"What...?"
At my words, the priest looked startled. He half-rose from his chair before quickly sitting back down, clutching the small statue that was supposedly a holy relic. Despite his bizarre behavior, the great nobles in the room didn't seem to notice anything amiss.
I looked at the three bewildered priests, and the smile on my face grew wider.
"The incident at the academy was not the fault of my stationery store, Your Majesty."
'Do you really think I would follow the Pope's plan?'
"I request to summon a second witness to prove this fact." I knew it wasn't a problem. 'I was almost brainwashed. That despicable bastard.' To try to manipulate a kind, naive person like me, who knows no tricks!
I remembered the small bottle of perfume Danny had given me. Noble ladies often carried miniature perfumes, which allowed me to get past the security checkpoint without difficulty.
"Mom, this perfume bottle contains my power! If you use this, you'll stop being brainwashed!" Danny had told me.
"Danny, you're a genius! How did you make this?"
"The Pope's brainwashing material uses the power of another race. But Danny is a dragon, greater than all life on this earth! I can use brainwashing, too!"
The Pope's brainwashing substance used a power similar to Danny's. That's why Danny was able to find a solution.
"I can't undo the brainwashing directly, but if I use a weak brainwashing spell on top of the other one, it will break the first one!"
"That's amazing..."
"My weak brainwashing will fade away in a day, so it's a perfect solution!"
The memory of my conversation with Danny warmed my heart.
The Emperor looked down at me, now more relaxed, and nodded. "I will allow you to summon a second witness."
"Thank you, Your Majesty. My second witness is ready and waiting."
I winked through the slightly ajar door, and it was roughly pushed open. A figure walked through the gap: black skin, black hair, and eyes like obsidian. It was Isaac. He appeared, his cravat loosened and his hands in his pockets.
People's expressions shifted as they took in Isaac's presence.
"Who...?" a great nobleman muttered.
The people here didn't know what Isaac looked like. He had never revealed his face during his official appearances, and he had spent years traveling.
"Mel, I want to help you this time," he had said to me.
"What does that mean?"
"It means I want everyone to know I'm on your side."
Remembering Isaac's words, I dismissed the people in the room with a casual gesture. No one spoke, even though an unknown man had just entered. There was only one reason for their silence: Isaac's languid yet powerful presence overwhelmed the entire hall.
One of the speechless nobles nervously dragged his chair back and stood up. "Who is this? Please introduce him."
Isaac didn't even glance at the nobleman. The Emperor looked at Isaac and nodded. "Present yourself. He has a right to be here. I have allowed it."
"The second witness is Count Mathieu," Isaac replied simply. "Your Majesty has seen him."
I smiled and put my hand to my mouth. "Oh, who doesn't know Count Mathieu? He's the Tower Master!"
Now, even the Tower Master had appeared. I had just declared that I had the support of both the Magic Kingdom and the Mage Tower.
'How do you feel about this, Priest?'
I looked at the old man who had failed to brainwash me and continued. "My innocence will be proven by the Tower Master."
The priest, momentarily flustered, quickly regained his composure. "What does the Tower Master have to do with your innocence?" He was not an easy opponent.
"I can prove that what happened that day was not an accident caused by me," I said, glancing back at Isaac with a chuckle. He gestured toward the evidence on the large table.
"At the Mage Tower, we put a black box spell on everything that was delivered from the stationery store."
"A black box spell?"
"It's magic that perfectly captures and reproduces the situation in the event of an accident."
"What are you talking about? I've never heard of such magic."
Isaac ignored the priest's theatrical lines. "Let me start the verification, Your Majesty."
"Let's see it," the Emperor agreed simply.
A piece of colored paper and a small cube on the table rose into the air and floated to the center. A transparent, sun-like light spread over the hall, and the spell was activated. A screen appeared right in front of me.
"That's amazing," one of the nobles said, stroking his beard in awe.
Everyone paid attention. The scene of the accident was vividly reproduced on the screen.
A voice from the screen said, "I'll cast the explosion spell so that everyone will know tomorrow that the Marquis of Kinnoa's things have exploded."
After I had delivered the goods and left the academy, it was the children's break time. Two masked men had infiltrated the classroom. They went directly to the confetti and the small cubes.
"The explosion spell has been installed without any problems. It will be explosive. Is that okay?" one of them asked.
The cube he was holding made a crackling sound for a few seconds.
"He said it didn't matter how many children died," the other replied.
The screen vanished, and the objects floating in the air fell to the floor.
"It's over."
The evidence of the two masked men tampering with the stationery store items had been revealed.
"Those people in black reached out, didn't they?" I said, speaking softly. "From what I heard, they were trying to frame me. Fortunately, no noble children died, but they had the intention to kill. Shouldn't we be looking for them, not me? I'm a victim in all of this."
"No, that's not it," the priest insisted, shaking his head. He checked the eyes of the brainwashed great nobles, one by one, before posing his question. "The Tower Master said he was a collaborator of the Marquis of Kinnoa. How can we trust this magic?"
"Do you think that video was fabricated?" I asked bluntly.
"All possibilities must always be considered," he replied.
Now, he was trying to group Isaac, the Tower Master, with me as a single conspiracy. I looked at him with a happy smile. He glared back at me, but I couldn't help it. What's wrong with having a plan?
"Why don't we call in the Imperial Palace's magic appraiser to determine the authenticity of the magic?" I suggested. A magic appraiser's job is to verify when and how a spell was cast. "The Imperial Palace's magic appraisers are independent from both the Mage Tower and the temple."
I knew the Emperor would understand my suggestion. As expected, he nodded. "Very well, I approve."
The situation was gradually turning around. At the Emperor's command, more than ten magic appraisers arrived and confirmed that the black box spell was genuine. At this point, it was difficult for even the brainwashed nobles to side with the priest.
'This is enough. It's time to detonate the bomb!'
I turned to the priest. "Priest, thanks to the help of many people, my power might seem demonic. Of course, my stationery business was also helped by the legendary hero who defeated the devil, Dominic." This was my way of asking how I, a contractor of a hero who defeated demons, could have used demonic power myself.
"What do you think?" I finished my words with a confident grin.
'No matter how powerful you are as a priest of the Holy Kingdom, can you really resist the Tower Master and the Magic Kingdom at the same time?'
Mrs. Hayne, on the witness stand, let out a triumphant whistle. It was the sound of victory.
Before I knew it, Isaac had walked all the way to my chair and now stood behind me. I stared at the speechless priest who was glaring at me. It was time for my closing argument.
"Oh, and I have one more thing to say."
The priests were flustered, realizing their brainwashing technique had failed. The red-eyed priest whispered something to the one with white hair, who was still trying to maintain his composure.
"Tell us, Ms. Meldenik," the white-haired priest said.
I clearly captured the look on their faces: the priests' pale complexions, the great nobles who were dazed and brainwashed, and the Emperor who was trying to hide his surprise and a faint smile.
"I have just informed the entire continent about my partnership with the Mage Tower and the Magic Kingdom."
"The Empire?" the Emperor asked, puzzled.
"No, the entire continent." Everything I said was true.
"But what do you mean, 'just now'?"
"Exactly, Your Majesty."
By now, the videos and promotional placards we had prepared in advance were spreading widely across the continent. I was now a person who held all these titles at once: a contractor of the hero's sword, a partner in the first-ever exchange with the Magic Kingdom, and a collaborator of the Mage Tower.
'I will not be pushed around by you anymore, Your Holiness.'
From now on, the Pope would not be able to treat me as he pleased in public. I had become a person who influenced the entire continent.