The guild master finally brushed herself off and stopped acting like a child, seemingly becoming a completely different person as if flipping a switch. "Right." She cleared her throat. "I'm sure you're wondering why I called you here today."
'I'm about to slap you…' "Yeah, that's why I asked…" I grumbled. "Although I bet it has something to do with Alden's trial."
She chuckled, nervously playing with her hair. "Y-yes, you're right about that… Posy is waiting outside, she already knows most of what is going to happen anyway and didn't want to invade your privacy, so she excused herself after you passed out."
"I see…" I shot a brief sharp glance over to Plutia. 'At least some people care about that sort of thing…'
Aurelia chuckled nervously, covering her mouth before once again clearing her throat. "Right, well. I just wanted to make you aware of the plan. Since this trial will also be for you, and my guild has stepped in as your benefactor, it's only right."
"Ok, shoot."
She gestured for me to follow and we walked back to the pool of glittering water they were standing at before. As she spoke, she manipulated it, not just in shape but color, and created images before my eyes while she explained. "Trials like these involve all ten of the great guilds because Alden was a representative of the Great market… Uh… That's what we call all 10 of our guilds together, like the red mantles, these organizations use all 10 guilds as pools for recruitment, does that make sense?"
I scratched my head, remembering back when I studied government for a brief time at the library. "It's complicated, but I get the basics. I know a bit about it."
The pool swirled into three separate scenes of trials and courts. "Right, so I think it's important to understand scale… First off, there are three levels of court cases, the first is the most common, which is when a government official like Alden is the judge, who acts as a mediator over two parties, this is usually overseen by a council of other government members of equal or higher rank. Second is less common, and unfortunately what this situation has blown into… A grand trial. Each guild will send a representative of high status, usually only 1 to 3 positions removed from the leader. These trials are considered extremely important and are overseen not just by the 10 judges, but the entirety of Rothet, who is allowed to gather in the coliseum and watch. Do you understand what this means?"
I sighed. "I don't mean to be rude, but can you just get to the point? You could be referring to anything from how serious this is to the fact that an executioner will be in attendance."
She pushed her eyebrows together. "Maybe I should just explain the contents of the trial. Firstly Alden's corruption, because he is a member of the circle of smoke they will be forced to abstain from the judge's seat, likewise, because we took you under our protection, we will also be abstaining. The second topic will be the alleged murder of your party. The third will be the misconduct of guards both under Alden's influence and otherwise… And the fourth will be once again directly tied to you in the form of you're sexual assault. You seem like a blunt person… So I'll ask directly. Are you prepared to stand trial, both defense and prosecution, in front of the entirety of Rothet?"
"What kind of question is that…" I paused for a moment and looked out the cathedral's back wall towards the Ocean. "You think I've ever stood in front of so many people? My legs shake when I'm talking to just a few… I mean, it could be the same, or it could feel much worse, but how would I know… Besides, it's not like it matters whether I'm ready or not… I have to go, so why are you even asking?"
She sighed, stepping over to my side and staring out at the ocean with me. Admittedly, despite how heavy I could sense the conversation was, I felt little of the weight. In some ways, it seemed relatively pointless. She was tiptoeing around things and being cautious, but I had been there for how long and still hadn't received any useful information… If anything I was worse off, after being subjected to her strange magic. Even that at least had a point though. She had to check whether or not I was really innocent.
'I know she has a point… So why is she stalling…' I growled. "You know, this really isn't so bad. I've never seen it but I think I quite like the view of the ocean. Does it always sparkle like that, or is it because of the holy water?"
Her face softened, almost confused at my sudden change of subject and lack of tension. "In this case, it's normal for it to look like that, it has more to do with the sun I think. Although if I take you to the basin where we pool the purist of the holy water, looking at the ocean from there is certainly a site all of its own."
"Not bad… Maybe I should start a guild. I'd have a guild hall like this one on the coast." I looked around at the massive empty cathedral, towering over us. "A little less gaudy though… I guess I should make a donation to Plutia before any of that. How much would be good? Maybe ten percent. Construction costs would go down if I built it from stone, so learning higher-tier earth magic would be good." I turned back to her. "What do you think?"
Her eyes stared back at me blankly, her face now completely covered with confusion. "That… Sounds fine… Uhm… But maybe making it through this trial first?"
"Oh right, the trial… Are you going to tell me what your plan is now? Not that I'm ungrateful, but it's starting to seem like you don't actually have one."
Once again she stared at me blankly for a moment before she could respond. "You're… A rather rude person… Aren't you."
'This is why I hate meeting new people…' "I feel like that's subjective and irrelevant…"
She slowly glanced over to Plutia, who was sulking in the corner. Finding no help from her, she simply rolled her eyes. "Well, she was half right about you… You certainly don't seem fragile though…" She said with another sigh. "Listen. Alden has virtually no case. You're already gathering multiple people willing to testify you got laughed out of the tavern because no one was stupid enough to party up with you. So given that fact, and the fact that Finn saw no traces of human blood at the supposed crime scene, along with other evidence, you will be proven innocent rather quickly. Even if you didn't try to turn the quest in, you posted the monster head on display, which is basically the same thing. Your charity work also speaks well of your intentions, and the fact you were the first to report a spider knight sighting despite not receiving a reward is also helping your case."
