The Rogue Prosecutor's Survival Guide in Another World - Episode 17: The Objection (Part 3)
The seating arrangement for the criminal courtroom felt oddly distinctive.
Unlike the civil trials where the parties face the judge directly for persuasion, criminal trials place the prosecutor and defendant facing each other.
The difference stems from the relationships between the parties, the level of state involvement, and the style of argument.
Civil cases often begin with grievances like “They stole my money” or “They breached the contract,” so the positions of plaintiff and defendant are equal and public power does not intervene.
It is simply a dispute between two individuals to be resolved by the court acting as impartial referee.
Therefore the plaintiff and defendant sit side by side and each states what they wish to convey, while the judge who sits as referee faces both sides to hear the opposing arguments in balance.
In contrast, criminal cases involve the prosecutor—acting as the representative of public interest—attacking to prove the defendant’s guilt, while the defendant defends himself to prove his innocence.
That is why the defendant is placed in a separate seat to receive the help of counsel, while being questioned from a controlled position, whereas the prosecutor, as part of public power, sits near the court panel to push the charges.
Some shout about the principle of innocent until proven guilty and cry that the unusual layout of the criminal courtroom is unfair.
But…
Is the seating arrangement really the issue?
Isn’t every problem rooted in people?
I saw a silver-haired elf rising from the defendant’s seat and heading toward the witness stand.
Unlike ordinary criminals, his face overflowed with self-assurance.
“Prosecutor, begin the defendant’s questioning.”
I buttoned the top button of my suit jacket as I approached the defendant.
“Defendant, were you acquainted with the victim before?”
The defendant’s microphone turned red.
“No.”
“The defendant knows that the victim worked at that café for one year, correct?”
“I do not.”
“The defendant often visited the café where the victim worked?”
“Objection. The prosecutor is subtly changing the same question and repeating it.”
The elf’s attorney spoke into the microphone while still seated.
“Acknowledged. Please avoid repetitive questions from the prosecution side.”
The human-judge’s quiet remark made me take a photo from the file and say,
“Defendant, this axe was a graduation gift from your parents, wasn’t it?”
“Yes.”
The silver-haired elf leaned close to the microphone and answered.
“The defendant’s father is the deputy chief of the Gilorian National Tax Office, Gonzalez, and his mother is the chairperson of the academy foundation, Anne, correct?”
The elf’s attorney shot up from his seat and shouted.
“Objection. The prosecutor is questioning the defendant’s background unrelated to this case and distorting the essence of the trial.”
“Acknowledged. Proceed with questions only about the charges.”
After issuing a warning with his index finger, the human-judge continued the trial.
The jurors began carefully examining the silver-haired elf.
Incidentally, the jurors had been prepped to have no knowledge of the victim or defendant’s background before entering the courtroom.
“Defendant, do you know who made this axe?”
I enlarged the evidence photo of the axe so the jury could see it clearly.
The handle bore the crisp signature of the renowned Bernhard, master of the Gilorian Empire.
Curiosity flickered in the jurors’ pupils.
“Yes.”
“Please tell us directly.”
“It is the axe of Master Bernhard.”
The jury and the audience stirred.
The journalists’ cameras flashed nonstop.
“Yes, that is correct. It is the axe of Master Bernhard. It is famous for rarely accepting requests and is said to number fewer than one hundred even within the Empire. Defendant, do you know the price of Bernhard’s axe?”
“I do not.”
A short answer from the silver elf came from behind the microphone.
“Yes, that is correct. The price is unknown. The Bernhard axe has never been sold on the market and has never been traded, but recently an axe by the eleventh disciple of Bernhard, known as Baduru Ironhand, was auctioned and sold for 1.2 billion cramps at the time.”
A low sigh escaped from the spectators.
“But the defendant always carries a legendary axe that cannot even be priced?”
The defendant’s microphone stayed silent.
I looked straight at the judge.
“Defendant, answer.”
The judge’s indifferent voice flowed out.
“Not always.”
The defendant’s microphone lit briefly.
A short answer, then immediately extinguished.
“Then why did you bring the Bernhard axe on the day of the incident?”
“Objection.”
“It concerns evidence.”
“Overruled. Defendant, answer.”
The human-judge said shortly.
The silver-haired elf paused briefly before stating,
“…For self-defense.”
“You carried an expert’s axe whose price you cannot even calculate to go to a brunch café for self-defense? In the middle of Clovan City protected by the Capital Defense Command? What were you defending against?”
The attorney’s rear end twitched.
He spun the reasons for objection in his mind but found nothing particularly to draw out.
“Defendant, I ask again. Did you know that the victim worked at that café on the day of the incident?”
“Objection. Repetitive question.”
“Acknowledged.”
The judge’s microphone lit briefly.
“Defendant, did you ever harass members of other races in school?”
“Objection.”
“Acknowledged.”
“Defendant, did you hunt or kill members of other races in the military?”
“Objection.”
“Acknowledged.”
“Defendant, are you a racial supremacist?”
“Objection!”
The attorney stood up in a fit.
As expected.
