Suddenly, I wondered what the hell he was talking about.
This guy was busy acting as club owner—how did he know something like this?
Negative thoughts came first, but Feltron’s story was quite tempting.
—I have some subordinates I planted around here too. Look.
Sure enough, where he pointed, there was a bat hanging from a tree.
Flap! Flap!
The bat soon flew over to me and opened its mouth wide.
A purple beam of light poured out, perfectly reenacting the situation at the time.
—Kyaaaaah!
Shzzzzzt!
Two carriages made of light ran side by side.
Then the coachman on the right tried to cut in aggressively.
From the way they seemed to be shouting at each other, it looked like there had been some prior dispute.
Of course. There’s no way someone would drive like a maniac for no reason.
Soon, the rear of the cutting-in carriage collided with the head of the horse behind it, and chaos erupted.
Of course there was no sound, but I could roughly glimpse how horrific the scene had been.
But I tilted my head.
“Wait, so who started it?”
—Huh?
“The resolution is too low for me to tell right away.”
The video created by Feltron’s subordinate was extremely blurry.
People’s faces weren’t properly visible, and the shape of the carriages was faint.
Not expecting such a question, Feltron drooped his wings dejectedly.
“Hey, I’m not criticizing you. You did really well.”
—Really?
“Having even this kind of footage is already a big help. We can figure out who caused the accident step by step.”
—Ooooh! Then it’s solved?
“Of course.”
Anyway, the carriages hadn’t gone into repairs yet, and the injured horse was still there.
That much could be confirmed quickly.
As I nodded, Feltron spoke with a smug expression.
—Grant me one wish.
“As long as it’s not something difficult?”
—Ah, it’s easy. Super simple!
“Then sure. I’ll hear you out. What is it?”
—Come play for our team!
For a moment, I was at a loss for words.
Of course, I was willing to participate in an event match or two.
But me playing as an official player for a team would cause an enormous balance break.
Wasn’t that why we decided from the beginning to exclude people with knight titles?
However, even though he must have sensed my reluctance, Feltron showed no sign of backing down.
“You know that’s not allowed, right?”
—No! Then you shouldn’t have let Trevor play either!
“He doesn’t have any disqualifying factors. He lost his knight title when he received the community service order.”
—He was still the Vice-Commander of the Western First Legion. Does it make sense to put a monster like him together with mercenaries? Please, do it!
Feltron lay flat on the ground and flailed his limbs wildly.
Just like a child throwing a tantrum.
Of course, I had zero intention of agreeing.
Rules were rules, after all.
I didn’t want to unnecessarily disrupt a league that was running smoothly.
But one sentence from Feltron pierced straight through my heart.
—You don’t have a knight title either, Captain! So it’s possible!
“Uh…….”
Honestly, he wasn’t wrong.
In the north, Abel Carius held no official position.
He was more like an irregular, asymmetric fighting force operating alone.
Since he was royalty to begin with, he probably never even felt the need for something like a knight title.
I nodded lightly.
“I’ll consider it if it’s a short-term contract.”
—Oh! For real?
“Instead, I’ll need to make more active use of your subordinates’ surveillance abilities.”
—Of course, that goes without saying.
Feltron was already a being subordinate to me.
In fact, borrowing this guy’s abilities was entirely possible.
But everyone knows how it goes.
If you make people work without any compensation, things won’t run properly.
What Feltron needs right now is to recruit outstanding players.
Just the fact that I was playing would draw new talent like clouds.
That must be why he was so happy even after taking on this annoying task.
“All right, then shall we go wrap up this troublesome trial?”
—Yes!
Feltron fluttered excitedly and climbed onto my shoulder.
But then Josef Padiya, who had been quietly watching the situation, tilted his head.
“Your Honor?”
“What is it?”
“There is one problem.”
“What?”
“How do we prove that this isn’t a fabricated video?”
“Oh!”
Honestly, this was an angle I hadn’t considered.
Neither I nor Feltron had any stake in this case.
The perpetrator hadn’t even been identified yet.
In fact, we didn’t even know which noble houses were involved.
It wasn’t an issue among ourselves, but the public might see it differently.
A suspicious person like Josef Padiya would definitely raise an objection.
Besides, Feltron is a half-demon.
Ordinary people didn’t know much about demigods or half-demons.
The defense attorney for the perpetrator in this case would investigate thoroughly.
They might even attack Feltron’s very existence.
Questioning how anyone could trust a mass of demonic authority.
It would probably be quite difficult to explain.
But if we continue the investigation, we can reach an excellent conclusion even without Feltron’s ability.
The three-dimensional video made of purple light would simply add conviction to my decision.
The explanation could be made using other evidence.
Then Feltron, who had been slightly deflated, suddenly jumped up.
—Ah, that’s right.
“What?”
—I can imitate the sounds that were made at the time.
“You should’ve said that earlier!”
Was it really necessary to hear it? It was just carriages crashing into each other.
“Stop talking and just do it.”
—Okay. One moment.
At Feltron’s gesture, the bat hanging from the tree flew over with flapping wings.
It grabbed my sleeve and hung upside down.
Up close, it looked slightly different from Feltron.
Well, this guy wasn’t a real bat anyway.
—All right, starting.
—Yes, boss.
—Ssssh! Hey, you…
Feltron took a deep breath, flew toward the right carriage, and shouted while flapping wildly.
