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After confirming that Maria was safe, I called the head of the Adventurers' Guild and the people of the church, still in the dark, after I had finished preparing for the absolution.
'Did you injure one eye?'
"There is no problem."
They all gathered, and the guild leader was concerned about my eye, which had turned red from the effects of the magic tool.
'I hope so. ......"
'Oh, don't worry about it."
Still feeling a little worried about my gaze, but also concerned about the reason I gathered the city's heavyweights, I changed topic and started to speak.
"Then, immediately, we gathered as the lord said, but where is your sister?"
I hope you will wait until the preparations are complete, since you have gone to the trouble of summoning us before morning, and we have no time to waste."
The guild leader thinks that Maria is awake and that is the most likely reason for the gathering.
And the eyes of the people around him are cold toward the executives of the theocratic group who are talking to him sarcastically.
The reason is simple: he thought that using a member of the Dicaman family would be rebellious, so he asked the guild leader to have adventurers summon the leaders of the theocratic faction in this city. ......
"I don't want to be told by those who stink of booze."
Apparently they were drinking when the adventurers asked them.
They may have been drinking in a victory mood, but the Countess Dicaman and those in the Adventurers' Guild are very uncomfortable.
The fact that they were drinking without cooperating made them look coldly not only at the officials of the theocratic faction but also at the church members who were staying at the Adventurers' Guild for some reason.
'Ignoring the nonsense of those who reek of alcohol, I'll start by explaining the reason we've gathered here."
With a snap of his fingers, the three men who had been trying to assassinate Maria walked unsteadily toward the Adventurers' Guild.
They are in a state of shock, their thoughts obstructed by Mendaco's brainwashing and their bodies forcibly manipulated by my magic.
"My lord, who are they?"
"They will explain themselves now, but I will be brief.
They are the ones from the church who tried to assassinate Maria."
"!!!!"
All eyes are on the assassins standing in the center of the room.
"What nonsense!
Khalil Dikaman, that is an insult to our God!"
"Do you call these men our equals?!"
The executives immediately start cursing him.
Some of them, however, calmly understood the situation and turned down, their faces pale.
"Hey, shut up for a minute!"
The guild leader was shouting at them, and urged me to continue.
"'Just a few minutes ago, I broke into Maria's house and approached her, and she attacked me with this dagger,' he said.
This dagger, which had come out of the pocket of the assassin who had rendered him unconscious, had been made by a very skilled smith and was inscribed with the church's coat of arms.
'
"Assuming it is genuine..."
"It's a sham!"
"I told you to keep your mouth shut, and the only neutral party here is the Adventurers' Guild, and I will be in charge."
The guild leader, who I had thought was only confident in his strength and boldness, was surprisingly calm about the situation.
But that's good. This is not a secret place, and the people living in the city can hear our conversation.
It would be easy for me to unilaterally decide to attack him, but some people who don't understand the situation might make a fuss and become a new source of disquiet.
"My lord, you can't trust everything with that knife.:
"I know, I have their statements."
"!!!"
The church officials looked at the assassins in disbelief.
They didn't think that so many fanatics would sell themselves out.
'Answer me, who gave you these orders and what kind of order?'
'...... I was ordered by Master Edran to assassinate Maria Dicaman.'
Edran reacted to the assassin's words, and his face grew tense in the place where the church members had gathered.
"I see. ......"
'I'll give you a moment."
The one who seemed to understand the reality the best among the church's group stood up while raising his hand.
The atmosphere in the room was already in a state of shock as if they were about to strike at the church officials.
Although they were talking about the attempted assassination of Maria, people were looking at the people in the church with murderous intent, without hiding their anger toward the church.
But the anger at the fire that is tormenting the city's residents has taken away their composure, and they are convinced that what they would normally question is justified, and they are simply angry at the church for being the cause of the evil here.
Perhaps there are a few in the church contingent who are aware of this fact and think they can still do something about it now.
If they are church officials, it is a little disconcerting.
We are in the middle of a judicial trial between the Dicaman family and the Church.
There was a reason why I was going to accuse the church of attempted assasination on Maria.
The orphanage that was the cause of the fire, and all the orphans, including its manager, were not in the city.
Even if they were, they were burned up in the fire, and Maria was the only surviving witness who knew the detailed cause of the fire, and the assassins in front of me did not know the details of the cause of this fire.
In other words, if the church loses this case, the church will be blamed for the fire and the upper echelons of the church in the city will be executed, but if it wins, it can claim that the cause of the fire was false and remain in the city.
"We are devoted to God and would never betray our own people.
Don't you think there is some doubt? If these men were assassins, it would be impossible for them to give up information so easily."
What is about to begin is a war of words that will decide each other's fate.