Hourglasses - it was the first word that came to my mind after entering Junior Judge Hector Umbric's study. Dozens of them were separated into three sections, each consisting of a big display cabinet.
"Which one do you like the most Forty-eight?" Asked the imperial adjudicator before I had a chance to open my mouth to greet him. He sat behind a small desk placed in the corner and seemed pleased that his collection was the first thing that grabbed my attention, which was only natural since the entire study was structured in a way to provoke exactly this reaction.
"Your honor, thank you for using your precious time to meet with me. May I take a closer look?"
"Of course, just don't touch anything." He said and resumed reading some document. Either he was testing me or wanted to show off his hourglasses and hear some praise. It was a rather good beginning.
Logic stated that the display cabinet placed in the central position of the room had to contain the part of the collection which the junior judge wanted to show others the most. Displayed inside were many hourglasses made out of precious metals and decorated with gems, most belonged to the popular one-hour size and looked similar to each other, but among them were also more sophisticated ones like the one with big silver wings. However, after a few minutes of watching I noticed that besides being expensive and showy, they lacked the main thing valued by nearly every collector- uniqueness. It wasn't hard to make something out of gold, attach a figurine or two on top, and put some rubies in it, anyone with coin could obtain an hourglass like that.
"Those look good…" I said slowly to test the waters, and just as expected, a hint of disappointment showed itself on Umbric's face. "... but I personally prefer something more original."
"Ha!" The bald man put away the document he was reading. "I say the same thing each time someone gives me one of those tasteless goldies, only less politely. But I just can't bring myself to throw them into the treasury without giving each hourglass at least five minutes of glory, so the newest ones are displayed here until some other foolish noble tries to buy my favor. In exchange, I gave them the best place of my study." He smiled widely and began paying me more attention.
This conversation was far from the ones I had been practicing, but for now, it was still fine. Well, my hands shook slightly, and my heart rate wasn't normal, but those hourglasses were a good topic to get a little used to talking with the junior judge. I moved to take a look at the second cabinet, placed to the left from the central one.
The hourglasses displayed in it had more finesse and were much more varied. The smallest of them was the size of my fingernail, purely decorative in function unless someone required an hourglass to count three seconds, while the biggest was over a meter high and stood next to the display cabinet. Another's frame was carved out of a single piece of bone, and the sand within it was dyed bloody red. There was also an interesting set of four hourglasses connected with a single metal frame, each was held by a pair of crude iron legionnaires and was able to turn separately from the others. But the most impressive among all of them was an elegant black hourglass. Not only it had two legendary events from human history masterfully carved on its wooden frame, the escape through the Helial Desert, and the discovery of Holy Lake, but also, unlike the rest, it wasn't filled with sand but with a combination of different liquids, probably water and colorful oils, neatly separated in pretty layers. It might not have been the most precise time measuring tool, but for sure it was a wonderful work of art.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Said the junior judge who moved to stand behind me when I was admiring the black hourglass. "Did you notice the vifer cores?"
"No your honor." I replied honestly.
"They're a bit hard to spot when inactive, look." He took the hourglass and showed me the barely visible small metal circles, one on the top, one on the bottom. Next, he held the hourglass in both hands and started imbuing radiance into the cores connected to those metal spots. They turned out to be of the light emitting type and were placed inside the glass part of the hourglass, illuminating the intricate movements of colorful liquids and giving them a very fascinating hue. Some oils allowed the rays of light to freely pass through while others blocked them entirely, leading to an ever-shifting mystical dance of light and color. Umbric put away the active hourglass on the shelf, and for a while we enjoyed the mesmerizing show. I could only imagine how nice it would be to watch it in the evening with a cup of hot tea in hand.
"Your honor, forgive my rudeness, but I think that my answer as to which one I like the most won't change even after checking the third cabinet." I said, convinced that this had to be the crowning piece of the entire collection.
"Good eye my boy, this is my second most favorite one, it not only looks great but is also surprisingly precise. Though it's a pity that I don't have its white twin." Replied satisfied Umbric, and gestured softly to sit down at the cushioned velvet chair opposite to his desk. There were two other chairs next to it, but only now I paid them enough attention to realize that while the first was a simple wooden one, the second was made out of steel and its seat was lined with rows of sharp spikes.
And to think that I had almost relaxed. Thank gods those spikes were still clean.
"So, what brings you here?" Asked the junior judge after we took our respective seats.
I put the green point coin on his desk. "This, your honor. I don't understand the system behind it."
Somehow this has surprised Umbric more than it should, and with a furrowed brow he asked: "Is that all?" Then leaned against the chair's back and crossed his arm.
"Of course not, your honor. By saying that I don't understand I meant that the joint system of using the point coins while at the same time maintaining strict control over each candidate's points balance is unnecessarily complicated and flawed." The conversation finally moved to the part I had practiced, remaining calm was the key to victory.
"Hmm… continue."
