.
After all, they were under heavy accusations themselves. Targeted from all sides and from all kinds of people. It would have become an endless loop, which would eventually lead to a civil war.
Killing an innocent person on the suspicion of being a shackled would now be sentenced as a murderer.
The Rochefort house made sure to enforce this rule. So unless Lucian didn't reveal himself to be a shackled on his own, nobody had a right to claim him to be one.
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The integration lasted for four whole hours before the priest finally left. The soldiers followed after him, leaving the two groups to deal with their problem by themselves.
They didn't search Lucian's ships. Their sole purpose was to confirm there were no shackleds on board.
The soldiers were undercover knights, and it was hard to see what rank they were at. They didn't want to show off, so they must have been on some kind of a mission.
Lucian's group were given letters of innocence. Something to make up for the misunderstanding.
Standing up straight and stretching his sore back and legs, Lucian crumbled the letter into a ball and threw it overboard.
"..." His crew, who were holding the letters to their chests like their life depended on them, watched the ball fly through the air, and fall into the water, "Boss!!!"
Fishbone was about to dive after it, but Lucian stopped him, "This is how they make extra money on the side. You come to them to get hit, and pay them a lot of money for a scrap of paper."
Lucian didn't want to sound too critical of the Church, so he stopped himself from saying anything more than a: "Thank you, everyone. I really appreciate it."
"Anytime, Boss." They rubbed the back of their knees awkwardly. Their expressions matched old men, as if their youth had just been sucked out of them.
Lucian folded up his sleeves, "Let me treat your bruises. Come here."
"...NOOOOO!" The entire group screamed and took off running, climbing the masts and the sails, running around like chickens with cut off heads, "STAY AWAY FROM US, BOSS! WE ARE FINE! DON'T COME CLOSER!"
They exaggerated playfully but also meant it at the same time.
Lucian laughed, watching their childish reactions. He knew they were doing it on purpose, to cheer themselves up, "It will be over fast, you won't even feel a thing. Trust me."
"NOOO!"
Life went on as they tried to forget what happened, because there was no way to get even with the Church for doing it.
It was a safety procedure and they were supposed to be thankful that their kingdom was safe from shackleds, and that they could sleep at night without fearing an attack on their families.
There was no point in bringing up how Lucian seemed to be under heavier scrutiny than the others, or how he had to constantly prove his innocence again and again.
His smiles and jokes were enough to convince the rest of the group that he was okay, so they followed his example and tried to move on.
╔═══ Author's note ════╗
The recent activity from you guys had boosted my writing mood, so enjoy a little mass release. 🫡
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