I step up onto the stone platform behind Gore and the three elders. The two tree guys, as well as Meg and her friend, follow behind us. The crowd is deathly quiet. The elders turn to the tree-people and the older man asks, "Who shall speak?"
Gore looks at Meg questioningly. She steps forward and says, "I shall." Her eyes look bloodshot, but with green, not red. Her voice doesn't quiver when she talks, even though her missing finger is still dripping sap.
The female elder replies, "Then let us listen of one accord." Their conversation seems like a formal call and response. I guess they have official court procedures here too.
Meg steps forward to face the audience. "Today, I have been wronged. This man," she gestures to me, "is the one who wronged me. And these," she waved to Gore and the other tree-people, "bear witness to my claim."
The middle-aged elder nods at her. "Your claim is acknowledged. Tell us your testimony."
"While we were sleeping, this man appeared in the forest. The—"
"Please excuse me," says the bearded elder, "Please specify 'we'."
Meg nods. "While we, the dryads of the South glade, were sleeping, this man appeared in the forest."
The bearded elder nods and motions for her to continue.
"Our spirit took notice of him, as he seemed lost. We helped him clear his mind and pushed him in the direction of the village. But after taking a few steps North towards the village, he repaid us," her voice rose in volume and emotion, "by grabbing hold of my branch, sawing at it with a stone, and tearing it off by force!" The sap-tears start to run down her face again, and she holds up her four-fingered left hand. "Here is my evidence!"
The crowd erupts into heated speech. Many people are clearly angry on her behalf. I wait for the elders to calm the crowd down, but they just stand there solemnly and let the crowd talk.
I start to get nervous. Am I not going to be given a chance to speak?
The crowd talks for several very long minutes. Then the conversations start to die down. Only a few groups are still talking. Everyone else just seems to be waiting for them to finish.
When everyone is finally silent, the grey-headed elder turns to Meg.
"Does that conclude the testimony of your grievance?"
"Yes," she nods. "He also insulted my people, but that is not a crime worthy of punishment here."
The black bearded elf says, "Your testimony is acknowledged." Then he turns, and with a start I realize he's looking at me. "We now give the one accused our attention. Do you wish to speak?"
I nod. "Yes." My voice doesn't come out very loud. The black bearded man motions for me to go ahead and says, "Tell us your testimony."
I take a deep breath. This is it. Goddess help me.
"Thank you for letting me speak." Everyone's eyes are glued to me, some with undisguised hatred. Oh, man. What was I gonna say? My heart's beating so fast. "First of all, everything she said is true." Meg looks at me with mild surprise. Well, it is, although I didn't really understand that bit about a spirit helping me.
"Please excuse me. Please specify 'she'." It's the bearded elder again. It feels weird for him to talk so politely to me. I guess it's part of their court rules.
I nod awkwardly. "Right. Um, everything Meg said is true." Meg looks at me funny again. It's not weird that I know her name, right? Gore called her by her name in front of me several times.
"I did hurt Meg. But it wasn't on purpose."
"Not on purpose?" Meg exclaims angrily, her face twisting into a scowl. "What, so you 'accidentally' used a rock to saw my branch off?"
The female elder steps forward. "Please, Meg. You are disrespecting Alleia."
Gore puts a hand on Meg's shoulder. She still looks upset, but she nods and takes a step back.
The female elder turns to me. "Please continue your testimony until its completion."
I nod, relieved. It looks like I'm going to get a fair trial after all. Now for the tricky bit.
"I… I am lacking a lot of knowledge about this world." How do I put Mariana-sama in here? Do I have to say I died after all? Gah, I have no time, no time. Whatever! I'll just say whatever.
"I was saved by a goddess."
That makes the crowd stir. They start to murmur amongst themselves. Do I have to wait for them to die down to continue speaking? I glance at the elders uncertainly, and the female elder nods for me to continue.
"I would be dead if it wasn't for her." Which is true. "But the consequence—one of the consequences of what I went through is that I know almost nothing about this world." Also true. "I'm honestly happy that I can speak the language. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to."
Most isekai stories let you speak the local language right away, if not write it. But some don't, and Mariana seemed to enjoy stacking the odds against me. It's interesting that she let an opportunity to make me suffer go. Maybe she really was merciful to me. Just a little bit.
The crowd's murmuring grows. I keep an eye on the elders, but it seems like they're fine for me to keep talking.
"I honestly didn't know—and I'm not being racist here, I'm telling the truth—I didn't know that plants could be people." I avoid looking at Meg's face. I don't know what her expression is going to look like right now. "As soon as Meg and Gore and the others stepped out of the trees, of course I could see that they're people. But before that, I honestly didn't know. I tore that branch off—not knowing it belonged to a person with thoughts and feelings—to try and cover myself because I had no clothes. And I was afraid that even if I met people who could help me, they'd think I was crazy or dangerous, because I had no clothes. So, um, so, yeah."
