Ultimate Gamer System: Factory Must Grow!

Chapter 35 Screw it all, we ball!

"You may now enter the council chamber."

Following the official order from the Grand Chamberlain of the imperial court, the two guards dressed in the imperial colors pulled their halberds out of the way.

It was all but an act of ceremony given how not even Callane could break through the solid, steel-reinforced doors leading inside.

Still, in the imperial capital, formalities were everything. According to the long line of emperors, it was this extremely complex and convoluted set of different formalities and ceremonies that kept the naturally unruly nobles in line.

For Callane, however, an heiress of the house Perell that built its fortune out in the borderlands by doing away with the usual noble nonsense, those ceremonies were nothing more than the way through which imperial officials tried to elevate themselves above the actual nobles.

"I will be going, then," Callane turned her head to Osman, the chief of her personal guards.

"May your words beat some sense into those idiots," Osman smirked, caring not for the looks of discontent and outright disgust the court guards gave him in response.

As a commoner in theory, he wasn't bound by the imperial ceremonials. Yet, as the holder of the seventh-degree imperial favor, he was pretty much immune to the wrath of all but the great dukes, grand officials, and, of course, the imperial family themselves.

And it went without saying, neither the guards of the court nor even the councilmen inside of the chamber had the necessary qualifications to so much as rebuke him for his words.

"My lady..." the court's Grand Chamberlain urged Callane, not even batting an eye at her chief guard's remark, "if you could..."

"Yes, yes," Callane stood up from her seat and dusted off the bottom of her simple skirt before moving up to the doors and then pushing them open as she stepped inside.

"Lady Callane of the house Perell!" The Grand Chamberlain announced in a hefty voice, only to then bow to the panel of six high nobles that made up the court's council assigned to Callane's plea before raising back up and retreating outside while moving backward.

While but middling nobles themselves, while seated on the panel, those judges supposedly represented the imperial authority. As such, it would be unbecoming of the Chamberlain to show them his back, for it would mean turning his back to the empire itself.

"The hearing shall now begin," the presiding leader of the council announced from his seat at the middle of the long table, only to then gesture at the simple seat placed right in front of it.

Pressing her lips together not to flare out right away, Callane obediently sat down on the chair before raising her eyes to scan the judges.

'Only two belong to the anti-Evilbane faction, so there's still a chance for things to go well,' she thought, already committing everyone's faces to memory.

According to the official regulations, the judges were obligated to abandon their personal agendas and serve as nothing more than the arbitrators of the imperial law. Conversely, those who stood before them were obligated not to feel any grievance or gratitude towards those judges, regardless of the judging outcome.

It was a lofty ideal... that neither side had any plans of following.

"What is your plea, Lady Callane?" the presiding judge asked from the slight elevation of his intricately decorated chair.

"I've come to plead justice for Theodore Evilbane," Callane answered without even a bit of hesitation.

Not mercy. Not leniency.

Justice.

"The kin-slayer?" Gracios, the presiding judge, leaned back in his chair with a weirded look on his face. "What justice could you seek for the one bearing the blood of his born brother?"

A set of murmurs filled the small chamber as the rest of the judges started to whisper among themselves.

"I came to argue his sentence went against the very idea of imperial benediction. The execution by exile was a fitting punishment for his crime, no doubt," Callane gulped down her own pride as she admitted and outright approved the absolute lie she just uttered, "yet," she then raised her face and looked at Gracian along the bridge of her nose. "It is the period of his punishment that goes against the very idea of cleansing oneself of the weight of the crime committed."

When it came to the sentence Theodore suffered, Callane knew there was absolutely no point in disputing it.

As corrupt of a verdict as it was and a result of the imperial judge accepting a hefty bribe from the great houses interested in the downfall of the Evilbane dukedom... She wasn't stupid enough to bring forth such an accusation smack-dab in the middle of the imperial capital!

"Is that so?"

Contrary to how she felt on the inside, when she snapped... she actually calmed down. She slowly rose up from her chair only to circle behind it and rest her hands against its backrest as she leaned forth, turning her eyes to Holron, staring at the man for a moment before moving her eyes to the next judge.

One by one, she once again committed everyone's faces to her memory, sparing neither the traditionalists, the silent neutrals, and especially not the sneering two on the left of the council's panel.

"Then, since this council has no plans to rectify the injustice imposed by the faulty system, I shall be the one to do it myself," she stated coldly, without a single iota of emotion appearing on her face. Then, as if by the touch of a magic wand, an extremely cold smile crept up on her lips as the fires in her eyes now matched the fiery color of her long, slightly curly hair.

"Oh, and I will be sure to write to my father about what transpired here," Callane stated as her smile took on outright evil notes while her eyes turned into narrow slits. "I can bet he will be delighted to learn what views his former business partners represent."

Saying not another word, Callane turned around and, ignoring the imperial etiquette, walked out of the room with her back to the judges.

"... former...?"

Chasing after her was but a single word from Gracios as he echoed the lone detail of her parting sentence, a word that turned silent when the heavy doors slammed closed behind her.

"My lady," Osman raised his eyes as soon as he saw the woman storm out of the council chamber, his face instantly turning serious when he saw the look of silent fury on her face. "What do we..."

Walking up a few more steps, Callane suddenly stopped in her tracks as she clenched her fists and looked down.

"I've never wanted this," she stated silently, as if speaking to herself. "I've never wanted to unleash our legions," she whispered, spitting her words through her teeth.

"Together with the Evilbanes, we banished the poverty out in the imperial frontier. But those damned nobles..."

Callane shook her head, her breath hastening as her emotions started to grow.

"They betrayed our houses... No, they betrayed everyone!" her voice grew louder, forcing Osman to put his hand down on the handle of his sword as he stared coldly at the nearby imperial guards, putting them in place before they would get any weird ideas.

"They stole the power from His Majesty and lied about it to us all." Callane's voice grew louder with every word she spoke, her cheeks turning red from agitation. "This empire has only one chance to prosper, and if they won't let it come to pass..."

Callane finally raised her face, the fires of determination now burning so intensely in her eyes, they took on the fierce color of her long, curly hair.

Then, as she stared up at the corridor's ceiling...

"Then screw them all!"

Callane groaned from the bottom of her soul while smashing her fists into the nearby wall with enough strength to make the stones crack.

"From the streets of the capital to the fertile lands of the frontier..." she spat out, clenching her hand on the stone wall she just slammed so hard, her fingers literally left bloody marks on it. "I will let their fields burn. I will let their houses fall!"

By now, Callane was no longer whispering or even speaking out normally but stating her thoughts on the matter in a voice no lesser than a hateful scowl.

Then, she suddenly grew still and silent.

"And even if it takes the last drop of my blood," she lowered her voice to but a whisper as the fires in her eyes settled... setting up the fire to her soul instead. "I will see Theo freed once more."

Contrary to when Callane screamed her words of defiance out, it was only now that Osman's face turned white as his hand trembled a little.

For out of all the guards and imperial servants that either amused themselves with the show or simply waited for when Callane's words would cross the line and give them a reason to arrest her... only he knew what the fire in this woman's voice meant to all those she was talking about.

"And if I cannot save him from the schemes of those wicked bastards," Callane raised her face, the flames in her eyes now turning into stone-cold and deadly serious determination.

"Then I will let the whole empire burn."