Lies Mixed Within the Truth (1)
As one of the parties standing in a courtroom, I had to keep both my bearing and my mind in proper order.
The state of my mind was none of my concern, of course, but the image I projected was another matter entirely.
I decided this demanded even more preparation than attending a high society gathering.
This time, too, it was Lee Jihye who took care of me, but Jung Hayan, having learned her lesson from the last incident, was also poking her nose into everything and actively obstructing the staff of the Black Swan Guild for no real reason at all.
Only after I’d thanked her did she look at me with a satisfied expression, though in truth Jung Hayan’s contribution to this operation probably didn’t even reach one percent.
As I walked with Lee Jihye, the representative of our side’s legal team, the orderly atmosphere of the courtroom came into view.
Our delegation was already seated.
On the other side, the religious leaders had taken their places.
I gave a light greeting when I spotted precious connections like Bishop Jessica and the head inquisitor Helena, and a pleased smile bloomed at the corners of their mouths.
Important, these religious leaders are...
Cardinal Basel, who was always smiling, also wore a somewhat stiff expression, as though he were thinking hard about something.
He was one of my precious insurance policies, so he would require careful handling.
Only priests of cardinal rank or above can convene a religious trial.
On the opposite side sat the jury.
They were supposed to be selected at random, but judging by the fact that Duchess Catherine and Lady Marlin were among them, that didn’t seem to be entirely true.
Since this wasn’t a proper jury system, I couldn’t say they had much authority, but even so, having a supportive audience was better than nothing.
When I met their eyes, I saw smiles on their faces.
Arranged in a circle around us were the seats of the many onlookers who had come to grace the trial.
It felt almost like looking at a coliseum where gladiators once clashed swords.
There would be no battle here, but it wasn’t a bad comparison.
“This is a fight too.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing, Ms. Jihye.”
“You’re so dry.”
When I shook my head as if it were nothing, I saw Lee Jihye already with her head buried in the documents again.
She was checking every possible countermeasure and contingency in case something happened.
As I spent a somewhat uneasy time waiting, the empty seats gradually filled one by one.
The judges had already, more or less, been decided in advance, and the witness stand was occupied by Cha Heera, Kasugano Yuno, and...
“Please bring in the defendant.”
My lovely Ito Souta.
When the door swung open, the bastard who emerged looked remarkably composed.
He was trying to project the image of a man who wasn’t guilty at all, casting carefree glances around the room, but the handcuffs around his wrists made it abundantly clear to everyone that he was the culprit.
Meanwhile, my precious allies planted in the gallery were already slowly opening their mouths.
“That guy, that guy, what a piece of trash.”
“How dare he show his face in a place like this?”
There was no need to explain that the mood had heated up in an instant.
Those on Ito Souta’s side started shouting as well, and soon the people who had only been muttering a few words here and there were raising their voices, pointing fingers at one another.
But the uproar did not last long.
The voice of the chief justice cut through the noise.
“I must ask everyone to remain quiet. From this moment on, anyone causing a disturbance in this sacred courtroom will be removed, regardless of reason.”
“...”
“This trial was opened at the request of the defendant, Ito Souta, the guild master of the Yamato Guild. Before the proceedings begin, we will take a moment to offer prayer to the goddess Benignore. Cardinal Basel will lead the prayer personally.”
“I will offer the prayer.”
Wherever you go, there are complicated, annoying procedures.
I would have liked to jump straight into the trial, but of course there was no way I could say so.
While everyone bowed their heads in prayer, I stole a glance at the bastard and found him staring back at me as well.
He’s pissed.
Just one look was enough to tell that our Mr. Ito Souta was angry.
That made sense, considering he still remembered the big middle finger I’d given him on the way out after the final interrogation.
The bloodshot eyes that kept glaring at me looked like those of a demon.
If this hadn’t been a courtroom, he would have had the look of someone ready to tear me limb from limb.
Damn, that’s scary.
Of course it was scary. Still, I knew he couldn’t move, so there was no reason for me to be rattled.
Victor Hart and the imperial knights were standing guard around my seat in case anything happened, and with the bastard’s hands completely bound, there was no way for him to harm me.
Flipping him the middle finger again was only natural. I even slowly licked the corner of my mouth with a wide grin, and Ito Souta’s bitten lip split open, a trickle of blood running down.
