"Judgeman, please begin." Higuruma told the large shikigami behind him to start the trial.
"Puck, is that thing also a spirit?" Emilia pointed at Judgeman, asking Puck, since he always seemed to have a great deal of knowledge on everything.
"No, it might just be a summoned beast that is contracted to work in tandem within the rules set by this high-level barrier technique. For someone so young, that man is quite impressive. I wonder what he sacrificed to achieve this." Puck answered calmly, already having experienced the 'no violence' rule when he realised he couldn't attack the stunned Elsa.
"Elsa Granhiert stands accused of kidnapping and coercing Meili Portroute, on the 14th of Marshba, 9 years ago." Judgeman spoke in her eerily neutral tone.
Hearing this, Elsa's composure broke for a moment, a tinge of fear and anger entering her voice as she tried to remain calm, "How do you know that?"
"Judgeman knows every detail of every person in the domain. But don't worry, that information is not shared with me." Higuruma explained, prompting Elsa to sigh in relief. She knew what contractual vows were, and so there was no way he could be lying.
"Your verdict will be decided based solely on the arguments we present. But the exception is this piece of evidence." He held up an envelope. "This is the evidence given to me by Judgeman. It will be on you to decide whether this is sufficient evidence to confirm your charge."
'Charge? Judgeman? That ugly thing also has those scales of justice. Is this supposed to be just a court trial!?' Subaru wondered in his mind, clearly recognising these features.
Then he took a close look at the badge on Higuruma's suit, recognising it to be the symbol of a defence attorney. 'This confirms it! He looks Japanese as well, so he must have also been transmigrated from Earth, but unlike me, he got a cool power...'
"Both of us get only one statement. After your rebuttal, I will counter you using this evidence. Then, Judgeman will announce its verdict using the Six Codes of law." Higuruma set down the envelope and stood in silence, waiting for Elsa to speak.
'I have never heard of those codes in my life...' Elsa frowned, glancing at the others on the side.
Emilia looked utterly clueless on the term as well, since her spirit also had no idea what it was. Subaru, though, looked like he recognised exactly what it was.
'The kid seems to know what it means. But, I doubt the rules allow me to take help from outsiders.' Elsa concluded. 'But let's see what happens if I ask him directly.'
"What happens if I'm pronounced guilty?" Elsa asked Higuruma, curious to see if she would get extra details.
"Unfortunately, I'm not obligated to answer that question. However, I will tell you this..." Higuruma held up three fingers as he explained.
"You have three options: Confession, Silence or Denial. Your denial can also include false statements if it helps your position." He finished, having told everything he was required to.
"This technique of yours has a considerable flaw if it allows me to lie~" Elsa teased, her confidence seemingly back. Though she was smart enough to know that lying alone wouldn't save her from this.
'That is a problem... Elsa could just make the argument that she was also coerced into doing this by Capella, and subsequently, Meili too. Let's just hope that the envelope contains some juicy evidence to make him win.' Luke concluded in his mind.
"WHAT KIND OF TECHNIQUE IS THAT!? She's going to win easily like this!" Subaru tried shouting to Higuruma, though he didn't seem to notice.
"Don't tire yourself. It seems like we, as the spectators, can't interfere in the trial, and so, they can't hear us." Luke patted Subaru's shoulder and tried to calm his nervers.
"Listen to him, Subaru. A technique as binding as this would never be so overwhelmingly advantageous towards the user. But, I'm sure Higuruma has a plan." Puck gave him a thumbs-up from Emilia's shoulder.
Emilia herself had been focusing on the trial diligently, eager to see if she could learn some extra knowledge and, most importantly, how to argue and defend against accusations.
"Why wouldn't you be able to lie? If everyone spoke the truth all the time, trials wouldn't need to exist." Higuruma responded to Elsa, his words deep but true. Even though he had let go of his nihilistic mindset, this truth would forever be a part of his soul.
