Lies Mixed Within the Truth (2)
'He noticed it!'
If he were some brainless moron, he wouldn’t have realized what was tightening around his throat. But I’d counted on him being cautious enough to catch on.
The timing was excellent, too.
Before I’d even begun to choke him with the potion, from his perspective he’d gotten in the first blow. That alone would make this feel like a perfect opening strike.
Just looking at that arrogant expression on his face, as though he’d landed a decisive hit, made it almost impossible not to laugh.
Still, I had to keep playing the part of the grave, wounded victim.
I was shocked.
Self-hypnosis was probably the way to go.
I’m in danger right now.
Even forcing my expression into something strained wasn’t easy.
Should I take an acting class or something?
If I rummaged through Lindel, I might even find an actor or someone who used to run an acting academy.
While I was struggling to suppress my laughter and thinking about something else entirely, Ito Souta kept preparing his grand finishing blow.
Maybe because he felt the audience’s attention fixed on him, his gaze swept over the crowd. No one looking at him would suspect for a second that this man was a criminal.
Then I saw one of his proxies take out a tiny vial.
Without the slightest doubt, it was made in Kiyoung—my product.
“This potion is the Illusion Potion currently being distributed in Japan.”
“Please refrain from making statements unrelated to the trial!”
I was glad I’d warned Lee Jihye in advance.
She slammed a hand against the desk and sprang up with exaggerated outrage, looking exactly like someone with something to hide.
“Objection! Grand Justice, that man is speaking about something that has absolutely nothing to do with this trial!”
“That’s not true, Grand Justice. What I’m about to say is unquestionably the most important matter in this entire trial, a central issue that cannot be omitted. Respected Grand Justice, please allow me to speak.”
At Ito Souta’s words, the Grand Justice gave a slight shake of the head, but it seemed one of the judges had already been planted by him. I caught the man leaning in to whisper in the Grand Justice’s ear, after which the old fool nodded as though granting a favor.
“You may speak.”
“Thank you.”
Good. Good.
“As I said, this potion is the Illusion Potion currently circulating in Japan. It has only recently begun to be sold openly, but it had already been traded covertly in the black market long before that. The price is around twenty gold per person—expensive, perhaps, or perhaps cheap, depending on how you look at it.”
“So what exactly is the problem, defendant?”
“The problem lies in the potion’s effects. Respected Grand Justice, as the name Illusion Potion implies, it allows human beings to see whatever illusion they desire. In other words, it is a kind of hallucinogen. And that is not all. It is highly addictive.”
“Objection, Grand Justice.”
“Let’s hear a little more.”
The timing of the interruption from the side was almost absurdly perfect.
Lee Jihye was frowning with such convincing anger that you’d think she’d spent years on a stage, performing for a living.
After studying her expression for a moment, Ito Souta opened his mouth again.
“Yes. Your assumptions are correct. This potion is addictive. Like... a drug.”
Bingo.
Well done. Well done, my boy!
I almost wanted to cheer him on.
The only real problem was how he intended to connect this potion to us. If he was planning to force the link, he’d clearly picked the wrong target—but judging by his expression, he still had more to say.
For now, it seemed best to keep watching.
“Our Yamato Guild took an interest in it the moment it began to circulate on the black market. We devoted enormous effort to tracing its source. If nothing else, we wanted to know who was profiting from what was effectively a narcotic—and who was trying to poison this free city.”
...
“The first clue appeared on October 1st, the day of the Lindel terror incident. The prosecution has pointed to us as the culprits and misunderstood our involvement, but according to our guild’s investigation, the one who attacked Lee Kiyoung was a small guild from the free city of Celia called Kake.”
That tongue of his is something else.
“Do you have related evidence, defendant?”
“Yes, I do, Grand Justice.”
Watching the Grand Justice carefully read through the documents Ito had prepared, I could tell this was a very neatly assembled frame-up. He probably hadn’t had enough time to manufacture information on the small guild Kake from scratch, so he’d most likely chosen an already existing guild and made them the scapegoat.
“The small guild Kake is a criminal guild that profits by distributing prohibited goods—illegal items and medicines. Because they’ve spread quietly throughout the city, they’re the sort of nuisance even the free city of Celia sees as a serious problem. At first it was only a guess. Even with the Yamato Guild’s intelligence network, we couldn’t determine why the Kake Guild had attacked the famed Lee Kiyoung. But we did uncover a very small clue.”
“And what was that, defendant?”
“That the Lindel terror incident wasn’t a simple act of terrorism, but a turf war between drug organizations.”
Oho...
“Defendant, are you saying—?”
“Yes. The person distributing the Illusion Potion I mentioned in Japan, the one who turned a conflict between drug organizations into the Lindel terror incident, and the mastermind behind the newly established guild Sora—those are all none other than Lee Kiyoung, seated over there in the plaintiff’s bench.”
Perfect.
Truly, a perfect finishing blow.
It was true that I was the owner of the newly established guild Sora. It was also true that I was the one distributing the Illusion Potion in Japan.
The only part that wasn’t true was the claim that the Lindel terror incident was a turf war between drug organizations.
The way he’d so skillfully mixed lies into truth gave me the strange feeling that he was staring right at me.
The question, of course, was whether any of this would be admitted as evidence—but the quality of what he’d brought out looked fairly convincing.
