Silver Fox & The Western Hero: Warrior Reborn: A LitRPG/Wuxia Novel - Book 1

by M. H. Johnson

  He couldn't help lowering his head at the angry stares and sneers he received as his captor didn't hesitate to regale the angry crowd with Alex's perceived crimes. Much to his shock, being an unclaimed foreigner seemed almost as repugnant to the spectators as the accusations of murder being leveled against him.

  Before long he was brought before an imposing walled compound. Within was a central pagoda and several squared-off buildings at either side, with barred slits for windows and a pair of guards before each one. He could smell the stink of unwashed bodies even from where he was, and his suspicion that this was both the courthouse and prison turned out to be true when he found himself forced to kneel before an officious looking gentleman in a dark blue robe seated before a desk inside the central pagoda.

  "Officer Wan greets the honorable Judge Qin," Alex's captor said in a deferential voice far different from the bellicose accusatory tones Alex had heard prior.

  Judge Qin raised a curious eyebrow when Alex was allowed to raise his head, though Wan's powerful grip kept him on his knees which began hurting fiercely, being pressed against the cold stone tiles. "Officer Wan. I see you have brought a foreigner before us. What is the nature of this man’s offense?”

  "Murder!” Wan officiously declared, seeming to take delight in the judge’s reaction, the way the man’s eyes widened.

  Alex then saw the flash of a smile behind the judge, noting that they were not, in fact, entirely alone, though he could make out little more than the silhouette of a cloaked figure seated in one of the chairs behind the judge's own throne-like affair, hidden in shadows and gloom.

  "How unfortunate. Please give the court the details, Officer Wan."

  "As you know, there has been a horrific attack at the harbor. A ship exploded in flames, spreading to several nearby ships as well! I have no doubt this attack was instigated by those damned Ruidians. And this man here is clearly part of their operation! I found him hovering over his victim with the murder weapon just inches away from his hand, still jammed into the skull of the customs officer! When I interrogated the subject, he made it clear that his victim wasn’t even aware of his plot to sow havoc upon the dock. He killed the man for sheer spite!”

  Judge Qin slowly nodded. "Does the accused have a lawyer?"

  Officer Wan smirked. "He gave us no clan name or jade marker upon his arrest."

  "Good.” The judge glared down at Alex. “What does the accused foreigner have to say in his own defense?”

  Heart racing, Alex bowed his head, both to show deference and to gain just a few desperate moments to gather his thoughts. He had heard of people being railroaded in legal proceedings before, but this was insane. He was obviously in a world where one had to prove one’s innocence, and he could only hope that people here would at least listen to what he had to say.

  Individual using powers outside our paradigm has been detected.

  Alex did his best to ignore the voice. Classless as he might be, even he could feel the odd wave of something washing over him, thanks to the man cloaked in black in the shadowy far corner of the courtroom, taking his ease behind the judge.

  "Honored Judge, witnesses of the court, it is true that I was the last man to see the customs officer alive." This garnered him a number of raised eyebrows, his accuser and judge listening more intently than ever. "For I had just dragged myself up from the pier, hoping to make my way to safety, having just escaped the madmen attempting to kill me on the very ship that had so spectacularly burst into flames. And it was the shrapnel from that ship that had pierced the official’s skull, not my blows at all. For why would I strike a poor man I was approaching, in the hopes that he could help me?

  "And as for proof, well, from what little I could see in the darkness and confusion, more than one person was hit by the shrapnel released when the ship exploded. Dare I suggest it, if you were to look at the poor victims’ wounds, you might see evidence of the same or similar shrapnel to whatever had buried itself in the head of the poor Custom’s Officer.”

  Judge Qin frowned. "You say you were on the galleon that exploded?"

  "Yes, Your Honor."

  "What proof do you have of your claim?"

  Alex blinked. "In order to escape, I had to steal their attire and jump into the sea. The attire you see on my person was on their ship, and I am sure I smell like saltwater."

  "No other proof? No sigil or mark or tattoo giving your clan name and station upon your ship? I know that is the custom with your people.”

