In the back of the chapel, with the statue of the goddess in the center, was a simple cloth partition. In front of it was Cormeca, wearing a red robe and a glove, just like the other day, Ruvy, who had her arms crossed, another nun, and also Erifell, supported by Derg.
“If you’re not the witch...then who destroyed Leston?!” Erifell said. She was on her knees as she shouted at Cormeca.
“Who goes there?!”
It was the other nun, whose name I didn’t know, who noticed us and spoke up first. Some kind of precautions must have been taken so that sound wouldn’t go in or out of this room.
“It’s you...”
Ruvy’s indignant glare bored into us. We were adventurers and shouldn’t be here. However, her thoughts lasted only a short moment.
“Radia,” she said to the nun by her side. “Head outside and check on Crescen.”
Radia nodded and dashed past us to head outside. I heard a cry, but Leen closed the door and all outside sounds were muted.
I wondered if Ruvy had chosen not to force us out because I was the one who had picked a fight in the first place. Or maybe she thought we were allowed to see the trial’s conclusion.
“Hello, you two. It’s been a few days,” Cormeca said.
Unlike Ruvy, she flashed us an amicable smile. From the way that she chuckled with confidence, she didn’t seem like someone who had just been deemed a witch.
“The checks have just finished,” Cormeca went on. “Right, lady knight? Why don’t you tell them the result.”
Encouraged to reply, Ruvy gave a slow sigh before speaking. “I could not...find a stigma...on Cormeca Esma.”
“Uh-huh,” I said.
I’d feared it might be like this, but the situation was dire. Maybe I should be happy we made it here before anyone was killed.
By the way that Ruvy’s brow was furrowed, it looked like she wasn’t completely convinced herself.
“I-I know you went to Leston that day!” Erifell forced out.
“Yes, and? Allen and I went by horse. Then when we came back, I returned the horse. I thought I could earn some money so I even gave the stable owner a cooling medication for the horse. You can ask him, if you’d like. I am certain he’ll remember me.” Cormeca effortlessly rebutted Erifell’s remarks. She even opened out her hands as if she gladly welcomed the suspicion. “However, I then left Allen and went home alone. That’s all!”
“Grr...”
At this junction, forced into a corner as she was, Erifell had probably realized that she’d been played. All the evidence she’d gathered to prove that Cormeca was a witch had been left behind by Cormeca herself so that it could be easily gathered.
“It’s utterly embarrassing to have your body searched, you know? Never before have I had to endure such shame, having someone strip me down, then stare at my body from head to toe! I was awfully wounded by what you did,” Cormeca said before taking a step toward Erifell, looking down at her exhausted state. “Yes, I loved Allen. It hurt that he left me. My thoughts did drift at times.” Cormeca looked up at the ceiling as if remembering something before looking back down again. “However, that is no reason to suspect me of killing him!”
Cormeca’s words were the expression of her victory as well as a brutal rebuke against the person who had threatened her life with a witch trial.
“It was because I loved him that I wanted to celebrate his new life. That’s normal! You’re the one with the problem, unable to accept his death!” Cormeca stroked the glove on her right hand lovingly. “You let your imagination run away with you and accused me of something as evil as destroying a village along with his fiancée! And as a result, I have to put up with this.” Cormeca’s agate Sphere glittered from the hole in the glove. “I supposed you wouldn’t back off unless you put your life on the line, right, Erifell?”
“Search her again, Lady Ruvy!” Derg said, unable to stay quiet any longer. “This woman is hiding her stigma! Please, search her once more!”
It was natural for Derg to request this, but Ruvy merely shook her head.
“We have made her endure...such shame once already. I will not...do it again.”
“But!”
“However...if you truly wish it,” Ruvy said, striking Derg and Erifell—who was leaning on him—with her scarlet gaze, “then you must...indict her once again...now.”
Derg could only grunt in response.
No one would indict a woman who had been deemed innocent of being a witch. It was nothing more than suicide.
Derg bit his tongue and paused momentarily. He juggled whether he should believe Erifell, whom he had been protecting all this time, or accept the truth handed to him. Or maybe he was wondering whether he should put his life on the line.
In the gap in the conversation, I spoke up, breaking the spell between the glaring parties.
“I’ll answer your wishes for you. The witch...is you, Cormeca Esma!” I said, pointing my finger at her. “You’ll perform the check once more, right, Ruvy?”
Ruvy paused for a moment and placed her hand on her sword. “You understand...what this signifies?” she asked.
There was no taking back what I’d said here, during this witch trial.
“Very well, then speak up. What proof do you have...to call her a witch? After she has been checked...and no stigma was found?”
My answer could cause my head to fall from my shoulders in an instant. But what came next wasn’t my job.
“You happy, Leen?” I asked.
Leen nodded gleefully next to me. I couldn’t believe she’d made a guy put his life on the line.
“Explain,” Ruvy said.
“I’ll be demonstrating the proof,” Leen declared. “Hakura’s just here for the ride.”
“Hey!”
I objected, but I couldn’t change the fact that she was right.
Leen put her slime in my hands and stepped forward. As everyone looked suspiciously at her, she spoke unbothered in a clear voice.
“Cormeca, I have a question,” she said.
“And what might that be, young lady?”
In Cormeca’s eyes, Leen was someone who had no relation to anyone in this trial. Her puzzlement as to what Leen could possibly say was evident on her face. However, Leen’s next comment caused her expression to totally change.
“Cormeca, please tell me why you have the glove that Allen made.”
On her right hand was a leather glove with the back cut out—just the one glove.
“What are you talking about? I bought this,” Cormeca said after a moment of silence. She had tried to give off a normal vibe, but it only made things seem more suspicious.
“No. Allen made it,” Leen said without any hesitation. She then went on, not allowing Cormeca to question her. “In Leston they have a tradition where a man will create a pair of leather gloves for the woman he has feelings for. If the woman accepts the pair, then they will become married. Allen quit being an adventurer and studied leatherwork in Leston. He was close to finishing the pair that he wanted to give to Krauna. We buried one glove in Allen’s grave, however...”
This was the thing I’d noticed. It was a simple statement: gloves come in pairs.
“We were unable to find the other glove. Not on Allen’s body nor in Krauna’s home,” Leen said.
“Excuse me? That’s hardly enough evidence to claim that this glove of mine is his! Why would Allen make a hole in a glove if he were giving it to Krauna? Even your boyfriend there has a similar pair!”
I wanted to quip that I wasn’t her boyfriend, but I worked very, very hard to keep my words under control.
“Well, you simply made the hole yourself. You can do that without issue, right?” Leen said.
It didn’t make sense for Cormeca to own a glove that Allen had made. The gloves were for Allen’s sweetheart—there was no way that he would have given them to Cormeca. So for her to have this glove must have meant that she’d stolen it.
“What nonsense! And so what? A single glove isn’t any evidence!” Cormeca rebutted.
When I’d first seen Cormeca’s glove, I’d noticed that it was awfully similar to the one we’d found near Leston. However, I didn’t have any proof of a connection, and I didn’t think that anyone would flaunt evidence like this, so I’d dismissed my concerns.
Leen continued to speak, unfazed as ever.
“There’s no doubt about it because the person in question is saying so.”
“Huh?”
No one in the room could understand what on earth Leen meant by this. Cormeca let out a confused sound on everyone’s behalf.
Leen lifted her index finger up and twirled it around. I had witnessed this gesture countless times over the past few days—it was what she did when she was lecturing someone.