Everything after that was a blur.

Altru called for some guards and I was in iron cuffs before I even stopped laughing about it all. In retrospect, I’m sure laughing maniacally as I was put in irons didn’t help my image any as they dragged me away.

Looks like I really am being treated as a heretic.

I just dazedly lay there unable to really comprehend what was going on around me. I heard May screaming something and the commotion stopped for a few seconds. But Altru said something in a cold voice and the guards immediately took me away.

Both of the guards were lifting me up from the ground by my handcuffed arms. It hurt some, but that was the only thought I had. They escorted me through empty hallways to what I could only assume would be a dungeon. I simply dangled without even bothering to try and walk. I was disassociating pretty hard around this point.

After we had rounded countless corners in the castle we came to a large set of doors with a circle on the door that had symmetrical patterns that looked like the magic the mage and Black had demonstrated in the hall, almost like a diagram of lines and edges.

When the people who had been standing next to those doors opened them for the guards I was almost blinded. The light in the corridors and hallways was not exactly dark but this room was astonishingly bright. Not a dungeon then?

When my eyes adjusted I saw one of the most beautiful rooms I had ever seen. The entire room was made out of colored glass in geometric patterns. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, everything. The floor was a solid crimson but the ceiling and walls were a myriad of colors and all of them were glittering in the sunlight from outside. Where is this?

It’s not that I was fully cognizant yet but the beauty of the room brought me a weird sense of comfort and settled my heart. I turned to the guard to ask a question.

“Where are we?”

The guard had a stoic look on his face. None of the disgust the others in the room where my stats were read had shown, but no positive emotions either. I realized he was a bit different from all the soldiers I’d seen here today. Instead of the royal, deep colors or the sharp gray of regular metal that were on the other soldiers, this man was wearing an armor of pure white.

“We are in the shrine of the royal palace.”

Ah, a shrine is it. It certainly feels holy. However, if I’m putting two and two together right…

“This is where you will be tried as a demon.”

Of course. I was too tired to even respond. I just looked forward and waited for whatever was going to happen. The guards sat me down on one of the seats at the front. Despite looking like glass it was surprisingly comfortable, and the guards were not being too rough with me.

“Aren’t you guys being a little too nice to me? Considering…”

The other guard who had not spoken yet answered me this time.

“Your window may have shown some shocking things, but the page is put together by another god who is not the great God of Summoning. We must make sure the condemnation of your person comes from the great god herself and is not some kind of mischief.”

Oh, so this could all essentially be a prank? A god level prank?

If it is… it's not funny.

Looking more closely at the armor the two were wearing more closely I saw that there was a symbol on their chest-plates. It is kind of hard to see as it is only embossed and is the same pure white as the rest of the armor, but it looked startlingly like the symbol on the door coming in.

“Ah, are you two paladins then and not guards? Should I be speaking so casually?”

The second guard who had a more expressive face than the first smiled calmly with a kind look on his face.

“There is no need for such formalities. We are what are known as holy knights. We are simply the military force of the church and do not hold a high position, despite the fancy name. All that is needed to be a holy knight is strong faith and a strong arm so we are not some sort of royalty or anything.”

Wow. This man is being surprisingly nice to me, who is being tried as a demon. Even if it might not be true I would think holy knights would disdain me the most.

Perhaps sensing that the kind knight explained.

“You see, our doctrine is adamant about withholding judgment without verification. That is what makes our church more accepted than zealots like the church of the god of light.”

So May is a potential saint for a crazy church huh. That might be funny to me if I didn’t have the threat of a trial about my heresy hanging over me. Speaking of…

“Who will be acting as a… judge?”

“The summoning saint will be overseeing your trail today. They are one of the few individuals with the ability to talk directly to our great god.”

“So essentially I’m being tried by the god themselves?”

“That is correct.”

Well, that means if she really hates me I am one hundred percent boned. Can’t argue with the will of a literal god now can I?

As me and the holy knight were having a surprisingly comfortable conversation talking about how beautiful the palace’s shrine was, the doors that I came through opened once again.

