#065. The Beastmen Restoration Society is Too Kind(3)

#065. The Beastmen Restoration Society is Too Kind(3)

Teresa, heading to the courtroom for her audience, showed increasing signs of anxiety as time passed.

Hanya, who had accompanied her as a bodyguard, thought it was understandable, watching her constantly clench and unclench her fists, or sigh.

‘She’s going to denounce the crimes of the husband who abandoned her, nya. And since it’s tied to the nobility, it’s also tangled up with her own family, with whom she hasn’t lived as family, nya. Her heart must be a complicated mess, nya.’

People only see Ian as a pitiful child, but Hanya thinks Teresa is just as pitiable.

A husband who betrayed her not once, but twice.

A family that turned a blind eye to such an unfortunate woman.

An ordinary person would have gone insane, developed a mental illness, or simply given up on life long ago.

Despite such adversity, thanks to having a good child, she was able to rebuild her shattered heart and rise up to become the strongest mother, rebuilding her family once again.

To the Sodom Guild and the village of Sodom, she is the strongest adventurer and a reliable leader.

But even she was just a person, burdened by a past littered with wounds.

“Worried about seeing your husband?”

“He won’t come.”

“Then what frightens you?”

“My family.”

“The Starsephia Marquessate? The cruel family that abandoned you?”

“That’s wrong. I abandoned them first.”

The family had expectations for her, offered her support.

It was she who, crazed with love, threw it all away, left home and lived as she pleased.

Even if the family treated her as a disgrace, a blemish on their reputation, it was strange to blame them for abandoning her when she had willingly committed the act that they forbade.

To call them heartless and cold was a judgement only others could make, not her.

Teresa only felt indebted to the Starsephia family.

She had even invoked the family’s name in Sodom.

-If you participate in the trial, they will undoubtedly bring that up. Prepare yourself.

The Hero Party and the beast-kin of the Savage Faction, the Noble Council, they were all in cahoots.

For a king with a love for his people, for the abused citizens, and for the Sodom Guild and Teresa herself who sought to protect them, it was a precarious weakness.

And as expected, the Sodom Guildmaster’s prior warning hit its mark.

“The exposure of the Pinky experiment? The revelation of the Hero Party’s disgrace? A beast-kin aided by a woman who abandoned and betrayed her own family. How can we know the Hero Party wasn’t betrayed as well? Is Ronoa really the one responsible? This is a plot to weaken the Hero Party’s strength.”

“You can try saying that again after you’ve seen our crippled states, you dogs!”

“The words of the lowly are not worth listening to. What matters is Teresa’s testimony. Well, then, if you wish to claim our words are wrong, state that you did not betray the Starsephia family.”

Pinky, consumed by guilt and powerlessness, retracted the anger she had unleashed.

She wanted to expose them.

She wanted revenge.

Her rash greed had cornered Teresa, Ian’s benefactor and mother.

Teresa, who could have killed her outright, had listened to her son’s stubbornness and accepted her as a comrade, was now in trouble because of her.

‘I’d rather die. If my death could save Teresa, I would gladly do it!’

The king, who had thought Teresa and the Sodom Guild’s efforts were an opportunity to strengthen the weakened royal authority and stand against the nobles, now wore an expression of deep fatigue.

“According to the Church’s investigation, Sodom’s innocence has been proven. There are also resident statements and investigation results attesting to Teresa’s integrity, and support declarations from two thousand residents requesting protection for Teresa and Pinky.”

“What is impossible with the coercion of the powerful?”

“Are you now questioning the Church’s verification?!”

“When even the Hero Party is under suspicion, who is exempt from scrutiny?”

“The current suspicion lies with Ronoa, a member of the Hero Party’s second team, not the Church!”

“What is the true purpose behind threatening the Hero Party? Could the intentions behind targeting those already struggling against the Demon Lord’s army be those of Maison?”

“How dare you!”

Despite Inquisitor Maria’s valiant efforts, her capabilities alone had clear limitations.

There were too few who could courageously defend them against the nobles’ sophistry.

All those employed in high-ranking public positions had climbed the ladder through noble connections, and those selected by the king’s appointing power were woefully insufficient in number.

Those few talents were so preoccupied with securing the minimum personnel needed to protect the king that they were focused on surrounding him with trusted individuals such as doctors, cooks, and bodyguards.

There were no talents to help in the trial.

The king, for his part, was disappointed.

Choosing only those loyal to himself, he’d ended up strangling his own neck.

Had he been willing to risk his own skin to elevate his people to more critical positions, had he been prepared to use his limited selection rights for high-ranking officials to secure a Theresa who would actually help him, then perhaps…

All hindsight, of course.

The deed was done.

“I have forsaken my family’s wishes. I severed my ties with House Stassepia with my own hands, so it could be said I betrayed them.”

“Well, you’ve certainly given a frank answer. Thank you for your cooperation, despite making such a disadvantageous statement. But I must offer even more unfortunate words. Even a bond as strong as marriage, severed in the face of familial discord, its ending is rarely good, no matter how firm your resolve. What’s to stop Pinkie from becoming a second Ronowe?”

“That’s too much, don’t you think? He isn’t to blame for the dissolution, and to speak ill of him and treat Pinkie as a man who abandoned his family is unconscionable!”

