<<In the game, the people wearing white must be the church’s followers, and the boss must be the high priest. Gobta is harboring a grudge over the enemy who stole his mother away from him—a dangerous situation.>>
I hadn’t realized it until she put it into words. To me, it had just been your standard brutal action game made by a gaming fan. But looking at it from the perspective of a seasoned judge was totally different.
<<I see… If it gets worse, that could become reality in the future.>>
I recalled the Hero’s Case. One wrong decision could greatly change the course of the future.
I was glad that I’d been able to talk to her about this.
<<I don’t want to make my mind up on that just yet. But creative works can often be associated with a person’s emotional trauma.>>
I felt a chill.
My field of vision suddenly narrowed before me. I felt like the world suddenly shifted from horizontal to vertical.
This other person’s story was resonating with me.
Why did I start liking fantasy stories in the first place?
I flashed back to a memory that had been sleeping within me. I was three. My dad got remarried, and I met my new stepsister, Tsukasa. She had a sad, lonely air about her at that time. One day, I innocently asked about the remarriage. And when I did, my dad scolded me sharply, “You must never, ever mention Tsukasa’s father.” His words stayed in my heart like a cold lump. Maybe it wouldn’t have bothered most people. But a kind of resignation toward adult society started to grow inside me after that. I constantly felt this awkward situation where I wasn’t allowed to talk about it, and couldn’t help but sense it. Maybe that’s why I liked escaping to unrelated fantasy worlds.
But…what I’m feeling right here and now is different.
What I was facing now, after being summoned to this world, were the victims of a collapsed building. A family torn apart. The stark realities of the people of this world.
I had gone silent in thought.
<<…Then there’s the mother, Lyra.>>
Tsukasa called me back to the conversation.
At the sound of her voice, I thought about her past for a moment.
And I considered that maybe the reason she became so obsessed with court trials had something to do with her father.
But now wasn’t the time to reflect on our pasts.
I cut off my thoughts from those old memories, and I told my sister what I had just decided.
<<Yeah. About Lyra…>>
<<You’re going to go look for her, aren’t you?>>
<<You saw right through me, huh?>>
There was one thing I hadn’t been able to tell my ever-impartial sister.
I had promised Gobta that I would find Lyra and bring her back.
Gobta had told a regular old human like me all sorts of difficult things. I wanted to do something to pay him back.
<<I think I’ll be able to hear a lot about what’s going on in the church headquarters. And the church is probably the most important thing we need to investigate right now.>>
I didn’t want her to think that I was just acting impulsively based on my feelings. I tried to show her I was being rational.
A few weeks ago, the high priest had used the Black Scales and some kind of magic in that building. A few weeks later, the building collapsed. And now, paired up with Tamamo Keisei, the high priest had rushed to go to court as a victim…
The high priest holds at least a part of the truth about this major incident. He knows the inside of the collapsed building. And yet, he didn’t mention anything about it at the trial. That means he’s hiding something. I was starting to think that the horrible possibilities I had sensed as I left the Grand Bench were very real. Still…
<<I don’t think the high priest would give you any answers if you summoned him and directly asked him what happened in the building the night Gobta saw him. Plus, if we make any mistakes based on our preconceived assumptions about what the church is really like, we’ll get punished by the scales.>>
I told Tsukasa my train of thought.
<<That’s right… The plaintiff wasn’t surprised at the sight of the scales’ punishment. He already knew about that function. I think he was intentionally trying to evoke doubt in the gallery through his argument.>>
Yes. This was the conclusion we needed to draw from this.
While it was the newest of the sacred artifacts and still had many unknowns surrounding it, the Shard of Judgment was just another sacred artifact.
<<The high priest inherited a sacred artifact that was passed down over thousands of years. He may be knowledgeable about the Shard of Judgment’s punishment. But if he knew about it and made that argument anyway, that means he’s trying to take you down, Tsukasa.>>
<<Well, thanks to your help in the courtroom…we were able to escape that danger for now.>>
<<He really is dangerous. We need to carry out our investigation without being noticed by him.>>
<<Yeah, agreed. But what exactly is forbidden magic anyway?>> Her voice was tinged with worry.
<<Unfortunately, I don’t know, either. I’m guessing it’s magic that was banned because it’s dangerous. But I think since there were other people with him when he was using it, it must mean he can’t use it when he’s alone.>>
<<…I wonder if Shiro knows about it?>>
Shiro. She had supported us so much ever since we were summoned here.
She got dragged into the trial at the Slime Store, but in the end, she helped us save the slimes. And I had been able to see her smile as she looked at the slimes she loved so much.
Riding the pegasus carriage with her on the way to the Hero’s Village, we had talked about “the Japanese conscience.” Even if just a little bit, I had felt like we had started to understand each other that time.
But Shiro had served the princess for about ten years. She was originally the princess’s maid, and she only supported us because she had been ordered to do so by the princess.
I remembered what she looked like when I last saw her. In opposition to the princess’s potential punishment, she had treated us like enemies and nearly attacked Tsukasa. I couldn’t forget her eyes, turned red with the intensity of her anger.
Tamamo had called it our “falling-out”…but I refused to believe that this was the end for us.
<<I’m going to find Shiro and try to convince her to come back to us. And I think I should go alone.>>
Tsukasa nodded. <<Okay.>>
If there was some fault with the princess’s magic, then Tsukasa might still need to punish her.
Can’t have the judge herself going to meet with Shiro. I have to figure this one out on my own.
We needed Shiro’s abilities and knowledge of this world for what we wanted to accomplish going forward.
In this world, we were weak. We were just humans with the power to hold trials. In contrast, the depth of the church we were trying to search and investigate was unfathomable.
I returned to the Chiyodaku Kingdom Courthouse, mulling all this over as I walked.
“Oh, Shir—”
I saw Shiro and started to call out to her. On the other side of the glass of the front entryway, I saw her silver hair standing out against the darkness. But…
What? Don’t tell me…
Past her, I saw a man with white hair in a white robe… A figure who looked like the high priest appeared to be in the building with her.
Why would the two of them be sneaking into the courthouse right now?
In shock, I blinked hard before I saw them disappear into the building.
<<Tsukasa, where are you right now?>>
<<Hm? I’m on the fourth floor of the trial building. I finally found something I was looking for.>>
The place she was in was separated from the court building where the main entrance and the Grand Bench were.
<<Can you escape out of there, but use an exit besides the main entrance?>>
<<It’s possible. But why—?>>
<<I’m going to talk to Shiro. I’ll contact you when I’m done. I just don’t want you to get captured.>>
Sensing the situation, she responded <<…Got it. Be careful.>> and cut off the telepathic connection.
Thinking of the worst possible thing that could happen, I chased after the shadows of Shiro and the high priest.