This chapter is told from the perspective of Franz, a Migrant Adventurer and former Corporal.
My name is Franz.
I used to be a soldier—even held the rank of Corporal once—but these days I make my living as a Migrant Adventurer in Tower City.
I don’t usually get rattled, but recently I found myself staring at a sight so baffling I could hardly process it.
What on earth was a forest fairy doing selling Nectar in the middle of a city square?
The girl in the hood over there was, without a doubt, the same person I’d encountered in the Dryades' Forest a few days ago. She looked like an ordinary young girl, but I knew her true identity: she was the fairy who had given me life-saving advice back in the woods.
Still, the idea of a fairy running a market stall was beyond me. I stood there, bewildered, until curiosity finally won out. I decided to go over and say hello.
“Fairy-sama, it’s been a while. Thank you again for your help the other day.”
“……Fairy? I’m not a fairy.”
I see. We were in a crowded city; she clearly didn't want her true nature exposed.
“Right, I understand. I’ll just call you ‘young lady’ while we’re here. So, why are you selling Nectar?”
“I want to do… Sample Sales… but I don’t know how to talk to people……”
“I’m not entirely sure what that is, but you just need to attract some customers? I can help with that much.”
I scanned the square and spotted a couple of familiar faces.
“Hey, you two! Over here!” I beckoned, calling a pair of adventurers over.
“Where are you guys headed?” I asked.
“Where? Some rookie got jumped by a Plant Monster in the forest yesterday. Stole his weapons, apparently. We’re heading out to get them back.”
“Well, this is perfect timing, then. Think of it as a pre-work snack—why don’t you try a taste of this Nectar?”
“As if Nectar is gonna fill us up—What in the world is this?!”
The moment they licked the Nectar, the look in their eyes shifted instantly.
“This is so good my brain is melting!” one screamed. “Is there more?! Give me more!”
“O-Oh, sure. You can buy it from this young lady here.”
“We’ll take it! We’ll take all of it!”
The way they started raving about the stuff was a bit unsettling—it was like they’d undergone some kind of sudden personality shift—but regardless, I’d managed to help the fairy make a sale. I hoped that squared my debt to her, even if only by a little.
“See? If you call out to them like that, it’s easy,” I told her.
“I… I see.”
The forest fairy swallowed hard, as if summoning every ounce of her courage.
“E-Excuse me…… N-Nectar…………”
She looked down at her feet and immediately went silent. She was clearly a girl of very few words. Well, I couldn't just leave her like that. I decided to stick around and help her out for a while longer.
After we’d been calling out to passersby for a bit, a girl I recognized approached the stall. She was wearing an expensive-looking white outfit with yellow embroidery. There was no mistaking her: it was the Apprentice Saint who had been binge-eating Nectar with her bare hands the other day.
The Apprentice Saint spoke to the fairy with the ease of a regular customer and made her purchase. Then, noticing me, she tilted her head.
“Oh? Are you perhaps Rufe-chan’s father……?”
“No, I’m just an adventurer passing through. I owe this young lady a favor, so I’m helping her out.”
“My goodness, I just assumed…… Please forgive my rudeness.”
So the Apprentice Saint was a regular. Given the way she’d been inhaling the stuff before, I wasn't surprised. A Saint had once saved my home village, and since this girl was a Saint-in-training, I figured I should look out for her.
“Pardon me, young lady, but you’re being followed by that man over there. Do you know him?”
Across the square, a suspicious-looking man was staring intently at her. The fact that I’d spotted him from this far away suggested he was an amateur at tailing people.
“Ah, that’s likely the Apprentice Cook. He says he’s a fan of mine. We just happen to run into each other in the city quite often.”
That’s called stalking, not a coincidence, I thought.
“Well, if you ever run into trouble, let me know. I personally feel I owe the Saints a great debt.”
“That is very kind of you. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
As she left, the man who was supposedly her "fan" came over to the stall. I decided to poke for some information.
