So, the Flashy Man actually went and caught a mysterious native.
I’d heard he was “gold-glittery,” but it turned out that was just a description of the man's hair. Even though it was blonde, it was a far cry from the Flashy Man’s radiant gold. Despite the filth covering him, you could just barely tell it was meant to be a golden hue.
The Flashy Man dumped his prize right at my feet. The man seemed to be unconscious, remaining slumped on the ground where he fell.
“How’s that? I hunted a big one!”
“Rather than a ‘big one,’ he might be a ‘rare one’...”
I never imagined he’d go out for a jog and come back with a human captive. So, natives really did exist. I’d had no idea they were actually out here until now. Then again, looking at him... he was just a regular human, wasn’t he?
“Hey. Can I eat this guy?”
“You absolutely cannot eat him!”
The Flashy Man looked human, but his true identity was a Dragon. Perhaps that was why the things he said were occasionally terrifying.
As I looked closer, I noticed something odd. “Wait a minute... is this ‘native’ wearing silk?”
His clothes were tattered and stained, but they looked like high-quality garments. That made me wonder if he was more than just a simple forest-dweller. To begin with, it was hard to imagine anyone living in the Dryades' Forest. A place this thick with monsters wasn't exactly fit for human habitation.
“Besides, I feel like I’ve seen this person somewhere before...”
His face was too caked in mud to see clearly, but the shape of his jaw and his features felt familiar. Was he an Adventurer from Tower City? If so, it would make sense for him to be in the forest.
As I leaned in to peer at his face, the man suddenly bolted awake.
“Ah, the native is up.”
“Wha—!? Wh-who are you people? What do you intend to do with me?!”
Judging by his voice and general vibe, I guessed he was in his early to mid-twenties. He had a slender frame and a surprisingly soft, gentle voice. There was something about that voice... I felt like I’d heard it before, though I couldn't place it.
As I tilted my head in confusion, the blonde man’s eyes went wide, and he pointed at me in horror.
“That face... could it be? Iris?!”
“Eh?!”
He knew me?
Hearing my name so suddenly, I felt a phantom throb in a heart I no longer possessed.
“Iris... I can’t believe you’re alive. I heard that you had died, but I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that you survived, considering you were praised as the First Saint's Reincarnation... wait, what on earth is wrong with your body?!”
The man’s gaze fell to my lower half. It had been quite a while since I’d seen that particular reaction, and I felt a twinge of embarrassment.
“I thought it was Iris, but your lower body is a monster! What is with that look? It’s cheating! That’s just cowardly!”
I wasn't sure what was “cowardly” about it. I’d been called scary plenty of times, but this was the first time anyone had called my appearance cowardly.
“Iris in the form of a monster... no, a monster in the form of Iris. Curse the Demon King’s Army! What a devious creature they’ve created!”
Close, but no. The Demon King’s Army had nothing to do with this.
This person was incredibly noisy, likely due to his panic and excitement, but there was something nostalgic about his restless energy.
“Are you... are you going to eat me?”
“I’m not going to eat you, so please, just calm down.”
“How can I be calm?! There's no way I can trust the word of a monster!”
The blonde man tried to scramble away from me, and in doing so, he finally noticed the Little Witch standing by my side.
“You! Young girl! It’s dangerous! Come here, get behind me!”
“...Alraune isn't dangerous. I’m fine.”
“You are not fine! Monsters are dangerous! It’s planning to attack and devour you at any second! Come here this instant!”
“Be quiet... stop saying mean things about my Alraune.”
The Little Witch raised her hand, and a bolt of lightning struck a nearby tree with a deafening crack.
“If you speak ill of Alraune again, I’ll hit you with the next one.”
“...Y-you... are you a Witch?!”
The man began to tremble uncontrollably. For some reason, he seemed even more terrified of the Little Witch than he was of me.
“Th-this can’t be... I fought so hard to escape the Witch and survive this long, only to die in a place like this...!”
Escape the Witch? Was he being hunted?
The man slumped to the ground, looking utterly defeated. “Is this the end...?” he muttered. Perhaps his "native" lifestyle in the forest had just been a desperate attempt to hide.
“Hey, Alraune.”
The Little Witch poked my bulb to get my attention. When I asked her what was wrong, she gave me a sleepy look.
“Isn't this human that ‘blond-haired gentle man’?”
“......The blond-haired gentle man?”
The phrase rang a bell. Where had I heard that before?
“Don't you remember? The woman who called herself a genius swordsman was looking for a blond-haired gentle man.”
The Self-proclaimed Genius Swordsman—she meant Anna, the Granddaughter of the Great Sage. Anna was the older sister of Armin, the nectar-loving boy, and she had traveled with us to the Little Witch’s village. Come to think of it, she had mentioned she was searching for a “blond-haired gentle man” at someone’s request.
So much had happened since then—the battle with Crown Princess Malai Glanzweisheit, the forest party, Priest Pandia turning out to be an Angel, and Hecate possessing the Little Witch—that the search for some random man had completely slipped my mind. It had been over six months, after all.
“So this is the person Anna was looking for.”
“Anna? Who is that?”
The man didn't seem to recognize the name. Since Anna was only acting on a request, it made sense that they might not know each other personally.
Still, to think the man she was looking for had been living like a wild native in the Dryades' Forest. More importantly, he knew me as Iris. Even through the mud, I was starting to suspect his identity.
“Flashy Man, go wash him.”
I used the Shampoo Tree to create some Saint Hair Tonic and handed it over. We might as well see what he looked like under the grime.
“Why do I have to be the one to wash him?”
“You’re the one who caught him. Take responsibility until the end.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll do it, okay?!”
Grumbling, the Flashy Man grabbed the blonde man and dragged him toward a nearby spring. “Move it. We’re going to the water.”
Despite his rough attitude, the Flashy Man was actually quite helpful. It was still a mystery to me why he’d taken his helpfulness so far as to become the Little Witch’s travel instructor, though.
By the time the men finished at the spring, evening had arrived. If it were just me and the Little Witch, we could have made it back to Alraune's Forest quickly, but it felt wrong to leave the others behind. I decided we would camp here for the night.
Just as we finished setting up camp, the Flashy Man and his captive returned. It had taken them quite a while. The Flashy Man was grinning as he playfully smacked the man’s head.
“Hey, look! I thought he was a native, but he’s actually a proper human!”
“Ouch... What is wrong with you? Why must you hit me?!”
“Don't sweat it. We're brothers of the bath now!”
“You were the one who stripped me naked and threw me into a spring! I have never encountered such a barbarian in all my life!”
Oh? It seemed they had actually bonded a little.
“Wait, that face...”
With the mud washed away, the man’s features were clear. To my astonishment, the face beneath the grime was one I knew all too well from my days as Saint Iris.
“Wh-why are you here...?”
I could only stare in stunned silence.
The true identity of this "native" was my former fiancé and the Hero's older brother—the First Prince of the Kingdom of Gardenia!
Note: The topic of the "blond-haired gentle man" first came up about a year ago in real-time. I doubt many people remembered him...!
Next time: Meeting a Prince in the forest.