Don Quixote's Reverie (7)
There was a faded memory.
Around the time I had just entered middle school, my teacher would sit me down beside them and talk to me.
“Muro.”
I remembered the warmth of the hand that stroked a sulking child’s head.
They held me there so I could not run away, tucking me into a light embrace.
Deep down, I liked that easygoing air.
Even if I frowned for no reason and pouted.
“Are you very angry?”
In an orphan’s world, they were the only gentle person.
“Teacher knows. Of course I know.”
“How cruelly the world treated our Muro, and how much it hurt our Muro...”
It was around the time puberty had begun creeping up on me.
I spent most of my days filled with resentment.
I hated everything in the world.
The parents who abandoned me, the school I struggled to fit into, the people who laughed at me and pitied me. Even the world that had driven me into such a fate...
Looking back, maybe I had realized early on that my life was worthless, and I wanted to sink into rage.
“But still, Muro.”
“You mustn’t let go of everything.”
Whenever those young steps faltered, there was a hand that calmly caught me.
My teacher accepted me without once getting annoyed.
“Teacher... wants Muro to forgive people.”
“I want you to believe things can get better.”
“In the end, everyone can change.”
“Whether it’s the world you hate, or the people you think will never change...”
Old-fashioned nonsense.
If any other adult had said it, I would have dismissed it that way, but I could not do that to my teacher.
Because I knew their devotion.
The teacher who spent their own money to hand out snacks, who always worked without even taking holidays.
The teacher who carried the orphanage children on their back and ran to the hospital whenever they got sick.
Because they were someone like that, I quietly listened.
“It might still be hard for Muro to understand... but still, I think people always have to believe in people.”
“I’m sure Muro can change too.”
“Because Teacher believes in our Muro.”
The child rejected by the world learned about the world in arms that were not a parent’s.
My teacher held out their pinky finger to me.
“So Teacher will promise you.”
“Until the day our Muro becomes a wonderful adult, Teacher will always stay by your side and watch over you.”
Belief.
The idea that change needed belief.
“Good boy, our Muro.”
I could no longer deny those words.
After all, the things you told me changed me in the end.
Even though you, of all people, left before I became an adult.
‘Teacher.’
Maybe always. Or maybe only sometimes.
I might have wanted to be like you.
***
“......”
Before I knew it, the courtroom had been dyed pitch-black.
Ominous shadows rippled over the ice, as if ink had been poured across it.
At the center of that darkness, on the judge’s bench, sat a handful of warped haze.
‘That’s...’
What was that?
I stared blankly up at it.
The dignified judge from moments ago was gone, and only some thing with a ferocious presence remained there.
Only the judicial robe, barely intact here and there, revealed the outline of the Grand Justice.
Ding-!
[Name: ■■ ■■■ ■■■(E̷̡͕̲͔͉̘̥̞͒́̏́͌̓̀̎͞r̵̢͖̬̘͎̉̎̈͞r҉̡͕̰͍̭̳̪̭҇̽̒̅̆̌̏̂o̶̧̠͉͈̿̓͝r̵̡̥͍̯͎̫̜̦̾̾̐̕)]
-Race: ???
-Classification: ?҈̢̲̤͍̜̈́̎̚͞?̷̡̛͓̩̤̮̪̍̀͊̍͂̾́́?̶̨̝͙̿̎̏́̔̿͆͡
-Description: ???̶͖͕͎̋́͑̑̂̕͢ͅ
The status window had already been blackened with Corruption.
Cold sweat ran down my back.
‘Fuck.’
What the hell was I facing?
What had swallowed the Grand Justice?
What was that ominous aura?
No, setting aside all the other problems first...
‘It knows me.’
Kim Muro.
It had called out the three syllables of my name.
On top of that, it had even recited bits of my previous life.
‘Impossible.’
Maybe it was because it had struck somewhere unexpected.
For a moment, I lost myself.
‘There’s no way anyone in this world should know that...’
In that brief time, countless thoughts flashed through my head.
The overbearing pressure crushed down on my shoulders, making my body stagger every now and then.
“Ugh...”
Ranne was the same.
The blond girl stood there with her face gone white.
She seemed to want to do something, but because of the rule that [Silence must be maintained in the courtroom], she could not act rashly.
It was the right call.
Nothing good would come from provoking that thing.
Ranne clenched her fists tight and forced down her tension.
“Kim, Muro... orphanage, burned down?”
Had she still caught the Grand Justice’s words in the middle of all that?
Ranne murmured as if turning a few phrases over in her mouth.
The Grand Justice had suddenly changed, then started pouring out a flood of nonsense.
The girl glanced around as if wanting an explanation, but unfortunately, idle chatter was impossible during a trial.
‘What is this? What the hell possessed it...?’
Besides, I knew nothing about the current situation either.
Questions sank endlessly.
An ominous feeling from an unknown source gnawed at my heart bit by bit.
Whether I liked it or not, it kept throwing questions at me.
