Rust Takes the Stand #2
"Butler Fred, where is Archbishop Archibold?"
"Well, His Excellency is quite busy at the moment—"
"Archbishop Archibold. I know you're in this room. I'm coming in."
I entered the archbishop's office within the mansion.
Archbishop Archibold was calmly sorting through documents, not even glancing my way. He spoke without looking up.
"That was a splendid defense. No one would have imagined someone could postpone the trial right there on the spot. Standing before Coramdeo — that bull of a man — and speaking without a shred of fear. Impressive."
"If I could do it, you certainly could have as well. But you didn't. Why?"
"Hyde, you seem to overestimate me."
"I suppose I did. Isn't she the daughter you brought into this world? Why did you abandon her? No matter the circumstances, a parent must never forsake their child!"
At my words, Archbishop Archibold finally looked at me. His eyes remained as sharp as a bird of prey.
"Ah, so that's what has you so angry. 'No matter the circumstances, a parent must never forsake their child' — Hyde, is that truly directed at me? Or at your own parents?"
"…"
"You said you were an orphan. In every age, the world has never been kind to orphans. Your life must have been harsh and unforgiving — like a naked infant left out in the dead of winter."
Archbishop Archibold rose from his seat. He turned his back to me and gazed out the window at the setting sun. His tall frame cast a long shadow that fell across my face as he continued.
"I was an orphan too. All I had was a name. Even so, I found a family — just as you found Psyche. Let me ask you one thing."
The archbishop turned to face me, locking eyes. We were of similar height, yet somehow I felt as though I were being looked down upon.
"Hyde, if someone were to take that precious Psyche from you — could you forgive them?"
"I would have to. Just as the Lord forgave mankind."
"Yes, a proper priest would say as much. I once said the same. But Hyde — humanity is not as upright as you believe. You truly are different from me."
"I think so as well."
These past few days, Archbishop Archibold and I had not agreed on a single thing. This man and I were different. Oil and water — never meant to mix.
Archbishop Archibold dropped heavily into his chair.
"From now on, you'll need to worry about your own life as well. If you fail to bring that Rust before the court, both you and the Agarpe territory will be in peril."
"Don't worry. I'm confident about that."
"Do you truly believe Rust — that elusive man — will stand in the defendant's dock? No. The man I know is a ruthless self-preservationist. It's impossible. Still, Hyde, you've done more than enough. Even if I were to return to your age, I doubt I could have gone as far as you have."
The newspapers were packed with talk of the public trial. Wary of possible heretic activity, the soldiers of Durgien had begun arming themselves, and the knights checked the edges of their blades with grim expressions. It looked for all the world as though they were preparing for war.
"Will that Rust fellow really show up?"
"He'd be caught the moment he appeared. You think he's crazy enough to come?"
"Let's just watch Lady Milione and that Wood Badge monk hang together."
Hey — why is my neck on the line?
What crime did I commit?
Apparently, if I failed to keep my promise, I could face charges of perjury and fraud — with a maximum sentence of death. I had mobilized troops, armed the knights, and tangled the schedules of busy men like Archbishop Coramdeo and Sir Parmas. The fact that a mere Wood Badge monk's words had delayed a trial was remarkable enough in itself. Though, to be fair, that had more to do with the status of the defendant, Milione Archibold, than with any greatness of mine.
"Two days remain."
I informed Milione Archibold, locked in her cell, of the time. I had brought her a newspaper as well, but she only huddled in the corner.
She reminded me of a cat we had all raised together at the orphanage. It lived in the courtyard and was quite fond of people. But something it ate must have disagreed with it — it grew listless, and eventually it would only curl into a ball and lie in the corner, just like this.
"Not long after, we found it dead quietly in the storage shed. They say cats hide themselves before their lives end, because they don't want people to see them die."
"So why are you telling me that story right now?"
"Because Lady Milione looks exactly like that right now. Of course, unlike the cat, Lady Milione will not die."
"That man Rust is really going to stand in the defendant's dock? So I get to live? You can summon Rust?"
Well…
I don't know either.
Honestly, Rust standing in the defendant's dock was close to impossible. Knights would be standing by in full formation — and I was supposed to walk into that?
"Rust probably won't appear."
"Then you're saying you lied, Hyde?"
No.
Technically speaking, it wasn't a lie.
Well, there was no good way to explain it, so I decided to brush it off.
"Still, thanks to my defense, we've gained four days, haven't we? In the time remaining, I will somehow overturn Lady Milione's death sentence."
Just as I spoke with confidence, Milione lifted her head. She hadn't been able to bathe while imprisoned, so her appearance was disheveled — yet her beauty still shone undiminished. Of course, it still fell short of my one true love, Psyche.
"Hyde, why are you going this far?"
"Going how far?"
"If I die and Archbishop Archibold falls, wouldn't that be good for you? You're an Agarpe man. Are you just mocking me?"
"No. Before I am a man of Agarpe, I am a priest. My dream is to become a clergyman greater than any other. If an innocent person like you dies like this, how could I ever speak of that dream with pride?"
"And if I'm not innocent? If I'm a butcher who kills people? If the moment I'm freed I try to strangle you?"
Milione rose and stepped close to the iron bars. Up close, her eyes seemed to smolder — she was angry.
"Even if I'm a true villain who deserves the death sentence — can you still say you'd defend me and protect me? Go on. Say it."
In truth, Milione was not the innocent person her words suggested. Perhaps she truly was a sinner who deserved a death sentence. But all humans were like that. Every human was a sinner — born destined for hell from the moment they drew breath.
"Milione, even if you are a sinner fit to be cast into hell, you can still be forgiven. If you're truly anxious, simply touch the Holy Grail. Isn't it a divine relic that grants human wishes?"
