novelraw Chapter 99 (1 of 2) - Court of Me, Myself, and I
Chapter 99 (1 of 2) - Court of Me, Myself, and I
“Shall we begin?”
Lucille had asked them that, but... who was she kidding? She wasn’t giving them a choice.
The most suspicious individual there, the Alichanteu siblings’ great uncle, frowned amidst the cries of outrage from the elders. “What is the meaning of this, Commission Head? Even one as young as you should be mindful of the disrespect this is against-”
Lucy’s smile turned cold and she snapped her fingers to interrupt him, her words containing a strangely heavy timbre. “Using my Authority as the only Head of the Aurelian Commission, I exercise my right to detain all existing individuals with the Faction Title ‘Member of the Aurelian Commission’ in this room and forbid them from leaving until my ruling is made clear.”
There was a rumble that made everyone stare at the ground in apprehension. To the shocked eyes of the audience, a translucent white dome composed of seemingly intangible gears descended on them. Static-like energy rippled through the room and they looked to the source above Lucille, who was holding her pocket watch open.
[Detainment Authority of the Aurelian Commission Faction Head has activated. Only the same or higher level of Faction Authority may overrule it.]
A display of circular clock-like screens showed different messages to Lucille.
[High-level activation of subsidiary Faction Authority has activated. All events within the Dome of Holding shall be recorded and reported live to the Ruling Supreme Institution Authority: The Empire of Eternity. The System warns the User Lucille Goldcroft that any actions undertaken during this time will be permanently recorded in the System Repository, available for all with the correct Titles/Authority to watch.]
She scanned the message, and dismissed it. While the nobility of Alichanteu were attempting to vacate the System-built prison, unsuccessfully as it were, she opened up another page of Faction Authority.
I wish I could deal with them all myself, but as long as I’m a noble of the Eternal Empire myself, I have to follow their rules.
Lucille sighed and, after pressing far too many ‘Confirmation’ messages, sent a judiciary request to the Capital – To arrange for a Judge. If she didn’t do this, she could be accused of disrespecting the Crown and illegally sentencing the nobles with abuse of power.
Like the Dukes bothered with these processes though! Or many of the powerful nobles, for that matter. If someone with the right position in the Palace authorised a trial to occur without a third-party Judge, then no one could interfere with the noble’s use of Authority. Typically that authorisation never had an end date too, so they never needed a third party to Judge again...
As such, what Lucille was doing was undergoing a ‘coming of age’ event for an upcoming noble, where she’d be recognised as having her own judging ability if the selected individual was on her side. Luckily enough, she had a cheat.
The Dukes are appropriate witnesses for a trial that relates to the Aurelian Commission, so I’ll just send in a request for the Archduke to oversee this. And he’ll obviously authorise me because he won’t want to do something so tedious, let alone the extra paperwork, so-
Her emerging plans had to be discarded before they could even begin, however. She received the message that it had been accepted, but only to be quickly replaced by another message.
[Higher-Authority overrule detected. Changing Virtual Witness-]
The flickering visage of the newcomer’s hologram became clearer as they stood outside the dome. Lucy was surprised, but swiftly kneeled in his presence.
“...Prime Minister Ashthrope. It is... unexpected that you chose to be this trial’s witness. But my honour, too.”
The projected figure of Marquess Hepherson Ashthrope was unmistakeable for the elders of Alichanteu. They all ceased their incessant chatter and complaints, some eyeing the high-ranking noble with wariness.
Lucille took internal note of the identities of those ones.
If they’re wary of the Radical Emperor’s right hand, that means they have something to hide.
The projected figure shifted as he raised a hand to stroke his beard.
“How could I not take interest when a judicial request came from the one and only Aurelian Commission?” The Prime Minister’s eyes narrowed as he gave her a meaningful smile. “I was lucky to have a slight opening away from my usual responsibilities.”
Lucy gave him a tight smile in return.
Is he implying I owe him for this? Great, what would he want?
“But I won’t stay for long. I have other things to do. So... enlighten me, Lucille Goldcroft. Who is the opposing party, and what is your accusation?”
She stood up and turned to beam at the elders. “I would like to accuse the Alichanteu’s Council of Elders of undermining the Aurelian Goldcroft’s Authority and illegally transferring Faction assets to unrelated forces without authorisation of myself, Lucille Adrienne Goldcroft, among several minor infractions of the law... such as attempted assassination against me.”
The Prime Minister stopped and raised his eyes to scan the elders, expression cold. “I... see. Who shall be the defendant party’s representative?”
