The atmosphere in the interrogation room had nearly turned into a seminar on extortion by Kōichi and Kazuma. Sena's icy, pretty face kept shifting between blue and white from rage, and she looked seconds away from completely losing it.
"I mean, Dust usually seems pretty sharp, but I didn't expect his taste to be this awful." Kazuma picked at his nails and lifted his chin at Sena with a look of disgust. "To think he'd hit on a violent female prosecutor who can't tell right from wrong and tries to beat her own saviors to death at the drop of a hat. Sena-san, don't tell me you're one of those old virgins who hasn't dated in so long that the moment you see a man, you want to throw him in jail to vent your stress. Ow!"
Kōichi chimed in from the side, smiling with pure sadism.
"Haha, Kazuma, don't say that. Sena-sama is just suffering from an occupational disease. After all, in a town full of perverts and deadbeats, she's probably given up on humanity by now. But seriously, Sena-sama, if you don't fix that personality, you'll end up spending the rest of your life with that enforcement staff."
"You... you two... bastards..."
Sena lowered her head, her body trembling violently. The guilt-dimmed aura around her instantly exploded.
She snapped her head up, her eyes bloodshot with a madness born from total humiliation, the kind that looked ready to drag everyone down with her.
"Fine. Very well. Since you claim to be law-abiding, pure and spotless heroes..." Sena's voice was so cold it chilled the bones. She grabbed the Bell of Truth from the table and slammed it down in front of them. "Then we'll add one more routine question. If you pass this one, I'll not only give you the highest compensation possible, I'll kneel right here and apologize!"
Kōichi and Kazuma's hearts sank, and their earlier arrogance instantly shrank by half.
"Listen carefully!" Sena stared hard into their eyes and asked, enunciating each word. "Kazuma Satou, Kōichi Hayashi! As adventurers of Axel, are you truly as law-abiding as you claim? Have the two of you, in private, had any form of secret contact or collusion with a Demon King's General?!"
Hum.
The Bell of Truth gave off a low vibration, and the light from its runes grew brighter than ever, as if urging the two of them to answer.
In that instant, Kōichi and Kazuma's expressions froze completely.
The image of Wiz immediately surfaced in both their minds. Gentle, pretty, always apologizing, and so easy to bully that she would tear up. Along with her true identity as a Demon King's General.
Collusion? It was way more than collusion.
The two of them often went to her shop to enjoy the air conditioning and drink free tea. They frequently shoved suspicious junk materials at her to sell, and Kazuma often privately thought of Wiz as a gullible, busty Lich.
"Uh..." Cold sweat poured down Kazuma's face like a waterfall. His face, which had been so arrogant moments ago, was now white as plaster, and his lips trembled. "W-Well... can we maybe discuss the definition of contact? For example, does going there to buy something count as contact? Or what if the other party is a useless Lich who runs a shop..."
Kōichi could feel the Bell of Truth already beginning to give off that dangerous tremor, like it was preparing to sound the alarm.
If he dared say no, that thing would absolutely ring loud enough to blow the roof off the lord's manor.
"We're finished..." Kōichi heard Kazuma whisper in despair by his ear, in a voice only the two of them could hear. "Kōichi, this time we're really going to be beaten to death. Cause of death: secretly colluding with a Demon King's General."
Sena watched their ghost-stricken expressions, and a cruel, deeply satisfied smile rose to her lips as she slowly lifted the enforcement staff in her hand.
"What's wrong? Where did all that heroic spirit go? Answer me, heroes."
The air in the interrogation room seemed to freeze completely. Only the Bell of Truth continued furiously venting its anger.
"N-No! Absolutely not! How could righteous adventurers like us possibly have any contact with evil Demon King's Generals? Haha, haha..."
Kazuma laughed dryly, his voice floating like a soap bubble in the air, while he desperately jabbed Kōichi in the side with his elbow.
Kōichi took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and shouted with the resolve of a man ready to die.
"That's right! Sena-sama, our hearts belong only to the peace of Axel! As for the Demon King's Army, we kill every one we see. How could we possibly be colluding with them in secret?!"
CLANG!!!! CLANG!!!! CLANG!!!!
The Bell of Truth let out the most piercing, deafening roar since its creation.
The silver-white bell was instantly swallowed by a thick blood-red glow, and the violent shaking even cracked the solid wooden table.
That sound seemed to roar: You lying scumbags!
"Ahahahaha!! I got you! I finally got you!!"
Sena let out a twisted, almost manic laugh. She shot to her feet, her normally neat hair slightly disheveled from rage and excitement.
She looked down at the two men slumped in their chairs, her eyes filled with the pleasure of successful revenge.
"Kōichi Hayashi! Kazuma Satou! Weren't you two so arrogant just now? Didn't you want me to kneel and apologize? Didn't you want a maid outfit and compensation?!"
She slammed the table, her voice ringing through the whole interrogation room.
"Listen carefully! Regarding the charge of subversion of the state, since your earlier testimony was indeed true, I can declare you innocent. However! You are now involved in an even higher-level felony. Treason!
Secret contact with a Demon King's General is a capital crime punishable by execution. A death offense so grave that even your souls may be sealed!"
Kōichi and Kazuma exchanged a glance.
In that second, the same image appeared in both their minds. Wiz, always wearing that troubled smile, clumsy but kind-hearted.
Sure, she really was a Demon King's General. Sure, her shop always ran at a loss. Sure, she really was a useless Lich. But if they gave her up here, under this country's laws, Wiz would definitely be burned to ash by those fanatical Axis Order members.
"...Tch." Kazuma, for once, dropped his sadistic act. He lowered his voice, and there was a resigned determination in his tone. "Kōichi, I might be a shut-in deadbeat, and yeah, I'm scared of dying too. But if I sold out that gullible busty Lich just to save my own skin... I'd probably be too ashamed to ever show my face at the Succubus Shop again."
Kōichi gave a bitter smile and nodded, answering quietly.
"Yeah, same here. If Wiz gets arrested, who's going to take all our unsellable trash materials from now on? For the sake of sustainable freeloading, let's be tough guys this once."
"Since you refuse to reveal your collusion target, go back to the dungeon and reflect!" Sena waved her hand, and several fully armed guards rushed in, roughly dragging the two of them up from their chairs. "By tomorrow's official grand trial, you two are finished!"
Cold chains locked around their hands and feet once again, and Kōichi and Kazuma were dragged out of the interrogation room like dead dogs.
In the dim dungeon, the sound of chains scraping across the floor was especially grating.
Kōichi and Kazuma looked like eggplants beaten down by frost, their heads drooping as the guards threw them back into that familiar cell, filled with the smell of hay and mold.
"Yo, the two heroes are back?" Dust was lying on the wooden bed next door with one leg crossed over the other, chewing on a piece of straw he had gotten from who knew where, humming an off-key tune.
Seeing their soulless expressions, he rolled over and sat up, his usual gossip-loving look appearing on his face.
"What happened? You were only gone a little while, but you look like that female prosecutor sucked your souls dry."
Kazuma dropped onto the haystack, staring blankly at the ceiling.
"It's over, Kōichi. We're completely finished. Treason... The most rebellious thing I ever did in my life was peeking at the neighbor's laundry rack, and now I'm going to be executed for colluding with a Demon King's General. And that General is Wiz, the woman who wouldn't even bring herself to kill a Slime... If this death gets reported back to Japan, they'll carve my name onto a pillar of shame."
Kōichi sighed, leaned against the cold wall, and briefly told Dust what had happened in the interrogation room.
After hearing it, Dust did not look terrified the way the two of them had expected. Instead, he rubbed his chin and revealed an extremely sleazy, calculating smile.