As the Mermaid officials desperately tried to refute the accusations.
A Fish-Man who had been kneeling among the prisoners suddenly raised his head, pointed at those officials, and rasped out:
"Still daring to lie?"
"Samuel! Back when you came to me for help, you said it yourself—if I helped you transport a batch of special goods, you'd give me a generous reward!"
"That shipment was full of smuggled contraband! I saw it all!"
Samuel's face instantly turned even uglier. He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Yet he quickly recovered, suddenly pointing at the Fish-Man and shouting himself hoarse:
"You're lying! Those goods were clearly the ones you wanted to smuggle! You even asked me to pull strings for you! And now you're turning around and framing me?"
"You bastard!" The Fish-Man trembled with rage.
"Enough!"
Seeing this, Francis threw caution to the wind as well. He pointed at another Fish-Man and roared:
"You say I overtaxed you? Then why don't you mention your tax evasion?"
"Your shop's books said you made one hundred thousand Belly a year, but you secretly hid at least five hundred thousand! Did you think I didn't know?"
"I... I was..." The Fish-Man was immediately left speechless.
For a moment.
The Fish-Man prisoners and Mermaid officials began attacking one another, exposing each other's crimes.
The square descended into chaos.
"Silence!!!"
Shirahoshi's voice rang through the entire square like thunder!
She looked at the chaos below, her gaze icy.
"Since your accounts differ, let someone capable of distinguishing truth from lies pass judgment."
She turned and looked at Otohime beside her.
"Mother, please preside over this fairly."
A complicated emotion flashed through Otohime's eyes as she looked at Shirahoshi.
She knew Shirahoshi was asking her to settle this matter, while also hinting at something.