So what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do if you keep glaring like that, you idiot?
“Pfft...”
I could barely hold back a laugh trying to force its way out.
I knew I was supposed to remain quiet during prayer, but his expression, as if he were about to have a seizure, was entertaining no matter how many times I saw it.
It was the most unmistakable malice I had ever received.
Not bad that he wasn’t showing any killing intent during prayer, I suppose, but even so, my precious middle finger did not stop.
“Please grant us your blessing so this may be a fair trial...”
“We extend our sincere gratitude to Cardinal Basel for his efforts. This trial is expected to last sixty minutes, and...”
I nodded absently at the procedure the chief justice was reciting.
I already knew all of it.
There would probably be several rounds, but if things went the way I intended, the time needed to beat the bastard down would be more than enough to fit into a single day.
“Then let us begin with the plaintiff’s testimony... We will start this trial with the statement of Lee Kiyoung’s legal representative, Ms. Lee Jihye. Plaintiff?”
“Yes. Honorable Chief Justice. Before I begin, I’d like you to look over the materials we’ve organized.”
“Bring them here.”
“The incident did not begin at the social gathering on the 18th. My client, Lee Kiyoung, had been receiving continuous death threats and unidentified warnings even before then. The reason was a covert deal between Lee Seolho of the Blue Guild and the Yamato Guild.”
“Please continue.”
“The first time my client, Lee Kiyoung, was directly harmed was on October 1st. I’m sure everyone here remembers the Lindel terror attack. Unlike what was publicly known, that attack was not a random act of terrorism, but a targeted assassination attempt specifically aimed at my client, and in the process dozens of innocent citizens of Lindel were caught up in it. During the Blue Guild, the Red Mercenary Guild, and the Black Swan Guild’s investigation of Lee Seolho, we discovered that he had made contact with Ito Souta of the Yamato Guild, and even secured testimony, but on October 7th he was found dead near the Ramadel Mountains.”
Nice work. Our Jihye.
“Lee Seolho’s body, discovered near the Ramadel Mountains, had been subjected to numerous forms of torture and was badly disfigured, but we were still able to identify traces of the katana commonly used by the Yamato Guild in the wounds. I will submit both the materials I’ve presented and Lee Seolho’s preserved body as evidence later in the proceedings.”
Of course, all of it was fabricated information. In the first place, it was my side, not theirs, that had killed Lee Seolho.
With me holding Lee Seolho’s corpse, pulling a few strings was hardly difficult.
“In addition, the culprits behind the Lindel terror attack mostly took their own lives before they could be captured, but the poison detected in their bodies was confirmed to be the kind commonly used by Japanese assassins.”
“Objection. There is no proof that the poison found on the terrorists belonged to the Yamato Guild. It is inappropriate to admit it as evidence.”
“For now, we will accept it as evidence. Please bring the relevant materials forward.”
“Yes, Honorable Chief Justice.”
That wasn’t fabricated information. Of course, there was no proof that the assassins had been sent by the Yamato Guild, but if you built the story a certain way, even what didn’t exist could become evidence.
“We were unable to identify the exact identities of the culprits, but most were confirmed to be Japanese who came from the free city of Celia. I will also submit evidence showing that the styles of the weapons they carried and the mechanics of their magic were largely consistent with those of people from the free city of Celia.”
Once again, the other side’s representative, Ito Souta’s lawyer, was working hard to talk his way through it all.
“Objection. Even if the magic mechanics and weapon styles they used resemble those from the free city of Celia, there is no proof that they were actually from Celia. This could have been the work of a third party specifically trained to frame the Yamato Guild...”
“For now, I will admit it into evidence.”
“That’s absurd!”
“Please remain quiet. The plaintiff has not yet finished presenting their statement.”
Our chief justice was enthusiastically admitting evidence that seemed to have one screw loose or another.
By now, I was sure everyone had started to get a sense of what was really going on.
Puhuhahaha.
Lee Jihye had already met with the chief justice of the Holy Empire several times.
Of course, I couldn’t get a direct promise that he would take our side exactly, but he had eaten up so much already that he was clearly willing to close his eyes to quite a bit.