  Alex grimaced. "I am afraid not, Your Honor. I myself was a captive." He swallowed, feeling a strange pull on his tongue, turning to gaze at the stranger behind the judge once more, somehow perilously certain that even trying to lie would be a very, very bad idea.

  But nothing said he couldn't spin his tale to emphasize what mattered. Not his own background, but about the danger in their own backyards.

  "I woke up naked, jammed inside a barrel. It was a struggle just to break free. When I finally did escape, I scurried through the bilge and make my way to the top decks before I fled the ship entirely.” He suppressed a shudder of remembered horror, appreciating once more how perilously close to a grisly death he had been. Much as he was now. “Before I fled entirely, I overheard gossip between the sailors that they were planning on poisoning the water supply of your entire city. They even revealed that they were carrying hundreds of clay flasks filled with an alchemical compound that would burn even in water!”

  That tidbit earned him more than one raised eyebrow. "Fear for this city, all the lives that would be imperiled by those monsters, compelled me to race for my freedom every bit as much as my own survival. And when I came top deck? I discovered their darkest secret of all."

  "What secret is this?" asked the judge, his manner and bearing not quite as hostile as before.

  Alex bowed. "I saw a dark-robed man with blazing red eyes chanting words that sent chills down my spine. When he saw me attempting to flee, he demanded his followers execute me, since he was unable to both obfuscate and destroy, he had said."

  The judge frowned. "Explain what you mean, foreigner."

  "Apologies, Your Honor. Pray forgive the question, but am I correct in assuming that, before the ship exploded, no one had any records of that galleon entering the harbor?”

  Judge Quin raised an eyebrow Officer Wan's way. "Are there any port records of Ruidian ships?”

  "No, Your Honor,” Officer Wan admitted after an angry pause.

  The judge gave a polite nod, turning back to Alex.

  "Your Honor, I suspect the mage meant that he could cloak his boat."

  "Cloak?"

  "Render it utterly invisible, so no one could see it, Your Honor. If so, that would explain how they intended to sneak dozens of barrels of poison into the city. Fortunately, the ship was destroyed. And though I would humbly advise no one to fish for a while, at least the city is free of poisoned water, the ship having been consumed by its own deadly flames."

  The Judge, however, had paled. "This… if it's true… there could be only one reason."

  Alex nodded. "I agree, Your Honor. It occurred to me as I fled that perhaps this ship wasn’t the only one capable of obfuscation. What if there are a dozen or several dozen such ships just beyond the harbor? Waiting for the signal from this ship, planning to attack once the city’s population is sickened by their poisons? If that’s the case...”

  "The city is in dire peril!" His eyes flashed with a certain resolve Alex was happy to see in the smooth-skinned official. He looked young for a judge. Late twenties, Alex guessed, but the calculating gaze belonged to a far older man. Perhaps he was a good judge after all. Time would tell, Alex supposed.

  The man's gaze fell on Officer Wan. "Officer Wan, as soon as we are finished here, we will make all haste to the Lord's Compound. Together."

  Alex was surprised by the sudden warmth in the officer's voice. "You honor me, Judge Qin."

  "Loyal Officer that you are, you deserve that honor," the smiling
judge replied, before glaring coldly at Alex once more.

  Alex felt an awful twisting in his gut under those cold, cold eyes. "Foreigner, you said you had fled this vessel yes?"

  "Yes, but I'd hardly..."

  A hard crack rang against Alex's skull. "Do not equivocate before your master, worm!" roared Officer Wan.

  You have suffered 15 Damage and 1 Light Wound. You are suffering from: Mild Concussion.

  Alex groaned, yanked back to his knees once more, forced to meet the judge's glittering eyes.

  "Causing panic and mayhem with your act of cowardice, fleeing foreigners like yourself, yes?"

  "Please, it's not..."

  Crack!

  You have suffered 30 Damage and 1 Medium Wound. Your skull has suffered a hairline fracture. You are now suffering from: Tier 2 Concussion.

  "I will not warn you again, murderer!" said the man at his back.

  It was all Alex could do not to vomit as he was jerked to his knees once more, groaning with pain.

