The inquiry proceeded in a relatively amicable manner–or not. Things weren’t too heated, but the atmosphere was definitely oppressive and uncomfortable.

Well, fortunately, the target of such coercion, or rather, animosity wasn’t us. It was the Earl, or rather, Ex-Earl Ixamal.

The inquiry committee members conducted a thorough and severe interrogation of the former earl.

First, they knocked Serena and us out using something akin to sleeping drugs, then took my crew hostage in order to force me to become their pawn. Then there’s the matter of Serena getting injected with prohibited substances made by pirates. Apparently, among the stuff they prepared for her was an artificial mind control parasite that burrows into a person’s brain to rob them of their free will. And finally, there’s the matter of them trying to defect to the Vereverem Federation by presenting the territories closest to the border up until the gateway as gifts. To make this plan succeed, they used their private forces to infiltrate the gateway and sabotage it in order to cut off reinforcements from the Imperial Space Forces’s main force. All of these matters were investigated thoroughly during the interrogation.

But man, the interrogation really was intense. Whenever Ex-Earl Ixamal tried to deny the allegations, the committee would present irrefutable evidence to his face such as his personal confession and the info they managed to pull out from his head, crushing any and all denial attempts.

Remaining silent wasn’t even an option, since silence was treated as an admission of guilt.

“Is it legal under Imperial law to not be allowed to exercise the right to remain silent?”

“There are many aspects of Imperial law that are favorable to nobility, but whenever one is accused of committing heavy crimes such as treason, they would be treated quite harshly instead. And since there’s plenty of evidence against him, Ex-Earl Ixamal is well out of luck.”

While watching the former earl receive a thorough verbal beating, I covered my mouth with my hand and spoke quietly to Serena. Before long, the former earl’s interrogation was concluded, and he was escorted out by members of the military police. Somehow, it seemed that he had more gray hair on his head. It was probably just my imagination.

“Now then, let us move on to you, Captain Hiro. We would like to talk to you as well.”

“Sure. You’re gonna question me too, right? Please go easy on me.”

After the former Earl Ixamal was escorted out, the focus of the committee was turned toward me, so I decided to cooperate obediently. Every member of the inquiry committee exuded an aura of nobility. In fact, all of them were probably high-ranking nobles. Since that’s the case, most of them probably possessed increased brain processing capabilities due to advanced biological enhancements. Lies and deception likely wouldn’t work on them. And so, this meant that I had no choice but to tell it like it was, and that made me feel relieved in a sense.

“Well then, we would like to confirm the events that happened aboard the Majestic, which is a battleship owned by House Ixamal. As per the investigation conducted against House Ixamal, you and your crew members went to the Majestic together with Captain Serena Holz. Is this correct?”

“Yes, that’s right. I received an invitation and went to the Majestic along with my crew. Captain Serena received one as well and came to the ship too.”

The inquiry committee facilitator nodded his head after hearing my response.

After that, we moved on to what happened during the dinner party until the part where we were given sleeping drugs. Then, we moved on to my exchange with Vincent after regaining conciousness.

“My entire body was tied to a chair, and he threatened me using the safety of my captured crew members as leverage in order to make me obey them, so I secretly undid the restraints and took advantage of an opening to overpower Vincent and the two guards who were present in the room. However, Vincent was still a highly dangerous threat, so I used the sword I snatched from him to finish him off.”

“Afterward, you engaged in a fierce battle with the Majestic’s crew, killing many of them in the process. Is this correct?”

“Yes. As their captain, I was in a position where I had to rescue my captured crew members no matter what. And since House Ixamal had already used drugs and taken hostages, I had no reason to expect any sense of ethics or decency from them. In order to ensure the lives and dignity of my crew members, I decided that I had to save them as quickly as possible. Consequently, fighting broke out and resulted in many casualties.”

