Whose youth romance story begins with a witch's trial?!

Saeki Miria's 'socially adept' smile finally crumbled, revealing the blonde girl's most genuine smile.

"Thank you, Xiao Rong."

"Don't say that, I was just doing it on the side—wait?"

Chang Rong was about to raise his hand to rub his head when the two of them launched a cross-punch counterattack. Instead, Milia's hand rubbed his white hair first.

"Thank you for doing these things for an ordinary, unremarkable middle-aged man."

Milia stroked his fur while smiling and thanking Chang Rong.

—I was rubbed? I...I was rubbed again?

The scene unfolding in An'an's cell left Chang Rong momentarily dazed.

Are you kidding me! I'm the legendary Gara-Gi-mu, not someone who gets petted or stroked...

...It feels surprisingly comfortable, so let's leave it at that. (The rest of the text appears to be gibberish and unrelated to the previous sentence.)

Chang Rong didn't say anything about getting angry or running away; he just silently accepted Milia's head patting.

Mature, composed, with a touch of maternal warmth, yet still retaining a hint of youthful naiveté.

Physically and emotionally, I had no desire to resist.

Rather, people like Hiro, who react so strongly to being patted on the head, are actually in the minority...?

"That evens things out. If Xiaorong ever wants to bother Uncle again, or tries to be cute and ask for comfort, Uncle will gladly oblige!"

Milia smiled at the white-haired boy, beginning to look forward to what the next 'equivalent interaction' between them would be like.

"No, no, no, acting cute is still... well, trying it once in a while, as a way to experience something new, isn't so bad...?"

Chang Rong felt a little dazed from being so gently stroked by Milia. If it weren't for the last bit of Galahad's will supporting him, Chang Rong would probably already be lying in Milia's arms seeking warmth.

After a few moments, Saeki Miria stood up.

"It's about time. We should go find that 'witch,' Xiao Rong."

"Well, I just don't know if the evidence we've gathered is enough..."

"Hmph, Secret Technique: Famous Sword - Second Strike: Always believe you have the evidence! Maintaining confidence is always the most important thing, Xiao Rong!"

Saeki Miria extended her index finger and wiggled it from side to side, then spread her hands and lectured Chang Rong.

"I understand that. Rather, even if there is no evidence, I can still—cough cough."

The mysterious perjurer coughed twice, then stopped speaking for fear of triggering a dark age in the courtroom.

"Clang—clang—clang—"

Not long after, the somber tolling of the bell signaling the start of the witch's trial rang out. Chang Rong rose from the bed that had once belonged to the girl named Natsume An'an and followed Saeki Miria to their battlefield.

—Speaking of which, it seems like I forgot something?

Chang Rong vaguely remembered that she seemed to have missed something, but she couldn't recall it no matter how hard she tried.

When Chang Rong arrived at the courthouse, and Kurobe Nai and Ye Xiang, whose attendance rate was 0% during the evidence search, came over with blushing faces and frantically rubbed her cheeks up and down and left and right as if kneading dough—Chang Rong then remembered that she seemed to have promised to let Kurobe Nai and Ye Xiang have some participation in the evidence search process.

Instead of seeking help from Nanohaka's [Vision] magic in the punishment room, I seem to be in the next cell having a philosophical conversation with Saeki Miria while being petted... Thinking about it, I really feel a bit sorry for Nanohaka; human joys and sorrows are all different.jpg

And judging from how angry Nanoha Kaori is, even going so far as to rub herself without regard for her image, that 'hairband guard' is probably about to accumulate a huge layer of killing intent... Hmm?

Chang Rong glanced at the guard who was far away from the crowd, but after seeing this, the guard seemed relieved, as if to say, "This idiot is finally starting to get it."

...I still can't figure out this guard, but there are more important things to do right now—

Crunch!

The heavy doors leading to the courtroom were pushed open, and the group returned once again to this place of judgment, where the witch was found and executed.

The witch must be executed.

But... if, if the 'witch' is...

