Chapter 26: Trial

“Lady Sharon, today’s tea is made from some high-quality leaves given to me by the dorm mother. Here is a slice of chocolate cake to accompany.”

“…she sure has changed, hasn’t she? She used to be so strict.”

We have made it back to the academy safely.

The souvenir I’d brought back had been very well received by the dorm mother, and I’d also given her a homemade special concoction that would give her so much energy she wouldn’t need sleep or food for a while. She probably wouldn’t leave her room for two, maybe three days.

Sei was there too, and he had on a thousand-yard stare after he witnessed my transaction.

Oh, my apologies, I almost forgot. Hello, everyone. It is me, Fleurety, friend and ally to all big girls.

“Perhaps the dorm mother has found true love, milady.”

“My! That is wonderful!”

Though I don’t think the woman is in any state of mind to be finding anything at the moment.

That aside, as her maid, I’m somewhat worried for milady. She has such a sweet tooth, and yet the snacks today are still mostly uneaten.

“Milady, do you prefer more calories in your sweets?”

“Don’t make it sound like I like calories! Really!” She says, pouting as she downs the second plate of chocolate cake.

I still think something’s wrong with her. She’s only just finished her second plate.

I set the third plate of chocolate cake on the table, my worries still unassuaged. As milady sets on it with her cutleries, she releases a faint sigh.

“So milady really wants more calories, then…”

“That’s not what I’m thinking about! …just, I’m still worried about the matter with lady Camilla. There’s also lady Chieri, too…”

Ah, I see. Since long ago, milady has always tried to be strong in the face of all who wanted to do her harm, but it still doesn’t change the fact that she has the heart of a little rabbit. Overt malice still hurts her.

“Milady needs not worry. Leave it all to me.”

We’re already back at the academy, but the two of them have still not been punished.

I could just go and deal with them myself, but I am only a maid to lady Sharon, while Camilla is the young lady of a dukedom. Doing anything to her would only bring trouble upon milady.

It’d be simple if I could kill her. Leaves no evidence that way, too. Then again, she’s probably one of those mysterious ‘immortals’ anyway, and it’d be a mess if I try to kill her and she doesn’t die.

High nobles really are quite troublesome. I can simply pump her full of drugs if worse comes to worst, but making her disappear as cleanly as I did with the former marquis madam would be a lot trickier.

Even so, this is not a problem I should inconvenience milady for.

I give her a smile. She keeps her gaze fixed on me, and she takes my hand.

“Letty… I’m worried for you. I’m happy you care so much for me, but I would hate it if you were to be hurt because of me.”

“Milady…”

I could barely believe it. Milady worries for me. She would care for such a monster as me.

Oh, how should I convey this feeling? How should I describe this wonderful moment?

“Milady, I’m thinking of selling a song to extol your virtues. Should I register for a copyright first?”

“How is that the result of our conversation?!”

As it is, I have no other way to express my gratitude other than adding some whipped cream on the plate of chocolate cake.

“Is there anything I can help with?” She asks in earnest.

As I wipe off the cream stuck on her lips, I consider the idea.

“Then, may I have your assistance with a small matter, milady?”

***

“Ahah… it’s working out well.”

In a room that the Church has set aside for Saints only, Chieri chuckled.

After re-establishing the barrier of the Church’s cathedral, she had been welcomed with open arms. For the first time in centuries, the Church had a new Saint.

Due to her upbringing as the daughter of a family operating a shrine, she was used to religious work, and there were occasions when she had to meet with the mayor as the shrine priestess as well. She knew how to present herself.

And so it wasn’t long before the brothers and sisters of the Church all believed Chieri to be the next coming of the Saint. This world only ever had one single, monotheistic religion. It had never known any sort of religious wars such as those in the modern world of Earth, where blood was only washed away with more blood. Chieri didn’t have much trouble bringing the naive believers under her thumb.

Her plans made use of a generic event that would only happen for a Saint player character.

In the original game, this was an incident that would be orchestrated by the villainess Camilla alone, after the player had raised their likability with an adult capture target that was in their twenties or older. With her charms, Camilla would get the academy’s students and staff wrapped in her little finger. She would order the attack, and it would fail after the heroine received an oracle from the Goddess. Camilla would then be cast out from the academy.

So Chieri had given nudges to Camilla, turning her against Sharon and her Partner, Kamishiro. But if nothing else was done, then there was a chance it would end in failure just like in the game. To that end, Chieri had also surreptitiously riled up the believers for a second assault.

Sharon was only a villainess, one who would receive no oracles. There was no escape for her. Chieri was sure her plan would succeed.

