Geum Taeyang's Dazzling Defense: Saving the Ragnarok Tribe in the Grace Kingdom Court!
‘Seeing him up close like this, the Great Khan of the Mohican tribe, Geum Taeyang, really does have an overwhelmingly impressive physique.’
This was the first time Rubio had ever seen Geum Taeyang from such a close distance. And that was no accident—Geum Taeyang had deliberately arranged the situation. Why? To make a powerful first impression the moment they came face to face.
As expected, the 174cm, 70kg herbivore man Rubio was completely overwhelmed by Geum Taeyang’s 190cm, 106kg macho body.
“I’ve seen how hard you’ve worked to look after the other prisoners, Deputy Director. However, according to the rules here, the leadership and ordinary prisoners must be kept separate.”
Having imprinted his overwhelming physique on Rubio, Geum Taeyang praised him with a surprisingly gentle expression and tone. Geum Taeyang was twenty-three; Rubio was thirty-five. In a way, this very scene was an expression of psychological superiority.
Rubio, as deputy director, had spent an entire day in the same special confinement cell for the sake of the other prisoners’ stability. That was why he had been moved here on the second day.
‘What overwhelming composure… Is this what a true male looks like? Even Cassandra follows this man so obediently…’
Geum Taeyang had truly become a man skilled in gaslighting and brainwashing. Physically he projected overwhelming presence, while his words and expressions remained gentle—yet in reality, this was the true aura an alpha male should display toward a male who wasn’t even a worthy rival.
If someone was already thoroughly crushed, why bother crushing them further with harsh words? That would only reveal a lack of composure and an inferiority complex boiling inside. On the contrary, this approach made even a male who wasn’t a rival feel the vast gap between them.
As expected, Rubio felt awe and amazement toward Geum Taeyang rather than any sense of competition or jealousy.
‘If only… I could be such a magnificent male too…’
And envy.
“Then the trial regarding Chief Cassandra Viola and the other Ragnarok tribe prisoners will now begin.”
The next afternoon, in the Cleopatra Arena, the trial for the Ragnarok tribe prisoners—marked with black brands—commenced. On the Pangea continent, kingdoms with developed noble alliances naturally established trial systems, and there existed prestigious noble houses that presided over such trials.
The judge for this trial was Count MacArthur of the Normandy family and his cousins.
‘As expected of Alfonso. He’s blatantly provoking the Great Chief and the Amazoness executives to make them lose their temper in front of all these nobles.’
The prosecution took the lead in the early stages of the trial. Alfonso argued that the black-branded Ragnarok tribe members deserved the death penalty while conducting aggressive cross-examinations of the prisoners. His real goal wasn’t to persuade with facts but to appeal to the noble jury—who held sixty percent of the voting power—that these people were extremely dangerous.
‘Cassandra’s control is truly impressive. Honestly, it’s understandable if they got angry, yet they’re all holding it in remarkably well.’
Because Geum Taeyang had treated them well and Cassandra had given strict orders, the Ragnarok tribe prisoners showed no hostility despite Alfonso’s repeated low-class provocations.
‘Look at how they’re considering the jury composition. Even that bastard Alfonso has a pretty sharp mind.’
The noble jury operated on a volunteer system, and the ratio of men to women was determined by the proportion of applicants. Originally, noblewomen rarely volunteered as jurors, so other trials had overwhelmingly more men. But this time, women outnumbered men six to four.
It was all thanks to the power of the peerlessly handsome male god, Geum Taeyang. Noble ladies had flooded the jury applications just to watch his performance up close from the jury seats.
‘Knowing that many noblewomen are on the jury, Cassandra is deliberately avoiding direct attacks.’
Geum Taeyang had naturally anticipated this. What he had drawn up was a scenario where the impatient Alfonso would openly attack the female Great Chief Cassandra. And Cassandra would silently endure that ordeal—in other words, the Cassandra side would take on the role of victims and actively appeal to the sixty percent female noble jury.
However, Alfonso, the leader of the hardline faction, was by no means easy to deal with. He was deliberately avoiding direct attacks on Cassandra in particular.
