Chapter 200 - Episode Twenty-Five - Devil's Trial (4)
At midday the next day, I was taken out to the plaza in front of the south church building.
I was shackled and my neck, chest, abdomen, and legs were tied to a wooden board with ropes.
As expected, it was not a good feeling.
Many people had already gathered there.
The church members and villagers are angry, confused, and anxious.
But strangely enough, no matter how much I look for her, Mea is nowhere to be found.
“…………”
The thought of what Mea might have done to Chloe is bothering me.
I should have avoided leaving Mea alone.
She might be trapped somewhere.
Once this farce was over and I had Chloe pinned down, I’d have to make her throw it up quickly.
And speaking of missing, there’s no sign of Nelgliffe.
He needs to get some definitive proof, so I wonder if he’s planning to hide until the scene is more solidified.
Eventually, Chloe stood in front of me and began facilitating the devil’s trial.
“Then we will now conduct the devil’s trial of Abel Belek. This Abel Belek is suspected of stealing Liveglass, which is essential for the healing of the villagers, revealing the production method of Liveglass, which is a secret of the Church, setting fire to the church hall and damaging the Liveglass, and attacking and injuring our High Priest.”
As Chloe mentioned my suspicions, the patternless Levi followers in the front row began to accuse me loudly and verbally.
“Silence! Silence! This Devil’s trial is sacred, with torchlight! Understand deeply that you are in the presence of Levi-sama!”
Chloe yells at them, and the followers go quiet.
There is a pause of a few seconds, and then Chloe begins to speak again.
“Also, since there was an eyewitness report that Abel Belek used chantless sorcery, or magic, at that time, I have prepared this place to determine the truth. The torch!”
Chloe says, and a man holding a large iron rod comes toward us from the other side of the crowd.
The end of the iron rod is trumpet-shaped, and a blue flame is lit on the top of it.
The iron rod was carved with detailed techniques, giving it a majestic atmosphere.
A Torch is …… In short, a torchlight.
That flickering …… no matter how you look at it, that’s a normal flame that is magically reflected and produced by changing the color of the light
I’ve made that one too.
It seems to be different from the torch, but what did she prepare it for?
“Chloe-sama, I have the torch for you.”
“What?”
I couldn’t help but shout out.
“…… That, that’s a normal flame, isn’t it? Is it a decoration or something?”
It was quiet for a moment, and then the followers in the front row started cursing me again, saying.
“You can’t come in here and tell us you’re going to get away with that! A devil that doesn’t know how to give up!”
“Levi-sama is watching us! She wouldn’t make a move like that! That’s enough of you with insulting of Chloe-sama!”
Chloe thumps the tail of her large staff to the ground.
“Silence!”
Once again, the farce of Chloe’s admonition came in and the place was settled as if nothing had happened.
I see, I thought it was pretty good, but I guess it’s just as they plan.
When I think about it, they played us a lot with cheap tricks.
These guys should probably change their name from Levi Church to Levi’s Theater Company.
Were they going to push through with that kind of fire?
Well, now all is well if Nelgliffe sashays out and files a motion to stop the devil’s trial and collect the fake torch, all is well.
It’s impressive that he drove Nelgliffe unconscious and drove me to the point where I had to undergo a devil’s trial, but that’s why Nelgliffe was suspicious of me and exposed my true identity at the devil’s trial, I was consumed by a conniving plan.
As expected, Nelgliffe should appear by now.
There’s no point in pulling it off any longer.
Chloe placed the large staff at her feet and received the false torch from the big man.
“Levi-sama, the God of water and our Creator. With your mind’s eye, expose the evil one!”
She stood in front of me, held the torch high, and uttered that.
Nelgliffe is still not coming.
I look around frantically in the distance, but I don’t see Nelgliffe at all.
And no sign of Kamla or Sophia either.
Thi-, this is not good.
If Nelgliffe doesn’t come, we’ll have to use brute force to get out of here.
As a result, we were able to break the shackles of the Arogua Stone, but if we escaped by brute force, it would be very difficult to get rid of the Levi followers from Palgas Village.
Did something happen to Nelgliffe again?
“Oh ……”
From a distance, I could see Mea running towards me, gasping for breath.
“I, I made it! Please stop! Please stop!”
She pushes forward, scrambling through people, and leaps out in front of the crowd.
Naturally, there is a commotion from the crowd.
Mea looks like she’s run quite a bit so far, and her face is red.
“Abel …… It was there. That thing was there! Mea found it! Oh, b-, but…… it’s hard to say, but maybe it’s not Mea’s fault, or maybe it is ……”
“Tha-, that thing ……?”
