Chapter 69 - Alice on Trial

Why should she live? How does someone even come up with an answer to something like that?! That’s what we had to find out…and soon.

All eyes were focused on us, us three, outsiders behind enemy lines.

Mister Ed stared at me, it didn’t look like he was planning on letting me out of his sight. I could tell he was looking at me carefully, he expected an answer and I had no idea where to begin.

“I—I uh…” I bit down and closed my eyes, I needed to stay calm. I looked ahead with a levelled expression and the room somehow turned even more silent.

“Alice isn't a monster.” I said calmly.

“Do you have evidence to elaborate on that?”

Mister Ed was serious, more so than I have seen before. Was it some kind of a test, was my resolve on the line?

“It isn't exactly hard to see, if Alice was a monster then how could she be able to speak like us?”

“Indeed, regular monsters have never been able to speak but this is the Tower, I’m sure you’ve come to realise by now that anything can happen here.”

His words carried the concerns of everyone around him, I could tell just from a glance. Not a single person had a change of expression, not even so much as a blink. They thought the same as him, he was their leader, their voice.

“Then explain this, shieldin' guy?!”

Arga walked past me and placed her arm out in front of Alice, it caught me by surprise and Alice most of all.

“Arga!! What are you doing—”

“These guys are worried that she’s just biding her time until she can snack on us, right?” Her glare shifted to Mister Ed.

He nodded in response.

“Then how come she ain't biting me? She’s proven she doesn’t want to hurt anyone, she had plenty of chances to get us both when we were sleeping or walking.”

“I understand your points, I really do. You believe she might not be human but she isn't necessarily a monster then either.”

That was an easy way to sum it up but essentially yeah, he had our argument pegged down to the T.

“That doesn’t put our minds at ease.”

“What…why not?”

“We’ve received numerous reports that a Dragon shaped as a human had been prowling the Tower, one that’s able to speak.” His gaze crossed Alice and she winced back.

“So what—she isn't allowed to walk around? It’s not like she—”

“The reports come from the party member whose entire team was all killed by that dragon.”

“Killed…no way…Alice would never, she wouldn’t.”

I couldn't believe it, I hate to admit that I considered it but as I turned to Alice I realised I was wrong to do so. How could I even consider it, after seeing the fear in her eyes at that moment? She was as shocked as we were to hear that, it couldn't be her.

She didn’t do it, which meant there was another dragon out there like her.

“I’m sure you’ve realised it already, Rei.” Mister Ed stepped closer.

“It wasn’t her.”

My voice remained stern, like that of a parent protecting their child. Mister Ed smirked, his tiny grin set me off a little but nothing came of it. He stepped back and covered his face with his hand. He looked worried but at least the stern glare pointed at us had faded.

“I see…then it’s true then. The dragon we’re after isn't this little girl but another one altogether.”

A weight was lifted~

I had balled my hands into a fist instinctively, I’m sure Mister Ed must have realised it before I did. I wonder if that played some part in his reaction at all.

“You mean…”

“Yes, we won’t execute her today.”

Alice’s eyes filled with tears and her mouth dropped open. Relief, sadness, nerves—I can’t imagine how much of everything was flowing out of her at that moment.

“That’s a relief~” I let out a deep sigh as the tension in my body escaped.

“Wuh—Arga?”

“You did it, little miss Alice is finally a free dragon!”

Arga raised her high into the air above her shoulders and spun around more times than she would have liked.

The tension in the room seemed to have escaped, the peering stares of confused and frightened adventurers settled and left us with open arms.

The guild members were pretty hesitant at first but after seeing Mister Ed welcome me with a handshake they opened up to us. I assume Arga’s lively shouting also helped but I’ll try and forget what I saw there…

Mister Ed pulled me to the side and spoke to me without anyone else hearing.

“Rei, I should warn you though. Alice isn't completely out of the woods yet, we can’t just let her go when we don’t know anything about her.”

“Mister Ed, don’t tell me you still don’t trust her?”

“It’s not that simple, it’s true that I don’t see any hostility in Alice but you saw for yourself what my guilds reactions were like. I’m sure you or your party member were like that at first too, right?”

I couldn't argue with him there, Arga was the first to jump at Alice and think of her as a dangerous monster. It’s a little weird to look back on that and then see her carrying her around and caring for her as she does.

It meant that people could change, even Mister Ed and his guild seemed to be open to her after talking it out a little. They were talking and laughing around her, even if she refused to leave Arga’s side for it all.

“So then what do we do to clear her name?”

“Contrary to what some of my guild members have said, we don’t speak for Istoria. We’re going to have to take her back with us, all three of you. She can be held in front of court, to bring peace of mind for the people too.”

I rubbed my chin. “I see…so it’s basically just a show so that everyone else can see that she isn't harmful?”

“In simpler terms, yes. It’s the only way she can live, I’m sure you don’t have a problem with that right?”

He was pretty good at talking me down, I came into this pretty on guard but after a few back and forths I had completely let him in. I let down my guard and spoke to him normally for a second, I could see what made him so respected.

“Alright then, after Alice clears her name she’ll be free.”

It worked out really well for us, with their escort back we were pretty much guaranteed a safe way out of the Tower. The court thing would take up a lot of time but Mister Ed said it wouldn’t be a long process, it was mostly just to get everyone on the same page.

Things were looking good, for all of us.