This is the Little Witch’s POV.
My name is Rufe.
Lately, I’ve been quite busy, between my lessons with Priest Pandia and helping with the preparations for Alraune’s party.
In the midst of all that, right after Alraune’s party ended, something very strange happened.
"Wait... where am I?"
To be honest, I’ve been losing blocks of time lately.
The first time it happened was the day after the party in the forest. I had gone to the neighboring farmer's place, as I always did, to exchange some vegetables for eggs. Since the farmer and his wife had attended Alraune’s party, they kept thanking me, telling me it was the best party ever.
I clearly remember receiving a few more eggs than usual because of that.
After leaving the farm, I’d planned to head straight into the city to shop, but since I had so many eggs, I decided to drop them off at the forest first. I figured I would head back to the forest, eat lunch with Alraune, and then go to the city.
That was the plan, at least. But by the time I realized where I was, evening had already fallen.
It was as if my internal clock had simply skipped ahead. The eggs that were supposed to be in my basket had vanished without a trace.
"Wait... why?"
I looked up at the sky to see the sun setting. Just a moment ago, it hadn't even been noon yet.
What had I been doing all this time? I couldn't remember a thing.
"Was my visit to the farmer just a dream...?"
Confused, I flew back to the farm. However, the farmer's greeting quickly proved that it hadn't been a dream at all.
"Oh, Rufe-chan! Did you forget something?"
So, I really had gone to get eggs that morning.
But in that case, where did the eggs go? And what was I doing from morning until evening?
"Maybe I just fell asleep?" I wondered.
I had been exhausted from the party preparations over the last few days. I’d stayed up late the night before cleaning, so I had been incredibly sleepy. Perhaps I had dozed off in the forest and some animal had made off with the eggs.
It was a clumsy mistake, and it was the first time anything like that had ever happened to me.
When I finally returned to the forest, I lied to Alraune and told her I’d dropped the eggs and broken them. She forgave me immediately, simply saying, "It's okay."
We spent the evening preparing dinner with the vegetables Alraune had grown. As I sipped my vegetable soup, I couldn't help but think that there might have been eggs in it if I hadn't lost them. Alraune was younger than me, after all; she was still in her growing phase. As her older sister, I wanted her to have nutritious food.
I told myself I would bring the eggs home properly the next day.
And I did. The following day, I managed to get the eggs back to the forest without incident. I didn't doze off even once.
I felt quite proud of myself. I vowed never to make such a blunder again—never to fall asleep so deeply that I lost my memory. After all, I was the big sister! It would be embarrassing if a full-fledged older sister couldn't even run a simple errand.
I promised myself I’d keep doing my best for Alraune.
But the very next day, the mystery deepened.
"Wait... where am I?"
When I came to, I was in an unfamiliar place. No—looking closer, I realized I did recognize it. I was in a back alley in Tower City.
But why was I in the city? I should have been back in the forest. I remembered intending to go to the city, but the last thing I recalled was being in the middle of the woods.
Once again, time had moved forward without me.
"Did I doze off again?"
If I had, it was strange that I had moved to a different location. But the fact remained that I had traveled from the forest to the city. Perhaps I had flown all the way here while fast asleep.
"What is this...? I feel... so tired..."
I’d felt a little tired two days ago when I supposedly dozed off, but today was different. It didn't even compare. My entire body felt like my muscles and joints were screaming in pain. Even my mana was nearly depleted.
"Was I... doing something?"
If I had been, it would explain why I was exhausted enough to lose my memory. I had been very busy lately. If I had been flying half-asleep all the way from the forest to the city, the memory loss and the fatigue made sense.
At the same time, I realized just how dangerous this was. Flying while asleep was not a good situation to be in.
"I need to get back to the forest."
I wanted to see Alraune. If I was with her, I knew things would work out. That was how we had lived until now, after all. Still, I decided to keep this a secret for the time being. I didn't want to worry her, and I figured I was probably just a bit overworked.
When I finally got back, Alraune was holding a plant I’d never seen before.
"I'm back, Alraune. What is that?"
Alraune’s vines were coiled around a mysterious plant. It had something resembling a face, making it look like a plant monster. I had no idea what it could be.
"Rufe, run!" Alraune shouted.
"ONGYAAAAAANNNNN!!!"
The noise was deafening. A sharp pain stabbed deep into my ears.
Suddenly, my consciousness faded—
Thud.
Lately, I’ve been fainting a lot.
The strange memory loss from before had stopped, but in its place, I was getting knocked unconscious more often. The cause was that "thing."
Alraune had given birth to another child. This time, however, it wasn't a Child Alraune. It was a bizarre root with a face. After a lot of explanation, I eventually understood that it was Alraune’s child, but also not her child.