“Lee Kiyoung, who is still sitting in the plaintiff’s seat with that sour expression, conspired with Kasugano Yuno of the Yozora Guild, with whom he’d already established ties, to create a new guild. That guild’s name was Sora. The reason he brought Kasugano Yuno into this was surely to legitimize the distribution of a potion that had previously only been sold in the black market. And their plan succeeded beautifully.”
Correct.
“They disguised a drug called the Illusion Potion as a medicinal potion, set it through the proper distribution channels, and created a system by which it could be legally circulated.”
It’s not a drug, but still correct.
“In less than a few days, they succeeded in netting several tens of thousands of gold in pure profit.”
And it wasn’t just several tens of thousands of gold.
A ridiculous amount of money was already rolling in this way. Whatever the case, it was still enough to make anyone’s eyes pop.
I never would have imagined he’d get this close to the truth in such a short period of time.
And that, too, while operating under severe restrictions and manufacturing evidence to boot.
He really was capable. No question about it.
As I let my expression sour a little, he looked even more delighted and continued speaking.
“I imagine you all are also aware that the incident involving Yuliena was separately investigated by both the Holy Knight Order and our guild. And the result was rather interesting. Kazuma Hiroyuki, who was pierced through the neck by the sword that brings curses, Yuliena, truly had attempted to kill Lee Kiyoung. It is also unquestionably true that Yuliena, sensing the threat to her master, attacked Kazuma Hiroyuki.”
“Defendant, are you saying you admit guilt regarding the Yuliena incident?”
“Yes. It is my fault for failing to properly manage my guild members. Kazuma Hiroyuki, a formal member of the Yamato Guild, held two identities, but he was still one of our guild members, so it is only right that I be punished.”
“That means...?”
“Yes. The dead Kazuma Hiroyuki was also a member of the Kake Guild. After the assassination in Lindel failed, he tried again inside the royal castle. It was probably an unavoidable choice for the Kake Guild. Like most disputes between drug organizations, they knew that if the Illusion Potion entered the market, the drugs they were selling would stop moving.”
......
“At any cost, they must have wanted to eliminate Lee Kiyoung, who was operating the Sora Guild.”
The scenario was incredible.
At this point, he could be called a playwright without much exaggeration.
He was steering the two assassination attempts into a fight between drug cartels. To anyone watching, it was a situation that could only grow more and more entertaining.
“Do you have proof that Lee Kiyoung is producing and distributing the Illusion Potion?”
“Of course, esteemed Grand Justice. The Illusion Potion is actually a variant of the therapeutic potion that played an important role when the Blue Guild conquered the Cursed Shrine. If you look closely at the guidebook for the Cursed Shrine published by the Blue Guild, you’ll find that a great deal of it is similar to the Illusion Potion.”
“Go on, defendant.”
“According to the Blue Guild’s guidebook, the Cursed Shrine dungeon is one where hallucinations and auditory delusions grow stronger over time. Lee Kiyoung judged that the way to suppress those hallucinations and auditory delusions that affect us negatively was to induce a different illusion instead. That theory gave birth to the therapeutic potion. The only difference between it and the Illusion Potion sold in the market is whether or not it causes addiction.”
“Objection, Grand Justice! The defendant is deftly sidestepping the most important event—the attempted assassination—and diverting the conversation elsewhere. The central issue in this trial is not an Illusion Potion; it’s the attempted assassination at the social gathering.”
“No, Grand Justice. All of this is undeniably connected. I swear on Goddess Benignore that I am not the one who committed the attempted assassination at the social gathering. It’s difficult to draw a precise conclusion about why such a strange condition appeared in Lee Kiyoung’s body, but I believe this matter is also connected to the Kake Guild. Considering the relationship between this Illusion Potion and Lee Kiyoung, there’s nothing strange about his life being targeted anywhere, at any time. The fact that he knowingly framed the Yamato Guild and me as well was surely because he knew I was investigating the Illusion Potion. We should also consider the possibility that the attempted assassination itself was a self-staged act.”
Good.
“I know this trial is not a trial about the Illusion Potion, Grand Justice. But it is an undeniable fact that this potion is tied to everything happening here. And if we consider the danger this potion poses, I think we need to hear the truth from Lee Kiyoung, who is sitting in the plaintiff’s seat.”
Ito Souta was perfect.
He seemed quite satisfied with himself, too, nodding his head.
Of course, the audience around us was visibly shaken.
The evidence he’d kept dragging out with that smooth, poisonous tongue all pointed to me being some monstrous bastard, so their reaction was only natural.
It wasn’t even complete fabrication.
More than half of it was true. I had no idea how he’d managed to dig this far into my affairs, but I felt almost compelled to applaud the way he’d chased every tiny clue down, then chased it down again, until he’d reached this conclusion.
It was about time I spoke.
When I glanced at Ito Souta, I saw the corners of his mouth twisted up in smug satisfaction. Seeing my face as if I’d swallowed a mouthful of crap, he must have been convinced he’d already won.
But naturally, I hadn’t been keeping my face twisted that whole time.
The furrow in my brow smoothed out, and the corners of my lips lifted all the way up.
Pffft.
I smiled at him and nodded, as if in thanks.
The more my expression changed, the more ridiculous his reaction became. The moment I opened my mouth in a calm voice, Ito Souta’s face crumpled hard.
“What you said is correct, esteemed Grand Justice.”