Chapter 78: Trial (2)
by fnovelpia
“You’ve been waiting for me?”
At those words with unclear intent, my gaze naturally shifted to their waists.
Instead of the katana, a true man’s weapon, they had white rapiers like Pierre’s and staves firmly strapped to their sides.
Seeing them all carrying rapiers and staves, I realized they were sword mages who worshipped Pierre.
‘Are they here to cheer again…?’
I thought that for a moment, but it was too early to jump to conclusions.
Perhaps they saw the katana at my waist and were now trying to correct their ways and walk the righteous path.
If that was their intention in coming to me, I decided to teach them the way of Baldo with a merciful heart and asked:
“Have you realized how foolish it is to use rapiers and come to convert to katanas?”
“Huh? Ah, no…”
It wasn’t the case. Come to think of it, not a single person had simply nodded at my question.
F*ck… Would it kill even one person to just say yes?
“Then what… are you here to cheer or something? Who the hell are you guys anyway?”
“Excuse our rudeness. I’m Karn Madrini. And these are…”
The man who introduced himself as Karn pointed to his companions one by one and stated their names, but I wasn’t interested enough to catch most of them.
“We’re admirers of Sir Pierre, captivated by his heroic tales…”
“I can see that just by looking. Why did you come looking for me? More importantly, how did you recognize me…?”
“Ah… We heard your description from the villagers, and it matched perfectly…”
Karn explained that they could tell at a glance that I was the one who defeated Lobo by seeing me clinging to that carriage.
“You heard from the villagers?”
“Yes, and to add, we were the ones who informed the Pierre family about this incident.”
The group of sword mages who worshipped Pierre gathered every year during the period thought to be the anniversary of Pierre’s death to pay their respects.
As that time approached this year, they gathered and visited Ponpon City, witnessing what I had done.
At first, they were enraged seeing the damaged statue, but upon hearing that I had defeated Lobo, they controlled their anger and thought.
If the goal was the weapon, there was no need to cause a commotion by destroying the statue and making a scene.
No matter how much one claims the merit of defeating Lobo, insulting Pierre would be tantamount to throwing away that merit, wouldn’t it?
After thinking for a while, they recalled the actions of the Pierre family over the years and formed a hypothesis.
Pierre’s death, shrouded in so many questions.
Lobo, the magic beast guarding Pierre’s grave, and Marga, the high-ranking earth spirit who hadn’t shown herself since contracting with Pierre.
If Marga hadn’t left and remained by Pierre’s grave… and if she had told the truth about Pierre’s death to the strong warrior who defeated Lobo?
Once that thought struck, they felt they knew what that truth was without having to hear it directly.
If what they were thinking now was the truth, it would explain all the martial arts and deeds that were hard to believe came from the descendants of a hero.
“We understood why you acted that way even though you were certain to lose in a trial. You heard all the truth and acted that way to resolve Sir Pierre’s grudge!”
“…Huh.”
Hearing Karn’s exclamation, I was too dumbfounded to say anything.
“Are you a detective or something? How can you speak as if you saw everything…?”
“So, it was true after all!”
They seemed to have worried that their hypothesis might be wrong, but when I said it was correct, they let out sighs of relief.
“Sir Ian!”
As Karn grabbed my hand, half-sobbing, I shook it off, worried about AIDS.
Karn looked at his rejected hand in confusion but continued speaking.
“I’ve never seen such a righteous knight as you! You bore the dishonor of insulting the hero you worship to resolve his grudge!”
“What? What nonsense are you spouting? Who’s worshipping who?”
Unable to tolerate such ridiculous talk any longer, I ended up slapping his cheek.
With a dry smack!, everyone who had been noisy until just now fell silent.
“Who would worship such a pathetic guy… The only Swordmaster I worship is the Great Swordmaster with the cross-shaped scar on his cheek.”
Saying that, I spat on the ground. Karn, holding his slapped cheek, asked in a trembling voice:
“T-then why are you going out of your way to resolve Sir Pierre’s grudge?”
What an idiotic question not worth answering. Why would I go out of my way to do such a thing?
“Let me ask you instead. If you saw someone in danger on the street, would you refuse to help them just because they don’t use a rapier?”
“Huh? Ah, no… I wouldn’t reject a plea for help for such a reason…”
“That’s exactly it. Although Pierre committed the grave sin of elevating rapier carriers like you, insulting Baldo, that’s no reason for him to suffer such a miserable fate!”
“……!”
With those final words, I left them behind. I don’t know if they understood what I said, but I had said all I needed to say.
Time flew by, and a few days after the Ponpon mother and daughter arrived at the academy, the long-awaited day of the trial finally came.
Although the academy had a court for trying the crimes of citizens and students, so much interest had been focused on this trial that the court couldn’t accommodate all the spectators.