“I see. There are a few points that I am curious about. How did you manage to escape from being restrained to the chair? And even though you caught them off guard, just how did you manage to subdue all three people, including Vincent who was a nobleman? Furthermore, as shown from video footage as well as testimonies from survivors of that battle, you had apparently made parts of the walls and corpses float in the air, freely manipulated them, and used them as shields. Just what kind of method did you use to pull something like that off?”

Oh boy, here it comes. I pretty much expected that they would ask about my psionic abilities. I didn’t think that they could imitate it, and there probably wouldn’t be issues if I did talk about my abilities, but I didn’t want to reveal my secrets if I could help it.

“I refuse to answer those questions. I acknowledge the fact that I fought, injured, and killed a large number of House Ixamal’s private soldiers, but questioning me about the exact methods I used during said battle is beyond the scope of this inquiry.”

“Fumu…… It does deviate a bit from the topic of this inquiry. Very well. I take back my earlier questions. Your actions were short-sighted and went too far, but in general, this inquiry is intended to acknowledge the legitimacy of your actions and not question them. However, do bear in mind that there is a proviso for this acknowledgment. It just so happened that Earl Ixamal and his house were planning a rebellion against His Imperial Majesty the Emperor this time around, and there is plenty of evidence to prove this as fact. That’s why your actions were considered as fighting against rebels and were not questioned as a result. If this were not the case, you would have had to atone for killing a large number of your fellow imperial subjects.”

“Understood.”

Even so, if I were put in a similar situation again, I would probably go wild in the exact same way. It would be best to be more careful in order to avoid such things in the future. But they sure pulled back pretty easily huh?

Afterward, an investigation was conducted regarding Captain Serena’s actions, but since there was plenty of evidence regarding House Ixamal’s attempted rebellion, her various acts of overstepping authority afterward weren’t questioned just like in my case.

Mimi, Elma, and Kugi were questioned as well, but they also refused to reveal just what sorts of methods they used to escape their captors just like me.

Hm? Were they warned not to pursue stuff regarding us too deeply or something? It was the same in my case, but aren’t they backing off way too easily?

“There’s a mention in the report regarding a counter-formulation against the pirate-produced nanomachine formula. Is this true?”

“Our ship doctor certainly made it. I’m no expert in that field so I’m not really clear about it, but I’ll give you a good deal if you want the data. I have no idea about that stuff after all. But as their captain, I can’t just sell my crew’s services for cheap, right? If you are interested, you can go ahead and get in touch with our ship doctor.”

“Is that doctor not with you today?”

“She came to the Imperial palace with us, but she currently has her hands full with another matter. I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to talk about said matter here, so please just look into it later.”

“Understood.”

After Daybit, who was considered a traitor to the empire, left the room, things proceeded more amicably. Well, not exactly. But the interrogation did proceed in a calmer manner without the earlier tension, and we were easily dismissed afterward.

“……It went easier than I expected, or rather, it ended without any issues.”

“Things wouldn’t go like this normally, alright? There was most likely an order from someone above to quickly wrap up our interrogation.”

“And the Inquiry Committee’s okay with that?”

“It’s fine. The main goal of the inquiry was to cement Daybit Ixamal’s status as a traitor, and we were simply accessories. If we, who captured the traitor, were punished by the committee, it would be quite inconvenient.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You’ll find out soon enough anyway, so I won’t tell you.”

“But why?”

What’s with that look? It’s like she was sending a pitying gaze toward a piglet that was sold to a pig farm.

I don’t really get it, but it’s going to be something troublesome, right?

“Rather than worrying about that, it’s best that we move on. It looks like Christina is already waiting for us.”

“Move on? What do you mean by Chris waiting for us?”

Just what the heck was going on? Explanation. I need a proper explanation.

“We’re going to see Papa now. You’re going to take responsibility, right?”

“Oh, so that’s it…… I didn’t think we’d meet with him in the imperial castle.”

And here I thought we would meet at the House Holz mansion in the capital or something to that effect. I better tell her to inform me about stuff like this beforehand from here on out.