  Judge Qin flashed a cold smile. "And it was because you fled your ship and your fellow saboteurs lost control of their incendiary devices that a good public servant was lost this day. A tragic death you and your fellows alone bear responsibility for. And it is only because of Officer Wan's quick detective work that we were able to apprehend you at the scene of the crime, and it is only thanks to my own brilliant deductions that we were able to uncover the plot that imperils our entire city."

  "But..." Alex could feel the man behind him winding up to strike once more, perhaps for the last time, when the judge waved a nonchalant hand, peering into Alex's eyes.

  Weak and dizzy as he was, Alex was sickened to hear himself whimper under the man's pitiless gaze.

  "Tell me, foreigner, can you honestly say, without the tiniest sliver of doubt, that had you stayed exactly as you were expected to, had you not disobeyed their orders, can you honestly say that would not have been enough to change the fate of the ship entire? A ship is a complex organism, boy. The tiniest unexpected factor can throw everything off."

  "But I was their prisoner…"

  The man's cold smile grew as a panicked Alex realized that at that moment, dizzy and sick with concussion and exhaustion, he couldn't deny the judge's words.

  No matter that he had been struggling against his enemies, no matter that if he hadn't fought against his captors, the entire city's water supply might be tainted at this very moment, vulnerable to an invasion that could see this city reduced to flames. The ugly truth of the matter was that the inspector might be alive right now, for a few hours longer, at least, had Alex been too much of a coward to do anything at all.

  "No," Judge Qin said, eyes dancing with cruel delight. "The fact is that you cannot assure us, or even yourself, that had you simply behaved, the good custom's officer wouldn't be alive right now. No. There is no way you could assure anyone! You have no access to the chords of fate or destiny, the rarest of Elements. You are not a cultivator. You lack any significance at all!"

  He gave a cold nod. "You caused chaos within your ship, which resulted in the loss of property and life, before sneaking upon our lands, an invasion force of one. Both of those acts are capital crimes for scum like you."

  A wooden gavel rang upon a block of marble. "This court finds this Ruidian guilty of homicide by negligence, and attempted invasion. The sentence is Execution by Technique, to be carried out immediately."

  Officer Wan laughed. "You are wise and just as always, Your Honor."

  The man smirked. "I know. Now hurry up and bring him out back. Execute him with your Blazing Phoenix technique, so only ashes will remain. We'll have the prisoners bury the scraps in the morning."

  Officer Wan bowed low, squeezing Alex's wrists so hard he cried out, bones grinding under the man's grip. "It will be a pleasure, Judge Qin."

  "Enjoy yourself, but be quick about it. I want to be at the Lord's mansion within the hour. If our warnings bear any fruit at all, our clan's futures will be paved with gold."

  Alex wheezed with pain, too stunned to act, gazing into the judge's pitiless eyes with horror.

  After all he had endured, risking his life sabotaging an entire cargo-hold's worth of incendiaries and poisons, putting his life on the line to save these people, he was about to be put to death so a corrupt judge and his crony could steal credit and earn points with the local ruling faction. Alex would have been furious if he weren't in utter shock, feeling as if he were trapped in a nightmare when the patrolman forced him upright once more.

  "You're really going to kill me, just to steal credit for stopping that ship."

  You have suffered 20 damage and 1 medium wound. Two ribs have been broken. Warning: Less than half of your optimal health remains.

  Alex cried out, stunned by the pain tearing through him as Officer Wan's fist shattered his ribs. He crumpled to the ground.

  "I'll hear no more lip from you, outsider! You're a weak, worthless piece of trash, and you'll rot in an unmarked grave."

  Judge Qin mocked Alex with his laughter. "I know it might be cold comfort, Ruidian, but your death will serve a higher purpose in the end. Like any servant, you toil for the glory and benefit of your betters. Though I'm afraid the only payment we can give a worthless outsider like you is a deliciously painful death." His smirk turned cold. "Leave no trace, Wan. Not even ashes any inspector could use to read his karma or fate."

  "Understood, Your Honor. I will handle the disposal myself. No inspector will read his bitter tears when I drown his ashes in the sea."

  The judge nodded. "What's one more bitter ghost in the sea of mists? On second thought, don't kill him here. Best just to drop him bound into the water. Let the sea take his life and the burdens of his broken tale."

