One of Drink Bar’s adventurer companions fell to a troll’s club.
I immediately sent the briars I had spread underground surging to the surface, weaving a wall to shield the humans from the trolls. I went ahead and built a wall on the Dryades sisters' side as well. It would likely be broken soon, but it should hold for a little while.
Nina rushed to the fallen adventurer's side, presumably to cast recovery magic.
My brief moment of relief was cut short when the Little Witch shouted, "Alraune, the fairies are coming!"
Fairies began to dive over the briar wall. Since they were being controlled by the blue flowers, they were enemies too.
Kiri, who had been sitting flat on the ground, took off vigorously. "Leave the fairies to me!" she cried.
A dogfight between the fairies broke out in the sky. No matter how special Kiri was among her kind, she was facing a twenty-to-one disadvantage. This was going to be difficult.
Of course, things were just as dire on the ground with the Dryades sisters and their three hundred trolls. With only four adventurers and Nina, overcoming such a horde seemed impossible. I recalled them mentioning they were the strongest team in the Tower City, but the enemy’s numbers were simply overwhelming.
If only I could break the brainwashing on the trolls and the fairies. If I could manage that, only the Dryades would remain, and we might stand a chance.
Glancing at the humans, I saw the blue-armored adventurer raise his voice. "Wasserwurm Harnisch!"
His water magic clad him in a suit of armor shaped like a water dragon. Come to think of it, that water magic had been delicious. It was like an all-you-can-drink water service... That was it! Drink Bar-san was right there!
I had a wonderful idea. I just needed to adapt what I had done during our last encounter.
"Drink Bar, san!"
No response.
"Hurry, look, this way—! Drink Bar, san!!"
He still didn't react. Ugh, I didn't know Drink Bar-san’s real name. But surely he would understand this.
"Human, san, who is, using, Water Magic!"
"Eh? Are you talking to me!?"
Yes, I had been saying it for a while now! I was talking about you!
"Drink Bar, san, please, attack, me, with, Water Magic."
"Is 'Drink Bar' perhaps me? If you’ve forgotten my name, I suppose it can’t be helped, but it's—"
"The, briar wall, is, about to, break. So, hurry!"
"I understand!" Drink Bar-san shouted, launching his water magic at me.
Ah, it felt wonderful. The water was delicious. With Drink Bar-san’s endless supply and the moisture-rich soil from Dora-ko's rain-making magic, I could store water instantly. I generated the Water Storage Sac within my Kangaroo Pocket and filled it to the absolute limit.
With this much moisture, it should be enough.
I released the water within my body as a massive cloud of vapor through the stomata on my leaves. I was performing transpiration.
When I had fought Drink Bar-san previously, I had nearly suffered from root rot, which was why I’d used transpiration back then. At that time, I had mixed in the lachrymatory substance of an onion, but this time I added a different twist.
A thick mist spread out, with me at its center.
As visibility vanished, I heard Big Sister Dryades's voice. "Did the Princess produce this mist?"
"This mist... it has a sweet scent," Drink Bar-san remarked, sounding puzzled.
Immediately after, Nina’s voice rang out in a joy-filled scream.
"This taste... it’s Saint Nectar!!"
Exactly. When I transpired, I had mixed a generous amount of my nectar into the escaping moisture. Though it was slightly diluted, I had kept the concentration high enough to remain intensely sweet.
The Nectar Mist generated by the transpiration swept over the troll horde. In an instant, the area was filled with their frantic screams. It seemed they had inhaled it.
The attack didn't just spread horizontally. The fairies in the sky were also thrown into chaos by the Nectar Mist. They began falling from the sky one after another, vomiting blue flowers from their mouths.
It worked.
As the Nectar Mist cleared, about three hundred humans lay on the ground alongside the gory remains of the trolls. Every human who had undergone trollification had been purified by my nectar and restored to their original forms.
We did it!
Left standing alone in their place was the Priest Dryades, still fused with a human form.
"Just what on earth happened...?" he stammered, unable to process the scene.
"This is quite impressive. The Princess always finds a way to surprise me."
The briar wall was suddenly torn down by vines. Trampling over the thorns, the land tortoise approached, carrying Vergissmeinnicht—Big Sister Dryades.
"To think my brainwashing flowers could be countered like this... I thought the Saint’s Light Magic was the only weakness, but I wonder just what is in the Princess's nectar."
Big Sister Dryades smiled, slowly clapping her hands.
"Could it be that the Princess's nectar has the same properties as the Saint's Light Magic?"
"If, you drink, it, you, might, find out. Would, you, like to, have, tea, with nectar, together?"
"I'm afraid I must decline the Princess's invitation. I prefer my water without impurities."
It seemed the Nectar Mist hadn't affected her. I wasn't sure if she had blocked it with spirit magic or if it simply had no effect, which was worrying. It hadn't worked on Lady Younger Sister Dryades either; she was still glaring at me with hostile eyes, her brainwashing clearly intact.
"The trolls, are, wiped out. The, situation, is, reversed, you know?"
"Do you really think so? It doesn't matter how many trolls or fairies are gone. As long as there are two Dryades here, that's a trivial loss."
She might have been right. I didn't truly know the extent of a Dryades's power. Even during my Saint era, I had never fought one. However, I could imagine they were strong enough that a few hundred trolls wouldn't even compare.
If I could only bring Lady Younger Sister Dryades back to our side, the tide would truly turn.
"How, can I, release, Lady, Younger Sister, Dryades?"
Fairy Kiri answered my question.
"Lady Dryades's true body is the ancient tree in the sanctuary! If you pour Alraune's nectar on the blue flowers parasitizing the ancient tree, she might return to normal!"
That was right—as a spirit, a Dryades’s main body was a tree. Since she couldn't move far from it, Big Sister Dryades had transplanted her tree onto the back of a land tortoise to achieve mobility.
"Kiri, I, will give, you, this."
I spat out a small Nectar Ball from the back of my throat and handed it to Kiri with a vine.
"If, you have, this, Nectar Ball, I, think, you, can, wither, the, blue flowers."
"Thank you, Alraune-sama! Leave it to me!"
Clutching the Nectar Ball, Kiri soared high into the sky.
"Everyone! Support Alraune-sama in my place!" she called out to her companions.
The fairies who had been freed from the blue flowers had regained their senses. Even if they were small, having more allies was heartening.
The remaining problem was how to get Kiri safely into the sanctuary. I didn't expect Big Sister Dryades to let her pass. Sure enough, after observing us for a moment, she spoke.
"Now then, is the strategy meeting finished?"
"Thanks, to, you."
"I see. I hate to spoil the mood, but I'm a cautious woman. Just in case, I've prepared another move."
Big Sister Dryades reached into the tree growing from the tortoise’s shell and pulled out a small, round, metallic object.
"Alraune Princess, do you recognize this?"
I did. I had seen it at the Hero's grave in the sanctuary, and the sight of it had been so shocking that I could never forget it.
The battered, ancient helmet was no mere piece of armor. It was the helmet of the Hero—the man Big Sister Dryades had killed fifty years ago.