#answermetatertot

The prosecutor cleared his throat, and began.

"As you know, 4 lunar cycles ago, a terrorist attack broke out at the Sunstar Kingdom square. Over 300 civilians died, including some of the empire's military force. We believe Apollo Arms Co. holds much of the guilt for these reasons:"

The prosecutor made eye contact with Hercules, his father, and then back to the judge.

"One; one of the leaders of the terrorist organization confessed that he had dealings with the father. They agreed to be part of the illegal weapons trade so as long as they got a cut of the profits. This has come to affect lower income areas of the capital, making crime in the area surge as a result. They made more money from the illegal trade than they did legally selling the weapons."

"Two; almost all of the confiscated weapons were models that only Apollo Arms Co. produce and sell. These weren't weapons just meant for civilian use but also military use as well. Military grade weapons were also found with their ID numbers sanded off, as well as the regular weapons."

"Three; there were written agreements between not only that one group alone but also other, smaller underground trades. With these reasons alone, we believe that their motivation was profit rather than the protection of the people. Not only that, but they violated the rights of the people and of the reigning authority of The Crown."

The prosecutor finished sharing the evidence, and sat back down. Other members of the royal court, such as Tater Tot, Jakob and Dema sat parallel to where the judge sat, on the curving balconies of the court. They observed and listened to the proceedings.

Tater tot looked paler than usual, and Dema had dark circles under her eyes.

"I now call the defense to the stand to contest these claims." The judge said, and the defendant stepped up. "How do you contest the first claim?"

"Firstly, I would like to call into question the validity of the terrorist leader's testimony. There are many ways that the statement from the terrorist leader could have been faked, for example through the offer of a lighter sentence through confession or coercion. Not to mention, this confession was from a terrorist. They do not care for their own or others lives, completely disregarding all law making anything they say highly unreliable." The defendant kept looking back at Christopher as he spoke.

"There is no formal record of a meeting, so there is no concrete proof that they ever met directly. This is supported by the fact that the terrorist did not specify any specific dealings or what transpired during their supposed meetings."

The defense looked at the prosecutors, then back at the judge.

"I will not deny that Apollo Arms has seen great financial success in recent times. However, I argue that it is from successful legal business rather than 'Illegal trade'. The company is a weapons manufacturing business, which provides arms to the military, the law enforcement, and private weapons dealers. From the results of the investigations, it's clear that the overwhelming majority of illegal weaponry acquired by the terrorists was obtained through these private weapon dealers in such a way that the company had little hand in it.

As for the profits, the weapons had already been sold to these private dealers for an agreed upon rate in a legal manner. As such, the argument that these profits came from 'illegal trade' are false."

The defense presented data showing the corporations profits, and it aligned with what he was arguing. Only a miniscule percentage relative to the overall sales were explicitly in direct 'illegal' deals.

"For the small portion of weapons that were inarguably traded 'illegally', there is no evidence that Mr. Valios had any knowledge of the deals. Evidence shows that these deals were carried through out people working on the production line and the managers overseeing it."

The defense finished presenting the defense for the first argument of the prosecutors. "I call the prosecutor to the stand once again to uphold their argument in light of the defendant's evidence."

At the back of the courtroom, Diane sat along with her majesty's personal butler: Leon. Diane was there, as she was a point of reference for the inner workings of company management. Leon..? he was there because it was his job to be there. He happened to be sitting next to her when he heard her laugh under her breath.

"what are you doing?? if the judge saw you laughing he could kick you out." Leon quietly whispered, making sure to do it quietly enough to where nobody could hear.

She looked at him for a second. Furrowing her brows, but still smiling, she replied:

"I don't care..?" Diane almost laughed.

"Same old, same old. You know how many times I've been called into something like this? 'Case closed, I do think that whatever happened was on purpose. Maybe not by Hercules but his father. The man has done other stuff." Diane sighed.

"...You say that like this is just some normal thing, how many times have you been called into stuff like this?"

She smirked.

"This will be my 5th case this year."

"...huh." He mumbled, wondering what was up with her.

The prosecutor cleared his throat.

"Even if that was the case, it still doesn't explain the sanded-off ID numbers on both military grade weapons & the regular weapons. And, on top of that, the terrorist did not say he went through a third party; he said that it was with the company itself."

"We have both a written and recorded confession, and photos of the weapons. Statistics can be toyed with, but not cold, hard evidence." The prosecutor smugly ended his statement.

"..Oh yeah, they're digging into the sucker." Diane whispered to Leon.

"They?"

"The prosecutors represent the crown, remember?"

"Like I would know. I'm rarely in here."

"Shame."

"....Shame? I thought you didn't like being here?"

"I don't, but it can be entertaining."

"...Alright."

