Chapter 143: The Crime

The subterranean detention block of the praetorium had not been modernized since Lucius seized control of the city...

His infrastructure development had not extended to this archaic place.

The only difference from a year ago was that the cells held zero prisoners.

Due to the industrial expansion of the Syndicate’s territory, anyone capable and willing to labor was immediately assigned a job in the factories.

The rare criminals unwilling to integrate into the new republic were deported by Lucius to the sulfur mines in the north, where they were forced to meet daily extraction quotas.

Since Boduoc had previously shattered the reinforced bars on the lowest level during a riot, and Lucius saw no value in allocating steel to repair them, the entire bottom floor had been permanently sealed.

Lucius followed Chief Auditor Aulus to the middle of the second floor and located the captive Tribune... the only prisoner currently occupying the block.

The Praetorian was not hanging by his wrists from a torture rack, nor had his face been beaten into a pulp by the guards. Instead, Tribune Severus was huddled in the corner of his cell, surrounded by stacks of financial ledgers and taxation forms.

Although his armor had been stripped and he wore only a simple linen tunic, his body was intact.

However, he appeared lifeless, his skin pale and his hollow eyes devoid of focus.

"Is his mind still sound?" Lucius asked quietly.

"His health is intact, Dominus," Aulus answered with a bow, adjusting his spectacles. "You may interrogate him directly."

The Forge Master nodded.

The Ministry of Audits’ methods relied on severe sleep deprivation combined with endless, Kafkaesque cross-examinations.

Lucius cleared his throat, sat down on the bench outside the bars, and addressed the shattered Tribune: "What is your formal designation?"

"Are you... the son of Cassius... Lucius?" The Tribune’s expression twisted in sudden recognition. "Look at the heresy you have unleashed upon the Republic. You have weaponized demonic alchemy."

"The Forge Master is requesting your designation," Aulus said. "If you do not wish to undergo another seventy-two-hour audit of the Noricum tax discrepancies, I suggest you cease your rambling."

The Tribune’s face froze in terror at the threat of the ledgers.

After a pause, he lowered his head and whispered, "My designation is Tribune Severus."

"I was informed you take your direct orders from Rome." Lucius cast a glance at the man. "Who was the female operative traveling in your column? Was she dispatched from the capital? What was her rank within the Inquisition?"

"Her..." Severus hesitated, remaining silent for a long moment before answering, "Her designation was Aquila, an elite Frumentarii assassin acting under the direct authority of Consul Valerian. She did not hold a public rank within the Senate."

"Consul Valerian?" The Forge Master pondered the name.

"He is the military commander of the Senate, in charge of the Republic’s external security and the Inquisition. His authority is second only to the Emperor himself," the Tribune explained.

During a gladiatorial celebration organized by Emperor Elagabalus, Senator Valerian had been the primary orator.

In Lucius’s memory, Valerian had presented himself as a civilized, benevolent Patrician, smiling and publicly advocating for the strict rule of Roman law.

"What exactly is a Frumentarii assassin?"

Severus hesitated once more, clutching his knees, but after Aulus tapped a ledger against the bars, he surrendered the intelligence. "They are specialized operatives raised from orphaned slaves by the Inquisition. They are conditioned in secret and managed by Valerian. I do not possess the clearance to know the details of their training."

Lucius scratched his ear... He received a silent tap on the wall, confirming the Tribune was not lying.

"How many Patricians in the Senate know about Valerian’s conditioned slave assassins?"

The Tribune shook his head. "The Consul only revealed her authority to me two months ago and ordered me upon pain of crucifixion not to inform my own centurions. I am not sure how many senators actually know."

This intelligence confirmed his suspicion and provided a devastating piece of propaganda against the Senate.

If the legions and the plebeians discovered that the ’lawful’ Senate was breeding assassins to murder rivals in the dark, their loyalty would shatter...

"What was your motive in sabotaging the Lord of Noricum? Why were you ordered to transport him back to Rome alive?"

"My mandate was to provide support for Aquila; only she knew the motive. There was a sudden change of plans because Aquila calculated that Flavius was already compromised by Syndicate operatives. Consul Valerian recently established a rule ordering us to transport all high-profile traitors back to the capital to be featured in a Triumph."

