I was an Alraune, a plant monster in the form of a young girl.
Beside me was Kiri, my newly appointed exclusive fairy, who had recently become quite obsessed with my nectar.
Kiri had agreed to tell me everything she knew about the forest. However, before we dove into that, I explained to her how I had been attacked by a certain Poison Fairy.
She looked shocked at first, but after a while, she began to explain the state of the forest while sipping nectar directly from a bucket.
"That Poison Fairy's name is definitely Oin," Kiri said. "She’s a Dark Fairy—a Dökkálfar."
"A what?" I asked.
"A fairy who turned traitor and joined the Demon King’s Army. Conversely, we good fairies call ourselves Light Fairies—Ljósálfar—among our own kind."
Based on that, Kiri wasn't part of the Demon King’s Army. It seemed the fairies weren't a monolithic group after all.
"If she sprayed herbicide on you, the toxins must still be in the dirt. I’ll clean it for you now."
Kiri used Spirit Magic to draw the poison out of the soil. While she wasn't quite on the level of a true Poison Spirit, she seemed capable of performing a similar feat.
After thanking her, I moved on to the question that had been weighing on me.
"Is Lady Dryades... also a member... of the Demon King’s Army?"
"No way! It’s the exact opposite," Kiri chirped. "Lady Dryades is a Forest Spirit. She's the one protecting this woods and Tower City."
"Really?"
"Totally! Just the other day, a massive fire swept through the forest. Lady Dryades cast a huge Spirit Magic barrier to shield the trees from the flames!"
I wondered if that was the boundary line the Little Witch and I had seen from the sky when we first approached this forest. We had witnessed a spot where the woods were protected from the fire as if a line had been drawn in the dirt. That meant Lady Dryades had been the one to save the forest from the great fire caused by the Flame Dragon Lord.
"But because of that fire, Lady Dryades lost almost all of her power. That’s why she hired an Alraune to be the Forest Bodyguard until she recovers."
"To protect... the forest... from the Demon King's Army?"
"That’s right. And also to make sure I’m protected from them, too."
The way she said it made it sound like Kiri herself was a high-value target for the Demon King.
"The truth is, I’m the key to entering the Sanctuary. No one can get inside unless they’re with me."
"Are other fairies... keys... too?"
"The others won't work. Believe it or not, I’m a special fairy."
It appeared Fairy Kiri was the literal key to reaching Lady Dryades. But why was the Sanctuary so strictly guarded?
"Because that's where the Hero's Helmet is kept. Just like the Holy Sword the Hero once carried, it’s one of the Holy Relics of Light said to have been created by the Goddess herself."
I thought back to the Holy Sword my fiancé, the Hero, used to wield. If the helmet was a divine relic like the sword—which was blessed by light and said to cut through anything—its value was immeasurable.
"Lady Dryades uses the Hero's Helmet to maintain a barrier over the East Forest and Tower City. As long as she has that helmet, the Demon King’s Army can't invade here in large numbers."
"Can the Poison Fairy... get in?"
"Powerful fairies or members of the Demon Race can slip inside the barrier, but only for a short time. That’s why the Demon King’s Army is always trying to get to Lady Dryades and the helmet."
So, that was it. The Poison Fairy hadn't been looking for me; she had been looking for Kiri. Their goal was to capture Kiri, infiltrate the Sanctuary, and steal the Hero's Helmet.
But how did the Poison Fairy know Kiri was here? She had mentioned hearing it from someone.
"I’m a major target, especially in the West Forest. That side is completely ruled by the Demon King’s Army."
Come to think of it, Kiri had been caught by a frog back in the West Forest. Maybe she hadn't just been unlucky prey; maybe they had captured her specifically because she was the key to the Sanctuary. If that were the case, then that frog monster had been an agent of the Demon King’s Army as well.
"All the monsters in the West Forest are underlings of the Demon King. That giant eagle monster that attacked us while we were moving toward the East Forest? That’s the nastiest one of the bunch."
