Shaking those stray thoughts out of his head, Marco answered Cobra.
And it was the truth.
No matter whether Kinana would ultimately be sentenced or not, she definitely would not receive the death penalty.
With Jellal's case already established as precedent, that much was basically certain.
"..."
After hearing Marco's words, Cobra quieted down.
Marco's words carried a lot of weight with him. In Cobra's view, someone as powerful as Marco was obviously the one in charge—the one whose word mattered most.
And that wasn't really wrong. Marco's opinion did carry enormous weight.
Now that he had set the tone regarding Cubellios's case, everyone else would have to take that into account when the discussion began later.
Their deliberations would all be built on that foundation.
After all, no one wanted to pick a fight with Marco over something like this.
Besides, there was already precedent. Jellal was sitting right there in the witness stand.
"With a unanimous vote, the verdict is now officially declared: Cobra is sentenced to death, to be carried out immediately!"
The voting went very quickly.
The "Poison Dragon" Cobra was also sentenced to death. After receiving Marco's assurance, Cobra made no further fuss.
He admitted to every crime, including those that involved Kinana.
Cobra took everything onto himself, shouldering all the blame and refusing to mention Kinana's role in any of it.
As Kinana's master, that approach was actually quite effective. He successfully helped reduce her share of the blame.
After all, Kinana had always acted alongside Cobra, and every crime tied to her was closely linked to something Cobra had done.
That was also one of the reasons the faction within Fairy Tail that supported a lighter sentence—or even total innocence—kept arguing on her behalf.
Everything Kinana did had been under Cobra's orders as her master.
She had no self-awareness at the time and could only act on snake instinct, like a blade in Cobra's hand.
And who ever sentenced a knife for being guilty?
Cobra was dragged away, and next up was Hoteye.
The man stood straight-backed, looking almost heroic, like he would rather die than bow his head.
"This guy..."
Looking at Hoteye, Marco recalled what Erza had told him before.
Judging by Hoteye's face—especially that oddly blocky, almost assembled-looking bone structure—it was easy to draw a conclusion: he was Wally Buchanan's brother.
The resemblance between the two was just too strong.
And that was indeed the truth.
Hoteye was Wally Buchanan's older brother—the very brother Wally had always been searching for.
As someone who had once been one of Wally Buchanan's close companions, Erza had naturally recognized him.
So she had told Marco.
It wasn't because she wanted Marco to spare Hoteye.
Erza wasn't that kind of person.
She simply wanted to ask Marco to pass along some news to Hoteye—news about his younger brother, Wally Buchanan.
"With a unanimous vote, the verdict is now officially declared: Hoteye is sentenced to death, to be carried out immediately!"
Hoteye's sentencing was finished quickly as well.
These top members of Oración Seis were naturally anything but clean. Not a single one of them was innocent, so the rulings came fast.
"Hoteye, your younger brother has already been saved. He's traveling the world now with the companions who escaped from the Tower of Heaven. He may even still be looking for you, his older brother. Is there anything you want me to tell him? I can pass it on for you."
Since Erza had asked him, Marco naturally didn't neglect it.
The moment the ruling was finished, he spoke.
The reason he waited until after the verdict, of course, was because he didn't want to influence anyone else's judgment.
His influence was simply too great.
If Marco started making moves beforehand and people got the impression he was hinting at something, and then they ended up voting to spare Hoteye, that would have been ridiculous.
"..."
Hoteye, who had been sitting upright and facing death calmly, completely changed expression the moment he heard Marco's words.
He suddenly leaned forward and stared in Marco's direction.
"Is... is that true?!"
Hoteye's face was full of disbelief. He stared at Marco, desperate for a clear confirmation.
"Of course. Why would I lie to a man who's about to die?"
Marco nodded.
He really didn't mind passing along a message for him. In fact, if there had been time to find Wally Buchanan, Marco could have simply arranged for the brothers to meet.
But life was unpredictable. Maybe this was the better ending after all.
"A... message?"
After the initial surge of emotion, Hoteye fell silent and thought.
"Forget it. Don't tell him who I am. Even if he keeps searching for me forever, that's still better than letting him know everything I've done."
After considering it for a while, Hoteye made his choice.
He didn't want his younger brother tied to him in any way.
Since his brother had already started living a normal life again, then he should stay far away from all the right and wrong surrounding Hoteye—from all the grudges tied to him.
"All right. As you wish."
Marco nodded and said nothing more.
"...Thank you."
Hoteye fell silent for a moment, then instantly understood.
The reason Marco hadn't mentioned his younger brother's name aloud was because he didn't want to expose his identity and allow Hoteye's enemies to go after him.
That was also a form of warning.
For that, Hoteye naturally owed him thanks.
Marco only nodded.
He hadn't done it for Hoteye's sake, he simply didn't want trouble to fall on Erza's former companion.
If Wally Buchanan got killed by one of Hoteye's enemies, Erza would definitely be heartbroken.
Then she would certainly go after revenge, and that would turn into yet another pile of trouble.
Even though Marco's ability to foresee the future couldn't reach that far down the timeline, just thinking about it already felt like a headache.
All he could say was that the relationships between these people were hopelessly tangled. Everyone had ties and grudges with everyone else.
The Tower of Heaven was carrying one hell of a burden.
Looking both dispirited and oddly relieved, Hoteye was taken away.
Then Racer was brought up. As expected, he too was sentenced to death without any suspense.
He came up, went through the motions, and was dragged off.
And then, naturally, came the real centerpiece of the trial:
Brain, the founder of Oración Seis, the man known as their "Master," the former director of the Magic Development Bureau, and also the destroyer known as Zero, was finally brought before the tribunal.
Of course, Brain looked miserable.
He was badly wounded and had nearly died on the spot.
They had only just barely managed to save him.
As he was now, even appearing in court was difficult for him.
He had to be carried in on a stretcher.
This once-arrogant "Master of Oración Seis" had probably never imagined that one day, he would end up like this.
---------
Read 50 chapters ahead and support me on patreon.
patreon (.)com/Newbietranslator