I was Alraune, a plant monster girl.
Beside me was my younger sister-figure, the Amazoness known as the Withered Tree Treant.
It appeared we were both quite the martial types.
We had been under attack by a flock of Weissaugen—bird-type monsters resembling giant Mejiros. The battle had been lopsided, two plants against thirty birds, especially since our opponents held the aerial advantage. However, the tide was turning thanks to my Teppou-uri Machine Gun.
"Good day, dear Mejiros. It is a pleasure to have you attend this tea party hosted by the Forest Plant Sisters. Without further delay, might I ask how you find the flavor of my sweets? They are the anesthetic seeds currently in vogue. With this Teppou-uri Machine Gun, I can provide a bountiful supply of treats to all you high-flyers with great haste. I do hope they are to your liking."
The Mejiros who sampled my anesthetic seeds with their very bodies descended toward the earth, looking so delighted that their entire frames stiffened. It seemed that while they were skilled at soaring through the sky, they were rather clumsy at landing. No matter how I looked at it, they appeared to be simply falling out of the sky. With such ungraceful movements, I feared they wouldn't even be able to share a dance with a lady after the tea was finished.
In the midst of this, several Mejiros who had yet to receive their sweets flocked toward me. It seemed they intended to offer a gift in return for the seeds their comrades had received. It appeared they were plotting to present me with their pollen.
While I appreciated the sentiment, I had to decline. I had no intention of being pollinated by a gentleman whose name and house I did not know. In the first place, attempting to forcibly pollinate a lady at a tea party was the height of ungentlemanly behavior.
"You must not misbehave. I shall have to beat that twisted nature of yours back into shape."
I readied my four vines, pointing the muzzles toward the remaining Mejiros.
"Now then, everyone, are you ready?"
Spo-po-po-pon!
Under the strafing fire of my four Teppou-uri Machine Guns, the "gentlemanly" Mejiros crashed one after another.
Ah, how wonderful it felt... I feared I might become addicted to this sensation.
The Mejiros who struck the ground remained stiff, appearing as though they were frozen in a pose of apology. If they were capable of reflection, then that was well and good. However, I had left the rest of the matters to my younger sister-figure.
"Everyone, please excuse me."
The Amazoness Treant ruthlessly delivered the finishing blows to the birds that had fallen from the sky. She tore off wings, snapped necks, and even uprooted small trees to impale the Mejiros like spears. In the blink of an eye, she turned the flock into a bloodbath. My little sister-figure was apparently even stronger than I had imagined.
Before I knew it, the Mejiros were gone. I had shot every last one of them down with the Teppou-uri Machine Gun. The remains of roughly thirty bird monsters lay scattered across the ground. The entire area was stained a deep, visceral red. It was a scene of absolute carnage.
Treant had done a job worthy of a female berserker. As expected of my Amazoness. If the two of us worked together, it felt as though we could repulse any monster that came our way—though big shots like Bear-papa remained the exception.
Even so, I was exhausted. I realized after using it that the Teppou-uri Machine Gun was a powerful weapon, but the cost was high. Firing a massive amount of anesthetic seeds and sap consumed an incredible amount of energy. Moreover, right before the Mejiros attacked, I had used my energy to pollinate and create my clone, the Child Alraune. Both actions drained my physical strength to the point where I couldn't perform them lightly.
I was severely lacking in nutrients and moisture. I wanted water. But first, we had to clean up. If Little Witch came back, she would be horrified by this scene. Normally, I killed with poison, so the surrounding area didn't become covered in blood; this was a rare occurrence.
I used my vines to drag the Mejiros into a single pile. It was time for some garbage collection. Of course, the collection site was my lower mouth. I intended to munch them down as efficiently as possible!
"Geez, what kind of battlefield is this supposed to be?"
Fairy Kiri appeared from the shadow of a tree. She surveyed the site of the battle with an exasperated expression. It seemed she had returned from her forest patrol.
"It's just like when I first saw you, Alraune. You're always being attacked by monsters, aren't you?"
"First... time... we... met?"
"You were being attacked by a crocodile in the pond, weren't you? It was so funny seeing you being washed away in a bucket that I just burst out laughing."
"Not... that... night... before?"
"Night? I found you during the day. That time at the pond and river was the first."
Wait, that was strange. The night before I nearly drowned in the pond, I had witnessed a firefly-like light. That small light had poured something like water over the sleeping me before disappearing. I had assumed that light belonged to Fairy Kiri.
But apparently, that wasn't the case. Then what on earth was the true identity of that light? Was it just a dream? Or was something else flying there...?
I noticed a white bird passing over the forest. Because I had just been attacked by the Mejiro Army, I was on high alert, which allowed me to spot it.
But wait a moment. I wondered where Little Witch was going. She passed right over our location and flew off into the distance. As I stared up at the sky in confusion, I heard a familiar voice right next to my ear.
"Alraune, I'm back."
"Whoa!?"
Suddenly, Little Witch was standing right beside me in her human form.
That was too fast! She should have been in the sky just a second ago. How had she done it? Since it was the same bird I always saw, I didn't think it was a different wild bird. It was as if she had teleported. I wondered when she had become able to move that quickly. Could such magic exist among the black magic of witches? It might have been a hidden technique.
With Little Witch's return, the other members disbanded. The Fairy apparently had business with Lady Dryades and headed toward the Sanctuary. My younger sister-figure, the Amazoness Treant, went off to hunt elsewhere.
It was just the two of us. While her face twitched at the bloody carnage surrounding us, Little Witch gave me her nectar sales report. Incredibly, it was sold out again! Apparently, she happened to run into the woman who bought nectar yesterday, and she bought the entire stock again.
While I was happy to have sold out, I was also worried about that woman. She had just bought a bucketful of nectar yesterday, and she already needed more? Was she okay? Surely she hadn't licked it all up in a single day?
While trembling at the thought that a new Perorist might have been born in the city, I had Little Witch water me with her bucket. In my current state of being rooted in the ground, having Little Witch fetch water from the river was the only way to get enough moisture.
Ah, the water was delicious!
Even so, Kiri’s story weighed on my mind. That small light that had watered me while I slept in the West Forest—I had been certain it was her, but I was wrong. Come to think of it, while the water felt delicious in the dream, I was nearly withered by the next morning. I had been in a dangerous situation due to the drought, so it couldn't be helped, but still.
In the end, what was that light? The mystery remained, but since I had no answers, there was no point in worrying about it now.
"That's right, I have a souvenir today, too."
It seemed Little Witch had bought something with the nectar money. Hopefully it wasn't fertilizer again.
"Ta-da! I bought vegetables. Alraune, you can eat vegetables too, right?"
"Of course... I... eat!"
Little Witch had bought two types of vegetables. Since vegetables were edible plants, if I ate them, I would be able to generate them myself from now on.
I did it! With this, I could finally improve Little Witch's diet! With my mind made up, I prepared to consume the vegetables. Once I did, I would produce them in large quantities on my vines and serve her a feast.
I had never cooked a single meal during my life as a Duke's Daughter, but I would do my absolute best as her big sister!
Thank you for reading. Next time: Alraune-style Vegetable Cooking.