“...I shall.”
It came as no surprise to Lucille when the Alichanteu siblings’ great uncle stepped forward, black cane gripped in one clenched fist. He glowered at her and planted the cane between his fists, tilting his chin up. “I am Herviet Alichanteu, paternal uncle to Count Alichanteu. We plead not guilty.”
“And I suppose there’ll be no need for legal aid for either side.”
“Of course not,” Lucy replied with a bright smile. “The private matters of a liege and their subordinates need no intervention from the Imperial Court.”
“Indeed. Then, present your evidence,” Prime Minister Ashthrope commanded.
Slowly, an evil grin spread across her face. She reached into her dimensional bag and...
...began dropping thick, bound books onto the floor. Everyone blinked, and the Prime Minister frowned at what she was doing. “Count Goldcroft?”
“Here we have the visitation records and ledgers of every. Household. Here,” she explained smugly.
“What!”
The first exclamation came instantly. Herviet Alichanteu couldn’t keep his composure. Everything he had planned to deflect or postpone the investigation was rendered useless and he could only retort with disbelief. “I-Impossible! Thieving our household records between the time it took to leave our homes and... and now is simply too absurd an idea to consider!” He shook his cane at her. “Prime Minister, this... fraud is blatantly lying!”
“Ah, no, that would be a misunderstanding on your behalf,” Lucille calmly refuted. “The ledgers of each household, yes, but I wasn’t referring to the specifically named Household Ledgers and visitation records kept by the doorkeepers. No, nothing could be proved with such mundane items.”
She opened one up and lazily leafed through the pages. “These are records of a more... nefarious nature.” A cold smile rested on her lips as she glanced at her audience. “These are the written evidences of visits from various outside-force personnel... copied from ledgers by some friends, and documented by Ravimoux.” A few envelopes slipped out of the book and drifted to the floor, which she picked up. “...including several messages that were intercepted on the way to their designated recipient.”
“How can you prove anything with-”
“Ahem.” Lucille ignored the glare shot her way when she interrupted and opened up an envelope with elegant script on it. The paper carried a faint scent of a woman’s perfume.
“Dearest Rohdes...” she began in a sing-song voice. “How I long to see you! When shall the Sages grant us the chance to see one another once more...”
The name seemed to ring familiar to the ears of some, and they turned to give one man odd looks. Namely, the stout, portly man who had been accosting Aeron earlier. The colour drained from his face when he heard his name.
“Even as I reside in this prison of a Duchy on the Aeternus Plane, my mind is filled with your visage, and memories of our dalliances in the moonlight...” Lucy fought the urge to rip it apart in disgust, but stifled her irritation with a cough and continued. “Your sweet murmurs... the tender touch of your... lips... against mine...”
“Please!” The victim of this public humiliation ran to the front of the isolating dome and dropped to his knees. “I beg you, please read no further! I admit to it! I admit to secretly engaging in underworld dealings with Olden, to working with the Star Fall Astrum Duchy, and I was aware of their intent to launch an offence on-”
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“Rohdes!” Herviet yelled, to interrupt him. But Lucille was quicker.
“Oh? I would’ve let you off, but...” She observed him and smirked. “Your struggles to prevent me from reading seem to suggest a bigger secret is hidden in this letter. Shall we hear it?” With a sensation of schadenfreude, Lucille pulled the letter from its envelope entirely. “But this Bergonia Mavepuar must confess, my beloved Rohdes, that these trysts of ours may have condemned us both. For I fear I am with ch...”
Lucille trailed off, staring at the line she didn’t quite finish. After a moment, she raised a gloved hand to rub the area between her eyebrows. “I... may have made a miscalculation when I chose this letter to read...”
“Well? What did she say?” someone in the audience yelled.
“A secret rendezvous with a lesser noble of Medolin... How fascinating...” a woman murmured behind an exquisite fan.
Quick to latch onto the next drama, the ones among the Alichanteu Elders who likely knew very little about Lucille’s kidnapping were utterly enthralled by the latest gossip.
“Er...” Lucy coughed and tossed the letter to the pitiful nobleman. “Well, I doubt this has much to do with my issue. You may... uh... read this in private later... I suppose...”
Count Ravimoux told me this letter had high significance! I don’t need to know the personal details of a baron’s untoward romance with a Lady of a Duchy! Did Kozzazan swap it out for another?! No, he told me he only took the single letter left by Count Ravimoux in a lockbox for me. Did someone else swap it out?