The crowd was getting pretty loud now. I looked down at the ground, then up at the giant trees, trying to avoid people's faces.
The clear voice of the bearded elder spoke. "Does that conclude your testimony?" His voice was more serious than it had been before.
I gulp. Is there anything more I should say? This is my life on the line after all. "Well, I want to say, I'm sorry to Meg for tearing off her finger—her branch. There's not much I can do to make up for it, but I'm sorry. And—and thanks again for the cloak, Gore. Oh, I should thank you as well, sir," I say, looking nervously at the grey-haired elder who'd asked Gore to get me a cloak. He raises an eyebrow. "And—and that concludes my testimony. Unless you have questions." Do they ask questions during a trial? I don't know this world's court procedure at all. At least I got an official chance to speak.
The crowd's talking jumps in volume. I guess they don't have to be quiet to hear what I'm saying anymore. I look down at the ground and do my best not to listen to what they're saying. There's not much I can do about it now, anyway. My bare toes stick out from under the cloak. The stone is cool under my feet. I tune out the din of the crowd and study the darker lines in the grey stone. I'm standing on a line where two large blocks of stone are joined together, and I rub at the slight crease with one foot. The stone's actually quite pretty, I guess. The blocks are big, so I can look at lots of intricate, uninterrupted patterns on the stone. Some parts of the stone are translucent, like quartz, so I can see into it a bit. There are darker lines of grey, black and green under the surface, with flecks of pale shiny stuff here and there. The surface isn't exactly polished, but it's smooth.
"The one accused!"
I jump. I look up, and everyone's staring at me. No one is talking. Shoot, did they have to call me multiple times to get my attention?
"Uh, sorry. What is it?"
The grey-haired elder speaks. "Your name. What is your name?"
My name. My name, huh? Well, according to that goddess, it's Idiot, but I'm not saying that. I'll just use my real name. I'm already on a bit of a telling-the-truth roll.
"It's—" I choke a bit. I cough to clear my throat. "My name, it's… It's…" I'm moving my mouth, but no sound is coming out. I can't say my name! Did that goddess do this? Am I only able to say the name on the box of floss?
"It's Id—" Nope. No way am I saying that's my name. I'd rather have no name.
"Your name is Id?" asks the grey-haired elder.
"No. It's… I, I have no name."
The crowd starts to murmur again.
The grey-haired elder looks stern. "This is a dangerous time to play games."
"No, that's not it! It's, the goddess said she wanted me to earn my name. I can't say the name I used to have," (apparently,) "and I don't think I can choose my own name."
The grey-haired elder has a shocked look on his face. "You're saying this goddess did not just save you, she revealed herself to you as a goddess and spoke to you?"
"Um, yes?" Sort of. She's not technically a goddess. Yet.
"I have never heard—well, almost never heard of a god doing such a thing! And if they did, they certainly wouldn't allow the person to speak of it."
"Oh." Did I screw up? "Well, I don't really know anything about the gods. She didn't tell me not to say anything. I wasn't really planning on talking about it, but I honestly didn't know what else to say in this trial. I only woke up here today. I really don't know what to do in this—in this place."
I almost said "in this world". Saying that might be pushing it a little. I don't know whether or not transmigration and reincarnation are common here. At the very least, it looks like most people don't go around talking about their meeting with a goddess.
"What is the name of the goddess you spoke to?" the grey-haired elder asks.
I hesitate. Do they have lots of gods and goddesses in this world, and Mariana-sama can just blend in? Or do they have just a few, and she'll stick out as someone they've never heard of?
"I don't think she's very well known. She doesn't really self-promote," (cause I'm doing all the promoting for her,) "and from what she said, it seemed like the things she could do were limited because of a lack of devoted followers."
The elder nods. "Yes, several gods and goddesses are like that. What is your goddess's name?"
"Her name is Mariana-sama."
"Marian Assama?"
"Oh! Um, no. The -sama is a term of respect from—from where I come from. Her name is Mariana."
"The Goddess Mariana. I have not heard her name. What is she the Goddess of?"
"Sorry?"
"What is Mariana's domain?"
"I, uh, I'm not sure I understand."
The female elder steps forward. "You said you didn't know anything about the gods, yes?"
"Yes."
"In this village, I am the elder representing Alleia, the Goddess of Accord. It is my responsibility and privilege to uphold Alleia's domain by promoting harmony and cooperation among our people. The God Jican's domain is truth, and Elder Marone represents Jican and upholds his domain in our village." The elder with the black beard nods. "Alleia and Jican oversee all legal trials. That is why Gore approached us to ask for a trial."
