Return To The Courtroom

"Where is the defendant?" I asked in the lobby.

"I heard that the inquisitor is busy talking to him." answered Harold.

"Let me guess," I said, "He's trying to get the defendant to confess, isn't he?"

"I don't know what he's planning." answered Harold.

"Great," I said, "this could be difficult."

"Even so," Jason said, "you've done this a few times before. I doubt that you'll be backing down at the beginning."

"Y-yeah," I said, "you're right."

"Well," said Jason, "why don't we head out there?"

I followed Jason into the case's assigned courtroom and went to the defense bench with him. The inquisitor was on his side of the courtroom and the judge in his chair.

"Court is now in session for the trial of David Ross," said the judge, "Are both sides ready?"

I stood still, not saying a word.

"Is the defender… ready?" asked the judge.

"Y-yes, your honor." I answered.

"I'd appreciate a quicker response next time." said the judge.

"S-sorry, your honor." I responded.

"Ron," said Jason, "you sound like you've never done this before!"

"I haven't done this in months!" I exclaimed, "What do you expect?!"

"You had little trouble your first time." responded Jason.

"Your point?" I asked.

Our conversation was interrupted by the judge's gavel.

"Inquisitor Bob," said the judge, "please give us your opening statement."

"Yes, milord." answered Bob, "The victim, whose name is unknown was struck in the head with a blunt object. The weapon is unknown, but we found a few things in the victim's possession: a card, a button, and a note. Lastly, a key was left behind by the accused."

"Is there anything wrong with his opening statement?" I whispered to myself, "Nah, I can't think of anything."

"Inquisitor, please-" started the judge.

"I'm on it." interrupted the inquisitor, "I call the first witness, Brian Byrde to the stand."

A few minutes later, a young man brown-haired man with grey eyes had appeared where he was supposed to be.

"Name. Occupation." instructed inquisitor Bob.

"Brian Byrde." answered the witness, "I'm… unemployed."

"Well, then… please testify about the moment of the murder." requested Bob.

"I left the Dovacath Courthouse after I watched a trial in the gallery," the witness began, "I happened to see the accused standing over the dead body. Then, he ran away leaving his keys behind and he dropped something else."

"Defender," said Bob, "Do you find anything strange? If not, we can stop here and go straight to the verdict."

"Well," said Jason, "do you?"

"Was there really anything wrong with what Brian just said?" I whispered to myself.

"Ron," said Jason, "are you alright?"

"Wait a minute!" I shouted, "Brain, could you please give us more details on that 'something else' that was dropped?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," he said, "I'm not sure what it was, but it was probably his invisible magic stick."

"OB-" I started.

"I'm going to have to stop you there, sir green knight." interrupted Bob.

"Green knight?" I responded.

"I thought I was THE knight." said Jason.

"Silence, fools." said the inquisitor, "This town has already proven that sorcery doesn't exist. Don't you remember, sir blue knight?"

"No… I don't know what you're talking about." I responded.

"Brian!" Bob yelled, "Give us more details… and exclude the nonsense this time!"

"Y-yes, sir." answered Brian, "I said before, but I saw the accused standing over the victim's body. When he saw I was there, he ran off! He dropped the key he had and something else too."

"Could you describe what this object was like?" I asked.

"Well," answered Brian, "it sounded like one of those sorcerer's sticks."

"OBJECTION!" shouted the inquisitor, "I've already said this… Sorcery does not exist here!"

"S-sorry," responded Brian, "but I remember those sticks."

"HOLD IT!" I shouted, "Please go into more detail about their sound."

"Well, a sorcerer's stick sounds like something heavy and made of wood when it hits the ground." answered Brian.

"If that wasn't a stick," said Jason, "what was it?"

"Did um, anyone consider the possibility of this not being murder?" I asked.

"OBJECTION!" shouted the inquisitor, "Are you saying that the police of Dovacath are idiots!?"

"Um… no." I answered, "I'm saying that YOU'RE an idiot."

"That is absurd." replied Bob, "What the hell are you up to!?"

"Yes, Ron," said Jason, "what are you doing?"

"I'm saying that the death probably wasn't murder." I replied.

"Do you have any kind of proof of this?!" asked the inquisitor.

"I request that somebody look at the crime scene!" I shouted.

"Alright," said the judge, "I will send some of our men to check out the crime scene."

Several minutes later, the men that the judge had sent had come back and reported that the building was getting old and starting to fall apart.

"Defender," said Bob, "what are you up to? You better not say anything insane!"

"I wasn't," I said, "I'm only going to tell the truth."

"B-bull!" shouted Bob, "You've got nothing!"

"Well," I said, "what killed the victim was… the courthouse itself!"

"Wait," said the judge, "are you accusing the courthouse of murdering the victim? Are we going to need to have the building testify?"

"Uh, no… your honor." I answered.

"Then what are you even saying!?" asked the judge.

"This very building is falling apart," I said, "The victim could have been killed by a piece of rubble!"

"OBJECTION!" shouted Bob, "That is impossible! The victim was hit with a blunt object! It couldn't have-"

"OBJECTION!" I shouted, "He could have been hit by a flat end of the rubble!"

"OB- ngh, ugh!" reacted Bob, "Augh!!!"

At that moment, Bob fell over. He had suffered a heart attack!

"Well," said the judge, "this court finds the accused… not guilty and will somebody please rush our inquisitor to the hospital?"

As soon as we returned the lobby, I was finally able to talk to the guy I was defending in court. He was a guy in one of my classes with short blonde hair and brown eyes.

"The key is for my house," he said, "and the card… the six of diamonds… I'm not really sure where that came from. Perhaps I had it in my pocket or something?"

"Why would you have even brought a card with you?" I said, "And if that really is the case, why was the victim holding it?"

"I don't know," my client answered, "I'm not even sure if it was in my pocket or not."

"And the button," I said, "…I'm going to assume that the victim had it fall off of his shirt, by accident some time before the incident. Maybe he's just had the shirt for a while?"

"That makes sense." replied my client.

"David," I said, "we also found a note labeled 'CH-15' in the victim's pocket. Do you know anything about it?"

"Nope." answered David, "However, I think Jon might know."

"Yeah… he- wait. You know Jon?"

"Yes," he answered, "I was here last year for some kind of adventure test."

"Oh," I responded before hearing a familiar voice.

"Ron," she said, "we're going into the future."