“Silvia Astra, I will give you a chance to defend yourself. Please explain why you involved the entire grade in such an act.”
As Diakonos spoke, the gaze of the crowd slowly turned toward the girl who had taken a step forward from where the students stood.
Receiving the full attention of the people, Sylvia felt an unusual tremor in her hands, which puzzled her.
Sylvia was used to being the focus of people’s eyes. Standing in a spot that attracted attention was something she had done countless times as the heir of Astra.
But why was she trembling now?
Even when she almost sliced her own throat moments ago, she hadn’t felt this level of fear—why was that?
Just as Sylvia was bewildered by her own state, she heard a student behind her make a hiccup, seemingly nervous.
At the sound, Sylvia instinctively took a sharp breath.
She saw students looking at her with worried yet trusting eyes, as if they believed in her words of taking responsibility.
In response to that trust from those who stood with her, Sylvia realized the source of her trembling.
Indeed.
What was standing here before her was not only her own fate but also the fate of those who believed in her.
In such a situation, how could she not tremble?
For a moment, doubts about whether she could pull this off flashed through Sylvia’s mind.
Cold sweat trickled down her back.
Ah, she had known, but now, faced with reality, she felt how heavy responsibility could be.
The pressure was almost nauseating.
However, she took a deep breath and forced her shoulders back.
It wasn’t a matter of whether she could succeed.
She had to do well for those who believed in her and helped Scarlet.
It’s alright, you can do this.
Muttering to herself, Sylvia clenched her fists and spoke.
“…If I have a justifiable reason, will you let it slide?”
“If there is a justifiable reason, yes. We wouldn’t want to lose the future heroes who will protect this city.”
In response to her question, Diakonos replied, which was precisely what Sylvia had hoped for.
Those aspiring heroes were essential resources in protecting the city of the future.
Even though they had committed a serious crime, executing all of them would be a great loss and risk.
Moreover, among those who participated in Scarlet’s escape yesterday was his daughter, Florene.
So, even in the worst-case scenario, death for them all was unlikely.
Sylvia thought like that, but then—
“Don’t think that just because my daughter was involved, the punishment will be lenient. It may be painful, but even if it’s my blood, there are no exceptions to punishment.”
Diakonos’s immediate follow-up crushed her previous thoughts and forced her to acknowledge her serious error.
From the cold, relentless look in his eyes, she could see his sincerity.
Hearing that he would punish even his own daughter, Sylvia swallowed hard.
“Therefore, I hope you have a reason that we all can accept. If not, we will have no choice but to execute your daughter.”
At those words, Sylvia bitterly smiled.
After all, it was foolish to expect the extreme stickler for principles to go easy on them.
The situation had turned out to be worse than she thought, but by letting go of her optimistic notions, her mind became clearer.
With her composure regained, Diakonos asked her.
“So, what is that reason?”
“…The reason we assisted the witch, Miss Scarlet, in her escape yesterday.”
At the question, Sylvia spoke confidently.
“That is because we judged her to be a ‘harmless witch.'”
And at those words, the expressions of most people in the assembly twisted into something bizarre.
“Harmless, witch…”
Someone snorted, muttering.
As if questioning how the terms “harmless” and “witch” could coexist.
Most would think the same.
In fact, Sylvia also held similar thoughts that weren’t far off from theirs.
“…What’s the basis for that judgment?”
“Something happened that led us to think so.”
In response to Diakonos’s question, Sylvia turned to where Jessie was standing.
“Miss Jessie Ruthenia over there encountered the witch when the order to hunt her down was issued yesterday.”
Upon those words, the gazes of the crowd shifted to the girl wrapped in bandages, her expression suggesting she was about to throw up from the tension.
Seeing her, someone asked.
“Why are you wrapped in bandages like that…?”
“Because she fought the witch.”
At Sylvia’s answer, someone shouted in surprise.
“What the…! We told you to avoid combat, why would you do something so reckless…!”
Worrying about Jessie, they then shouted at Sylvia with agitation.
“No, more importantly, how can a witch who has hurt someone be considered harmless—”
“Oh, no!”
It wasn’t Sylvia who retorted.
The one who shouted was the girl in the bandages, Jessie.
After momentarily hesitating under the intense stares, Jessie seemed to gather her resolve and shouted loudly.
“Don’t misunderstand! I got injured because I overexerted myself using my powers out of revenge against the witch! But Miss Scarlet didn’t fight back even once, she only worried about me and told me to stop! So please, don’t say anything bad about Miss Scarlet…!”
Having spoken up, her voice diminished at the end as she shrank under the collective gaze.
However, everyone surely heard what she said.
Sylvia addressed the crowd, which was still astonished by Jessie’s words.