  It was then that the shadow hidden in the dim rear of the court clapped his approval.

  And it said something, Alex thought, the way Officer Wan hissed and Judge Qin blanched, their eyes filled with sudden dread.

  "Wonderful performance. I'm so glad I decided to pay you a visit tonight, dearest Qin. Such delicious scheming! Using your skills and influence to put to death a suspect guilty only of sabotaging an enemy ship, all to assure the spoils and prestige for warning our beloved master of an imminent invasion falls to you. Why, if the heavens worked as your mind did, the angels above would tear free our dying virtue and happily let us reincarnate as Hungry Ghosts while ascending to ever higher realms in clouds of righteous hypocrisy!"

  "Inspector WiFu!" hissed Officer Wan. "You have no jurisdiction within this court."

  The shadow man smiled coldly, his pale features and smooth skin suddenly clearly visible to all, as the shadows seemed to bleed away. He was of indeterminate age, perhaps thirty, though his silver-green eyes looked both ancient, wise, and somehow mischievous. He wore nondescript dark attire, but Alex saw the shiny glint of a steel mail shirt just under his sleeves. He patted his twin swords and lounged against one of the chairs placed, for whatever reason, behind the judge's gilded throne-like affair.

  Judge Qin's pallor grew. "Silver Fox. Why are you here?"

  The inspector grinned and buffed his nails. "To retrieve my property, of course, and to assure that Lord Zheng Yi's courts are forever righteous and worthy of his name."

  "We have done nothing wrong," Officer Wan blustered. "We but seek to extract necessary information from the witness!"

  WiFu raised a bemused eyebrow at that.

  "It is true," assured an anxious Judge Qin, flashing a simpering smile as WiFu suddenly seemed to loom over the man. "Of course we made note of the suspect's claim. But if there really is an invasion, the city's safety is of paramount concern! If he is but an enemy agent seeking to distract us, fear of death will free his tongue!" He blinked and swallowed. "You heard our words, yes? Officer Wan is to return to the docks even now, counting on the fear of imminent demise to tear free all attempts at subterfuge, assuring a true and honest confession when Wan compels him to..."

  "Point out where the enemy
ships are hiding," a breathless Wan finished.

  "Exactly!" Judge Qin assured. "There is no need for misunderstandings to blow out of proportion. Certainly, you will agree that creative measures are called for, in trying times such as these."

  Alex's eyes widened, surprised to see the judge who had treated Alex with such arrogant contempt now acting so meek and placating before the inspector. Then he felt it, the deadly weight of Inspector WiFu's presence. A potency that seethed and burned. One that, if left unchecked, could obliterate the strangely frail judge who looked as ephemeral as morning dew in comparison.

  Then the man chuckled, clapping the judge on the back, and Alex couldn't help but gaze at the man in surprise, wondering if he had only imagined this affable man as anything but an easygoing figure who enjoyed messing with his fellows.

  "I quite agree, dear Qin. These are trying times. Trying enough that I will forgive you intimidating my pawn and interfering in my operation."

  Officer Wan blinked. "He's your piece?"

  WiFu nodded. "He is indeed. Isn't that right, Alex?"

  Alex's blood ran cold, captivated by the man's gaze. "Yes," he said, jerking a nod. "I'm happy to report, sir, that the mission was a complete success." Wait, how did he know my name?

  The inspector grinned. "There you have it, gentlemen. Our mission was a complete success. Or would have been, if you hadn't cost us precious minutes with this unseemly delay."

  Judge Qin immediately sunk into a bow. "Our most sincere apologies for the delay, Inspector WiFu."

  The inspector flashed a bemused nod. "It is quite alright, Judge Qin. Though some might declare you to be impetuous, I see that you are actually wise for your age and lack of cultivation, and that you understand the benefits of historic precedent and giving weight to the advice of your elders when making your rulings."

  The young judge swallowed. "It is my aim to always be amenable to the advice given by my betters."

  WiFu positively grinned. "Then I shall be happy to impart my wisdom whenever a case comes your way that I believe could benefit from my expertise."