Alden stepped away from his table, taking the floor as magical platforms raised into the air to support him. “Adventurer Chika. This is your name and title correct?”
“Yes.” ‘Why even bother asking that?’
“The same Chika that is widely regarded as and assumed to be a man, is that true?”
“Uhm… Well, I don’t know about that, but people often mistake me for a man. For that reason, I really don’t think that the guards, who were only following orders, had any ill intent.”
He nodded, pacing back and forth, sorting his thoughts. ‘Sense I said that nothing happened, it’s likely he will take the win and move on. He’s trying to prove his innocence right? So, what’s next?’
He stopped his feet dead center and looked right at me. “Have you ever been sexually assaulted before this incident?”
I felt another chill run down my arms. “N-no…” ‘Why is he working this angle? This issue isn’t one of the larger parts of the case… Actually, it feels largely irrelevant.’
“I take that to mean you have never been sexually abused or harassed either then. Is this also true?”
‘Wait, isn’t all that just the same thing? Oh… I think I get it. Is he trying to draw attention away from the other accusations by focusing on the one thing he is innocent of?’
My head jumbled everything up, trying to focus on too many things at once, and unable to calm myself. “U-uhm, well. I’m not sure what the technical definitions are, so… I guess I don’t–”
He smirked. As if I had just gotten caught by his hook. “That’s quite alright, allow me to define them for you. You see, within our law at least, sexual misconduct is separated into three categories. Harassment, which is a minor offense, assault, which covers a variety of things, and abuse, which covers more extreme cases. Punishments for assault range from incarceration to being… Shall we say surgically altered… And in some cases executed.”
My mouth ran dry as he continued. It wasn’t something I didn’t want to talk about anymore. The kinds of crimes people committed that warranted extreme sentences were not the kinds of things I wanted to even think about… I’d much rather just pretend they didn’t even happen. ‘I should have just said no… I kill monsters… I don’t deal with this sort of stuff…’
“Harassment would be anything within reason that made you feel unsafe or uncomfortable to a great extent, as well as inappropriate contact over clothes that lasts less than a second. For example, this would be like if someone slapped your rear end.”
‘That’s a crime?’ My eyes narrowed as he captured my attention. ‘I had no idea that was a crime.’ While I was working as a waitress part-time before I was old enough to adventure I experienced that. It wasn’t all that uncommon. It had only happened to me once though… By someone that was so drunk that he thought I was a different girl… It was more annoying than something that made people scared though, at least that was how everyone I knew tended to think.
I leaned forward, resting my chin on my hands. ‘Maybe I should actually study the law a bit more… Eh… Maybe if I ever end up having someone I need to look after I’ll care enough to do it…’
“Assault is one level past this. Among other things, this involves anything that would alter damage or remove clothing.”
‘I guess that box is checked as well…’ I started to feel gross as I remembered the story Plutia made me tell her. ‘Although, technically the guards did that too right?’
He continued further, giving more examples of things that made me start to feel cold inside. At first, his language seemed more vague and considerate… But after I started to really listen to what he had to say they became more… Explicit, each example starting with something like suppose YOU, or if someone were to treat YOU like this.
The examples he gave were so vulgar my stomach started to twist in knots. The way he spoke made me feel as though what he was describing really was happening to me… At least to a minor extent.
At one point I grabbed the arm of the woman next to me. “Hey uh… I really don’t feel so good…”
“Finally…”
He continued on, but my mind went nearly blank. I hadn’t experienced anything remotely close to what he was describing, but just hearing the words was enough for me to want to run away… It didn’t help that each example was phrased in a way where I was the target of the crime. It almost felt silly, but I was starting to get afraid of living on my own…
“So, now that you have heard the definitions, would you like me to repeat the original question?”
I cleared my throat. “Under those definitions, I have experienced the first two…” I don’t know how, but my voice remained steady, no matter how gross I felt on the inside.
“Please describe those experiences.”
‘He’s kidding… Right?’
I went ahead and explained the first one, which was easy enough to talk about. The second was a bit different though… Still, there was nothing to do about it. I let out a sigh and started talking. Thanks to Plutia it wasn’t the first time I had told the story anyway… Still, when I got to the part where things went wrong I froze… “Then… Well, then I- uh…”
“Objection. This story is just wasting time. Furthermore, we already know it’s completely pointless to follow this line of questioning because of her answers given during the judge's questioning.”
I looked back to see the girl called Obsidian casually leaning on the table, her eye narrowed with a slight grimace, and the judges quickly casting a vote, unanimously voting that I didn’t have to answer.