"..." Elsa said nothing, now preparing to think of an argument in her mind.
'The best option is undoubtedly denial. I can also reinforce my statement with small lies as well. But the biggest problem is clearly in front of me.' Elsa looked at the envelope in front of Higuruma.
'I still remember that day clearly. Mother had sent me on a mission to retrieve a child in a forest. Meili was so small that she couldn't even speak, but she was still so adorable~ However, she controlled mabeasts easily, making her an unusual child, not to be treated like others.'
Elsa glanced at Higuruma, curious to see if he was under any stress. But of course, he wasn't.
"If you're wondering, there's no guarantee that this evidence will guarantee my victory." He stated out loud, almost confidently.
'If I say that I myself was coerced by Mother to bring Meili in, that would be fully true. But, there might be some stipulations that force me to use the real name of any individuals I mention, meaning Mother would absolutely punish me if I revealed her identity. And I fear Mother a lot more than you, so not that option.'
'The next option is if I say that Meili was a dangerous individual and I was doing a public service by bringing her in. Since it was 9 years ago, I can lie by saying that I wasn't an assassin at the time. If his words about the evidence are true, then he shouldn't be able to refute both my lie and the statement about Meili at the same time.'
"Hurry up, Judgeman is not the most patient individual." Higuruma urged her to speed up, earning a silent nod from the spectators at the side.
'Alright, this is my best option.' Elsa finalised her decision and smiled, ready to present her argument.
"I did take Meili Portroute from her place of dwelling by force, but it was for the greater good as she had the ability to control mabeasts and was a threat to public safety. That was nine years ago, and my profession was different to what it is today, so it was not for selfish reasons." Elsa finished her statement, satisfied.
"Is that how you're supposed to defend yourself against accusations? If so, I'm going to start using this against those people in the future." Emilia shook Puck over and over in contained excitement.
"Yeah, yeah, go get them Lia~" Puck lazily cheered for her, but obviously happy for her too.
'That girl is pretty good at lying though... I wonder how that man is going to flip this over.' He thought over in his mind, actually interested in this whole situation.
"My turn, then." Higuruma slowly opened the envelope, pulling out a note that had words written on it.
"This note is a documented report which states that Elsa Granhiert was to covertly capture a high-value child living in the woods and recruit her." Higuruma spoke, his expression almost scary.
"Since she just admitted to taking Meili, this report makes it clear that her excuse of public safety and a different profession is not worth believing. No public organisation would covertly capture a child and recruit them."
"One can also determine that since Meili had been critically underage, she wouldn't have the mental capacity to comprehend what violent and unsafe doctrines would be imposed on her." Higuruma finished his counterstatement.
"...That wasn't fair~ I was powerless to resist~" Elsa said jokingly, though inside, she was bitter.
'DAMN IT! I should've expected something like that from happening and talked as little as possible during my statement...' Elsa grimaced in her mind.
"HE ACTUALLY WON! YOUR FRIEND IS MUCH SMARTER THAN HE LOOKS!" Subaru kept shaking Luke's body out of hype, not relief. He never got to see Elsa's cruelty, nor had he died yet, so he didn't know the danger he was actually in.
"Higuruma is so smart! I should ask him for some guidance on how to talk!" Emilia pumped her little fist in front of her.
"What are you talking about? The accusation was specifically only for Meili Portroute. The note did not mention the name of the child in the forest." Higuruma played with his gavel as he explained to Elsa about her blunder.
"Crimes against children are prohibited everywhere, but this trial was only for a specific one. This means that all you needed to do was feign ignorance of who Meili Portroute was and deny the charge." Higuruma finished, pulling up his hair as he stared decisively at her.
Elsa listened, her face filled with frustration as the kukri blades in her hands kept trying to cut the podium bars for relief. The most frustrating part for her was that it made sense; she had been careful enough not to be spotted by anyone, meaning that besides her own organisation, nobody even knew what the child had looked like, much less her name.