Chang Rong glanced at the long spear on his back and recalled the information he had secretly obtained from Naoya Kaori about the 'Trial Chamber' room when his face was being rubbed.

Perhaps the end of this trial... will not be the ending I hoped for.

If that's the case, I—

Volume 1: 75. Courtroom Debate (Part 1)

"Is everyone here... Oh dear, let's begin this witch's trial—to be honest, whether there's a trial or not doesn't matter, we might as well all just die together, gugugu..."

Why did the warden immediately issue a world-weary declaration that sounded like a villainous boss?

The doors leading to the courtroom were pushed open, and the warden, as usual, circled once before landing on Chang Rong's shoulder, acting as a 'very comfortable support'.

However, compared to his previous indifferent attitude of "it's none of my business and I just want to get off work," the warden appeared visibly empty-headed this time.

"Being trapped here and forced to work for hundreds of years... I don't want that kind of thing, please give me some kind of vacation... at least ten years of vacation or something—"

Oh, it seems we don't need to worry about it. He just happened to be scrolling through videos while slacking off, so he deserves it.

After learning that the warden had only seen the work injury from a frozen eel, Chang Rong stopped paying attention to the silly bird who had started reading the story of 'A Man Wants to Become the King of Mars' again, and instead took out her phone to check the search results that others had sent to the group.

[Sakura Emma often dozes off in the infirmary, possibly feigning poisoning.] [Sakura Emma steals apples in the cafeteria, possibly planning to create a food crisis.] [Sakura Emma whimpers while sleeping in her cell, possibly trying to give me a nervous breakdown.] [During the kite-flying competition, Sakura Emma hid behind Rhea for about 10 seconds, possibly using teleportation magic to kill Natsume Anan.] [Sakura Emma...]

—Heyro, you bastard… besides Emma TV, do something worthwhile for me!

It seems that Hiro, who was thought to be the main force in the evidence collection, has once again been summoned by the Great King Hiro, and can be said to be of no use at all. It would be better to let her go to jail to work on a sewing machine, since she is already a veteran.

The crossbow bolts in the reception room are gone; they were there at least yesterday at lunchtime. The windows in the courtyard and study, though impassable, seem potentially usable as firing windows. The study was a locked room at the time of the incident. Strange noises were heard near the courtyard last night. One bottle of sleeping pills is missing from the infirmary.

Emma seems to be working diligently... and she looks quite logical and organized. Could she be the detective?

Sakura Emma, ​​who was initially thought to be just a mascot, unexpectedly gathered a lot of information, which surprised Chang Rong.

[The door to Watson's study looks like it could be opened with one punch!] [The door to the first-floor atrium would probably take two punches.] [The railing on the recreation room balcony can be opened with two fingers!] [I saw a cute rhinoceros beetle!]

—...Give up the name Sherlock Holmes and start learning Dora the Explorer again, you naughty child!

It seems that Tachibana Sherry judged the complexity of the case from the perspective of how many punches she could throw through the locked room, which is also a kind of Kenshin Rokusha.

[The balloon teacher lost in thought] [The balloon teacher sunbathing] [The balloon teacher who looks so lovable you want to hug her] [The balloon teacher and the white-haired girl passing by]

—It's basically a collection of Noah's photos... Seriously, did you guys even have the awareness to come and search for it yourselves?

While complaining that Zifang Arisha was useless, Chang Rong carefully preserved each of Noah's photos.

[Selfie][Selfie][Self]...

Chang Rong immediately set Lian Jian Lei Ya to Do Not Disturb mode.

The dust in the study hallway still hasn't been cleaned properly. The guard is slacking off more and more often. Perhaps the lime could be used to scrub the grime off the bathroom walls?

What Hannah Tono had was less of a search result and more of a to-do list to clear out.

During the brief waiting period before the trial, Chang Rong had Nanoha Kaori go through all the evidence she had collected, which was a last-minute effort.

