Chapter 108
Guilty or Not Guilty?
“Did you or did you not fight with the Hero’s Party in Zelbes Forest?”
“We did fight them in self-defense.”
“But you did not take the Hero’s life?”
“No, we did not.”
Allenca, who was hidden by the large form of Babblebrook, heard this and was bewildered by the unfazed expression of the girl sitting in the wheelchair.
“…” Lord Audrick stopped his line of questioning, his face showed little emotion as he gestured towards Tonio Benucci. “The Accuser may send out his first witness.”
Tonio was a well-built man with a skin darker than even that of a Dark Elf. He was cleanly shaven from the top of the head down to his feet. His eyes were as dark as his skin, with a square jaw to match the fierceness of his gaze. He stood up as he glanced at the young, arrogant little girl and scoffed in his head.
“I call to the stand, The Hero of Calendia. Sakagami Akira.”
The audience gasped.
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Now standing at the podium, Akira felt rather awkward with all the attention focused on him. He was used to be the center of attention, but not at such a critical juncture, with the eyes of both friends and enemies watching his every moves.
And indeed, no one expected for the first person to take the stand to be the Hero of Calendia itself. It was a brusque show of confidence.
“Lord Akira, you were with the Knights who went to Zelbes Forest, correct?”
“…” Akira took a deep breath, giving a worried look at the girl smiling faintly at him. “I…yes. Yes, I was.”
“Tell us, Lord Akira. What did you find in Zelbes Forest?”
“We found Lady Cornelia and her party scattered around the forest. Lady Cornelia, Illumca, and the boy named Martell were unconscious deep in the forest. Lord Kasheem and the Hunter was found near the edge of the forest. As for Lady AKula, she was found passed out on her legs before the forest. Lady Cornelia’s condition at the time was so bad that the Maiden of Water had to personally take care of it.”
“And what of those from our Hero’s party?”
Akira’s eyes went to Hannah, who was squeezing the edge of her skirt. “We…found the bodies of Kurosaki Yuuji and the rest of his party. Except for Kamiya.”
“Yes. Our brave Vice-Captain Sergio had managed to save Kamiya and took her to safety. That is how we know what horrendous crime had been perpetrated against our people,” Tonio said, waving his hand with exaggerated motion. “And what about the condition of the bodies?”
“I…am not sure I should…” Akira began to speak, but then he fell silent. As he knew not what to do. Should he stay silent? Or should he speak? He did not like Connie that much, but he owed her.
“Please. Your response would be important for justice to be done,” Tonio said. He had investigated about this particular Hero and knew his weaknesses. And the naïve justice he held was the key to unravel this person.
“…his body was found with a knife wound to his heart…along with the body of the beastfolk girl nearby, a stab wound in her jugular,” he paused, then continued. “And as for Lady Leida, she was found with her head separated from her body.” Akira said slowly, causing murmurs of surprise and horror from the audience.
Despite the current condition, Martell smiled with a hint of pride at the mention of the last victim.
“Thank you for your honesty, you are indeed, a Hero. Your tongue speaks the truth. And this truth shall be the weight upon which the scale of justice will be upheld.”
“Cough.”
“Is there something you want to add, Lady Steelheart?” Tonio asked with a sneer.
“No, no. I was very much out of commission at the time.”
“Thank you, Lord Akira. You may return to your seat.”
Lord Audrick stopped for a brief minute to ensure the solemnity of the proceeding before gesturing towards Connie.
“It’s your turn to speak, Lady Steelheart.”
“Thank you, Lord Audrick,” she smiled. “It’s all well and good. But it surprised me that you didn’t ask, “Why did Kurosaki Yuuji and his party go to Zelbes Forest?”,” Connie began.
“As for us, we went there to do a Quest. A simple one where we are supposed to cull the monsters there while gathering some in-season mushrooms called Goblin’s Head. We invited Kasheem along to cheer him up as he was very unhappy after being sacked for incompetence.”
“Is this true, Prince Abbas?” Lord Audrick asked.
