I’m an Alraune, a plant monster child.
And I’m carrying out my very first reproduction experiment as a flower.


I’ve bloomed male and female Alraune flowers along my vine.
Generating long, slender vines, I carefully transferred the pollen from the male stamen to the female pistil.
With that, pollination is complete.


Using light recovery magic, I accelerated the growth process.
Just like fast-forwarding a video, the female flower quickly turned into a fruit, forming a seed.


A seed that was genetically identical to me, an Alraune.
I planted it in the soil right in front of me and waited for it to grow.
I applied a lot of light magic during pollination, so it should sprout right away.


As expected, the seed in the ground sprouted, and a tiny Alraune began to emerge.


The female pistol took the form of a human body, growing out green hair, a red flower crown, and a proper carnivorous bulb.
Yep, there’s no mistake. She’s definitely me.


And… this child is adorable!
She reminds me of my childhood back when I was a saint.
Knowing that I gave birth to her somehow makes her even cuter.
I want to see if we can communicate, so let’s try talking to her.


“Hello…”

“…Mama?”

At that moment, it felt like lightning struck me.
──Mama.
Did I just become a mother at this age… me?

After all, I’m only one year old as an Alraune.
Well, for a plant, being pollinated at one year old is perfectly normal.
But as a saint and a high school girl, I definitely wasn’t at the age to be having children yet.


Technically, I did give birth to her, but she feels less like a child and more like a clone.
I’m pretty sure the little Alraune right in front of me looks exactly like me.
Being a clone, I’d rather have her call me something else.


“Please call me… something other than… ‘Mama’.”

“Papa?”

“Nooooo……”


It’s true that both sides of your biological makeup came from me.
Genetically speaking, either could technically apply… but please don’t call me that.
As a former saint, I don’t think I could bear being called ‘Papa’.


“Elder Sister?”


Yes! That’s definitely much better!
But still… how do I put this?
Getting called “elder sister” by my clone reminds me of reading some stories back when I was an otaku high school girl.
As a former saint, it’s acceptable. But as my past-life otaku self, it just brings those works to mind, so maybe something else would be better.


“Milady…?”


Ah, that’s a nostalgic one.
The servants in my family home used to call me that back when I was a duke’s daughter.


“Mother…?”


Hmm, that’s basically the same as “Mama”…

What should I do?
I can’t think of a better title.
For now, let’s put the matter on hold and let her call me whatever she likes.


“Call me… whatever you like.”

“Okay… Mama.”


And just like that, I became a Mama.
Even though I’m still a little girl myself…
A little girl becoming a Mama. How does that even work?

Right, let’s get back on track. Since we can communicate, it’s time for a little mother-daughter meeting.


“Are you… me?”

“No… not everything… is exactly the same.”

“What do you… mean?”

“Even though I inherited… your abilities… I might not be able to do… everything Mama can.”


So, she’s like a slightly weaker version of me.
It seems I couldn’t make a 100% identical clone, but that’s fine.
Considering she grew from a flower on one of my vines, this is already a huge success.


“Do you remember your… past life?”

“I remember being a saint… and my high school days too. My memories are shared… with Mama.”


Having the same memories really makes her feel like my clone rather than my child.
It’s so strange.
I never imagined I’d end up having a conversation with myself.
And seeing an Alraune from a third-person perspective is… weird, too.


After that, I ran a series of experiments with the child Alraune.
She can grow the same plants that I can.
She even produces nectar from her mouth.


Wait… if there were two of me, wouldn’t nectar extraction become a lot easier?
If we had double the manpower, our nectar production would skyrocket!

That said, making this little Alraune go through that ordeal too would feel a bit cruel.
I can handle the hard work alone.


And what if, just in case, the little witch starts doting on this Alraune instead of me…

If my clone took my place and the little witch treated me like I’m useless, I don’t think I could recover.
I never want to be abandoned again.
No, I’ll stick to extracting nectar all by myself.


“Okay… Mama… I’m going to return to… a seed now.”

“Eh!?”

“That was your… intention when you created me… in the first place… right?”

Whoa. That’s impressive.
As expected from my clone, she seems to understand everything I was thinking when I made her.

If I left my clone to continue to grow, the little witch would definitely get confused.
That’s why I was planning to use the Tahina’s ability to have her return to a seed.


“I was born… from you… Mama… but I am also a part… of you.”

“A part of… me?”

“You’re special… Mama. I can never… be you.”


The child Alraune bloomed a single red flower along one of her vines.
She entwined her tongue around the flower’s stamen and licked it clean.

She self-pollinated.

“This is just… an experiment. So I will return… to Mama.”


The child Alruane’s tiny belly began to gradually swell.


──W-wait a minuteeeeeeee!

I’m watching myself, my child self, pollinate herself right now!!

What in the world!?
I never imagined I’d end up observing myself doing this! It’s plain absurd!
And… oh no… her belly… it’s getting so big…


Ah, this is exactly how it happened when I pollinated before.
Back then, I was an adult. But if it happens again, I’ll swell up like this too, huh?

Oh… she’s already becoming a fruit.
The child Alraune looked up at the sky as she transformed into a fruit and became a seed.


Using the Tahina’s withering ability, the main flower and bulb rapidly withered.
Since she was a clone sharing my memories, she didn’t seem attached to life itself.
That child Alraune was both a part of me and my clone.
Just as I intended, I’ll return her to myself.


I consumed the Alraune seed that had fallen to the ground with my lower mouth.


In that instant, a flood of images poured into my mind.

Could this… be the memories of the child Alraune!?
It seems that by consuming the seed, I can share what the clone saw.

I’m shocked something like this would even be possible.


The young child Alraune was sprouting from the soil.
Wait… normally, you can’t observe yourself objectively like this.
Which means… the Alraune I’m seeing in this vision is actually me.
It’s the first time I’ve seen my own face. There were no mirrors until now.


As expected, she has the same face as the child Alraune.
In other words, this is what I looked like as a child when I was a saint.

But… it feels a bit off.
The eyes of the clone I faced earlier were red. Yet in this vision, my eyes are gold.

So there’s a slight physical difference between my clone and my main body.

Even so, it’s amazing.
My eyes were gold when I was a saint, and apparently they stayed the same after becoming an Alraune. Though, they seem slightly darker now.
My hair, influenced by the chlorophyll of plants, changed from pale gold to light green, but my eyes didn’t change. It’s like the part of me that was a saint is still here, and that… makes me a little happy.


The clone’s memories played like a video.
I can see her conversations and actions.

The memories led straight to the pollination scene.
Because she was looking upward, the trees of the forest came into view.


Then I noticed huge bird shadows among the branches.
Not just one. Ten… twenty… more than thirty.
A flock of green bird monsters stared down at us, sizing us up like we were prey.

The child Alraune then turned into a seed, and the memory ended there.



──No way!?
This memory is only from a few seconds ago, right?


If the clone’s memory is correct, the birds above us were like Japanese white-eyes, except they were the size of adult humans.
And white-eyes are birds that sip flower nectar.
Since they’re also pollinators, any flower they sip from is automatically pollinated.


I’d love to hide in the bushes right now.
But I can’t run. After all, I’m a plant.


Praying silently, I lifted my gaze skyward.
Please… let this be a mistake in the child Alraune’s memories.


But when I looked up at the forest canopy, despair hit me.


I might… end up having my nectar passed around by that flock of birds.

***

Author’s Note:

Thank you for reading.

Next Time: It Turns Out My Little Junior Was an Amazon Warrior