Chapter 24 Case File 1: Botanical Garden Mystery (6)
In the dark and gloomy underground prison, a young man less than one meter two inches tall sat on the ground in the deepest part of the cell with his hands hugged on his knees. He leaned against the wall with his head buried in his knees, as quiet as a long-dead soul.
The cell door in the distance creaked open, footsteps sounded approaching, and the flickering candlelight dispelled the darkness that had occupied this place for a long time.
"Hey! Holly!" The guard's voice rang out, "Stop playing dead and get up!"
"Is it time for lunch?" The boy raised his head. His face was bruised and swollen, obviously he had been beaten.
"Lunch? What lunch?!" The guard laughed angrily. He opened the cell door and pulled the boy up from the ground. "All you think about all day is eating. Cheer up! The knight up there wants to interrogate you!"
"Interrogation..." Holly muttered, and a clear light gradually lit up in his muddled blue eyes: "Brother Guard, is this a good thing or a bad thing?"
"Who knows?" the guard shrugged nonchalantly. "Answer the knight's questions well, and maybe you'll even see the sun tomorrow!"
The short Hafu boy was half lifted and half dragged to Andre's front.
Viscount Andre Lu Huntington, who had just completed the employment procedures at lightning speed and quickly interrogated the important criminal, had swept away the aura of a ruffian and decadent mercenary who was just an undercover agent. He was wearing a shiny silver armor of the Kingdom Knights that was almost blinding to others. He sat at his desk with a majestic posture, sipping a cup of fine Earl Grey tea carefully. The real owner of this desk, the chief clerk of the Kingdom Knights' Eston West City branch, was standing beside him like a servant, nodding and bowing, serving tea and water.
"Holly Ho Axe?" Andre asked, taking a sip of his tea.
"...Yes, I...I am." The young man who fell to the ground responded in a panic. He had the distinctive features of the Hafu people: pointed ears, similar to those of an elf but much shorter than those of an elf; curly brown hair like a poodle; a chubby, round face; a big nose as round as a button; and a pair of big blue eyes.
His hands were covered in light green scales, and his nails were round, sharp cones, much like a pangolin's claws—perfect for digging.
"Tell me, Holly, did you kill Holland?" Andre asked directly.
Holly was horrified, looking like a panicked pangolin: "No! Sir Knight! I absolutely didn't! To be honest, I don't know what happened at all! Everyone said that Holland was dead, and then I was arrested and beaten indiscriminately! God knows I left the table after lunch that day and never saw Holland again!"
Andre observed him carefully and felt that he didn't seem to be lying. He pondered for a moment and said, "Tell me everything that happened that day from beginning to end. Winchester clerk!"
"Yes! Lord Andre! I'm here!" the clerk responded quickly.
"Take good notes of the confession, not a single word can be wrong."
Holland's body was discovered by Peramin three days ago on the morning of the day the lichsmith Yuu woke from his coffin. According to the report from the Kingdom Knights' exclusive coroner, Holland's death could be narrowed down to between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. the previous day.
Holly's memories began on the morning four days ago.
"That day was a double new moon, I remember it clearly," Holly said. "The lunar phase has a great influence on the medicinal properties of magical plants. During a double new moon—a night when both moons are facing away from us, making them invisible—the nightshade blooms. It's a very expensive magical herb that's very effective in healing skin wounds.
"Nightflowers are extremely delicate. They bloom only within two hours of midnight on a double moon, withering two hours after midnight. To preserve their medicinal properties, each flower must be magically harvested and preserved at its peak bloom. This is a very intense and hectic task. I stayed up all night in the greenhouse at the botanical garden and plucked a total of 666 nightflowers! It was the first bountiful harvest ever!
"Sir! Once this batch of nightshades hits the market, it will quickly drive down the high prices of healing potions!"
In order to perfectly harvest this batch of precious medicinal materials, Holly took a sleeping potion a day in advance. He slept until noon that morning, then got up, washed up, and went to the restaurant to have lunch with his family.
"Lunch was lamb chops with parsley and mushroom soup," Holly added. "Holland didn't like the taste of the mushroom soup, so he spilled it all over Peramin."
Although this little farce attracted Holly's attention for a moment, he still had a lot of work to do that day, so he quickly finished his lunch, said goodbye to everyone, and went to the greenhouse of the botanical garden to prepare for the harvest. He even had his dinner delivered to the greenhouse by servants.
"I entered the greenhouse at three in the afternoon and haven't left since. I first checked the growth status of the nightshade flowers and conducted preliminary tests on their medicinal properties. Then, from five in the afternoon until ten in the evening, I counted and inspected the magic vessels used to store the nightshade flowers. The nightshade flowers are too fragile and must be placed in the magic vessels within three minutes of harvesting to lock their state. This is to ensure their freshness and the preservation of their medicinal properties.
"This is a very intense and meticulous task! I've found three broken magic vessels in total! Fortunately, we always had spare magic vessels ready, otherwise we would have lost three full night flowers! That means thirty bottles of high-level healing potions! Master Knight! Have you ever been on the battlefield? I'm sure you understand what thirty bottles of high-level healing potions mean on the battlefield!"
"At least thirty lives." Andre nodded. "Go on."
"Starting at ten o'clock in the evening, the first mature nightshade flower began to bloom. I stared intently at the 666 nightshade flowers. I had to wait until each one was in perfect bloom, then cut it with a pair of scissors soaked in potion, and sealed the flower in a magic dish."
"Did you do this work alone? Without any other servants to help?" Andre asked.
Holly shook his head. "Nightflowers only bloom in the deepest darkness. When they're in full bloom, they emit the most beautiful hazy white light. This light is enough for me to operate. Adding another person would only increase the risk of a collision. Furthermore, nightflowers are very sensitive to human sight. Too many people will accelerate their withering. I can do this job better and faster by myself."
He took a deep breath. "If the knights need witnesses, there's no one alive who can prove I was in the greenhouse. But those 666 perfect nightshades are my best 'witnesses.' I didn't have any time to commit the crime! If I had taken my eyes off those flowers for even ten seconds, they wouldn't be in such perfect condition!"
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