I’m an Alraune, a little plant monster girl.
And as of today, I’ve officially changed careers from a houseplant to a maid.


Honestly, is Fire Dragon-sama in his right mind? Turning me into a maid…
I’m just a flower!
And I can’t even move. After all, I’m a plant.

Perhaps noticing the confused look on my face, Fire Dragon-sama offered me an explanation.


“Oh, don’t worry. You’re going to be a maid in title only. In reality, all you need to do is remain quietly where you are, just as a plant would.”

“What… do… you mean?”

“The truth is, I simply can’t endure with only having your nectar at breakfast. I wish to enjoy it at lunch and dinner as well. However, carrying an ornamental plant through the castle would look rather odd. So I decided to make you my personal maid in name only.”


I see. It would look pretty embarrassing for someone of Fire Dragon-sama’s standing to walk around the Demon King’s castle carrying a potted plant. So instead, that’s why he wants to take me around as his maid.

I’ve been bored out of my mind just sitting in this room doing nothing. If this means I can escape my boring routine, I’m all for it.
What’s more, it sounds like becoming a maid will let me leave the room, so this’ll also be a great opportunity to learn more about the Demon King’s castle.


“I’ll… become… a maid!”

“Your duty is to serve me your nectar whenever I desire it.”


If all I have to do is provide nectar, that’s an easy enough job.
I’m already used to giving nectar to others, so it won’t be a problem.

My direct supervisor turned out to be Uncle Teddy.
It seems I’m now an attendant serving under Fire Dragon-sama.



And so, my life as a maid in the Demon King’s castle began.


I put on the maid’s cap that Uncle Teddy gave me.
Wearing this frilly white headdress really makes me feel like a proper maid!

I’ve become a maid for the first time in my life.

Back when I was a saint, I came from a duke’s family, so our household was full of maids. But I never imagined the day would come when I would become one myself. And I definitely didn’t think I would end up working as a maid after turning into an Alraune.


And listen to this!
This is the very first time I’ve worn clothes since becoming an Alraune.
It was a one-piece maid outfit, so even an Alraune like me could somehow wear it without any trouble.

I don’t know why, but not being naked is actually making me a little embarrassed.
The clothes are kind of restrictive. I almost feel like I don’t need them at all.
I guess I’ve become a little too accustomed to living as a plant.



This is what a typical day in my life as an Alraune maid looks like.


In the morning, I wake up in Fire Dragon-sama’s room.

Then I wait there until breakfast, and when Fire Dragon-sama eats in his room, I become his dessert.
As long as I prepare a plate of freshly harvested morning nectar, my job is done.


Next, Uncle Teddy carries me through the Demon King’s castle.
The antechamber next to Fire Dragon-sama’s office is where I spend the majority of my day.
My job there is to serve as an ornamental plant decorating the room. There isn’t really anything for me to do. It’s a little disappointing that I can’t actually watch Fire Dragon-sama while he works.


Around noon, another maid carries me off to the kitchen.
There, I provide nectar to the head chef. Apparently, my nectar is incorporated into the dishes prepared for Fire Dragon-sama.


Once my trip to the kitchen is over, I go right back to being the antechamber’s ornamental plant.
Since I can’t move, there’s nothing for me to do, so I bask in the sunlight streaming through the window and take a nap.

Photosynthesis is delicious.


Oh right, Uncle Teddy has also started watering me much more frequently.
It seems that after I had defeated him with my chili pepper bubble attack, he came to respect me.

At first, he called me “an Alraune whose only recognized merit is her nectar,” but now he says things like, “You have a respectable level of ability. I expect you’ll be useful as a bodyguard as well. I have high hopes for you.”
It turns out I’m actually pretty strong.



Every so often, Fire Dragon-sama sends Uncle Teddy to fetch me.
When I enter his office, he’ll order, “Show me what you can do.”
I think he just wants a bit of entertainment to pass the time.

Since I don’t really do any work as Fire Dragon-sama’s maid, I can’t help but get fired up!


“Master… how about… this?”


I grew an apple at the end of one of my vines.


“So you can produce fruit as well. You truly are an extraordinary Alraune.”


As he said that, Fire Dragon-sama picked up the apple and took a bite.


“This apple carries the sweet fragrance of your nectar. A nectar-filled apple… not bad. It’s delicious.”


Looks like Fire Dragon-sama really liked my nectar-filled apple.
As the maid in charge of his desserts, I couldn’t ask for higher praise.


After that, I was allowed to stay in Fire Dragon-sama’s office.
Whenever he says, “Apple,” my job is to immediately create one for him.

