I am Alraune, a plant monster girl. Back when I lived as a human Saint, my name was Iris.
The white handkerchief I had given Nina back then served as a bridge between our hearts as our gazes met. Locking eyes with her while she was on the verge of tears brought me back to that day four years ago—the last time we had been this close, when I used that very cloth to wipe her eyes. I had let her keep it, but knowing she had carried it with her all this time filled me with joy.
Moreover, she had called me Iris.
I didn't know if she truly believed it was me, but the fact that she had remembered even a glimpse of my former self was enough to satisfy me.
Come to think of it, Nina had been fighting through her tears for a while now. Her face was soaked. Yet, even through the moisture, her eyes seemed to shine with an even greater radiance, bolstered by her Light Magic.
"Even now... Nina... you have... such beautiful eyes..."
I spoke my thoughts aloud, gently wiping her face with the handkerchief.
"They are... like special eyes... that received... the Goddess’s blessing."
My words seemed to strike Nina with the force of a physical blow.
"N-No... that can't be..."
The shock rippled through her entire body, and her arms began to tremble uncontrollably. In her agitation, her grip failed, and the bottle she had been clutching slipped from her right hand.
"Ah! Wait, not that!"
Despite Nina’s panicked cry, the bottle plummeted straight toward my bulb. The moment it made contact, the contents detonated.
A roar of flames erupted. The blast wave centered on the bottle lashed out at both Nina and me. Reacting instinctively, I detached the vines holding Nina to throw her clear of the heat. In that split second, my own body was swallowed by the inferno.
"Hyaa!?"
"L-Lady Iris... ugh..."
I caught a glimpse of Nina slumping over, her head hanging low. She had managed to avoid the worst of the fire, but the concussive force of the explosion had clearly taken its toll. I, on the other hand, had taken the hit point-blank.
Ow, it’s hot! It’s so hooooot!
The pain was searing, like my very skin was being liquidated—which, technically, it was.
Enduring the agony, I calmly initiated a Lithops molting. My skin split open with a sharp snap starting from the crown of my head. I used my vines to toss the scorched, blazing husk aside, and just like that, a pristine, unburnt version of myself emerged. I then used Light Recovery Magic to instantly regenerate the damaged plant cells.
I suppose that was an explosive bottle imbued with fire magic. Because I had used my vines to shield Nina and push her away, she hadn't been caught in the blast, but the shock seemed to have knocked her unconscious. Her eyes remained closed, and there was no sign of her waking up anytime soon.
It was a shame. I felt like we had finally been on the verge of a real conversation. Still, I believed my feelings had reached her. She had screamed for me to "wait" when she dropped the bottle; I think she had been trying to choose dialogue over violence. I only hoped that when she finally woke up, she wouldn't try to subjugate me again.
"N-Nina-sama!"
The adventurer who had been holding back in the rear finally approached. That’s right, there was one more of them.
Clatter.
The gentleman adventurer laid his weapon on the ground. Raising both hands in a gesture of peace, he slowly walked toward me.
"Crimson Flower Princess, I have no intention of fighting you. Please, believe me."
...Hmm?
"Crimson Flower Princess"? What kind of name was that?
"Wait, you probably don't recognize that title. Do you understand... Alraune?"
Ah, so he was talking to me. I gave a small, slow nod to show I understood.
Satisfied by my response, the adventurer let out a long breath and began to speak.
"Alraune... missy. Is it possible that you actually just want to get along with people?"
"Eh?"
"And you won't eat me, right? I mean, if I surrender like this, you won't treat me poorly, will you?"
Wait, those words... I felt like I had heard them somewhere before. Now that I looked at him, this man's face seemed strangely familiar.
"You're the Alraune from back then, aren't you? Though it looks like you didn't have to put out any fires with a water canteen today."
Ah! I remembered!
This man was the Corporal from that day! He was one of the soldiers who had attacked me right before the Flame Dragon Lord showed up and set everything on fire.
But why was a Corporal from the army working as an adventurer in Tower City? I was dying to know what had happened to him. Then again, from his perspective, a sedentary plant moving all the way to this forest was probably the bigger mystery. I was impressed he even recognized me.
"So you really are that Alraune. Don't worry, I won't ask you to show me your legs this time."
"Why... are you... here?"
"A lot happened. Honestly, I'm the one who wants to ask you why you're here, missy... but that can wait."
I remembered him being a kind-hearted man. If his subordinates hadn't been there back then, I probably could have talked to him instead of fighting. It seemed he had felt the same way—that communication was possible. That was why he was speaking to me now as if I were an equal.
"I'm sorry about what happened before. We ended up hurting you, and I've spent a lot of time regretting it, wondering if there was a path where we didn't have to draw blood."
"If... you regret it... then... I forgive you."
"You have my thanks. Now, about this 'Man-eater Alraune' business... that’s a lie, isn't it?"
Well, listen here, Corporal. I have never once called myself a man-eater. That was entirely a misunderstanding on the part of the humans.
"If you intended to eat people, you had plenty of chances to devour that Apprentice Saint girl, not to mention the knights and other adventurers. Instead, you went out of your way to disable them without killing them. You were trying not to hurt anyone, weren't you?"
"I am... glad... you understand. I... do not... eat humans."
"...You said that back then, too. I'm sorry it took me so long to believe you."
I couldn't believe it. A human who actually believed my words—I was genuinely moved.
"I don't know what your connection to Lady Iris is. Nina-sama would know more about that than I would, so I won't pry."
From the sound of it, he had overheard at least some of my interaction with Nina. He probably hadn't heard the part about the handkerchief, so he likely didn't suspect I actually was Iris.
"All I ask is that you return the Apprentice Saint you're holding, and that you let us all go."
"Even though... you... tried to kill me... so many times?"
"I know it’s selfish of me to ask after we were the ones who attacked. But I won't lift a finger against you again. For my sake, could you find it in yourself to forgive us?"
The Corporal dropped to his knees and bowed his head.
I had intended to let the humans go back to their city anyway, so this wasn't a problem for me.
"I... understand."
"Thank you. I owe you one."
The Corporal promised that if I was ever in trouble, he would lend me his strength. He even said he would come back to visit another day. Then, hoisting Nina onto his back, he began the trek back toward the city.
It was finally over.
And so, I sent all the humans who had come to hunt me back to where they came from. I asked my "younger sisters," the Treants, to handle the transportation of the sleeping soldiers. Fairy Kiri and an Amazoness Treant had returned from their forest patrol after hearing the commotion.
As I watched the Treants diligently hauling the humans away, I discussed our next steps with Kiri.
"Can you really trust that Corporal guy?" she asked.
"He seems... more trustworthy... than most... humans."
"Well, even if the city folk attack again, I'm not worried. You'll just send them packing like you did today, Alraune-sama!"
Counting them all up, there had been twenty-three humans in total. According to the Corporal, that had been the city's primary fighting force. That meant there was likely no one left in that city stronger than I was. It was a relief to know I was safe from further threats.
Or so I thought. At the time, I shouldn't have been so quick to relax.
I had forgotten one very important thing: humans weren't the only ones living in that city.
As a shadow wearing a top hat suddenly emerged from the forest thicket, that realization hit me with chilling clarity.
(The Treants didn't move all the humans at once; they had to make several trips. Seeing this, the former Corporal was shocked, wondering, "Why is the Treant from that time here too!?" but that is a story for another time.)
Next time: Newbie Apprentice Saint's Named Monster Subjugation Chronicle.