Kiri and Mandrake were gone!
While Kiri was a fairy and could fly off whenever she pleased, there was no way a potted Mandrake could move on its own. If they had disappeared, the only suspects were those "thieves" or the beast-ear duo.
I immediately had the carriage pull a U-turn and raced back toward the fork in the road.
The men were still there, bound tightly by my vines. I searched the immediate area, but there was no sign of Kiri or the Mandrake anywhere.
"It doesn't... look like... either of them... is here," I murmured.
"Then I'll just have to make these guys talk," the Little Witch said.
Rufe approached one of the men and shook his head roughly. "Wake up!"
I stayed hidden inside the carriage to keep my true nature a secret, watching her from the shadows. At times like these, I truly resented my monstrous form. If any of those men so much as tried to lay a hand on her, I was prepared to let my briars loose and strangle them on the spot.
"Ugh... gah... Are you that girl from before?"
"You're finally awake," Rufe said. "Do you know where our Kiri and Mandrake went?"
"Huh? Who's Kiri? And Mandrake? You don't mean that monster plant, do you?"
"The Mandrake is a monster, yes. But Kiri is a fairy and—"
Wait, wait, Rufe!
I frantically crossed two vines into a big 'X' to signal her to stop.
"...Ah, I wasn't supposed to mention that. Forget what I just said."
"A monster and a fairy?! What are you even talking about...?"
The man looked utterly bewildered. It was just as I feared—trying to interrogate criminals was a bit much for the Little Witch. As her "big sister," I couldn't help but worry.
"You're thieves, aren't you?" Rufe pressed. "Didn't you steal something from us?"
"For the last time, we aren't thieves! I told you that when we first met!"
Now that I thought about it, they had tried to say something to that effect. But the cat-ear girl had called them thieves, and their rugged, rough-around-the-edges appearance certainly fit the description.
"We're adventurers from Tower City," the man groaned. "Look, I’ve even got my Adventurer Guild Certificate right here."
"...It's true," Rufe noted. "These people really are adventurers."
Wait, they were adventurers?!
Because that cat-ear girl had screamed "thieves," I had completely jumped to the wrong conclusion. I felt a pang of guilt for my haste.
"I know a few adventurers, but I've never seen your faces," Rufe said suspiciously.
"That's 'cause we're usually up in the mountains. This smuggling crackdown is just a temporary gig for us."
"A crackdown on smugglers?"
"Word is that Saint Nectar smuggling has been sky-rocketing lately. So, we're out here on the highway checking for unlicensed merchants and black-market dealers."
"I see. But why did you say it was temporary?"
"Normally, Holger and Franz are the ones the Lord appointed to run this operation, but they’re both away in the Royal Capital right now. We’re just filling in for 'em."
That rang a bell!
I remembered hearing that the Adventurer Guild was assisting with the official Saint Nectar trade in the city. Furthermore, I knew Franz—the Former Corporal—had been put in charge of the nectar business. Since he was currently on a business trip to the Royal Capital, it made sense that these men had been hired as reinforcements.
Their appearance made sense now, too. Since they usually worked the dangerous mountain regions rather than the city streets, they were naturally more uncouth than the average urban adventurer.
Still... I knew Franz, but who was this Holger? Anyone involved in the Saint Nectar business should have been an acquaintance of mine, yet the name didn't ring a bell. I felt like I had heard it somewhere, but I couldn't put a face to it. Perhaps he was a talented rookie? I’d have to meet him eventually.
"If you're looking for thieves, look no further than those beast-ear folks," the adventurer continued. "They were hauling a massive amount of Saint Nectar without a permit."
"Is that so...? It seems we made a mistake."
So, the "thievish" adventurers were actually trying to catch the "smuggling" beast-ears. That meant the cat-ear girl had played us for fools. Those little... I wouldn't forget this!
Now that it was clear these men weren't criminals, there was no reason to keep them tied up. Once Rufe finished untying them, the adventurers straightened themselves out and turned to her with professional curiosity.
"Since we're on duty, I've gotta ask—do you have that?"
"You mentioned that earlier. What is 'that'?"
"The 'Saint Nectar Sales Permit,' obviously. Every merchant hauling the stuff has to have one. Here, like this."
The adventurer produced a wooden board. A silver plate was affixed to it, engraved with the Lord's official seal authorizing the sale of Saint Nectar.
"By the way, people from Tower City get a silver plate. Merchants from outside the city get a copper one."