His words of protest, born of impatience, were met with a barrage of condemnation from the assembled nobility.

“Who gave you leave to raise your voice?”

“Is that how they taught you in your humble family?”

“Know your place.”

Though this royal trial was meant to resemble an open forum, one man’s cry against injustice was crushed beneath the weight of the powerful and their lackeys’ rebukes, repeated more than ten times over.

The restrictions placed on attendance, based on title and official position, meant that the conference was already in shambles, limiting those who would side with the King and Theresa from the start.

The royal trial was a failure.

Pinkie would be arrested.

Theresa had been humiliated, and next would be Sodom.

The outcome painted itself before everyone’s eyes.

“Do not think to delay the proceedings. Surely the royal trial must reach its verdict before the day is out.”

It was then, amidst the triumphant declarations of the nobles, secure in their victory, that their underlings, disregarding decorum, burst into the courtroom, bearing news of urgent importance.

One noble, face drained of color, rose abruptly.

“Please forgive my rudeness in withdrawing from the trial due to an urgent matter concerning my house.”

Though he had attended at the behest of the Noble Council, the continuation of his family was now at risk, rendering a mere trial inconsequential.

No sooner had one noble departed than advisors rushed to whisper in the ears of countless others, who then followed suit in their impolite exits.

“What in the heavens is happening? How can they cause such a commotion at a time when we should be uniting our strength!”

“The beastkin have gone mad! They’re attacking the cities!”

“What?! Which cities?”

“All the cities ruled by nobles—every city in Westwood, except for the royal demesne and the free cities!”

The courtroom erupted in chaos.

The nobles, both furious and terrified by the savagery of the beastkin they had considered allies, were sent into disarray.

If those infamous creatures were attacking their strongholds, they must surely have a hidden ace up their sleeves.

If they were willing to commit such an act, knowing that they would destroy each other, they must have made extraordinary preparations.

In truth, the conflict stemmed from a misunderstanding; Sodom’s forces were far stronger than they believed, and the vanguard had suffered heavy losses, thus, there was speculation the nobles were in secret cooperation.

But the nobles, ignorant of the truth, were desperate to return home.

Even those nobles from regions beyond Westwood did not feel at ease.

“Didn’t those members of the Beastkin Revival Society cross our lands as they traversed the country? I must return at once to see if they intend to cause trouble on my estates!”

The large-scale movement of committee members belonging to the Beastkin Revival Society, crisscrossing the country, instilled fear in every noble.

As the nobles stampeded from the trial, only the Warrior Party, standing in for Ronowe, remained.

Some nobles were left, but most of them were title-only nobles with no lands to their names.

“Then, let us proceed to the vote. It was the will of my loyal subjects that a decision be reached today, no matter what. Should we not honor their will?”

The King, seizing upon the nobles’ weakened grip, pressed onward with the trial.

With nobles absent, and only the King presiding, it was self-evident that his will would be the driving force.

The verdict came swiftly.

“Pinky is declared a victim of inhumane experimentation. Ronowe is condemned as a black mage, transgressing the Kingdom’s forbidden practice of human experimentation, to be expelled from the hero party and a warrant issued for his arrest.”

“Furthermore, Pinky and the rabbit beastkin, unjustly wronged, shall receive substantial compensation from the hero party’s coffers. The village of Sodom and the Sodom Guild, which sheltered them and suffered greatly, along with the righteous Teresa, shall be rewarded by the royal house.”

“The Kingdom safeguards not only the aristocracy and the predatory beastkin but all the weak and the virtuous. Let today’s trial serve as an example, and let this be made unequivocally clear!”

Amidst the chaos, Teresa and Pinky, previously unaware, learned the reason for the beastkin revivalist’s disturbance thanks to the King’s assistance.

The defense against the beastkin revivalist vanguard at Sodom village, a defense so complete it was misunderstood, triggered a chain of events leading to this internal strife between nobles and predatory beastkin.

“Congratulations, Pinky. Our victory is complete. You can now live without shame.”

“…Thank you. But it is not yet over. As things stand, no one will volunteer to hunt down Ronowe himself.”

“Indeed. We must defeat him ourselves. Only then will this entire affair be concluded.”

Still, for now, returning to Sodom village with this good news takes priority.

“Ian will be astonished, the lad.”

Teresa and Pinky, having departed for a grim battle, return with a resounding triumph; how could he not be amazed?

But upon arriving at the village, it was Teresa and Pinky who were taken aback.

“Was Sodom always this large?”

“With the fall of nearby cities, many citizens seeking refuge have poured into Sodom village.”

The people, the goods they brought, the protectors required – all had increased exponentially.

At this scale, lacking only a wall, Sodom could rightly be called a city.

The Saint Cecilia herself was stepping in to bring order to this pandemonium.

“Ah, you’ve done well. Maria, was it? You may return to the main branch. With a Saint like myself here, the Inquisitor should be dispatched to regions in greater need. I shall watch over the Saint Ian in your stead, so have no worry!”

Ian’s relations with women were not so much resolved as a powder keg with a lit fuse.

“The Beastkin Revivalist created a second for my son.”

From a mother’s perspective, this was truly a bothersome matter.