She was talking about the giant eagle, Begia-Ad Adler.
When I first arrived in this forest, that eagle felt like it was watching us. If it really was a scout for the Demon King, it might not have been watching us so much as monitoring the Apprentice Saint’s carriage on the road below. It was likely reporting the arrival of a new Apprentice Saint in Tower City.
"Fairy, you’re still leaving out the most important part, aren't you?"
The Little Witch cast a suspicious look at Kiri.
"If Dryades killed the Hero fifty years ago, doesn't that make her a comrade of the Demon King?"
She had a point. There was still the matter of the Hero's Grave, and the Poison Fairy had claimed she was taking orders from Lady Dryades. It suggested that Lady Dryades had betrayed the forest and defected.
"It’s true that Lady Dryades killed the Hero," Kiri admitted, "but it’s not the Lady Dryades you know."
I blinked. Was she saying the Dryades who killed the Hero was a different person entirely? Did that mean... there was more than one Forest Spirit?
"The reason Dryades' Forest is split into East and West is because it's ruled by two different Lady Dryades."
As I suspected, there were two of them.
The one who had asked me to be the Forest Bodyguard was the East Dryades. Now that I thought about it, she had specifically mentioned "when external enemies approach the East Forest."
In other words, the West Forest had been outside her jurisdiction from the start. The ruler of the West Forest was the other Dryades—the master of the Poison Fairy. That Dryades was the one aligned with the Demon King’s Army. She was the "external enemy."
Honestly, I wish someone had told me this sooner. I would have appreciated a bit more clarity when I accepted the job.
"Found you!"
A familiar, grating voice cut through the air.
Before I knew it, a small, brown-skinned fairy had appeared. There was no mistaking her; it was the Poison Fairy who had sprayed me with herbicide. Her body was covered in scratches from my briars and her left wing was missing, but she was definitely still alive.
She was somehow hovering in the air with her single remaining right wing. She was wobbling, clearly struggling to stay airborne, but fairies were apparently quite resilient.
Kiri cried out the moment she saw her. "Oin! Do you seriously still intend to serve the Demon King?"
"What would you know about my feelings, Kiri? I'm just a fairy who's loyal to her Master—"
Kiri and Oin began to bicker instantly. It was clear they had a long history together. Judging by the tension, they might have even been friends before they had their falling out.
"You there, Alraune!" Oin shrieked, turning her fury on me. "How dare you rip off my wing!"
"The fairy... who sprayed... herbicide... is the one... who's wrong."
"Shut up, shut up! I’ll never forgive you! I’m going to hurt you so badly you’ll beg me to let you wither and die!"
The Poison Fairy activated her Spirit Magic, manifesting a purple liquid in mid-air. She then launched the fluid into the sky like a flare.
"It’s too late now! Kiri, Alraune, and that human too—you’re all dead!"
A massive gust of wind suddenly tore through the clearing. A localized gale, like a small tornado, buffeted us. Then, a gargantuan shadow draped itself over the forest.
I looked up toward the sky, my heart sinking.
High above, a familiar giant eagle was hovering. Oin burst into a high-pitched, manic laugh.
"Go on! Kill them, Begia-Ad Adler!"
A monstrous bird, as large as a passenger plane from my previous life, plummeted toward us. It seemed she had brought reinforcements.
Now that I had overcome the herbicide, the Poison Fairy wasn't much of a threat, but this giant eagle was a different story. In terms of raw power, it was an opponent equal to—or perhaps even greater than—Bear-papa. And since it could fly, it was going to be even harder to handle.
This was a lot of pressure for a Young Girl Alraune.
But I couldn't back down. I was the Forest Bodyguard, after all. I had taken down plenty of powerful monsters before this. I could do it again.
It was time to get to work. This would be my first official act as the Forest Bodyguard.
I was going to show everyone in this forest exactly what I was capable of.