Beyond that, he had a mountain of paperwork piling up, so I helped him with that too.
Since I have vines, I can carry a lot of things at once. I’ve become quite useful around the office.


In the evening, I’m taken back to the kitchen once again.
It was time to provide nectar for Fire Dragon-sama’s dinner.
Maybe because I visit twice a day, I’ve gotten to know some of the kitchen staff. I’m happy that I have more people to chat with.



At night, I return to Fire Dragon-sama’s bedroom.
And then it’s time to sleep.


Surprisingly, only the two of us, Fire Dragon-sama and I, spend the night in this room.
Naturally, Uncle Teddy, being the butler, doesn’t sleep in the same room, but… I wonder if it’s really okay for me to be here?

I feel like I could attack Fire Dragon-sama in his sleep if I really tried.
Well, if I actually killed him, everyone would know immediately that I was the culprit. I would be executed on the spot, so that’s not really an option. Since I can’t run away, we would both end up dead.
I get the feeling Fire Dragon-sama keeps me here precisely for that reason.
Or maybe he’s confident he would notice right away if I tried anything.


In any case, sleeping alone in the same room as a man makes me so nervous!

Fire Dragon-sama sleeps in the bed at the back, while I’m just placed on top of a desk. Even so, from the perspective of a former saint, this is a first for me. My heart won’t stop pounding.


Though… when I get sleepy, I end up falling asleep almost immediately anyway.
And so, I wake up to another morning in that room.

My routine continued for several days.



The other demons around the castle gave me strange looks, but once they realized I belonged to Fire Dragon-sama, no one dared to lay a hand on me.
The title of Fire Dragon-sama’s personal maid really carried that much weight.


However, while they wouldn’t lay hands on me, there were plenty who couldn’t resist keeping their mouths shut.


They would, without fail, only show up whenever Fire Dragon-sama was away.
The other maids working in the Demon King’s castle would gather near the antechamber and start talking loudly enough for me to hear.


“What’s with that Alraune? She’s supposedly a maid, but she’s completely useless.”

“She’s no good. I mean, she can’t even walk. I wish she’d put herself in our shoes. We’re the one who has to carry her around all the time.”

“How did someone like that become Lord Grüschwanz’s personal maid?”

“She’s tiny and cute, so she’s probably just a decoration. She’s no different from that vase over there.”

“But I’ve heard a rumor. She secretly offers him her nectar in his room.”

“What? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Don’t tell me… are they…?”

“Nah, she’s a plant. There’s no way”

“A plant dreaming of something like that… how ridiculous. Besides, once it withers, they’ll definitely discard the thing anyways.”


──Grr

This is the first time in my life I’ve been compared to a vase.
It’s so humiliating!


Those maids who keep running their mouths deserve a little punishment.

I stretched out my vines and quietly opened the door.
Then I bloomed a man-eater flower at the tip of one of my vines and scattered sleeping powder into the hallway.
A series of thuds echoed from outside as people collapsed onto the floor one after another.


Oh my, whatever could’ve happened?
Falling asleep together in the middle of work… doesn’t that make them failures as maids? Lying there in the hallway like that, they’re no different from decorations.
If they want to be vases so badly, I would be happy to help them out again.


The sleeping maids were later discovered by Uncle Teddy when he returned from work, and they received quite the lecture.
If maids are pretending to be flowerpots, then of course they’re going to get scolded. Serves them right.



Even though I don’t really do much as a maid, life here is so much more exciting than living in the forest or the botanical garden.

It’s actually kind of fun


I’m still curious about who Fire Dragon-sama really is, and I’ve yet to catch even a glimpse of this so-called Demon Lord.

Whenever I ask Uncle Teddy, he always dodges the question. Well, I am still new, and even if I’m technically a maid, I’m also just a houseplant, so I guess it can’t be helped.

Though, by staying in Fire Dragon-sama’s room as an ornamental plant, I’ve learned all sorts of things that I wouldn’t have otherwise.


And one of the biggest of those moments finally happened.
I overheard something important… something involving someone precious to me.

One day, without any warning, that person appeared before Fire Dragon-sama.


The moment I saw her, I couldn’t help but think of the little witch.
The young woman, dressed in a black robe and a pointed hat, introduced herself as a witch.

But that wasn’t the only reason she reminded me of the little witch.
It was because her hair was pure white.


A white-haired witch, just like the little witch, had appeared.

***

Author’s Note:

The Alraune seems to have established herself as Fire Dragon-sama’s personal dessert maid. She can’t perform normal maid duties because she can’t move on her own, but producing nectar and apples is a skill unique to her, something no other maid could match.

Next Time: Another White-Haired Witch