We stood beneath the eighteen charges, their text swimming in the air like a school of fish.
The accused, Gilvert Trinity, swung his arms.
The ends of the sacred artifact whipped at an almost imperceptible speed.
Instantly, I knew I needed to protect the people around me first and foremost. I copied a window and used it as defense against the cutting tip of the whip. But he was aiming for something else.
The whip pulverized the rubble, kicking up a cloud of dust and obscuring everyone’s vision.
Once the dust cleared, I saw the high priest using his whip to deftly navigate from building to building.
He looked like Sp*der-Man or something out of Attack on T*tan… It was surreal to watch.
The only one who tried chasing him was Shiro.
While checking on everyone at the site of the collapse, I telepathically reached out to Shiro.
<<Master! The high priest…has entered the church…!>>
Shiro sounded out of breath and tinged with pain.
<<Shiro! Where are you right now?>>
<<Please give me some time…to recover. Go ahead without me…to Lyra and Alba…>>
Click. Our connection was cut.
“Mr. Akuto. I see you learned to use telepathy with Shiro,” the princess said. She was eyeing me with concern.
“Shiro will be all right,” I told her. “She loves you, and she’s been helping us find the truth all so she can bring things back to the way they were before. For you. I wouldn’t be here if not for her.”
“I…want to make up with her,” she said, her face downcast. “I can’t believe such evil was lurking right next to the royal palace. I have to take responsibility somehow…”
Tears came to the fourteen-year-old girl’s face as she stared at my feet.
There, the three church members whom the high priest had sucked dry of their mana were still lying on the ground.
As expected, they had had the Cleansing Prayer imprinted onto the backs of their heads.
I had only just taken off their caps and hoods to reverse the spell. They were still weak.
In the daylight, these three members were proof of the high priest’s evil nature to all gathered here for the trial.
“How…can I ever apologize—?”
“There’s nothing for you to apologize for, Princess. The high priest will be punished for his own crimes.”
As I said this, I felt my determination solidify within me. We absolutely could not let him get away with this.
“I can’t believe we let him escape during the trial.” Next to me, Tsukasa was burning with anger. “Akky. I can’t rest until we catch him.”
Just then I heard approaching horse hooves.
“Neeeeigh!”
“Oh, it’s you! You came here for us?”
The pegasus that had previously brought us back and forth from the Hero’s Village had stopped before us.
I was sure Shiro had prepared this for us. It was pulling a carriage behind it.
“Well, I’m not one to look a gift horse in the mouth! Let’s go, Akky! Princess, you wait here with the others.”
Tsukasa jumped into the carriage. The pegasus, which only let those who were pure ride it—aka virgins—was whinnying happily.
So far so good, I guess?
“All right, let’s head to the church headquarters!” I said as I got into the carriage. This wasn’t the time to be concerned about stuff like that anyway.
I grabbed the reins. Time to put that Horse Riding skill to use.
The pegasus leaped into the sky and hoisted the carriage aloft.
We flew low between Chiyodaku’s buildings as we headed to the west.
There are scorch marks around this area.
Around a certain building, I saw burn marks like something explosive had scattered there.
Shiro had told me over telepathy that Laman, the Hero of the Holy Flame, had shown up for support.
“Heeey! Down here!”
There he was. Tall and slender, seventy years old. The hero who had defeated the Demon King half a century ago.
“Laman!” I lowered the pegasus carriage out of the sky. “You came all the way from the Hero’s Village?”
“I sensed that you were in danger, so I hastened here in order to protect my new king.”
Saying this, Laman knelt into an exaggerated bow.
“It’s been a while, Laman the Hero. Allow me to remind you that there are no kings in the courtroom.”
“Miss Judge, I have burned your ruling of not guilty into my heart. I shan’t forget it even for a moment.”
The old man’s golden irises glimmered as he twisted a corner of his mouth into a smirk.
“That young punk of a high priest. I thought he had been behaving well ever since that eccentric father of his died, but it turns out he isn’t worthy to wield the power of an artifact after all.”
“Uh, what? What do you mean?” said Tsukasa.
“In peaceful times such as these, it’s unusual for the atmosphere’s mana to be so restless. It indicates that someone is misusing one of the sacred artifacts. I had sensed his movements in advance and was fixing to burn him to a crisp, but…”
Tsukasa had a blank expression. But I thought I got the gist of what Laman was saying.
“We appreciate your backup. But hold off on the whole burning to a crisp thing for now. We still have a trial to finish.”
“If you say so, Sir Akuto, then I shall abide.”
“Come with us on the carriage.”
The old hero nodded. “Yes, sir! I already feel my blood burning with the heat of battle—up we go!”
“Huh? He’s coming with us?”
“I think our chances will be better if we have him with us, don’t you think?”
The high priest had told us to come just the two of us, but we were clearly outmatched.
“I owe my life to you two. An old man like me is prepared to give up my life for your cause. You needn’t show me any special consideration.”
“All right. I understand. In that case, let’s go.”
The old man clad in worn-out leather armor got into the carriage.
I looked back from the driver’s seat and asked, “Laman, you know a lot about the high priests, don’t you?”
I wanted to hear more about the circumstances surrounding the man.
“Aye. At least about the previous generation.”
Laman had a faraway look in his eye as he began to tell his story.
“The previous generation’s high priest was a dull fellow who was always going on about how the church was right, when in the end he really was just stuck thinking that he was right. He assigned ranks to all non-human races and looked down on them. And whenever someone opposed him, he lost his temper. He would ridicule my wife and Elma. The way we defeated the Demon King without relying on the Church’s power was like spitting right in his face. Gah-ha-ha!”
Laman the Hero laughed heartily.
Even though his story was a lot like trash talk, after hearing it I felt like I was beginning to understand more and more.
“But I don’t know much about his son, Gilvert. I’d guess they’re not too different.”
We arrived.
I stopped the pegasus carriage on the north side of the royal palace, which faced the church headquarters. Our surroundings were dead silent.
The state of the cathedral that Shiro had described to me before was unchanged. The golden X symbol was glittering on top of the roof. The blood-soaked whips. We couldn’t leave things like this.
“Let’s go!”
And so we stormed into the cathedral.