Flower of Proof
“Here it is, Director.”
The item Walter handed me was an ordinary wooden box about the length of my forearm. When I opened it, a rugby ball-shaped stone filled my palm.
“Ahaha, you must’ve heard what Levi said, so what’s this? You hyped it up like there was something special inside, but it’s just nothing? Time for you to keep your promise, Doc. That’ll be 10 gold for compensation.”
Clementine’s smirk drew murmurs from the crowd gathered around the platform.
“Argh! We waited hours for this! All lies!”
“Illnesses to mages, extractions to tooth pullers—ain’t a word wrong there!”
“Pay up compensation! Barbarian quack!”
“Boo! Barbarian!”
“Quack!”
The murmurs swelled into arrows of blame aimed at me, but I kept the smile on my lips. After all, this stone—or rather, the seed of the proof flower—was in my hand.
“Everyone, no need to get upset. Let’s verify the facts properly first.”
“Look at this guy! Just hours ago, he was yelling like we were criminals. Promised no pain for the pull, and look what he did to my precious little brother—no, my family-like brother Levi’s mouth! Hey! Quit yapping and cough up the compensation quick!”
This uncle’s saying something funny. When he first brought Levi to me, he’d said Levi had no family and dumped him here. Now family-like brother?
“Yes, so we’ll use this proof flower to prove whether your ‘family-like brother’ Levi is telling the truth or lying for some reason!”
“Proof flower? What bullshit is that?”
Even as I held the rugby ball-like proof flower seed high in the air, Clementine and the crowd’s reaction was bone-dry.
“Since it seems no one knows, let me explain: the proof flower distinguishes truth from lies.”
Rather than a long explanation, seeing was believing. I placed the seed on the platform below.
“Walter.”
“Here.”
I uncapped the water bottle I’d had him prepare and lightly poured it over the proof flower seed.
“Jeez, Doc! If you can’t pay, just say so! We’ll settle for a beating instea—huh?!”
Crack—crack! Crunch! Cruuunch! Crraaack!
“Wh-what the hell is that?!”
“It’s a monster! A monster!”
Part of me wanted to scream too. The moment I poured the water, the stone split with a crack, and translucent tendrils poured out from the fissures.
Crunch! Cruuunch! Crraaack!
Like endlessly retweeting vines, the translucent stalks erupted from the stone with repulsive sounds, gradually forming a cylindrical shape.
‘That’s the proof flower...’
Tommy and the half-elves often brought back various plants while gathering potion ingredients, and one had been this bizarre, translucent proof flower seed.
“No way, that can’t be real.”
“It’s true, Director. It distinguishes lies from truth, and they even supply seeds to the imperial palace.”
“The palace? Why would they need this there?”
“Dunno? Heard it’s used a lot in underground dungeons.”
“...”
I knew it was used as an interrogation tool, but I’d never imagined a mere rugby ball-sized seed transforming into this massive, grotesque thing.
Crraaack! Crack! Snap!
A horrific grinding that made my hackles rise. Once the earth-shaking vibrations stopped, the proof flower had taken full form.
It looked like a label-less plastic bottle reflecting sunlight—translucent stalks about 3 meters tall.
‘Is that... really called a flower?’
The cylindrical surface bristled with forearm-thick thorns. Less a flower, more an iron maiden—my throat went dry involuntarily.
“Whoa! I-I know that! My brother Peter from Benjo Village got busted selling poppies and thrown in bread jail! He said he got interrogated inside one of those!”
“Eek! Wh-what is that?!”
“I heard too! Uncle Douglas who smuggled fake gems got questioned with a proof flower—it matched that shape exactly!”
No need for further explanation; people in the crowd already recognized it. A spot for honest talk was quickly set.
“Clementine, no need for more explanation from me, right? Let’s have a proper chat now.”
“Haha, what nonsense is this? Proof flower? Jeez, sounds like frog balls clapping somewhere. Fine, go ahead!”
From his attitude, Clementine seemed ignorant of the proof flower. He turned to Levi.
“Levi, hop in quick. Gotta prove it, yeah?”
“H-huh? Me?”
“Who else? You got treated, so you go in. No backtalk—just go in and speak the honest truth.”
Unable to defy the troupe leader Clementine, Levi approached the proof flower with a terrified face.
Crack—spliiit—
As Levi neared, the flower-not-flower split vertically, opening its body.
Then.
Shhwick—whoosh!
“Ugh? Uwaaah!”
