Because of the official appointment assembly, the entirety of Memphis's high-ranking officials were now gathered in the square.
Thus, at this moment, every single one of them, without exception, had no chance to flee or secretly collude. They had all become Nitocris's "captives."
Among these officials, the majority had fallen into panic. After all, for those who held power, using that power for personal gain was something utterly commonplace.
Within this circle, almost no one could avoid getting their hands dirty to some degree, it was only a matter of how much.
Everyone had filth on their backside, so everyone sat in restless unease.
But soon, quite a few among them calmed down.
Although Nitocris had seized control of the situation, and this Pharaoh seemed to have resolved to overturn everything even at the cost of plunging the nation into chaos without governance, the real question was, what did she actually know?
Or rather, how much did this Pharaoh understand about the crimes each of them had committed?
One had to know that a trial was different from an assassination. Assassination could disregard right and wrong and simply take an enemy's life.
But a trial required evidence.
At the very least, there had to be a charge.
But did Nitocris have such things?
Don't joke. Before today, this female Pharaoh had never held any real power in her hands. The only thing she had ever relied upon was herself.
Until now, she had possessed no army that obeyed her, no spies gathering intelligence for her, not even a single adviser wholly loyal to her.
At most, she could only see the crimes visible on the surface.
Even if she understood how the nation had been corrupted and knew where the root of the problem lay, how could she possibly know what specific role each person present had played, or what disgusting deeds they had committed?
Rely on the people to expose them?
This was not a trial of bandits or village tyrants.
Compared to the complex politics of modern times, the governance of ancient Egypt, due to limitations in productivity, was not overly complicated, and the structure of government was relatively simple.
But even so, participating in politics was still a specialized profession with its own threshold.
In other words, ordinary people could see a spoiled dandy bullying the masses.
They could notice a judge taking bribes and disregarding human life. They could tell when a tax official extorted and exploited them.
But what about the rest?
If a financial officer embezzled state funds, how could commoners possibly detect it?
If a general pocketed soldiers' pay or stole military achievements, how would ordinary soldiers ever discover it?
If a personnel official appointed relatives and conducted private deals, how could the people ever come into contact with that?
Not to mention collusion between officials and merchants, the acceptance of bribes…
Many of the methods by which officials corrupted the nation and enriched themselves at the public's expense were things ordinary people had never heard of nor seen.
To rely entirely on commoners to expose everything was nothing short of a dream.
Thinking this way, some officials began to feel much more at ease.
Especially the mid-level officials.
Compared to high-ranking officials, whose every move was under the Pharaoh's gaze and whose crimes the Pharaoh likely knew.
And compared to low-ranking officials, who dealt directly with the people and whose misdeeds would be reported immediately,
They were different. Their crimes might only be known by their colleagues. As for outsiders…
However, they underestimated the power of magic, and they underestimated the Pharaoh's methods.
The current Nitocris, after personally executing her enemies that night, was no longer the somewhat naive girl she once was, in every sense of the word.
She was different from her original self in the world of Type-Moon.
In that original path, after completing her revenge, she had committed suicide to avoid retaliation.
Thus, even after becoming a Heroic Spirit, she had merely been a girl who served as Pharaoh for only a few years, possessing some political talent but never truly wielding power.
But now, having endured trials of the heart, having completely untied the knots within her soul, and having received Alaric's guidance, she had become someone with sufficient methods and decisiveness, a somewhat inexperienced yet genuine politician.
If she could use assassination to eliminate her enemies, she could naturally employ certain special means to obtain charges and evidence.
The officials of Egypt were nothing more than mortals. Before magic, their utterly ordinary wills had no power to resist.
Thus, contrary to what the officials believed, although Nitocris had no capable subordinates and no intelligence network, with hypnosis magic alone, she could obtain any information she desired…
In fact, before preparing for today's public trial, she had long since made her arrangements.
And so, right at the start, she delivered a crushing blow to all the officials.
The first to stand trial was a subordinate of the Minister of Finance.
The Minister of Finance was one of the few positions that held the highest authority in Egypt.
That minister had lost his life to Nitocris's assassination some time ago, and afterward, this subordinate had been one of the strongest contenders for the vacant position.
Before today, he had been networking everywhere, hoping that at this assembly he would be appointed as the new Minister of Finance.
Yet now, he sorrowfully discovered that not only had his beautiful dream shattered, he himself had become the object of judgment.
At this moment, he was firmly restrained by two soldiers. Before him stood a minor clerk from Egypt's central court, reading aloud his crimes.
That clerk had been born a commoner and had obtained his position thanks to his intelligence.
Before today, this financial official had been certain that, without any background, the man had absolutely no chance of advancing further.
He had always disdained such a small figure. But now, he had no choice but to bow his head before him.
And from the mouth of this court clerk, his crimes were recited one by one.
"Financial Officer Mekt, charged with, on X year X month X day, accepting XXX bribes from XXX and granting XXX preferential treatment; on X year X month X day, privately appointing XX to the position of XXX…"
One case after another, concrete and specific crimes were spoken aloud, as if he, or rather, the one who had written the charges, had witnessed them personally.
This left the financial officer named Mekt completely dumbfounded.
How could this be?
He had originally thought that although he had committed certain evil acts, made certain decisions harmful to the nation, and accepted certain bribes.
The most likely crime the Pharaoh would know about would be his participation in drafting numerous harsh and excessive taxes, after all, that was probably all the Pharaoh had been able to perceive at the time.
But how had these relatively "minor" offenses, such as bribery and nepotism, been discovered by the Pharaoh?