Chapter 582: The Old Hothead's Student, the Young Hothead |
"...one crucial detail, and only then did I realize that the Iron Law might truly have a problem."
"What detail?" Cheng Shi's expression grew grave, and he even lowered his breathing.
"Keinlaur stopped making contact with the Iron Law!
As the constitutional codex bestowed by our Benefactor, the Iron Law has always been regarded as his avatar—the sole guide he mercifully left for the world.
Every law that should be entered into the Grand Tribunal's constitution must be reported to it by the Supreme Inquisitors and recorded within the Iron Law.
In the past, this was mandatory work during each Supreme Inquisitor's rotation. But I discovered that for a very long time before Lo Yat's incident, Keinlaur had stopped offering devotion to the Iron Law entirely!
Whenever the Supreme Court had new legislation to promulgate, he'd leave Katouting on external business, pushing the honor of the divine audience—something practically equivalent to meeting god himself—onto Lo Yat. Lo Yat was the most devout among our Lord's followers. Naturally, he'd never refuse such an opportunity.
And Keinlaur's excuses were flawless—the Grand Tribunal's various territories genuinely needed a Supreme Inquisitor's attention. So for a long time, I failed to spot the problem.
Looking back now, Keinlaur had probably noticed the Iron Law's anomaly long ago.
The Grand Executioner, Grand Justice, and Grand Investigator only needed to perform the monthly devotion rites—we didn't have to pray to the Iron Law for every matter. But the Supreme Inquisitors interacted with it constantly. How could they have missed every sign?
That's precisely what made me suspect Esa Res had a problem too.
So I turned my attention to him and began investigating the second Supreme Inquisitor.
Esa Res was very old. Under the Supreme Court's governance laws and justice statutes, he would soon need to select a successor, then honorably step down from his burden and live out his twilight years amid the reverence and cheers of Order's citizens.
In his final years of tenure, he committed no errors—but neither did he distinguish himself.
He stopped balancing the political factions, stopped guiding legal trends, stopped making public appearances to tour the nation. He simply stayed put in Katouting, quietly offering his devotion to Order.
Esa Res had dedicated his entire life to this country. At his age, rest was well-deserved. But the Iron Law crisis had erupted at precisely this juncture, and I couldn't help suspecting he might be concealing the anomaly to protect his lifelong reputation of devotion from any blemish.
Otherwise, there was no explanation for why he'd never questioned the irregularity of Lo Yat taking Keinlaur's place at the divine audiences.
This Supreme Inquisitor deserved respect, so I didn't investigate him in secret. Instead, I visited him as a confused junior, hoping to awaken the last of his devotion and persuade him to tell the truth!"
At that, Cheng Shi froze.
'What—are you insane? How could you do something this stupid?'
'The Grand Justice's arrest already made everyone's stance crystal clear. How could you still make such a blunder?'
He stared at the Grand Investigator with bewilderment etched across his face, barely suppressing the urge to voice his complaints as he waited for an explanation.
Lid Yara let out a bitter laugh at this point in her story. In those still-sharp eyes, a rare flash of sorrow appeared.
"He... was my foster father."
"???"
"He was the one who rescued me from a war zone during an inspection tour of the Grand Tribunal's territories when he was young, and brought me back to Katouting.
He was the one who taught me how to follow Order, who awakened my intellect and discovered my abilities.
He was the one whose lifetime of devotion showed me that Order is the greatest Lord in all the world.
I couldn't go against my own heart—I couldn't investigate his Benefactor behind his back in his old age, let alone secretly investigate him.
I understood him. I knew his devotion was different from others'. What he wanted was for the world to be watched over by Order. What he wanted was eternal peace across the Land of Hope."
"Tch—" Cheng Shi couldn't hold back this time. "What a touching story. I suppose your foster father understood you just as well—which is why he put you in here. Am I right, Grand Investigator?"
The instant the words left his mouth, he regretted them, terrified Lid Yara would faint from the provocation like La Quis.
Fortunately, the Grand Investigator's willpower was stronger than the old man's.
Grief was written all over her face:
"Ridiculous, isn't it?
But no matter how ridiculous, could it possibly be more ridiculous than Order ceasing to be orderly?
His followers built a nation devoted to his worship across this vast land. The whole country was flourishing. And right at that moment, his own will developed a problem.
Now that is the most ridiculous thing in the world."
Cheng Shi furrowed his brow and sighed: "So, Grand Investigator—you never found direct evidence of what exactly went wrong with the Iron Law, did you?
All your investigation confirmed was something La Quis had already said."
"...No. I didn't."
"..." Cheng Shi went numb. He drew two deep breaths and checked the time, sensing tonight's harvest might be rather slim.
But things were far from over. Lid Yara continued:
"I never faced the altered Iron Law directly. The only ones who did were La Quis—and his student, Chernosly."
"?" Cheng Shi blinked. "Chernosly is La Quis's student?"
"Correct. He was also Esa Res's chosen successor for the Supreme Inquisitor seat. Had nothing gone wrong, he should have been the next generation's Son of Order—assuming Esa Res's position in a few years, ascending to the Supreme Court's bench.
But now..."
"Wait—hold on!" Cheng Shi's eyes suddenly blazed with energy. He fixed Lid Yara with a piercing stare: "You're saying Chernosly confronted the Iron Law directly?
He was imprisoned because of his teacher?"
"Yes. The boy refused to believe his teacher would betray Order, so he launched his own secret investigation, just as I had.
But none of us imagined that this audacious Inquisitor would actually sneak into the Supreme Court and investigate the Iron Law face to face!"
'Well, well!'
'What guts!'
'What a hothead!'
'The old hothead's apprentice, through and through!'
Whether or not Chernosly learned anything else from his master was debatable—but the reckless streak? He'd inherited that in full.
"What did he find?"
"He..." Lid Yara's expression darkened. "He went mad. Just like Lo Yat.
The Chernosly of today is no longer the upright, capable First-Class Inquisitor he once was. He's become a delusional paranoiac.
And all of it...
I believe was a gift from the Iron Law."