Chapter 14
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: A Trial of His Own Making
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“You all… you’re Christian’s friends. What happened to your faces?”
The friends gulped, then spoke in a rush.
“We were assaulted trying to stop Christian from doing something wrong.”
“…Wrong? What are you talking about?”
“He was drunk… he murdered the person serving him and disposed of the body in the river.”
“!!”
Count Cazar staggered, his face turning pale.
“Is that… true!”
“Yes, it is the truth. We are sorry! We tried to stop Christian, but we weren't strong enough.”
Count Cazar covered his face with his hands.
A long silence followed, and unnoticed by anyone, Cox the butler exchanged a look with Christian’s friends.
‘Well done.’
They had handled things just as Butler Cox had intended.
But for some reason…
The friends flinched and avoided his gaze.
It was strange, but Butler Cox, elated by the fact that he had completely ruined Christian, didn't think much of it.
‘Now that I’ve finished off that bastard Christian as ‘he’ commanded, I’ll receive a great reward.’
‘He.’
Butler Cox hid his sinister expression.
He feigned a look of grave concern and spoke to Count Cazar.
“…What should we do about the Young Master? I don't think this matter can be taken lightly.”
Count Cazar spoke with a heavy voice.
“Bring Christian to the Majin tribunal. I will exercise my right to a summary trial.”
* * *
Christian was immediately brought before the tribunal.
All the key figures of the county had gathered in the courtroom.
“It’s the Young Master.”
The Majin escorted Christian into the tribunal.
However, those who saw Christian’s appearance wore puzzled expressions.
He was far too clean.
There was no sign of him being drunk, and even the dissolute air of a scoundrel he had shown until recently was gone.
Instead.
‘He’s similar to how he was when he had his wits about him?’
Some of the Majin had that thought.
Count Cazar ground his teeth and questioned Christian.
“…Is it true that you committed murder?”
Before answering, Chris looked at Count Cazar.
His eyes were clear, as if he had returned to his former self.
“No.”
A firm answer.
Count Cazar’s eyes wavered.
“Are you lying? There are definite witnesses.”
“Witnesses, you say. To whom are you referring?”
His friends, standing in the witness box, stepped forward with pale faces.
“U-Us.”
“I have a question for the Count. Is their testimony credible? What I mean is, is there any evidence to corroborate their testimony?”
Count Cazar was struck dumb.
“There are witnesses who saw you take the server to a secluded place.”
The Count hadn't relied solely on testimony.
He had investigated the circumstances separately and confirmed that the victim had gone missing after Christian took them to a secluded area.
“Hmm. There seems to be some misunderstanding.”
Chris shrugged and then said.
“You may enter.”
“!!”
At that, another person appeared in the tribunal, and Butler Cox’s eyes widened as if they would tear.
The girl who was supposedly killed by Chris and dumped in the river had appeared, perfectly fine!
“N-No?”
“How can this be?”
The girl spoke in a trembling voice.
“The Y-Young Master pitied my situation, gave me money, and told me to leave secretly so no one would see. He didn’t harm me in any way.”
“There you have it.”
Chris let out a smirk.
“How could this have happened?”
The people were bewildered.
His innocence had been proven so cleanly it was almost anticlimactic.
All eyes turned to the friends who had given false testimony.
“If I am innocent, then there can only be one reason for this commotion.”
Chris said coldly.
“They conspired against me.”
“!!”
The atmosphere in the hall shifted dramatically.
Count Cazar roared.
“Force those bastards to their knees!”
“W-We…!! Ugh!!!”
The Majin roughly forced the friends to their knees on the floor.
Their faces ashen, they swallowed their tears.
Having tried to frame the son of a count, their lives were now forfeit.
There was no way they could survive this.
But they had no choice.
‘We didn't want to do this either!’
In truth, this was all a play orchestrated by Chris.
They had done this under his command.
But they couldn't refuse.
The Seal of Binding.
The curse Chris had carved into them compelled their actions.
Following that curse, they once again opened their mouths against their will.
“W-We… were merely instigated.”
“Instigated?”
“Yes. We were incited to slander the Young Master. *Sob*.”
Count Cazar’s eyes burned with an explosive rage.
“Who is it? Who is the bastard I must kill?”
Everyone’s attention focused on the friends.
They lifted their trembling faces and looked at one person.
A person whose face was just as pale as theirs.
“It is Butler Cox.”
“!!”
Everyone was thrown into a state of shock.
The accusation was completely unexpected.
Count Cazar, in particular, had a blank expression.
Butler Cox was a man who had served the county for a long time.
He was a subordinate the Count trusted so much that he would leave the household affairs in his hands whenever he had to lead the knights to the battlefield.
And this trusted man had instigated such a thing?
Butler Cox, of course, jumped up and denied it vehemently.
“That is an absurd accusation! No, this… this is clearly a prank concocted by the Young Master and his friends! Young Master, to think you would stoop to such a terrible prank!”