“As Miss Jessie said, yesterday, Miss Scarlet did not lay a single finger on her, despite her attacking. On the contrary, she was worried about her and even offered help when Jessie pushed herself too hard. If Miss Scarlet had intended to harm anyone, she would not have acted that way. And there is one more person who encountered her. Dwight, would you care to share?”
When Sylvia spoke, Dwight, who was standing at the corner, nodded slightly and began to speak.
“I’m Dwight Neinhart. As Silvia said, I also met the witch in person yesterday and spoke with her. In my opinion, she is not someone who would cause harm to people.”
At Dwight’s words, some people fell silent.
The Neinhart family, known for their lineage of mages, was famous for not speaking lies.
There was no doubt that it held a certain level of persuasive power.
Yet still, there was someone who harbored suspicion.
“What if, to avoid punishment, they deliberately matched their stories?”
And as if anticipating that question, Sylvia pulled out a rod from her pocket.
“I thought you might say that. Could you take a look at this?”
“What is that…?”
Without needing to explain further, Sylvia pressed a button on the rod.
Light burst forth from the rod, projecting a video into the air.
The man appearing in the video was not in a school uniform but dressed as a current hero.
[…Is it being recorded right now? Ah, it is? Ugh… I wonder if it’s okay to do this.]
What Sylvia had pulled out was a magical tool that recorded video.
What was contained within it was the testimony of a man.
She silently thanked Sebastian once more for how hard he worked all night to accommodate her request.
While Sylvia was in gratitude, the man in the recording began to speak.
[That red-haired girl… I mean the one helped by the witch. Yesterday, I almost died battling the demonic beast that invaded the city, and she saved my life. She burned away the tentacles coming at me with flames. In the end, she was the one who took down the beast too. If things had dragged on any longer, there would have been more casualties, so you could say quite a few heroes owe her a debt of gratitude.]
[Anyway, since I owe her my life, I can’t go around saying that the witch is evil. Even if she did injure Captain Yoon Si-woo, she saved my life and defeated the beast, so that much is true. Did you say I can use this as a testimony? Go ahead, do as you wish. What’s the worst that can happen? If the witch turns out to be not a bad one as you say, I should pay my debt somehow…!]
That was the end of the video, and Sylvia addressed the crowd.
“This testimony is from someone who was helped by the witch, not us. Doesn’t this prove at least somewhat that Miss Scarlet isn’t a malevolent being?”
“Hmm…”
With the added testimony from someone unrelated to the incident, the people appeared to be deep in thought.
However, amidst them, one person remained expressionless.
“Isn’t it fact that the witch harmed Captain Yoon Si-woo?”
Diakonos said with a straight face.
Sylvia responded with a stiff expression.
“…That’s true. However, the only victim caused by her actions was Yoon Si-woo. Before and after that, she did not intend any harm to anyone. Perhaps, after being consumed by the beast, she just lost her sanity for a moment, and Captain Yoon Si-woo might have been the one who brought her back.”
Though it was a wishful thinking, it wasn’t an impossible theory.
Believing in both Yoon Si-woo and Scarlet, Sylvia genuinely thought that was the case.
“Perhaps that could be the case… though that’s just a hypothesis.”
But that was only Sylvia’s personal thought.
“Then I’ll share a hypothesis that I hold as well.”
Diakonos muttered, as though differing from her thoughts.
“The witch has actually been hiding her true nature all this time. The moment her true self was revealed, she fought Captain Yoon Si-woo, and realizing she was in danger due to her consumed strength, she cleverly deceived and used her acquaintances to escape the city.”
His expressionless demeanor made it seem as if he was simply denying her theory, which infuriated Sylvia.
“That’s…! That’s not true!”
“Right. It may not be true. Just like you said earlier, it remains a hypothesis.”
Yet Diakonos continued,
“But one cannot be entirely certain it’s not true.”
He spoke in a voice devoid of tone.
In her heart, she wanted to shout.
No, she could affirm that Scarlet was not a bad witch.
But before Sylvia could voice that, Diakonos continued.
“Among the famous tales related to witches, there is a story about the Witch of Lust, who was said to have initially disguised herself as a weak orphan just like any other ordinary girl.”
With those words, Sylvia shuddered.
Among the stories of the Witch of Lust, there was a well-known tale that spread throughout the land.
It was a story she knew, one she didn’t want to hear at that moment.
“So a man, not knowing her true identity, took pity on her and raised her as his adopted daughter. But as you may know, that story does not end well.”
Because,
“The man who raised the witch was killed by her. The city where he lived was also destroyed by that witch. And the few survivors who managed to escape that city concluded the tale of the witch with this.”
The moral of that story was:
“Never trust a witch.”
Never trust a witch at all.
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