"Good day, Lady Witch Queen.
Thank you ever so much for the many 'gifts' of death you have sent me over the years.
In return, allow me to host a welcoming ceremony in your honor. And what is a ceremony without a celebratory salute?
I have a very special gift right here, prepared just for you. As a token of my gratitude for having me—for having Iris—killed, I shall celebrate in the grandest fashion.
Please, do enjoy yourself.
──And with that, good day."
I detonated the fruit of the Sandbox Trees.
In an instant, a deafening roar tore through the forest. Hundreds of seed bombs burst simultaneously, their casings shattering with explosive force. No matter how many mirages she conjured, there was nowhere left to hide.
"Agyaaaah!"
The Witch Queen’s scream pierced the air. A moment later, I heard a heavy thud as something struck the earth. Caught in the direct blast of the botanical explosives, the Witch Queen had plummeted from the sky.
"My eye! Aaaagh! My eyeeeee!!"
She was clawing desperately at her right eye, blood seeping through her fingers. It appeared a seed bomb had made a direct hit.
"This time, it seems you are the real one, not an illusion."
As proof, her body was riddled with embedded seeds, and crimson blood stained her clothes. When the fruit of a Sandbox Tree explodes, the seeds fly at speeds exceeding two hundred kilometers per hour. There was no escaping an attack known as the "Monkey’s Pistol."
"W-What was that... Did a pumpkin just explode?"
"No. Those were the seeds of a plant called the Sandbox Tree."
Furthermore, the plant was lethal. Not only were the seeds dangerous projectiles, but the sap was toxic—it had once been used to coat poison arrows. Those venomous rounds were already beginning to ravage her system.
"It hurts! What is this? It hurts so muuuuuuch!!"
The Witch Queen abandoned all dignity, weeping in pure agony. It seemed she lacked the ability to use Recovery Magic like a Saint. I had worried that a witch might possess some form of natural regeneration and had packed the seeds with extra surprises, but my fears seemed to have been unfounded.
"To think... that I, Witch Queen Kirke, would be subjected to such violence by the Crimson Flower Princess..."
So, the Witch Queen’s name was Kirke. Even in the long, recorded history of the Kingdom, her name had never appeared. I might have just become the first Saint to learn the true identity of the leader of the witches.
"Nyahaha... Don’t think you’ll get away with this!"
Witch Queen Kirke glared at me with her remaining left eye. I could see the fatal nature of her wounds; she was barely holding back the tide of intense pain.
But really, the pain I had suffered was nothing like this.
The feeling of being betrayed by my fiancé. Having my hands and feet hacked off by the junior I had mentored. Being dragged across the dirt to be swallowed whole by a monster, only to feel my entire body being dissolved by digestive juices.
Could she even begin to understand?
The pain in my heart would likely never heal. Not only had my dignity as a Saint been stripped away, but my life as a human had been stolen as well. I had been reborn as a plant that couldn't even move freely, forced into a daily struggle for survival where death was always a breath away. No one but me could ever truly understand that feeling.
The Witch Queen was one of the masterminds behind the death of Iris. For that alone, I would never forgive her.
"Those seeds are about to germinate. I would be careful if I were you."
As soon as I spoke, the seeds embedded in her flesh began to sprout.
"W-What is this?! Plants are... growing out of my body!?"
The Witch Queen’s voice trembled. Whether from pain or sheer terror, tears began to stream down her face.
"No... stop it... what is this..."
Despite her futile resistance, the plants continued to encroach upon her body. Vines stretched out like centipedes, winding around her limbs to bind her fast. From her ruined right eye, a lush, rounded thicket began to bloom.
"That is Mistletoe."
Mistletoe is a semi-parasitic plant that typically takes root in the branches of deciduous trees. It lives by driving its roots deep into its host to suck out nutrients. However, it also performs its own photosynthesis. Therefore, as long as it used the Witch Queen’s body as a host, it would never wither.
