The journey back was a lesson in overthinking. Nothing sent me into overdrive like having to judge someone. And I did have to judge someone now. Apparently, a Noble had to hold court to judge after every offense against their bodies. Apparently the wording was to allow for slander, insults and other things to be judged.

I had already decided that welters was going to die. The guy had repeatedly tried to harm me, even going so far as attempted murder. But the problem with publically judging people was that you tended to anger people.

The guilty party’s friends and family would all be angry at you and try their best to harm you. Which in this setting meant that they needed to be handled.

One option was ‘cutting the grass by the roots’ also known as massacring innocents. That was not a viable option. I wasn’t going to let it be, yell at me for holding on to foolish Earth sentiments, but innocents were not to be killed.

Killing those that tried to harm me was one thing I could not shy away from, but this? No. Just no. That left other, less final options. One was to take all the assets of the clan and cripple them. Another was to bind them all in those contracts Aswelth was talking about…but that sounded awfully like slavery and slavery was also a no-go.

Or perhaps a more varied approach? The servants, who I doubted knew of these plans, could go away scot-free. Clan members could suffer punishments ranging from loss of money to crippling. And the Elders…either dead or crippled. I had heard no good things about the last group of people.

But that meant that there was more work on my side. Modern day Earth had a number of wrongful convictions and harassing people into lying was something I could see the Clan Members doing. There were truth spells and potions, but they were too rare.

The former required a judging element and the later a very skilled alchemist. According to the list Aswelth had given me, Viona did have a judging element, but it was not what I would call usable. Poor girl was completely lost on how to use it and I had no way to help either.

I could call Duke Reiner, but it would be too risky given that Viona was heir to an antagonistic sect. A sect that took her back a few days from now in the original plot. I did not see why the plot changes would cause any difference there. So the sect was coming soon. But I had some time to prepare.

I decided to approach my bodyguard and information source, Aswelth about it. I really had been using him as an information source hadn’t I?

“Lord Aswelth, I wonder if there is a way to stop a person from lying in the trial. Or even detect when they are?” I asked.

“There is, your grace, the most trusted methods of course, are truth potions and spells. But a far more used method is simply intimidating the witness with aura. Few have the mental strength to lie when being pressured by someone with a superior cultivation.” Aswelth said.

“This technique is used in the capital city while screening commoners. All the guards would release their auras to intimidate the populace. It is quite effective”.

That sounded…unnecessarily violent. Aura pressure did not sound like a very coddling technique, especially if it was anything like it was shown in Xianxia novels. ‘It felt like a mountain pressed down on me’ and stuff.

“And what is this aura pressure? How torturous is it that it stops people from lying?” I asked, worried.

Aswelth on the other hand, started laughing boisterously. “Oh, your grace, I apologize. This is inappropriate of me, but I cannot help it.” Aswelth said mid-laughs.

“Aura Pressure, your grace, is this”- Suddenly I felt the surroundings still, my mind suddenly went alert, as if telling me that a predator was around, if I didn't have Aswleth’s waning I would be summoning snowflakes to defend myself.- “Do you feel fear your grace? That is the primitive part of your brain responding to a threat.”

“Actually Aswelth, I don’t feel fear. If you hadn’t told me you were going to do it then I would have summoned defenses.” I remarked, silencing the old man.

“Well I didn’t let it all out, I shall do so promptly, so you may experience it,“ The feeling of being hunted increased rapidly, and fear did fill my thoughts, it felt like there was a monster in the dark hunting me, drawing me into its traps. That there was no escape- “That is enough, your grace, I think you should open your eyes now.” Aswelth said as the feeling vanished.

I opened my eyes, that I didn’t even realize I had closed to a very large human sized snowflake. It even had barbs, and stood between me and Aswelth. I turned my head to see that it wasn't the only one. It had two other siblings that came together to surround me in a sort of equilateral triangle.

“I believe, your grace,” Aswelth said as his fire cut through the snowflake, “That you have experienced aura pressure. But I must say that your performance, “- Aswelth pointedly looked at the melting snowflake- “was quite impressive. With a little training perhaps you could be one of the people that can withstand aura pressure.”

“Perhaps… I think I would like to not have another experience right now. But I do accept your point. I doubt that all those Clan Members that have a cultivation lower than me will survive the pressure. Therefore, Aswelth it is your responsibility to interrogate the members and divide them into grades that I shall tell you. Soonish. I am working on those right now” I said.

I was working on them, I just wasn’t getting very far. What process should I follow, should I have people punished according to Earth law? But not only was that law not applicable here but that law would be foolish to follow here. Technically I had already committed crimes by hunting endangered animals.

But in this world it was needed. Even at this stage I could predict that morality was going to be a big problem for me. I would like to never have to kill or harm anyone. But merely a day in this world, and I was about to execute someone. The reason was justified, and I felt no regret, the man had tried to kill me, had abused children, and had shown willingness to cause great suffering for his personal gains.

Perhaps I was jumping the ship, but I had no doubt that if given the choice between saving a million people and achieving Plant level, he would choose Plant level. Because that was just who he was. What lot of people in Xianxia were, after all, weren’t there an entire section of people that literally killed millions for breakthroughs?

That was why I was going to stay far away from the centers of power. Drawing up a code of ethics was also needed, but that would have to wait. I had punishments to decide first.

Kerrin

Kerrin was conflicted. When he had first heard that Clan Head Welters was likely going to be executed he was very happy. The man had killed many of the people he had considered friends for even the smallest of mistakes. But then he had heard that the Clan Head wouldn’t be the only one Trial, the entire Clan, from servants to head would be judged.

The entire Clan. For a single crime an entire Clan would be put under the microscope, their actions judged by the Archduchess. It was scary, that in a few hours one of the most powerful forces, that he had thought would exist long after he was dead would cease to exist. Truly, the ancients were wise.

‘Angering others is part of one’s journey, but beware, anger only those whose anger you can withstand, else regret shall conquer your mind’

That was a quote his seed, or rather his past self had ignored. As a result his past self had died. In fact, Kerrin believed that it was best to not anger people at all. But he doubted it was possible, after all didn’t the Archduchess anger the Clans by merely existing?

And he had no doubt that his past self’s enemies would come hunting when they found out that a part of him remained. Even if it was but a small part. There truly was no limit to people’s pettiness.

Thankfully, he had the Archduchess to shield him…or at least he hoped she would. It was a mystery what she would truly do when she found out who he was. But that was for later, now the City had come into sight, and it was time for him to see the Clan Qunaris brought to justice.

Name

Altura Selrin

Title

Archduchess (In name) (landed)

Element

Dragon Fire, Snowflake ice

Age

10 years

Seeds

Military (ungerminated), Royalty (Seedling-Late(270.95/300)), Energy (ungerminated)

Stats

Strength[The amount of brute force one can use]

9

Endurance[The amount of time one can work continuously]

13

Flexibility[The range of movement of the body]

11

Precision[The accuracy of one’s movements]

13

Perception[The ability to notice nuances and advanced concepts]

9

Intelligence[The ability to comprehend the advanced concepts]

12

Wisdom[The ability to effectively use the concepts]

13

Aura Force[The ability to force your will on your surroundings]

14

Combat[The speed of one’s reactions, ability to process situations and other general combat abilities]

13

Retainers

Kerrin

Mid-Seedling (260/300). Element of Blood, anomalous Seedling.