The Red Prince nodded valiantly, causing the golden chains around his neck to sway across his broad chest. “Yes. It is witnessed by my wife and some of the Calendian maids. I was very unhappy about the quality of his work. And I do tend to flare out against anything less than stellar. It is one of the reason they call me the Red Prince,” he said, as he threw his trusted friend a meaningful look.
Stolen story; please report.
“And it was while we were doing this that the man and his insidious party ambushed us.”
“Preposterous!!” Tonio shouted angrily. “You are speaking lies!”
“This is not your turn to speak, Sir Tonio!” Lord Audrick scolded him. “Is this true, Sir Kasheem?”
Kasheem snorted and said with a clear voice. “Yes. I was taking in the scenery of Zelbes Forest while they are doing their quest when the man named Kurosaki Yuuji and his gaggle of women arrived with ill intent. Upon my honor as a man, I took up my sword to defend them.”
Oh, it seems that along with being loyal, he also had a bit of deviousness in him. Martell saw the man in a new light.
“And how do we know that you are not also in on this?” This time, the leader of the Vorzennian Envoy Verocco inquired. “Reports say that you have quite the amicable relationship with the daughter of Duke Steelheart.”
Kasheem clenched his fists as he heard this and replied with indignation. “He came upon us like common robber and demanded Lady Cornelia and Miss Illumca to surrender themselves. Do I even need to justify what I did?! Is that something your King’s Watchmen would do?! Any hot-blooded man with even the smallest shred of honor?!”
“Then, is it because of this that you murdered our Hero in cold blood?” Tonio made his move.
“This is not your turn, Sir Tonio,” Lord Audrick warned before returning to Connie. “Let us get back on track. Lady Steelheart, is there proof that you were ambushed, as you say? And that it was not a premeditated attack?”
“I still have the proof of subjugation and the muhsrooms still in my Item Ring. Also, inside is my copy of the Quest Scroll, including the date and stamp of the Hunter’s Guild.”
They then invited an official to examine the results from the Item Ring that was confiscated from Connie. To which Connie obliged happily.
The official nodded after examining the Scroll closely. “We have ascertained the stamp to be genuine.”
“Would the envoy like to inspect the Scroll?” the lanky Judge asked.
The Envoy snatched the Scroll and cursorily scanned it. It was more for show as he did not have the ability to ascertain its truth. But he needed to keep face. He jabbed it into the hand of the official after he was finished.
“As you can see. Our quest is located at the Zelbes Forest. It’s not very far but not a place you’d go for a simple jaunt. Why would Kurosaki Yuuji put so much effort into going to that exact location where my party went if it was not because we were the target? There are many quests all with different locations at the time and I was just grabbing an easy one. You can ask the Receptionist if you wish.”
This was the truth. The quests were seasonal quests that were requested all the time during this season. However, a lot of the time the reward was not worth the effort needed to finish the quest that it became unpopular. It provided the perfect place for Connie’s trap.
“One thing If I may, Lord Audrick?” The Red Prince said. He continued when the man gave him his consent. “…I find it hard to believe that you are able to defeat them. They are a well known and experienced party who had reached an A-Rank, while you are still a C-Rank. And there is also…”
It was a question he asked to help her. Giving her a chance to give her a stance. To cleanly demarcate the line between manslaughter and true self-defense. The former being punishable by death and the other basically giving her a case of innocence. However, her answer shattered this meaningful approach from him.
“To answer the first question. The Ranks are indicative of trust. Not strength. It just so happens that those who reached A-Rank has proven their strength enough that they earned that much trust,” Connie explained. “Even if, say, our Hero registered as a Hunter today, he would still be at the lowest Rank,” Connie finished before continuing.
“But I know what you are implying, Haynim Abbas,” Connie lazily answered. “You are talking about his ‘Cheat’.”
Tonio’s face changed when he heard this.
“That’s right. I know about the Blessings, envoys. He was not a humble person.”
“Tell us then. What is his cheat?” Lord Audrick asked.