"First, the monetary system is used practically everywhere. Why? Because its biggest advantage is the ability to easily and quickly use coins in various exchanges, be it trade deals, paying wages, lending to someone, or other agreements, but at the same time, this is also its biggest drawback. It's impossible to keep track of every transaction when tens of thousands of them occur daily in a single city. This results in many unwanted types of transactions taking place among which are stealing, bribing, and extortion. On the other hand, when a group is small, like us - the candidates for imperial adjudicators, it's possible to keep track of everything that was received, spent or lost without the usage of a physical medium. This effectively eliminates all unwanted types of transactions I can think of at this moment, but requires an authorized person to record every single change, which in turn takes time and may not always be readily available." I skipped a lot of things such as taxation and varying value of coins with the same nominal, those issues didn't apply to the situation in the academy.
"Your point?" Junior Judge Umbric relaxed his posture and leaned towards me.
"You honor, the point system used by the Imperial Academy of Adjudication is ineffective. Let's say that someone will give me five point coins, but before that person also notifies the item house, which as I presume keeps all records of such exchanges, then the amount of coins I have in my pouch won't match the amount I should have. This may potentially lead to a situation in which I'm accused of thievery, of course this problem will be resolved right after the person who gave me them clears my name. Next, if I'm not wrong then to spend my points, I have to go to the item house where all records are kept anyway, in that case, what's the whole point of using coins? Their biggest advantage of swift and easy exchanges is lost the moment everything has to be recorded, and we can't do anything with them before that happens, but coins can still be lost or lead to other problematic situations." I threw this long stream of words at the junior judge and awaited his reaction.
After a minute of keeping me in nervous uncertainty Umbric scratched his square jaw and moved to take out something from one of the desk's drawers, but as if remembering something, he stopped mid-motion and turned to me.
"... I see. So you're basically saying that we should either focus on the quick but easy to exploit point coins, or resign from them entirely and focus on recording every change in the candidates' points balance? Which one is it and why?"
That was exactly what I was waiting for. Well, there were some ways of adjusting the current system, but why complicate the entire situation when it was easier to cut off the unnecessary elements?
"Yes, your honor, the second option." I nodded with conviction. "Because it's the only way to keep track of the situation if someone's points drop below zero. Also, this system may work even better if changes to everyone's balances were made only once per day, let's say after collecting an entire day's worth of reports concerning received and lost points. However, the records of points spent to buy things should, and could, be brought up to date immediately." There was something else I tried to smuggle inside this proposition - a chance for someone whose points were going to drop below the killing value.
"Good, then you can have this." Junior Judge Umbric placed a tiny bronze hourglass in front of me, his previous frown was replaced by a wide smile. "Attach it to your necklace and wear at all times, this is the symbol that you're the leader of class five. Be glad, I was going to think of some way to pick one of you later, but you've impressed me enough to earn it now."
"..." I silently took it and attached to the necklace which became kind of heavy since the bronze burning scale was hanging from it as well. All the while I kept my head down, hoping to hide my dumbfounded face.
"It's true that law has to be respected and followed, but at the same time, it's the imperial adjudicators' job to find faults within it and correct them. And you coming here the very same day I told you about the intentionally defective system is a great thing! Here, your second reward." He took something else out of the drawer - a green point coin with the number V on it. "A pity you weren't a bit quicker, two candidates from other classes have already reported this issue, and I can only give you five points, but it's still quite an achievement. Make sure to check the information board tomorrow morning, the result of your today's efforts should be posted on it. A word of advice, don't throw out those coins." He winked and for a moment calling him 'a friendly baldy' didn't seem as suicidal as before.
It wasn't easy to keep up with everything, and I was temporarily lost for words. The junior judge probably decided that it was the time to call an end to our meeting since he kept moving his gaze between me and one of the doors inside his study. But after I showed no reaction to his courtesy, he sighed and was about to tell me straight that I should go now, which gave me the push I needed.
"Your honor, may I ask you a question?"
"Only two of three, I've got much to do."
"Becoming a class leader, what exactly does it mean?" Even if this wasn't something I wished for, I still wanted to know what it entailed, and it was a good excuse.
"Don't worry, this will be explained to you during the first meeting of class leaders, one of the legionnaires will come to get you when the time is right. Anything else?" He shot down this attempt at leading the conversation towards the topic of that little girl, forcing me to ask more directly.
"Then one last thing, your honor. This white-haired girl from this morning, I would like to explain the misunderstanding with Forty-one personally, but I can't find her anywhere. But I heard that she may have visited your honor earlier. Forgive my insolence, but may I inquire what happened to her?"
Suddenly, Umbric's heavy fist hit the top of his desk, causing me to jump in my chair. But before I had enough time to regret asking this question, he laughed heartily and exclaimed:
"Finally! You almost had me fooled for a moment. I was really wondering if giving you that point for taking care of her wasn't too hasty. My boy, you need to be more honest and less crafty, then you will be a splendid material for an imperial adjudicator."
Was this merrily laughing junior judge really the same person who had cold-bloodedly ordered the execution of that man? Before more doubts of such nature arose, I glanced at the nearby steel chair and confirmed that indeed it was the same person. Still, It was good to know that this entire mess could have been avoided if I just… oh, dammit.
