The Trial Begins
It seems the Hydro Archon won't reveal anything about the prophecy unless she's left with no other choice, Xia Yu observed, analyzing the situation aloud.
"Then what can we do to make her talk?" Ran asked.
Conan's eyes narrowed. "We can create a situation where she has to open her mouth... tomorrow's trial!"
"Tomorrow's trial!" Xia Yu and Conan blurted out at the exact same moment.
Just as Moroboshi had said before, tomorrow's trial was most likely the game's deadline. If they cornered Focalors during the proceedings and forced her to speak about the prophecy, they might be able to resolve every problem in one stroke.
"Actually, I suspect that Focalors isn't really—"
Conan then laid out his suspicions and deductions for the whole group, followed by his plan for the trial the next day, and everyone listened with nods of agreement.
Perhaps to give the players a little more time to prepare, the night before the trial didn't slip past quite as quickly as time had before.
But for the players, it still passed far too fast. It felt like Conan had barely finished explaining the plan before the hour of the trial showdown was already upon them.
Following the staff's instructions, the group filed into the Opera Epiclese.
"Silence!" Neuvillette stood at the judge's bench atop the Oratrice Mecanique d'Analyse Cardinale at the very center of the opera house. Gazing out at the chattering crowd in the audience seats, he struck his cane sharply against the floor and raised his voice in a commanding shout.
As his voice rang through the opera house, the spectators calmed themselves from their excitement at watching a god do battle in a court of law, and the murmuring gradually died away.
Seeing that order had been restored, Neuvillette moved on to the next step of the proceedings. "We will now hear from the accuser—"
At Neuvillette's introduction, Focalors made her way to her seat, and even as she walked, she never missed a chance to wave graciously toward the audience.
"Lady Hydro Archon!"
"I love you, Lady Focalors!"
"Wow! What a rare treat to see Lady Focalors herself here in the courtroom..."
"Right? Normally we only ever catch glimpses of Lady Focalors from the audience seats..."
"..."
Watching a scene that looked for all the world like a crowd of starstruck fans, Conan's mouth twitched. ...
This really is exactly like the scene when Mom, the big star, steps onto a stage...
Neuvillette had long since anticipated the rowdy atmosphere, so he said nothing more, simply waiting until the hall had quieted somewhat before motioning for Xia Yu's group to take their positions as the opposing accusers.
"Both parties are now in place. The trial shall commence—"
"Spare us the tedious formalities, Neuvillette. Let us get straight to the matter at hand," Focalors cut in.
Neuvillette paid her interruption no mind, and taking her suggestion in stride, skipped past the customary opening remarks. "Very well. Lady Focalors — do you accuse that gentleman, the magician, of being the culprit behind the serial disappearances of young women?"
Focalors nodded. "I do."
Neuvillette turned his head. "Travelers from afar — do you contest Lady Focalors's accusation?"
Genta, Kikukawa, and Emori raced to be the first to answer at the top of their lungs. "We contest it! We object!"
"And do you have an alternative suspect?" Neuvillette asked. "If so, who is it?"
Conan cleared his throat. "We accuse Marcel, president of the Cabriere Trading Consortium — true name, Vacher — as the culprit behind the serial disappearances of young women."
"That's right, and we found tons of evidence!" Ayumi added. "He even admitted it himself!"
In the audience seats—
"Splendid! Absolutely splendid! The two sides have been at each other's throats from the very start..."
"They've each accused a different culprit. So which one is the real killer?"
"It has to be whoever Lady Focalors pointed out, obviously. She's the Hydro Archon, the very embodiment of justice — how could she possibly point at the wrong person..."
"Fair point... but didn't that little girl just say they'd found evidence?"
"Evidence isn't always right. How dare you so lightly question Lady Hydro Archon's infallibility?"
"..."
Hearing the faint chorus of support drifting down from the audience, a flicker of discomfort crossed Focalors's face — but she masked it almost instantly, replacing it with a smile of certain victory.
She looked over at Conan and the others and shook her head with a sigh. "Ahh. While I certainly admire your courage in facing down a god, courage alone won't carry you through everything... I've heard about your investigation. Traveling to so many places in a mere three days — truly befitting people who show no weakness even before a deity."
"But today, you are accusing a man who is little more than a mindless invalid. Are you certain you haven't, in your desperation to win, simply hurled an accusation at someone incapable of defending himself? I hope that in the trial to come, you can produce genuine evidence to support your claim. Otherwise, no matter how much I may appreciate you all, I fear even I cannot stop you from being convicted of false accusation."
"Of course, as a merciful and forgiving Hydro Archon, I will do what I can to lighten your punishment. At the very least, I won't let you spend the rest of your lives in Meropide keeping company with Credit Coupons."
Genta gave Focalors a half-lidded stare across the courtroom. "What's with her? This Hydro Archon is so annoying. The way she talks, it's like she's already decided we're going to lose."
"Yeah, yeah, exactly," Kikukawa agreed.
"Don't let her get to you," Mitsuhiko said. "This might just be their strategy to throw us off our game."
Ayumi, Genta, Emori, and Kikukawa all nodded. "Makes sense..."
Conan: ...
"...I don't think so," Moroboshi said. "From where I'm standing, that Hydro Archon hasn't thought up any strategy at all. If you ask me, she's just telling it like it is..."
"So what's Meropide, anyway? The prison in the game?" Haibara asked, a note of curiosity creeping into her voice. "I wonder if there might be a chance to go see it?"
Xia Yu perked up and eagerly joined the conversation. "Ooh, I want to go too! I've never been to prison before. It's too hard to get into one in real life, but maybe in a game... I wonder if the food in there is any good..."
Ran looked at Xia Yu, utterly exasperated. "...Who on earth gets curious about prisons? Besides, it's a prison — how good could the food possibly be?"
"You never know!" Xia Yu said. "Hey, if we ever get to play this game again, Ran, let's find a way to sneak into Meropide and check it out. I'll treat you to some food with those, what were they called, Credit Coupons. How about it?"
Ran hesitated. "Breaking into a prison still doesn't seem quite right... but I suppose it's fine inside a game... Then again, I'll treat you too, Xia Yu."