I don’t have any idea what you call that thing.
As I twisted my head, Chloe narrowed her eyes and glared at Mea.
“What do you take the sacred devil’s trial for! Leave now!”
Mea took a sheet of crumpled, slightly damp paper from her pocket and thrust it at Chloe.
“How’s that!”
“Wha-, whawha-, wha-……”
Chloe’s eyes widened and she backed away.
Her face was tense and her voice was trembling.
Indeed, I recognized that piece of paper, too.
“Here’s how to make a Livegrass, which Abel received from Nelgliffe-san via Kamla-san! Nelgliffe-san gave this to Abel to help Village Chief Heil! This would explain why Abel had a Livegrass, and why Nelgliffe-san was teaching him how to make it! As an added bonus, you’ll see that there’s no reason to attack Nelgliffe-san!”
It’s a recipe for Livegrass.
It’s the one I lost when I tried to dispose of it appropriately at the right time after I staved off the paper’s self-destruction out of curiosity.
“Tha-, that’s great! Well done, Mea!”
“Ehehehe…… Mea haven’t had a compliment from Abel in a long time.”
I was going to get rid of the Livegrass recipe because it could be a drag on Nelgliffe, but it’s a different story now.
The fact that the disadvantage of me leaving here and now is far greater than the risk of Nelgliffe’s position in the church being reduced should be the same from Nelgliffe’s point of view.
If he asks me later, he’ll laugh it off and forgive me.
I need to get over this place for sure and crush Chloe.
“‘H, hey, what’s going on here!”
“What’s the paper all about?”
Chloe was distraught, and the atmosphere of the place had completely changed.
“Tha-, that’s bullsh*t! I’ve never seen a piece of paper like this before! I have no idea what you’re trying to say!”
Chloe grabs onto Mea.
Mea backed away in a hurry, but Chloe was quicker than that for a moment.
Brilliantly, she plucked the edge of the recipe and pulled with great vigor.
“Ah!”
The recipe is torn to shreds and pieces of paper are blown apart by the wind.
The church members begin to pick up the pieces of paper first.
“This is a piece of paper that the upper echelons of our church use for highly confidential communications: ……”
“…… Wasn’t this array letter habit just in the Riveras Nation?”
“No, I’m not a sorcerer, so I can’t say……”
“Why would Lady Chloe not recognize this ……? The contents are not immediately apparent in fragments, but they are definitely only private property within the Levi Church……”
Chloe’s face had turned white beyond bright blue.
It was like being a Marren.
Her shoulders narrowed and strongly kneeled at the spot.
“Come on, if you can explain it, I’ll have you explain it to me!”
“Hi, hi, hi, hi. ……”
…… When I questioned her, Chloe caused her to hyperventilate.
Tears welled up in her eyes.
I’m not sure if Chloe is a noir tribe or an oddly young apparent age, and I feel indescribably guilty for humiliating and abusing a child in front of so many people.
I’m not so sure about that, though, because I was almost killed.
“……Le- let’s get on with it and get me released!”
“Quiet.”
His voice wasn’t as taut as Chloe’s, but his low voice often echoed throughout the square.
The crowd quickly make way from side to side, and Nelogliffe walked towards us.
“Nelgliffe-sama!”
“You’ve come to your senses!”
Just the fact that he appeared brought cheers from all over the place. He is as popular as ever.
I want to say that was it really necessary to earn points for the faction war?
“Nelgliffe-san! It’s a little late to come …… We’ve managed to get to ……”
I sigh and laugh at Nelgliffe as I sigh.
Nelgliffe picked up the piece of paper and threw it to the ground and stomped on it.
“What ……?”
“I taught Master Abel about it……? Hmmm, I don’t remember this, but well, that’s not the point. The torch makes things clearer in black and white, so we can discuss everything afterwards. Don’t you think so, Chloe?”
Nelgliffe narrowed his eyes kindly and said this to Chloe.
“Ne, Nelgliffe, -san.?”
When I called his name, he looked at me and smiled, then turned to the noisy crowd.
“Silence. We are in the presence of Levi-sama. Without so much noise, everything will be revealed before his mind’s eye. The pursuit of Chloe can be done afterwards. The Devil’s Trial is sacred, so there is no reason to make Levi-sama wait for nothing.”
A single voice from Nelgliffe caused the whole area to go quiet.
Then it finally dawned on me.
From the first time we met …… no, before we met, from the first time I got tangled up with the out-of-character Levi Church, until this moment, that I’ve been dancing on the hand of this guy from the start.
“Well, let’s get the devil’s trials back on track, shall we?”