Me, the Weakest Member of the Hero’s Party? I’m the Villain Though? - Chapter 35
A faint look of surprise crossed the archbishop’s face. Realizing the seriousness of the situation, he stroked his chin, lost in thought.
“So it’s as I feared. The reason His Highness the Crown Prince organized the subjugation force was because of Prince Kyle. Then, the accusation of aiding the Black Flame Dragon’s escape must be…”
“The Crown Prince made it up. When we arrived at the lair, the Black Flame Dragon had already escaped.”
The archbishop let out a short sigh and closed his eyes, pressing his fingertips to his brow.
“If we can’t secure a not-guilty verdict, the only option is to run.”
“That would only be admitting to the crime.”
I’d expected him to say that. That was Kyle’s first concern, too.
“Then are you saying Kyle and his party should just meekly accept an unjust death? You can only clear your name or make up for mistakes if you’re alive, right?”
I, who had nothing to do with the hero’s party, found myself agitated and arguing back. The archbishop sighed deeply, massaging his brow. It didn’t seem like an easy request for him either.
But soon, as if he’d made up his mind, he raised his head sharply.
“I can secure a not-guilty verdict at today’s trial. But I can’t stop all of Prince Reynold’s schemes. Even if the verdict is not guilty, you’ll have to quickly capture the Black Flame Dragon to clear your name.”
In truth, as long as today’s trial was resolved, the rest was up to the hero’s party.
“That’s enough. The rest is for Kyle to deal with. They say they’re ready to defeat the Black Flame Dragon, so they can prove their innocence by taking it down or whatever.”
Of course, I had absolutely no intention of letting Kyle kill me, so they’d have to find another way to prove their innocence.
“Understood. I’ll try to persuade His Majesty the Emperor, so please don’t worry too much.”
At the archbishop’s firm assurance, I finally let out a sigh of relief. It seemed the hero’s party might survive after all. In that case, my work here was done.
“Alright.”
I replied and began to stand, but the archbishop suddenly grabbed my wrist.
“And there’s something you must tell His Highness Kyle if you see him.”
I awkwardly sat back down in my chair. The archbishop opened a drawer in his desk and took out a luxurious-looking white velvet pouch.
“Do you know what this is?”
How was I supposed to know what was inside the pouch? I cautiously reached out and picked it up.
Inside the soft pouch was a handful of black stones.
“Never seen it before.”
“So you don’t know. That’s called a magic stone.”
Magic stones were something I knew about, though only from the original novel. Of course I’d never seen one in real life. They were gemstones infused with miasma, used as materials for various magical tools.
“Why not deliver it yourself…?”
“I want to pass it on discreetly to avoid causing any commotion. Since you’ve come on His Highness Kyle’s behalf, I think I can trust you. And you’ll be delivering my answer anyway, so please pass this along with my message.”
Apparently, both Kyle and the archbishop thought I was some kind of messenger bird. It wasn’t a difficult request, and since I was about to leave anyway, I figured I could at least do this, and nodded slightly.
“There have been frequent incidents of monsters attacking human villages as of late. I’ve been trying to get to the bottom of it. That’s when I found this. I’ve never seen a magic stone of such high purity before. The higher the purity, the stronger the miasma contained within…”
I knew, from reading the original, that you could inscribe spells into magic stones or process them into magical tools.
“If you attach this to an animal, it seems to turn into a monster.”
“An animal turns into a monster?”
But I couldn’t easily understand what the archbishop meant. It wasn’t something I’d seen in the original story, either.
“According to the mages, it’s due to the spell imbued in the magic stone. It hasn’t been deciphered yet. But Gerard should be able to do it.”
“So you’re saying that someone is deliberately going around turning animals into monsters?”