“In that case, this Alfonso Albium Granada will present more direct cases as evidence.”
Still, the trial proceeded in a way where even Alfonso’s attacks were not very effective. It was thanks to the image-making Geum Taeyang had done so skillfully at the previous social gathering that tongues had wagged.
Even so, Alfonso didn’t seem particularly anxious. This snake-like man had an ace up his sleeve.
‘Since the opponents are noblewomen, he’s planning to use that.’
Geum Taeyang already knew what Alfonso intended to present as his trump card.
“Please look at this chart. These are the specific incidents in which merchant caravans of our Grace Kingdom were attacked after the defendant Cassandra took the position of Great Chief.”
It was none other than evidence of the damage suffered by Grace Kingdom merchant caravans that had been attacked by the Ragnarok tribe. After all, it was a fact that the Ragnarok tribe had been attacking Grace caravans for a long time. And these weren’t ordinary attacks—they were revenge scenes filled with genuine hostility.
“H-How could this be…!”
“I had no idea about these facts…”
“There were that many casualties? It wasn’t just simple caravan raids?”
The noblewomen on the jury murmured among themselves as Alfonso’s planned trump card attack landed. Noble ladies rarely encountered such information in their daily lives—they had only heard vague stories like “some raids happened” or “a few people died.” Honestly, it was the kind of story they usually had little interest in and preferred not to hear.
But now, completely immersed in the trial, they reacted as dynamically as housewives watching a trashy drama.
Swish…!
At the murmurs, Cassandra quietly closed her eyes. It was a feeling that this could not be overturned. A feeling of acceptance.
‘He’s arranged everything so neatly.’
On the other hand, Geum Taeyang—who had boldly declared he would save the Ragnarok tribe—overflowed with composure, as if all his screws had come loose.
“Therefore, you must not be deceived by their current appearance. If we let them live and send them away as they are, Grace will continue to suffer economic and human losses.”
Alfonso looked quite satisfied with the jury’s agitation. With a charismatic expression, he pointed accusingly at the defendants’ side and concluded his attack turn.
“Defense counsel, please respond.”
Judge Count MacArthur gave Geum Taeyang, the defense lawyer for the Ragnarok tribe, the opportunity to speak.
“Hmm…”
Geum Taeyang looked at the data Alfonso’s side had displayed through the magic stone prompt.
“The contents are accurate. During that period, the Ragnarok tribe’s raids on the Grace Kingdom were quite significant. They’ve decreased somewhat now, but it’s an undeniable fact nonetheless.”
While saying this, he uttered words that were extremely disadvantageous as a defense lawyer.
“But there’s a question. Chief Cassandra Viola’s reign has lasted a full twenty-three years, yet this data only lists the conflicts from the fourteenth year onward, with the first nine years deleted.”
It was a buildup. For a more dramatic rebuttal. Having done so much gaslighting, Geum Taeyang’s rebuttal skills had naturally improved as well.
Alfonso’s eyes twitched at Geum Taeyang’s point. Just as Geum Taeyang said, Cassandra’s reign was twenty-three years. But the noblewomen on the jury wouldn’t know that. Most male nobles didn’t either. If they were shown fourteen years’ worth of data, they would simply assume she had reigned for fourteen years.
In other words, Alfonso had deliberately omitted the first nine years.
“Now, this is the conflict data between the Grace Kingdom and the Ragnarok tribe that I received from Princess Jasmine. The prosecution likely based their case on this data as well, correct? This defense counsel has added the first nine years of the Great Chief’s reign and the twenty years prior to her taking power.”
Displaying smart charisma, Geum Taeyang brought up another prompt on the opposite side of Alfonso’s magic stone prompt.
“Ooh…!”
“The trend is quite extreme…?”
The jurors murmured again after seeing the data Geum Taeyang had presented.
“That’s right. Up until the ninth year of Chief Cassandra’s reign, conflicts with Grace were significantly fewer compared to later years. Not only that, but compared to the twenty years before Cassandra became Great Chief, they were even fewer.”
It was because, in the chronologically organized table, the raids on Grace Kingdom caravans were notably low from the first year to the ninth year of Cassandra’s rule.
