“This is where I saved the two of them.”
We were at the site of the building collapse.
The high priest stood in the ruins of the crumbling church branch building as he spoke.
The Scales of Judgment floated directly above us. All those in the courtroom, including the prosecutor, the accused, the maids, and all the people in the gallery, had come with us and were also present at the scene.
I hid among the crowd of gallery spectators to look in on the investigation.
“According to the map of the church branch building, that location was a restroom. Is that correct?”
The judge stood next to him and corroborated the accuracy of his statement based on the documentation.
After Tsukasa spoke, I noticed some broken, scattered pieces of something that resembled a toilet. This looked like the right place.
“Correct. Alba, who had chased after Cumba, also was buried in rubble here.”
“And was an autopsy performed on Cumba’s body after it was brought to the church headquarters?”
“Autopsy? Oh, you mean defilement of the dead? We don’t perform such disgraceful acts in our church. He was put to rest, returned to the soil.”
All eyes were on the judge and the high priest. The maids were filming their back and forth.
<<Akky, what else?>> Tsukasa asked me.
<<Can you check that one other thing, too?>>
As we were walking here, the different points I understood about this case had started to come together in my head. And I had already asked Tsukasa to confirm one last thing while we were here.
“Coming here, I remembered something. You said that ‘if you had been there and seen the building collapsing,’ you ‘could have wielded the power of the Holy Scourge’ and ‘supported the building from falling.’”
“Yes. You saw the awesome power of the sacred artifact, did you not?”
“I have not yet confirmed that it has the power to stop a building from collapsing.”
“Good grief. O ye of little faith… Fine. Watch carefully.”
The high priest approached the rubble near him and turned the Holy Scourge toward it as he spoke.
“Support.”
Crack, crack, crack…
The end of the whip grew and split off like tree branches. It lifted what must have been hundreds of pounds of rubble into the air and silently held them in position.
“My mana flows into the Scourge and imitates the shape of my capillaries. It can flexibly adapt to hold any object.”
“Impressive. For the purposes of our investigation, would you permit me to hold it?” Tsukasa said, approaching the high priest.
<<Tsukasa, it’s too dangerous,>> I told her, without thinking.
<<But Akky, didn’t you wonder what happens when someone other than the owner holds it?>>
She was right, but I wasn’t curious enough to expose her to that kind of danger. I hesitated.
<<I’ll be fine. I just want to check what this super whip is all about with my own hands!>>
If she was so determined, there wasn’t much I could do to stop her.
“Hmph… As you wish.”
The high priest held out the handle of the whip with surprisingly no resistance.
“Go ahead and feel the true power of the sacred artifact with your own hands.”
“Looking at it up close, it has a kind of gloss like an antique art piece. And it feels…”
The moment the whip was in Tsukasa’s grasp…
“…slightly waaaAAAAAAAAAAH!”
<<Tsukasa!>>
She suddenly started convulsing, her eyes rolling back in her head and her mouth foaming. There was no response to my telepathy.
“Pffft—ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! How unsightly! A fitting consequence for an otherworlder who dares to disrespect our God.”
The tip of the whip, which had split off into branches like a tree, lost its power. There was a loud crack as it began to break.
This is the same noise I heard outside the tavern that day, I recalled.
I made a mental note of it.
The more pressing matter right now was Tsukasa quickly losing her life energy before me. Her skin was becoming covered in wrinkles.
“Miss Judge!” the princess screamed. The surrounding maids looked on in worry.
“My, my, it seems that you have very little mana within your body. Very meager indeed. You’ve been depleted awfully quickly!”
The high priest seemed pleased. He had known this was going to happen.
“Hold on, witness!” Prosecutor Ileana spoke up from the crowd of onlookers. “If a sacred artifact is touched by anyone other than its owner while the artifact’s power is in use, the person will have their mana sucked dry and die! If you did this knowingly to try to kill Miss Judge, you’ll be charged with the crime!”
“I was only cooperating with the trial’s investigation.” The high priest smiled calmly. “Worry not. Even if she is sucked completely dry, I can heal her with God’s Panacea.”
<<Master!>> Shiro cried telepathically, her voice frantic.
The Holy Scourge was losing its ability to hold up the rubble.
Crack—! The mass of concrete began to waver.
“Damn it, Tsukasa!”
I ran over to my sister, scooped her up, and leaped out of the way.
Thud!
The mass of concrete fell behind me. I broke out in a cold sweat. But somehow, we were safe.
In my arms, Tsukasa was shaking violently. “Aghghghgh! I can sti-i-i-ill-ll-ll—!”
I could still see that passion of hers in her eyes. In her hand she still held the Holy Scourge, its tip shriveled and shrunken like a dried branch.
“Throw it!”
She did as I told her. With a “Hyah!” she tossed the piece of the Holy Scourge far away from us.
“Return.”
Immediately, I heard his voice. In an instant, the sacred artifact turned around midair and returned to the high priest’s right hand as if drawn by a magnet.
So this is what Laman meant by a “special characteristic that automatically returns it to the hands of its owner.”
I remembered Mjölnir from Norse mythology. It was also called Thor’s Hammer, since it was a weapon wielded by the thunder god Thor. Thor would throw the hammer at his enemies to pulverize them, and then use the hammer’s special ability that made it always return to its owner. It seemed like the sacred artifacts in this world had a similar ability.
We’ve seen enough.
“My. What are you doing here, Number 786?” the high priest asked warily when he noticed me.
“I’m the court assistant. I show up when there’s a trial; that’s my job,” I replied, standing below the Scales of Judgment.
“Don’t tell me… I’m sure I used that on you. Have you reversed it?” the high priest said, baffled.
“Please enlighten us: What do you mean by ‘that’?” I spat as I walked toward him. “Do you want to check the place where you put it?”
“…I haven’t a clue what you’re referring to. But an ordinary boy with nothing more than some special world transfer bonus ability should be more cautious when he’s trying to act brave—you’re liable to get hurt.”
He wouldn’t be taking the bait so easily.
But it sounded like he was trying to guess what kind of special ability had allowed me to break his brainwashing spell.
Having raised the high priest’s suspicions, it was going to be hard to get any further testimony out of him now.
Tsukasa was looking up at me, worried.
“Akky.”