LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 163: Adjourned
“I heard this directly from the demon known as Kaiser’s mouth. He told the heretic Nito that the army had been prepared specifically to kill him.”
Braums appeared as a witness and said this without even looking at me. Didn’t I save his life from the Demon queen? How ungrateful.
“In other words this means that the heretic was the cause of everything that has happened.”
“Wait!”
Latosphere’s inquisitor interrupted.
“There is no way for us to prove whether or not the demon said this. As such it is only speculation, however it is fact that Nito destroyed the demon army. Moreover if he could have predicted the attack I believe that he would have escaped beforehand. However, instead of running away he chose to stay and fight. Where is the sin in this? This inquisition should be sticking to the facts and not deciding things based on speculation.”
Then the Utopia inquisitor spoke up.
“Are you saying that eyewitness accounts are not based in fact?!”
The Pascantin inquisitor seemed to agree.
“Is it not strange to doubt a witness’s testimony?”
Then the inquisitor from the republic of Delorite spoke.
“Regardless, he ended this attack and at the same time is showing no intention of rebelling. I think that this inquisition is wrong.”
Opinions were flying out one after the other as the inquisitors were in a heated discussion. It mostly sounding like Pascantin and Utopiya wanted a guilty verdict while the others wanted a not guilty.
“For now…. At the very least, I don’t think he deserves the death penalty.”
The inquisitor from The holy land of Greyberg spoke up. I only recently heard from Sufilia that after the new king took over the country had changed its name. Then the inquisitor from Ixos slowly raised their hand, and when the others saw this they all quieted down as the Ixos inquisitor began to speak.
“I believe that this case is not that simple.”
The Ixos inquisitor said quietly.
“I request permission to hold a discussion that goes beyond our current agenda.”
Manyoska flipped through the little booklet in front of him for a moment thinking before finally allowing it.
“Thank you.”
Even though I can’t see his face he is the only inquisitor who looks even remotely calm.
“First off you have the undeniable sin of killing a student. This is a fact as it was done openly and in public. So, for the time being I would like to leave the matter of the demons aside and talk about something else. After what had happened was over I was shifting through the rubble in the vicinity looking through the corpses as since there were many dukes, counts, kings, and other celebrities that attended it would be terrible if they were caught up in all of this and had died. “
The inquisitor paused before he started speaking again.
“During this I discovered something strange. The lord and son of the duke family Dynes. While we were shifting through the rubble all that we found were their escorts and a large amount of blood. It was not possible for us to piece together the bodies of the lord and his son but nonetheless there was something odd about it. Like where the corpses were found, which was right near the waiting room for those participating in the tournament. And when looking at how old the corpses were, their time of death did not match up to when the demons had attacked.”
“I see…”
I guess I should have cleaned that up properly, at that time I was upset and didn’t. Or rather I didn’t think that they would be able to even determine the time of death, let alone have magic that was capable of piecing a body back together. I mean I knew that nothing is impossible with magic but…
“In other words I suspect that you were the one who committed this atrocity. Next I blame you for what happened to King Pascanchin and King Utopia. To put it simply I suspect you of having cast magic on them and a student who was there has testified as such. Although no circle was deployed and we could find no trace of magical power there this is still blasphemous. And many of those here witnessed that event.”
The inquisitor of Ixos was speaking quite plainly.
“In addition, although we have no definitive information for this we currently have three students who are still missing. Koizumi, Teppei, and Takeshi, these three are still missing and when asking the others students what happened it was determined that they went missing around the time that you killed the duke and his son. Although they did not say where they were going it would make sense that they stumbled upon you killing the duke and his son and were killed because of this.”
“In other words….I did it?”
“This is only what you have been suspected of but for now we shall only list what you have been confirmed of doing. You have cursed at the the kings of two different nations and openly murdered a student in the tournament. The image we can derive from this is that you are a madman, a murderer, and have abandoned magic, disobeying it’s laws and have become a heretic.”
So basically, I’m a criminal.
“Those two kings tried to kidnap a companion of mine, so I refused. That’s all it was.”
“So you admit it?”
“Kyogoku demanded that I fight at my full strength so I did. I showed him courtesy as a fellow mage.”
“Answer the question please. You admit that you displayed rudeness towards a king?”
“It was self defense.”
“Answer the question please!”