…well, the man confessed regardless. I don’t truly need real proof right now anyway.
She turned to Prime Minister Ashthrope. “My sincere apologies, sire. There seems to have been a mix up. However, I do have some more compelling evidence.”
She cleared her throat to read another document. “This document hereby acknowledges that Viscount Gerard Hartfield of the Eternal Solarmane Duchy transfers the Eagle Sign Manor in the Cerulean City of Archduke Eterial to Viscount Herviet Alichanteu in exchange for complete ownership of Fool’s Greed Seafaring Caravan.”
Herviet Alichanteu went white as she narrowed her eyes at him.
“Which, just so happens to be the second largest merchant fleet owned by Alichanteu and stationed in this very city. Also, this document wasn’t sealed with the Alichanteu Count’s seal, nor sealed with my seal.” She smiled and turned to the Prime Minister, holding up the document as she pointed to it. “See?”
“Ah... this would prove that the representative themselves are guilty, so Herviet Alichanteu must step down from his position as defendant representative,” the Prime Minister concluded.
“Wh- wha- Objection!” The white-haired old man raised his cane and rapped on the translucent border of the Dome of Holding. “T-The estate ownership records are housed in the Ducal Archives of the Eterial Duchy. To own those now you must’ve-”
“Been given these by the Archduke, correct?” She turned to show the avatar of the Prime Minister the document. “You may check with him if you want. His seal is below.”
Count Bentsen came to my rescue. He knew the Archduke could hardly care about my schemes and traded all the records and debts my Faction members had to the Duchy. Even with so many issues with Olden and Radical, everyone likes to buy safe houses and other places in the Duchy of the Emperor’s favourite Duke.
“...I cannot confirm its authenticity without being physically present, but I’m sure I can simply check with Archduke Stolas Septamere to confirm it,” Marquess Ashthrope replied, nodding. He turned to smirk at the rest of the nobles in the hall. “Is anyone else confident to stand up as representative?”
There were awkward shuffles and muffled murmurs among the crowd. Lucy crossed her arms and huffed, well aware that now that the ringmaster among them had been put down a peg, nobody else was brave enough to take on everyone’s wrath if things went south.
“I believe there is nothing more for me to do here. Count Lucille Goldcroft...” The Prime Minister stroked his beard and studied her. Then he smiled. “I don’t see a reason why one such as you should need supervising from the higher nobility. You are the Head of a Faction personally instituted by Emperor Rodrigue.”
She smiled politely and went to bow but...
“However, it would be best to discuss this at length in the near future, considering we failed to see you at the Banquet,” he finished.
Lucille’s eyes widened and her smile stiffened.
...Banquet? He wanted to see me at the End-Of-year Banquet? Whatever for?
If I had of gone to the Banquet, I likely would’ve met that Archwizard. Who knows what trouble he would’ve given me. Plus, I don’t have fond memories of last year thanks to a certain demonic someone.
The thought of needing to go the Palace soon didn’t appeal to her, but she pushed aside her personal thoughts and let out a light laugh. “I’ve been preoccupied, as you can see. I look forward to our meeting.”
The Prime Minister probably took this as an opportunity to ask me to visit them and avoiding the Dukes’ schemes.
“I shall take my leave then. Do with this baser lot as you wish. They aren’t worth my time.” The Prime Minister’s projection vanished in a split second accompanied by a System notification.
Lucille put her hands behind her back and turned to look at her freshly minted victims with a beaming smile, the kind that chilled your blood more than liquid ice injected into your bloodstream.
“Now, how shall I deal with all of you.... hmmmmm?”
...
“...it’s all sorted? That quickly?”
Lucy was greeted by the nonplussed words of her aide, standing outside the exit with her serpentine bond.
“Not at all. They won’t acquiesce right away.” Lucille gave him a malicious grin. “But that’s Ravimoux’s problem to deal with, and not mine.” She hesitated. “Speaking of which... did Count Ravimoux manage to tell you anything about the accident with the ‘letter containing key evidence’?”
Vincent shook his head. “I regret to inform you that I know nothing about what you just said.”
“Hmmm....” Lucy considered it, then narrowed her eyes at the unusually dark shadow following after her bond. “Kozzazan! What went wrong with the letter?”
“Don’t look at me, there was only one letter in that box so I grabbed it.” Kozzazan lifted his head out of the inky pool that was Scytale’s shadow, giving her a baleful look. “Do you have to bother me in the daylight hours?”
