“So that was it...”
After learning that it was actually the Grand Duke of Blackwood who accused her of the crime of treason, Madam Schroder seemed to realize something. Then, before all these people, she started to chuckle.
“Silence! Demon-colluding traitor!” A senator shouted loudly.
“Traitor?” Madam Schroder glared at that man with her ice-cold gaze. Then, she turned back her gaze to look at the king. WIth a loud voice, she asked, “Your Majesty, are you capable of verifying that the person who accused me is truly my husband?”
“I received a magic letter from the Grand Duke of Blackwood yesterday. Whether it be the magic imprint of the handwriting, neither were forged. Everything has been written on there,” said the king, “Furthermore, Karana, my scouts have reported back to me that you’ve been in close interaction with a dangerous demon in Norland.”
Even though the Nation of Farucci has never waged war against the Demon Realm, the demons were still dangerous creatures feared by humans that could seek an invasion at any moment.
That was the opinion of the majority of the human nations. The reason for that was due to the long period of propaganda fed by the Holy Church.
As long as there were a couple missionaries declaring the recent great fire of the Blackwood Forest to be caused by the demons, a large portion of the populace will believe it to be true.
But... the ones that invaded Madam Schroder’s country were not the demons but rather the Holy Church. Furthermore, those people were slandering her using her husband’s identity.
Madam Schroder forcibly suppressed the anger in her heart. With no fear, she stared at Farucci’s king.
“Indeed. Your Majesty... I was indeed in contact with a demon in Norland. But, the reason why I was in contact with that demon was to learn an art other than theater. Furthermore, the burning of the Blackwood Forest was not caused by demons.”
Madam Schroder did not try to hide what she did in Norland. There was no reason for her to hide.
“Theater? What could a bunch of uncivilized demons possibly know?!”
Many aged ministers sneered in contempt after hearing what Madam Schroder said.
There was one thing the people of Farucci were all proud of — their arts. If it was before, Madam Schroder would’ve reacted in the same manner as those ministers if she heard someone was actually learning arts from a demon.
But...
“The ‘uncivilized demon’ that you spoke of had written a script far superior to the works of every one of you here. The amount of audiences that enjoyed his work far is over a hundred... or perhaps a thousand times more than you lousy third-rate scriptwriters.”
Madam Schroder showed no quarter in ridiculing these ministers. She felt like she was back on stage performing a ‘satire.’
“That demon’s work simply cannot be called art!” A minister angered by Madam Schroder raised his voice.
“Minister Farmar, I remember... you were in Norland’s World Expo.”
Madam Schroder recognized that man. She once again turned to look at the ministers and senators present.
Even though these ministers and senators had never managed theatrical troupes directly, they were all investors and collaborators of Farucci’s well-known theatrical troupes. Some were even playwrights.
That Minister Farmar was not someone ignorant of the new performance in Norland. Instead, he was only here because he knew about the existence of movies...
At this moment, Madam Schroder realized the true intentions of these people here.
“You all... are this afraid?” Madam Schroder’s eyes ran across the stubborn and conservative ministers and senators, “Are you this scared of the thing you’re so immensely proud of being exceeded by a demon from a race you deemed uncivilized?”
“You...”
“Enough.”
The king waved his hand to put an halt to this meaningless argument. Then, he had a knight come to the center of the court.
The knight was holding a sparkling and translucent originium crystal. That was none other than the originium crystal holding a recording of the movie ‘Léon: The Demon.’
“Karana, this originium crystal was discovered in your luggage. As my teacher is not in the country, we ended up having Master Mola appraise it... The result of our appraisal is that this originium crystal is indeed something created by a demon.”
“But, that originium crystal is also a work of art. It is the most outstanding work of art in all the years since the founding of my Black Swan Theatrical Troupe,” said Madam Schroder.
“....most outstanding work of art? Although I am very interested in it, I cannot eliminate that this could possibly be a tool the demons used for their invasion,” The king examine Madam Schroder, “Karana, since you said it was not the demons that invaded the Blackwood Forest, who... burned down that forest and enraged the Grand Duke of Blackwood?”
“The Nation of the Holy Church’s Heresy Tribunal, Your Majesty,” Madam Schroder’s tone grew increasingly ice-cold, “Those treacherous inquisitors possessed the ability to change their appearance. They’ve disguised as my husband, set fire to the Blackwood Forest and left thousands of Blackwood Elves homeless.”
“Nation of the Holy Church...”
After hearing that, the king started thinking. Farucci was weaker than the Nation of the Holy Church. They were also neither ally or enemy with the Nation of the Holy Church.
But, what Madam Schroder said was equivalent to pushing Farucci to become hostile toward the Nation of the Holy Church. If the king was to believe in Madam Schroder, it would mean that a crisis of war would befall Farucci.
While Farucci’s king was not afraid of war, he was not someone who wished to see a meaningless war.
“And your proof?” he asked.
Madam Schroder took a glance around. She did not find the Blackwood Elf girl. It would appear that the witness had failed to infiltrate into the court.
Furthermore, while the testimony from the Blackwood Elves might excuse her from the crime she was accused of, she would not be satisfied with only that.
She wanted the Nation of the Holy Church to pay for their actions. She wanted to imprison those damned missionaries and allow the people of Farucci to learn that the Nation of the Holy Church was their enemy instead of a potential ally.
She needed more concrete proof... Only with that would she have the confidence to ask the king to demolish the churches from the Nation of the Holy Church and lead their army to assault that country!
“I believe... I possess sufficient evidence to prove who our enemies are, Your Majesty.”
Suddenly, an aged voice sounded from behind Madam Schroder. Madam Schroder turned around and discovered that it was not that Blackwood Elf. Instead, the person who appeared was a white-haired old man.
When the king saw that old man, he immediately stood up from his seat.
“Teacher Morgan, you’ve... finally returned?” asked the king.
“I’ve seen a lot of unforgettable things in Norland. Because of that, I’ve stayed there a bit longer. Now, please uncuff Miss Karana. She’s innocent.”
Morgan slowly entered the court. None of the ministers dared to stop him. Then, Morgan took out an originium crystal and activated it with his magic power.
“The evidence is here...”
Dazzling light emitted from the orignium crystal in Morgan’s hand. An image was reflected to the court’s wall. Everyone’s eyes gathered at that wall.
“Woof!”
The next moment, a yellow field hound appeared on the screen. With excitement, the dog leaped to ‘Professor Parker.’
“Teacher Morgan, this... is....” The king watched as his teacher was having fun with a hunting dog on the screen. He was truly unable to connect that with the burning of the Blackwood Forest.
“I’ve grown old. My memories aren’t as good as before. My apologies everyone, I’ve grabbed the wrong one. This should be the one.”
Morgan retrieved the orignium crystal with ‘Hachiko: A Dog’s Tale’ and took out another originium crystal. When this originium crystal projected its image to the wall, what appeared was much more dismal.
“These pictures recorded those indiscriminate murderers’ actions in the Blackwood Forest. Your Majesty... your country is being shrouded by these shadows.”