Chapter 14
Chapter 14
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: Shadow of Something (1)
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“…….”
Makina, glancing sideways, touched her chin with an amused expression.
I decided to press this momentum and reinforce my argument more solidly.
“As I’ve said repeatedly, for me to harm a cadet at Aegis Academy would require considerable effort and luck. Unless there was an accomplice.”
“Senior—….”
As the suspicions of the cadets in the jury seats began to fade, Shirley muttered in confusion at my deliberate mention of the possibility of an accomplice.
‘Yeah, I know. It must look foolish.’
But this was also for Theodore, who had gotten caught up in the incident just to help me on a whim.
Still lying on the altar, I called out to Arthur Usher, who was in the jury seats.
“Arthur.”
Footsteps approached from the jury seats, where opinions were already splitting between Arma Cruise being the culprit or not.
Arthur didn’t seem particularly surprised by my sudden call; his expression remained impassive.
Casting a shadow over me as I lay on the altar with my hand on my stomach, Arthur raised an eyebrow as if to say, “Go on.”
“If you, who’s in the Swordmaster course, were in this situation, could you commit a murder? What do you think?”
At my words, Arthur drew his longsword from his waist in one swift motion—a blade that probably hadn’t been sharpened recently.
It made a sound closer to a grating ‘kreeeak’ than a smooth ‘shing,’ and the longsword gleamed under the stained glass’s ethereal light.
“Wait a—”
“It’s fine.”
As the student council tried to intervene with clear displeasure, Makina raised her hand to stop them.
“Someone trying to kill wouldn’t swing a sword while fully exposing their weaknesses in a situation like this, lying down.”
Arthur swung the longsword lightly as if dusting it off, then gripped it again and held it over my prone body.
“But if they insisted on that choice anyway….”
Arthur relaxed his grip on the sword and tilted it diagonally so the tip pointed between my lying legs.
Though he held the sword and I was lying down, it looked like a knight statue with a sword planted in the ground.
“In that case, gripping it like this, raising the arm, and thrusting like skewering on a spit would be effective. But to end up covered in blood from head to toe like the suspect at the scene? Well.”
Arthur controlled the sword so it didn’t even graze my body, then in one motion adjusted his grip to make it horizontal and swung his arm in a wide fan shape.
—Ching!
A lightning-like flash gleamed.
Arthur demonstrated a curious technique, swiftly slicing the air with a sound like tinkling bells.
“If the culprit was a swordsman from Aegis Academy, they could pull off ‘that kind of thing’ without even enhancing cutting power with mana.”
After performing two large slashes without slowing down, Arthur halted the blade and spoke.
“But for Senior Arma Cruise, who isn’t even a swordsman—and under the influence of [Angel's Prank]—it’d be pretty impossible.”
Arthur rolled his golden eyes to meet mine.
He paused deliberately, then continued with an intimidating expression.
“For reference, if a Swordmaster course swordsman were an accomplice, the crime scene wouldn’t have been so sloppy.”
—Click.
Without even checking the sheath’s position, Arthur slid the blade home in one go and stepped back.
I met Arthur’s golden eyes looking down at me as I stood up.
My back felt sticky; it seemed blood from yesterday’s clothes hadn’t fully dried and had seeped through.
Arthur’s gaze persistently followed my profile as I headed back to the witness stand.
‘Yeah, mull it over.’
Honestly, in a situation like that, calling Judith, with whom I was closer, would’ve seemed more natural.
But Arthur now had to wonder why I’d called him specifically.
This was silent pressure about what was to come next.
“So, we’ve heard from Cadet Arthur Usher, hailed as a supernova swordsman. Theodore, what about you?”
It seemed like the arrow had turned to Theodore, who’d been arguing my innocence, but he maintained a statue-still posture devoid of breath and spoke.
“Sea serpent, blue-line octopus, forsythia clown mushroom, flame essence mushroom, poison parsley, death adder, hornet, solanum nigrum, thunder vine….”
The creatures Theodore named were all toxic animals and plants easily gathered nearby or kept in the academy for reagent production.
He continued rattling off names of poisons like cyanide, arsenic, mercury.
“…Those are all the toxic substances handled in the Crown of Thorns Class.”
From unfamiliar names to familiar ones.
Incongruous with his elegant young master face, Theodore’s mind was packed tight with the most potent combinations and uses for such deadly materials.
“So, a mage would use poison?”
Theodore nodded at my words.
“Mages tend to be eccentric overall, but even so, they wouldn’t choose the hard path on purpose.”
In other words, with so many poisons at hand, why bother using a difficult weapon like a sword?