However, whether it was because Nanoha was too bad at the game or because she rolled all the points and failed miserably, in the end Nanoha only managed to see two new pieces of information:

The deflated section of the tangled thread looked like a rubber ball, as if it had been hit by something.

The rusty balcony railing with strange marks looks like it's been 'wrapped' by something.

Chang Rong had no choice but to send these two seemingly useless pieces of evidence to others.

As it turned out, only a very small number of people were truly helpful to the investigation. The vast majority of the prospective witches were simply creating cyber junk.

But there's nothing we can do about it. After all, apart from Kurobe Nanoha, the rest of them are just a group of girls who were dragged into this situation without knowing anything... Under such high pressure and extreme circumstances, it's already a miracle that they didn't explode.

As for finding and executing the witch, let 'Watson' handle that.

Even if... the final outcome is not what I hoped for.

"Is everyone ready at their respective speaking positions? This isn't your first time participating in a witch's trial, so I won't go into the rules and key points here. Hehehe—well then, the witch's trial is now in session!"

The warden, standing in the judge's seat, flapped his wings, announcing the official opening of the witch trial for the "Natsume An'an Murder Case".

~~~Discussion begins~~~

(The text in parentheses represents the inner thoughts of the protagonist, Chang Rong.)

[Hasumi Ryoua]: I can't believe this has happened again... I wanted to protect everyone, damn it—but right now everyone has to pull themselves together and find the suspect! This is not only so that An An can rest in peace, but also for everyone's safety!

[Noah Kinosaki]: Noah... wants to find the murderer.

(An'an's death really had a huge impact on Noah...)

[Hasumi Ryouya]: Everyone will definitely find the culprit! So let me elegantly and gracefully give you a brief overview of the basic facts of this case—

[Sherry Tachibana]: Hmph! That won't do, Rhea. You know, giving out a case summary is a privilege reserved for us detectives!

[Ryota Hasumi]: Wrong. Don't 'forensic doctors' also have such rights? And as the only key person with the relevant skills, I should naturally bear this responsibility.

[Sherry Tachibana]: No, no! Last time it was Rhea, this time it's definitely my turn as the beautiful detective—

[Chang Rong]: According to Leia-sama's brief examination, Natsume An'an's time of death coincided almost exactly with our kite-flying competition. The cause of death was shock and massive bleeding caused by a crossbow bolt piercing her body from the front. The location of death was my bedroom. That's all.

Chang Rong ignored the shocked looks from Hasumi Ryoya and Tachibana Sherry, who seemed to have been betrayed by their closest confidants, and directly gave a brief summary of the case while the two were still arguing over the right to report.

When Chang Rong first stood on this 'judge's seat,' she still had a little energy left to watch the girls' arguments and debates from the sidelines.

But when he stood here again, for Chang Rong, all he had to do was be the 'execution witch,' not watch others perform nonsensical things.

If the murderer is a witch, then I will become—the devil.

A court demon wielding a sword called 'Truth' to execute witches.

[Nikaido Hiro]: In other words, the culprit is one of the few people who didn't appear in the courtyard that day, right? That would eliminate many possibilities.

【Sakura Emma】: So those who didn't come to fly kites... {Nanoha Kaori}, {Arisa}, and {Noah}, right?

As Emma Sakura pointed her finger and called out names, all the eyes of the prospective witches present focused on the three people who had no alibi.

Among them, the gazes directed at Kurobe Nanoha were clearly more intense.

[Nikaido Hiro]: The first eyewitness and the biggest suspect are both Kurobe Nanoha, right? Do you have any explanation for this?

【(Kurobe Minaha) Kaori】: ... Natsume An was not killed by me. At that time, I had just returned from outside the second castle. Although I was startled by the white powder in the corridor, I still planned to go to the study first.

【Sakura Emma】: (Questioning) What does the white powder refer to?

【Chang Rong】: It is quicklime, the material Noah used to create his new art. However, Noah accidentally slipped and spilled it all over the ground, causing trouble for everyone.