“Acknowledged. Prosecutor, refrain from offensive remarks.”
I did not wait for the defendant’s answer and began unfolding the file to read.
“According to the records, the defendant committed rape and assault in 2019, injury in 2020, and destruction of public property in the winter of that year at the Juvenile Elf Academy. Last winter he received an honorable discharge after indiscriminate assault on his unit members.”
“Objection!!”
The attorney’s face was now flushed as he shouted into the microphone.
“The victim’s criminal record has no bearing on this case.”
“No. The rape-assault victim was a minor goblin, the injury victim was also a goblin, and the item broken in the Juvenile Elf Academy at the time was also made by a goblin.
The victim of that incident was a goblin who also broke one of the academy’s cleaners’ bones when the defendant threw the object, and that cleaner was also a goblin.
And the victim last year in the military was a goblin whom the defendant locked with a leash and wrapped in chains for sixteen hours and forced to eat feces.”
Even the journalists’ hands typing on their notebooks fell silent.
“Defendant, do you think the goblin race should be eliminated?”
The silver-haired elf glared at me sharply.
His eyes were filled with hatred.
“Defendant, do you think goblins will one day destroy you? Are you afraid of goblins?”
I stood up and shot the defendant a sharp look before changing my expression and turning toward the judge.
“Respected Judge, and all the jurors. The defendant is a racial supremacist harboring deep hatred toward the goblin race.
And this case may be nothing more than a small attempt to practice racial discrimination.
The goblin victim is still fighting for his life, and the families of the ten victims are desperately praying for the victim’s survival, but…”
The Gilorian Empire strictly forbids discrimination based on race, and this discrimination includes the right to be free from suppression of body, religion, thought, and so on.
I paused briefly and pointed at the silver-haired elf.
“This defendant is currently in direct violation of the constitutional values of the Gilorian Empire and at the same time is trying to shake the Empire’s founding ideology to its core. Respected Judge, and all the jurors, I earnestly request that you sentence him with the utmost severity considering the cruelty and seriousness of this crime.”
I exhaled and met the eyes of the judge and each juror one by one.
A skill far different from simply unbuttoning a suit jacket.
I conveyed my trust and passion to them.
At that moment, a slight noise came from the witness stand.
A small argument between the defendant trying to stand and the attorney desperately trying to stop him.
But victory always belongs to the client.
The silver-haired elf rose from his seat and raised his chin high as he pressed his mouth to the microphone.
“Honestly, is there anyone who doesn’t think goblins are garbage?”
The spectator stands rumbled loudly.
“I have the freedom and right to live without mixing with other races. This is not a right unique to me. It is the same for other races.”
The hands of the reporter-spectators began to work busily.
“Is it even a correct policy and ideology to artificially mix races that have developed their own history in their own territories and thereby eliminate their unique races?
Those who believe there will be no conflict or struggle between races are either hypocrites or liars, one or the other.
I believe it is only right for me to remain forever isolated from those who harm my race’s unique nature.
Society has no right to force this upon me, and I have neither reason nor ecological grounds to be forced to follow it.”
The silver elf’s neck veins bulged.
Among the nodding spectators, some tilted their heads repeatedly.
“If this is left unchecked, someday there may come a day when races mix bodies. I fear such a society will come.”
An elf with a long silver beard rose from the spectator stands and shouted.
“Terrible words.”
“Our women will mix with other races.”
The elf’s dignified expression changed to ugly in an instant as he wore high-class attire.
“Racial supremacist.”
“Despicable elves.”
“Insolent. They don’t even know what law is.”
The spectator stands became noisy with each person’s words.
“Silence.”
The human-judge’s gavel fell, but the noise did not subside.
The silver-haired elf pushed through the commotion and continued,
“I will clearly state this. If it comes to that dimension, I would be fine being called a racial supremacist. I am not ashamed of my convictions. Someone must ring the bell. If you are a leader, when society goes down the wrong path you must sacrifice your own body to stop it. Therefore I, representing the elf race, fulfilled my defensive duty against the goblins, so I have no crime.”
The spectator stands burst into shouts.
Controlling the people shouting became impossible.
The attorney lowered his head with a sigh.
“No further additional opinions from either side. The trial ends today.”
The human-judge’s voice disappeared like smoke amid the noisy courtroom.
* * *
After that, two more trial dates were held and the testimony of ten witnesses was conducted.
Not long after, a verdict was handed down and the defendant was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and a fine of forty million cramps.
However, taking into account that he fully compensated the victim’s medical expenses and deposited a substantial amount for mental damages, he was given a two-year suspended sentence and eighty hours of community service.
On that day the silver-haired elf was released and returned to his own home.
Incidentally, the silver-haired elf never visited the goblins once after the incident.
The goblins would face three major surgeries in the future.
During the proceedings of that case I made a vow to create a hobby.
This was because the Zeo Blood office was subjected to endless tedious tax audits after the verdict and would be unable to work for a while.
It was also what I had expected.
“What is this?”
Borin the Blacksmith sent a gift.
I could not precisely determine whether it was a token of gratitude for accepting the goblin case or a gift of apology for the tax audit.