The defense fired back in response. "Hard evidence is exactly what is lacking here. The point about the sanded off ID numbers does not strongly contribute to the case, as it could have been done by either the terrorists themselves to cover their traces or by the arms dealers so that the weapons can't be traced back to them... Quite frankly it would be nonsensical for Apollo to do so themselves during the time the weapons were in their hands, considering it would leave a gap in the exported weapon's serial numbers. As you should know, the investigations revealed no such gap in outgoing shipment records. When it comes to the confession, it really boils down to if you trust the words of a terrorist."

"We never said the company itself sanded off the ID numbers themselves; that would be an immature and, quite frankly, stupid claim. We are saying that the company's written agreement with them, in tandem with the evidence of the guns, points to prove the intention of the purchase, says that the company knew what was going on and was not blindsided. It's insulting that you take the Imperial court & her majesty as an easily swayed audience."

The judge tapped the gavel once, speaking up. "To uphold professionalism in this court, I would advise against personal attacks against the opposing party's attorney."

"That is all, proceed." He tapped it again.

"-I am not trying to sway the audience, I am simply trying to defend my client." The defense replied.

"- You still haven't addressed the direct dealings with Mr. Valios' father." The prosecutor interrupted him.

"I request for the court to present the written agreement in full detail." The defense asked.

"Request granted. Please display the written agreement." The judge replied.

On the screen, on the left wall to the judge, the written agreement was displayed. The document itself looked pretty official. The agreement was signed by Hercules' father & the aforementioned leader of the terrorist organization.

The defense attorney spoke up. "As evidenced by the document, the terrorist group's leader did indeed sign the document. However, there is more than meets the eye with the deal."

"I ask that you draw your attention to the top of the document, where it is indicated that this type of agreement is standard procedure for a deal with a PMC." The top of the document was blown up to better see the writing.

"The terrorist did not make his intention known to Mr. Valios, rather, he hid under the guise of being a representative of this faux company."

"Even if that is the case, why didn't he verify the company? With a company so large and robust, failure to do proper screening could lead to disasters like this." The prosecutor pressed on.

This was just enough to tip the scales and put pressure back onto the defendant's side. "..Even if verifications are set up, it's still quite possible for certain things to slip through the cracks-"

The prosecutor shook his head.

"No. That is not an excuse. The government holds a database of every single verified company in the empire. Searching it up would have taken less than five minutes to do."

The judge spoke up once again.

"It would appear that another investigation is in order before this case can proceed. As such, I will postpone the sentencing until one week from now when said investigation is complete."

"Case adjourned." The judge hit the gavel once more.

As people filed out of the courtroom, some among the population whispering among each other, Leon began to talk to Diane again.

"Would you still call this 'just another case'?" Leon whispered to Diane.

"Yes"

Diane sighed in response, as if he was crazy.

He sighed. "From the way you're acting the moon could fall out of the sky and you'd still probably say it's nothing special."

Diane shrugged.

"I've been through.. so much crazier things. And to think the same dumb disputes that happen on Earth happens here?" She laughed.

"-Well, I guess we'll see the conclusion of this case next week."

"I don't get why you are so interested."

"And I don't get why you aren't. I get that you see interesting stuff and all, but it isn't every day that the head of one of the biggest weapons manufacturing companies in the empire gets busted like this."

"There isn't a terrorist attack on the capitol every day either."

Diane shrugged.

"If I was as interested as you in everything, I'd always be stressed out."

"So you just shut your brain off and keep moving forward? That's one way to live I guess."

"Everyone does it. That's how you get a job you're stuck with for most of your life. You look up, you're almost retired and you've wasted your life in an office."

"That seems like a pretty boring way to live your life if you ask me." He replied, thinking about what she said.

"Well, that's where you get your muses from. Sex, drinking, eating, gambling, watching TV all the time, heavily involving yourself in religious stuff." Diane leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs.

"I don't exactly know what mine is. I sleep a lot and wish to do things I could probably do... But I hold myself back for whatever reason."

He shrugged. “You’ll know when the time is right, I’m sure you’ve got something you’d love to do.”

Diane sighed, shrugging. She dug in her pocket, and pulled out a cigarette and a lighter.

"Do you work at the palace?"

“Mhm. I’m guessing you do too?”

Diane nodded.

"I'm some kind of manager. I deal with people acting stupid."

She lit her cigarette and took a deep breath, then exhaled. She held the cigarette between her fingers, and looked off into the distance.

He didn’t say anything, enjoying the moment of peace.

If there was nothing that need to be said, why say anything?

Tater tot walked by, looking pale and speaking with a certain kind of wobble in her voice.

"...oh my lunar.. they're going to overthrow the government."

Tater tot began to fall over, but Dema caught her just before she could hit anything.

🩰 Adellum's Diary (graphic webnovel) 🩰

From left to right: tater tot, tobias, diane, dema, hercules, and leon.

🍰My Rosepeach (Webnovel)🍰 characters: (wip)

Book 1: My Rosepeach

Book 2: (soon)