—You fucking idiot! How the hell do you drive like that?! Today it’s you die, I live, you son of a bitch!
As I watched with a dumbfounded expression, the subordinate bat slowly approached me.
Then it bumped its wings together and said:
—Boom. Aaaargh. Crash, bang. That’s all.
This one definitely needed some acting lessons.
It sounded like it was reading from a textbook; it didn’t feel realistic at all.
Anyway, the cause of the accident had become clear.
The right carriage had engaged in retaliatory driving, so all we had to do was dig into that side.
I turned around with a meaningful smile.
“Let’s go. Time to hold the trial.”
As expected, the defense attorney for the perpetrator was armed with all sorts of lies and forced logic.
“Your Honor! While my client’s carriage was in front, they did not cause the accident. Viscount Manif’s carriage, which lost the speed contest, attempted a rear-end collision. Moreover, they had been spewing curses even before that.”
It was so absurd I almost let out a hollow laugh.
Since they have no way of knowing the actual situation, they’re spouting nonsense like this.
Furthermore, the perpetrator was Count Kuslov.
Given his notorious foul temper, there was a very high chance he had ordered violent behavior.
No matter how much of a high noble’s servant the coachman was, how could he dare do such a thing?
It was a claim that made no logical sense.
The Enpher Empire’s class system was extremely strict.
Let’s see how the prosecutor judged this.
Since it was such an unprecedented case, there were rumors that even the prosecution headquarters had been in chaos.
Well, when would they have ever dealt with something like this before?
Even I was experiencing medieval road rage for the first time.
“Ahem!”
As Judge Josef Padiya proceeded with the formalities, the prosecutor stepped forward with a cough.
Judging by the fact that this was our first meeting, he seemed to be newly appointed.
What was his name again? Preston Hegis?
He had a large, straightforward build for a prosecutor.
But his voice and statements were quite unexpected.
“Based on the circumstances, there was a high probability that Viscount Manif’s side was the perpetrator. They didn’t provide an active explanation and even attempted to settle first.”
“So you’re saying they acted that way because they had something to hide?”
“If they had nothing to be ashamed of, there would be no reason to come in with a low posture, right?”
The prosecutor asked as if it were obvious.
However, his voice was quite grating.
It sounded like a castrato or eunuch who had been castrated before puberty.
Why on earth did they hire someone like him?
There were probably various political circumstances involved.
Or the Emperor might have selected him for his own amusement.
He was the owner of a very unpredictable way of thinking, after all.
In any case, Prosecutor Preston Hegis’s investigation was completely wrong.
No, it was more likely that he had simply chosen the safe option.
Count Kuslov’s dirty personality is a well-known story.
On top of that, Viscount Manif had lowered his head on his own.
Considering status and power, the Count was an opponent he couldn’t even begin to challenge.
His decision probably also included the thought of why avoid shit just because it’s scary?
There would be nothing good about clashing with a fighting cock like Count Kuslov.
But why do I hate just letting the situation flow naturally?
If we ruled according to Prosecutor Hegis’s investigation, everyone would have an easy time.
Didn’t I gain nothing from this?
Not at all.
There would be no need to convince people, so the trial would become extremely easy.
Look at them right now.
Just by listening to the prosecutor, everyone was nodding mechanically.
“No wonder. I thought Viscount Manif’s side wasn’t explaining themselves at all.”
“If they did something wrong like the prosecutor said, it makes sense they’d take a humble attitude.”
“I came with some expectations, but this case is too easy.”
“Right. A bit disappointing. Duke Carius’s trials have always been dramatic until now.”
Watching this only intensified my displeasure.
It felt like Manif was wriggling helplessly in the grasp of Count Kuslov and Prosecutor Preston Hegis.
That won’t do.
Even if this was the outcome Viscount Manif wanted, it didn’t matter.
Since when did I hand down judgments while considering all these circumstances?
What mattered was accurately discovering the substantive truth.
Bang!
I lightly struck the wooden plaque with Hector Punisher.
“Order in the court.”
The noisy gallery fell silent in an instant.
I gestured lightly toward the court knight.
“Could you bring what I mentioned earlier?”
“Yes, Your Honor.”
Soon the back door of the courtroom opened, and a cart was brought in.
The people looked on in shock.
A dead horse had been loaded onto the cart.
I looked around at the audience and said,
“This is the horse that was pulling Viscount Manif’s carriage. Can you see how badly its head was injured? The wound was so severe that even its mane was torn out.”
“Your Honor, that has nothing to do with the point of the case!”
The defense attorney for Count Kuslov jumped up and shouted.
But I answered without even turning my head.
“Overruled.”
“What!”
“If you interfere any further, I may have to hold you in contempt of court.”
”
Now it was finally quiet.
When I gestured once more, this time a single carriage was brought into the courtroom.
Judging by the crest on its side and the damage to the rear, it clearly belonged to Count Kuslov.
With all the physical evidence here, I continued my argument immediately.
“Horses are timid creatures. Could such an animal possibly ram into something hard enough to shatter a carriage? It’s not even a warhorse, just a simple draft horse.”
Then the defense attorney for Count Kuslov countered.
“Isn’t it possible?”
His shameless face and voice.
It seemed this man felt not even the slightest twinge of guilt.
……Why are there so many people who need some proper education these days?