Episode 2-131

Summary

In a hallway just prior to the trial, Lilia informs Saha that Mirha will be leading the defense for Asha, with her father Urha's backing. As Lilia blushes at Saha's praise for her assistance, Lorraine appears, running and calling Saha's name, saying they need to talk. Saha at first shuts her down while Lilia thinks critically of Lorraine's casual manner towards someone so important, wondering why they are even still engaged. Lorraine is persistent and asks him why all those halfs are involved. After Saha suggests that she should not act so clueless, he tells her that even after he denied Asha access to the Human Search System, she still somehow received data from a search that was used to commit her murders, data that could only have come from an AA magician. A flustered Lorraine asks if he is accusing her, but he assures her that she is not the only one he suspects. Once he leaves through a doorway, Lilia expresses her disdain, telling Lorraine that she still uses Saha despite the fact that she is still avoiding their marriage, and suggests that maybe he would have made an exception for his wife.

Inside the main hall, Erin begins to address the seated participants. She states that 28 deaths occurred between the years N7 and N10, and then one more in the year N12, upon which Asha was arrested since she could be tracked via her magic license, obtained in the year N11. Erin then asks, why did Asha risk having her involvement in the previous 28 deaths uncovered by getting a magic license? Her answer is that Asha knew the location of all her targets in advance, but one of them had since moved somewhere else. Asha needed to use the Human Search System, which requires an AA license, to locate that person via a name search. Erin then asserts that there is strong evidence indicating that all of Asha's victims had the real name Kubera.

The crowd is shocked and confused by this new information. One magician notes that Asha never received an AA rank, yet she apparently still received information from a search. Rana asks Ran if this was what had him worried, but he replies that it is just the tip of the iceberg.

Erin begins to address the question of how Asha received the search results and tells the participants that all of the AA magicians except for Saha had used the search system in the year N12, and that an investigation is continuing. Erin then reveals that Asha's killing spree did not end with the 29th victim. Because of her previous conviction, she knew she would not be let off with another fine if caught again, so she decided to use hoti visnu to cover up the next three murders, leaving those cases unsolved. Her hoti visnu record confirms this.

The crowd again expresses shock and anger.

Erin brings up the fact that Asha disappeared after the third murder for three years, then suddenly showed up in Atera in the 10th month of N15. She then suggests that Asha committed even more murders during the time of her disappearance that still have yet to be discovered.

Saha, looking down at some papers, asks Mirha if the defense would like to refute the allegations. She unexpectedly accepts and acknowledges all of the accusations. Claude, seated among the magicians with a bag of curry popcorn, seems to be enjoying the proceedings. Mirha now addresses the gathered magicians, and tells them that they must consider the reason for Asha's actions and the fact that Asha came willingly to Aeroplateau. Using her tablet, she brings up the search results for N11 on the large screen and crosses out the locations of the three unsolved murders. She then begins to cross out many more locations before revealing that these were where villages were destroyed by sura attacks—in other words, the red sky attacks. She also reveals that Asha knew about these attacks in advance thanks to an oracle she received back on planet Carte.

Again, the crowd is astonished and wants to hear more...

Mirha states that Asha knew the suras were targeting those with the real name Kubera, who endangered their own villages as long as they remained alive. Asha intended to reduce the number of deaths in each location to a single person; with the villages without a name-bearer, the suras would hold little interest destroying the towns in their pursuit. Therefore, her crimes were committed for the sake of saving more lives and not for personal gain. Mirha then tells the participants that Asha deserves a lenient sentence.

Many of the participants seem to accept Mirha's defense, but then Natasha begins to question why Asha acted alone. Mirha responds that otherwise everyone would have been locked in endless debates while the suras continued their attacks. There could be only two possible results from such a debate: Protect many while sacrificing a few, or protect a few while sacrificing many. Either decision would be both divisive and difficult for everyone to come to terms with, so Asha has taken on that burden herself. Mirha again asks the participants for leniency.

Most of the crowd is now favoring Mirha's argument, but not Airi, who tells Lorraine that there can be no possible excuse for Asha's actions. None. Airi begins to stutter that if it were her, and Saha completes the thought: If it were him, he would never have done the same. He states that the crimes are still crimes no matter how you try to sugarcoat it, and asks Lilia to bring in the halfs who were waiting outside. The crowd is abuzz again. Saha brings up the fact that killing a half is not considered murder by law. This also applies to the many halfs Asha has killed over the years. The halfs who are present still mourn their loved ones who were buried without their deaths even being considered a crime.

Saha then announces that he will now discuss why Asha used hoti visnu for such a huge number of times and how she gained her current magic ability.

Currygom's comment

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Afterword

Currygom's afterword for this episode (posted March 30, 2015):

• (thumbnail - Mirha): Thanks, Naver, for waiting patiently. (It's possible that Currygom uploaded the episode slightly past the upload deadline, but before the release time.)
  
  I tried to cram in as much as possible so the boring trial wouldn't be dragged out... I should've slowed down the dialog... Now all these high rankers look like idiots who follow what the last guy said.
• (Lorraine shouting behind Lilia): Saha and Lorraine's engagement was only hinted at before now. Now that it's been revealed, doesn't it seem to be in crisis? The mood here is very alarming...
• (Human Search System map): Kalibloom was attacked for the god-class items, so its situation was different. But the suras attacked after the red sky attacks happened so they decided to put it in, too.
• (Saha standing among the halfs): Saha appears taller than usual.
• + I fixed the coloring mistake, hehe. And I fixed the typo in the afterword. Thanks for letting me know.

Lorraine is confused.

Rana is shocked by the news.

Airi's respect for Asha is disgraced.

Saha just might win this case...

Notes

• Lilia's jealousy is showing.
  Show/Hide Spoiler
  We learn later that Saha's family decided to give up on Lorraine and tried to match him up with other potential wives, including Lilia.^[1]
• The tablet(s) used by both the prosecution and defense say "ARTRAM" on the back. Artram is Lutz Sairofe's Creation brand.
• Show/Hide Spoiler
  The oracle Asha received was actually a visit from Visnu, who revealed the many paths Asha could take to achieve her goals. Everything Asha has done in the story since she was 10 had been planned out in advance.^[2]

References