“We now move on to the defendants,” the bailiff announced. “Defence counsel, please present your case.”
Dia glanced at Beverly, who was busy drinking from a cup of water, and then at the other side. Farah’s parents didn’t look anxious at all as their own legal agent got up and made his way to the centre table, which had been vacated of all relevant evidence and annexes that Farah’s side had used.
“It is clear that the other party has prepared long and hard for this, and for good reason. My clients wish to be honest here; they feel that they too do not have a good argument against what the litigant desires. For the sake of brevity, we have thus decided to forgo the defence and to move on to the next segment,” the robed man replied. “Pursuant to Chapter XI of the Noble Charter, all court cases that involve familial issues of nobles mandate a meeting between the litigant and the defendant. Your Majesty, please.”
“Indeed, there is such a law. I will excuse myself for now, while Countess Farah and her parents prepare for the face-to-face meeting,” Emperor Grandis replied, getting up from the throne. “However, I will be there to adjudicate the following meeting.”
“Sire?” The bailiff looked at Emperor Grandis. “This isn’t—”
“I desire it,” Emperor Grandis replied. “Notify me when the settlement process begins.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” The bailiff turned to face the audience. “All rise as the Emperor departs.”
Dia and the others stood up in silence, and the Emperor of the Grandis Empire turned and left. Farah exchanged a few words with Beverly Julan, who nodded and escorted her out. The same thing happened with Farah’s parents and their legal counsel, which was everyone’s cue to leave the courtroom.
The little dapper lawyer approached Dia and the others shortly after they left.
“Good work out there,” Risti phrased. “I liked some of your arguments. Nice sound bites.”
“Right?” Schwarz added. “Stuff like ‘Cruel it may be, but the Countess recognises that her people, not her feelings, are the most important’. You put a nice spin to things. Liked the tragic take.”
Dia nodded. “Anyone not in the know would probably guess that Farah agonised long and hard over the decision to cut them off entirely, but in reality, she was probably…”
“Well, not heartbroken, at least.” Schwarz shrugged. “I’ll go fetch the lovebirds and the toddler first. You guys move on ahead.”
“Do you know where to find us?” Beverly Julan replied. “We’ll be in that chamber there. Don’t take too long. We only have around ten minutes before the meeting begins.”
“Alright.”
The bartender took off with heavy steps, and Beverly nodded. “Follow me, then.”
Before long, Dia and Risti was seated with Farah, who was bobbing her head to some tune that was probably in her head.
“You’re in a good mood.”
“I get to brush away the final remnants of the storm clouds hanging around my head,” Farah replied. “I am definitely in a very good mood. Emperor Grandis seems to be on my side too, although that’s probably to be expected.”
“It would be hard for this not to be expected,” Dia replied.
“True…”
The door opened again, and a party of three and a bright-eyed toddler waddled inside together. Beth gurgled happily and tottered over to Farah, before patting her leg for some reason.
“Children can be surprisingly empathetic,” Farah quipped. “Wanna sit on my lap?”
“Yes!” Beth replied with an actual answer for once, and Farah grinned. Without a word, she carried the little kid onto her legs, and then began to pat her hair.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
“Your parents might just be confused at this little one sitting on your lap,” Risti remarked. “Which is a good thing. Anyway, are you prepared to face off with your parents one last time?”
Farah nodded. “They probably just want money. The only issue is how much money they can wring from me.”
“Considering that they didn’t even do anything to raise you, I’m impressed that you’re even willing to hand them some cash,” Dia replied.
“Well, they did give birth to me.” Farah paused. “Hmm. Well, only my mother suffered. I’ll just hand my payout to her, then. That should make for some interesting family drama if my father wants to have the money instead, right?”
Dia opened her mouth, and then closed. “You…are quite devious.”
“Thank you for the compliment,” Farah replied. “I mean, that’s quite sound reasoning, yes? I owe it this much to my mother, at least. Childbirth is both painful and dangerous. I’ll at least give her something for that. I’m not a monster.”
“I suppose,” Dia replied.
