I was an Alraune—a plant monster girl who had utterly failed to pass for a normal human girl.
The soldiers had seen right through me.
To make matters worse, they accused me of luring them in with the intention of devouring them. How cruel could they be?
Sure, I’d done exactly that to animals and monsters, but I hadn't laid a finger on these humans.
And besides, I’d been telling them to stay away from the very beginning.
Just because I was a monster, they refused to believe a word I said. To them, I was nothing more than a target to be subjugated. It was simply too much.
I was no longer human; I was a plant monster, an Alraune.
That was an immutable fact.
Perhaps I just had to accept it...
The five soldiers, weapons held high, gradually closed in.
To be honest, I didn't think ordinary soldiers were any match for me anymore.
Considering the combat power I’d gained from consuming the Four Heavenly Kings of the Forest, Bear-papa, and even the Minotaurs of the Demon King’s Army, I could easily win an overwhelming victory against five men.
The real problem was trying not to kill them.
And then there was the question of what to do afterward.
If I turned them all into nutrition, I could destroy the evidence.
But if possible, I didn't want to harm people.
Yet, if I held back and they managed to escape, they would likely return with a full subjugation squad.
If that happened, I wouldn’t stand a chance. If they kept peppering me with flame arrows from a distance until everything around me was scorched, I’d truly burn to a crisp this time.
Keeping five adult men alive as captives was also... well, problematic.
It would be a lot of work, and I didn't think I had it in me. That would have to be a last resort.
For now, I would focus on neutralizing them.
The rest could wait.
I carefully observed the soldiers.
The one in the middle, the man they called "Corporal," was the strongest. I estimated the others were just rank-and-file.
It was a basic level of assessment, a lingering trace of my training as a Saint.
That was when I realized something.
The eyes of all five men were glued to me.
My upper body was practically naked.
I wore only the simplest of coverings—vines wrapped around my chest to hide myself.
In this world, it was unheard of for a woman to be so exposed in public.
Under normal circumstances, it would be impossible for me—a Duke’s Daughter and a former Saint—to be seen like this by five grown men. I was absolutely mortified.
If I were still living as a Saint, I never would have been caught dead in such an outfit. I was still a young woman of marriageable age; I wanted to scream at them to stop staring at my skin with those eyes.
Moreover, a giant red flower bloomed from my waist, and beneath that was my bulb.
The mouth of a monstrous carnivorous plant, wide enough to swallow a man whole, hung open. They were seeing every single bit of it.
To top it off, they now knew the reality: that I was growing directly out of that terrifying plant.
The shame was unbearable.
I hadn't felt a thing when it was just the forest animals or other monsters.
I hadn't even cared when the Minotaurs saw me, since they were of the Demon Race.
I’d been seen by that nectar-obsessed boy, but he was just a child, and I had been too lonely to care.
Living alone in the forest had given me a sense of freedom; I’d grown used to it.
But being witnessed in this state by multiple adult men all at once was another matter entirely. My lower half was completely exposed.
The junction where my human torso met the plant was in plain view.
Anyone could tell at a glance that my body was part flower and part carnivorous beast.
Ugh, they're seeing everything.
What was I supposed to do? My face was burning.
In my state of extreme agitation, I accidentally triggered the self-heat generation of a skunk cabbage.
As I writhed in embarrassment, a thought occurred to me.
I only felt this way because I still looked like a human woman.
Which meant that, unlike a typical monster, I could still try to reason with them.
Since I looked half-human, maybe they would feel some small shred of sympathy for me.
Alright, let’s try one last time.
"Please... listen. I... do not... eat... humans."
The soldiers froze.
That’s it! Keep it going.
"I have... no intention... of being... your enemy. Please... lower... your weapons."
My words seemed to reach the Corporal; he looked genuinely conflicted.
Maybe I could avoid a fight after all.
"Corporal, don't listen! There's no such thing as a monster friendly to humans." "The Alraune is a beast that bewitches men with the form of a beautiful girl. Don't you remember?" "The men back home were slaughtered because they let their guard down around creatures like this!" "Don't believe her!"
Oh, for goodness' sake!
You subordinates need to learn when to be quiet.
Look what you've done.
The tension returned to the Corporal’s arms. What a mess.
As I tried to speak to him again, one of the soldiers raised his bow to cut me off.
They were begging the Corporal not to be deceived.
They reminded him that letting a monster go was a grave violation of military regulations. With an expression like he’d just swallowed a bitter bug, the Corporal raised his left hand.
"I understand. Do it."
One of the subordinates released an arrow.
Negotiations were officially over.
I conjured a shield of vines to block the shot.
Ah, what a pity.
We were so close to a peaceful resolution.
If it had just been the Corporal, we might have been able to talk it out.
One of the soldiers charged at me.
Seriously, you people need to pipe down.
I released a cloud of blue pollen at the closest man.
The sleeping powder hit him dead-on, and he collapsed where he stood.
The other soldiers cried out in shock.
Ignoring them, I lashed out with a vine toward the archer.
He tried to scramble back, but I wasn't about to let him get away.
Vines erupted from the ground at his feet, first snatching his bow and arrows.
Then I wound the vines around him until he was bound tight and hit him with another dose of sleeping powder.
Once he was snoring and thoroughly neglecting his duties, I tossed him aside.
Three left.
The Corporal barked orders to the remaining two. "While I create an opening, take those useless fools and fall back!"
Was he planning to hold me off alone?
That seemed like a rather heavy burden for a common soldier.