“Knock it off,” she retorted. “Not a single member of the Death Race is affected by light.” She glanced at her pocket watch and glared at the uncooperative phantom. “Head back to Black Lily Casino and contact count Ravimoux. My Faction Authority informed me that he’s on the premises, so no doubt you’ll find him.”
“Look here, miss-” The cold stare emitted from Lucy’s violet eye made him change tactics. “Oh noble temporary liege of mine, I would like to voice my objection! Crossing planar distances is vastly draining-”
“Because you’re lazy and haven’t been training yourself by persistently using that ‘dimensional entity’ facet of your race enough,” she stated flatly. “You’re out of shape, not weak.”
He scowled at her, but wordlessly melted back into the shadow. She could feel that his presence had disappeared.
“Temporary liege...?” Vincent asked questioningly. “Who’s his usual master?”
“A wraith.” She waved him off. “Not important right now. Just someone who’s part of his organisation.” Lucille began to walk off.
“Then what is important?” Vincent said, quickening his pace to match her stride. “Developing a believable excuse as to why we have records of their information which greatly conflicts with privacy laws?”
“Ahhh...” She blinked. “That was all forged. Only that one letter was real.”
“Forged?” her aide parroted, looking horrified. “You showed the Prime Minister false evidence?”
“Eavesdropping were you?” Lucy shook her head. “Ashthrope new it was fake. That was all part of the game.” She tapped her head. “It didn’t matter if I had real evidence or not. All that mattered was if I presented it in such a way that he wouldn’t get incriminated if he gave me judiciary permissions. And of course, he had to be on my side to acknowledge it.”
Scytale, annoyed at being ignored, pushed the two of them aside to stick his head between them. “This could’ve been a hell of a lot easier if you brought the real evidence over instead of bothering to forge it. Ravimoux has collected everything anyway.”
Lucy frowned and looked around the courtyard they had landed in. “Well, Count Ravimoux was supposed to meet me here after the ‘mock trial’, but he’s-”
“About that...” The newcomer phantom of the lot, who had been sent away merely minutes before hand, popped up behind them through Lucille’s shadow. “The Count says there’s a change of plans. He needs you to go to him... pronto.”
They stared at Kozzazan, the unexpected herald of bad news. Lucy clicked her tongue and marched toward the direction of her room, planning to pick up her briefcase. “Something must’ve happened in the Permafrost Glacial Abode Region. That’s the only explanation I can think of.”
Vincent looked around, then nodded. “I’ll say behind to take care of things here. It will be an opportunity to meet with the Alichanteu siblings to discuss their County’s future.”
“Please do that.” Lucille opened her room’s door and entered, looking back at her aide. “All going well, I’ll see you in the late evening.”
“...evening?” Vincent quirked an eyebrow. “That’s late, isn’t it?”
She huffed and closed the door behind her. “It just so happens I’m required to meet with a particularly frustrating Archduke today.”
...
With her suit jacket and cane, Lucille marched through the doors of the Black Lily Casino. Two servants’ eyes lit up when they saw her but she held out a hand.
“Stop. Just take me to him,” she ordered.
One stepped back as the other bowed, then began to lead her to the VIP lounge area. Her boots echoed loudly in the silent main hall. Her spiritual perception field scanned the room.
No cigars or half-drunken liquor bottles on tables... this was a planned closure of the casino? That’s the only explanation for the lack of anyone else here.
If I get told that I have to deal with another major issue on the likes of Sedric’s kidnapping and a millennia-old Wight, I will smack that Demon Emperor across his face whether I die for it or not.
Before she could ask where the Count was, the loud voice barking orders grabbed her attention. She nodded her thanks to the servant and took the next flight of stairs.
Lucille’s presence barely made the masked subordinates in the next room look at her. She quietly walked up to the green-eyed Count standing in front of a long unfurled map. Every now and then, he shifted pieces from spot to spot, depicting the chess game of politics.
When she arrived at the raised platform in the wide room, he finally looked up and gave her an Empire salute. “Thank you for coming so quickly, Count Goldcroft. I returned from the Permafrost Glacial Abode Region two hours prior. Our venture was successful.”
“I take punctuality seriously when it calls for it.” Lucy sat down on a leather lounge and swung one leg over the other. “So it was successful? Then the urgency can’t have been because the Commission was in immediate danger of being destroyed or anything along those lines. My crafter didn’t get kidnapped again, did he?”
“Nothing like that. No, I called you because of a ‘side-event’ that I witnessed and became privy to during this mission.” He turned to the side and waved a gloved hand to dismiss all of his subordinates still in the room. Then he sat down and put his hands together.