<Defendant, answer.>
<Do you truly believe in humans?>
The Grand Justice’s way of speaking had changed before I knew it.
I did not answer rashly.
‘Since it’s continuing the questions... the form of the trial hasn’t broken yet, has it?’
The black haze only asked questions from where it stood.
The Grand Justice’s [rules] must still have been applying.
It could not recklessly harm a defendant who had not been sentenced.
In other words, it could not touch me, since I was not yet a criminal.
‘That doesn’t mean I can keep delaying my answer forever.’
Refusing to respond meant I was not properly participating in the trial.
There was a high chance the verdict would turn bad.
‘The best choice is... to answer just enough and buy time to prepare.’
I slowly rummaged inside my robe.
Right after that, with my other hand, I sent Ranne a simple hand signal.
‘A clash may break out at any moment, so stay alert.’
It was at an angle the Grand Justice could not see.
Ranne’s eyes settled after she caught the signal.
Then I answered the question that had been left hanging.
“No. I do not believe in them.”
<Hooh?>
The question was whether I truly believed in humans.
I shook my head without hesitation.
I knew lies were useless.
If placed on the scales, the false side would be blown away in the end.
“I will make my defense on this matter.”
<I allow it.>
A long time had passed since my teacher died, but I still did not believe in people.
The opposite of what they had wished.
Well, that did not really matter.
That was not the important part anyway.
“The point of this trial was [Do you have a value you regard as more important than your own life?] Nowhere did it state that I must be acting on that value. What matters is the heart. I have not put my belief in people into action, but I certainly do believe that it is important. Enough to place it above my own life. As proof, did the scales not tilt?”
<......>
“As you said, Your Honor, I do not believe in humans. But that has nothing to do with this trial. I would appreciate it if you did not forget the subject of the current trial.”
<......>
The Grand Justice listened in silence.
What it gave after that silence was, surprisingly, acceptance.
<Yes, I acknowledge it.>
<There is no reason a value one regards as important must be actively practiced.>
The black haze rippled.
It felt like it was accepting my defense.
But the judge’s words did not end with acceptance.
<However.>
<Nothing is as meaningless as a value that is not put into action.>
<I acknowledge the defendant’s defense, but I cannot say there is no guilt.>
Damn it.
So it was going to turn out like this after all.
‘The verdict standard has changed from the original Grand Justice’s.’
Which meant the one giving the verdict was not the Grand Justice, but the thing possessing it.
The black haze raised the gavel.
Right after that, a sentence was handed down to the defendant.
<Defendant, Kim Muro.>
<Death.>
Bang, bang, bang.
The gavel struck the block three times.
Immediately after, the judge’s body, which had been fixed to the bench, was released.
“Miss Ranne!”
I quickly stepped forward.
I grabbed the blond girl and threw myself aside.
Kwaaaang-!
A deafening rupture.
The heavy aftershock shoved us away and sent us flying.
“Kh...”
The spot where we had been standing just before.
The gavel had fallen there.
The haze stood motionless before it.
Even though it had only been a casual strike, the courtroom had been smashed apart.
<You should not dodge.>
<Come closer, and meekly receive your sin.>
It was overwhelming firepower.
If I converted it to Javert units, it would be roughly 0.7 Javerts.
The original Grand Justice had not been this strong, so the thing possessing it seemed to be influencing it.
‘I can’t win head-on...!’
Kwaaaang-!
The gavel slammed into the floor again.
Like an iceberg splitting apart, the courtroom shook and crumbled.
I rummaged through my robe.
Ding-!
[Broken Crown]
-Category: Accessory
-Grade: A
-Status: Destroyed
-Description: The crown worn by the Black Queen, sovereign of the Nightmare. Now destroyed, only her remnants remain. Can be worn for up to 15 minutes per day. When equipped, the skill ‘Nightmarification’ becomes available.
I placed the crown on my head.
The next moment, I barely blocked the gavel falling toward my skull.
Kuuuung-!
<What a petty trick.>
The invincibility effect would apply for 15 minutes.
I roughly knocked away the entangling gavel, then drove a middle kick into the Grand Justice’s abdomen.
Teong-!
The haze was pushed back with a dull rupture.
It was so fast that I felt like I would lose sight of it if I blinked wrong.
“Miss Ranne! I’ll hold it down! Use that chance to prepare your maximum firepower...!”
<Looking away, are you?>
Kaang, teong-!
The gavel and scythe collided.
Dozens of calculations had already run through my head.
While I was deducing the entity behind the judge, three syllables had suddenly flashed through my mind.
‘If it’s strong enough to directly possess the lingering thoughts left behind by a sage, gives off an ominous aura, and has the standing to see through my existence...’
Chaeeng-!
There was only one possibility I could think of.
I swung my scythe and glared at the black haze.
“Is it you?”
■■■.
The owner of the mask hidden in my robe.
“Delkirn...!”
The name of the Evil God.
The moment it was called,
<Good to see you, child.>
<I missed you.>
The black haze laughed loudly enough to hurt my ears.
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