This conversation for sure was taking its toll on my nerves.
"Forgive me, your honor, I didn't know how to broach this topic." I said nothing more since Umbric gestured me to stop.
"Unfortunately, I must inform you that there are only eight candidates for imperial adjudicators left in class five." Said the junior judge, his face still full of smiles. The discrepancy between his previous words, what he said now, and his behavior left me too stunned to be angry, yet deep within me, something stirred. "Of course the girl is still alive, she has just lost her status as one of the candidates." He added calmly after a few seconds of observing my reaction. "You see, Rusalka was raised from her earliest years to become a perfect imperial adjudicator, but this project didn't turn out nearly as well as we hoped. The kids were too dependant on their masters, unable to judge the situation accordingly, and totally hopeless when it came to common sense. Most of them were sent to a correctional facility where they are reeducated in order to let them live freely as normal citizens, but this didn't work out in Rusalka's case. Being separated from her master and losing her only reason to live was so stressful for that girl that her hair turned completely white in less than a year. I will spare you the details, but the imperial adjudicators are not as heartless as many make us sound, I have two adorable daughters myself. In the end, it was decided that after wiping her memory, she was to be included among you. But the result? More disappointment. She came to me today and begged to be her master."
Another loud bang resounded in the entire study, but this time it wasn't caused by the junior judge. I was no less surprised by this sound than Umbric who kept looking at me strangely. Actually… it turned out that my own fist was the cause of it.
"You're telling me that you brainwashed a bunch of kids, called them failures, sent them to a brothel or something where they are whipped and raped daily, and after all that, you brought one of them here to test another deranged idea? Thank god you spared me the details, I nearly threw up from all the sweet bullshit you used to wrap this shit in." I felt dizzy and sleepy, but still able to register that I just said something outrageous. However, I was unable to stop more of those words from coming out of my mouth. "But you're right, the cause behind her white hair might have been stress. After all, that little girl is terrified of someone being nice to her, or even of being clean, because even without her memories she can still connect it with only one thing. Just how much..." Near the end of the last sentence, I began shaking my head in denial, slowly regaining control over my own body.
After the initial surprise, Umbric didn't give any more impressions of being bothered by my offensive words or bizarre actions. He watched my antics while playing with the very small golden hourglass taken out from his pocket.
"I can understand that you find it hard to accept, but you fail to comprehend that no one wants to take care of a bunch of useless brats unless they receive something in return. And this option was still better than wastefully killing them which would have happened if I hadn't done anything. Still, you may want to rethink your words and change your tone. I won't warn you again, Forty-eight." Junior Judge Umbric's voice remained calm and collected, but now, there was a sharp edge to it. I just lost a lot of his favor due to this foolery...
Floating inside my head were a lot of thoughts that weren't mine:
'No one wanted to take care of some kids while ordered to do so by an imperial adjudicator? Yeah, right.'
'Simply selling two or three of those golden hourglasses could provide fifty kids with years of good life.'
F-fof- forgivs, forgive me." Forming words was never so hard as now, my mouth tried to say two entirely different things at the same time, but the more droplets of sweat ran down my forehead and back, the less dizzy and sleepy I became. "Forgive me, your honor."
"It's fine." Umbric quickly dropped the matter, at least on the surface, and leaned back on his chair. "I'm already impressed that you've managed to keep a level head for so long while talking with someone feared even by kings." His own words made him chuckle. "But you need to make sure nothing like that happens again, the other judges aren't as merciful as I am. As for the girl, unfortunately it seems that even after cleaning her memory from filth, she failed to become a good material for an imperial adjudicator. Because of that she lost her number and regained her name, only her name mind you. I decided to permanently forbid unsealing Rusalka's memories as it would be no different from killing her soul, again. But the girl still has her uses, so I decided to listen to her request. What uses you may ask? Well, anyone who buys the right to become her master for fifty points at the item house will also obtain the right to determine those freely. By the way, is there something wrong with your finger?" Umbric's question made me realize that yet again my body was doing something of its own volition. My right hand was clenched in a fist except for its middle finger which was turned towards the judge, thankfully this time it was just a silly gesture.
"No your honor, just stress."
"I see, let's end this meeting here. Forty-eight, I think you can achieve a lot after you work on correcting your vices."
"Thank you, your honor."
I bowed deeply and left Umbric's study. As soon as the door closed behind me, I unsteadily walked towards the wall, leaned on it and sank to the stone floor. It was pleasantly cold. The servant who was to guide me outside pretended not to see anything and allowed for a brief moment of respite. Drenched in sweat, limbs trembling, and with dark spots flying in front of my eyes, I wondered what should I do next.
Go to the library?
Gather fifty points?
Become the imperial adjudicator?
Discover what the hell was wrong with me?
Go back to my room and sleep?
Something, and by that I already understood that it was the thing within me that kept messing with everything, told me that resting was a good idea. Since disagreeing with this feeling purely out of spite would be childish, I slowly stood up and went with this option.
All the while I kept telling myself that I did that only because some sleep would help me the most at the moment.
