The Freak Show Foreman

[Ghost (??): A supernatural being that can pass through walls. Resides in the underground cabaret and exploits young girls.]

The audience raised their eyebrows in response to the evidence she presented.

What does she mean by "Ghost"?

Lord Dosville’s face displayed a belated realization.

Anais raised her hand to her hip and nodded.

"Lord Dosville mentioned it when explaining the case. The Ghost can pass through walls and is a presence that preys on the cabaret from behind. But if we consider his abilities, regulating the entry and exit of outsiders in the first place becomes meaningless because he can emerge from anywhere."

The murmurs among the people grew louder.

Come to think of it, her words made sense.

The Ghost could indeed pass-through walls.

Lord Dosville’s argument was that since he was the only suspect, he must be the Ghost. However, considering the Ghost’s abilities, it was illogical for him to be the only suspect.

His argument contradicted the contents of the case.

Lord Dosville quickly presented a counterargument.

"In any case, the defendant disappeared during the performance, is that not a fact? If the defendant used his abilities to fly up to the ceiling, it explains…"

Anais slammed her hand on the table.

"Objection! The prosecutor is making conjectures and not presenting any evidence or testimony."

"Accepted. The prosecutor’s claim is rejected."

"Grr."

Lord Dosville shook his head in frustration.

Anais let out a relieved sigh.

This didn’t completely clear Wonderstein of suspicion.

After all, he wasn’t present at the time.

But the "only suspect" logic had been dispelled.

"Circus’s reputation has risen by 2."

From that point on, the trial was completely in Anais’s favour.

Lord Dosville called a member of the Alchemy Guild as a witness to connect the dots between Anais’s bodyguard, Ivonne, buying the yellow substance on the day of the incident, and the attack being the result of the yellow substance.

When Porsche took the witness stand and testified, "I bought the yellow substance at the request of Wonderstein," the reputation of the circus plummeted significantly.

The audience in the gallery even started murmuring about lynching.

However, as Anais asked a few questions, the prosecution’s argument quickly revealed its flaws.

"Porsche purchased the yellow substance in the afternoon on the day of the incident. Ivonne was attacked in the morning of that same day. Isn’t the sequence of events reversed?"

"Well, you see, since he used the yellow substance, maybe he bought it to replenish it…"

"Objection! The prosecutor is making conjectures again."

"Accepted. Please refrain from making baseless claims."

Lord Dosville had to hold his tongue.

Anais’s questions skillfully dismantled the prosecution’s argument.

His argument was once again shattered.

Here, Viscount Dosville glanced briefly in the direction of the police.

The detective, who had been in charge of the investigation, avoided his gaze with a disapproving expression.

The time of purchase of the yellow rose was not properly investigated, and the person who enthusiastically submitted the relevant information as evidence, exclaiming, "I found it! I found it!" was the one who did so.

If this were a normal courtroom, it would not have been like this.

The prosecutor would have thoroughly examined the details of the case and the evidence and would have advised against going to trial with such weak evidence.

But today’s trial was not originally intended to win.

It was initiated with the purpose of throwing as many suspicions as possible within two hours to tarnish the reputation of the opponent.

All that was needed was for the questionable image of the opponent to be revealed. Therefore, they only glanced over the logic and credibility of the evidence.

Lord Dosville believed that he had the skill to drag the trial into the mud with just that much.

As long as the opponent was not Anais.

"Objection!"

"Just a moment!"

"Please accept the evidence!"

No matter what conjecture Lord Dosville threw, no matter what loophole he tried to find, Anais immediately countered it on the spot. She didn’t give him any room to breathe.

Wow.

Now, the moment she raised her finger, cheers erupted from the audience.

Even the people on the side of the prosecution turned their tongues in admiration of her argument.

The people surrounding the stage had turned into an audience watching a performance once again, instead of mere spectators.

What they were watching was dazzling acrobatics of language and logic.

***

Hehe, so this is the famous reputation of that iron-faced woman.

A 20-year-old woman relentlessly cornering Viscount Dosville, who is famous even in Luz.

That’s why Vergsong will continue to prosper day by day.

Didn’t I say I was going to sell all the shares of the company earlier?

Haha, I made a mistake. Let’s move on.

Among the cheering crowd, Supervisor Yug Maroine felt a pleasant rage.

The performance he had prepared so diligently for today would soon be forgotten in people’s minds.

Today’s show, which unfolded in Rose Windmill Hall No. 1, was this very moment.

[The circus troupe’s reputation has increased by 3.]

[The circus troupe’s reputation has increased by 4.]

[The circus troupe’s reputation has increased by 6.]

As Anais broke each of her opponent’s arguments, the reputation skyrocketed.

She had surpassed the previous highest of 40.

The incurable disease of the iron-faced Anais has been cured by a magician!

A circus troupe led by the man she personally defended! Find adventures on mvl

That alone had greatly increased the reputation.

If Wonderstein had defended himself, he would not have achieved this level of results.

Even if he had used all the means at his disposal to boost his reputation, it would have been a very precarious game just barely escaping failure at the last moment.