The murmurs grew louder.
“Mmm…!!”
After Geum Taeyang’s explanation, the jury and spectators murmured even more, while Alfonso and the prosecution looked extremely displeased.
“Why do you think that was? Could you tell us, Chief Cassandra?”
Against the backdrop of the murmurs, Geum Taeyang asked Cassandra in the defendant’s seat for the reason. It was to create a dramatic effect by hearing it from Cassandra’s own mouth, even though he already knew.
“By the blessing of the Life Tree, I was granted many abilities. One of them was the power to make a certain area of land fertile.”
Cassandra began answering calmly. She had become Great Chief at the age of seventeen. What made it possible was the unprecedented authority she received from the Life Tree—namely, the power called Breath of the Earth.
Breath of the Earth was a great magic that made land fertile, capable of turning even a certain scale of sandy desert into cultivable farmland.
“So we no longer felt the need to rely on raids for survival. Moreover, to engage in farming, a stable workforce was necessary, and if raids continued alongside it, population loss would become a major problem. Therefore, we inevitably chose farming over raiding.”
Fundamentally, Cassandra was a moderate. She understood her tribe’s hostility toward humans, but she could not stand by and watch the small population of the Ragnarok tribe continue to die on the battlefield because of it. Thus, she chose cultivation through her own power rather than raids, and continued to reduce the proportion of raids until that system took root.
“Your Honor, I submit evidence. Please examine this ledger showing the changes in the amount of grain the Ragnarok tribe purchased through intermediaries and judge the credibility of the defendant’s statement.”
Having drawn out Cassandra’s answer, Geum Taeyang walked to the judge with a model-like stride and handed over the ledger as evidence.
“Hmm… This ledger carries considerable credibility. May the prosecution examine it as well?”
“Of course.”
After reviewing the ledger, Count MacArthur nodded slowly with a positive reaction.
“I fully understand what the defense is trying to say. However, what matters in the end is that the Ragnarok tribe resumed raiding, Your Honor. Whether they were not satisfied with farming alone, or whether they missed the life of fighting every other day… In the end, aren’t they warlike barbarians?”
Even Alfonso could see that the ledger’s contents meant the Ragnarok tribe no longer needed to rely on raids. Feeling a sense of crisis, he strongly reiterated his claim, even resorting to racial discrimination.
“I agree. This defense counsel is also a barbarian. A very warlike one. They may have missed battle. But what if there was another reason? What if they were forced to resume raiding against their will?”
Such personal attacks were nothing more than something for Geum Taeyang to savor like refreshing soda.
“Right here, at this point in time, the Ragnarok tribe fought a rather large battle. But officially, since it had nothing to do with the Grace Kingdom, it isn’t recorded in this data.”
The reason this was possible was because, in addition to his crazy intuition, Geum Taeyang had predicted how Alfonso would struggle and had prepared content to refute it.
Geum Taeyang pointed to the section on his prepared magic stone prompt where the Ragnarok tribe’s raids had dropped to around five percent before suddenly surging again.
“It was the battle against the Black Wolf Bandits.”
During that period, one of the Ragnarok tribe’s villages had been attacked by the Black Wolf Bandits, resulting in hundreds of casualties.
“That is ultimately just trouble between the Black Wolf Bandits and the Ragnarok tribe. It cannot possibly justify any conflict with our Grace Kingdom!”
—Thud!!
At Geum Taeyang’s words, Alfonso jumped to his feet as if a seizure button had been pressed and refuted him.
“Do you really think so? Are you saying the Grace Kingdom had no involvement in the great battle between the Black Wolf and the Ragnarok tribe, Prosecutor Alfonso?”
Step, step, step. Geum Taeyang, a man who knew how to create a scene, walked slowly and deliberately toward the center of the courtroom as if he had been waiting for this moment.
“Not at all. They were deeply and blatantly involved. Especially—”
—Thud!
Then he pointed his finger at someone.
“The Granada family. The core of the hardline faction in the Noble Alliance—you, the Granada family, are deeply connected.”
The mastermind behind the Black Wolf Bandits’ invasion of the Ragnarok tribe was none other than the Granada family.