"This is a fraud! I saw it with my own two eyes! That slut acting cute between a man’s legs like some vulgar whore!"
Kate’s cry brought the chapel into silence in an instant.
Only then did Kate realize that the looks directed at her were anything but normal.
Then Ian, the only man present, spoke up.
"Honorable Inquisitor, may I say a word?"
He walked up before Claudia and stated his opinion.
"I imagine you are troubled by the contradiction between Sister Kate’s testimony and Sister Reina’s chastity."
"That is correct. However, Sister Reina has proven her chastity, so I intend to conclude the trial here."
"But the stain of suspicion will not disappear. Therefore, I will resolve that contradiction for you."
"..."
At Ian’s answer, Claudia merely stared at him in silence.
Claudia attempted to distinguish truth from falsehood in Ian’s statement with the Scales’ Needle, and its balance tipped toward truth at his words.
"How do you propose to do that?"
Ian smiled at Claudia’s question.
Claudia did not realize it herself, but Ian had noticed the flaw in her miracle.
"In my limited judgment, the truth revealed by the Scales’ Needle seems to reflect only what its subject believes to be true. If I am correct, then a contradiction could easily arise if someone mistakes a falsehood for the truth."
"In other words, are you suggesting that Sister Kate may have been hypnotized or had her memories altered?"
"Nor can we rule out the possibility that she suffered a severe shock and lost her mind."
Pointing at Kate, Ian calmly continued.
"Once, at a tavern, I heard a man proudly boasting about how he had slept with a nun. I cannot help but wonder whether the nun he spoke of was Sister Kate. Therefore, I propose that we use the Holy Demon’s Horn on her."
"W-wait! My chastity has nothing to do with this trial!"
Kate tried to resist, but the Inquisitor showed no mercy.
"Cassandra, please verify it."
"Yes."
When the Holy Demon’s Horn touched Kate, unlike with Reina, the horn that had been pure white turned black.
That proved Kate was not a virgin.
"Sister Kate, how do you explain this?"
"Th-that..."
Utterly dazed, Kate fell to her knees.
With nowhere left to retreat, she intended to confess her sin and at least preserve a shred of her own safety.
But before she could speak, Ian opened his mouth first.
"Inquisitor, this is what I believe happened. She was raped by a village man, and the shock of losing her chastity drove her mad. That is why she suffered a delusion upon seeing Sister Reina and me. She claimed that it was Sister Reina, not herself, who had lost her chastity."
At Ian’s assertion, the nuns gathered in the chapel began to murmur.
If his claim was true, it explained the contradiction to some extent.
Why had Kate’s testimony contradicted Reina’s chastity?
Because Kate’s testimony was wrong.
Kate had spoken nothing but the truth, so why was it wrong?
Because she was insane.
Why had she gone insane?
Kate had been raped by someone, and the shock had driven her mad.
Everyone present naturally followed that chain of thought.
Yet if one scrutinized Ian’s argument point by point, there were parts that felt forced.
But no one there took the time to carefully mull over every claim he had made.
After all, what mattered in an inquisition was momentum, and Ian knew better than anyone how to use it.
Just like that, Kate was transformed into a victim of rape.
"Sob... So that was what happened. Sister Kate, it’s all right now. You do not have to carry all those wounds by yourself anymore. From now on, we will embrace you and care for you."
Kate could not say a word as Reina warmly wrapped her in an embrace.
She only watched the reactions around her and kept her mouth shut.
Because she was now a raped victim, a woman who had gone mad.
There was no longer anyone who would believe her words or even listen to them seriously.
"Brother, can you tell us who this man you mentioned is?"
"I will lead you to him myself."
All she could do now was look at the man who had orchestrated this situation with fearful eyes.
"However, may I conduct the trial myself?"
. . .
Daevon, famous as the village playboy, went from one lover’s home to another as usual today.
"Honey, you’ll spend time with me today, right?"
"Sorry, I want to rest today. Yesterday’s hangover is killing me."
"All right. Get plenty of rest at home today."
Most of his lovers were prostitutes ostracized by the village.
With his handsome face and smooth words that soothed a woman’s loneliness, there was not a prostitute who would not fall for him.
"And could I get a little spending money?"
"S-spending money? H-here."
Daevon parasitized women who made their living by selling their bodies.
He knew better than anyone that women with nowhere else to go had no man but him to rely on.
Life is easy. Being handsome really is the best.
Mocking the men who sweated as they worked, Daevon pocketed the money his lover had given him and headed for a gambling den.
Then disaster struck him.
