The following continues from the perspective of the newbie apprentice saint.
My name was Nina.
I served as a newbie apprentice saint in Tower City.
Several days had passed since the Lord's dinner party.
Though the Lord had lost all memory of the preceding ten days or so, he seemed to have finally come to his senses, as if waking from a long dream.
Consequently, the Dryades Subjugation Plan was scrapped with a single word from him.
The reason, apparently, was that his late father had taught him since childhood that the Dryades of the East Forest were guardian spirits who protected the city, and that he must maintain a good relationship with them.
"I can't believe I gave the order to hunt the Dryades of the East Forest," the Lord had said. "It’s as if I were being manipulated by someone."
I was certain that the blue flower that had emerged from his body was the cause.
Furthermore, I didn't think for a second that it was a coincidence that the seed attached to the flower's roots was identical to the one found in my soup.
Between that and Alraune’s disappearance, it was clear that something sinister was unfolding in this city.
I gazed out the church window.
Perhaps it was just the rain, but a heavy gloom had settled over my heart.
As I stood there lost in thought, a Sister—a fellow Saint Nectar enthusiast—approached me.
She told me the Priest was asking for me.
Since I had the chance, I showed her the wooden tube I carried. "I still have some Saint Nectar left; would you like some?" I asked.
I offered it because I remembered her lamenting just the other day that her own stockpile had run out.
"Saint Nectar? I don't know what you're talking about, but I don't want any."
The Sister pulled away from me as she answered.
I wondered if she had grown tired of the taste. For me, however, once I’d experienced that flavor, never drinking it again simply wasn't an option.
When I entered the Priest's room, my eyes were immediately drawn to a strange, unfamiliar flower sitting on his desk.
"Sit," he commanded, so I took a seat on the wooden settee right beside him.
"Nina, what are your thoughts on the Dryades subjugation?"
"I think it’s for the best that the plan was canceled," I replied.
I wondered if the Priest had summoned me just to ask that one question.
"You are soft, Nina. Monsters are terrifying creatures. That naive way of thinking will lead to your downfall."
A few years ago, the Priest had gone missing in Dryades' Forest.
I had heard that he managed to survive for a week by fighting off monsters before finally making his way back to the city. Because of that ordeal, he seemed to have a particularly harsh outlook on monsters.
"Humanity is foolish. I suppose they never truly understand until they experience it firsthand. Like this."
"Eek!?"
Suddenly, branch-like tentacles erupted from the settee.
In the blink of an eye, the wooden limbs had me pinned.
"Nina, you truly surprised me. I was pleased when such a promising apprentice saint was assigned to this city, but I never imagined you were this capable."
"Priest, what... what is the meaning of this?"
"This is all your fault, Nina. Not only did you fail to swallow the seed at the banquet, but you even removed the Forget-me-not I had planted within the Lord."
I had no idea what he was talking about.
I was terrified. He felt like a completely different person.
"I knew the Forget-me-not was weak against a Saint’s light magic, but I assumed the only ones with enough power to affect it were the Golden Birdman or the Saint of Lamplight in the Royal Capital. I had no idea you were so talented."
My body felt leaden.
I tried to channel my light magic, but for the first time in my life, it refused to activate.
"That flower over there is an Anti-Saint Magic Flower. If you inhale its pollen, it inhibits your ability to use light magic."
"P-Priest... W-what is... that woman's face...?"
"This is my true form. A human body is nothing more than a host, after all."
To my horror, a woman's face emerged from within the Priest's vestments.
She was beautiful, with hair made of tangled blue vines.
As I trembled, the woman began to speak.
"This human died a long, long time ago. He got lost in the forest and was remodeled by Lady Vergissmeinnicht into a living plant doll."
"Who... who are you?"
"I am one of the Three Spirit Beasts, a direct subordinate of the Four Heavenly Kings."
I couldn't believe the Priest had been killed by the Demon King's Army.
Yet, seeing the branches sprouting from his fingers, I couldn't deny the reality before me. This was no longer a human being.
One of the branches forced my mouth open.
The woman’s face extended until it was inches from mine.
When she opened her mouth, I saw a seed fruiting at the tip of her tongue—the exact same seed that had been in my soup.
Her tongue transformed into a wooden branch and grew with impossible speed.
The branch shoved its way down my throat.