Still, there was no denying it had come from her. That meant this Mandrake was my niece.
"If that thing is my niece, what does that make me?" I wondered.
What was I to her? If I was her mother's older sister, did that make me a "Great Big Sister"? I wasn't quite sure. I’d have to ask Kiri later.
Regardless, the Mandrake became the newest member of our forest family.
To my annoyance, Alraune spent so much time fussing over it that we had much less time together. Whenever the Mandrake pulled itself out of its bucket of soil, it would start its usual screaming. When it did, Kiri and I would faint instantly.
The only ones immune to the Mandrake's cry were Alraune and Treant, likely because they were also plants. Naturally, this meant Alraune was the one who ended up taking care of it most of the time.
I didn't like that one bit.
But eventually, the chance for me to look after the Mandrake arrived. It was a rainy night, and the Mandrake had been moved into the Wood House where I slept to keep it out of the weather.
Before going to bed, I checked on it.
"You don't look anything like Alraune, but I guess you really were born from her."
Thinking about it that way made the annoying little thing seem almost cute. If its appearance ever changed to look like Alraune, the way the Child Alraunes did, maybe I really could think of it as a true niece.
"Make sure you grow up to be like Alraune, okay?"
As I spoke, I noticed that the color of the flower on the Mandrake's head had changed. When it had still been a petunia, the flower was purple, but now it was pure white.
A change in color.
It reminded me of the time I became a witch. I still remembered the day my hair turned white. I had known intuitively in that moment that I was no longer an ordinary human.
"Are you the same as me?"
This child had transformed from a simple flower into a monster. I had transformed from a human into a witch. In a way, we were kindred spirits.
Strangely, looking at the Mandrake's white flower made me feel at peace. Knowing we had both gone through similar changes—it having white petals and me having white hair—gave me a sense of affinity for it.
"Not that I really want to feel close to a Mandrake," I muttered.
I wished I could share these feelings with Alraune, but she was born and raised in the forest. She probably hadn't experienced her body changing like that.
Then again, I suspected Alraune had secrets of her own. For example, her ability to understand human speech and writing. At first, I thought she was just a quick study because I was such a good teacher, but she knew things that even I didn't. That was definitely strange.
The way she had become so close with Nina-san, the Apprentice Saint, was also suspicious. Nina-san had been hell-bent on killing Alraune as her sworn enemy, but then she suddenly started looking at Alraune with total respect. It was all very fishy.
"And then there's her face... She really does look like Saint Iris, doesn't she?"
I had no idea why. Saint Iris had been human, so there was no way they could be sisters. It had to be a coincidence, but they were far too identical for comfort. I knew this because I’d seen a portrait of Saint Iris at the Lord’s mansion that was the spitting image of Alraune.
"But Saint Iris had golden hair, while Alraune's is green. That should mean they're different people... Wait, hair color?"
My hair color had changed when I became a witch. The Mandrake's flower had changed colors, too. Maybe a change in color wasn't that rare after all.
When I thought about it that way, Alraune’s upper body really was identical to Saint Iris. Aside from the hair, she looked perfectly human. She was a dead ringer for the Saint. It was enough to make someone wonder if the human named Saint Iris had actually become Alraune.
"But a human becoming a monster... that’s impossible, right?"
If that were the case, some things just didn't add up. For one, Alraune didn't wear clothes. I couldn't imagine an exalted Saint being comfortable walking around essentially naked, with nothing but vines wrapped around her.
Besides, while Alraune was usually reliable, she could also be quite an airhead. A Saint would never be that scatterbrained, so my theory had to be wrong.
"Well, it doesn't really matter what Alraune is hiding," I whispered.
She was my family. She was the most important person in the world to me. If she ever felt like sharing her secrets, I would be there to listen.
After all, I had kept secrets from her at first, too. I’d pretended to be a bird when I first approached her, and I’d kept the fact that I was a human and a witch from her for a long time. Even so, Alraune had forgiven me.
That was why I would always believe in her. We were family. A witch and a monster—we weren't related by blood, but I felt a bond stronger than any bloodline could provide.
"Goodnight, Alraune."
With those words, I moved the Mandrake's flowerpot next to my bed. Tonight, I decided to sleep while hugging the pot for the first time in a while. It was a bit annoying that I was hugging the Mandrake instead of Alraune, but I couldn't help myself.
Even now, hugging the bucket made me feel incredibly safe. It helped me sleep soundly, even on those lonely nights when I felt all alone.
But this was my secret. My one secret I hadn't even told Alraune.
That night, I dreamed. I dreamed of the days when Alraune and I lived together in the forest, and she was still just a little plant in a bucket.
And so, that was the POV of Rufe, the Little Witch.
Next time: An Angel's Greeting.