My parents’ faces flashed in my mind. They were on their honeymoon, so they probably wouldn’t worry about us anytime soon. As for my friends at school… They’d probably be fine without me, too.
Honestly, I was getting pretty excited to start enjoying this weird fantasy world I had before me. But how was Tsukasa handling all this?
“Is being unable to return a problem? My spell was set to summon a Japanese person who’d righteously judge a fantasy world. I set it that way because I thought that meant it would bring me a judge who would choose this world over their own.”
Hearing the princess’s response, Tsukasa looked at me and then to the ground.
“…Even if I do go back, they were planning on transferring me and taking me out of the actual trials. I’ve got Akky here with me, so maybe it won’t be so bad to be a judge in another world…,” she muttered.
“Now that you mention it, wasn’t the spell set to only summon one person?” I said.
“I set it to summon the necessary number of people,” Ecstasia replied. “That surely means you’re an instrumental member in carrying out our righteous judgment!”
“Okay… So maybe I’m supposed to help Tsukasa navigate this world, since she isn’t used to all this fantasy stuff.”
As usual, the princess in her pink maid outfit looked like she was having a great time. Her smile was practically a sideways D. Sitting on the cushion next to me, she responded, “Hee-hee. It’s our first time having real live Japanese people in this world. I’m so happy we got two in one try!”
She leaned her elbow on the table and gazed innocently at us.
“After this whole trial thing settles down, let’s hang out and chat over some anime!”
Looking around the princess’s room, I realized there were stacks of anime VHS tapes and DVDs all over the place.
And judging by her outfit, I bet she learned Japanese culture entirely from anime.
“Wait a minute, princess. What do you mean, ‘trial thing’? We haven’t agreed to do anything,” I said.
Ecstasia frowned slightly. “But you seemed like you were excited about trials here.”
“This is a fantasy kingdom, right? That means we can’t use Japanese law—”
“That’s no problem!” The princess interjected while flipping through an Anim*ge magazine on the table.
“We put Japanese law into effect more than ten years ago. My father took care of all the legislation!”
“If Japanese law is in effect here, then what was with that trial we saw?” Tsukasa pressed. “You were using that weird Lie Detector Orb.”
“Y-yes… Well, when the trial starts to get too hard, I…”
“Hard? You were in the judge’s seat. Weren’t you conducting the trial?”
“Well, I mean…um…”
The princess started to flounder.
“Let’s not forget about the ruling monarchy… Is it purely symbolic? What about separation of powers? Do you distinguish between rule of law and rule of the people? How do you select your judges? Do you have prosecutors and lawyers?”
“…”
Something was wrong. The princess’s mouth, which was usually open in some form or another, had become like a hyphen, and the sparkles had left her eyes.
“Wait, Tsukasa!” I called. “The princess is…”
Ecstasia had gone still with her magazine in hand and eyes open.
“…sleeping!”
The princess snored peacefully.
“No way!” Tsukasa was at a loss for words and tried to quickly shake the girl awake. “Hey! I was in the middle of saying something!”
“Zzzzz.”
It was futile.
“Princess Ecstasia has a habit of falling asleep when something stops being fun for her.” Shiro, the head maid, who’d been sitting with us this whole time, explained the situation. “One of the royal family’s retainers will fill you in about the trial. She is on her way here now, so please wait a moment.”
And so we did, watching the princess sleep with her eyes open.
Then we heard the magical elevator approaching, and its doors opened shortly afterward.
“So sorry to keep you waiting! I was busy cleaning up the courtroom!”
The elf-eared retainer stepped out of the elevator, still wearing her suit-like outfit and glasses.
“Miss Judge, Mr. Akuto… A good morning to you… Eh-heh-heh!” Ecstasia had snapped awake at the sound of her retainer. “Please allow me to properly introduce her. This is the Royal Cabinet’s chief vassal and prosecutor.”
“Half-elf, family name Saitou, given name Ileana. Pleased to make your acquaintance.” She knelt on the carpet and gave a perfect bow. Her greeting was so excessively Japanese it felt almost ridiculous.
Looking at Ileana again, I realized she was actually really pretty. She was a little taller than me and possessed a model’s figure. Her long, flowing blond hair was pulled into a ponytail. A pair of jade-green eyes watched us from behind her glasses.
I guess the common trope for elves to be beautiful is true…
“So you’re not a full elf but a half-elf.” I accidentally blurted out what I was thinking.
“Hmph! Full elf? Don’t lump me in with those common geezers wasting their long lives holed up in the woods. I left my boring hometown behind to come to where the excitement is! Ever since I read that copy of Record of Lod*ss War I got from Chiyodaku mail order, I’ve been totally obsessed with Japanese culture. While serving under the previous king and now Princess Ecstasia, the Japanization of the kingdom…”
Her enthusiasm was off the charts. The veil of her ethereal beauty had been cast off, exposing her as a complete otaku.
Well, that was unexpected…
“Ileana, can you explain to them about our kingdom’s trials, pretty please?” Ecstasia requested.
“Oh! Certainly. Ahem. Year after year, as this world began to overflow with all things Japanese, our way of life also took to emulating that of Japan. Accordingly, strange incidents that we’d never seen before began to occur. The previous king decided that it would be best to implement the excellent laws and rules of Japan, having been created by the very same Japanese people who gave us all these excellent marvels.”
I guessed Ileana was somewhere in her midtwenties. Perhaps that maturity explained why she outlined things so differently from the princess.
“However, Japanese laws and Japanese rules proved to be too difficult for us, and we were unable to use them well. That said, it was nearly impossible to add laws on top of them. Therefore, while instilling Japanese values and morals in the people, the Royal Cabinet attempted to earn the trust of the populace and control the kingdom by using the Lie Detector Orb to judge cases that officials were unable to handle themselves.
“I see… And that caused the contradiction that led to your trial’s standstill,” Tsukasa replied.
When I recalled the scene at the Grand Bench, it all started to make sense.
“You were in the judge’s seat, correct?” Tsukasa was adopting her commanding tone again.
Ileana swallowed hard, and her long ears flapped.
“I—I have no excuse… The people of the Chiyodaku Kingdom harbor strong faith for Princess Ecstasia. Therefore, she must hold the sacred artifact, the Shard of Judgment, while I, having passed the bar examination, carry out the substantive part of the trial.”
A sacred artifact. The Shard of Judgment…
It sounded like some kind of magical item.
Speaking of magic, that reminded me of the giant floating scales I had seen earlier.
I wondered if they were related in any way.
“What do you mean by ‘bar examination’? Do you have a bar examination committee?” Tsukasa was quick to question Ileana on her statements.
“No, we don’t. The test was mainly created by using previous years’ exam questions and was administered through multiple-choice answer sheets.”
“So you can pass simply by memorizing answers. Do you have legal apprenticeships? How are the different legal professions selected?”