Besides, I didn't intend to let anyone escape just yet.
The Corporal readied his bow.
Had he not just watched what happened to the other archer?
A pathetic attack like that wasn't going to leave a scratch on me.
But then, the Corporal began to murmur an incantation.
Suddenly, his bow and arrow began to glow a brilliant, searing red.
Wait, hold on.
You’ve got to be kidding me.
To my absolute shock, the Corporal was a practitioner of fire magic.
Why?!
Why was someone capable of magic serving as a common foot soldier?
This was bad.
I had finally run into the one thing I feared most: someone who could use long-range fire magic.
He couldn't run now because his subordinates were still close by, but if he started sniping at me with flame arrows from outside my reach, I was finished.
I absolutely could not let him get away.
To keep from being incinerated, my only options were to capture him or render him unable to fight.
"Go!" the Corporal bellowed.
A scorching flame arrow streaked toward me.
I instantly brought up a vine shield.
I even called up a wall of vines from the earth to create a double layer of defense.
But then, I saw the impossible.
The flame arrow punched right through both the shield and the wall, hurtling toward me as if drawn by a magnet.
I’m going to get hit!
I reflexively covered my face with my thin human arms and squeezed my eyes shut.
However, the impact never came.
The arrow whistled past my stomach and thudded into the ground behind me.
—That was way too close.
If I hadn't used the double shields to deflect its path, it would have been a direct hit.
This Corporal was the real deal.
I’d pegged him as being only slightly stronger than his men, but his magic was far beyond what I’d expected.
A simple flaming arrow shouldn't have been able to pierce my vines.
To penetrate them so easily required a high level of magical refinement.
If he had used any other element, I wouldn't have felt so threatened, but fire was my ultimate weakness.
The two remaining subordinates were retreating, each hauling one of their sleeping comrades.
I couldn't let them go.
They were still just within the reach of my vines.
I bloomed a Man-eater from a vine beneath the retreating pair and sprayed them with paralysis powder.
The man went limp, collapsing right on top of the sleeping soldier he’d been carrying.
That made three neutralized.
The other pair had managed to get away, but as long as I kept at least one group here, it would be fine.
The problem was the Corporal. I turned my gaze back to him just as he released another arrow.
I shouldn't have looked away!
Emergency defense!
I scrambled to manifest another vine shield.
The flame arrow tore through the single-layered defense with ease.
It plunged deep into my bulb.
"Ow, ow, ow! It hurts!"
And it was hot!
The arrow had set my bulb on fire.
I couldn't even use an axe to chop it off in that spot. What was I supposed to do?
Ah, that’s right. This was exactly why I’d wanted water.
I pulled out the water flask I’d been hiding.
Using a vine to pop the cap, I doused the flaming bulb.
Fire extinguished.
Honestly, these water flasks were a godsend.
Suddenly, I locked eyes with the Corporal. He was staring at me, jaw dropped.
He seemed utterly stunned.
Was he really that shocked that I’d put out the fire?
Then, I noticed something else.
I’d thought it felt a bit warm—my vines were burning.
The area where the arrow had pierced the vines had finally caught fire from the residual heat.
Not this again!
I really was pathetic when it came to fire.
The Corporal saw me panicking and immediately reached for his bow again.
He was going for the finishing blow.
Well, in that case, it was time to bring out the big guns.
Time to prepare some props for the stage.
The Corporal fired another flame arrow.
This time, I didn't bother with a vine shield.
I had something much better for the job.
I produced the Minotaur axes that had served me so well during my "ball" with the Demon King’s Army.
I swung one of the massive blades into the arrow’s path, using it as a shield.
As it turned out, even fire magic had its limits when faced with a demonic iron axe.
The arrow shattered against the heavy metal and tumbled to the dirt.
A thick iron axe was apparently too much for it to penetrate. And unlike my vines, the iron wouldn't catch fire.
I immediately used the edge of the axe to lop off my burning vines.
Then, I regenerated them instantly. Back to normal!
I looked back at the Corporal to show him his arrows were useless, only to find him staring at me with his mouth hanging open again.
Was it really that big a blow to his ego to have his arrow blocked?
Well, to be fair, as long as I had these axes, your fire magic wouldn't work on me anymore.
And I wasn't finished.
I used my vines to hoist the other two axes.
I still had three in total that I’d taken from the Minotaurs.
I held all three massive blades high, making it very clear to the Corporal that his efforts were in vain.
The Corporal’s eyes bulged as he looked back and forth between the axes and me.
Maybe he was finally realizing his arrows couldn't reach me.
But it was a bit too early to lose hope.
Now that I’d shown off my three-axe style, it was time to demand his surrender.
I used one of the axes to fan my face, as if it were a feathered fluffy fan, and offered him a composed smile.
"Surrender... please. I... will not... treat you badly."
At the same time, I sprouted a thicket of vines all around him.
Dozens of Man-eater flowers bloomed from the vines, all of them swiveling toward the Corporal like the muzzles of loaded guns.
This was my garden.
And he was nothing more than a pitiful guest who had wandered into my territory.
Ohoho.
The fire magic had certainly been a surprise, but I hadn't even begun to get serious yet.
I wonder if he understands now?
Now then, Mr. Soldier.
It’s a pity, but I believe I'll be taking you into custody.
Thank you for reading!
Thanks to your support, I’ve reached 26th place in the weekly Isekai Reincarnation/Transfer rankings!
I’m truly grateful for all your encouragement m( )m
Next time: As a former Saint, the guilt of what I must do makes my heart race.