I turned to see someone extremely tall. One might call them handsome except for one thing.

‘Tattoos?’

They were absolutely covered in tattoos. They had the same angular movement and pattern as the door but as I watched they strangely seemed to shift.

I rubbed my eyes thinking it must be a trick of the light or my tired eyes, but the patterns continued to move across their skin as though they were alive. It was strangely mesmerizing. I tried to make sure I wasn’t just staring at the tattoos and being rude but they were on every inch of the man’s exposed skin, even his face.

As I stared at his face I realized it wasn’t just his skin.

His eyes, dear god the whites of his eyes had the patterns shifting through them as well.

The man took a deep breath and saw me staring. He smiled brightly and walked up the aisle towards us and then past us. It was only then that I realized the two holy knights had risen from their seats and were bowing deeply.

“Uhm, should I bow too?”

I tried to whisper to the friendlier knight but he remained quiet with his head lowered.

“You may raise your heads gentlemen, and Mr. Kiru, you need not follow their example. I've told them multiple times I don’t like the formalities that are baked into everything this church does.”

The two knights raised their heads but did not sit down. The tattooed man sighed.

“Relax.”

His tone had an air of authority when he said this, and finally the knights sat down. The man then brought a relaxed smile back to his face and looked at me with his shifting eyes.

“Hello Mr. Kiru. I’m sure you are a little confused with everything happening so allow me to explain some things.”

The man walked with a carefree gait back and forth around the front of the shrine as he spoke. He seemed very carefree.

“My name is Walton Payce, I am known as the summoning saint. I will be holding a trial here for supposed sins you have committed. I will be in direct contact with our goddess from here on so while I will be the presiding judge she will be the “jury”. If you have committed no wrongs you will be free to leave and the slander against your name from this event will be thoroughly wiped out by the diligent work of our church. We do not take false accusations lightly and will make sure to right any wrongs done in the name of our god.

However. If it is found that you have committed sins deserving of punishment we will deliver your punishment instantly. Our church is granted permissions relating to trial and inquisition by the empire so all happenings here are legal and final. Do you understand?”

This saint was something else. He goes from a carefree spirit to someone with an intimidating air of authority in a moment. I could only meekly nod my head at his question.

“Then let the trial begin.”

The saint held up one of his hands and the tattoos on that arm shifted at a much faster rate than before. As I watched light gathered in his hand that then took the form of a humanoid that was small enough to fit in his palm. Despite taking shape, it was still just light and the more delicate features were hard to see, like the face. It almost felt like it was wearing a mask for all of the expressions I could see.

The small creature made of light began to move.

“Hmpf.”

Then it huffed in an annoyed voice and immediately plopped down in Walton’s hand to sit haphazardly with their legs swinging back and forth over the edge of his palm.

“I hate that you only have enough power to summon this small sprite of me, Walt. I always feel so dainty and weak when I look like this.”

A voice smooth as silk but also extremely haughty can from the little ‘sprite’. I could only guess that this was the goddess overseeing my trial.

I decided being polite could only increase my chances in this trial so I gave my best bow and spoke respectfully.

“It is an honor to meet you great goddess.”

She stopped swinging her legs and her blank face turned to me. Walton looked at me in confusion as well.

“Um. Excuse me if I’m wrong Mr. Kiru, but can you hear the voice of the goddess?”

Confused, I responded.

“Well… yes. I can also see her on your palm. Why do you…”

Walton’s face went stiff.

“Tsk.”

‘Did the goddess just click her tongue at me?’

“I should have figured today was going to be annoying.”

The goddess sounded exasperated.

“Hmmmm. Just to let you know Mr. Kiru there are very few who can see the incarnation of a god..”

“Ah…”

The words of Walton did explain the response. Though not why the goddess seemed so irritated.

“Tony.” The goddess was facing me while still sitting on Walton’s palm.

“Yes?”

“I really, really hate you. Did you know that?”

Walton’s face went dark, and I saw how the rest of this trial…. or I guess inquisition at this point, was going to go.