After asking about the staircase in the forest, the investigators had finished most of their questioning.
Perhaps they still hadn’t given up on recruiting Everly into the SAI, because once the interview was over, they thoughtfully added a Q&A session.
“Is there anything you’d like to know about this incident?” one of them asked.
“I can ask questions?” Everly replied.
Remia smiled. “Of course. Since you’ll be signing a confidentiality agreent afterward anyway, feel free to ask whatever you’d like. As long as it’s sothing we can answer, we’ll do our best to explain it.”
“Information is important,” Gregory added. “The more you know now, the more useful it may prove soday. Whether or not you decide to join the SAI, we hope you’ll be able to live safely and peacefully in the future.”
There actually were things Everly wanted to know.
She didn’t hesitate. Gregory was right—information was valuable. Sotis a single crucial piece of intelligence could save a life. If knowledge was being offered for free, why refuse it?
“There’s a question that’s been bothering for a long ti. My companions probably ntioned it to you. After entering the suspicious ‘cabin,’ we found so dry firewood inside. Thanks to that firewood, we managed to get through our first night in the cabin without any problems…”
At first, Everly and the others had assud the firewood had been left behind by previous travelers who had stopped there to rest.
Later, however, when the ritual array was ignited and the cognitive distortion was dispelled, everyone discovered that the cabin itself had never truly existed. It was a fabricated construct whose purpose was to trap people near the altar, making it easier for the black vines to drain energy from them.
Before Everly’s group arrived, more than one hiker had stayed in the “cabin,” only to be captured by the black vines and et a tragic end there.
Yet their bodies—as well as the backpacks and belongings scattered around them—had all been concealed by the cognitive-distortion trap. It was only after the ritual array was destroyed that these things finally beca visible again.
“If that was the case, then why weren’t the firewood logs hidden as well?”
Although the effect hadn’t been especially obvious, it was the firewood inside the cabin that had driven away the chill of the rainy night during the group’s first evening there. On the second night, the remaining wood once again provided them with a brief source of warmth and light. Once it was all burned up, however, everyone quickly began to feel cold and exhausted, and the rate at which their stamina drained beca noticeably faster.
Without a control group for comparison, Everly couldn’t determine whether the burning firewood had actually slowed the loss of physical energy. But she was certain of one thing: the wood had not hard them in any way.
That was precisely what she couldn’t understand.
If the firewood was real—left behind by an earlier group of hikers—then why hadn’t it been concealed along with everything else?
On the other hand, if the firewood was fake, just like the cabin itself—a hallucination produced by the cognitive distortion—then she was equally puzzled as to why the cultists had bothered to include it. Wouldn’t it have been more beneficial to them if the people entering the cabin simply succumbed to the cold, lost the ability to move, and froze to death inside?
Could it be that they were worried the unlucky victims entering the cabin might die too quickly?
Yeah, right. Everly found that hard to believe. She didn’t think those fanatical cultists cared about such things in the slightest.
After hearing her question, Remia and Gregory exchanged a glance. Gregory gave a small nod.
The psychic let out a long sigh.
“Everly, you’re incredibly perceptive. Not joining the SAI is practically a waste of your talent.”
After expressing her admiration, Remia finally began answering the question.
“Do you know anything about Druidism?”
Everly nodded.
It was an ancient religion that originated among the Celtic peoples. The word “Druid” literally ant “one who knows the oak,” which was why mbers of the faith were also known as the “Sages of the Oak.”
Druidism advocates respect for nature and harmonious coexistence between humanity and the natural world. Modern Druids are skilled in dicine and herbalism, enjoy living and training in forests, and are said to be able to communicate with animals. So even form lifelong bonds with specific animal companions. According to legend, particularly powerful Druids can transform into animals themselves.
“The SAI has always maintained a good relationship with the Druids,” Remia explained. “The Druid headquarters in Britannia regularly sends talented individuals to the SAI. Dees was one such Druid. He ca to Arica from Britannia with dreams and ambitions. He also had an animal companion—a massive raven.”
A raven!
Everly imdiately recalled the raven corpse that had appeared inside the cabin.
That was right—the appearance of that corpse had been strange as well.
The cognitive-distortion trap had captured more than one victim over ti. So were humans, while others were forest creatures—birds, squirrels, moose, black bears, and various other animals.
All of those victims’ remains had been concealed.
Only that single decaying raven corpse had appeared inside the false cabin, radiating an ominous presence.
Just like the firewood, its existence seed completely unnecessary. Aside from making people uncomfortable and perhaps serving as a mild deterrent that encouraged visitors to leave, it had no practical purpose.
If that dead raven had been Dees’s animal companion, then could it be that the firewood…
“Exactly,” Remia said. “Just as you suspected, we believe the firewood that appeared inside the cabin was left behind by Dees’s lingering will.”
After capturing Dis, the followers of the Black Goat used him as a living sacrifice in a second ritual to help repair the defects of the Black Goat offspring. Through that ritual, they summoned black vines known as the Touch of the Black Goat.
These vines were literally a part of the Forest Black Goat’s body. They carried powerful spiritual corruption capable of influencing human perception and cognition. Through physical contact, they could also drain life force from living beings.
It is worth noting that “living beings” included plants as well.
However, the Touch of the Black Goat extracted energy from plants extrely slowly, so its primary targets were animals and humans.
But Dees never yielded.
Even in death, his will as a Druid continued to resist evil. His animal companion remained loyal to the end, willingly embracing death so that it could stay by its master’s side.
