Chapter 110
Nothing was as easy as it should be. The Iron Ring vers tried every trick in the book and even wrote some new ones to hide their crimes. Kohar was determined not only to win, but to do so resoundingly. She couldnt do it all on her own, but she didnt have to. Having four Spirit Building cultivators around just providing their presence was beneficial by providing a greater sense of legitimacy to her case- and the fact that they were from the Order of Ny-Nine Stars meant they couldnt bepletely ignored. It also meant that if Kohar was to mysteriously disappear things couldnt just be brushed under the rug, though she had taken steps to prevent that regardless. When by the end of the first month the four Spirit Building cultivators became five, Kohar found herself somewhat jealous. Was stepping into Spirit Building so easy? Perhaps she might ask for advice, but she had business to finish first.
The Iron Ring vers did their best to drag their feet, trying to stall or entirely prevent having to produce the required documents. They attempted to im that some of the people hadnt ever been sold to them. Kohar was certain they bribed some people to push back against thewsuit. She received a threatening letter which intended to consume itself after she read it, possibly explosively. Catarina spotted that and disabled it by slicing just a single line in the paper, which left them with a useful piece of evidence- though tracing it to the Iron Ring vers in a sense of legal proof might be difficult.
Everything that needed to be done was far too much work for one person, but Kohar didnt have to work alone. Anton Krantz had been part of the vige of Dungannon and was willing to throw <emrge</em> amounts of money her way. Kohar took her proper payment for her time, but even that part of it mostly went to the same ce as the rest- hiring additional hands. When they finally received documents, there were far too many for even a peak Body Tempering cultivator to read over in a reasonable amount of time. Most of them were unrted to the case or clearly falsified documents. It was frustrating that it took what was basically bribes to get proper sanctions against them and require them to produce the original documents, but at least the money was avable.
There wasnt just work to do in Veron, because she needed to notify every person who had bought one of them. They were basically threats disguised as legal missives, informing them that any further harm to befall any of the former vigers of Dungannon would be prosecuted to the fullest extent. It wasnt possible to punish them for previous actions as ve owners could do almost whatever they wished with a ve and they could, possibly legitimately, im that they bought the ves in good faith that everything was proper and legal. Preventing any further harm even before the end of the legal action was critical.
As time passed it became more clear to Kohar that they would be sessful, at least at the surface level. Those who still lived would be freed. The Iron Ring vers would be forced to refund the sale price for all of them. The ve owners mightin about that, but Kohar had already prepared to deal with them iming increases in value. Honestly she was ambivalent about whatever resulted from individual events of that sort, because whether the Iron Ring vers or the ve owners had the money it still supported the cause of very. What she was really pushing for was further penalties to the Iron Ring vers in the form of fines and restrictions, plus rpense for those who had been uwfully enved. Thetter of those was unfortunately not always required, but since it was <em>basically</em> intended to assuage cultivators if something happened to someone they knew there was actually a good chance to get some amount of payment- though ironically not nearly as much as the sale price of a ve.
The four younger cultivators disyed clear potential and the promise ofter difficulty if things didnt go their way, but Kohar personally found herself more concerned about Anton. Well, not actually concerned- none of his ire was directed towards her. Instead, it came out in his every movement as he stood in the courtroom. His face was calm, his back straight, and his heart murderous. Yet he was inplete control of his emotions, never reacting to provocations in anger.
Nobody was allowed to use their cultivation to suppress others in the courtroom. That was thew, but what it <em>practically</em> meant was that nobody was allowed to attack people or put physical pressure on them. Once Anton had seen what others got away with he consulted Kohar, and then he began openly impressing those strong emotions upon people. It was asionally enough to make thewyers from the Iron Ring vers choke on their words or stumble and admit to certain sorts of wrongdoing. Every little bit helped the cause.
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Dozens of papers sat on a table in front of Anton. It disturbed him that the lives of people were reduced to just ink and paper, but that was the current state of Ofrurg.
One pile were those who had not survived. Illness, ident, or foul tempered masters were the main causes. One had been killed by wild beasts while working on a farm that generally took decent care of its ves. Another pile was those who were missing. Several were said to have escaped. Others were bought by roaming cultivators who were unable to be contacted. Some seemingly hadnt ever been registered at the Iron Ring vers.
Anton didnt intend to take every deration at face value- owners might have decided that the ve was worth more to them than a refund for whatever reason. He doubted many would do that- they could receive payment as if the ve was new and in good condition- but some people were very attached to certain ves or just stubborn and unwilling to give up something that was <em>theirs</em>.
He would be taking advantage of his friends and allies to move throughout the country and help retrieve those who had been freed. Some would not be in any condition to travel, nor would they necessarily have the resources. In the worst case, as lone foreigners they might find themselves right back in very with fewer tracks to follow.
So many friends and family reduced to pieces of paper, though Anton had to admit the majority were merely acquaintances. He might have fond memories of them, but his closest friends had been older. Even the ones decades younger than himself werent ve material. As for family none of his children were alive. None of them were young. Even some of his grandchildren and their spouses had been older than people liked as ves. Half had died in the attack on Dungannon, and he now only had six who survived and had known locations. Every individual who had not was another reason to kill Maximillian Van Hassel and possibly everyone connected to him if he was able. After everyone was as safe as they could be.
Antons great-grandchildren started with Annelie, at least if he were counting those from Dungannon. He might have others elsewhere in Graotan, but he was confident they would have at least decent lives there. In the decade since Annelie had been born, he had ten more great grandchildren. All of them had been sold to various training facilities, and while they were alive two years of that at such a young age would certainly have been disastrous for their mental development.
The furniture in the room was trembling. Antons control of energy was better than to identally destroy things, but he realized he wasnt fully controlled. He breathed out slowly, feeling the way his energy flowed out of him and affected the room. He wasnt naturally talented in that area. Sensing energy in the form of armor or an attack or inrge concentrations was simple enough, but the <em>flow</em> of things was more obtuse to his senses. He was now taking the opportunity to train that sense. For the fourteenth star, he was training Spiritual Connection with the guidance of Catarina. Her natural talent had let her assist others who had simr leanings, like Pete, but only when she properly trained that sense in Spirit Building was she able to help others.
His energy circted through his meridians, through his body, and a small part through the room. He brushed against the edges of the room and the formation Catarina had set up. While the inn they were staying at <em>should</em> be secure, being more certain of that wouldnt hurt. She couldnt carve into the walls and just shuffling furniture around wasnt sufficient, but she had purchased some formation gs and wardstone. They allowed quickly setting up formations and even keeping them more stable, though they werent as good as anything permanent. With Catarinas talent, she would get more out of modifying the surrounding terrain in a specific area, but that could take hours to have a better effect. The reason she didnt purchase them before was that each set cost more than a thousand contribution points, and arger formation could require all of them. The price wasnt actually excessive- both formation gs and wardstones needed to be made out of special materials that could withstand the flow ofrge amounts of energy. Those who constructed them were rare, even among cultivators.
The papers were left where they were, to be properly distributed in the morning. Looking at them longer wouldnt help, and Anton wanted to cultivate. Carefully, because he first needed to determine if his current mental state would poison his cultivation or allow him to push forward. He didnt want to settle for short term gains when he needed to reach the very peak or at least whatever he could manage. While Body Tempering and the early part of Spirit Building had progressed far more smoothly than they should have at his age, it was inevitable that he woulde across some sort of roadblock sooner orter. Whether he could surpass it or not was a different question.