I was Alraune, a plant monster girl.
To stop Bear-papa from slobbering all over me, I’d whipped up a special Nectar Ball, only for a certain White Bird I knew to swoop in and snatch it away.
What the heck was that about?!
Had that White Bird been hanging around me all this time just to get its beak on my nectar?
This wasn't the first time I’d dealt with that bird. It was an insufferable creature that had been appearing before me frequently as of late. Sure, it had poured water on me once during a drought, so it wasn't all bad, but for the most part, it was just a bird with a rotten personality. It would watch me from a distance, circle over my head just to provoke me, and then fly off into the horizon.
And that very bird had stolen my Nectar Ball at the absolute worst possible moment—a timing so disastrous it felt like a once-in-a-lifetime cosmic joke.
Somebody, please tell me this was a dream.
If the White Bird ate that Nectar Ball, Bear-papa would turn his attention right back to me. If that happened, it was game over. There was no time to make another one. Before I could even try, Bear-papa would lick me in ways that would ruin my chances of ever becoming a bride.
Oh.
Bear-papa was looking at me.
—Stop.
Don't look over here.
I just gave you a Nectar Ball! A bird took it, yeah, but you should just deal with that!
Please, don't point your paws toward me.
Don't walk this way.
Ugh, I was in total despair!
As I clutched my head with my vines, the White Bird suddenly dove down toward us. It circled Bear-papa once, keeping just enough distance to stay out of reach.
Bear-papa’s gaze shifted. He locked onto the White Bird, completely forgetting about me.
The bird began to pull away, leading him on as it flew toward the depths of the forest. Without taking his eyes off the prize, Bear-papa lumbered after it. The thundering sound of his footsteps grew fainter and fainter until, finally, I was left all alone.
I-I was saved...!
It seemed Bear-papa intended to hunt down the White Bird to get his Nectar Ball back. A Laobubear was the kind of monster that would chase a human across the forest until the bitter end. He would surely keep pursuing that bird until he caught it.
I didn't think a mere bird could escape Bear-papa, the Lord of the Forest. Too bad for you, White Bird! You’re finally going to be punished for your misdeeds!
With any luck, Bear-papa wouldn't be coming back here for a while. Even if he did manage to snatch the Nectar Ball from the bird, he could probably enjoy the flavor in his mouth for days—or weeks, if I was lucky. He’d likely forget all about me during that time.
What happened after that was a problem for future me; for now, I needed to rejoice in my freedom.
My face had been licked, but the rest of me was intact. Thank goodness. There might still be hope for my future marriage prospects...!
I decided to put Bear-papa out of my mind for the moment. Honestly, it had been such a chaotic ordeal. So many things had gone wrong...
After a while, I decided to return to my duties as a Shrine Maiden. Specifically, I performed the Rain-making Ritual.
I really, really wanted water.
Part of it was because I’d lost a lot of moisture during the fight with Bear-papa, but more than that, I was just plain miserable. My face was coated in a layer of bear drool. It wasn't just my face, either; the slime had dripped down until my entire body was covered in it. The bear musk was so pungent it made my head spin.
I wanted to wash myself off immediately. I wanted to go take a bath, but for some reason, plants just weren't built for that. Even though we were living things that craved water more than anything, we couldn't just get up and go to a pond. It was fundamentally wrong.
I prayed for rain, but it didn't fall that easily. If I could summon a storm on command, I would have officially changed my job class from Unemployed Flower to Shrine Maiden long ago.
And so, I was forced to live in humiliating harmony with bear drool for an entire day.
Humiliation.
Every time I caught a whiff of that bear, that word flashed in my mind. While dripping nectar from my eyes, I kept my hands raised toward the heavens.
Perhaps the weather finally took pity on a girl who’d been licked by a bear, because thankfully, the rain arrived the following day.
Finally, I could be clean again!
I basked in the shower of rain with my whole body. Water is the absolute best...!
Purified by the blessed rain, I began to contemplate the future. Specifically, the Bear-papa problem. The Nectar Ball had bought me some time, but that guy would definitely come back eventually. There was no guarantee that things would go this well a second time.
During our last encounter, Bear-papa had an injured left arm from his fight with the Hellwolf and was likely feeling the sting of the Bee Monster Army. By the time he showed up again, he’d be fully recovered—especially since he was currently licking a Nectar Ball laced with recovery medicine.
If I could, I would have packed up and left this place right then and there. I wanted to move somewhere else and live a quiet life where no one could find me. But as a plant, that wasn't an option.
I lost count of how many times I’d cursed this body. I couldn't run when an enemy attacked, and I couldn't hide even after driving them away. Why was the difficulty setting for plants so hardcore? It just didn't make sense.