Before Makina could interject and derail the trial again, I quickly spoke up.
“May I make one final statement?”
“Please do.”
“I’m well aware that hiding in the Crown of Thorns Class dormitory led to some misunderstandings.”
Cadets who hadn’t known my escape route and those who had both nodded.
The incident hadn’t unfolded as expected, so their excitement seemed to have cooled.
They’d just gathered, thrilled by the unprecedented murder in the cramped academy—not out of righteous zeal to uncover the truth.
“But doesn’t this incident have too many parts that don’t fit neatly with the idea that it was done by me and the two elites of Thorn Crown House together?”
As the prime suspect in a murder case, once almost certainly guilty, now argued innocence with solid grounds, the jury cadets grew increasingly confused, unable to find their footing.
Amid these naive youths’ confusion, the adults who should guide the situation just watched limply, mouths shut.
‘I didn’t expect them to help anyway.’
They were no better than paper tigers.
The student council, with their sky-high arrogance, had rendered them useless and feeble.
Professors, caught off guard by these young opponents without realizing they were entangled in student politics, must have been quite flustered.
Young, arrogant elites from high families had swiftly formed a little kingdom in the isolated academy with their student council.
Stripped of authority as adults, educators, and life seniors, all they could do was fill seats like now.
“I assert my innocence based on unclear circumstantial evidence: the first discoverer’s uncertain testimony, my drugged, unconscious state as the suspect, the shape of the blood splattered above me, and more.”
The atmosphere had definitely softened from the start.
Grumbles arose here and there, but at this point, flipping public opinion would be tough.
I looked up at Makina standing at the front.
Makina….
“Indeed.”
She smiled like a saint, as always.
A steadfast, unshakable poise radiating inner strength.
Did this woman even have a speck of flaw or vulnerability?
The perfect flawlessness emanating from Makina surpassed the gravitas of her decade-long reign as cadet president.
“A mere half-day after the murder. Countless rumors and speculations swirling through the academy must have left deep scars on many cadets’ hearts.”
Even from the makeshift judge’s bench, Makina shone with her own light.
Sweeping her gaze over the dozens of eyes watching her in silence, she spoke again.
“Yet, in judging right from wrong in this unprecedented murder, it seems we’ve forgotten the soul of Cadet Cale Ace, who needs comfort most.”
The chapel now sank into a silence so profound that calling it solemn felt frivolous.
“Everyone, the night hour has come when Creator God Aegis saved us. Time for contemplation. Let us pray for Cadet Cale Ace, who departed so unjustly.”
In an instant, the chapel—swirling with rage, fear, disgust into chaos—transformed into a reverent, sacred space.
This was Makina’s power.
No one could imitate her charisma overwhelming the crowd or her shepherd-like guidance of lost lambs.
“—Thus, lead the wandering soul to peace, we believe.”
“God shall remember that faith.”
During the prayer, I kept my eyes demurely down, but the moment it ended, I looked at Makina.
Makina lifted her head after praying far longer and more silently than the others.
“Now, what remains is finding ways to comfort the soul of Cadet Cale Ace, who has left our side.”
“…….”
Cold sweat trickled for no reason.
I swallowed dryly, awaiting Makina’s next words.
“Given the defendant’s claims, proving that Cadet Arma Cruise caused Cadet Cale Ace’s death seems difficult.”
‘Good…!’
I’d worried if the circumstances were suspicious enough for Makina to force a guilty verdict, but fortunately, she didn’t suspect me that much.
“…Therefore, we pronounce Cadet Arma Cruise, suspect in the murder of Cadet Cale Ace, not guilty.”
“Such a hassle, really.”
Judith’s voice came from afar.
The jury cadets and professors lined up like Makina’s screen buzzed.
A murder had occurred, but the person at the scene was acquitted.
With no body or culprit, the case concluded thus.
I greeted the four who’d gathered for me one by one and headed to the Wooden Cross House dormitory after a full day.
-Shoooo….
Turning the shower faucet, cold water poured down.
I’d only lain atop clothes soaked in someone’s blood briefly, but the bloodstained water pooled more than expected.
Not remembering that horrific scene was misfortune—and fortune.
‘Damn it…….’
My head throbbed.
I buried my face in the sink, ruminating on today’s unforgettable choice.
I’d been acquitted, but I hadn’t uncovered the identity of whoever dragged me into this.
If this was the start of the incident Shirley hinted at in my dream, could I never return to my past peaceful, lazy days?
And why had this happened to me?
Was the feeling of someone unseen targeting me really just imagination?