“His Cheat was ‘Perfect’,” Connie proclaimed. “His cheat allowed him to instantly master everything once he learned everything up to its peak. To level 10.”
This fact earned the collective gasps of the whole audience. Only the high-ranking Envoys of Vorzenny kept their calm. To be able to reach such a level without training was something beyond their wildest dream.
The ones who came from the military and trades’ faces especially were unsightly. Many of them had trained many years, spent many restless nights in their trade and only a handful managed to go past Level 6. But to reach that level instantly? Truly the world was unfair.
“T - to Level 10, instantly?” Lord Audrick, a pillar of calm up unto this moment. He himself had been a judge; an expert on arbitration since he was young, only managed to reach Level 8 in Mastery. He quickly turned to Gianni Verocco.
The man sitting to his left answered with a level tone. “There is no reason to hide it anymore. Yes. That was our Hero’s Cheat.”
Abbas took a deep breath to calm himself down. It was fortunate for him that such a vile Hero with such a strong ‘Cheat’ was dealt so soon. Otherwise, he could have directed that ‘Cheat’ to his people. “That makes it even stranger. With a Blessing of that magnitude, then your survival should be slim.”
Again, Abbas gave her a very easy question. With the hope for her to feign her weakness.
And again, that hope was dashed, as Connie looked at him as if she were offended.
“Perfect is not the same as flawless. While he may have Perfect Sword Mastery, he does not understand the Sword,” Connie answered as she remembered that unacceptable swordplay. “It is shallow and fragile, like a castle built on top of a bed of sand. To call his state as a Perfect Mastery is a folly itself. There is no such thing as Perfect!”
Behind her, Nick was quickly panicking.
“W-what is she doing? Akula! She is making us look bad!”
There was no answer. Akula was standing there, eyes still.
“Y-you…are you sleeping?” Nick stared at her, miffed.
“…”
“You are sleeping!! How can you sleep with your eyes open like that?!”
Akula grew up among her Clan in the Grasslands. They were simple people living a simple life. Any dispute on land or sheep were mostly handled through a duel or arbitration by the Elders. To be here listening to words with hidden meanings and complex chains of interests made her head hurt.
Thus, she simply gave up.
While this was happening, Connie was still finishing her answer.
“And I press this to you again, it was not that shit called Kurosaki Yuuji who rendered me to my current state. It was Sergio. Kurosaki Yuuji ran with his tail between his legs after I gave him a beatdown.”
Alrond, who was sitting at the edge of his seat, squeezed his cane. Fool! She is digging her own grave! That was a question meant to help you show ample weakness!! To show that it was a hard-fought battle!!
On the other hand, Tonio smiled. Another avenue of attack was opened.
“You are still on thin ice, Lady Steelheart. All that you said only made it clear that you fought against the Hero of Vorzenny and his party,” he paused while shifting his gaze towards the crowd. “Nothing you said so far have proven to us your innocence.”
“Ah, yes. We were talking about motives. Simple. As you heard Kasheem said before. It was because he desired me and my beautiful companion, Illumca.”
This caused the audience to quickly fall into chaos. It was well known that the man had love for beautiful women. But knowing and hearing about it firsthand were two different things.
“Silence! This Trial is still in session!” the elderly man said with authoritative voice, silencing the Chamber. “Continue.”
“And that was not the first time he tried to do this. Twice he had tried to harass us. The first was his assault on Illumca during the Ball. And the Second was when we were trying to look for a Quest.”
“And are there witnesses for these occurences?”
“Yes, they are here in this very chamber. If they are willing…”
“She is just making things up,” Tonio said when he saw that no one in the audience chairs were standing up. “You shouldn’t lie, Lady Steelheart. It is not very becoming.”
Illumca spoke out when she saw him acting so condescendingly against Connie. “That’s because you are looking the wrong way.”
“…She means me, Sir Tonio,” Akira spoke out from his seat.
“And, um…me,” a terrified voice called out from the seat of the Red Prince’s entourage.