CHAPTER 132: JUDGEMENT

He already knew the guilty ones—watched them as they slipped their hands into the pile, thinking themselves unseen. Fools.

As he had been there the entire time. He had teleported away, then returned wearing the Cloak of Mild Invisibility and kept an eye on every single one of them.

Before doing anything, he had decided to give them a chance to come clean on their own. Even if they didn’t, he would still punish them—no matter what circumstances they had before.

His voice was still enhanced by mana.

"Listen well. You have one chance—step forward now, or suffer later. There will not be another."

"If you don’t step forward now, don’t blame me for what comes next. This will be the only time I offer this chance. In the future, there will be none."

Out of the hundred or so beggars, most had disgusted looks on their faces—as their god had shown them kindness, even to those whose lives were worth less than a pebble in the Kingdom of Champagne—yet still, some had the audacity to steal from him.

Especially after he had promised they would never feel hunger again.

People were now looking at each other with suspicion.

A few shifted nervously, eyes darting toward their neighbors. One man clenched his fists behind his back. Another woman subtly stepped in front of her child, as if shielding him. The air grew heavier, breaths shallower—no one dared speak.

For the first few seconds, no one came forward. But suddenly, a child around the age of ten stepped out. His mother, who stood next to him, had a helpless expression on her face.

"Rudy!"

Rudy kept his head low and spoke in a meek voice.

"I’m sorry, mama. I took two gold coins..."

The mother, hearing her child’s confession, didn’t beg their god for forgiveness or ask to go with him.

Her hands trembled, but she didn’t move. Pride flickered through the fear in her eyes—her son had faced a god and spoken truth.

She also had faith that their god wouldn’t punish him too harshly—only enough to teach a lesson he would remember.

After the display of courage from the child, four women also came forward—one around 17, the rest older, including a grandmother who looked about 60.

It didn’t stop there. A single man also stepped out.

Leon had given them enough time. There were still a few in the group he knew were guilty. Even when shown kindness, not all people changed.

Some were simply not worth his time or effort to begin with.

And people like that were among this group.

He arrived in front of the child with slow steps.

He would only ask each of them two questions, which would determine what happened to them. Those who had come forward would receive light punishment—along with a warning not to repeat their mistake.

"What did you steal, child?"

Rudy looked at the treasure he had taken. Keeping his head down, voice meek, he answered.

"I... I just took these."

He opened his palm, showing two gold coins.

"Hmm... You do know what you did wasn’t right, don’t you?"

"Y-Yes..."

"Now I’ll ask you one more thing, child. Answer truthfully. Why did you steal these two coins?"

"Thanks to you, God, we’re not hungry anymore, and you promised we’d never be hungry again... but I wanted me and mama to have better clothes so we don’t smell."

"...People call us dirty." His voice cracked. "I don’t want that..." He glanced up for a second, his eyes glossy. "Mama said... if we had money..."

"We could get those things. So I took these two coins—one for me and one for mama."

"And if there was any silver left after buying those things, I would have given it back to you all, God."

It appeared to Leon that the child was telling the truth. He scanned the clothing of everyone. The men were fine despite some wear and tear, but the women’s clothes were certainly not modest. He should have given them new clothes already.

Everything the boy had said matched up—he had only taken two gold coins and was the first to admit his mistake. Leon decided to go easy on him.

"But you should know this, child—in my world, these treasures are all worthless. For clothes, if you had waited, I would have given everyone a new set myself. And other luxuries you want in life—like having your own house or owning even better clothes and shoes—if you work hard and earn enough merit without doing anything wrong, you can have all of that too."

"Do you understand?"

Rudy’s eyes sparkled with surprise, eagerness, and a bit of regret for having stolen when he didn’t need to.

He wasn’t the only one. Everyone nearby had a similar sparkle of hope in their eyes. Those who had admitted their guilt, like Rudy, also showed signs of regret.

Even while trembling, Rudy gathered the courage to receive the punishment he believed he deserved for stealing—just like he had been punished before by shopkeepers in the city.

"God, you can punish me. I’m ready to take it."

Hearing the word punishment, Rudy’s mother tensed—but she still didn’t move.

The child was much better than Leon had expected. He had imagined an honest confession, but not a request for punishment—despite visible fear.

He would remember this child. His reasons for stealing were justified.

Leon had also stolen food many times. As for clothes, after his first attempt to enter a shop that sold them, he hadn’t even made it past the entrance—kicked in the stomach by a guard.

So stealing clothes wasn’t even something he considered. The ones he wore were taken from drunk men who had passed out in the middle of the night.

"What’s your name, child?"

"It’s Rudy, God."

"Rudy, despite stealing from me, you were the first to come forward. And seeing how honest you were, I won’t punish you."

"You can put the coins back in the pile. And that’s not all—I’ve decided to reward you for being honest and even asking for punishment. It shows you’re a good boy, Rudy."

Rudy threw the coins back onto the pile, and his eyes sparkled with excitement and anticipation of the reward he was about to receive.

A soft murmur passed through the crowd. Some faces showed relief. Others watched with wide eyes, torn between admiration and quiet envy.

-----

10 min later

"Kneel" he said—only one word, but it struck like thunder.

The smirk on the man’s face vanished completely as his knees buckled with a wet crack, his body slamming into the ground with a heavy thud.

CRK! A sickening crack echoed through as the man’s knees shattered, forcing him to collapse with a scream. AAAHHH! His body contorted unnaturally, as though gravity itself had turned against him. Bones groaned and popped, one after another, beneath unseen pressure.

The rest of the group went dead silent, realizing that their god was not only merciless but utterly ruthless.

Yet there was no sympathy in their eyes for some reason.

"Let him be judged!"

Then the next voice:

"Kill him, God!"

The chants exploded like drums of judgment, thunderous and inescapable.

Pounding in unison as the man on the ground writhed and screamed beneath divine pressure.