"Wake up little miss,"
Tara opened her eyes to find herself in a room with the high priest, Caelus Rivondre sitting opposite her.
"Now then, let's start questioning shall we?"
Tara has been napping in the carriage for the whole ride which made the guards carried her into the interrogation room.
"Alright little miss,"
"My name is Tara, not little miss,"
"My bad, please forgive me, right then, Miss Tara, what do you remember during the incident?"
"Well...a man wearing a mask with a white hat and some funny clothes and pants talked me into chanting a weird spell from a picture book,"
"I see...what do you see inside the book?"
"All I remember is just some moving picture of a witch killing a beast that kinda shaped like a human,"
"Beast shaped like a human...is there anything else you remember?"
"Not much...Oh! The man's mask does have a drawing of a sun, though it look kinda weird and ugly,"
"Well then, thank you Miss Tara, we will escort you to a room where you get to rest,"
"Can't I go back home?"
"Sorry Miss Tara, there is much things to settle,"
The guards behind Caelus then escorted Tara into a dorm room while Caelus discussed this matter with another priest who just entered after the guards escorted Tara away inside the interrogation room. His name was Duro.
"So...how did the interrogation went?"
"It went much easier than expected, I thought she was gonna be a hassle,"
"What info did we get?"
"Nothing much, she just said she saw a book that was probably designed to trick them,"
Caelus then looked towards a jar on a desk where there were many files at the side of the room. Inside the jar was a decayed bird that somehow survived the spell that Tara chanted. Caelus originally planned to show Tara what did the magic did but decided not to avoid ruining her innocence.
"Shall I kill that bird? To put it out of its misery?"
"...go on,"
Duro went on to kill the bird, finally releasing it from its curse. Caelus sighed as he looked through the files of sighting of SUN Cult.
"Weird, the SUN Cult usually come in groups, not in one,"
"You know...I kind of feel bad for that girl, those who were victims of black magic only got two choices, get executed to avoid committing black magic again due to the corrupted blood, or get their memory erased, though those who got their memory erased never end well..."
"Let's go,"
Caelus stood up after finishing writing a letter and exited the building to send it. As Caelus and Duro were walking to the post office, they heard a loud commotion and saw a saint judge that has a round belly and a large mustache scolding a beggar who seek help.
"Don't you know your place you fool? Stop touching me!"
"Please sir please heal me, I have this disease for a month!"
"I said not to touch me, do you not know it's wrong to touch the clothe of someone higher than you?"
The saint judge pushed the beggar away and walked past Caelus and Duro.
"Saint Judge Zeke,"
Caelus and Duro greeted the saint judge with a bow but he raised his hand and quickly walked past them. Duro waited for a while till the saint judge leave only to say a words.
"Geez, he always gotta be that rude huh,"
"Duro, we should not speak ill of the saint judge,"
"But don't you think the same too? Everyone does, just we don't dare to question his authority,"
Deep down, Caelus also despise that judge. He had acted like that, being all 'righteous' and heavily relied on his authority to judge. Those who worked with him noticed his behavior but dare not utter a word.
"...,let's just get going,"
Suddenly, a young girl holding ice cream ran and accidentally bumped onto Caelus. Her ice cream dropped onto the floor as she cried loudly, drawing the attention of the surrounding crowd. Her mother quickly ran and apologized to Caelus and Duro. She then comforted her child and took her away.
"Halt,"
Caelus ordered them to stop right in their tracks and walked towards the child. Still crying, Caelus reaches out and grabbed her hand lightly and handed her few copper coins and apologized to her.
"Sorry, I didn't see you there, here, take this cash and go get yourself a new ice cream,"
Her mother tries to reject but Caelus insist and told her it's an order. As they walked away, Duro teases Caelus which he hit him at the back.
"Looks like the all strict priest still has a heart,"
"Shut up, she's just a child,"
A few days passed as the Everlight party and Amethia finally arrived in the City of Heris to save Tara from being executed.
The carriage brought them to the gate of the court. Caelus is waiting for them outside of the court.
"May I guide you?"
"Take us you shall,"
Will replied and Caelus lead them into the court.
"Welcome,"
They entered a large court room with many priests sat around the room. At the end sat the saint judge waiting for them to start.
"Now, shall we begin?"
The saint judge asked all of them which they all agreed.
"Alright, we had questioned Miss Tara and our final judgment is she is s victim who was caught by the SUN Cult, despite this, we cannot do exception for those who practice black magic even once, will have their blood corrupted and might lead to even further destruction in the future,"
The scene was tense. Raye even broke a sweat but the judge continued.
"What is your choice, do you want Miss Tara to have her mind erased or to be executed?"
Tara was stunned upon hearing the saint judge's words and looked behind at her sister and the Everlight. They all faced down except Will who simply walked to the middle of the court where Tara is standing and replied.
"We have come to a conclusion that,"
Will patted Tara on the head to calm her down.
"That she will not be executed or let on her memory be erased!"