As soon as we emerged from the tent prepared for trial participants at one side of the grand plaza, the surroundings became restless.

    “They’ve finally come out!”

    “Those are the ones…”

    Thousands of different voices mingled together, pouring toward Sione and me.

    The pressure from their gazes weighed heavily on my body. Excessive attention often chips away at one’s confidence. Nevertheless, I tried to appear as relaxed as possible and paid attention to my conduct.

    As I moved with dignified, gentle yet firm steps, I checked on my superior who had been so nervous.

    “Phew—”

    Fortunately, Sione too was regulating her breathing and taking one step at a time. She was moving forward with confident strides that weren’t at all pathetic.

    As for her expression, whether she had successfully managed her emotions or was simply overwhelmed by the massive crowd, her flawless poker face gave no reason for concern, allowing me to set aside my worries and enter the courtroom with ease.

    ‘The atmosphere is quite heavy.’

    While the crowd gazed at the courtroom with gleaming eyes, those who were to lead the trial were all exhaling heavy breaths and spreading an ominous aura. Sione and I, mere observers in this situation, could ignore the numerous elves and blend into the somber atmosphere of the trial.

    “Now that the two heroes have entered the courtroom—”

    Edelin’s low voice resonated deeply as she quietly observed us.

    “Let us call forth the defendant, Ianet.”

    Her tone and voice were completely different from when she spoke with Sione and me in private.

    ‘Seems she’s really sharpened her blade.’

    Perhaps what she had heard truly disturbed her. Edelin was a different person from our previous meeting.

    Gone was the appearance of a benevolent priestess. Sitting in the courtroom as a queen with the coldness characteristic of strong women in this world, Edelin possessed an absolute dignity that made even the surrounding elders unable to raise their heads easily.

    ‘Well, High Elves are High Elves after all.’

    High Elves are monsters who, from birth, put those arrogant pointy-eared bastards in their place. Though she may have declined from her prime over thousands of years, the experience of ruling the Great Forest for that long period certainly hadn’t disappeared.

    The main characters of the trial were Sione and me. As we had been told beforehand by Friel and Fleta, we walked to two vacant seats prepared in front of the people of Chelnis and the House of Arielt. Soon after, our opponents slowly walked in.

    Meanwhile, Sione quietly murmured.

    “…They’re finally coming out.”

    “Are you no longer nervous?”

    “As if.”

    Sione awkwardly raised the corner of her mouth.

    “I’m just trying to follow what we prepared.”

    I quietly nodded at her words.

    Since her blue pupils were no longer trembling, there was no need for me to nag her anymore.

    I took in the sight of Ianet’s people who had entered on the opposite side from us.

    ‘Aina Ianet, and Chenya.’

    The old orange-haired hag and her shadow-like subordinate, Chenya.

    The elf who commanded Ianet in this subjugation mission and the original culprit who made her act that way. The two of them finally stood before us.

    ‘They must be seething inside.’

    I could glimpse their hidden emotions in their stiff expressions.

    I heard that this grand trial was being held for the first time in hundreds of years. Being on trial as defendants rather than plaintiffs in such a symbolic trial, along with the unfavorable rumors spreading throughout the city… the dishonor they had earned.

    And I heard that the Grand Elder, who had shown little interference with the three families until now, had been subtly pressuring Ianet over this matter.

    From their perspective, Sione and I must be quite irritating. In their dark hearts, we probably appeared as nothing more than mixed-breeds who deserved to be torn apart.

    I inwardly smiled at them.

    ‘Who told you to do such crazy things?’

    Not only making a contract with a demon, but also causing unnecessary trouble in the subjugation team I was part of. If you wanted to play tricks, you should have chosen your opponents more carefully.

    I deliberately raised my head.

    “…!”

    As if something displeased her, Chenya’s eyebrows rose momentarily.

    Suppressing my laughter at this sight, the trial finally began in earnest.

    “Before we begin the trial, I must say this. From now on, you must swear before the spirits and the World Tree that there will not be a single lie in your answers. Understood?”

    “I swear.”

    “I swear in the name of Ianet.”

    Verbal oaths are easy.

    Would Ianet’s oath carry the same weight as our oath to convey only the truth?

    “From now on, we begin the solemn trial regarding the reason for today’s grand trial: the betrayal actions of the defendant Ianet, as claimed by the plaintiff.”

    “Those who will defend the plaintiff and the defendant, please step forward.”

    Following the words of several elders, the defenders for me and Ianet came forward.

    From our side, none other than Friel Arielt, and from Ianet’s side, an elf they had prepared, filled the courtroom.