"Wait, we haven't heard the verdict yet." He tapped the podium with his gavel twice, telling Judgeman to give the verdict.
"Guilty. Confiscation." Judgeman spoke out in her usual voice.
Instantly, everything was back to normal; the Domain was gone, and everything seemed to be normal. Though it looked like Felt and Rom had escaped since they weren't trapped.
"What happened? I was declared guilty, but I don't feel different." Elsa quickly scanned her body and flexed her bare hands to see if anything was wrong. Wait, bare hands?
'Where did my blades go?-' Before she could finish the thought, she instinctively put her arms to block the gavel flying towards her face.
The force of it was impressive, but nothing she couldn't handle. She quickly slapped away the gavel to the side and parried Higuruma's punch before dashing over to the side.
"After that little stunt, I hope your bowels are now all warmed up~" She sneakily checked underneath her clothes where she hid her other blades and found them all to be gone too.
'Annoying ability, but nothing game-changing for me. I'll use my teeth and bones if I have to.' Elsa acknowledged the advantage of Higuruma's technique but didn't think it was anything too groundbreaking.
"Let's not get too close to their fight now. We are no match for them..." Luke grabbed Subaru and led him to the corner where they would be relatively safer for now.
"Are you kidding me! At first, I thought being proven guilty would kill or something, but it only made her lose her weapons!" Subaru complained about the apparent lack of lethality in being proven guilty.
"Don't be so hasty to judge. A good weapon is an extension of the user. Without them, their combat abilities can be reduced by more than half." I pointed out to him, intentionally omitting the death penalty part of the Domain.
"He's right, you know? Besides, you can't expect too many severe changes from binding contracts. Did you really expect an instant kill ability~?" Puck jumped in teasingly, though he and Emilia were gathering their mana to launch a sneak attack when the timing was right.
'It might not be necessary though... He's pretty good.' Puck analysed as he saw the two fight.
Higuruma kept swinging his gavel at Elsa, each swing and strike being parried or dodged by the nimble assassin. But the pressure was real; Elsa wasn't able to reliably launch a counterattack in her current state.
'That thing can change sizes and reappear in his hand when he wants!?' She grumbled in her mind, blocking the giant gavel coming from her side. Its size, combined with Higuruma's strength, forced Elsa off her feet and onto the floor.
Before she could regenerate, multiple small gavels were flying at her at high speed. She quickly rolled off to the side and flipped over them, lunging at Higuruma directly. She was going to bite his neck and scratch off his abdomen using pure speed and strength.
"Forgot about us, did ya~?" Hearing the voice, she turned her head in mid-air to see Puck and Emilia being surrounded by giant ice shards, all aimed at her.
A misty explosion occurred as the spell hit Elsa, who couldn't dodge as she was in mid-air. Higuruma brought his gavel back and turned it into a staff, readjusting his stance, mentally strategising on how to deal the finishing blow.
"You almost got me there~" Elsa came out of the explosion, seemingly unharmed, though her long cloak had disappeared.
"Today's a lucky day~ I also want to see what the bowels of a Great Spirit look like~" Elsa said while licking her lips. But inside, she wasn't feeling so confident.
"Well, too bad for you then, because I'm over my time limit~ But Lia, remember that you can force me out if push comes to shove though I don't think that can happen with that man still here." Puck slowly dematerialised into mana particles as he went back into the crystal.
'This isn't going well. There's no way I can reliably kill the half-elf while fending off this man. And, there are also the two boys standing in the corner. One is relatively concerning, but both are easily manageable.' Elsa concluded.
She was about to start fighting again when the roof suddenly broke in, the moonlight entering the room as the person responsible for that entrance stepped forward.
"I hope I'm not trespassing here." With his body and clothes being perfectly clean, he calmly faced Elsa, his expression carefree.
