LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 162: Inquisition
‘The Hero Nito stopped the demon attack!’
……
‘I heard that there is an inquisition against the hero Nito! What is going through the minds of those kings!?’
……
“Haaaaa….”
I closed the magical communication release and put it down on the table.
‘The hero Nito saved everyone again.’
‘Seven kings are attempting to judge the hero via inquisition.’
‘It’s an outrage.’
Personally I just felt uncomfortable seeing that Francesa was the one who wrote the article.
“Francesca huh…”
I don’t know why but for whatever reason it seems like Francesca is on my side. It seems like most of the article is attacking the kings but it’s been almost a week since that issue was concluded. I could see the grassland from the dormitory window at Halekuwait. The land there was still scared from the battle but the corpses of the demons could no longer be seen.
‘If you are a beastman you are not obligated to mourn over the corpse of a demon when you collect it as you would a humans.’
This is what the humans had said so I decided to go back to the battlefield alone and gather the demon corpses together in one place and burn them. I don’t know how they would mourn in their country but I chose cremation. At the very least I wanted to atone for what I’d done. The abyss calmed down a bit after that but the fact that I killed demons remains the same. I will have to carry this with me from now one, I was the one who killed my dream.
After I finished disposing of the corpses I called Bell again and had him return me to normal. By that I mean fixing the part of me that had been swallowed by the abyss. I figured that I would have been swallowed a lot more than I was but Bell said that I was safe. It’s probably because it was what Toa had wanted.
It took a day for Toa to regain consciousness after that. Immediately after the battle was over I took her to the dormitory and stayed by her side the whole time until she woke up. When she did the Toa from the battlefield was gone and it was the usual Toa.
‘Thank you Masamune. This child is yours now.’
I haven’t asked her what she meant by that because I knew she would just say that she didn’t remember. Kind of like now….
“I don’t remember….”
“…..I see.”
‘I don’t know, I don’t know, I didn’t say that’
Every time I talked with Toa about it, this was how she responded. I decided that I should just stop talking about it but I am a little worried now. What should I do with the three of them? I can take Toa back to Urzora and then leave Sufilia with the prophet but what do I do with Nem? I could maybe leave her in the demon country? Are they tolerant of beastmen?
……….
But if they still want to accompany me on my journey then they should be able to and at the moment it doesn’t seem like any one of them wants to leave me. Instead of worrying about it I should be thinking of a solution, after all thats how problems get solved.
By the way, everyone was told that Toa was the daughter of the demon king and that the main reason for the demons coming her was to get her. However, no one was blaming her for anything. I felt like they should at least ask Toa questions and try to blame her a little but no one did. On the contrary it looked like they were all scared of her. Although I guess the fact that I hadn’t left her side this entire time should probably be considered. I couldn’t let her be assassinated for this and end up like the me in my vision could I?
Yesterday someone from the inquisition came to visit my room. They told me the charges and the date and then left. Afterward Schneiser knocked on my door and when I opened it he told to answer everything honestly and explained a little about the inquisition.
It felt like something was going on without my knowledge. But since the battle the only people I’ve talked with are Nem,Toa and Sufilia. I haven’t even talked to Patrick since then and none of what you could refer to as friends have come by either. I guess I might leave the school after this but I would want to say bye first.
“I’m here to pick you up!”
There was a knock at the door.
“Is it already time?”
“Yes.”
One of Schneiser’s knights had appeared there. While he would normally be wearing a set of golden armor he was now dressed in a white coat.
“Nito…”
Everyone was looking at me a little anxiously.
“Let’s go, you can keep watch behind me.”
The inquisition is to be held at the venue today and the one on trial was of course me. There were seats prepared for the audience at the venue so I could take those three with me and I still planned to wear my mask. It seems like this is probably the last time I will see this hallway as I will at the very least probably be expelled since I killed a student. But either way I think I’m going to leave.
I’m not worried of course, all though I couldn’t say the same for the three behind me. But if you think about it a little it’s not like anyone there would be able to kill me. Schneiser said that after me the next strongest in the world would be the Demon kings and we saw how that went. Also according to Schneiser, they were going to take into account that I had protected the school and other students from the demons. But I’m sure that he is just worried about the empire, meaning that if a war does start with the empire they will probably try to force me into joining.