However, I soon encountered a plant that was "wrong" in a completely different way.
Right near me, there was a hole—the massive crater Bear-papa had gouged out of the ground with his punch the other day. And inside that hole, a strange flower was blooming.
It sat there in the churned-up earth as if it had belonged there all along. In other words, it had originally been blooming inside the soil.
But why?! Why would you bloom underground? Are you some kind of shut-in? Or are you part of a family that just hates the sun?
...No, wait. Are you my stalker?
"Hello, this is Mary. I'm right beneath you."
Well, if you're buried, you can't exactly crawl out to the surface, so I guess I’m safe even if you are a stalker. Still, I was shocked that a flower could survive inside the earth. I’d never heard of an underground flower... No, wait.
I had heard of it. I’d read about a flower like that in a Plant Encyclopedia back when I was a high school girl.
If I remembered correctly, the name was "Rhizanthella."
It was an incredibly rare flower that bloomed entirely underground. Since it spent its whole life beneath the surface, it never showed its face to the world. In my old world, they were supposedly only found in Australia. Like me, it was an Angiosperm, but it was also a Saprophyte.
Unlike me, Saprophytes don't get their nutrition through photosynthesis. Instead, they live by feeding off fungi. By living in symbiosis with fungi, they can stay underground where they're safe from predators and have access to plenty of moisture. It sounded like a pretty sweet deal.
So that was why it was hiding quietly in the dirt. It was a small, pale pink flower. It looked like a Rhizanthella, though it wasn't exactly the same. It was likely this world's version of the flower. Since I didn't know the local name, I decided to just stick with Rhizanthella.
I also recalled reading that while Rhizanthella gets nutrients from fungi, it actually siphons that energy from the roots of nearby trees via the fungi. In other words, it was a Parasitic Plant.
That explained why it was buried right next to me.
It really was a stalker. It had been stealing nutrients from my roots through the fungi without me even noticing. I wasn't even safe from being parasitized underground.
I stared intensely at the Rhizanthella.
At this point, I didn't really care about being parasitized. More than that, I was jealous. I was so incredibly jealous of this little guy!
My mind was made up instantly.
"Alright, Mr. Rhizanthella, come here a second."
I reached out. "Easy does it... okay, perfect."
I popped it into my mouth. Munch, mumble, gulp.
And with that, the powers of the Rhizanthella were mine. Since I had the ability to absorb the traits of other plants, I could make its strength my own.
Now I didn't have to worry about Bear-papa. If I could dive into the ground, I could just wait him out! Rhizanthella, you’re a genius! A master of hide-and-seek!
...Except it wasn't quite that simple.
Consuming just one tiny Rhizanthella wasn't enough to fundamentally change my biology. I couldn't suddenly switch over to living off fungi. I guess turning into a Saprophyte wasn't going to be that easy.
Well, I’d only ever been able to manifest parts of the things I ate before, so I suppose it couldn't be helped. When I ate the Man-eater, I didn't become one; I just gained the ability to grow its heads on my vines.
So, I could only use a portion of the Rhizanthella’s power.
But I could use it.
I thrust a vine into the hole in the ground. I moved it through the earth and made it sprout back up several meters away. For a short time, I could now sustain my vines with nutrients from fungi while they were submerged.
While I’d poked the vine back out for a test, I could now keep my vines hidden underground for a while. I couldn't move my entire body beneath the surface or stay there indefinitely, but I could manage a portion of myself for a decent amount of time.
As I was busy practicing digging with my vines, it appeared.
A small white dot flying in from the distance.
There was no mistake. It was that White Bird.
It had been several days since Bear-papa’s raid. It looked like the bird had successfully shaken him off. Given that Bear-papa hadn't come back, that Nectar Ball must have finally ended up in his mouth. The bird must have just been carrying it for him earlier.
I was glad the bird hadn't gotten to eat it, at least. As long as the bear stayed away, nothing else mattered.
Then, a wonderful idea struck me.
I hid my vines inside the hole I’d dug earlier. I kept them submerged, utilizing my new Saprophytization.
The White Bird began its descent toward me.
I hadn't forgotten the grudge of it stealing my Nectar Ball. Normally, a plant wouldn't have a prayer of catching a bird in mid-air.
But what if the plant set a trap?
The poor, unsuspecting bird would fail to notice the snare until it was far too late.
Suppressing a smirk, I waited with bated breath for the exact moment the bird would touch the ground. It was time to take down my nemesis.
The White Bird landed.
And I triggered my very first trap.
(Note: Still on a two-update-a-day schedule!) Next time: Using a Bird to Fish for a Giant Snake.