“And it’ll look bad if I don’t concede at all, right? And the Emperor’s here too. Might as well put on a good show for everyone,” Farah muttered. “Hmm. Alright, I can do this…right, if you guys are hungry, go nibble some snacks. Also, don’t be nervous. Emperor Grandis is going to show up, but you guys already know that.”
“I’ve met him before,” Risti replied. “No biggie. The Emperor looks intimidating and behaves accordingly, but he’s quite the old sweetie…”
Dia didn’t know how Risti could link the words ‘Emperor’ and ‘old sweetie’ together, but her father was a good friend of the Emperor, so anything went.
“Hmm. If you put it that way,” Schwarz replied, “do you think he’ll give one of my drinks a try?”
“Sure, if you don’t mind being attacked by a bunch of elite guards after Emperor Grandis inevitably blacks out from alcohol intoxication,” Risti replied. “I mean, you sure are ballsy.”
“The Blue Moon drank my booze. I don’t see why the Emperor can’t.”
“The Blue Moon fainted,” Risti pointed out. “Which is really impressive. Have you considered becoming a Bearer of Destiny or something? You can be the God of Intoxicating Booze, because that’s your ultimate move. Seriously.”
“Wait, you guys know the Blue Moon?” Beverly asked.
“The Seekers of Life know quite a lot of important personages,” Risti replied. “I mean, right here, you have Countess Farah, the princess of Lustre, the daughter of a powerful mana-user, the Holy Son of the Black God and the Thirteenth Bearer of Destiny.”
She paused. “And a bartender.”
“What huge, important bar does Schwarz run, then?” Beverly asked.
“Huge and important? What?” Risti blinked. “It’s just your normal bar. Nothing noteworthy about it.”
“How out of place…”
Schwarz cleared his throat. “Forget about me. Isn’t it almost ten minutes? Farah, are you ready?”
“Yes. You guys just need to sit behind me and look menacing or something,” Farah replied. “And as for Beth…hmm. Do you want to sit on my lap the whole time, or go back to Dia?”
“Dada…” Beth pondered for a moment, and then patted her own lap. “Here!”
“Really empathetic, aren’t you.” Farah looked at Dia, who grinned back, and then said, “Well, okay. Thank you, Beth. Make yourself comfortable here, okay?”
“Yes!”
After shifting around, the Seekers of Life repositioned themselves to a more appropriate position, and Nero chuckled.
“Right, Beverly, is there a segment where we introduce ourselves too?” Nero asked. “Because this might get a little bit funny if we do just that.”
“You people have amazing backgrounds,” Beverly replied. “But this whole reconciliation meeting is unstructured. If you want to, you guys can strike first and force out an introduction. There’s nothing against it, and I suspect Emperor Grandis will be quite pleased too.”
“Pleased? Why?”
“Well, wouldn’t he be happy to know that the responsible Countess Farah has such a reliable circle of friends?” Beverly replied. “Besides, he definitely doesn’t like those two. Anything that puts them on the backfoot will please him.”
“We don’t really need to please him, though,” Dia muttered.
The door opened again at that moment, and Dia got her first, close look at the people who threw responsibilities that a child shouldn’t handle onto a child. Farah looked at the couple in silence, and then at the small crowd of young people behind them.
The silence that followed was painful and sharp, and Dia couldn’t help but feel some admiration at how Farah was handling the whole thing. Farah — Countess Farah of the titular territory — simply gazed at the two of them without any apparent emotion, reminding Dia of a sheathed blade.
Eventually, someone broke from the pressure, and the sleazy-looking, snake-like man that was Farah’s…father cleared his throat.
“D-daughter. It’s nice to see you after such a long period.”
Farah looked at him silently, and the man quailed. Unfortunately, before anything more amusing could occur, the door opened for the third time, and a formidable presence strode into the room. Dia rose to her feet, along with everyone else, and then turned to face the Emperor of the Grandis Empire.
“Dispense with the formalities,” Emperor Grandis replied. “Bailiff?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.” The bailiff, who looked like he didn’t know what he was doing here, nodded. “Everyone has been accounted for. We may begin at any time.”
“Good. Do not mind my presence, people.” The Emperor nodded. “Please feel free to proceed.”
Considering his immense presence, doing so was easier said than done…