Victory at the TrialThe trial started.
Alright Rosary, you’re up.
One of Governor Golder’s corrupt judges slowly stood up.
“So, after I’ve… I [1] have given the matter careful consideration, I find the defendant not guilty. I mean, it ain’t right! And if it ain’t right then it’s wrong! That’s how the world works!”
Since this was a manner of speech completely unexpected from the judge, confused chatter broke out in the courtroom.
Yup, that’s right. We had Rosary possess him.
There wasn’t any chance of us losing this trial.
I mean, we had Rosary after all.
“It ain’t right but here’s evidence. Whoa, what do we have here? The actual doc.u.ments that Harukara submitted to the governor? This means she ain’t no criminal after all!”
The bearded judge that Rosary was currently possessing slammed the doc.u.ments down.
The hall descended into chaos. I’m sure n.o.body was expecting this development.
We used the invisibility magic to sneak into Governor Golder’s estate. Once inside, we found the doc.u.ments and stole them.
This was really something that should’ve been disposed of right away. Our opponent was careless in the end.
“That’s a forgery! There’s no way it can exist!”, yelled Governor Golder.
If those doc.u.ments were the real thing then the one at fault here would be the governor. That was why he was starting to get desperate.
“Yeah, I dunno, I have in my hand written certifications from thirty jurists guaranteeing the authenticity of these doc.u.ments. Check it out yo!”
This time, the judge being possessed by Rosary slammed the certifications down.
We used Sharusha’s connections for those.
Sharusha was acquainted with a lot of liberal arts professors and we reached out to all of them to ask them to certify that the doc.u.ments we had were authentic. Although, since they really were the actual doc.u.ments, everyone quickly replied with a “Yes, they’re real”. Everything down to the governor’s signature had no trace of having been forged.
“I’ll say it now, with this as evidence, it’s obvious whether she’s innocent or guilty! Harukara had a license to start her factory and sell medicine. No crime happened here! If there’s anyone who thinks otherwise, stand up and prove it! — And having said that, I’m just gonna step out real quick to go to the toilet.”
As part of the plan, Rosary should be heading to the courtyard to dive into the pond in order to split herself from the body.
— Then, she’d move on to the next judge. It would seem too unnatural if she were to keep possessing the same person after all.
After a while, the now-drenched judge came back to his seat with a perplexed face.
At this time, a second judge suddenly spoke up.
“Woah, there’s a ton of a records from a judge here! Hold up, these are all records of the governor taking bribes! Well I’ll be d.a.m.ned!”
Once again, the hall was caught up in a strange atmosphere.
“No, I’m being framed! This is some kind of conspiracy!”, the governor yelled with a pale face. There’s no way he can take it easy now.
“But we already have jurists certifying that these are admissible as evidence you know~ And not just one or two people. It’s enough people that you can’t just brush it off as someone trying to frame you!”
“When did you steal those!”
“‘Steal’? Which means, you did have them at one point?”
The governor’s face had the look of someone who knew they messed up.
“Hoho, looks like the villain has shown his true colors. Is it time for your just deserts?”
Someone barged in in a panic. Probably one of the governor’s subordinates.
“It’s an emergency! The n.o.bles and statesmen have signed a letter to impeach the governor!”
We sent the doc.u.ments proving Golder’s bribery to all his political enemies. Since the enemy of my enemy is my friend after all, they happily lent us a hand.
With Leica’s travel speed, getting the signatures in a few days was a simple matter. Since we had irrefutable evidence, it was easy to go against the governor.
Looks like there’s nothing left for the attorney and prosecutor to do. This has turned into a “Crush the Corrupted Governor’ event.
“Alright defendant Harukara, I’m sure you have a lot to say so go for it!”
With a slow nod, Harukara stood up.
With a victorious expression, she switched to battle mode.
“Ehm, so without a doubt, I did submit the doc.u.ments~. Though then they asked me to include something like a bribe right~ Since I wasn’t sure what that meant, I wasn’t able to send a proper bribe. After that they just came and arrested me. It was all groundless! Groundless means you can’t plant herbs properly so that’s really troublesome you know~. But, thanks to the judges here having my actual doc.u.ments, I’ve been saved. Personally, I feel that the real criminals here should be punished with something like the wrath of heaven, but that’s that. Oh, also, If I could get another permit, i’d like to keep selling Nutritious Alcohol and a ton of other stuff. I’d be glad to have your patronage. That’s all from me.”
Her story was all over the place but that’s fine. Things were drawing to a close.
But the final blow has yet to come.
Another one of the governor’s subordinates rushed in.
“I have something to report! A crowd has gathered in front of the courthouse… They’re demanding a fair trial and the governor’s removal from office…”
This was a result of us lowering our heads and requesting related parties for their help.
There were many who were unsatisfied with the corrupt provincial governor, but individually, they were too weak to speak out and kept silent.
But now that I’ve gathered them all here, everyone found the courage to speak out.
We started by gathering the people in Furata village and Nasukute town who were familiar with us. If we were to request their help, they’d accept without question. Once we gathered them, they in turn gathered more people from the neighboring regions to form a protest.
This was now our complete victory.
The prosecutor did try to force a retrial under the grounds that the courthouse had gone into chaos. But, well, put it another way, calling for a retrial was the only thing the prosecutor could do.
The evidence was perfect so the governor couldn’t refute it and he had no choice but to claim that he had forgotten about the doc.u.ments. With that declaration, Harukara’s innocence was a.s.sured.
Although it didn’t just end at that.
Golder resigned as governor on the spot. But honestly, if he could be forgiven with just that, then there would be no need for the judicial system. He was arrested immediately after leaving the courthouse.
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
Well, this is more or less what happens when you pick a fight with the witch’s household… Next up is the aftermath.
[1] Rosary used atashi, which is normally how she refers to herself, before switching to washi