Butler Cox sharply deduced that the current situation was Chris’s doing.
He bared his fangs and reacted fiercely.
“After all this time, after how much I’ve cared for you, Young Master! To try and frame me like this! No matter how wicked a scoundrel you are, there are lines that should not be crossed!”
‘I have to insist this is just another one of that scoundrel’s wicked accusations!’ Cox thought desperately.
It was a plausible strategy.
He had built up trust over a long period, while that scoundrel had always been the subject of people’s distrust.
If he insisted, he could surely frame it as the scoundrel's malicious misdeed.
But then Cox froze.
Chris’s gaze was completely unwavering.
It was as if he had anticipated Cox would react this way.
His guess was correct.
Chris thought to himself.
‘Did you really think I wouldn’t know you’d react like this?’
“My lord Count, as the victim of this incident, may I make one request?”
Chris addressed Count Cazar in a formal tone.
“…What is it?”
“May I, acting on your authority, question Butler Cox myself?”
Question him.
He meant he would personally ask Cox about this incident.
Count Cazar was silent for a moment.
‘…What in the world?’
Count Cazar looked at Chris’s face.
He didn't trust his son.
That was a given.
And yet.
What was with that look in his eyes again?
That arrogant, confident gaze that had shaken his heart.
Count Cazar made a decision he couldn't comprehend.
“…Very well. I leave it to you.”
“My lord!”
Butler Cox cried out in surprise.
“However, should you act or speak inappropriately, your authority will be immediately revoked.”
“You need not worry about that.”
Chris grinned.
“I’ll finish this quickly.”
Everyone watched Chris’s actions with bewildered eyes.
“By the will of His Majesty, the Demon Emperor, supreme ruler of the Magitech Empire, and as the acting representative of Count Cazar, vassal of the Dark Magic House that governs the eastern wing of the Southern Demonic Nation, I ask the defendant.”
Hearing Chris's words, the people couldn't help but be impressed.
Though he likely had no experience conducting such a trial, his phrasing before the questioning was perfect.
“Defendant Cox, do you swear to speak only the truth in response to my questions?”
“…I swear.”
“As the Demon Emperor’s representative, I ask again. Defendant Cox, do you swear to speak nothing but the truth in response to my questions?”
“…I swear.”
Two vows.
It was just a standard oath-taking before questioning, but Chris’s lips curled into a meaningful smile.
“Then I ask. Have you ever attempted to slander me by instigating those men?”
“I have not.”
“Can you swear to that fact?”
“…I can.”
“I ask again. Can you truly swear to it?”
Just as Cox was about to reply that he could again.
His eyes froze.
‘What? I can’t speak?!’
It was an incomprehensible phenomenon.
He tried to answer, but his tongue wouldn't move.
In his field of vision, he saw Chris’s face.
He was wearing a victor’s smile.
Cox instinctively knew that what was happening to his body was related to that scoundrel.
“Wh-What… are you… d-doing… to me…?”
“What am I doing? I’m helping you speak the truth.”
Chris held out his hand, palm open.
“Did you not just swear an oath to me? That you would answer only with the truth.”
“!!”
Seeing the crest that bloomed on Chris’s palm, the Majin’s faces filled with horror.
“The Seal of Binding!!!”
A terrible black magic curse that could make a person a slave under specific conditions!
It was a 4-Star black magic. How was this possible?
“No, it’s slightly different!”
“Could it be, a modification? Who would have modified it like that?”
The people didn't seem to even imagine that Chris could have done it himself.
Modifying a 4-Star black magic was something only a warlock of a higher level could achieve.
Of course, Chris was an exception.
‘If you perfectly understand the principles of a spell, you can modify it even at a low level. The trade-off, of course, is that its power is significantly weakened.’
Chris smirked.
The Seal of Binding was originally a black magic he couldn't use at his level.
He lacked the necessary Magi, and his proficiency in black magic was insufficient.
So, he had reconstructed it in his own way.
He drastically reduced its effect to lower the Magi consumption and strengthened the ‘conditions’ for the curse to take hold, allowing him to use it despite his lack of proficiency.
The result was this.
‘Now he can be forced to do exactly what he swore to do twice.’
The modified Seal of Binding couldn't control a person at will like the original.
It could only force the target to abide by what they had sworn.
And a single oath wasn't enough.
They had to swear the oath twice.
That was why he had arranged this situation.
It was customary to swear two oaths when standing before a tribunal.
‘Now, that bastard will only be able to speak the truth to my questions.’
Realizing the situation, Butler Cox’s face turned deathly pale.
“N-No… this can't be.”
Butler Cox drew upon his Magi.
He was a 3-Star Majin who had achieved a certain level of mastery.
He was trying to break the curse.
*Crack.* The curse Chris had placed on him wavered.
‘Will it hold for about one or two minutes?’
It was a 1-Star curse at best, so it wouldn't last much longer than that.
But it didn't matter.
One minute was more than enough time to make him spill all the truth.