“You’re a cook, aren't you? Where do you work?”
“……How’d you know? For your information, I work at the Lord’s Mansion.”
“Impressive. Sorry for stopping you.”
He didn't seem like a bad guy, necessarily. Maybe he was just buying ingredients, or maybe he was so obsessed with the Apprentice Saint that he had to buy whatever she bought.
“Does that man come here often?” I asked the fairy after he left.
“Yes. He always comes right after the sister in the white clothes. He was the first man to ever buy my Nectar, so I remember him well.”
Yeah, that’s definitely a stalker.
By the time evening rolled around, the fairy had finally learned how to call out to people on her own. She’d probably be fine without me now.
“Alright, I’m heading out,” I said.
“W-Wait. As thanks… some Nectar……”
“Don't worry about it. If I ever see you in the forest again, just give me some more of that good advice.”
“……Okay.”
Leaving the girl behind, I started thinking about my next move. I figured I’d head to the Adventurer Guild. I’d spent all day helping with the stall, so I needed to find a real job and earn some coin.
When I arrived at the Guild, the place was in an uproar.
Apparently, the two adventurers I’d talked to earlier had been thoroughly beaten by that Plant Monster in the woods. And they weren't the only ones. A total of four groups had been defeated that day, all of them stripped of their weapons and gear.
Based on the descriptions, the monster was lurking right where the fairy had warned me not to go. If even a fairy thought the thing was dangerous, it had to be serious. I hoped it wouldn't escalate further.
My hopes were in vain.
Three days later, the news—both good and bad—was all anyone could talk about.
The good news was that the fairy’s Nectar business was booming. Everywhere I looked, people were carrying those wooden cylinders. It felt like half the city was hooked on the stuff. Having helped her get started, I felt a strange sense of pride.
The bad news was that the Plant Monster had now defeated over thirty groups of adventurers. At first, it was just rookies, but now even mid-rankers and veterans were being sent packing. Worse still, rumors were circulating that several adventurers had gone missing entirely.
Witnesses had seen the monster devouring entire flocks of bird monsters. It was clearly a gluttonous carnivore. The math wasn't hard to do—the missing adventurers had almost certainly become plant food.
The Guild officially designated it a Named Monster and issued a high-reward Wanted Poster for its subjugation. I went to the Guild to check it out, and that’s when I saw a strange man: an old gentleman in a silk hat and a monocle, staring fixedly at the wall.
When I stepped up beside him, he murmured a quick “Excuse me” and vanished outside. He wasn't a local; a traveling adventurer, maybe?
I turned my attention to the poster he’d been studying.
Across the top, it read: Man-eater Alraune of the Dryades' Forest. Beneath that, it listed a specific name: Crimson Flower Princess.
The poster included a detailed illustration. It showed a massive, sinister Bulb with a gaping maw. From the center bloomed a vivid red flower, and emerging from that flower was the upper body of a beautiful young girl. It was a haunting, terrifying image.
Wait.
I stared at the drawing. I knew this monster. It looked exactly like the Alraune I’d seen in the Witch Hunt Forest.
No, it didn't just look like it. It was the Alraune from that forest.
I had just made a formal reunion with that terrifying, out-of-the-norm creature via a Wanted Poster. At the time, however, I didn't have the slightest inkling of just how "extraordinary" she truly was.
And so, my life was about to be thrown into chaos by that Alraune once again.
Author’s Note: This chapter was from the adventurer’s perspective to show what’s been happening in Tower City while our protagonist was unaware.
Interestingly, because the Little Witch was seen with a tough-looking adventurer all day, the townspeople now assume Franz is her guardian. This actually helped her avoid a lot of trouble!
Unbeknownst to him, Franz is about to cross paths again with the Little Witch’s true guardian (and houseplant), the Alraune.
Next time: The Migrant Adventurer’s Subjugation of the Named Monster - Part 2.