"I protest!"
Just as Uther was about to strip Fordring of his Holy Light powers, Aiden, after much deliberation, finally voiced his objection.
In the silent judgment hall, this abrupt sound immediately drew everyone's attention.
Uther cast a stern gaze, scrutinizing him.
Aiden wasn't trying to grandstand; he had carefully considered this: it was his first real step towards changing history.
And whether successful or not didn't matter—it would be better if he could acquit Fordring, but even if he couldn't, Fordring could still restore his Holy Light powers later.
After organizing his thoughts, Aiden left his seat and walked towards an empty witness stand next to Fordring.
As he passed Rhonin and Jaina, they both cast their first glances at him.
"I hope to say a few words in defense of Lord Fordring, and I hope the court will uphold the legitimate rights of the parties involved." Arriving at the stand, Aiden glanced at Fordring on his left and then looked directly at Uther.
"State your identity, young mage!" Uther said in a deep voice.
Aiden said, "I am Aiden, a Summoner from the Valoran War Academy."
Uther, of course, had never heard of this place; in fact, no one in this world could have heard of it, so he turned to the erudite Archmage Antonidas for inquiry, but the latter gently shook his head.
However, the identity of this young mage—no, Summoner—wasn't the point; what mattered was that he also hoped someone could persuade the jurors to change their attitude—he was very unwilling to see his old friend suffer the tragic fate of being stripped of his Holy Light powers, all his status and honor, and being exiled from the country with a crime.
"Then, what is your protest?"
Aiden cleared his throat, "I believe the court's verdict far exceeds the mistakes committed by Lord Tirion.
Such a sentence lacks fairness."
Uther said expressionlessly, "State your reasons."
"The accuser's accusations against the defendant are as follows: First, privately sheltering orcs in his territory; Second, whipping the Alliance soldiers who were abusing this orc when he was being mistreated; Third, refusing to abandon his oath to the orc.
My summary is correct?" Aiden asked.
"Correct."
"Good.
The court's reasons for punishing the defendant are: Privately sheltering orcs and promising them a peaceful life is not in accordance with Alliance law; the defendant is guilty of privately harboring orcs; This orc may attract the orcish army, thereby causing the Alliance's people to be attacked; the defendant is guilty of concealing information; The defendant is unwilling to repent and break his original promise to the orc, and the defendant may harbor a heart of betraying the Alliance, committing treason.
May I ask the court if my summary is correct?"
"Correct."
"Very well.
Then I will begin to make a reasonable defense for the defendant.
Please allow me to ask a few questions."
"Granted!"
After receiving permission, Aiden nodded to the Alliance leaders in the judgment hall and then turned to Tirion, who was somewhat dazed, and asked, "Defendant, you have communicated with the orc Eitrigg.
May I ask if he told you how long he had been living in seclusion in your territory?"
Tirion came back to his senses and replied without thinking, "Six years, he once told me that he had been living in seclusion near Hearthglen for more than six years."
"Very well, then may I ask, during your tenure as lord, have there been any incidents of orcs plundering or harming local residents in your territory?
Or have you heard of such things happening within Eitrigg's possible range of activity nearby?"
"No.
In recent years, Hearthglen to Andorhal has been crowded with merchants, and since the end of the war, I have never heard of any evil deeds committed by orcs," Tirion replied affirmatively.
"Very well," Aiden turned to Uther, "Your Honor: The defendant's words can all be proven with corresponding evidence.
If all of this is true, then it shows that the orc Eitrigg has not actively attacked humans during the six years he has been hiding in Hearthglen.
If the defendant hadn't entered the deep forest during his patrol, this orc might still be living in peaceful seclusion.
Then we can completely believe that this orc will not harm the local Alliance people.
May I ask the court if it agrees with this argument?"
Uther was somewhat silent and did not answer directly, but turned to the jury.
The five gathered together, whispering and gesturing to each other.
Judging from their expressions, the most agitated were Admiral Daelin and Uther.
However, soon, the debate came to a result, and Uther returned to the judgment seat and replied, "The reasoning you stated only applies to the past.
Given that there is currently a group of orcs attacking the internment camps everywhere, if the orc Eitrigg receives the news, then the possibility of him returning to his people and continuing to be enemies with the Alliance is very high.
The jury has decided to reject your point of view."
Aiden had anticipated this result and continued, "Then, let us review the oath that the defendant made to the orc in the first place.
He said, 'If you do not do anything to harm the people of my territory, then I, with the honor of a Paladin, guarantee that I will not disturb your seclusion'.
Obviously, if Eitrigg did not do anything to harm the Alliance before Lord Dathrohan captured him; then assuming that, as the jury has determined, he later joins the orc forces attacking the internment camps, then the oath promised by the defendant will naturally be nullified.
And if the orc is not captured, an orc who poses no harm to humans is obviously not a cause for concern.
Moreover, after the end of the Second War, the wise King Terenas ordered the construction of multiple prisoner-of-war internment camps, obviously not to put all the orcs to death.
