I am Alraune, a plant monster girl.
Our journey as adventurers was over, and our group had finally returned to Alraune's Forest!
With our work done, we sat in a circle around a campfire at a clearing in the woods. I gathered the members of our party together, cleared my throat with a sharp "ahem," and offered a greeting.
"Tonight is my treat! Please, eat and drink as much as you like!"
Following my lead, everyone raised their cups with a boisterous cry of "Cheers!"
It served as the signal for the start of the banquet. This was Alraune's Forest, the place the Little Witch and I called home. Yes, we were finally back.
Having completed all our requests, we had made our way back to the Tower City. After finishing our report at the Adventurer Guild, we decided to hold a wrap-up party that very evening. This might be the last time this specific group would ever be together, so I wanted to mark the occasion with a proper celebration.
We could have gone to a tavern in the city, but with so many non-human members in our ranks, I didn't want us to stand out too much. On short notice, we moved the party to my forest, which led us to where we were now.
"Alraune! This nectar wine is delicious!"
The one currently tangling herself in my vines was Yasmin, the former demon maid. I think it was fair to say that Yasmin was the unsung hero of this mission. She and the others had investigated every nook and cranny for the ecological survey of the forest. Not only that, but she was the one who managed this group of eccentric individuals: Chara-o, the female swordsman Anna, myself, and Rufe the witch. Thanks to her, we had all returned safely.
What’s more, our numbers had actually increased since we first set out. One of those new additions spoke up.
"I have nothing but gratitude for you, Alraune-san. Papa is... Papa is truly moved to have found Yasmin alive... hic... Thank you for being such a good friend to my daughter... sob..."
The one currently turning into a sobbing mess over his nectar wine was Yasmin's Papa. The demon Nebiros, whom I had assumed was an enemy, turned out to be Yasmin's father. Because of that, he had somehow ended up following us all the way back here.
Still, I wondered what he planned to do now. Yasmin had said she wasn't going back to the Demon King's Castle, so would he return home alone? Surely he didn't intend to just live in the Tower City with her...
As Yasmin took over looking after her dead-drunk father, the Elf friend sitting next to me spoke up.
"So this is the wine made from Alraune nectar? It has a lovely flavor. To think your body produces something of such high quality... it’s truly interest—I mean, it’s adorable."
The one rubbing my vines while she spoke was Mercurée the Elf. Like Yasmin's Papa, Merk was one of the members who had joined us on the journey back. I had never dreamed I would be reunited with a friend from my days as Saint Iris, but the experience was as terrifying as it was nostalgic.
My heart pounded with the fear that my true identity might be exposed. I had returned to my adult form, after all. Aside from my hair color and the flower blooming atop my head, I looked exactly like Iris. I had been on my guard, expecting her to press me for answers, but Merk only said, "Oh, you look just like Iris. How cute."
I was happy for the praise, yet part of me felt frustrated. I didn't want to be found out, yet I felt a conflicting desire for Merk—my only real friend—to notice. Because of that internal struggle, I found myself curious about her next move.
"Mercurée-san, what do you plan to do now?"
"I think I’ll stay in the Tower City for a while. After all, I’ve found such an interesting research subject in you."
"Please... just keep the research within reason..."
I really hoped she wasn't planning on any dissections. Scientific curiosity was one thing, but I wanted her to give up on my seeds sooner rather than later.
I turned my gaze toward the other guests to change the subject. Chara-o was currently exchanging drinks with the female swordsman Anna. In the end, I still didn't really understand who he was. I suspected he might be the Flame Dragon Lord's younger brother, but with others around, I hadn't been able to ask for details.
Furthermore, it seemed Chara-o and Yasmin’s Papa weren't acquainted. They could have been lying, but I didn't get that impression from them. If they were telling the truth, then why didn't Yasmin's Papa—a member of the Demon King's Army—know the brother of a Flame Dragon Lord? If he really was the brother, he should have been a celebrity of sorts; his face should have been recognizable at the very least. And yet, neither knew the other.
The Demon King's Army was supposedly a massive organization, so it wasn't impossible for two people to have never met. Even so, the mystery of Chara-o’s identity weighed on my mind.
My gaze slid over to the boy sitting next to Anna. I was still surprised to find that Anna’s younger brother was Armin, the nectar-crazed boy. He had grown a bit since I last saw him. By the standards of my previous life, he looked like he had transitioned from an elementary schooler to a middle schooler. Boys his age grew with startling speed. I used to think he was the same height as the Little Witch, but now he was slightly taller than her.
I glanced over at Rufe, who was also roughly middle-school age. When our eyes met, she gave me a bright smile. The Little Witch had grown, too. Throughout this journey, her emotional maturity had been particularly evident. As if to prove it, she spoke to me with a soft voice.
"You know, I’m glad I went back to that village."
For Rufe, this had been a homecoming. In a way, it was one for me as well; that forest was essentially my birthplace as an Alraune. The trees had all been reduced to ash, but I was glad we had gone back. Our life together had started in those woods.
"Thanks to you, Alraune, I was able to say goodbye to my father and mother."
"Let’s... go back to Rufe's hometown again... together sometime."
"Yeah... But I wonder why that witch was in the village?"
We had encountered the Imperial Witch in that abandoned village. Her presence revealed the truth about the Imperial Army remnants—the other part of our request. They weren't just remnants; they were a separate unit newly dispatched by the Empire. I still didn't know what Crown Princess Malai had been doing there, nor did I understand why the Crown Prince had taken a witch as his wife.
But one thing was certain: the Empire was also looking for the "blond-haired man."
