CH 164.1

T/N: The size of this chapter is around 2.5x of normal one, so we have splitted it into 3 parts.

…

“Um… I apologize but I don’t understand. What exactly happened that Mazell ended up in the court?”

To my question, the High Priest bowed his head again.

“I am Blassius Isaac Leppe. It is an honor to meet you, Viscount. I have heard about your accomplishments in Finnoi.” (Blassius)

“I thank you for your kind greeting. I am Welner von Zeavert. Your Grace, please speak comfortably.”

I see. He used polite speech when speaking to me, who was a noble. That means his earlier apology that used a casual speech was directed to Lily, not me.

By the way, although Your Grace or His Grace were used to address priests with the rank of High Priest or Supreme Priest in this world, it was only used in a really formal occasion. That was the church’s wish, so that ‘people will feel close to us’.

“May I ask for the explanation of how and why Mazell ended up in the court?” (Welner)

“Hm…do you want to start from the overview of the event, or with the details?” (Seyfart)

“Please start with the overview of the event.” (Welner)

Wait, since the Grand Duke asked me that kind of question, did that mean the details were going to be pretty complicated?

“Well, people of Delitzdam blew a flute and some people of our kingdom danced to it but everything ended up leaking to the public, so we’re currently discussing what to do.” (Seyfart)

Delitzdam. I remember it was a kingdom east of Triot. Did that mean…

“Is it related to Triot?” (Welner)

“Yes. I’m not trying to blame you or anything, but Delitzdam’s greed for Triot’s territory basically led to this event.” (Seyfart)

“Is it something like, they wanted the territory of Triot but they are too afraid to move their army in the current situation?”

Delitzdam heard the news of Gezarius’s death, so they wanted to take over Triot now that Gezarius was gone. But even if Gezarius was already dead, there were still many demons roaming around in their own kingdom. Thus, they judged that it was too dangerous for them to send an army and leave their territory defenseless.

“They want to send a large army so that they can conquer Triot, but doing that will leave their country defenseless, thus, they came up with a scheme to keep the Hero in their country.” (Seyfart)

“And they choose to do that by making him a defendant?” (Welner)

“Delitzdam likely thought that even if the Hero stayed in their country as a defendant for a false charge, if he heard that the people of their country are in trouble because of the demons, the hero will lend them a help.”

There’s a high chance that guy would do that.

In short, Delitzdam was planning to keep Mazell in their country for a long time by putting a false charge against Mazell, then stretching the trial until they finished conquering Triot.

“I understand why Delitzdam does that.” (Welner)

“The accusation was raised at the temple. The accuser said that Mazell-dono has shown an illicit behavior toward Laura-sama. The trial of the temple can be held in any temple, so if we let the situation continue like this, the trial will most likely be held in a temple located at Delitzdam, since the defendant is there.”

This time, it was High Priest Leppe that spoke. Wait, illicit behavior? 

“The accusation includes things like needlessly touching Laura-sama or sleeping with Laura-sama under one roof despite the two being unmarried.” (Leppe)

“Sleeping under one roof? Isn’t that a given since they were traveling together?” (Welner)

“I thought that too, but that accusation was accepted by the temple.” (Leppe)

An accusation would only be accepted when the defendant knew and accepted that he was being accused, so how did the accusation toward Mazell pass? After the High Priest told me the reason… I got pissed.

So the noble that accused Mazell claimed that ‘even though he is a hero, he’s a commoner as such he can’t read so I sent a representative to him that will explain the accusation toward him, and he agreed to go to the court.’ and the noble even prepared a fake witness that claimed to have seen the noble’s representative explaining things to Mazell. Bullshit. That guy got the top grade in the academy.

“Which noble said something like that?” (Welner)

“My apologies but can we talk about that later? Let me first finish the explanation about the accusation.”

“…I understand.”

“The document, which said Mazell-dono had received the explanation regarding his accusation in Delitzdam, was then sent to the Bain Kingdom. High Priest Malavoi is in charge of the entire procedure.”

“And who is this High Priest Malavoi?”

This accusation that used a fake witness and a fake claim, which would be easy to verify, was easily accepted. That means, High Priest Malavoi was in cahoot with the noble that sent the accusation.

“High Priest Malavoi is the relative of the noble from Bain Kingdom that sent the accusation toward Mazell-dono. There are also some… gifts involved.”

So the noble used his connection, huh. The High Priest in charge of the Court was rotated every four weeks. The noble must have waited until it was High Priest Malavoi’s turn to be in charge of the court before making his move.