Baaang!
"W-what the hell?"
"Are you Daevon?"
Taller than most men, with a muscular build.
A woman who looked less like a nun and more like a holy knight.
Cassandra threatened Daevon with a morningstar.
"W-who are you?"
"I am an Inquisitor. You are under emergency arrest for the crime of defilement."
"Fuck, what the hell are you talking about?!"
Daevon tried to flee, but he could not escape the grasp of an Inquisitor with hero-class talent.
"Daevon, what is going on?"
"Kaelen!"
When Kaelen, the captain of the village watch, arrived amid the commotion, Daevon let out a sigh of relief.
He had vaguely believed that the strongest man in the village would save him.
"You may try to stop me if you wish, but if you interfere with my work, I will deem you a heretic."
"..."
But Kaelen was intimidated by the Inquisitor’s presence before he could do anything.
Ever since what Reina had done to him, he had developed a fear of nuns.
"Kaelen, you pathetic bastard! You’re scared of some bitch?"
"S-shut the fuck up, you bastard! I don’t want to be branded a heretic because of you!"
With the captain of the watch backing down, the other watchmen could only stand around blankly and observe.
And so Daevon was dragged all the way to the front of the church.
People began to gather outside the church in response to the commotion.
"What on earth is happening?"
"Looks like Daevon got himself into some trouble."
"Everyone, be quiet. Didn’t you hear what that nun said earlier? We could get branded heretics for no reason."
While everyone held their breath and watched, Ian stepped forward before them.
"In place of the Inquisitor, I, a member of Entiel Village and an honorary believer, will preside over this inquisition. I further declare to all that this trial is being conducted before Goddess Helia."
At Ian’s words, everyone began to murmur.
"A-an inquisition?"
"It looks like something really did happen."
"Isn’t this going to be serious?"
Everyone sensed that the situation was grave, including the bound Daevon.
Watching their reactions, Ian posed a question to Daevon.
"Does the defendant admit to violating Sister Kate?"
"N-no. I don’t know any nun like that!"
"False. Your claim that you do not know her is also false."
Daevon lied in order to save himself, but the scales had already moved.
"The defendant has lied before Goddess Helia. Furthermore, the defendant knew Sister Kate and violated her."
Ian explained the situation while facing the crowd.
He did so to incite them.
"The next question. Did the defendant approach Sister Kate knowing that a nun who had lost her chastity had nowhere to go?"
"Fuck, I said I don’t know!"
"That too is false."
"The defendant has used profanity before Goddess Helia and approached the victim knowing that a nun who had lost her chastity had nowhere to go."
"No! I did to Kate—"
"Defendant, during this trial, you will answer only my questions."
Daevon tried to argue his innocence, but Ian cut him off so that he could not say anything unnecessary.
"Now for the final question. Did the defendant boast to his friends that he had violated a nun and recommend that they do the same?"
"H-how do you know that?"
Ian’s question sent chills down Daevon’s spine.
He had said those words only when he was with his gang.
No one but those bastards was there. How does he know about it?
Daevon’s question did not continue any further.
Ian began publicly listing every one of his crimes.
"The defendant exploited a nun’s circumstances to defile the body of one who should have been sacred."
"Even after committing such a grave crime, the defendant showed no remorse and instead displayed an attitude of pride."
"He even recommended it to acquaintances, encouraging them to commit the same sin."
"These are clearly crimes of blasphemy, defilement, and aiding and abetting."
With every word Ian spoke, the crowd’s rage swelled.
And that rage poured down upon Daevon without mercy.
"You piece of trash!"
"Die!"
"You disgrace to the village!"
They looked ready to tear Daevon apart and kill him on the spot.
At the same time, Claudia determined Daevon’s punishment.
"In accordance with doctrine, I sentence the defendant to castration, tongue removal, and public humiliation."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
With the sound of the gavel striking, the fate of the freest playboy in the village was decided.
"No! That’s not true! I didn’t rape her! Fuck, that bitch wanted it too!"
Daevon insisted on his innocence, but the enraged crowd no longer listened to him.
"Bring me a hammer! I’ll crush this bastard’s balls myself."
"Rip out his tongue! No, pull out his teeth too!"
"This bastard’s resisting. Break his arms and legs!"
"Hurry up and bring the stocks! We have to torment him until the Ceremony of Light is over!"
Daevon’s crimes no longer mattered to the crowd.
They merely unleashed their malice on a toy they could legally destroy.
"You have all worked very hard."
And smiling, Ian, who had created this entire situation, left the scene.
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