Barometz-san asked if I would please be her friend.
Since becoming an Alraune, I had actually made a surprising number of friends.
Most of them were members of my "forest circle," like my Lady Knight Hachi-san or Madam Butterfly and the other Tefutefu. However, I had never actually held a conversation with any of them. While we could communicate through body language and intent to a certain degree, it wasn't perfect. Besides, our relationship was largely built on the fact that I provided them with nectar.
Recently, the number of companions I could talk to had increased, even if I didn't quite think of them as "friends" in the traditional sense.
The Little Witch was my owner and my sister, making her family. Fairy Kiri had become my personal fairy, so she was basically family too. Amazoness Treant was like a younger sister, so she also fell into the family category.
As for Nina, the Apprentice Saint, I felt like we had reached an understanding, but our relationship was still defined as a Saint and her junior. The Corporal was still just an acquaintance. Even Lady Dryades was more like an employer for my bodyguard business than anything else.
That was why, until this moment, I had never had a friend I could actually exchange words with.
Barometz-san grew from a single stalk, her lower body resembling a giant fruit covered in golden fluff. Her upper body looked like a beautiful human girl wearing a coat of that same golden fluff, and a pair of sheep horns curled from her head.
She was a plant monster, just like me.
To someone like me, who had spent so long rooted in the forest, she felt like a comrade trapped in the same circumstances. I couldn't look at her as a stranger.
And so, I gave my answer without hesitation.
"Let’s… be… friends. I’m… happy, too."
Hearing my reply, Barometz-san’s face lit up, and she raised both hands in a joyous hop.
"Hooray! Waaaaay!"
Cotton-like hands reached toward me, and my vine entwined with Barometz-san’s soft, white hand.
"This is the first time in my life I have ever had a friend, you see."
"Is it… really… that exciting?"
"Oh, yes! Until now, I lived in the human world, kept as a specimen that produced golden wool. I never had the opportunity to meet anyone who could be a friend."
She paused for a moment, looking at me expectantly. "Would you care to hear a story about a certain place in the Empire, my homeland?"
When I told her I would love to, she began to speak with a look of immense relief.
"Many years ago, a single sapling was brought to the Imperial Palace. It was a rare thing that produced golden wool—the last of its kind on the entire continent."
Golden wool. In other words, this was her own story.
"The sapling grew tall and strong. It was called Barometz of the Golden Fleece and was highly prized by the humans. They expected to harvest a fortune in golden wool every day. However, once the Barometz matured, it produced fluff instead of wool."
Barometz-san stroked the fluffy fruit of her lower body.
"Even so, I was still useful, so they treated me with great care. Because I was planted in the palace courtyard, the royal princesses and their ladies-in-waiting adored me. They raised me with such affection that I learned human speech, writing, and the common sense of their world."
That explained why her speech was a unique blend of high-society elegance and a lady-in-waiting’s formality. It gave her a very distinct personality.
"Once I learned to speak, I began to whisper secrets to the young ladies. I didn't realize back then that it was a mistake..." Barometz-san’s expression crumpled. "You see, a Barometz produces more than just golden fluff. It can also grow golden wool. It went unnoticed because I wore clothes made of fluff, but my hair and the fine down on my human half were actually made of pure golden wool. As soon as the ladies found out, they told the adults. After that, my life changed forever..."
"...What... happened?"
"Golden wool is body hair. That meant the humans began to shave every single inch of my body, every single day. I was born a plant, but because I was raised with such love by those girls, I believed in my heart that I was a human girl."
I squeezed her cotton hand firmly as she slumped in sadness. She met my eyes and forced herself to continue.
"I was stripped bare and my head was shaved bald every day. To the people in the palace, I wasn't a girl anymore. I was just a tool—a plant that grew gold."
A single tear rolled down her cheek. To be treated as a mere consumable after growing up thinking she was human... that must have been devastating.
"In this botanical garden, they don't do those things to me. They harvest my fluff, but when I told the Demon Race that I hated having my wool taken, not a single one of them tried to shear me. Even so, I’ve been all alone here. That’s why—"
She let out a small hiccup, fighting back a sob as she stared intensely into my eyes.
"That’s why I am truly, deeply happy to have a friend who is also a plant monster!"
Overcome with emotion, Barometz-san broke into a loud wail of joy. She shook my vine up and down with her cotton hand with incredible vigor.
"I realized just now that I was born into this world specifically to meet you, Alraune-san! This is the happiest moment of my entire life!"
Being told something that dramatic made me blush. I never expected her to be this happy. It was almost overwhelming. I had never had someone be so genuinely delighted just to be my friend—not in my High School Girl Era, my Saint Era, or my Alraune Era.
It made me feel like I was truly glad to be her friend. Perhaps being kidnapped and brought to this garden was worth it just to meet her.
"Now that I’ve had a good cry, I find I’ve grown quite hungry. I think I’ll have a little snack of the local greenery."
Barometz-san began plucking the grass around her with her cotton hands, munching away with a hearty appetite. She really did eat a lot.
—Chomp.
"Oh my, I’ve never tasted this before. It’s delicious! I think I could get used to this."
Wait a minute.
I just felt a sensation like something biting down on my vine...
"Oh dear, oh me. Whatever shall I do? I am so sorry, I’ve gone and done it."
Dangling from Barometz-san’s mouth was a very familiar-looking vine.
My vine!
"I’ve accidentally eaten your vine, Alraune-san. I am terribly sorry..."
Hieeeeeee!
She ate my vine?! She actually ate it?!
Is this what it feels like to be the prey?! Awa wa wa wa! I haven't felt the terror of being eaten since the day I died as a Saint! This is actually terrifying!
"I feel dreadful. As an apology, would you like to eat a piece of me in return?"
"Eh?"
"Oh? Is Alraune-san a carnivore rather than a herbivore?"
"No... I'm an... omnivore."
A friendship where we consume one another? What kind of horrific relationship is this?!
—Chomp.
While I was busy panicking, she bit another one of my vines! At this rate, I’m just going to end up as Barometz-san’s breakfast!
What do I do? I think I’ve made friends with someone truly dangerous.
Manager-san, help me!
Note: Since Barometz-san can freely manipulate her golden fluff, she can grow or extend it at will, so harvesting it isn't an issue. However, her wool is part of her "human" hair, and she finds having it taken particularly traumatic.
Next time: A presence of the Four Heavenly Kings.