When the trial was halted, I ran out of the Grand Bench, thinking over all the possibilities that came to my mind.
The high priest’s words—“they’ve been separated from the Royal Watchdog”—implied that he had other goals outside of this trial. There was something ominous about him being in one place but having other goals elsewhere. It was like diversionary tactics.
Combined with the fact that Shiro had been the one to tell me all her knowledge of the church’s history in this kingdom… I shuddered to think of the horrible possibilities of what his goals could be.
One: restoration of the church’s authority; two: the banishment of Japanese culture; three: revenge against the royal family.
Maybe that’s why his way of speaking was so polite yet also so insistent and nasty.
If dividing us from Shiro was necessary to achieve some other hidden greater goal…what I needed to do was make sure we didn’t get separated from Shiro.
This is all just guesswork, though… Hopefully it’s a groundless fear. But right now, I need to chase Shiro.
“Hah… Agh… Urgh…!”
I wasn’t able to catch up with her. I lost sight of Shiro and the princess outside of the courthouse gates.
I couldn’t help it this time. If the high priest wanted to divide us, right now from his point of view he would see me running after Shiro, and Tsukasa being left completely alone.
I could try putting that to use. Right now, it might be best to go out of our way to show that we’re weakened.
If someone was playing a trick on you, it could be a good idea to make it look like the trick was working, to the extent that there was no risk to you. At least, that’s how I felt based on my experience in social deduction games.
<<Akky… Everyone’s gone now. Where are you right now?>>
It was Tsukasa.
<<Tsukasa, listen. I have an idea.>>
I told her everything that had been on my mind.
<<Yeah, let’s be wary of the plaintiff’s true intentions. By the way, about what I was saying earlier…>>
I sensed that she wanted to bring up the topic she had tried to talk to me about earlier.
I needed to tell her what I had been thinking, which I hadn’t been able to tell her before.
<<In otherworld fantasy stories, sometimes there are rulebreakers with powers even greater than God. But there’s nothing wrong with what you’re doing now, either.>>
<<Do you really think it could be fair for a Japanese person to judge others in this world?>>
If the princess, the one who summoned us, were here, she would probably flat-out affirm everything Tsukasa was doing. But I wasn’t like that.
<<If there was something wrong with your judgment, I would stop you. I promise.>>
If nothing else, that must have been why a normal fantasy-loving high schooler like me was summoned to this world with her.
<<So until I do, I want you to keep doing everything in your power to do what you think is right.>>
<<Akky…you really get me. Thank you. I’ll do my best to keep it together.>>
And if she got stuck somewhere, I would just have to do something about it to help her.
<<So what should we do next?>>
<<Let’s split up and investigate on our own for a while. I think I’ll go find Gobta first.>>
While conversing with her telepathically, I had already started heading toward the area where Gobta usually hung out, based on his case record.
<<I hope he’ll talk to you this time. In that case, I’ll go investigate the cause of the building’s collapse. While talking with you, I realized there was something about what the high priest said that caught my attention.>>
<<What part?>>
<<When he said, “that unrefined material you call ‘concrete.’” The thing is, I don’t think Japanese buildings with steel-framed reinforced concrete construction can collapse so easily. I want to try the calculations in a simulator.>>
It was a sharp observation. And here I was just feeling my way through this like it was a video game.
But with Tsukasa on the case, I knew she would find her way to conclusive evidence by using sound reasoning.
<<That’s not something I’m able to do. It’s in your hands.>>
I heard her respond <<Leave it to me!>> before I headed to my next destination.
When I arrived, I found that the case record had led me to Gobta’s middle school.
School was just letting out, and uniformed students were leaving through the main gate.
Humans and other races are all attending the same school together. It’s a nice sight…
Momentarily forgetting what I came here for, I couldn’t help but feel a little moved.
Education up through middle school had become compulsory more than ten years ago in the Chiyodaku Kingdom. While on the outside the school building matched the rest of the medieval European–style downtown with its brick exterior, on the inside was apparently a modern institution of education. Japanese-style education was having a boom in the kingdom.
While getting distracted thinking about all this, I caught a familiar figure in the corner of my eye. It was Gobta Boucher.
“Oh, hey, Gob—”
I started to call out to him, but thought better of it.
Crap, am I gonna seem like some kind of creep if I call out to a student after sitting here staring in fascination?
I let my own thoughts get in my way. Gobta in his blazer walked past in front of me, alone.
Guess I’ll just keep quiet and follow him. I’m pretty sure it’s allowed for an investigator in a family court case to visit the family’s house, as long as it’s for the purpose of the investigation.
I started to feel nervous about doing this for the first time but tried to shake it off by remembering what my sister had told me about juvenile cases. My role was court assistant, which in the end basically meant it was my job to do everything except make the legal decisions, which was the judge’s job. As for investigators in Japanese family court, according to the Courts Act and the Juveniles Act, their position permits them to investigate the juveniles’ living situations. So yeah, that sounded like it fell under my “court assistant” jurisdiction.
Around me, the scenery turned into a residential area. Houses with old and new architecture mingled along the streets.
Then, in front of me, I saw Gobta’s ears perk up.
“Yo, Window Mage. Why’re you following me, bro?”
“Uh, no, I just… I wanted to ask you more about what happened.”
“I got nothin’ to say to you.” The twelve-year-old goblin turned around and stared daggers at me.
“That building fell down, right? So who cares about it anymore?”
I faltered from having been noticed, but more than that, I was intimidated by his hostile look.
He’s still treating me like this after I saved him from getting punched by his father. Maybe it’s a lost cause.