And so, the raven’s corpse appeared inside the cabin that should have been empty. Firewood appeared as well—wood that could temporarily slow the loss of stamina and provide warmth to those trapped there. The Black Goat cultists, anwhile, found themselves rooted to the ground, their skin hardening as they were cursed by nature and transford into “tree-n” unable to leave the area.
“So the reason those Black Goat cultists turned into trees… was all because of Dees…” Everly murmured, stunned.
A powerful sense of awe and emotion welled up inside her.
Most of the ti, her impression of Arican governnt employees was far from positive: corruption, favoritism toward superiors while b*llying subordinates, drawing salaries without doing real work, and general laziness and inefficiency.
Yet despite all that, there were still people like Dees.
People who, far from the public eye, used their own flesh and blood to build a wall against the darkness, silently protecting the ordinary, peaceful lives of countless others.
And she—soone who had been saved more than once—had, until just monts ago, secretly believed that she herself had played the most important role in killing the Black Goat offspring.
She had even hidden one of the weather balloons for herself!
Compared to Dees’s noble character, Everly felt deeply ashad.
What embarrassed her even more was that, despite this guilt, she still wasn’t willing to simply give up the weather balloon.
No matter the circumstances, survival and self-preservation were instincts engraved into the very foundation of her being.
After an intense internal struggle, Everly decided to make one final effort.
If, after that, the investigators still didn’t ask for the weather balloon back, then it would truly belong to her.
After thinking for a mont, she casually brought up the subject.
“My companions and I found two weather balloons in Dees’s backpack. What exactly were those things? I only used one of them, but the power was incredible—it burned and scorched a huge section of the forest.”
After leaving the forest, Everly looked up the Catatumbo Lightning phenonon on her phone. It is a unique natural occurrence found around Catatumbo in Venezuela. Due to the region’s unusual geography and climate, nightti thunderstorms occur for nearly half the year. Each storm can last up to ten hours, producing around 280 lightning strikes per hour, making it the place with the highest frequency of lightning in the world. Because of this, Catatumbo Lightning is also known as the “Eternal Storm.”
Remia explained:
“The weather balloon was developed by the Technical Division. It’s made using a special mineral obtained from a tribe in the Amazon rainforest. The device can capture, store, and release specific weather phenona. However, it’s extrely expensive to produce, the success rate for capturing weather events is rather disappointing, and it can’t distinguish friend from foe. As a result, once newer tools that were easier to manufacture and use beca available, it was gradually phased out.”
Gregory added:
“Dees was a Druid, and Druids tend to favor tools connected to nature. That’s probably why he always carried weather balloons with him. But because they’re indiscriminate-area-effect items, he never found a suitable opportunity to use them.”
After saying this, both investigators sat there with perfectly serious expressions, staring at Everly across the table.
Everly felt that her hint had been obvious enough.
These two were SAI investigators. Their daily work consisted of following tiny clues, unraveling mysteries, uncovering hidden truths, and eliminating evil before it could grow. Sharp observation was a basic qualification for the job.
So were they deliberately pretending not to understand?
Did that an she was allowed to keep the weather balloon?
Everly widened her eyes and looked at them even more intently.
Gregory showed no reaction whatsoever.
As for Remia, she covered half her face with one hand and, in a remarkably discreet gesture, gave Everly a quick wink.
“…”
All right. She understood.
Everly couldn’t help but sigh inwardly. She was definitely not saint material. Because the mont she clearly received Remia’s hint, the first emotion that flashed through her mind wasn’t guilt or hesitation—
It was happiness.
She quickly adjusted her emotions.
After all, humans could not possibly be perfect. Otherwise, they would not be human—but gods.
“I have another question. It’s about the forest staircase. Teacher Harriet told that this kind of staircase appears randomly when forest search-and-rescue teams enter the woods, and that when it appears, the probability of successfully finding missing persons drops to almost zero. Do you know what the forest staircase actually is?”
Remia shook her head.
“As for the true nature of the forest staircase, the SAI has not yet reached a definitive conclusion. One of the more mainstream hypotheses is that it is a structure that guides souls to the ‘Limbo.’”
“Limbo?”
“In Catholic theology, Limbo is a gray area between heaven and hell. Souls of unbaptized infants, as well as those who committed neither great good nor great evil in life, are said to go there after death. So believe the forest staircase is a passage that guides the dead of the forest to Limbo. Because it is a path ant for souls, humans cannot use it to reach other spaces. Likewise, since it leads to the world of the dead, those who step onto it experience an uncontrollable sense of fear.”
“But this doesn’t explain why the staircase only appears in forests and not elsewhere. Because of that, the Limbo hypothesis is not universally accepted.”
“I see.”
Everly felt her horizons expand yet again. This world truly contained far more unknowns than she had ever imagined.
“I have one final question, about Dees’s diary… am I allowed to ask about it?”
“This falls under classified information, so we’re afraid we can’t answer that,” Remia said.
Everly nodded in understanding. “Then I have nothing else to ask. Thank you both.”
“No need to thank us. After you leave, soone outside will give you a confidentiality agreent. Please rember to sign it.”
Gregory wrote down the final note in his notebook, then stood up first and shook Everly’s hand.
“Also, this is my business card. If you change your mind, rember to contact us—we can provide an internal recomndation,” Remia said with a smile as she handed over a card and shook Everly’s hand as well.
Unlike six years ago, this ti she was wearing gloves during the handshake.
Everly did not refuse. She accepted the card and then left the interrogation room.
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