“Witness, Baron Louis Vinn Berg,” Inquisitor Helena said in a low voice, her gaze fixed on me. “You claim to know of a connection between Cardinal Key and the Demonkin. Please present your conclusive evidence.”
I glanced at her before closing my eyes.
The evidence is more than enough.
My first card to play was Sir Philip.
Did they think I had saved his life for no reason? His testimony alone would be enough to prove that Cardinal Key had at least attempted to assassinate the Pope.
“Baron Louis?”
As I stood with my eyes closed, Helena prompted me again.
Only then did I open my eyes and rise from my seat. “Yes, I am Baron Louis Vinn Berg.”
“Answer the question. Do you truly have evidence that Cardinal Key conspired with the Demonkin?”
“I do. However, before I present it, I wish to call another witness.”
My gaze shifted to Sir Philip, who was standing to one side. He looked at me with reverent eyes before clasping his hands as if in prayer.
“...I will follow your command.”
He acted this way before I had even spoken a word. It seemed he had truly decided to revere me as the Saint.
“Sir Philip? Are you saying you will testify first?”
“Yes, Inquisitor.” Philip rose from his seat and bowed his head.
From his seat, Cardinal Key’s lips twisted into a venomous smile. It seemed he had planned to manipulate Philip as well. Or perhaps he believed he already had.
But he was only deluding himself.
The look in Sir Philip’s eyes as he watched me was far too devout for that.
“I am Philip, a Templar. Under the grace of the Goddess, I swear to speak only the truth before this inquisition.”
“Very well. Sir Philip, what is your claim regarding this case?”
“It concerns…” Sir Philip’s eyes slid toward Cardinal Key. “...the sinner standing over there.”
“The sinner, you say?”
Helena’s eyes sharpened.
Meanwhile, Cardinal Key’s expression began to shift, as if things were not going according to his plan.
Not that it mattered to me.
Sir Philip continued, his tone still measured. “That sinner dared to deceive the Templars—the knightly order of the Goddess—in an attempt to frame the Saint. He then commanded me to assassinate His Holiness, the current Pope.”
“W-wait a moment.”
Cardinal Key waved his hands in a flustered gesture, but the trial was far from over.
No. If anything, it began to accelerate.
“Let the next witness approach.”
As Sir Philip’s testimony concluded, one of the common citizens stepped forward.
What was his name again? He was a man I’d personally recruited after seeing him in a brawl at a tavern.
He’d had the woman he loved stolen from him, or so the story went.
The incident had fostered a deep grudge against Cardinal Key, and the man had promised to reveal information he’d gathered during his time as a mercenary.
All I had done was create the opportunity for him to speak.
With a few embellishments, of course.
“I can’t count how many times that man hired us to kill other cardinals. We bloodied our hands, and sometimes, he’d order us to go into the Demonic Realm and bring something back.”
The man fumbled in his pockets before pulling something out and handing it to Helena.
A small medicine pouch.
Helena took it and studied it intently. “What is this?”
“I’m just an ignorant man, so I can’t say for sure, but that Demonkin worshiper over there is the one who ordered me to bring it from the Demonic Realm!” the man shouted, his voice booming.
The pouch he held was one I had given him. It contained an agent that awakened demonic energy, made from the corpse of a Demonkin.
Naturally, Cardinal Key had never ordered him to procure such a thing. He was probably hearing about this pouch for the very first time.
He must feel wronged.
Yes, terribly wronged. The man was a villain, true, but he had no actual connection to the Demonkin.
But that was none of my concern.
Whether he was a theologian or a Demonkin worshiper, the fact remained that he had threatened my people and tried to have me killed.
Time to end this.
I glanced over at Cardinal Key. Though his body was bound, he was shouting, desperate to proclaim his innocence.
“It’s a lie! I’ve never seen that thing before in my life! You! How dare you lie in this sacred place!”
“Shut up! Is it right for a cardinal to assault the women of the town and order the murder of other theologians?”
“You baaaastard!”
The hall erupted into chaos.
It was none other than Inquisitor Helena who restored order.
“Silence! Do you intend to raise such a clamor in the Goddess’s sanctuary?”
Both men fell silent.
In that moment, she turned her head to face Cardinal Key. “Is everything that has been said so far the truth?”
Her eyes were cold.
Helena would have heard the rumors. Some of what the mercenary had just said would have been familiar to her, which only made Cardinal Key’s denials seem less credible.
Lies are always best hidden within the truth.
In any case, Cardinal Key was out of options. His only remaining path was…
“W-wait! I also request a witness! I have a witness who can prove my innocence!”
Right. His only move was to copy my own.
I turned my head toward the man Cardinal Key was pointing at.