"Luke, Higuruma, I have been looking for the two of you. Mahito couldn't tell me where you two had gone, so she was a big help." Reinhard gave a smile towards the small girl standing near the door.
"I swear, if any of you thought we just ran to save our own skins-!" Felt pouted, with Rom apologising for her sake.
"All things considered, I should first deal with the main problem." Reinhard held up his hands, showing that he didn't want to unnecessarily fight.
"Elsa Granhiert, the Bowel Hunter from Gusteko. You are a very wanted criminal around these parts." He pointed out, making the others shocked by the crude-sounding title.
"What kind of title is that?! I know she was talking about bowels before, but come on!" Subaru called out indignantly while slowly moving towards Felt and Rom. Those two were at the door, so if Elsa tried rushing towards them, he could try being the hero.
"Please surrender. With even your weapons confiscated, you have no chance of resisting." Reinhard pointed out her situation patiently, signalling towards Higuruma and Emilia who were on standby.
"It makes no difference to me. Do you really expect a starving predator to leave such enticing little preys alone~" Elsa licked her lips, still not ready to back down. She was determined to find an opening and kill Emilia, as per her mission.
"You heard her, Reinhard, she wants a good fight~ Higuruma, come back here. You've held her off well already." Luke spoke out, the confidence in Reinhard being blatantly obvious, as he called Higuruma back.
"I agree with you, Luke. I hope I won't disappoint." Reinhard responded casually. At his words, Emilia went over towards the injured Rom and Felt and began to heal them.
Seeing that he agreed to a fight, Elsa rushed at Reinhard, who kicked her away with minimal strength, but even that was enough to knock her several feet away.
"He is definitely powerful, even more than you described. I wasn't fully confident about being able to defeat her, but he makes her look like a joke." Higuruma said to Luke beside him.
"Yep, he is undoubtedly the strongest. Just as unreachable and alone as the strongest always are." Luke responded, not meaning any insult but pointing out a sad truth.
With his many Divine Protections, Reinhard could hear their conversation and was saddened, not by Luke's words but by the actual truth of it. He forced himself to let go of those thoughts for now and focus on the present.
Maybe it was out of initiative, or because of the time, or because he wasn't feeling well, but he grabbed a dropped sword on the ground and prepared to use it against the assassin, knowing that he couldn't use the Dragon Sword.
Meanwhile, Subaru was talking with Emilia near the door, and she was healing Felt and Rom quickly. Since they had interfered so early on, Elsa hadn't hurt them too much in time.
"Is this how you healed me before? You're truly pretty impressive, Emilia-tan!" Subaru wanted to give her more compliments, but seeing that Rom and Felt were right there, he became a bit tame.
"Please don't talk so loud. I need to heal them as quickly as possible so that Reinhard can finish the fight." Emilia hushed him as she quickly finished the treatment.
"Luke just said he's the strongest, but what does that have anything to do with it?" Subaru questioned, seeing that she was done.
"When he fights, he absorbs all the mana in the area, meaning that I wouldn't be able to use any spells. Now, give him the signal."
"I don't know what she means, but get her Reinhard!" Hearing this, Reinhard nodded at Subaru and started to activate the sword play of his family.
Because the treatment had been so quick, Elsa hadn't even recovered from the ground when Reinhard suddenly released his aura.
"Oh wow, what's this~?" Elsa asked curiously, while slowly regenerating her bruises.
Because she didn't have a weapon, nor was her situation favourable at all, she lunged immediately at him, which prompted Reinhard to hasten the activation and unleash the attack immediately as well.
What happened next was... well, an explosion of humongous power. The backside of the entire loot house got destroyed as Reinhard slashed down with his sword.
Debris flew everywhere, and as the dust settled, there was no sign of Elsa anywhere.
"The strongest!? When he said you were the strongest, I didn't think he'd mean this fucking strong!" Subaru called out to Reinhard.
"Believe me, Luke always places me on a higher pedestal than I actually am." He responded humbly and then silently apologised to the sword in his hand as it disintegrated from the sheer power.