I let out a forced gulp as the seed was driven deep into my gullet.
"Now the apprentice saint is a member of the Demon King's Army as well. Since the plan is nearing its climax, I suppose I should forcibly plant a seed in the Lord next."
My body convulsed as it tried to reject the foreign object.
But then, I felt something crawl out of the seed deep in my throat.
It felt as if roots were spreading throughout my entire being.
Finally, I understood the true nature of the flowers and the seeds. I understood instinctively that once that blue flower bloomed, my mind would be enslaved.
I was finished.
"Resistance is futile. Any living thing planted with a Forget-me-not becomes a mindless puppet."
—Wait, something felt wrong.
My consciousness was still there.
The Priest had said that light magic was the Forget-me-not's weakness. He must have meant it was the weakness of this blue flower.
Perhaps the remaining aura of light magic within my body was inhibiting the bloom.
Because of that, my mind hadn't been completely dominated yet.
"Now then, Nina. Your first task is to make the Lord swallow this seed. He won't suspect a thing coming from an apprentice saint like you."
The Priest pressed a seed into my hand.
"Understood," I replied.
What was happening? Even though I was screaming inside, my mouth and body were moving of their own accord.
"...Oh, hurry along now, Nina. Lady Vergissmeinnicht has issued the order to begin the operation. You won't be 'yourself' for much longer, so finish your work before you become useless as a saint."
I left the church and began running toward the Lord’s manor.
I noticed some of the townspeople standing still in the street, staring blankly up at the sky.
The city felt wrong.
As I passed the honey shop, I saw a large crowd gathered. It seemed the shop had been raided again.
The residents had turned into a mob, hungrily devouring nectar.
In the chaos, I collided with one of the rioters and fell.
The person didn't even acknowledge me, charging straight into the shop instead.
The situation was spiraling out of control.
Then, my nose picked up a scent.
—The sweet smell of nectar.
The impact of the fall had knocked the wooden tube of Saint Nectar from my clothes. The lid had jarred open, and the contents were leaking out.
The moment I saw that Saint Nectar, imbued with the aura of light from Saint Iris, my arm moved.
I grabbed the tube and drained every last drop.
Regardless of the seed’s control, my body had reacted instinctively. Even if it was just a habit from my daily routine, my body knew what it needed.
Immediately, I felt a violent sensation in my throat.
My body arched back, and I vomited.
A half-bloomed blue flower and its seed fell to the ground with a wet thud.
"...I can move?"
I was free.
I had broken away from the Priest’s control.
"Was that... thanks to Lady Iris?"
The Saint Nectar carried Lady Iris’s aura of light magic. Drinking it had withered the blue flower and purged it from my system.
"But what do I do now?"
Tower City was being controlled from the shadows by the Demon King's Army. As an apprentice saint, I had to do something!
"Kyaaaaaa!"
A scream pierced the air. Then another, and another.
Shouts and the sound of destruction echoed from every corner of the city.
I looked around and saw a troll standing in the middle of the road.
Why were there trolls in the heart of the city?
Before I could even process the thought, more trolls began to appear. They poured out from the side streets and even from inside the houses.
A troll's weakness was fire.
But in this downpour, any flame would be extinguished instantly.
The only person in this city who could use their other weakness, light magic, was me.
But there was no way I could defeat ten or more trolls all by myself!
"Lady Nina!"
A Sister came running toward me from behind. It was the one who had summoned me to the Priest's room.
Suddenly, her body began to swell and bloomed with unnatural growth.
I nearly screamed, instinctively clamping my hands over my mouth.
I had seen enough unbelievable things today to last a lifetime. I thought nothing could possibly surprise me anymore.
But reality was far more heartless than I could have imagined.
The Sister had transformed into a troll.
As I stood there, speechless with horror, the troll raised an arm as thick as a tree trunk.
I had to run!
But my legs wouldn't move. My body was free, but I was paralyzed by a terror so deep that I couldn't find the strength to flee.
The troll's hand clamped around me and lifted me into the air.
It opened its mouth wide, preparing to toss me inside.
In that moment, I knew.
The troll was going to eat me alive.
The story grew more than expected, so this became the middle part. The next part will definitely be the conclusion.
Next time: Newbie Apprentice Saint's Tower City Disturbance Chronicle - Latter Part.