"I-I can’t pull it off!"
"It is useless."
She tried desperately to tear the Mistletoe away, but it had burrowed too deep into her flesh. Even if she cut it with a knife, as long as the roots remained, it would regenerate infinitely. Moreover, the roots invading her eye socket had likely already reached her brain. The moment those roots were forcibly removed, her life would end as well.
I wondered if she understood now, even a little, what it felt like to be forced to live as one with a plant.
"What is this grass... and it’s draining my magic!?"
Good eye, Lady Witch Queen. That Mistletoe was my masterpiece. I had modified the Dryades' Spirit Magic, 'Energy Drain,' to create a plant capable of absorbing an unlimited amount of mana. I had intended to use it to induce mana exhaustion if she tried to use Recovery Magic, but she wasn't quite the transcendental being I had feared.
"No... I can't use my magic............"
The Witch Queen collapsed onto her side with a dull thud. Her mana had hit rock bottom. Between the massive spells she had used to manipulate the weather and the Mistletoe’s constant draining, she was completely depleted.
Small berries began to drop from the thicket in her right eye. Having matured on a diet of pure mana, the Mistletoe bore fruit, which then fell to the earth, allowing the plant to cycle its absorption once more. A perfect perpetual motion machine.
I had spent a considerable amount of energy creating this special Mistletoe, but she was a troublesome opponent. She was my sworn enemy. Seeing her in this pathetic state did bring me a small amount of satisfaction.
It would be easy to kill her here. A part of me truly wanted to, but despite my current form, I was still a Former Saint. I hadn't entirely discarded my mercy. Besides, if I killed her now, I would never uncover the secrets she was still hiding. As someone who had been betrayed and murdered by her own allies, there were things I still needed to know.
I had seen her brought low, and that was enough for now. Looking toward the future, I made the choice that would lead to the truth.
"Tell me the truth about why Iris was killed. If you do, I will let you live."
At this moment, I held her life in the palm of my hand. I hadn't even triggered all the seeds I had planted in her yet.
"...Crimson Flower Princess-chan, you really are obsessed with the death of Saint Iris, aren't you?"
"Is that a problem?"
"Nyahaha, not at all. Everyone is curious about the circumstances of their birth."
She answered cryptically. Come to think of it, as Rufe had demonstrated, the Witch Queen could create more witches by embedding seals into humans. I wondered how she, the origin of them all, had become a witch herself.
"I give up, I give up. I'll tell you, so please spare me, nya~"
"I won't forgive you, but I will refrain from turning you into compost."
"Y-You're terrifying, Crimson Flower Princess-chan..."
The Witch Queen watched me with genuine fear. If she feared me enough, perhaps she would stop meddling in my affairs. Let her fear me, then.
"Like I said before, Saint Iris was far too strong. She was an anomaly on the same level as First Saint Nemea."
I locked eyes with Kirke at the mention of that familiar name. The way she spoke suggested she had personal experience with the First Saint.
"You knew the First Saint?"
"That woman was my arch-nemesis. I tried to kill her countless times, but I never could quite manage it~"
──First Saint Nemea. She was the queen who founded the Kingdom of Gardenia and my distant ancestor. Nine hundred years ago, she had awakened as a Saint and expanded her power by gathering the people under her banner. Because of her legacy, the Kingdom had produced many Saints throughout its history. I had been one of them.
"I decided to get rid of Saint Iris before her powers could truly awaken like Nemea's. But don't hate me for it, okay? It wasn't just my idea."
The ones who had actually done the deed were the Hero and that Shitty Junior Apprentice Saint. I understood why the Witch Queen had targeted Iris now. I decided to press her on one more detail.
"When Iris died, there was another Saint present."
"............How do you know that?"
The Witch Queen’s playful tone vanished, replaced by a look of genuine shock. She was visibly shaken. She had admitted to seeing Iris die, but she hadn't mentioned the Hero or the Apprentice Saint being there. My accuracy had stunned her.
