The Witch Trial Begins with the OO Buckethead Zombie

The only thing I can think of is magic.

Since there's magic for fire, there should also be magic for freezing, right?

Without dwelling on this issue for too long, the scattered explorations quickly yielded some results.

The most eye-catching feature in the freezer compartment is an exceptionally large door.

Machinery, metal, mechanism, gear.

It was clear that even Tachibana Sherry couldn't easily open this door.

It probably requires something to control the opening of the door.

Therefore, this door was overlooked, and the focus was mainly on the layout of the freezer compartment.

There were many boxes, cabinets, and jars arranged in rows.

The height of the jar is probably a little more than a person's height, about two meters.

It might be a little higher.

It appears to be filled with liquid nitrogen.

It's quite modern. Does that mean all the ice here is brought in from outside?

Besides the jars, there were also locked boxes and cabinets.

It might be possible to force it open, but after checking it a bit, Hoshino Utsunomiya decided against letting Sherry Tachibana destroy it.

Because of this...

It's probably the corpse of witches who died in the past.

Or rather, the remains that were transformed into.

Let's not disturb their peace for now.

The more Hoshino Utsunomiya looked, the more deeply he understood just how deep Meruru's sins were.

So heavy that he almost couldn't breathe the moment he realized the room was full of corpses.

It's not so bad if words and texts remain only in the past as memories.

But what if you realize that all of this is Meruru's 'victory'?

That would be very heavy.

Therefore, he won't open it.

He won't open it until he can actually do something about it.

The dead must always make way for the living; one cannot be bound by the dead.

Aside from the most numerous liquid nitrogen and containers, there was only one other relatively conspicuous item left.

A large safe.

It has a password.

Attempting to unlock it here is impractical, and it's not worth bothering Sherry to force it open.

After confirming that there was nothing else there, they took one last look at the main gate and discovered a small, narrow door beneath it, like a dog hole, too narrow for a person to pass through.

Through the small door, one can see the execution device behind it, ready to be activated. Once the mechanism is activated, the device inside can likely be raised into the courtroom.

Not intending to try going inside, they returned to the ground with the safe.

After trying to unlock it and attempting to use Vision to find the password, and failing multiple times, they finally chose to rely on Sherry Tachibana's power.

"If that's the case, why not just choose to use super power from the beginning?"

As Shirley unpacked the box, she asked this question.

"Since we don't know what's inside the safe, a more conservative approach to unlocking it, rather than resorting to force, is better to ensure the integrity of the items inside," Hoshino Utsunomiya casually explained before checking the contents of the safe.

Even though there was no damage, Shirley still had a sense of how much force she used.

A sword, which looks like a ceremonial sword.

A gun, cold and icy, unlike Nanoha Kaori's magical spear, a pistol that exudes a chilling aura at first glance.

It might be a real gun.

Several small glass bottles, each containing liquid, had writing on them that was either the letter 'B' or the number '13', which was unclear.

Suspected drug.

"Waaah..."

Shirley Tachibana couldn't help but reach out her index finger to touch the gun, but she didn't dare to hold it.

Hoshino Utsunomiya reached out and briefly felt around, removing all the bullets one by one.

Then aim at the floor and try firing a shot into the air.

I heard that a bullet is loaded into the chamber. I don't know if this kind of pistol can be loaded, nor do I know how to unload it, but it's never a bad thing to try.

Fortunately, there was no response after the trigger was pulled.

The bullets should have been emptied.

"Whoosh-"

Hasumi Ryoya casually picked up the ceremonial sword and tried swinging it a few times.

Actually, she also had a sword that she always carried with her.

But why didn't they choose to use a sword for self-defense, and instead made a simple spear?

......Um.

Perhaps it was fate's influence, or perhaps she was already not rational enough at that time; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that she began to turn into a witch.

It's understandable that such a mistake would occur.

Saeki Miria: "But what is this...?"

The other two were understandable, but this medicine bottle was the only one that was incomprehensible.

“I guess… it’s a potion that kills witches,” Baosheng Mag gave his guess. “I’ve seen it in the library; there’s a potion that has the effect of ‘killing witches’.”

"His name is... [Tredkim], which is [13] in Latin."

She looked at it for a while and then confirmed her guess.

"Actually, can I say that I suddenly feel like having a drink?"

The person who said that...

It's Tachibana Sherry.

Actually, it wouldn't be surprising if either she or Hoshino Utsunomiya said such a thing, but Hoshino Utsunomiya, who had been warned yesterday, would definitely not say such a thing.

"Oh, I really want to confirm whether I count as a witch." Shrimp Tachibana chuckled, scratching her head.

Before Hoshino Utsunomiya could speak, she repeatedly said, "Of course, of course, I'm just thinking about it, I won't actually do it."

"Even if it's just to set an example for Xingye, I won't do anything reckless."

What should I do if I really die?

Furthermore, it cannot be confirmed that this is the type of poison.

It's not good to get an upset stomach from eating other things.

"...So, what's the use of all these things?" Arisa Fujito couldn't help but ask.

"To fight the witch," Tachibana Sherry answered without hesitation.

“Cut down the witch,” said Ryota Hasumi.

"Poison the witch?" Baosheng Mag tilted his head.

Blinking, Saeki Miria said, "You mean, the witch hid these things so that we could use them against her?"

"Is it because she can deal with her that she was hidden away...?" Kurobe Nanoha wasn't sure either.

Two logics.

Or perhaps these things are so useful that they're hidden in basements, freezers, or safes.

They didn't want to be found, so they hid.

Or perhaps it's because they're actually useless; they're just little toys the witch deliberately prepared for them, meant to inflict the utterly wicked feeling of helplessness as they see these things used against her and then realize they're useless.

The problem with the former is that if you're going to hide it, why not hide it properly?

Although basements are indeed hard to find, just casually placing a safe between liquid nitrogen and a cabinet like that should make even a fool realize that there's something important inside, right?

At the very least, they should stay outside the freezer and keep watch, right?

Is it important or unimportant to just leave it lying around?

The problem with the latter is... the lack of guidance!

After going back so many times and searching for so long, Nanoha finally managed to pry open the door hidden under the floor and find this passage leading underground.

While it's true that Nanoha Kaori's bad luck played a part, if things were really that bad, she would definitely have given some subtle hints.

While acknowledging the witch's wickedness, we must also consider the objective circumstances.

...You can't say that the witch was completely unaware of this, can you?

No way, don't joke around.

"Anyway, let's keep these things for now."

After taking a deep look at these things, Hoshino Utsunomiya decided to put them aside for the time being.

We'll talk about it later.

Frankly speaking, these things are powerful tools for committing murders.

Even though he firmly believed that no tragedy of girls killing each other would occur.

But if possible.

He expected they hadn't been found in the first place.