To accommodate as many spectators as possible, they temporarily converted the academy’s central hall into a courtroom.
‘It’s still absurd no matter how I think about it….’
Even if there’s a lot of interest, is it really okay to do this, leaving a proper courtroom unused just to accommodate more spectators?
This would never have happened on Earth, but in this sloppy fantasy world, a few words from high-ranking nobles could turn such an absurd idea into reality.
“People love a spectacle no matter where you go…”
“Those people were disliked in noble society for various reasons.”
As I was sighing while looking at the hastily constructed courtroom, Jessica, who had been quietly observing the courtroom, chimed in.
“But are you really okay? Our family is offering to hire a lawyer for you…”
“I have a powerful witness, so it’s fine.”
Moreover, though I couldn’t tell Jessica, I had experience with many lawsuits on Earth.
Although I had only learned by observing, I had no problem proceeding with the lawsuit even without a lawyer.
“People are starting to gather.”
As not only academy students but also unfamiliar nobles began to appear, showing great interest in this trial, Jessica spoke.
“Before it gets crowded, I’ll go to my seat now.”
With that, Jessica left, and before the trial began, I also moved to my designated seat.
As I stood in the defendant’s place, all eyes in the central hall focused on me.
I, too, looked over the audience seated in the gallery to pass the time while waiting.
Not only Jessica, who had shown her face earlier, but also Prince Euclid and even Nana had gathered in the central hall to observe this trial.
And as if she had followed Euclid here, Rain was also sitting demurely near Euclid.
‘Marina is… sitting in the headmaster’s seat…’
As I looked around to see if there was anyone else I knew, I saw Hori waving at me, having luckily secured a seat close to the court.
‘Those guys came too.’
Karn, who I had slapped a few days ago, and some of his companions seemed to have managed to get spectator tickets.
When our eyes met, Karn bowed his head deeply with a complicated expression.
As I was looking around the gallery to see if there were any other familiar faces, the noisy atmosphere in the courtroom gradually began to quiet down.
Wondering what was happening, I followed their gazes to see the Ponpon mother and daughter entering through the door and walking gracefully in the silence.
‘Those whores…!’
Although not as revealing as what she wore yesterday, she was wearing a dress with considerable exposure, drawing the attention of everyone, regardless of age or gender.
The gazes weren’t exactly lustful, but they seemed to enjoy the attention as they headed towards the plaintiff’s seat.
[Grrrr…!]
Perhaps because it sensed her scent more strongly now that we were face to face, unlike yesterday when we were separated by a window, Wolffang started barking.
“Wolffang, hold it in for now.”
I whispered that I would soon feed it plenty of those bitches’ blood, and Wolffang barely calmed down, muffling its voice.
‘Is it like a memory engraved in the soul?’
When it barked at them earlier, the scabbard trembled ominously, suggesting that the anger towards them was no ordinary matter.
Curious about what Karn and his group were doing, I looked over to see that some of them looked ready to cut down those women right then and there if this wasn’t a courtroom.
The angriest among them was Karn, whose body was leaking aura and mana that he couldn’t fully control in his rage.
“Y-you…!”
The Ponpon mother and daughter, seated in the plaintiff’s seat, turned pale as they saw my face and recalled what had happened in the carriage.
Considering what was about to happen to them, it was indeed an appropriate expression.
Shortly after, three judges from the Royal Legal Office took their seats on the bench, and court officials from the Legal Office sat in the prepared seats in front of them, signaling the start of the trial.
“Then we will now begin the trial regarding the return of the heirlooms left by Sir Ray von Pierre, the magic swordsman. The plaintiff may speak first.”
As one of the judges spoke, the lawyer seated in the plaintiff’s seat stood up and said:
“Yes, Your Honor. The plaintiff firmly demands that the defendant, Sir Ian Barthow, return the heirlooms of the great hero Pierre.”
The opposing lawyer’s argument went like this:
Although I may have the merit of defeating Lobo, the ownership of the weapons clearly belonged to her, and given my behavior after the defeat, they absolutely could not hand over the weapons to me.
As he presented a plausible justification, the judge nodded as if understanding, and then turned to me and said:
“Now, let the defendant speak.”
“Yes, Your Honor. I have no intention of returning Pierre’s… I mean, Ponpon’s heirlooms to them, and now I can’t return them anyway.”
At those words, not only the plaintiff’s seat but also the bench and all the spectators became noisy.
“Ahem…!”
After calming the spectators who were causing a commotion as if this were a marketplace, the judge asked me again:
“Defendant, what do you mean by saying you can’t return them?”
“Yes, well…”
In response, I drew Wolffang, which was firmly strapped to my waist.
“I disassembled the rapier and staff and reincarnated them into a katana.”
“……Pardon?”
The courtroom was turned upside down.
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