Chapter 21 first trial begin

(Elisa POV)

Elisa was having a surprisingly good day until Nezoko teleported her away talking about an emergency. Quite frankly, such a beautiful day had been ruined. Well, it had been a good day for her. She had received yet another pleasant transformation. Goodbye gray hair.

Between that and the renewed vigor of youth, she was almost satisfied to be part of this show. Almost. Still, she remembered that she and the others had been kidnapped to become part of William's harem.

William was a good boy, to be sure, and Nezoko could have chosen far worse. But clearly she had no desire to marry William. Anyway, she was getting away from her original subject. How had cat hunting turned into such a drama?

Elisa was quietly running through the village streets when suddenly Nezoko appeared in front of her, telling her that she had been summoned as a juror for a **** trial. Without her even being able to ask the slightest question. Elisa found herself sitting on a bench in what appeared to be a courtroom.

Nezoko stood in the middle of the room and began to explain the situation.

"I'm sorry to have interrupted what you were doing. I know some of you are having a good time," said the hostess, looking at Hélène.

Elisa wondered if the girl had managed to move on with her relationship with William, but Nezoko interrupted her thoughts by continuing.

"I'm not summoning you this time for a trifling matter. For the first time in the history of Harem Hôtel, there's been a **** this season. There has already been physical **** between participants and even towards staff, but until now that's always been the end of it. Normally this kind of case is handled by the show's host, but since you've decided to be an exception in every season of Harem Hôtel, the producers decided to use an old rule book to get us to create a trial for this case," says Nezoko.

Okay, so someone had been killed, if Elisa understood correctly. However, Elisa looked around and everyone seemed to be present. So, who had been killed?

_"For this first Harem Hotel **** trial, we have the two defendants, Marion Roka and Charlotte Buch. I don't even know who committed the ****. All I know is that I felt Matamune die and teleported to the scene. Matamune was lying dead on the floor and Charlotte was holding the knife, bloody with the victim's blood. I confess I would have sentenced them both to eternal purgatory, but the producers decided otherwise. As far as this case is concerned, from now on and until it's resolved, I have no control over anything" _said Nezoko with a sigh.

Okay, so it was the cat that had died. However, Nezoko's last sentence raised new questions, which William decided to ask.

"If you're no longer in charge, who is?" asked the lecturer.

"Me!" replied a young woman as she strode purposefully into the room.

The woman who entered was strange, to say the least. She was dressed in what looked like a black and red magistrate's uniform, which suited the situation rather well. The black gloves and cane stood out a little from the rest of the outfit, but it wasn't shocking. She was rather pretty and shapely, but what caught Elisa's attention was her gaze and her golden eyes. There was nothing human about those eyes.

"My name is Dakota. I've been a host on this show for multiple seasons and I've also been lucky enough to be a contestant myself. So, I've been chosen by the big producer himself to be the chief judge of this trial", said Dakota.

Anna, who must have been used to trials, decided to intervene.

_"This is not how a **** trial works. There must be a police investigation. Then there must be preliminary interviews with the judge. Then you need a jury and a prosecutor. What's more, in a **** trial there can only be one judge. What's more..." _Anna found herself unable to continue her explanation.

"No, no, no, that won't do. I make the rules here. And I've just decided to hold you in contempt. Next time, raise your hand and wait to be recognized," said Dakota pointing his cane at Anna.

William saw this and decided to raise his hand to speak. He probably didn't want to unleash the fury of the young woman who was to play the role of judge here. She smiled at the raised hand. No doubt she liked people to obey.

"Oh, the Master wishes to speak. I guess we'll let him," said Dakota.

_"Thank you. I've just received a transformation that allows me to decide the punishment myself. Is it usable here?" _asked William.

"Ah yes, your punishment. It's also one of the reasons I'm here. And your transformation allows you to decide on the punishment and indeed it applies here whether it's for the two accused or for the young woman here who can't hold her tongue. You will decide their punishment, but it's this trial that will decide the extent of it. Taking Anna as an example, I've just convicted her of contempt of court. This is equivalent to say -5 VP. Normally, in other seasons, these points would just be deducted from her total, but here you must punish her with transformations or in your dungeon to get her 5 VP back." explained the judge.

Okay, so William probably won't be able to protect them. As for William, he was lost in thought, and frankly Elisa had no idea what he was thinking about. There were just too many changes going on all the time to be able to guess.

"So, I suggest you practice punishing right away by deciding on the punishment of 'Madame I'd better have kept my mouth shut'. Do you want to punish her here and now or would you rather be alone with her. If you'd rather be alone, I'll give you 20 minutes to explain the rest of the trial," says Dakota.

Unsurprisingly, William and Anna decided to leave by the door the judge had just indicated.

"Now that the troublemakers are gone, I'm **** by the producers to replace them with even worse. Nola, you can come," Dakota said with a sigh.

Suddenly, a young woman slightly shorter than the judge appeared behind her.

"Hello, my name is Nola, I'll be the secondary judge for this trial. By the way, I'm a Leprechaun. I'm also a one-season host even though this one is on indefinite hiatus. And I told you my name was Nola? I'm so happy to be taking part in this trial. It allows me to come out of the closet, literally and figuratively. Even if the closet Dakota gave me as a room is very comfortable. Yes, my season was put on pause, so Dakota was kind enough to welcome me into her current season. The participants are all great. And the Master I can't tell you how nice he is. But I'm sure you're great too, even if having a **** and a trial on the second day is a feat. But it's great because it means you were going to be an original season and you won't be cancelled. Because yes, I told you my season was cancelled. And otherwise, my name is Nola and I'm a Leprechaun. And I ..."

"NOLA!" exclaimed Dakota, who couldn't stand the chatterbox that was the young Leprechaun.

"Yes, Dakota. What kind of name is Dakota anyway? It sounds like a state. It's not a state, is it? Or is it a city? Maybe it's a movie. In fact, I saw a great movie recently about a boy whose bedroom is a closet and who discovers..."

"NOLA! I don't have the right to punish you in this courtroom, but I swear, if you don't shut up right now, I'll make your life a living hell," threatened the senior judge.

Elisa thought for a moment that the threat would have no effect, but the pink-haired girl must have had a few brain cells left and simply nodded.

Well, one thing was certain: this trial was going to be captivating.