I was dreaming.
I saw myself as a human again, walking on my own two feet.
As a Saint, I was spending the winter within the walls of the Royal Castle. My fiancé, the Hero, who was also a prince, sat beside me. When I rested upon the settee, he took his place at my side and gently enveloped my left hand with his own.
Ah, I was so happy.
Could there be any greater bliss than this? No, surely not.
"Hero, you know... I was having the most terrible nightmare. I had been reincarnated as a plant monster in the middle of a forest, all alone. And then, a Great Blizzard came in the winter, and I was frozen in ice, nearly withering away. Such a life would be absurd, wouldn't it? I don't think I could ever endure it. So please, stay by my side forever. It’s a promise, Hero."
Suddenly, the warmth of the Hero’s hand vanished.
In its place, a hot liquid came spurting out.
Before I knew it, the room was stained a deep, visceral red. Panicked, I looked down at my left arm, only to find that nothing was there.
The Hero was still holding my left hand.
But it was no longer attached to me; he held my entire severed arm.
Sensing a presence behind me, I spun around. There stood my junior, the Apprentice Saint. For some reason, she held a scythe forged from Wind Magic.
She was a girl the kingdom had recognized for her immense talent, a junior with a bright future ahead of her. That was why I had taken her under my wing. I had taught her every scrap of knowledge regarding Light Magic that I possessed.
I had been well aware that her bust was more ample than mine and that the Hero’s gaze was frequently glued to her chest. Even so, I had swallowed my pride and focused on being a kind mentor.
So why? Why did my junior, this Apprentice Saint, cut off my arm?
Blood continued to spray from the stump of my shoulder. I immediately cast Super Recovery Magic, regenerating the limb in an instant. But when I tried to stand and flee, I realized my legs were gone.
She had hacked them off as well.
I tried to invoke my Recovery Magic again, but for some reason, it wouldn't activate.
Why? I could regenerate my arm, so why wouldn't my legs return?
I was pinned to the chair, unable to move. I realized I had to counterattack with magic, but when I tried to raise my right hand, it wouldn't move. My right arm had been severed by the Apprentice Saint before I could even blink.
I screamed.
Then, the left arm I had just regenerated was cut away once more.
I was helpless. What was I supposed to do?
"Help me, Hero!"
I turned my gaze toward him, a prayer in my heart, only to see him locked in an embrace with my junior. They were pressed against one another like lovers.
That’s right. I remembered now. I had been discarded. I had been betrayed.
I looked down at my feet once more. In place of my legs, there was now a corolla. Below that was a bulb, with roots stretching deep into the earth. My body had become a pistil, and countless vines—which I could move as easily as my own arms—grew from me.
I remembered. I was a plant monster.
──Flutter.
A bud opened.
A sharp, pungent scent pierced the air, much like the bracing stimulus of a sterile, frozen wasteland. The forest was entirely blanketed in white.
Come to think of it, I had been buried in the snow, hadn't I?
I looked around, wondering how a bud that should have been encased in ice had managed to bloom. To my surprise, the snow had been cleared away from my immediate vicinity in a perfectly unnatural circle.
What was the meaning of this?
My last memories involved the snow rising over my head, threatening to bury me completely. Yet, here I was, sitting in a hole where the snow had been hollowed out. It looked exactly as if some "Mysterious Snow Shoveler" had come along and rescued me.
But if that were true, who did it?
There were no footprints. There was no sign that anyone had approached. Did the snow simply vanish on its own? It was a mystery. I wondered if such a thing was even possible.
If I had a high body temperature, I might have been able to melt the snow with heat. There are plants like that in the world, after all. Or perhaps I had received the protection of the Goddess of the Heavens? When I was a Saint, I possessed Light Magic, which was only granted to women blessed by the Goddess, so I had already held her protection once.
First, there was that nearby tree that had withered away in an instant, and now the snow around me had vanished while I slept. That made two of the Seven Wonders of the Forest.
──Thud.
As I was racking my brain to solve the mystery, something fell from above and landed right on me.
It was a flower that looked remarkably like a monk sitting in zazen meditation. It was a deep, murky red, with a cluster of tiny flowers nestled in its center. It was a rare sight indeed.
I looked up to see a bird flying away. It was the White Bird. It seemed it was still looking out for me after my request the other day. What a dutiful little bird.
I was incredibly grateful, for this flower looked exactly like "Skunk Cabbage."
If this really was Skunk Cabbage, it explained why it could bloom even in this heavy snow. With this, I might actually be able to survive the winter.
The Skunk Cabbage is a peculiar plant. It has the unique ability of Heat Generation, allowing it to melt the snow around it. Since a flower can't bloom if it's buried, the Skunk Cabbage simply learned to melt the obstruction. While blooming under the snow, it can produce a temperature of about twenty degrees Celsius. By maintaining that heat, it slowly carves out a space in the drifts. It blooms earlier than any other plant by clearing out the competition with its own warmth.
I recalled that it grew back in Japan, too. If the Skunk Cabbage of this world shared those traits, I could acquire its abilities.
I didn't hesitate for a second.
Chomp.
I felt the process of Selective Breeding begin. I focused my will on the desire for warmth, consciously seeking Heat Generation.
And just like that, the snow began to recede.
Steam rose from my body, even though I was a plant. In the midst of the sub-zero tundra, I had become a pocket of springtime warmth. It didn't matter how much more it snowed now; I could just melt it all and turn it into water!
The cold was no longer my enemy. The snow had lost its bite. I had officially conquered this brutal winter!
As the snow melted, life-giving water flowed down to my roots. Ah, it tasted wonderful.
I really have to thank that White Bird. First the Christmas Rose, and now the Skunk Cabbage... it has looked after me so well. I don't suppose the White Bird was the Mysterious Snow Shoveler, too? I know a bird couldn't possibly shovel snow, but I couldn't help but wonder. It has saved my life time and time again.
It truly is my lifesaver. Thank you. Now that you've done so much for me, I promise I'll never try to eat you.
I had one other person to thank: the Mysterious Snow Shoveler.
I still had no idea who had pulled me from the snow. With no footprints to be found, I felt as though I had been bewitched by a fox. Or perhaps it was a prank played by a forest fairy.
Given the season, maybe Santa came to help me? He travels by reindeer through the sky, which would explain the lack of footprints. It actually made a strange kind of sense. He had given the gift of snow shoveling to a lonely little flower.
Well, I doubt Santa actually exists in this world. I couldn't even say for sure if he existed in my old one. Since I was unconscious at the time, there was no way to uncover the truth. If there had been footprints, I could at least speculate, but without them, it was impossible.
Still, I had nothing but time. I could kill the hours by slowly pondering the mystery. After all, I wasn't afraid of the winter anymore.
In any case, I was safe. To whoever it was that helped me: thank you very much.
As I bowed my head in gratitude, I spotted something small peeking out from the melting snow. I used a vine to clear the slush away.
A tiny, yellow-green sprout was poking out of the earth.
I felt certain then—the footsteps of spring were drawing near.
I cleared the snow from other spots as well. All across the ground, the "children" of the plant world were being born. New life was sprouting, letting out its first green cries.
the long winter was finally coming to an end. The season of paradise for all living things was almost here.
Spring was coming.
Thank you for reading. Next time: A Ball at the Forest Circle.