Surprisingly, we weren't the only ones searching for him. But "blond-haired man" was such a vague description. If that was all we had to go on, then both Chara-o and Armin fit the profile. To be wanted by both the Kingdom of Gardenia and the Glanz Empire... just who was this person?
Regardless, our greatest find was the knowledge that witches had infiltrated the highest levels of the Empire. Perhaps the Empire was already being controlled by them. Imperial Princess Freundliche had mentioned that her brothers—the heirs to the throne—had been assassinated. If witches were involved, that story took on a much darker tone.
Currently, the Empire was ruled by the Third Consort's faction. That consort was known as Haken-hime, and she was said to be bedridden with a grave illness. The timing matched perfectly with when I had planted the mistletoe on the Witch Queen.
If that was the case, I couldn't help but wonder.
"I’m curious about the Empire’s Haken-hime," I murmured.
It was a total coincidence that I spoke the name aloud. However, the people gathered here had lived unusual lives. It wasn't so strange that someone happened to have an answer.
Armin reacted immediately, offering a startling piece of information.
"That Haken-hime is the Third Consort, right? She’s not even in the Empire anymore."
He said it casually, as if he were simply a well-informed observer. I was floored. This came from a boy I had treated as nothing more than a child.
"How... how do you know that, Armin!?"
"I went to play at the Imperial Palace with my grandpa, and I heard about it then. Oh, I even met Saint Zelma-sama there."
Zelma... Had Armin really crossed paths with that shitty junior who murdered me?
During the invasion of the Tower City, a peace agreement had been brokered between Gardenia and the Empire. I had heard rumors that Zelma would be staying in the Empire for a time to treat a sick patient. Armin confirmed that the patient was Haken-hime.
"It sounds like Saint Zelma tried to treat her, but she couldn't cure her at all. So the Emperor asked my grandpa to take Haken-hime to the Kingdom of Myrte Holy Light for treatment. They said something about needing to break a curse."
My mistletoe couldn't be cured with recovery magic, nor could it be forcibly removed. "Curse" was an accurate enough description. In that case, Haken-hime's true identity was almost certainly the Witch Queen.
It made sense. The Witch Queen had been in league with Zelma; I remembered her mentioning that she supplied Zelma with love potions. Perhaps Zelma was trying to "treat" her while fully aware of who she actually was. If they were collaborators, it was a logical move.
I reached out with my senses, searching for the mistletoe.
Yes, I could still feel it. It was still growing on the Witch Queen. However, she was a vast distance away—farther than the royal capital of Gardenia. If she was across the sea in Myrte Holy Light, the distance made sense.
But something felt wrong. The power of the mistletoe seemed to be weakening. Was it being dispelled? I had to check.
Intending to give her a warning, I tried to trigger the mistletoe remotely, attempting to make the flower bloom on her face.
...Wait, nothing happened!?
Why? Was I being blocked?
It felt as though my signal was being severed. It might have been the sheer distance, but it felt like more than that. My spirit power was being obstructed by something—likely a barrier.
Just like the Kingdom of Gardenia, the Holy Capital of Myrte Holy Light was protected by a Holy Magic Barrier (Dämonenwand). Inside that field, it wasn't surprising that my remote influence was cut off.
However, one question remained. As a witch, the Witch Queen shouldn't have been able to cross the Dämonenwand. Touching it should have caused her to burst into flames instantly. Why would she head to the Holy Capital for treatment? Did she have some secret method for bypassing the barrier?
I could probably find out more about the barrier if I went to the Grand Cathedral in the royal capital. I’d have to ask Nina for help with that later.
In any case, I had a new list of things to investigate: the vanished Witch Queen, the Kingdom of Myrte Holy Light, and the Dämonenwand. Understanding the barrier was essential if I ever wanted to infiltrate the capital as a monster, so I needed to start planning now.
But my biggest concern was my homeland, the Kingdom of Gardenia. If the Glanz Empire was being dismantled from within by witches, Gardenia was likely facing a similar threat. The demons had spent centuries slowly destroying human nations. If they were subverting them from the inside, the danger was immense.
In fact, I had been betrayed and killed by my own allies. If that had been the result of enemy subversion, everything finally made sense.
I realized then that this was no time for a leisurely life. Until now, I thought my death was just a messy end to a love triangle—that my shitty junior Zelma had conspired with the Hero to get rid of a romantic rival.
But what if there was a deeper reason? What if the demons had eliminated me, Saint Iris, as the first step in their invasion?
I couldn't just sit here! No matter how peacefully I lived in this forest, I would never be at ease if my homeland was destroyed. The Tower City would be caught in the fallout, and even this forest wouldn't be safe for long. It might have been my imagination, but it felt as though my country was already on the verge of collapse.
If that happened, my family from my time as Iris, my fellow saints at the Grand Cathedral, and every citizen of the kingdom would be at risk. I thought back to Rufe's ruined village, swallowed by flames. If that sight were to be repeated across all of Gardenia...
I could never go back to Japan, the home of my previous life as Ayame Komurasaki. Even if I could find a way, returning as an Alraune would be a disaster. But my home in this world, the Kingdom of Gardenia, was still there. I could still go back. Even as a monster, I could reach the royal capital or the Duke's territory if I had to!
I couldn't just stand by and watch my homeland burn. Besides, it seemed I had to settle these scores if I ever wanted to live a quiet plant life in this forest.
I made my decision. I would stop being a mere bystander. I would protect my homeland.
And in doing so, I would protect this forest—my current home.
Next time: The Gathering Migrants.