A man with pale skin. He had a familiar face, and he was slowly walking forward.
…A knight from House Artezia?
I wasn’t certain, but I had definitely seen that face a few times before my regression. He was one of Hera’s dogs, though I couldn’t recall his name.
“Greetings. I am a believer who, like the witness before me, comes from a mercenary background. I am a faithful servant of the Goddess.”
“…Only witnesses agreed upon in advance may take the stand. A witness brought in so suddenly cannot participate in this trial,” Helena said.
“Yes, I am aware. However, as this is not only an inquisition but also a trial that will determine the fate of the continent, I humbly ask for a special exception,” Cardinal Key pleaded.
Helena paused, then glanced at me, her eyes seeming to ask if I would accept this development.
Frankly, it was unusual for her to act this way.
This was a religious inquisition, and a heresy trial related to the Demonkin at that. If this were a trial where two sides fought over their own interests, it might be different.
But a heresy trial wasn’t about a plaintiff and a defendant; there was only the accused and the witnesses.
There was only one reason for the Inquisitor’s deference.
The Saint.
And the Halo.
Helena had surely heard the news that I had manifested a halo. She hadn’t seen it herself, so she wasn’t completely convinced, but it was clear she was looking upon me with a degree of favor.
Moreover, with the Pope himself on my side, she was inclined to rule in my favor whenever possible. With the Cardinal making such a desperate move, she was now looking to me for my reaction.
It makes no difference to me.
I laughed inside and nodded.
As soon as my assent was given, Helena let out a sigh of relief and spoke. “…Then, as a special exception for this one time, I will permit the witness to participate.”
“Thank you, Your Honor,” the Artezia knight said with a bow. The look he shot my way suggested he was eager to mock me.
What a fool.
A faint smile touched my lips.
Whether this man testified or not was irrelevant. No, to be more precise, it was for the best. I had been dragging this out precisely to uproot the entire weed, not just the stem.
I expected someone tied to the Second Prince to show up.
My original plan had been to wipe out the aristocrat faction in one fell swoop, but a far better card had just been dealt. A perfect card to play for my revenge against House Artezia.
My eyes curved into crescents as I watched the knight. Whether he knew what was in my mind or not, he continued to smile as he began to point a finger at me.
“The agent that the mercenary brought is indeed made from the body of a Demonkin. I’m told that ingesting it allows one to wield demonic energy, the power of their kind.”
His voice was calm, almost hypnotic, as it resonated through the hall.
“But does something not seem strange? Demonic energy. Until now, has there not been only one human in history capable of wielding it?”
He looked at me, his meaning clear. He was suggesting I had orchestrated everything.
“It just so happens that the one who wields demonic energy is being hailed as a saint, and a medicine related to that same energy appears in the hands of a mercenary he brought forward… Anyone can see how suspicious these circumstances are.”
“…Continue,” Helena said.
“Furthermore, how do I know this medicine is made from a Demonkin’s body? Because we had an internal informant.”
He pointed to one of the Templars and continued.
“Templar Jun. He saw it with his own eyes. He witnessed Baron Louis hand that very pouch to the mercenary.”
His expression was triumphant. He already looked at me with a sneer, as if he had won.
Truly… I was so very grateful.
I couldn’t hide the smile that burst onto my lips. To think he was so proud of himself, completely oblivious to the fact that he was being used.
How could I not laugh?
How would he know that I had passed the pouch to the mercenary? And how would he know it was an object connected to the Demonkin?
It was all on purpose.
I showed him everything, told him everything, on purpose.
I offered him my neck, making it easy for him to bite.
Everything has gone according to plan.
All the pieces of the puzzle had finally fallen into place. Now, all that remained was the finale.
I turned to the people gathered in the hall and spoke in a low voice.
“So, what you’re saying, witness, is that I am the true culprit behind this entire affair.”
“You could say that.”
“In that case, let me ask just one thing. Cardinal Key, are you truly certain you know nothing of this item?”
“Haven’t I already told you I know nothing of it?”
“I see.”
A grin stretched across my face.
I infused Aura into my Stigmata. At the same time, I maneuvered a minuscule thread of Aura, using it to tear open the medicine pouch I had planted on Key.
A faint, barely audible tearing sound filled the air.
The halo floating above my head suddenly flared, bathing the entire chamber in brilliant light.
The power that repels all evil.
The Halo.
Faced with its power, the clerics began to weep and pray.
And only one man—Cardinal Key Dupron—screamed and collapsed to the floor.
“Did you really say you knew nothing?” I asked, maintaining the halo as it blazed above me.
For the record, the drug I had slipped onto Cardinal Key was a type of awakening agent activated by contact with the skin.
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