459 – Not guilty?

It’s time to leave this underground prison.

I stop the patrolling soldiers and ask them to give a message to King Daido. I said, [It looks like the real culprit escaped from the prison, and Toy was the one who got caught in her stead.]

She walks away from the underground prison and standing next to me, so it’s not a lie.

They asked me to wait before I headed back, and after a while, we are permitted to enter the audience room again.

“Baron Gollen. I was told that the perpetrator had escaped, or rather switched…?”

“Yes, sir. she was even craftier than I anticipated. As expected from the one that has caused a great deal of turmoil in the Daido Country.”

“She had secured an escape route and scapegoat?”

An uncle that looks like a knight commander steps forwards and starts to questioning my story.

“That seems unlikely, Baron Gollen… is it possible that you are in cahoots with the culprit?”

“Charidy”

The King tried to stop him, but the Knight Commander shakes his head, gesturing the King that he had no intention to stop.

“My King, it’s my job to be suspicious and protect this country.”

“But look, your opponents are small girl, you scaring her with your face.”

When I looked to the side, I saw Toy shuddering with a terrified expression… are you an actress now?

And if I have to tell the truth, the Knight Commander Charidy is right, we are actually in cahoots, or to be exact, she has been switching to my side for now. But I won’t reveal that it will only make things more complicated than it should be.

“Mm-hmm. But….”

“It seems there’s still doubt in Knights Commander heart, the collar was not removed because I don’t have the key, let make use of it. Why don’t we use it to force her to testify?”

“Mm. I suppose that will certainly prove her innocence. Girl, you will answer to me. Are you the murderer?”

Following my suggestion, the knight commanders glare daggers at Toy. She then trembled more and hiding behind my body.

“I-I’m innocent! When I realized, I was already there… please! Show some mercy!”

“The collar doesn’t seem to be responding… is it means she’s not lying? but I’ve also heard reports that say that the collar did not work before?”

Ah, that’s right, the soldier has seen Toy nullify the collar.

“That’s true, oi you, try to lie about something, it will tighten a bit though.”

“t-then… I’m the culprit…argh!”

“Cancel, Cancel it at once!”

Toy jumps at my suggestion and shows us that she is desperate. The collar’s tightening seems to have stopped when the Knight Commander orders the cancel, she said that she can cheat the collar, but I’m still afraid if that collar is accidentally reacted to what she says.

“That collar is outperforming those lie-detector magic tools, this is the proof of her innocence.”

“Yes, I’m convinced. You over there, bring me the key! How long you plan to put this slave collar on an innocent girl like this!”

He was easily convinced that she is not guilty. After that, he removed the collar and also had the collar analyzed again to confirm its authenticity. After that, the skeptical knight commander was the one who guarantees Toy’s innocence.

Well, the culprit is her, but… Leona is the mastermind, she’s just the executor.

“It’s more than likely that the real culprit has taken over the girl’s mind and manipulated it. It’s makes sense if you think of it that way.”

“I see, then, of course, that the collar didn’t respond. she’s just being manipulated to move her mouth… anyway, where did you come from, little miss?”

“I don’t remember anything… Hero-sama, I’m so scared…”

And the knight commander shows a gentle yet scary smile; Toy is frightened and clings to me… this girls acting skill is top class; I would be fooled too if I don’t know the truth.

“It seems that she’s taken a liking to you, Baron Gollen.”

“Charidy… I always said that your smile is frightening, please don’t do it, it would be better that way.”

“Muh… I apologize for scaring you, but from now on, my Croutons family would be responsible for keeping you safe.”

By the way, before this, the knight commander’s family name was supposed to be Cthugha. So Crouton becomes Cthugha… so it was subtly altered. Does the signature on the document change after a certain day? If so, that was a subtle prank from her.

“Hohoho, if you like it, our royal family also can offer you protection until you regain your memory.”

“No, you are scary, Hero, please… don’t leave me alone….”

“Is my face is that bad… Charidy, I’m sad to be hated by children…”

“My King, I’m glad to hear that you finally understand my feelings.”

And ignoring the two sad uncles, Toy was hiding her face behind my back and shaking while purring. I think she’s trying to hold back a laugh. This girl is really….

“Then what should we do? I don’t even know if she is my citizen or not…”

“Yes, sir. But I intend to protect her regardless of that fact, but… it seems that she hates me, …. Baron Gollen, can I ask you a favor?”

“Oh, I don’t mind, I’ll take custody of this child here. If you finally find some leads, you can contact me through the Empire messenger.”

And the story went so easy from there. But still, this all thanks to Toy acting skills…

Isn’t this her strongest weapon? An offensive power that will trigger an old man protecc instinct. What a scary child. {}

So, the discussion was over, we decided on [The culprit may have fled, but since we have too much trouble already, let leave it at that.]

This is kind of unexpected… but the King and Knights Commander are saying things like [Take this money with you] [don’t you want to change your clothes first?] [Stay here for the night] [I will prepare a feast for you]… to Toy. It’s like a treatment that they will give to their granddaughter. Thankfully, this country’s food culture is very well developed. I will accept their offer for now.

It would be unnatural to say she didn’t need all that, so we decided to accept it moderately.

At the time of farewell, the King comes and send me off for the last time inside the castle gates. He is unexpectedly very friendly King, perhaps?

“…why do they care about you that much?”

“Umm. Maybe it’s because they were trained to give me preferential treatment when I was acting as director of Magic Institute of Daido?”

“Didn’t [God’ a Alarm] wakes them up?”

“It wasn’t a particularly harmful type of brainwashing. Also, apparently, they wanted a daughter more than a son, and they wanted to spoil her and love her. it was something in that line.”

I see it was like that?

So, this is a side effect when you did forcefully use brainwash medicine or magic.

“Okay, Kehma, now that we had successfully taken me out of jail. What next?”

“First … we will go to the Empire.”

I need to push her on Haku as soon as possible.

“Oh… by the way, this may be a trivial matter, but the prince and his groups are still out of this country, you know? What are you plan to deal with him?”

“…I don’t want to have anything to do with him again, but I think it’s better if I break your spell first.”

I don’t know his position right now; I will try to get in touch when he finally manages to return to his home country.

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