We exited out of Halekuwait and I could see the venue in front of me. It was still a half destroyed and it seemed like the seats that had been for the audience was now to be used for the inquisition. What was left of those seats anyway, since to enter the venue I was just lead through one of the collapsed sections of wall.
▽
Everyone in the audience was all dressed in white with white pointed hats, 360 degrees around me. I felt a little exposed. Nonetheless I was guided to a spot in the center of the field, where there were 7 seats. Four on the left and three on the right, like everyone else they too were dressed in white and hiding their faces. Are they wearing white to try to say they are innocent? It seems like the one directly in front of me was the director of this inquisition, he had a nameplate in front of him that read ‘Manyoska’. He was the only one there that wasn’t hiding his face.
Behind me was a log with straw around the base of it. It seems that if I was convicted I was to be immediately to be put to the stake and burned. All in all it looked to be pretty efficient and straight forward. Before starting the inquisition Manyoska instructed me to take off my mask but I refused.
“I was cursed so that if anyone sees my true face they die. I can’t take of this mask until I die or those around me will all be killed. I’ve tried everything to remove it but nothing has been able to since it is too strong. But if you insist then I will take the mask off.”
“…..I see. If that’s the case then I shall allow it.”
Honestly I was just said it to see if they’d buy it. I hadn’t expected Monyoska to be that dumb.
“We will now open the inquisition!”
Apparently the inquisition had begun at Manyoska’s cue.
“Nito! You have been accused of Murder, Blasphemy and several other things! During this inquisition we shall address all of them!”
He looked at a small booklet he had in his hand.
“First, during the tournament it is an undeniable fact that you killed a student by the name Shinya Kyogoku. Is there any objection to this?”
“No.”
I answered honestly.
“Then next-”
Seems like this is going to be a smooth process.
“You are also suspected of being the one who kidnapped the princess of the demon kingdom and triggered the attack. However we would like to gather more details on this from Nito regarding this assault by the demons. Heretic, do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?”
How is someone who isn’t a demon supposed to judge me for kidnapping the daughter of a demon lord? This is starting to seem ridiculous.
“I swear.”
“Then state the details clearly.”
So as instructed I elaborated on what happened, how I met her on my journey and the village we stopped in. And about how I was unaware that she was a princess until we came into contact with the demon Kaiser.
“Why did you not hand over the princess to the demons at that time?”
“Toa is the princess of the demon kingdom of Urzora, not the princess of Shastain. Handing her over to Shastain would have then triggered a war with the kingdom of Urzora….”
“Wait…”
Manyoska interrupted my explanation.
“I will confirm your objection later, for now just state the facts.”
“…..Okay.”
Since when did the words spoken by the accused become objections?
“I declined Kaisers demand and then her returned to the demon country. After which an attack took place.”
“Now the inquisition will allow for others to question the facts stated by Nito.”
The first person to raise their hand was in inquisitor from Tonpearls kingdom that guy who tried to kidnap Nem first.
“I would like to hear the continuation behind why you would not hand over the princess. You said that handing her over to Shastain would incur the wrath of Urzora so why did you do nothing to stop Kaiser from returning to Shastain. Since you should have known that this would have caused Shastain to attack later.”
I wonder if that pig king is trying to put me to death somehow.
His inquisitor sounded like a woman.
“ There was no way for me to predict that Shastain would attack. You overestimate my intelligence. And I did not leave because I was supposed to participate in the tournament. Plus even if I did leave it would not have changed the fact that there would have been an attack. It would have only changed the outcome.”
“What does that mean, please keep your answer brief.”
It sounded like I’d irritated her.
“This is where Kaiser found Toa so this is where he would have come back. Even if I left he would have returned as though Toa was still here. I interrogated him during the battle and learned that was entirely what had happened. Certainly it could have been prevented but I believe that the fact I stayed and dealt with the attack should be taken into account as well.”
“Certainly without you this attack could have been much worse. Two historical schools could have come to an end. That fact that they didn’t is thanks to you being here.”
“But we have information saying that the demons were here for the heretic in the first place!”
That Nut king’s inquisitor shouted.
“Didn’t they prepare that abnormal amount of demons for the heretic in the first place? If he wasn’t here this attack wouldn’t have happened in the first place. I motion to summon a witness.”
“I’ll allow it.”
With that Braums was called forward.