Interlude 3: Glen

All of the men taken in had the blessing “Ash of the Spirit Tree of Origin,” which allowed them to teleport. I chose the one who had been caught and shaken by the huge Venus flytrap as the one I’d interrogate.

The man’s name was Billy. His class was “Former Hunter and Worshiper of the Proxy, Driven by Envy.” He had the blessing “Ash of the Spirit Tree of Origin” as well.

When I entered the interrogation room, Billy was already sitting down, looking veritably upset. I set down a potted, normal Venus flytrap on the table between us.

“That’s—” Billy instantly started shaking, looking terrified. Being swung up and down by the huge Venus flytrap must have been traumatic. I’d brought it as a threat to mess with him, and it seemed to have worked.

“Okay. Tell us what you know,” I ordered, giving him a harsh look.

Glancing at the potted Venus flytrap, Billy spoke. They’d gone to the Wisteria Villa to try to trade for the strengthening herbs. When they met, the current marquis refused, stating that the plants were his grandmother’s, and that they needed to talk with her instead. When talks broke down, they called in their comrades who were lying in wait. The blessed stole the herbs while the unblessed were left to go wild as decoys.

They brought the stolen strengthening herbs to the Proxy’s attendant’s manor in the Demonic Forest. The next day, the attendant gave them a small bottle to use for calling the root-eating rats that had been driven berserk by overfeeding them the herbs. They planned to destroy the Spirit Tree and kill Chelsea that night.

Seemingly becoming desperate halfway through, Billy spilled everything.

“Th-That’s it...” he said, looking away from the Venus flytrap.

I stared at him in silence for a while. I didn’t feel like anything he’d said was a lie, but that made me question things further.

“This has been bothering me, but was it the Proxy herself who ordered this?”

“No. Her attendant planned it, saying that She would be happy if we cut down the Spirit Tree of Origin.”

“What about the part about assassinating Chelsea?”

“If I remember right, when the pink-haired girl showed up on the magical mirror that can show any place in the world, Her Lady said ‘Unforgivable,’ so we were told to kill her...”

“So the Proxy ordered you to kill her?”

“No! Her Ladyship the Proxy is kind. She would never order that!”

“Then who did?”

“...Her attendant.” As soon as he said it, he seemed to realize something. “Wait, did the attendant trick us?!”

“Seems likely.”

“That bastard!” cried Billy, shaking in rage.