I nod. It makes sense. I glance at the grey-haired elder. Does he represent a god too?
The female elder—the representative of Alleia—continues speaking. "Like this, each god and goddess has their godly domain which they rule over, uphold, and define. They have great power within their domain, but they cannot act contrary to their domain, for that would be acting contrary to their true self. Does that make sense?"
I nod again. Wait, but if Mariana is a new goddess, or more accurately, she isn't a goddess yet, how is she going to get a domain? Or does she already have one?
"How do gods and goddesses get their domains?" I ask.
The elder looks at me a little funny. "They're born with them, of course. Is it possible to be born without an identity?"
"Oh."
Mariana-sama—no, I guess I should just call her Mariana—might be in trouble then.
"Well, I don't know what Goddess Mariana's domain is."
"When we hear of a god or goddess we didn't know of before, it is important that we represent them properly. Knowing their domain is part of this."
Dang it, Mariana! You should've told me what to say for this! How am I supposed to promote you as a goddess if I'm missing key information like this?
"Do not fear. A god's domain is established in our minds by hearing of their deeds. If you tell us in more detail what the Goddess Mariana did for you, we should be able to understand something of her domain. Gods do not act outside of their domains, after all."
I guess the female elder must've seen the worry on my face. What she said didn't exactly help, though. Tell my story in more detail? There are some details in there that, um, I don't think would be good for me to share.
"What, uh, what exactly do you need to know?"
"You are a follower of Mariana, yes?"
"...Yes." That's my first time admitting that to another person. It feels kinda weird. I've never called myself a "follower" before.
No, social media doesn't count!
"Good. A god's followers speak of the god's domain. You said Mariana saved you. What did she save you from?"
Um. That's, uh, a complex question. "Well, she saved me from death," since I'm pretty sure that without the fact that she wanted to send me to another world, my Death by Tooth Floss would have just killed me normally, not gotten me reincarnated with my memories. Whatever a normal death looks like. "And she also saved me from a fate worse than death."
There's a few gasps from the audience. The grey-haired elder speaks up this time. "She saved you from Fate?"
"...yes." Well, several fates actually. Being turned into a slug, being turned into a cockroach, living a life of torment, walking around in a dead body like a zombie… Then again, those were fates that she was going to give me.
"I've never heard of a god being able to twist the strands of Fate before," the grey-haired elder murmurs.
Um, apparently this is a big deal. I thought "fate worse than death" was just an expression. Well, too late now.
"Why did such a powerful goddess save you? Are you a special messenger from her?"
I can see wariness on people's faces. Um, let's tone things down a bit.
"Uh, I don't think so, no. But it is true that as thanks for her saving me, it's my goal to tell others about her and give her the following she deserves."
Which is sort of a nice way of saying that I bribed her.
They seem relieved by what I said. Well, I guess I'd be nervous if I'd learned that a special messenger from a god had arrived, and the first thing I'd done had been to put him on trial.
This is good. It seems like they're taking my words seriously.
"Do you have any evidence of your claim?" the black-haired elder asks.
Ah. Evidence. "Um…"
"Did the Goddess not give you some token to prove your words?"
Token? Wait…
"Yes! Yes, she did." So that's why she put her name and face on the box of floss! Thank you, Mariana-sama! Um, I mean, thank you, Goddess Mariana! "But I don't have it with me. I dropped it in the forest by Meg's tree."
"You dropped your goddess's token?"
I gulp. I guess that does sound pretty bad.
"May I speak?" a voice says.
I turn my head, surprised. It's Gore. He's raising his rough, bark-covered hand and looking at the elders for permission.
The female elder nods. "You are a witness. Go ahead."
"When Meg's tree was, um, injured, I was furious. The others were, too." He turns towards the other tree-people, and they nod. "We treated him roughly, and when he tried to explain himself, I know I thought he was simply being racist."
The black bearded elder interjects. "Do you remember his words, specifically?"
Gore thinks for a moment. "He said something like, 'I didn't think you were people'."
The elder turns to me. "Is this true?"
"Yes, but I swear I didn't mean it how it sounded."
"Well, I can certainly see how that could have been misleading," the elder says. "Please continue, Gore."
Gore nods. "We didn't give him time to speak or to collect himself. We used force to bring him here immediately, though I'm sure you can understand why. And, I know the clothed races carry items with them in their clothes, but he wasn't able to do that. Given the circumstances, it's no fault of his that he dropped his token and couldn't retrieve it."
I stare at him. Angel! This man is an angel!