I Raised A Black Dragon

Noah scanned the observation hall as she continued: “As the only witness of everything that happened in Tauren’s Zone 13, I think I am the best witness. May I add something for the sake of Laurent’s ‘development’ and ‘infinite glory’?”

She annunciated what the emperor had said earlier. Muell, who was held obediently in her arms, stepped down onto the table on the witness’s stand. His dark-red eyes had sparking glasses. The presence of a dragon, which had been tightly embedded in the body of a five-year-old child, began to engulf the courtroom with no filter.

“A… dragon.”

“It’s a dragon.”

“A dragon!”

The disturbance, weighed down by the pressure, stopped as Muell began to throw a blazing fireball into the air. Noah patted her admirable little boy's head and asked again as kindly as possible, “May I begin my testimony?”

At this rate, it was not a request for the right to speak, rather, a notification.

“I allow you to s-speak as a witness.”

The Minister of Justice’s voice shook. He had his gavel gripped in his hand, and his chair rocked back and forth. The emperor was seen sighing as a sign of resignation and delivering a few words to Duke Leonard with a sullen face.

Noah somehow felt fresh inside. No more than a month ago she had been the one in the defendant’s chair. So this is what it feels like to be on the witness stand, she thought. Noah was looking around the courtroom excitedly, when her eyes met Kyle’s.

From the moment she’d entered he seemed to have abandoned the attempt to lead this trial in a normal fashion. He was looking at her with eyes that looked slightly worried and slightly excited at the same time.

“Now can I start?” Noah mouthed to Kyle, and he seemed to understand her immediately. Kyle flashed a grin as he covered the documents he was holding, and slackly, he leaned back in his chair. It was a signal that said he would not interrupt and remain a spectator.

There was someone else looking at her the same way—Adrian. His face was a little livelier than when she had faced him at the Lendia Annex yesterday. As soon as Adrian met her gaze, he raised the corners of his mouth slightly, somewhat awkwardly. It was clear that he was embarrassed for having cried in front of her yesterday.

The two men's eyes of different colors asked her the same question: What are you about to do, Noah?

Noah handed over the cover of the documents that she had been holding the whole time. Written on the second page was a list of the many many things that had to be done here today. Among them was: Appropriate a sentence for Adrian Rossinell. After clearing her throat loudly, she opened her mouth with the most motivated voice she could produce.

“Now, in my short opinion, isn't 1,000 hours of asset society restoration and community service too light of a punishment for former Minister Rossinell?”

No one refuted her comment. After setting Muell down behind her, Noah circled the desk and walked in front of the clerk’s desk in the middle.

“His Majesty seems to have proposed such a light sentence just to keep me, the dragon master, on guard, despite the numerous felonies committed, but isn't the evidence too full for that?”

Noah stood in the middle of the court and turned towards the defendant’s seat, the spot that directly faced Adrian.

There was a pinch of confusion in his eyes. He must be confused. The woman who had acted like his savior up until yesterday had suddenly changed her attitude and was taking the lead in raising his sentence. Noah continued, keeping her eyes straight on his green eyes.

“I am glad that no one was killed directly by the defendant, but he certainly studied magic that disturbs the soul and body, which is said to be absolute taboo among pure magicians. On top of that, even though this isn’t his first time to lead the replica project or the black market with Yulem, he clearly assisted in the process, and then he touched it himself. Well, the general of the Protection Bureau explained the rest of the egg theft and terrorist incident, so let's move on.”

Noah could clearly see the excitement gradually rising in the green eyes, where the light was almost gone. At that moment, he seemed to have returned to the man from a few months ago who had joked around at her. She tapped the table with her fingernail as she said to herself, “However, he must be a hard-to-get talent more than once in Laurent, and he thinks he has enough will to reflect on himself…”

In fact, the punishment Noah wanted to give to Adrian had been decided from the beginning. The very punishment that this yellow-belly had given her a few weeks ago. Twofold.

“So I want to serve you, former Minister of Magic,” Noah paused.

Muell’s tiny hands twirled. Black magic gathered in the air and soon formed into a black iron ball attached to chains.

“An additional 20 years of imprisonment. And I hope you will be sentenced to 400,000 hours of community service in Laurent's lowest poor class neighborhood.”

A clicking sound rang even before everyone could understand what those words meant. Adrian’s neck and right wrist were restrained with black chains. Noah smiled honorably as she looked him straight in the eyes. How uncomfortable he must be wearing those. Keep those for the rest of your life, you bastard.