Chieri wasn’t going to kill the two of them. She didn’t have the nerve to do it in the first place. She was only going to get them confined by the men for a few days in order to cast doubt on their purity, and subsequently, their images in the eyes of the capture targets would be heavily damaged. That was all she wanted.

The in-game Church also received the same official request to have a member accompany the group into the dungeon. But the way it went in the game, nobody accepted the request, and the group should only have the imperial knight Andy with them. Chieri thought it wasteful that Andy would be a collateral victim, but as her targets were only Eric Marsaw the instructor and Elias the Holy Knight, she didn’t think it much of a problem.

To finish, she would only need to push all the blame on Camilla, and then she should be able to reach the next event — the Stampede — without any problems.

At the moment, although Chieri was still staying at the Church to create her alibi, she thought it was about time she should return to the academy.

In the game, Eric Marsaw would suspect his near-stalker, Camilla. The heroine who was the victim, Andy the knight, and Eric would come together to prosecute Camilla.

But since the victim this time was kidnapped, Chieri, with the oracle she had received, would replace her to prosecute Camilla instead. She would be accompanied by Eric and Elias, who replaced Andy. She was sure these members would be enough to get even a duke’s young lady to be pronounced guilty.

And even if she hadn’t actually gotten an oracle, Chieri was still the person the Church regarded as the next Saint. She believed her words held more than enough weight to convince everyone that the Goddess had spoken to her.

“Alright, gotta go talk to Elias quick.”

*

“Why is nobody here?!”

Elias almost never left the Church, yet now Chieri couldn’t find him anywhere.

When she returned to the academy, the students were making noises about how somebody had been attacked in the dungeon. It seemed the event was proceeding as she expected, but she found it strange that she couldn’t see Eric anywhere when he was supposed to be the one to reveal the culprit and prosecute them together with her.

Why was it that all of a sudden, she couldn’t find both the people necessary for the trial?

When she asked the other professors, strangely enough, they wouldn’t tell her. At the same time, she couldn’t be seen close to the culprit Camilla either. Chieri could do nothing but bite her lips in frustration.

“I don’t know anything! Wai-what are you doing, insolents?! My family is a dukedom, you hear me?!”

Hearing a shout, Chieri turned her head. She saw the villainess Camilla currently being taken towards the direction of the auditorium by several imperial knights.

The event’s already happening?! Chieri screamed in her head.

It was supposed to begin only with the presence of the heroine who had received an oracle. With the high degree of freedom the game offered, the event could also happen once enough evidence had been gathered, but in that case, who could have provided that evidence?

“L-let me in!” Chieri said. The imperial knights standing guard at the auditorium’s hall allowed her entrance.

But there was one thing she had missed in her haste. This incident was a scandal involving a member of a dukedom. The government would either do the trial behind closed doors, or if the scandal wasn’t overly serious, they would ignore it entirely.

In the game, the trial was done at the academy as an occasion of education for prince Joel, and so naturally, noble children wouldn’t be allowed in. Even a heroine who had the fortune of being the protagonist wouldn’t be let in, unless they were directly involved in the incident.

“Are you aware of your crime, Camilla?”

“Your highness Joel, this must be a mistake! What evidence is there?!”

Chieri recognized this scene in the game, albeit with some slight differences. In his capacity as the judge, prince Joel would then call for the witnesses, which would be the player’s capture target and the player character themself.

What’s going on?! I’m right here!

“May the witnesses enter.”

Seeing the witnesses, Chieri opened her eyes wide.

It was Sharon, the marquis’ young lady who was supposed to have been attacked and kidnapped the other day, and her Partner candidate, the girl who had called herself Fleurety in this world.

And not only that, Sharon was even clad in a gorgeous dress instead of her academy uniform, as well as being escorted by the imperial knight Andy.

Fleurety was still wearing her maid uniform, but beside her was the Holy Knight Elias. Even instructor Eric was with her, if with a stiffened grimace.

All in the court was silent, struck by the sight of such beautiful men and women. Even Chieri was lost for words.

In the auditorium, the academy’s staff and the knights were all captivated by the sight of Sharon in her lovely dress. Only a few could realize that it was not the young lady’s beauty but the oppressive smile of the maid standing unassumingly behind her, of the girl called Fleurety, that truly ruled this hall.

In the bizarre atmosphere of the chamber, Sharon was the picture of elegance and dignity, although a tinge of nervousness colored her face. She stepped forward and spoke, her hand pointing at the suspects.

“I, Sharon de Michel, accuse lady Camilla and lady Chieri of perpetrating the attack in the dungeon!”

A/N: The heroines’ plans are really quite messy.