I let out a sigh of relief. ‘I’m glad that happened, but it’s a bit surprising she was the one that objected to all people.’
Alden brushed it off quickly and continued as if nothing had happened. “From their official statement, the White Light guild originally took you under protection because you were seen half-dressed, fleeing from several guards, is this accurate to your knowledge as well?”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
I found myself looking down to make sure my leather armor was still fully fastened. “Yes, I suppose that was how I appeared. They felt the need to cover me with a blanket, although it wasn’t as if I was exposed or anything. I think half-dressed is a bit of an exaggeration.”
“And why were you in that state?”
‘Isn’t this line of questioning going to hurt him more than it will help him at this point?’
“After you ordered the guards to strip me, they took me to a private room and chained me to a wall and–” ‘Oh… You know I’m starting to hear it now…’ I turned to the girl beside me. ‘Is that why they’ve been so protective? Oh… You know that actually explains a lot.’
The crowd gasped, and I couldn’t help but tug on my hair a bit, nervously playing with it and trying not to vomit at the parallel everyone in the room was almost certainly drawing with his earlier so-called examples. “The uh… Well. After that, I lost consciousness, and the moment I woke up I broke out. I can’t say exactly what happened…”
I looked up at the crowd, their faces painted with horror. At that point, it wasn’t even about what happened… It was about what the people were thinking, and knowing they were thinking it about me… That was what made me want to run and hide… Even more than before… I wanted to leave…
“When you lost consciousness the only people there were the two guards with you correct?”
“Yes...”
“So then it is fairly safe to assume that they undressed you, is that correct?”
“Yes…” I said again, more slowly.
“And they were both male, is that right?”
I slowly swallowed. “Y-yeah… That’s right. But they didn’t “Undress” me. They only took off my gloves and helmet.”
“White light reported that you came rushing out of the building with your chest armor unfastened and bruises and cuts on your wrists.”
“That’s true…” I mumbled.
He turned to the judges. “Under the previous definitions, any alteration, damage, or removal of clothing without permission is considered sexual assault. I cannot apologize profusely enough for allowing something like this to happen right under my nose, but I do know the names of the two guards I had put in charge of interrogating her.” He bowed elegantly.
‘Shifting the blame and accepting a slap on the wrist for poor leadership, rather than a sentence for fraud, is not an awful idea. Feigning incompetence isn’t hard for an incompetent person…’
“Adventure Chika. I cannot give you your honor back as a woman, but I can promise that I will make sure this will never happen again under my watch.”
My fist clenched as I slammed it into the stone table in front of me, cracking the granite and… Severely injuring my hand… Only making me clench my fist tighter. There were so many things about what he had said that pissed me off. I didn’t even know where to start, it was hurting my head just thinking about it. “I’ll kill him… I’ll do it right now… We don’t even need a trial, do we? It’s self-defense at this point right?” I pulled a throwing knife out of storage only to have my arm gripped so tightly it started to ache.
“Can you not bring this full circle into another murder trial please…”
After she let go I flipped the knife, catching the handle and stabbing the knife into the table, sending more spiraling cracks through the stone. “After the trial then…” I growled, folding my arms, and applying pressure to my hand to try and ease the pain. ‘When did I become strong enough to break stone like this?’
I continued unconsciously clenching my jaw until I heard a fit of laughter burst out from behind me. Neither of us was surprised that once again the interruption came from Obsidian. “This girl is awesome! No, seriously, I would have blown his head off for that! I’m glad we're on the same page. Hey, if you want I can leave you two in a room together for a while after this trial!”
I quickly sent my knife back to storage. ‘Well, at least they aren't using my childish outburst against me… No, that wasn’t even childish. That was justified… It’s not like I was really going to kill him…’ I turned back to Alden and calmed down. “Ok, maybe I won’t kill him, but he deserves to lose his tongue… Even if he has the money for the healing magic to grow it back, that seems like a fitting punishment.” I let out another sigh.
With all the excitement I hardly even noticed that Alden had brought the two guards to the stand. “If the judges are ready, I am prepared to continue.”
The man in the center sighed, shaking his head before affirming. While the guards were approaching though, I couldn’t help but hear the judges discussing something else, although I couldn’t really make any of it out.
With confirmation, Alden quickly sent them to center stage and began questioning them as witnesses. “What order were you given that led you to bring Chika to an interrogation room.”
The kobold seemed too nervous to speak, but the ogre was as calm as if he were watching leaves float down a river in the forest. “Alden, you gave us the order to strip her. You said you had to find her storage Item so that you could get your money back.”
