"This farce ends now!" As the crowd was stirred up, Takeru's light shout, amplified as if by several dozen loudspeakers, drowned out the noisy clamor of the venue. Everyone's ears were still ringing.
"That's... the Sword Hero?" Seeing it was Takeru who had spoken, the crowd fell silent.
"Takeru-sama, what do you mean by that?" Seeing Takeru step forward, the king frowned.
"What do I mean? The literal meaning. End this farce." Looking at the king, Takeru said with a hint of mockery.
Originally, Takeru had planned to judge him tomorrow. But since he had created such a good opportunity, Takeru decided not to delay any further.
"Enough talk. Everyone can enjoy some footage." As he spoke, Takeru snapped his fingers. Three eye-like objects appeared in the air, and to everyone's surprise, they projected virtual images.
The projected content was, naturally, the just-concluded fight between Naofumi and Motoyasu.
During the replay, everyone could see more clearly the scene of Myne cheating, as well as the king's silencing stares at those who knew.
"Myne!" Seeing the projection, Motoyasu looked at Myne in disbelief. Although he didn't like Naofumi, seeing that his victory was achieved with Myne's sneaky help left him speechless.
"It's not true! These images are fake!" Hearing Motoyasu's words, Myne shouted loudly.
The king remained silent, feeling a sense of foreboding.
He felt Takeru's appearance wasn't just about this, but that he had bigger plans. After all, with his power, he could easily suppress something like cheating in a duel.
"Is that so? Well, there are some other clips. Let's watch them first before talking further." As he spoke, Takeru snapped his fingers again. The scene changed to shortly after Takeru and the others were summoned.
First, there was the secret discussion between Myne and the king.
On the night Takeru and the others gathered, the king and Myne had conspired, as well as the suppression of the adventurers. Takeru had witnessed it all, and now he was simply playing back everything he had observed.
Upon hearing the discussion between the king and Myne, the people present were in an uproar. Naofumi was furious. Motoyasu and Itsuki were incredulous.
Soon, after the discussion, the scene changed to when Naofumi and Myne formed a party.
First, Myne didn't truly form a party with Naofumi. She also made Naofumi spend a large sum to buy her equipment.
At night, after Naofumi refused Myne's invitation to drink, Myne then snuck into Naofumi's room and stole his belongings. Her signals to the knights afterwards, the manipulation of Motoyasu, the trial of Naofumi the next day, and the announcement to the public were all revealed in the projections.
"Myne, you..." Seeing himself played like a fool, Motoyasu was stunned. Even through the projection, he could see Naofumi's anger at the time. Itsuki remained silent, having been an accomplice himself.
Naofumi, on the other hand, shed tears, feeling the satisfaction of having his grievances redressed.
"Naofumi-sama, you've suffered!" Seeing this, Emilie, who had been freed by Takeru, hugged Naofumi, crying even harder than he was.
"No! These aren't real! You made all this up!" Seeing this, Myne shouted loudly.
"Correct. Please don't be fooled, everyone. I am the king of this country. I would never do such things. The Sword Hero has surely been deceived himself." Feeling a sense of foreboding, the king also shouted loudly.
"No, what about the fight just now? It matched the projection exactly." At this moment, a noble above stood up and spoke.
"That's right, I saw it too." Another person nearby stood up again.
"Perhaps Myne did interfere just now, but everything before that was fabricated." Hearing their words, the king spoke again.
"Enough!" Hearing the king still trying to argue, a minister beside him shouted loudly.
"Minister Stabelle, what do you think you're doing?" Startled by Stabelle's sudden outburst, the king then questioned him sternly.
"I can no longer stand by and watch this country fall. As a king, you have not fulfilled your kingly duties at all. Continuing to entrust the country to you will only lead to the complete destruction of the Kingdom of Melromarc. Those images are real. I was there at the time."
"I originally thought the king was merely confused, but... Your Majesty, please stop." As he spoke, Stabelle knelt to the ground in distress.
"You..." Watching Stabelle's actions, the king was filled with shame and anger. He hadn't expected the person who usually followed his lead to betray him.
What the king couldn't understand most was that many of the schemes had been contributed by Stabelle himself.
"You are not fit to be king. Since Queen Mirellia left, you have never done a single good deed. Even during the waves, your decisions led to the deaths of many knights and citizens. My own child was one of them."
"I will never forget his dying words, asking me if what he did had any meaning, if he had saved the suffering people." Another official stood up and accused the king.
"Are you betraying the country?" Seeing this, the king could no longer maintain his composure and spoke anxiously.
"We hope that this country will not be led to ruin by someone like you. Sword Hero, please save this country. Lead it back onto the right path."
Soon, nearly half of the officials knelt before Takeru, loudly chanting for Takeru to lead the country.
The situation changed so quickly that everyone was caught off guard.
Especially the king and Myne, who were completely baffled. They didn't understand why the ministers who had always been so respectful to them had suddenly become accomplices in driving them out of power.
"Sword Hero, please save this country!" Soon, some nobles in the seating area also stood up and shouted.
"Kill that king and princess!"
"Cuih! They don't deserve to be king and princess!" The people above quickly changed their tune. This shift didn't even need Takeru's controlled people to lead the charge, because these people themselves were opportunists.
"How can this be? Just based on these fabricated images? It must be you who brainwashed them. Yes, it's all your fault, and the Shield Demon's! You two did this!" At this moment, looking at the people above cursing her, Myne panicked. The king also slumped to the ground.
Regardless, after today, he knew he could never be king again, not even acting king.
"Haha, since you demand evidence, then evidence shall be given. A slave cannot lie to its master. If we brand you with a slave crest, everything will come to light." Looking at the reluctant Myne, Takeru spoke directly.
"What? No, I am a princess!" Hearing Takeru's words, Myne, who had previously feared nothing, panicked.
But at Takeru's signal, several knights stepped forward, one carrying the implement for carving slave crests.
"No! Don't! Ah~!" As the slave crest was formed, Myne screamed, electrocuted by the lightning the crest induced.
"Myne!" Watching Myne scream, Motoyasu shouted.
"Motoyasu-sama, save me! Save me!" Hearing Motoyasu's words, Myne, regaining her senses, instinctively begged him for help.
"Takeru, that's going too far! Myne is a princess! And she would never do something like that!" Hearing Myne's plea, Motoyasu shouted loudly.
"About that, a simple interrogation will suffice. Also, Motoyasu, don't act so righteous. You and Itsuki are partly responsible for this situation. You're next." Hearing Motoyasu still not understanding the situation, Takeru said with a cold smile.
"You!" Hearing Takeru's words, Motoyasu raised his spear defensively.
"What, do you think you can block a single move from me?" Looking at Motoyasu's action, Takeru mocked lightly. At that moment, the projection happened to show the scene of Takeru's sword killing the wave monsters. Their performance during the wave was fully exposed to everyone.
"What? So this is the Spear Hero and the Bow Hero? If not for the Shield Hero and the Sword Hero, our country would have been destroyed, right?"
"And the knight captain went too far!"
"They were just boasting about how great they were. Turns out they're all birds of a feather!"
"No, we were just..." Hearing the vicious words from above, Motoyasu and Itsuki, accustomed to praise, were stunned. They tried to explain, but words failed them. Instead, these people's ugly faces frightened them.