The Ixos inquisitor slammed his hand on the table angrily telling me to admit that I showed disrespect for a king.
“I do not think I was being disrespectful. I was only protecting my companion.”
They intended to kidnap Nem and make her a slave before throwing her away. Nem was clinging to me desperately during that. And then the filth not satisfied with her turned his dirty eyes towards Toa and Sufilia as well so it was only natural that I resisted. Is that really a sin? Besides didn’t I save everyone from the demons? The duke of Dynes was the one who tried to kill me so I simply fought back. Kyogoku’s death was what he wanted so why am I being blamed for it? Of course it was me who killed Koizumi and his friends but they have no way of proving that.
It’s just convenient for them to try and oppress me like this.
Why should I be treated like a sinner? Why should I be despised as a heretic? Why should I be insulted? Why should I be looked down on as a madman? Why should I be ridiculed? Why do I have to be oppressed? Why…
“No matter what the reason is, disrespecting a king is unforgivable! Furthermore, there are no witnesses to back up the claim you made about those kings making such a request! In other words you just suddenly started cursing at a king!”
It seems like it would be useless for me to try and say anything else. When I looked up at the audience I could see the seven kings sitting there, the pig and that bean seemed to be smirking at me. It seems like my guilt had been decided from the beginning, I knew this wasn’t going to be anything legitimate. From the moment that I heard this inquisition would be conducted by the seven countries that had invested in the schools I knew it was corrupt.
The Ixos guy had yet to stop screaming.
“There is no way that such a person saved everyone from the demons! You probably invited them here to begin with!”
“Objection!”
The inquisitor of Delorite interrupted with a strong tone to their voice causing the one from Ixos to turn his masked face towards him.
“Murder is murder, however there is no doubt that it was what Kyogoku had wanted. He made his speech in font of everyone. Furthermore this disrespect towards a king, according to the information I gathered King Pascantin and King Utopiya did indeed attempt to get him to had over his companion Nem. The girl who participated in the first match, I have a testimony stating as such.”
“Oh? Then why not summon the witness?”
The Ixos inquisitor said.
“In the interest of their own safety my informant has asked to remain anonymous.”
“Is that so, Why does it sound like you are suggesting that showing their face would invite harm on the one who gave you this information?”
“Is that not what I was saying?”
“Oh it almost sounds as if you are trying to cover for the heretic. You were chosen by a country so I would ask you to make accurate statements.”
“So far you have done nothing but spout emotional theories, just speculation after speculation. No matter what we think Kyogoku’s death was asked for by himself and we have to take that into account. As for disrespecting the kings, this man not only saved himself and his companions from the demons but everyone else as well. Do you not find it strange to think that someone of such high morals and justice would suddenly go and ridicule a king for no reason? The way you are thinking is unreasonable and personal, you are not able to provide a fair opinion on this matter.”
The plate in front of the one defending me reads the republic of Delorite. But why is this person suddenly defending me it’s the first I’ve heard of them? I don’t think I really have any other choice but to roll with it though. While thinking this, it seems like the inquisitor of Latosphere agrees as well.
“He eliminated the demons. Is this not enough in itself to prove that he is not a villain?”
The inquisitor from the holy land of Greyberg agreed with this sentiment as well.
“It is hard to convict him. While this inquisition only has two options either finding him guilty or sentencing him to a less harsh punishment I think in this instance he should be acquitted. I believe that the inquisition itself is wrong.”
What is going on? It seems like four of them are claiming that I’m not guilty while only three are claiming that I am.
“But! He killed someone!”
“That’s right! It’s not an exaggeration to say that this person is evil!”
Pascantin and Utopia still declared that I was guilty while Ixos who should have been joining in with them just sighed and said nothing else.
“Be quiet!”
Manyoska slammed his gavel down.
“The inquisition will be silent. We will now make a decision. Under my title as director of the inquisition, The Heretic Nito’s name will be changed to Nito, and I rule in favor of acquittal.”
At that moment everyone in the audience stood. Then the inquisition stood followed by the seven kings.
“The inquisition is now over!”
The inquisition was closed as the director banged his gavel. What is going on? It seemed like it was decided that I was innocent from the very beginning? They didn’t even deliberate it all that much.
“Wait a minute!”
Saeki screamed out at what was now a closed inquisition.