I had to cover my mouth to stop myself from laughing as I saw Alden’s face twist.
“Love em or hate em… Ogre’s will be ogres.” I muttered with a grin.
“Chika, you don’t have to listen to this. I can cast a bubble of silence. He isn’t questioning you right now.”
I let out a sigh, waving her off. “It’s fine, nothing happened anyway. He must just be buying time, trying to divert attention. I doubt it’s actually helping him though. It’s probably only hurting him more.”
She let out a small uncertain groan. “If you're sure…”
The trial continued. “Describe the events that followed in detail.”
“Well. Let’s see. We gave them a choice of undressing themselves, rather than us having to use force. It’s just easier that way, and less stressful for both. When they refused we connected the shackles to the wall, spreading out their limbs so that they couldn’t easily fight back. They struggled, but soon they gave in, or I guess, passed out. We checked breathing and heart rate to make sure they were fine. It isn’t uncommon for adventures to collapse after pushing ourselves too hard or handling too much stress, so we ignored it and continued with our job. Then she woke up–”
“You're skipping important information, don't you think?” Alden interjected.
The kobold seemed to only grow more nervous, while the Ogre seemed genuinely confused about what he had missed.
“What did you remove first?”
They both started fumbling over their words before someone objected and a whole debate kicked off about something or other. I largely just ignored it, turning to the girl at my side. “What is this even about at this point?”
She sighed. “Since you're the victim, you're going to have to take an official stance soon. He’s shifted the focus of the trial, so we have to deal with this for now. As you are now well aware… Execution is only one of the possible sentences for this crime, whether or not you want to pursue that, or lesser punishment is up to you as the victim, at least in this case. Or in other words, you could technically ask for their heads, even if it might get overruled by the judges in the end.”
The objection was quickly overruled and soon enough we were back to the two guards fumbling over their words.
“Can’t I just not press charges? It seems like they would probably be found innocent anyway, and that would bring the focus back to Alden. Oh, although if they are under Alden's payroll, that’s a different matter. Could we get them to spill more about that?”
She raised a hand to her chin as she thought for a moment. “So we pursue this avenue of questioning, but not under pretense of execution. That works out. At any moment we can change our stance on this, just so you’re aware. But it does have to be before a sentence is given.”
I slowly leaned forward on the table, starting to get a little bored if anything. “Sure, just do whatever.”
The ogre finally cleared his throat, once again speaking for both of them. “I took off her helmet and began checking it to see if there was anything hidden in it. Then I checked their hair, I found nothing out of the ordinary. The helmet was damaged, matching her story of a fierce battle. Their hair was oily and greasy, with dandruff, but nothing hidden, common for adventures in the great forest.”
I muffled my groan, trying to stay quiet. “U-uhm… Your hair isn’t that bad… I promise.” The girl next to me said, looking more embarrassed than I was. ‘You say it with such confidence too… Well, then again, I did wash it with holly water.’
I rolled my eyes. “I wish you could bubble of silence the crowd…”
She chuckled. “I could… But I think that’s illegal, and this will probably help public opinion of you in the end, so it should be fine.”
Letting out another small groan I decided it couldn’t be helped and laid my head back down, waiting for it all to just end as I grabbed a strand of hair and dangled it in front of my face. “I know my hair is gross… But I don’t know how to fix it… It’s not like anyone ever taught me… Well, actually, it kind of is mostly fixed just from that crazy bathtub.”
The girl next to me grabbed a strand of my hair as well, and when I realized how closely she was looking at it, I quickly pulled back. “It’s not so bad really, but I can tell you don’t put much thought into caring for it. I could show you how I take care of mine if you want.”
I took a closer look at hers in kind. Generally speaking… Well… She was beautiful, I doubt anyone would disagree with me on that. I hadn’t given it much thought, but her brilliant blond hair looked like the flowing wheat fields… I suddenly wanted to touch it and see if it was as soft and silky as it looked, but I controlled myself.
Her body was large enough to carry her armor, but her face was soft and delicate. Her eyes were big, and long eyelashes showed out from her eyelids. After taking a good look… I started wishing I hadn’t. We were incomparable, no matter how many times I bathed in holy water… Which in itself honestly still felt a little sacrilegious…
A dead silence swept over the arena, drawing my attention back to the trial. “What happened? Did I miss something?”
The judge asking questions crossed his arms. “For clarity's sake, please repeat the events, but do so in a calm manner to the best of your ability. Guards, separate the witnesses.”
The kobold grabbed the Ogre by the collar, but before anything further could happen a golden barrier of solid light separated them. “Please, continue.” The judge said calmly.