Even more so, if his reputation had plummeted as low as 3 or below, it would have been extremely challenging for him to even speak.

The ’Ghost’ who had visited her hospital room? Well, this person looked completely different from this Wonderstein person, right? Everything, from height to voice, was different.

With Ivonne’s testimony, the examination of the witnesses had come to an end. Lord Dosville had tried to extract the ’two ghost theory’ from her to link it to Wonderstein, but she had no intention of cooperating with someone who had built up so much resentment against the Rose Windmill people.

As he listened to her testimony, Wonderstein felt a small doubt.

When he met her, he was wearing ’Derek’s vocal cords,’ so it was true that his voice was different. But how should he interpret the claim that his height was completely different? Was it just an attempt to mislead Lord Dosville?

At that moment, Ivonne returned to her seat and their eyes met.

He saw her red lips slightly curling up through her lush red wavy hair.

Ah, she had figured it out.

From the point of healing Anais’s illness, she must have realized that he was the ’Ghost’ who had appeared in her hospital room.

As all the examinations were thwarted, the plaintiff’s side brought out their last card.

It was the testimony of Sergeant Sabo, who had been in charge of the investigation of the case.

He showed various careless aspects, but he was still the person in charge of the investigation.

Even the tiniest suspicions he had uncovered could be gathered to create some small news.

His testimony began.

He indeed met the expectations of the plaintiff’s side.

His testimony would occupy a whole page in tomorrow’s newspaper with the title ’The Much-Awaited Revelation of Sergeant Sabo of the Luz Mounted Police.’

"There’s a one-year gap between the last victims! And coincidentally, the defendant’s circus troupe started their activities nine months ago! Isn’t that quite fitting? The monster that lurked underground has now emerged into the light of day!"

His claims were filled with baseless speculations to the point that not even Lord Dosville, who was on the same side, knew what to say in his defense.

"He was even looking for a new victim! I heard this circus troupe has not one, but two 16-year-old girls!"

The expressions of the circus troupe members soured.

What did it matter if the circus troupe had some kids?

"I also have a theory about the motive of the culprit. To elevate his circus troupe’s name, he brought Ivonne down from the stage and made his second-in-command perform on stage. Why do you think he went into the underground? I believe it’s related to the reason he came back into the world. It’s because he is the ’Black Magician’ who attacked the Circus Grand Prix seventeen years ago!

He has come out from the theatre’s underground to try what he did in the past again!"

Sabo shouted, scolding Wonderstein.

Sighs and moans echoed throughout the hall.

The judge barely restrained himself from throwing his gavel to smash Sabo’s head.

Anais lowered her head as if in disdain.

Lord Dosville glared at her while tapping his fingers.

"17 years ago… Did the defendant commit such an act when he was 10 years old?"

"Well, if we consider using magic to manipulate the body…"

She didn’t even want to respond at this point.

Viscount Dosville let out a deep sigh and turned around.

The audience in the courtroom had significantly dwindled.

Those who had taken sides based on friendship or political logic had all left, leaving only the core members who had conspired. Their expressions didn’t look good either. They had plotted to tarnish the opponent’s reputation, but it seemed to backfire as they now found themselves entangled in public opinion. The dilemma had become worse by the eccentric police officer over there.

"Your Honor, can we now deliver the verdict?" Anais asked, her tone filled with impatience.

With a sombre expression, Lord Dosville nodded in agreement.

Continuing further from this point would only prolong the inevitable.

As the judge prepared to give the verdict and raised the gavel, the door of Courtroom 1 suddenly opened with a loud bang, and a police officer rushed in.

All eyes were on him.

He was flustered by the attention he received but approached the highest-ranking officer here in terms of the organizational hierarchy, the head of the Luz Police Department.

The head had been pulled up into the air multiple times over the past few weeks and thrown down, his body wrapped in bandages.

He had maintained neutrality throughout the incident.

As the head listened to his subordinate’s report, he nodded with a serious expression.

"Oh, it’s come to this."

The head skimmed through the report his subordinate handed to him and then submitted it to the judge.

The judge carefully read its contents.

All eyes in the hall were now fixed on him.

What was in that report?

Lord Dosville watched with a glimmer of hope, while Anais anxiously observed the judge’s lips.

As the person with the least patience let out the first sigh, the judge finally spoke.

"Just now, an inspection report from the Luz Police Department has arrived. It pertains to an unidentified corpse found at the end of the sewer two weeks ago. The corpse was missing one arm, and the inspection confirmed that the arm found in the Cabaret’s basement matches the cut mark.

Furthermore, it has been confirmed that this corpse is the owner of several years’ worth of vital traces left in the Cabaret’s basement."

It took some time for everyone to fully grasp the meaning of what the judge was saying. However, by looking at Viscount Dosville’s tightly closed eyes and Baroness Vergsong’s broad smile, it was clear that everyone soon understood the implications.

"I declare the defendant innocent."

The joyful sound of the wooden gavel hitting the desk was followed by thunderous cheers.