Instead, he gave them a chance to reform.
Then why be so relentless towards a secluded orc who, from the past, seems to have already reformed?"
"Of course, even if all of these aren't the main points. Then, the jury just gave him such a choice based on the merits of the parties involved in the past: lift the oath to the orcs and swear allegiance to the Alliance. The person involved swore allegiance to the Alliance, but refused to lift the oath to the orcs. The court, as well as many of you present, believe this is a very shameless choice. However, I don't think this is contradictory, let alone the biggest basis for conviction. As analyzed above, the person involved does not trust the orcs without reservation, nor is he trying to completely protect the orcs, but has made a clear restriction on allowing Eitrigg to 'not harm the people of the Alliance.' Please put aside your personal emotions and think about it, should we hate an orc who doesn't harm us? Especially since this orc saved the person involved's life!
"What's more, if lifting the oath means being loyal to the Alliance, then I think such an Alliance is unreliable: I've heard that Archbishop Alonsus established the Knights of the Silver Hand and laid down the Eight Virtues for the Holy Knights—Humility, Honesty, Compassion, Courage, Justice, Sacrifice, Honor, and Spirituality. I have no doubt about the bravery and skill of everyone present, but I ask you Holy Knights to ask yourselves, if you were in the person involved's situation, would your virtues allow you to repay kindness with enmity, and impose a cruel death sentence on a harmless old orc who saved your life?"
Aiden saw a hint of approval in the eyes of the elderly Archbishop Alonsus: "If you are sure you can do it, then I have nothing to say."
His question sparked a noisy discussion. He knew very well that what he had to do now was to stir up the waters as much as possible, so he didn't give everyone time to continue the discussion:
"Azeroth is a world where many intelligent races coexist. The racial concept of pure human supremacy is very narrow. In fact, we humans only have two thousand years of history, while our allies, whether gnomes, dwarves, or high elves, have a history several times longer than ours. In the past, we were enemies with the orcs because the orcs invaded our homeland, and we were forced to take up arms to defend our country. But do you all know that the orcs themselves were also victims of this invasion—they originally lived on the distant planet of Draenor, with their own civilization and way of life, simple and kind. But a group of demons from the Twisting Nether lured them to drink the blood of demons, stimulating the frenzy and belligerence in their hearts. With the internal and external cooperation of a being also possessed by demons in Azeroth, they invaded our world.
"Now the orcs have been defeated. And the power of the demon blood in their blood is gradually receding, and they are returning to their former character. The orc Eitrigg is like this. If, I mean if, the orcs get rid of the influence of the demon blood and return to their nature, they may not only resolve their hatred with us, and even become allies."
His statement made Archmage Antonidas's eyes light up—in the past, people had discovered that the orcs locked in the containment facilities gradually lost their bloodthirsty and warlike nature, becoming weak, lazy, and listless. After research, the mages believed that the elements in their bodies that originally influenced their warlike character were fading away. After obtaining this result, Archmage Antonidas believed that if the orcs were no longer warlike, then humans would no longer have to keep them in the expensively built containment facilities, and could also save the Alliance a large amount of money to maintain the containment facilities.
Now, hearing that this young mage also had the same opinion, he immediately felt a resonance. And obviously, not everyone is as wise and enlightened as him.
Admiral Daelin Proudmoore next to the Archmage gave a contemptuous laugh: "How can such dirty and lowly creatures as orcs become allies of our noble humans? Not killing them is already the Alliance's greatest tolerance and grace."
The noisy voices below the court were also mostly criticizing Aiden's shallowness and ignorance, and everyone obviously leaned towards Admiral Daelin Proudmoore's understanding.
Aiden didn't care. His original intention in saying this was to gain the support of some people on the jury. Admiral Daelin Proudmoore has always hated orcs and cannot be won over, and the young Prince Arthas Menethil loathes the ugly orcs from the bottom of his heart and is not an easy person to persuade. Only Alonsus and Uther, who are closely related to Fordring, are easy to win over, so as long as the neutral Antonidas agrees with him, Fordring will have a chance for a lighter sentence.
Obviously, he was getting closer to his goal.
Next, Aiden took out a memory crystal and presented it: "These disputes can be left for the future, but there is one thing that is imminent."
After Uther obtained the crystal, a terrifying scene appeared before his eyes, which was exactly the scene Aiden saw in Scholomance through the scouting guard. Obviously, he realized the seriousness of the matter, so he turned around and sent the crystal to several jurors.
Several people were silent. Finally, Prince Arthas Menethil, who had finished watching, couldn't help but get angry and said in a trembling tone: "This is truly heinous evil, I must protect my people from the persecution of these lunatics!"
However, obviously, such a thing should not be made public, and it is indeed more important than what is being done right now. Recently, the activities of the Cult of the Damned have been too frequent, and the kingdom has long wanted to find out these lunatics, but no one present thought that this cult was actually engaged in such terrifying things.
They now urgently wanted to know what was going on, so Aiden was invited to them.