Dozens of opaque, tentacle-like tendrils shot from the gap, wrapping Levi like a pitcher plant devouring a bug and yanking him inside.
“Aaaah! Gross! Wh-what is this! Help! Clementiiiine! Save meee—mmph!”
Slurp—
The tendrils dragged Levi in, and the gap sealed shut. Inside, protrusions wriggled, extending like tentacles to wrap his head, wrists, forearms, chest, torso—nearly his whole body.
‘...Huh? More scientific than I thought?’
I’d assumed the proof flower ran on magic, but the wrapped spots—breathing, blood pressure, pulse, sweat—evoked a polygraph or EEG.
The stage was set; time to prove it. Suppressing my rising vitals, I called out calmly to the crowd below.
“For those who don’t know: the proof flower does no harm if you speak truth. But lies bring horrific punishment from the flower itself.”
I didn’t know what that punishment was exactly. Tommy’s info stopped there.
“Hey, Doc! Watch your words! It’s not just horrific—it kills you instantly for lies inside!”
“Yeah! My brother Peter said the same!”
“Haha, is that so? I didn’t know the details of the punishment—good thing. Won’t matter for Levi anyway; he promised only truth!”
Levi’s pupils shook like a building in an earthquake at the onlookers’ words. Even if not death, it promised sincerity.
“Alright, first question: Was tooth puller Clementine’s action a scam?”
“Hey! What’s that now? This is about your treatment!”
Clementine barked at my booming question, but my gaze fixed on Levi.
“Levi, I hear no answer in 10 seconds counts as a lie. Time left... 3, 2.”
“I-it’s a lie! Scam! It’s a scam!”
“Fuck.”
Levi valued his life over loyalty; his honest answer made Clementine beside me curse under his breath.
“Doc, on second thought, shouldn’t we alternate questions? Makes sense for me to go next.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
As I stepped back, Clementine shoved my shoulder lightly and bellowed.
“My dear brother Levi! The rotten tooth extraction at Beauty Tower must’ve hurt like hell! Tell the truth to everyone here again!”
“Th-that’s...”
“Hahaha! Just be honest like before! Honest!”
“It... didn’t hurt.”
“Wh-what?!”
Murmurs swelled at Levi’s truth.
“Haha... Levi, don’t be scared—tell the facts! It hurt getting that rotten tooth pulled, right?!”
“N-no! At Beauty Tower, they don’t extract rotten teeth—they treat them! Just a brief sting from the anesthetic needle, no pain at all!”
“Wh-what nonsense is that?!”
Clementine had handed me the win without me lifting a finger.
“Clementine, we agreed to alternate, right? Stick to the order. Haha, no more questions from me—you already asked the key ones.”
Smirking, I reached into the flower’s rear split, grabbed Levi’s hair, and yanked.
“Gaaaaah!”
“Bear it a sec. Only way to extract without destroying the flower, they said.”
Tommy said unwrapping tentacles worked too. But why would I?
Levi flopped onto the platform, covered in slimy oil-like goo, gasping. I dusted my hands and looked back to the crowd.
“There—the truth is out! So, as promised, tooth puller Clementine and his wandering troupe will disband!”
“Who says?!”
This guy? I’d treated 13 cavities free, bought the proof flower from Tommy to prove it, and still he bluffs?
“I’ll prove it myself. I’ll prove this proof flower is fake!”
With that, Clementine strode into the flower himself.
“Tch, what a prickly feel. Hey, Doc! Ask again. I’ll test if this proof flower’s real or fake myself.”
“Fine by me, but you sure? Could cost your life.”
I said it flatly, but I worried. If no reaction, my day’s work was wasted.
As I pondered questions—
“Then I’ll ask.”
“Ashley? Why you?”
A woman stepped forward; Clementine tilted his head.
“Everyone knows our troupe does painless pulls now. So just confirm if the flower’s real or fake, right?”
“N-no, honey. What’re you—”
“Before we came to Frederik Dungeon Zone, that day your stomach hurt. I saw you head out with Jessica. What’d you do? Get your belly button fixed too?”
Sudden love and war. Jessica seemed the pale-faced woman behind the platform.
Pity there’s no popcorn in this world.
“B-belly button? Honey, I just held her hand like a daughter—gaaaah!!”
New protrusions inside the flower. Blades of stalks pierced Clementine’s body.
“Gaaah! S-save...”
But before he could scream more, the writhing stalks sucked his blood like sap.