She let out a deep breath, her posture failing, if only slightly, as her shoulders rolled forward. "All this in mind… Alden won't try to win on those accounts. He will instead be focused on diverting focus away from his crimes and trying to cut his losses and get away with as little punishment as possible. In order to do that, he will probably try to find a scapegoat, as well as divert attention by dragging out the other three points of the trial as much as possible…"
She paused again, this time though, rather than being cautious, it was as if it was something truly hard for her to say. "What else?" I asked
She turned to the side. "Because it would greatly help his case… He will say and do whatever he can to try and make you leave the room or act out… If he can get you to leave, or show aggression, Chances are that he will be able to use that for his benefit. I'm sure none of this makes much sense now, but just trust me…"
"I feel like you're giving this guy too much credit… But I'll keep that in mind."
She glanced back out at the ocean and slowly resumed her elegant poise. "It's very important that no matter what he says you stay in the room. Even if no one would blame you for leaving. Do you understand?"
'Finally, a straightforward job.' I felt myself smirk at how easy it sounded. "I think I can sit in a chair for a few hours."
She smiled softly and the heaviness in the air lifted considerably. "If you are up for it, there is one more thing I'd like for you to focus on. Do you know how truth-telling magic works? My spell is strong, but I'm the only one who can use it, and in this particular trial, I won't be in attendance. However, it won't be necessary either.
"Give me the short version."
She nodded. "When we put someone on trial we have them swear an oath on their divine power that they will tell the truth, and every time they break that oath their divinity drops drastically. Our priests can sense that drop in divinity, and that's how we tell if they are lying. Unfortunately, it doesn't actually tell us which part of what they are saying is a lie and whatnot. Sometimes we find people guilty simply under the pretense that they have lied too much… But that's rather rare."
"Ok, I'm following."
"During his trial, we're basically going to try and see how far he is willing to go to try and cover his tracks." Her bright smile started turning more and more sinister with every word. "If he goes too far he'll never be able to use divine magic again, if he admits his guilt that's fine too I suppose, although less satisfying. Ultimately though, we need him to either be fully convicted or lie enough that the great market agrees to let me interrogate him afterward."
"So… Basically, just get him to lie a lot."
"Yes, and try to get him to lie directly, rather than dodging the question. Even getting him to say he doesn't know when he does, is enough."
My whole body started to feel heavy. "To be honest, I'd rather just get this over with, instead of dealing with it any more than I have to. Then again… I guess learning another skill is never a bad thing."
"Yes well… After he's found guilty we can interrogate him properly. Until then are you ready?"
I raised a hand to my eyes. I still felt off, both physically and emotionally, but all I had to do was talk in front of a crowd… Admittedly not my strong suit. Still, killing the minotaur on my own was a huge boost to my confidence and my skills. I knew it was unrelated, but somehow it felt like it gave me the courage to go into that as well. "Sure… So when's the trial?"
Pulling out a small stopwatch, she confidently checked the time. "I suppose… Whenever you arrive."
It started to feel like I was standing on pins and needles. "Showing up late… Isn't usually a good thing is it?"
She waved her hand dismissively. "Oh it's fine, in this case, it might actually help, you're playing the role of the victim who suffered at his hands. Showing up late because you were emotionally unstable only makes him look worse… Thanks to Plutia it's not even a lie…"
I turned back to Plutia, who was still biting her tongue, looking pitifully at the floor and avoiding my eyes. Letting out a groan, my eyes shifted back to Aurelia. "That might be the best way to win support, but I'm not some helpless little girl, and I'm not going to pretend like I'm suffering emotionally from what happened either."
Plutia rested a hand on my shoulder. "Ok… But, are you sure you aren't? The girl that told us what happened said that you were shaking so bad you couldn't even stand…"
I turned back to her and growled.
"Chika, please don't ignore me. I'm worried about you… Come on, I lent you my divine power twice recently, even though you never visit my shrine, does that not count for anything?"
I lowered my head again, admittedly feeling guilty after hearing her phrase it like that. "You're right… I'm sorry, ignoring you is childish…"
Her voice picked up as she wrapped her arms around me. "Hurray! I knew you'd forgive me!"
"I'm still mad at you… I'm just not going to ignore you, and I'm also grateful…"
She let go, letting out a heavy sigh. "Yeah yeah, fine…"
'These two… I hope I'm never in the same room as both of them again. Ones all sweet, hiding a terrifying destructive side… And the other holds unfathomable power, and acts like a complete child…' "Plutia, why don't you just smite Alden for us?"
She put on her thinking face for a second, tilting her head and lifting her eyes to the ceiling before rubbing her fingers together and looking down at her hands. "Yeah… Yeah, I could get away—-"
Aurelia suddenly grabbed her ear and pulled her off balance. "You're a saint now Plutia… You can't interfere in things so casually, especially when they are only at this scale…"
"Geez! I was only joking…" She grumbled, her, eyes filled with sadness as she stared directly at me. "Maybe… Just this once, can you make it not so hard to watch… At least you aren't starving yourself this time… But you always manage to make me worry…"
I just smirked. "You could have given me food if you felt that bad about it."
"You could have prayed if you wanted some that bad…" She grumbled. "Or just got a job…"
"Yeah… That's fair…" 'She really does make the same expressions a child would make…'
One of the heavy gate guards approached from behind. "Greater light… It would be best to not linger too much longer."
'Not how I thought I'd get my name out there… But sure, let's go stand in front of a few thousand people to convince them I'm not a murderer…'