Subaru then helped Emilia stand up and went around to inspect the debris. "Why couldn't I have been given these powers as well...?"
"Luke and Higuruma, it's nice to meet you two again. It was my day off, so I came to visit you, but I saw that Mahito was passed out. So, I came looking for you two when I realised there might have been trouble. And it's a good thing I checked because without Felt, I would have arrived here much later." Reinhard shared what he had seen, a genuine concern for his few actual friends.
"I have still been searching for the 5th candidate, so I was wondering if you could help m- WATCH OUT!" Reinhard suddenly shouted towards Subaru, right before the debris beside him exploded and out came Elsa, her eyes locked onto Emilia.
"THIS IS MY TIME TO SHINE! YOU'RE GONNA GO FOR THE BOWELS!" Remembering the earlier details, Subaru jumped in between them.
He covered his abdomen with his arms and clothes as tightly as possible, right as he got slashed with Elsa's bloody and deformed hands, knocking him back.
"Even that boy managed to trip me up," Elsa grumbled, frustrated. Her expression became worse when Reinhard and Higuruma closed on her.
Fully admitting now that she can't even hope to attack, she leapt up to the pillar to retreat. "I hope you all keep your bowels safe until the next time." She declared before climbing up to the roof and escaping.
"Subaru! Are you okay!?" Emilia kneeled down beside him as she checked his condition.
Thankfully, he had only received moderately serious lacerations on his abdomen, which could be healed with magic, no problem. Although it looked like he passed out from the pain.
"Thank Od." She let out a sigh before picking him up bridal style. She thanked Reinhard and looked back at Luke and Higuruma. "Thank you both for your help. As a reward, you can come with me to my sponsor's mansion, where he'll grant you any one reward." She said seriously with gratitude.
"I didn't do much, so I won't go. But, he definitely would~" Luke nudged Higuruma and pushed him forward a bit, offering him up. Not being allowed to argue, he had no choice but to follow her.
Reinhard then pulled over the guilty-looking Felt, who stopped in front of Emilia with her head down. "...Sorry..." She said awkwardly, but still genuinely, which was what mattered.
"It's okay, I forgive you, Felt. Just give me back my insignia, and everything will be left behind us." Hearing this, Felt took out the insignia with the red stone in the middle, glowing. Seeing this, Reinhard grabbed her arm suddenly and began enquiring about her personal life.
He knocked her and Rom out with a tap on their heads. He grabbed them under his arms after giving Emilia her insignia back.
"I'm sorry miss Emilia, but these two have to come with me. And Luke, please come with me as well. Higuruma and Mahito can also join us when they are ready." He said politely but clearly, in a hurry, based on his tone.
"Alright then, I won't question you, Reinhard. Come on, Sir Higuruma, follow me." Emilia urged Higuruma to follow her.
"Go with her and secure a good reward for both of us, ok~? And get a souvenir for Mahito too, he deserves it." Luke waved him off as Higuruma's dead gaze stared back at him until they passed the corner.
'Those dead-fish eyes are both unnerving and goofy...' Luke thought of random nonsense in his mind as he followed Reinhard out. 'Well at least that's done now...'
Disclaimer: I know this chapter might have sucked a bit but I wanted Arc 1 done with. For Arc 2, the events at Roswall's mansion will be narrated as long as Higuruma is there but after he's back, the arc will be largely off screen because I want to expand the JJK part rn. And yes, Subaru will die more during this arc but after that he will basically be the same as in canon. If you have any problems or suggestions, you can let me know. Thank you.
Btw, can anyone answer me on whether the paragraphs are actually visible or not? I write on a laptop so it always looks like I've properly separated the words into multiple paragraphs. But when I checked on a phone today, all my chapters looked so chopped to read because every paragraph was practically merged together. Is this just me or is what y'all have been suffering through all this time and I didn't notice 💀?