"A Triumph," Lucius snorted with contempt. "Do you genuinely believe that theater? If the Senate’s authority was so absolute, why would Valerian need to parade a bruised noble through the streets of Rome to terrorize the populace into submission?"

"Because... some of the outer legions are not devoted enough. This is his only method of maintaining fear..." His voice trailed off, and he squeezed his eyes shut.

The Forge Master sneered. "Where did you plan to march after extracting Flavius from Noricum?"

"Mediolanum."

"And after that?"

"Aquileia."

"Anywhere else on the itinerary?"

"Just those three fortified cities," the Tribune responded. "Consul Valerian did not provide a timetable for our return to the capital, so we were ordered to garrison at Aquileia and await further commands."

His answers matched the deployment orders Aurelia had extracted from the dead assassin’s body. "Why those three specific locations?"

Severus shook his head weakly.

He did not possess the clearance to know the overarching plan.

For the Inquisition, he was nothing more than a disposable escort...

Noricum is in the Alps, Mediolanum commands the center of Northern Italy, and Aquileia controls the eastern routes.

They share no common industrial resources, and they are not standard economic hubs.

Even if Valerian wanted to overturn a rebellious province, he would not start by garrisoning these specific cities.

If they shared a strategic similarity, it was that they bordered the primary invasion routes into Gaul.

Was Consul Valerian not just hunting traitors, but establishing a military blockade aimed at me?Lucius stood up from the bench.

When he turned to leave the cell block, he noticed that the Tribune sat against the wall, as still as a corpse, neither begging for mercy nor cursing in fury.

"Are you not going to ask what I intend to do with you?"

"You used demonic torture to force me into confessing... and the Roman Gods will bear witness," Severus whispered, his eyes closed. "Jupiter is my final judge, not a Gallic rebel. It does not matter what you do to my flesh."

"Dominus, grant me one more night with the ledgers," Aulus said, adjusting his spectacles. "I will break his defiance."

...

Shortly after the Gallic winter settled over the region, a platform was erected in the center of Lugdunum’s industrial plaza.

It was the first structure of its kind for the emancipated plebeians of the city... built not for gladiatorial games, but to conduct the Syndicate’s first public People’s Tribunal.

A notice had been distributed across all factory sectors two days prior.

On the morning of the trial, the stage was surrounded by a massive crowd.

The central plaza had expanded.

Snowflakes drifted from the sky, but the citizens ignored the Alpine wind.

Watching the sea of factory workers, engineers, and auxiliary soldiers waving their arms in unified loyalty, the Forge Master felt a profound shift in his chest.

Following a roar from the crowd, Tribune Severus was shoved onto the stage by two armed guards.

The Praetorian’s hollow expression twitched as he faced the furious masses.

This type of public parade had once belonged to the commanders of the Inquisition, accustomed to the obedience of Roman commoners whose lives they dictated with a single command.

Except this morning, the Tribune would not experience the arrogance of his past...

With quiet conviction in their eyes, the premier engineers of the Syndicate walked onto the stage.

Under Senatorial law, innovators had been slandered, hunted, and executed as heretics.

This morning, the roles reversed.

The engineers were the victims, the formal accusers, and the jurors, putting the Roman Senate itself on trial.

Lucius raised a hand, and the plaza fell silent.

"Citizens of the Syndicate."

"The purpose of today’s assembly is to declassify a crime. The Senate has hidden the truth from the beginning of this war... truth uncovered when a Tribune of the Inquisition was captured in the Alps."

"The Roman Senate proclaims that engineers are demonic heretics, rebels who defy tradition," Lucius boomed. "Yet Consul Valerian has been sheltering and deploying illegal operatives across the empire! This testimony was provided by the Tribune himself."

Lucius turned his gaze toward Severus. "Is my statement correct?"

The Praetorian replied, "Yes."

A roar of chaotic discussion broke out across the crowd.

"Forge Master, is he truly a commanding Tribune from the capital?" a voice shouted from the front row.

"He is," Lucius replied, catching the eye of Camilla, who stood disguised among the workers. "Dispatched under the direct authority of Consul Valerian, with orders verifying his identity."

Lucius pointed toward a table beside the podium. "The Praetorian armor, the Imperial signet ring, the sealed deployment orders... all submitted as evidence."