What was Fortitude?
It was the strength of mind that enabled one to endure adversity with courage. It was basically your mental and emotional ability to remain strong in the face of a challenge or adversity that would wear you down.
How did this differ from Mettle and Will?
Mettle was facing a tough situation that was persistent but not fatal, where one could walk away with no repercussion, but chose not to in order to rebuild. Whether it was physically rebuilding or mentally rebuilding, both counted.
Using this situation, Mettle would be being falsely accused of rape and being convicted. When one came out, they would proceed to try to find jobs, start a business and find love again despite the stigma following them, trying their hardest to rebuild their life without faltering.
Will was being put in a tough, likely fatal situation where one needed to persevere in order to reach the light at the end of the tunnel. Will was more of a physical thing, dealing with a response to physical challenges.
In this case, if Darius was convicted, they might give him 100 lashes that would make any man start screaming for mercy by the 20th, but he would remain silent until he had received them all without faltering.
Fortitude though…
"I plead not guilty!" Darius answered simply.
There was a slight uproar in the court as people began to whisper among themselves. Those outside were relatively calm while those who were of Darius' clan simply frowned.
The other clan though, were not so muted as they murmured furiously and unhappily, as if Darius not begging for forgiveness was already a great crime worth punishment.
The mother on the other side was the most direct, pointing to Darius as she screeched.
"How dare you, rapist?! After taking advantage of my daughter, you dare to lie!!"
Many on her side seemed to want to cry out in anger too, but the banging of the gavel was enough to silence them. The judge then looked at the mother with a cold look.
"The next time you raise your voice in my court without being prompted, your tongue will be cut off. Do you understand?"
Chilled, she could only meekly nod, yet that didn't stop her from glaring at Darius with hatred. The accused ignored her looks and remained silent, waiting for the judge to prompt him.
The head judge turned to him and inquired: "On what grounds do you plead not guilty?"
Darius smiled slightly. He thought back to the case in his previous life. There he had a rock-solid alibi and possessed a hidden camera in his room which had always been on.
The case at the time had been very simple once he brought out his evidence. She had eventually tried to sue him for breach of privacy yet lost, whereas Darius had sued for defamation and won.
Her life got ruined socially and financially as the damages he asked for had to be paid out by her family by scrounging. Darius didn't know how she picked herself up after that as he had put her behind him forever.
Hah, maybe she had experienced her own 'Test of Mettle' in trying to rebuild and whether she had been successful or not was something he would likely never find out.
As for this case, there was obviously no camera and Darius had nothing going on the situation. Then again, since his subconscious had constructed this realm, it should be one of two things.
Either anything he said would establish or overwrite the lore of the world or there was an obvious answer he should give that even a deficient mind should be able to glue on.
Expecting him to beat this case using Intellect was not realistic even though it might be possible, for this was a Test of Fortitude, not a Test of Deduction.
As such, Darius chose something that fit both criteria of being an obvious way out and something that could count as overwriting the lore.
"My grounds are simple. The Young Mistress of the Silica Eashira has never been touched by me, hence she retains her purity." Darius stated.
The entire court froze for a second, not expecting that as an answer. All eyes swiveled to the 'victim', who froze during her act of sobbing like she had been struck by lightning.
Her mother felt her reaction and her face changed. It should be known that it wasn't that she was in on some plot, but genuinely thought her daughter had been unfairly defiled.
However, she was not stupid, and her daughter's reaction clued her in. Her face became ugly for a bit before she wore a neutral expression in order to remain calm.
The crowd also burst into a loud uproar as they felt that this statement was extremely… unique. It was the last thing they had expected to hear the accused use as a defense, and they were excited to see what would unfold.
The head judge banged the gavel and silenced the court before asking aloud. "Where is the Constable?"
Soon, a rotund middle-aged man wearing glasses with a messy stubble rushed into the courtroom, wearing a blue thaub that was specially made for his size.
He was sweating profusely as he had heard what was going on, and was hoping that the statement was wrong, or else…
"Constable, you were the one who arranged the accused before the court and handled the arrest even. Did you, when the victim reported the crime, check this?" The Head Judge asked slowly.
The Constable began to sweat even more. He wanted to cry out in indignation. She was the Young Mistress of the Silica Eashira, which were of significance, but not as much as the Stone Eashira.
Still, they were above what he could play with and he didn't dare have her checked like most others would. In his mind, someone of her stature wouldn't lie about this for it was a lose-lose anyway.
Her reputation would take a hit and her future husband would always be ridiculed for taking someone's leftovers, so she would probably die alone. The idea that she would still go through with it for any other purpose seemed illogical and ludicrous.
Heck, most would hide such atrocities done to them for fear of this, so in his mind, only one who had been harmed and wanted justice at all costs would come forth with such an accusation.
Not to mention the accused was such a big fish that he didn't dare to play around. He had just processed everything for court quickly so that he could throw the problem over to the judge to sort out.