The Holy Grail.
Touch it, and you can become a new person as many times as you like.
But Milione Archibold's face crumpled like paper.
"I was wondering what nonsense you were about to spout. Don't you know the Holy Grail you're talking about is broken?"
"The Holy Grail is broken?"
What is she talking about now?
Why would my Holy Grail be broken?
I hadn't been this shaken in days. Milione muttered, "Ah — was that a secret?" and spat on the floor.
"What's the point of secrets when I'm about to die anyway? The Holy Grail that was enshrined in the royal treasure vault shattered into pieces. That's why the old fossil went to the capital recently."
Is that true?
Five years ago, when I was living through this very period, there had been no such talk. The Holy Grail, shattered? Why?
That meant I could never use the Holy Grail card again. My backup plan — if things go wrong, just touch the Grail again — had gone up in smoke.
Shocking on multiple levels.
And so, two days passed.
"Isn't this way more people than last time?"
"Looks like well over three thousand."
"At this rate, will we even be able to hear anything?"
The crowd was enormous. I had once visited a newly built department store on its opening day, and I remembered people thronging and chattering just like this.
"The judge is entering."
Archbishop Coramdeo, Sir Parmas, and the other jurors began filing onto the newly prepared platform. All of them looked immensely authoritative, their bearing so imposing that they seemed to overwhelm the crowd.
"I shall offer a prayer, and then we will begin the trial."
True to his reputation for impatience, Coramdeo started the proceedings without any further ceremony. Looking at the bound defendants, he addressed me.
"Wood Badge monk Hyde — where is the defendant Rust you promised?"
"How much does Your Honor know of possession and spiritual inhabitation? From this moment, I intend to summon Rust's living spirit into my own body."
"You mean to have a living person possess your body? Is such a thing even possible?"
"If you consult the newly written novel The Non-Virgin, you will find that the fifth line of the second paragraph describes the ritual by which the non-virgin Cassie contracts with a demon."
"You mean smearing one's blood upon a prepared mask and reciting a special prayer?"
Coramdeo — how do you know that?
So you've read my stain of a novel, The Non-Virgin.
Well, that should speed things along.
"That demon's name is none other than Rust…! I am a pure priest, but to place him in this defendant's dock, I shall specially sacrifice myself…!"
I drew out a plain mask I had prepared in advance, then sliced my palm with a sharp dagger. It hurt. I smeared the bleeding palm across the mask, completing a cross — and with that, Rust's mask was finished.
"What is about to happen must not be carelessly imitated. Rust may seize my body and commit any manner of atrocity, so everyone be on guard! Here I go!"
I pulled the newly made mask over my face. And at the same instant, I began to thrash and tremble like a rat struck by lightning.
"Ugh-ghhk, aagh-kh, uwaaagh!"
The only one who reacted to the situation was Lady Milione.
"Rust! Rust is trying to come out! Rust is taking Hyde's body! Rust!"
Indeed. At this very moment, Rust was in the process of possessing another person's body.
Flopping on the floor like a shrimp being grilled alive, I finally rose to my feet.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH━━──!!!"
Best to start with a light war cry.
Thanks to the lung capacity I had trained since my orphanage days — holding my breath five to ten minutes a day — I could produce a louder, longer sound than anyone else.
Three thousand people fell silent in an instant. I stood before them and roared.
"H-his voice changed?"
"Is that a different person?"
The silent crowd began to stir. Years of practiced performance allowed me to act out a dual personality so vividly it seemed another person truly existed — and not once had I ever been found out.
Archbishop Coramdeo fixed me with still-suspicious eyes.
"You claim to be Rust? A person seizing another person's body — do you expect us to believe that? Hyde, are you not simply performing behind that mask?"
"Kyahahahat! I am the one who holds dominion in the air — Rust! You greedy Archbishop Coramdeo, do you truly not recognize me?! On the day you violated your half-sister, I was there with you—!!!"
"What? W-what are you saying! What nonsense is this! V-violated?!"
Archbishop Coramdeo, who had maintained a solemn judicial bearing, visibly panicked. Of course he would — I had just exposed a secret no one else could possibly know.
As the surroundings erupted in murmurs, I quickly pressed on.
"Coramdeo! Can you not still hear the anguish of your sister Merga?! After raping your seventeen-year-old sister in the bloom of her youth, what did you do? Fearing your crime would be discovered, you strangled her, did you not!"
People panic when the sins they most desperately wish to hide are laid bare. Even I, if Psyche suddenly came up to me and said, "You're Rust, aren't you? I know everything," would be flustered for at least a full second. And if even I would react that way — could a degenerate like Coramdeo possibly weather this?
"S-sophistry! Everyone, do not listen to this! Do not believe it! Rust is a man who toys with people through his cunning tongue! This is obviously a lie! Where does he get off with such baseless slander!!!"
"As for evidence, you'll find it at the Woodenbelt family's villa here in Fierenzo. Dig up the sunflower garden! Your sister Merga's corpse will come out — along with Coramdeo's bronze-badge cross that she was clutching. He was a bronze-badge priest back then, you see."
I said this while looking at Parmas. When the knight asked, "Your Excellency Coramdeo, is this true?", Coramdeo broke into a cold sweat and seemed at a complete loss.
Then a man rose from the gallery. It was Archbishop Archibold.
"Coramdeo, was it not said that your sister was abducted by the witches of Walpurgis thirty years ago and went missing? To clear your wrongful name, we shall dig up the sunflower field. Someone go—!"
Go ahead and dig. The corpse will be there.
I spread both arms wide and asked Coramdeo:
"I am all-knowing and all-powerful. Do you believe me now, Coramdeo?"