“Archmage Merkenia turned up,” he began solemnly. “It was all going fine until that moment. I watched from a distance as my people launched an attack on the group of thirty that arrived and began digging up the goods. The battle was close to finishing with zero casualties on our side, and we confirmed they had been employed by an associate of Herviet Alichanteu belonging to an Olden-adjacent March from a Minor plane. Then the Archmage appeared.”
She tilted her head. “And began causing issues for you personally, I presume?”
Count Ravimoux shook his head. “No, I don’t think he ever discovered I was there. I am quite proud of my espionage and stealth capabilities, so he didn’t see me but...” He gritted his teeth. “Someone else did.”
Have the Profound Emergent Jade Lotus Sect finally made a move?
“Who was it?” She leaned forward with focus.
“I... can’t remember.” He grabbed his head. “I have distinct memories of the ‘me’ at that time trying to get closer to hear the discussion between the Archmage and this... other... figure... but I draw a blank on any details regarding them. All I know is that the Archmage got thrown back a distance and never interfered with me.”
Lucille observed the Count and took note of his pale complexion.
So the urgency was because he felt disturbed by his experience with this undefendable attack, not because this has long term implications for the Commission.
Well, this is interesting regardless, so I’ll see if I can’t bring to light what happened.
“The Archmage knew this person?” she mused.
“I suppose so, because he didn’t immediately attack, and he also said something which-”He groaned and rested his head against the couch. “I can’t recall. Probably a name from the context, or a title. He didn’t look happy to see them.”
“Yet he respected them enough to talk to them before taking action against your group,” Lucille added. “You can’t remember them, so I doubt they could be anyone from the Mystical Realm. That... likely rules them out as some ‘secret protector’ of us.”
“Did they erase my memories?” he asked, looking murderous. “I hold my memories and their contained secrets to a high value, and don’t appreciate them being removed without my permission.”
“Memory erasure...” Lucy considered it, but ultimately shook her head. “Your soul would be partially unstable after that, and I see no issues. This isn’t something that occurred afterwards, it was an ongoing effect. Probably some cognitive block.”
Count Ravimoux narrowed his eyes. “And why is that any better?”
“Because it wasn’t meddling with your mind.” Lucy stood up with her hands behind her back, walking over to the window. “This person must’ve been a soul cultivator. I bet they practised a form of the Pure Path Treading, Mortal Worlds Surpassing.” She looked back. “Which, interestingly enough, has its roots in one of the Four Arts of calligraphy.”
“...Pure Path Treading?”
“It’s a technique that prevents spiritual information about someone entering another person’s mind by keeping it in a shell around you and delaying its release until nobody is there as a witness,” she explained. “A better version of Scytale’s Incongruity Inversion. The concept behind this art is that you are to ‘leave no characteristics of the artist behind, to ensure a perfectly pure and unbiased replica of the world exists on the canvas.’ As such, your mind had no way of storing what spiritual information existed, even if you saw them at the time, because it doesn’t know what to record.”
“That is... complicated,” he ultimately replied.
“Most soul arts and abilities are all built upon those sorts of hazy, vague ‘loopholes’ that you can only find by purposely looking for,” she agreed, sitting back down. “Suffice to say, it’s an in-built limitation of the mortal mind. The brain can later on fill in that missing information with context, but we don’t have even an appearance to use yet.”
It’s the same core principle behind the Authorizer’s Association Limiter. If he or the System had actually tried to alter my mind in any way... I likely wouldn’t be aware of it for a while, but I have my ways.
“Well, now that I can assure you that you’ve not been harmed...” Lucille crossed her arms. “Do we have any clues left to solve the mystery of this person? An object still on you that you can’t recall obtaining, for aforementioned reasons?”
“No, I-” He stiffened up as he felt something in his coat pocket. He pulled out a small, pale leaf and stared. “When did I...”
Lucille took it, noticing the single oriental character on the front that meant ‘Find’, complete with an address underneath, leading to somewhere in the Aeternus Capital.
How clique. My hidden enemy wants me to play hide and seek.
She narrowed her eyes. Too bad I’m not going to play.
It just so happens that I’m meeting with an Authorizer and his all-knowing System today who can straight away tell me who owns the energy signature in this spiritual leaf.
They owe at least this much to me for not warning me about End traces being on that plane and getting me mixed up in it. Once More.
She wasn’t going to work for the System for free again this time around.