"I can sense the presence of those who possess the power of a Saint."
"I suppose if you've consumed Iris, that might be possible..."
She nodded, seemingly satisfied with that explanation. She clearly hadn't realized that I was Iris. I suppose the idea was too absurd to even consider.
"You said you hated Saints. If that is the case, why didn't you kill the other one?"
The Shitty Junior was nowhere near my level, but it was obvious she would be the one to succeed me. She was talented enough by historical standards. Even with the Hero there, the Witch Queen could have taken her down if she wanted to. I wanted to know why she had been spared.
"That Apprentice Saint wasn't a threat compared to Iris. That’s all there was to it~"
She didn't appear to be lying. However, she was an ancient being with centuries of experience; she could easily be a master of deception. Yet, she had gasped when I mentioned the other Saint. There was definitely more to the story.
"Is that really the only reason?"
Suppose the Witch Queen had transformed into Iris and staged a scene where she defected to the Demon King’s Army. If the Hero and that girl had seen it and believed I was a traitor, the logical move would have been to capture me and bring me back to the Royal Capital for trial.
Instead, the Shitty Junior had killed me on the spot. Even if she had been plotting my death for a long time, I couldn't believe the Hero would have gone along with it so easily. He was a prince. He was my childhood friend and my fiancé. He had told me he loved me.
And yet, he hadn't hesitated to kill me.
"Was the Apprentice Saint your accomplice?"
The Witch Queen had mentioned making aphrodisiacs from Alraunes. She called them aphrodisiacs, but I suspected they were actually love potions.
"Kirke-san... you gave a love potion to a human, didn't you?"
The Witch Queen had provided a love potion to that Shitty Junior. By dosing the Hero, she had turned him into her puppet. That would explain why he simply stood by and watched while that girl carved me to pieces.
"You're sharp. Yes, I've handed out love potions to humans before. It's quite possible one of them was an Apprentice Saint~"
There it was. The Witch Queen and that Shitty Junior were in league with each other. I didn't know who had approached whom, but they were definitely in cahoots.
"Thank you for the information."
────Endure it, Iris.
I fought back the urge to cry, maintaining my stoic composure. The Witch Queen and the Shitty Junior believed they had used a potion to steal the Hero's heart, but the reality was far grimmer.
The Hero was not a normal human. I knew that because I had been there the moment he awakened. He had been granted the power of the Goddess. Because of that, he possessed a passive ability to heal his wounds automatically—a form of Light Recovery Magic that triggered without his conscious effort.
Consequently, both poisons and drugs were completely ineffective against him. His body neutralized them instantly. This was his ultimate trump card and a state secret of the highest order. Not even the other members of the Subjugation Party knew. I had spent years covering for him, telling everyone I was the one healing his wounds so the secret wouldn't get out.
A love potion would never have worked on him.
Which meant that the Hero had wanted me dead of his own free will.
I really was just... discarded............
Even after everything, because he had been my fiancé, I had continued to think of him as "Lord Hero." We had been together for over ten years; we were childhood friends. Somewhere in the back of my mind, a tiny, pathetic part of me had hoped he was just being manipulated.
Despite being abandoned, betrayed, and murdered, I was still so weak.
But no more. I would never call him by that respectful title again. The Hero had thrown me away and chosen that Shitty Junior. Together, they had conspired to eliminate me when I became an obstacle.
I won't forgive them. Neither of them will get off easy. It's time for me to pay them back for their "kindness." Especially that Shitty Junior who stole my fiancé. She was the root of all of this.
──Zelma.
I whispered the name of my junior in my heart, savoring the bitter taste of it.
Mistletoe (Yadorigi): Santalaceae. Found throughout Japan from Hokkaido to Kyushu. If you look up at a tree, you might just see some parasitizing the branches. Semi-parasitic plants are those that perform their own photosynthesis while also drawing nutrients from a host.
Next time: The Witch Queen and the aftermath.