    Friel Arielt. Though I was worried whether she could professionally serve as a lawyer… she had insisted that the trial would go better if conducted with her… and for some reason, Fleta had also permitted it. Despite my unease, it might be good to trust her a little.

    “Let’s start with the first point of contention. First, regarding the unfortunate incident caused by Ianet within the subjugation team, let the plaintiff and defendant share their opinions.”

    The Great Forest’s grand trial proceeds with public arguments between the plaintiff and defendant, and free intervention and questioning by the Great Forest’s elders and relevant judges.

    A grand trial with fundamentally free rules. This freedom in the trial method brings about some laxity, but that is actually the most noteworthy aspect of the grand trial.

    How many rational, intelligent, and topic-penetrating key questions come from those standing as judges? How do the judges coordinate and lead a trial that could easily become loose? Also, whether the debates between the defenders, plaintiff, and defendant become overheated to the point of violence?

    All of these are proof to the Grand Elder of the level of current elves and a golden opportunity to win her favor.

    Whether the trial is loose or not, as long as this free trial method benefits us, that’s all that matters. It’s clear there won’t be any disadvantages for us.

    “Then, I’ll speak from our side first.”

    Friel Arielt from our side left her voice to the audience with a confident tone.

    “Chenya, you deliberately intervened when I was fighting a half-demon, making me vulnerable, and induced me to protect you. As a result, I was caught in your scheme and suffered a severe abdominal wound that nearly killed me. How do you—”

    “This is a misunderstanding and a false accusation. In the chaos of the battlefield, with a common enemy, how could one plot such a scheme? It was all a tragedy stemming from Forest Guardian Chenya’s misjudgment of the situation at the time, with no intentional malice.”

    Ianet’s defender retorted.

    “Rather, the wound you received while protecting Chenya was deeper than expected… I wonder if you, as a defender who should judge rationally, are speaking out of personal revenge.”

    And in a very disrespectful tone at that.

    However, Friel continued her questioning without a change in expression, as if she had expected this response.

    Moreover—

    “Hmm—”

    With the Grand Elder resting her chin and humming behind us, knowing that she had already received the most important evidence from me.

    Without backing down, she openly attacked Ianet.

    “How do you explain staying in the rear during battle and sending allies from other families to their deaths while retreating?”

    “This is a false accusation. This—”

    “What do you think about insisting on advancing alone when everyone else suggested retreating and planning for the future?”

    “This is all due to Ianet’s stronger aversion to demons than other families—”

    But as Ianet kept slipping away with various rhetoric, Friel Arielt, who had been speaking with emotional testimonies lacking in evidence and logic.

    The people listening to the trial from her side gradually began to side with Ianet’s innocence, one by one. Just as murmurs began and seeds of doubt about our side started to sprout.

    “Then let me ask in return.”

    As if waiting for public opinion to start shifting like this, Ianet’s defender leisurely raised the corner of their mouth.

    “What evidence and logic does Friel of the House of Arielt have to express dissatisfaction with Ianet?”

    “Evidence, you say?”

    “Yes, I think it’s not very good to push like this without clear evidence or witnesses.”

    As both the judges and the gathered public nodded in agreement.

    Friel, as if she had been waiting for this moment, twisted up the corner of her mouth.

    “If you want evidence so badly… from now on, I will present evidence and witnesses to support my claims. First, I would like to bring in a witness who can testify about the unfortunate situation that happened to me during the demon subjugation and the events that followed—”

    Friel Arielt smiled coldly.

    The defender, thinking it was just bluster, arrogantly raised their head, determined not to lose. Aina and Chenya remained silent, quietly appreciating their side’s logical arguments.

    “Would that be acceptable?”

    “Of course. As long as it’s someone who can show the weight of a definite witness.”

    With the defender’s concise permission and Aina’s nod.

    “Then I will call our witness.”

    Under the brilliant sun, brushing back her shining golden hair, she said.

    “Witness, Airene Ianet. Please come forward.”

    As this explosive statement appeared in the courtroom.

    The murmuring crowd fell silent, and the judges frowned.

    Everyone’s gaze turned to the audience seats closest to the courtroom, specifically where Ianet’s observers were seated.

    “Airene Ianet.”

    A woman with orange hair like the head of Ianet standing in the defendant’s place rose and slowly walked to the witness stand, quietly murmuring.

    “As a witness to support the opinions of the two heroes who have come to the Great Forest.”

    With her eyes tightly closed.

    “And as one of those who condemn the inappropriate choices and actions of the current House of Ianet, I enter this sacred courtroom.”

    And when she opened her eyes again, she seemed to have finally ended her wandering and sorted out her mind.

    There was not a single trace of hesitation in her.


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