A Tale of One Deviant (Book One)

Chapter 157: The Trial of Earl de Libellule

Revealing that I was an apostle was one of the last things I wanted to do on my list, but as the [Apostle of Order], I was curious about what the title would do for me when standing before a "sinner." Justice wasn't something that I was directly familiar with, though Knight would argue otherwise. Holding it up as my banner so suddenly felt like trying to break in new shoes, straight out of the wrapping paper in the box, on a snowy mountain, without wearing any socks.

     I was delaying and I knew it. My floating was going slow while checking in on other people, seeing if the cook was doing fine, the stableman, his assistants, some maids I knew, others that were new, and the like. I had to swipe a few cookies from the kitchen, having run out of my own stash, and leave a new recipe for Tierre as she was frozen over a baking sheet with a few squiggly-shaped things placed on, no doubt, by Adri. A few had a certain spriggan's mana on them, and I had to hold myself back from snickering at their crude forms.

     Focus, Firea, focus.

     I learned, after touching enough bodies and rifling through the memories of all of those people, that Kiki had deftly dealt with all of the concerning parts. Things fit seamlessly together as if she'd spent hours editing them like a professional memory editor, paid for the work. I couldn't find any noticeable holes that a normal person would be able to point at in their own minds and say, "Something's wrong here."

     As expected of my familiar...

     All of the servants I encountered only had memories of a very depressing work atmosphere, of the madame suddenly disappearing into the night, of Thérèse disappearing not long after, of the earl going off for business to the north, of Martin and Sarah going off on territorial business, of it being silent for a while as that guy with the name I hated was in charge, of the earl coming back, of him acting strange with his two most loyal knights, of the children returning with the king's aide, of the Church deciding to send a visitor, of the Church acting suspicious, of Magaris disappearing, of the Church deciding to pay them an unwarranted visit, of the servants being rounded up in the manor and guarded by knights, of screaming outside the manor where the nobles and the head servants were taken...

     Then, where their memories were edited.

     Unlike before, where they knew clearly that the reason the Church was summoned was because the apostle that appeared declared the earl's wrongdoings clearly before them all...they suddenly thought that the reason why the Church appeared was because they were on hyper-alert with all of the Demon summonings and Knight taking all of their thunder when putting down Demon summoners. Someone tipped off the Church saying that the earl was acting suspicious and had been the whole year, and their family was falling in general...and the Church finally thought that they'd do a major bust and not appear inferior to Knight anymore.

     As for why the little miss was sealed in her room and no one heard much of her, it was because she'd been hurt by the Church when they came, the king's aide was good at magic and put a barrier on her, and they had to wait until someone "better with magic" came to awaken the little sleeping beauty.

      So it was all just one big mistake. The Church was to blame, not the earl, again. Just like how they screwed up with the life of the littlest miss when she was just a babe, they were screwing with their whole noble house because the Church had a grudge against the household that had deprived them of a cardinal years ago.

     It wasn't animosity that I felt in that servant, when seeing things from his point of view, but there was certainly anger there. There was also fear, deep in his heart, and distrust. Strong, strong distrust for not only the Church, but those around him.