"It's a bit different, but I have something like it," Rufe said. She rummaged through her bag before pulling out a small wooden plaque. "The Lord gave me this one."
As soon as Rufe showed the permit to the adventurers, their faces went pale.
"Wait, is that...!"
"Hey! That's a Gold Plate!"
"Does that mean she's a high-ranking official in the nectar trade?!"
"Little lady... who exactly are you?"
"I'm Rufe," she replied, pulling back her hood. "Rufe, of Alraune's Forest."
Her silky, long white hair caught the light, and the adventurers gasped.
"The white-haired girl... You're that kid who stays with Lady Alraune, the Crimson Flower Princess?!"
"No mistake! I saw her selling Saint Nectar in the square once. Nobody else has hair that white!"
"She's one of the most important people in Tower City!"
"L-lady, please forgive our rudeness! We had no idea we were dealing with a Gold Plate holder!"
I remembered the Lord giving us that permit when the new trade regulations were established. I had noticed it was quite fancy because of the Gold Plate, but it turned out it was a special rank reserved just for us. Since I was the only one actually producing the Saint Nectar, I suppose the special treatment was inevitable.
The adventurers looked ready to prostrate themselves in the dirt. Rufe, however, ignored their theatrics and got straight to the point.
"Our companions are missing. Do you know anything?"
"Your companions? We were so focused on catching those beast-ears, we weren't really looking..."
It seemed the adventurers weren't involved in the disappearance after all. However, one of them tapped his chin as he recalled something. "Wait! I did see one of those beast-ear types creeping toward the back of your carriage while we were busy."
Aha! That was it. While the cat-ear girl was using the adventurers to distract us, her partner must have slipped into the back of the carriage to snatch Kiri and the Mandrake. But why kidnap them of all things?
After that, the adventurers headed down the main highway toward the next town. They suspected the duo would try to sell their two barrels of stolen nectar there. They invited us to come along, but we politely declined.
Once they were gone, we turned our attention to a side path veering off the main road.
"This path to the left... feels... suspicious," I said.
When we had asked the cat-ear girl for directions, she had claimed this path was a dead end. In hindsight, that was incredibly fishy. Even if the adventurers were wrong about the next town, checking this path seemed like our best bet.
"Wait for us... Kiri, Mandrake. We're... coming to save you!"
We steered the carriage onto the mysterious, unmaintained trail. The ground was uneven, sending violent jolts through the carriage as the wheels bounced over rocks. Eventually, the plains gave way to a dense thicket.
"Is this... part of... my forest?"
Strictly speaking, this was the extreme outskirts of Alraune's Forest. While it was technically connected to my root system, it was a remote corner I had never consciously visited before.
"Alraune, look. What is that?" Rufe asked.
"A barricade... I think. And... it's made of... my briars..."
The entrance to the woods was completely choked by a massive growth of prickly briars. It wasn't just impassable for a carriage; a human couldn't even squeeze through. Anyone reckless enough to try would be shredded.
"Did you grow these, Alraune?"
"N-no! I mean... I probably did... without realizing it..."
Back in the day, I used to grow all sorts of strange plants unconsciously. These briars must have been the "children" I had sprouted during one of those lapses.
"We can't get through. Did those cats go a different way?"
"No. I'm certain... they came... this way."
The beast-ear race was famous for being nimble and light-footed. They undoubtedly had a hidden passage through these thorns that only they knew about.
"I can feel... many presences... beyond this point."
I extended a vine into the soil and plugged an Australian Christmas Tree's parasitic root into the forest's root system. Thanks to the unique ability of the Christmas Tree to sever and tap into other plants' roots, I could access the "Alraune Network" spread beneath the earth even while I was in my potted form.
By monitoring the vibrations through the roots, I could "see" what lay ahead. Dozens of rhythmic tremors reached me.
"There are... many... bipedal creatures...!"
The vibrations were clustered in small groups. It felt as though they were living in separate households.
"They're living here?"
I had never heard of a settlement in this area, but there was no mistaking the presence of so many humanoids.
"Could it be... a beast-ear race village...?"
Christmas Tree: The "Christmas Tree" mentioned in this story is not a decorated fir, but the Nuytsia floribunda, or the Australian Christmas Tree. It is a semi-parasitic plant of the Loranthaceae family found in Western Australia. It blooms with vibrant orange flowers in December (the Southern Hemisphere's summer). Because it severs the roots of other plants to steal water and minerals, it has been known to accidentally cut through underground cables, causing power outages.
Next time: The Beast-ear Village.