Chapter 397: The Testimony Falls Apart

I had laid that bare for all to see.

Judge Nikolaus was thoroughly flustered.

The proceedings had strayed completely from the question of witchcraft.

"Baron of Rosenheim! Do you dare publicly denounce the sacred law of the Church as wrong?!"

"Whatever do you mean? When did I say it was wrong?"

"You preached to this audience just now that the law is wrong!"

"You misunderstand, judge. I told these people it is a frightening law. I never once said it was a wrong one."

Every word matters. I hadn’t criticized the Church; I had merely explained, in plain terms, how terrifying this law could be. Nikolaus seemed at a loss for words and could press me no further.

At just the right moment, the chief monk took my side.

"Speaking in my capacity as chief monk, there is no problem whatsoever with his lordship’s remarks."

"Judge, his lordship merely explained things in terms the witnesses of this sacred trial could easily understand."

Once even Andreas stepped up to defend me, Nikolaus could raise no further objections. The chief monk’s office spoke for the Bishopric of Lanseh, so his support carried enormous weight.

The Bishopric of Lanseh and Nikolaus were not on the same side. From the bishopric’s perspective, the papacy is far away and the ruler of this land is close at hand, so openly opposing me would have been a heavy burden.

And so, to avoid provoking Nikolaus further, I returned to my seat of honor. Lord of this land or not, I was no clergyman, and there were limits to how much I could throw my weight around.

Andreas, however, picked up the baton.

He asked Norman for his reasons.

"Brother Hennings, you are well versed in Church law, and yet I cannot understand why you would accuse someone of witchcraft. Would you explain your reasons in detail before this sacred court?"

"I merely filed the accusation as Dressel wanted."

"You mean you filed it not of your own will, but at another’s?"

"Yes. I swear it before the Lord."

With all the blame suddenly landing on him, Dressel lost his head and exploded.

"You son of a bitch! When did I ever tell you to file charges?! You did that on your own!"

"Did you not constantly insist she was a witch, even in private, and say you would deal with her one day? I simply filed the accusation on your behalf, to spare you the trouble."

What a masterclass in shameless acting. It was Erich the gunner, standing guard at Erika’s side, who subdued Dressel as he thrashed and foamed at the mouth, cracking him with the stock of his arquebus like a man splitting firewood.

"No disturbances in this sacred court!"

"Grrk, damn you! You and your brother, both of you!"

Whack! Thud! Thud!

Erich pummeled Dressel as if venting every ounce of pent-up rage, and only after Ted threw himself in did they finally manage to pull Erich off. In the end, Erich was expelled from the courtroom, and another guard took his place.

Only after a limp Dressel had been forced back into his seat did the commotion die down. Naturally, Dressel’s cronies, who had watched every second of it, were gripped by terror. Father Andreas asked in a gentle voice:

"Brother, you testified that you saw the defendant seducing men on multiple occasions. Could you tell us specifically which men she seduced? Their names, please."

"Th-that’s..."

"Every single one of them, if you would."

Hmm, his mouth is smiling, but his eyes are not.

Father Andreas has an unexpected talent for interrogation. In the end, the accuser buckled under the pressure and gave four names, and in his panic he seems to have blurted out the names of his own cronies.

After all, the so-called seduced victims were a fabrication from the start.

Andreas nodded as if he’d expected as much.

"How curious. Every one of the victims happens to be an accuser. Why did you not mention this before?"

"W-we wanted to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings."

"Then tell me, brothers, how did you overcome the seduction of a witch who lay with Satan?"

"We are devout Christians, so we did not yield to the witch’s temptation!"

They crossed themselves clumsily and prayed. Men who had probably never made a proper sign of the cross in their lives had suddenly become pious Christians. Andreas studied the accusers closely and shook his head.

"In all my time since being assigned to the Feuzen church, I have never once seen you brothers at Mass."

"What magnificent Christians indeed!"

Laughter burst from the audience. They seemed to take it as a joke. Andreas then turned to question Erika. Sensing that the situation was improving by the minute, she seemed to have regained a good deal of her composure.

"Did you seduce these men, as the accusers claim?"

"I have never once seduced them! If anything, they were the ones who approached me, tried to force themselves on me, and harassed me endlessly, demanding I share their beds. That man Dressel was the most persistent of all!"

"Is this the truth? Do you swear it before God?"

"I swear it! I swear before God, Father! Sob!"

Erika finally burst into tears, falling to her knees in prayer. Andreas gently laid his palm on her head, as if to show that he believed her. One of the panicked accusers shouted:

"D-don’t spout that nonsense! You lecherous bitch who lay with Satan!"

"Silence! Who gave you permission to speak?!"

Whack!

Gaaah!

A gunner struck the accuser hard across the head with his gunstock. The gunner’s face was twisted with fury, and his hands trembled around his arquebus as if he were fighting desperately to restrain himself.

The gunners knew the witchcraft charge was a vicious frame-up, and they knew what their comrade Erich was going through, which is why they were so enraged. Then the fallen accuser was roughly hauled back to his feet. Andreas turned to me.

"My lord, if you are willing, would you assist with the interrogation?"

"I accept, Father. Gladly."

"Whatever else you do, there must be absolutely no torture."

"Don’t worry. I will honor your wishes, Father."

As long as it’s not torture, anything goes, right?

Judge Nikolaus, seeing me wade back in yet again, simply shut his eyes as if he’d given up entirely. This was what came of ruthlessly working my home-ground advantage. It was my domain, after all.

And all thanks to Andreas’s cooperation.

From here on, we were moving into my area of expertise.

"Now speak honestly. Was your testimony the truth?"

"That woman is a witch! Grrk! A witch, I tell you!"

"Hmm, lying to the very end, I see."

I’d been watching him through the Manager Scouter the whole time, and at this rate his lies were going to pass for the truth.

So I adjusted the well-mannered attitude I’d kept up throughout the trial.

I unleashed the 50% intimidation of a C-Rank Lord, along with the killing intent I’d honed on the battlefield. Andreas had insisted that torture and threats, at the very least, were off the table, but what I was doing right now was intimidation, plain and simple.

Still, I hadn’t laid a finger on the accuser, so technically I’d kept my word to Andreas. Even so, the man writhed as if he couldn’t breathe, and his eyes flooded with terror.

"Hrk! Hnngh! I-I lied! I gave false testimony! S-spare me..."

Unable to bear it, the accuser fainted on the spot.

His lower half was soaked through; he must have wet himself.

Hmm, at times like this, intimidation and undiluted killing intent come in remarkably handy. A battle-hardened veteran might withstand it, but on a two-bit punk like this, it works like a charm.

When battle breaks out, a warrior fights, but a punk runs. In fact, during the Battle of Feuzen, there were those who hid instead of fighting. Not everyone is brave, after all.

I let it slide without investigating at the time because the battle had only just ended and I didn’t want to stir things up. And judging by their conduct, these men were undoubtedly the ones who ran that day.

Grown men without an ounce of shame.

"The testimony was false?"

"They took a sacred oath, and they still had the gall!"

"So the witch business was a frame-up all along."

"Judge, the accuser has confessed to giving false testimony."

This is worlds apart from a modern trial. One-sided testimony and confessions extracted through threats were all perfectly acceptable in the trials of this era. So I applied intimidation and wrung a confession out of the accusers.

No one found any of this strange. They accepted it as a matter of course.

Nikolaus’s face crumpled completely. That an accuser who had taken a sacred oath had confessed to lying was itself blasphemy against the Church. As a zealous man of faith, he couldn’t conceal his fury.

"...How dare they turn a sacred oath into a lie!"

The special trial had descended into a shambles.