There was no fair trial anywhere in the prayer we had offered to the goddess Benignore.
“Objection! That evidence...”
“I believe it is sufficiently admissible. Please bring the materials forward.”
“Yes, Honorable Chief Justice.”
That too.
“Objection! It’s not physical evidence, merely circumstantial at best. Please reconsider the possibility that the materials are fabricated.”
“Ahem! The plaintiff has not yet finished presenting their statement. For now, let us review the relevant materials. Representative, bring them here.”
“Yes. Thank you, Honorable Chief Justice.”
That as well.
“Objection!”
“Admitted.”
“Thank you, Chief Justice.”
And this too.
Everything was piling up as evidence.
For him, this place was less a courtroom and more a tribunal.
The people demanding quiet were applauding each time the chief justice nodded, and every time Ito Souta’s side spoke up, they were met with cold, cutting stares.
There wasn’t a single opening to exploit.
No matter how much the other side insisted the information was fabricated, it had already been admitted as evidence, and the trap layered one over another pointed to only one conclusion: everything was the work of the Yamato Guild.
“The Yuliena incident follows a similar pattern, Honorable Chief Justice. Ito Souta of the Yamato Guild devised a plan to frame my client as a murderer, using information obtained from Lee Seolho and the Lindel terror attack to place the blame squarely on him. As shown in the legendary-grade item information for Yuliena, it only moves when my client is threatened.”
“I see.”
“Kazuma Hiroyuki of the Yamato Guild, acting under Ito Souta’s orders, bared his killing intent toward my client and directly threatened him. As additional evidence, I will submit the analysis of Yuliena’s behavioral patterns we compiled over the past several days, along with the testimony of the shrine maiden Kasugano Yuno.”
“I will confirm it. Kasugano Yuno of the Yozora Guild, please come to the witness stand.”
“Yes... what I first saw was...”
I had thought this was going almost too smoothly. Kasugano Yuno’s testimony was, in fact, highly credible.
Both the jury and the religious figures were nodding along as they listened to her vivid account.
Even after her testimony ended, Lee Jihye kept speaking.
“Plaintiff, please give your final remarks.”
“Yes, Honorable Chief Justice. As everyone here knows, I’m sure you remember the attempted murder incident at the last social gathering. Fortunately, it only remained an attempt thanks to Ms. Cha Heera, but I don’t think we need further evidence to understand that committing such an outrageous crime in a place where all the nobles and religious leaders were gathered is beyond the pale. Based on all the evidence and circumstances presented so far, it is undeniable that Ito Souta harbors malice toward my client, and that he deliberately injected mana into my client’s arm that day was a truth everyone present saw with their own eyes.”
“Yes.”
“I won’t bother submitting any additional evidence. Everyone here is a witness, after all. That is all.”
Even the conclusion was airtight.
There had been some objections from Ito Souta’s representative along the way, but apparently they hadn’t been enough to move anyone’s heart.
I didn’t know exactly how he planned to counter this, but...
He won’t be done here, will he?
If it was Ito Souta, this would not be the end.
The bastard was competent and smart. There was no way he would fall apart like this.
Show me what you’ve got.
There had to be something hidden away, whether it was fabricated evidence or not, and just as I expected, Ito Souta slowly opened his mouth.
“That isn’t true. What Ms. Lee Jihye, the spokesperson, said is somewhat different from the facts.”
There it is.
“The Lindel terror attack, the Yuliena incident, and the attempted assassination were not crimes I committed. To be precise, they were carried out by the Japanese side, but I can state with certainty that I had no involvement in any of them.”
“Please refrain from making absurd statements, defendant.”
“It isn’t an absurd statement. Everyone here, and you as well, Honorable Chief Justice. This may be abrupt, but have any of you heard of the so-called Illusion Potion currently circulating in Japan?”
Just as expected...
He took the bait.
He took it beautifully.
Thank God he’s competent.
It was a relief that he had noticed the minute changes happening around him. A relief that he had reached the conclusion I wanted him to reach. A relief that, from the fabricated evidence, he had dug into the relationship between me and the Illusion Potion—and then brought it up himself.
Puhuhahaha, hahahaha!
The laughter was already bubbling up inside me.
Still, I kept my mouth shut.
Thank you, you smart bastard!