NOVGO.NET Chapter 1168: I’m A Criminal?
Chapter 1168: I’m A Criminal?
I let Katsuki inform the others of what happened while I was escorted by those unfriendly looking guards to what I guess was a police station of sorts.
I could only guess that it was some kind of police station since the people here were clearly wearing a sort of uniform but not the armour that the gate guards were wearing.
I was then escorted into a cell which they told me to wait inside until someone called for me to interrogate me.
Yeah… I’m going to make a guess that the Off-Worlder also had a hand in making this system too…
Why didn’t I just make a scene and fight back against them to stop myself from getting caught? Well… Despite me not leaving any names and indication of where I was going after that event, they still somehow managed to track me down not even half a day after.
So that means they either have a way to track me or they had someone follow me without me realising it.
Either way, if I had fought back there, they might still track me down and make our stay here difficult.
It might also implicate Emilia and make it difficult for her to do more business here because of it which was something that I did not want.
So unless I knew for sure that there would be no repercussions to fighting back, I’ll just play the role of a harmless tourist.
Or… If they force me to fight back of course, then I won’t hold back.
Incidentally, I wasn’t alone in the cell as there were two others who were also locked here with me.
Both of them looked like female Mahuns and they said nothing ever since I walked in here.
One of them had crimson red hair that stretched to her lower back while the other had shoulder length pink hair that reached her shoulders.
Since I don’t know when they would come back for me, I decided to try and talk to them to pass the time.
“So… What are the both of you in here for?”
The pink haired one looked away, clearly not interested in talking while the red haired one narrowed her eyes at me.
“I’m here for a crime I didn’t commit.”
I blinked at her, “What a coincidence, so did I? What crime are you accused of in that case?”
That question seemed to set her off as she slammed the wall beside her with her fist, “They dared claim that I was caught pickpocketing! Then accused me of passing the stolen purse to an accomplice before I was caught! Now they are asking me where my accomplice is when all that never happened to begin with! That guy who reported me was obviously a scammer and they still believed him!”
The pink haired one snorted, “Are you sure? Because with how you had been acting earlier… With all the cursing, swearing and flailing around, I’m pretty sure you actually are a criminal.”
The red haired Mahun turned to scowl at her, “Compared to you who had just been silently brooding the entire time? I bet you’re just staying quiet because you know you are guilty of your crimes!”
“Hmph… That could not be further from the truth and I know my case would be cleared up easily.”
“Oh yeah? What did you get thrown here for? Littering?”
“That just goes to show how clueless you are,” She shook her head, as though pitying the red haired woman. “Someone was killed and they also had pink hair which was why I got brought in. But I have an alibi for every single day that I was here so there’s no way it could have been me. Once I tell them that, they would know immediately that I’m innocent.”
I frowned, “So… Basically everyone here was wrongfully accused?”
The red haired woman turned to narrow her eyes at me, “You’re the only one who hasn’t said what you’re here for. So what did you do? Kill someone?”
“No… The prime minister’s son bumped into me on accident and I was accused of attempted assassination of him and his guard.”
Both girls stared at me, clearly still trying to comprehend what I just told them.
“You tried to kill the prime minister’s son?” The pink haired one muttered.
I huffed at her, “I just told you he ran into me accidentally. Sure, he fell over but I even healed him up. Then his bodyguard just started attacking me with his sword and I didn’t even fight back and dodged him. Yet now he’s accusing me of trying to kill both of them when I did not even wield a weapon during the entire encounter.”
For some reason, both of them didn’t look convinced by my explanation and were looking at me like I was just making up excuses.
Why the heck would my story be unbelievable? You have one person who got accused of murder and another who was accused of stealing, yet both of you seem quite ready to believe the other was wrongfully accused.
So why is trying to kill the prime minister’s son not a possible wrongful accusation too?
Before I could even ask them that, the door to the cell clicked open and we turned to see a group of those men stepping inside again, all of them looking quite unfriendly.
One of them pointed at me, “You, criminal. Back towards the wall over there with the others.”
Geez… I haven’t even been convicted yet and you’re already calling me a criminal? This is defamation I say!
Still, I kept my mouth shut and went over to where the other two were seated and joined them at the wall.
The group of men then parted ways to allow a rather smartly dressed, middle aged Inugami man enter the cell, three distinct scrolls held under his arm.
He looked at the three of us with narrowed eyes before pulling out one of the scrolls to unfurl it.
He then turned to look at the red haired woman, “You… We’ve found the missing purse.”
She perked up, “That means it’s not me, right?!”
“We found it on your accomplice and they admitted that you were the mastermind behind it all. We have already checked the Mana Detector and your mana signature was on the purse as well. You are guilty.”
Mana detector? Oh, the thing that registers your mana when you enter the city right?
Woah… Wait… So she was really guilty all along? I actually believed her when she said she was wrongfully accused…
The red haired woman’s mouth hung open in shock, most likely because she didn’t know about the detector thing and thought she could just make up an excuse to pretend she was innocent.
“Wait… I… I…” She muttered but the guy was having none of it.
He pointed at her, “Activate, silence.”
The woman’s mouth immediately shut closed and she clawed at her mouth, muffled screams coming from behind her lips but no words came out from her.
I’m guessing there’s some kind of enchantment in this room that allows him to do that?
He then handed the scroll over to one of those guys behind him before he pulled out another scroll to unfurl it.
This time, he turned to the pink haired woman, “You… You claim that you didn’t murder the victim but your mana signature was literally all over the corpse. Definitely guilty.”
The pink haired woman started to shout, “You liar! I was literally with that tour guide when we just happened to walk there! You–”
“Activate, silence.”
The woman’s mouth immediately clamped shut and the rest of her words became muffled screams.
Unlike the red haired woman who stood where she was after she was silenced, the pink haired one didn’t stand still and tried to charge at the guy, her hands raised in an obvious attempt to strangle him.
I thought the guards would move in to subdue her but the guy just pointed his finger at her and muttered in an almost bored tone, “Activate, chain.”
Ethereal chains shot out from the wall and wrapped around the pink haired woman’s waist and limbs before pulling her back towards the wall, holding her up and preventing her from moving.
I frowned at the sight of that.
One person who insisted they were wrongfully accused but found to be guilty… Sure.
But two? Don’t tell me…
I turned to the guy and he unfurled the last scroll while turning to me, “You. We’ve eyewitness accounts of you drawing your blade and exchanging blows with the prime minister’s son’s bodyguard. There were also traces of your magic indicating you had used offensive magic at both the bodyguard and the child. Definitely guilty.”
I knew it… This wasn’t a real investigation at all. They’ve already decided we were guilty from the very beginning.
I kept my mouth shut and just stared at the guy and he just collected the scrolls he had handed over to the guard back before waving in our direction.
“All three of them are guilty. Proceed with their sentences.”
He then left the cell without another word, making me wonder just what were these guys going to do.
They shut the door behind them and then I realised their unfriendly faces had turned to sinister smirks, all of them obviously stripping the three of us with their eyes before they slowly advanced towards us.
…
Are you serious?
Is this why they’re doing this? What the hell?! You’ve got to be kidding me!