One of Mr. Drink Station’s fellow adventurers was struck by a troll’s club and sent flying.

Without hesitation, I moved the thorns I had spread underground up to the surface.
They rose into a wall of thorns in front of the humans, shielding them from the trolls.

While I was at it, I built another wall between us and the Dryad sisters too.
It’ll probably be broken through pretty quickly, but hopefully it’ll buy us a little time.


Nina rushed over to the fallen adventurer.
She was probably going to use recovery magic.

Before I even got to relax after raising the wall, the little witch shouted, “Alraune! The fairies are flying in!”

The brainwashed fairies swooped down from above the wall of thorns.
Right. The fairies were enemies too, thanks to them being controlled by the blue flowers.


Kiri, who had been sitting helplessly on the ground, suddenly sprang into the air, saying, “Leave the fairies to me!”

A battle between fairies broke out overhead.
But no matter how exceptional Kiri was among the forest fairies, taking on twenty enemies by herself was going to be difficult.

Though honestly, the same could be said for facing the Dryad sisters and three hundred trolls.
Four adventurers and Nina alone had no chance of defeating such a massive horde of trolls.
I do recall hearing that they were the strongest adventurer party in Tower City, but there were simply too many enemies.

If only we could at least break the mind control on the trolls and fairies.
If we could do that, then we would only have to deal with the Dryads. Then, just maybe… we would have a chance.



When I looked over towards the humans, the adventurer in blue armor shouted, “Water Dragon-Possessed Armor—Wasserwurmharnisch!“

It was a water spell that clad its user in a suit of dragon-shaped armor formed from water.
Come to think of it, that water magic tasted really good back then, didn’t it?
It was basically an open bar with unlimited refills… Oh right! Mr. Drink Station was here!

I just got a great idea!
I just need to tweak what I did before!


“Mr… Drink Station!”

“…………”


No response!
Just look this way already—!


“Mr… Drink Station!”

“…………”


Ugh… I still don’t know his real name…
But surely this’ll get his attention.


“Hey! The human using… water magic!”

“Huh? You mean me!?”


Yes! I’ve been trying to tell you that this whole time!
I’m talking about you!


“Mr. Drink Station… attack me… with your water magic.”

“Drink Station…? You mean me? Well, If you’ve forgotten, my name is—”

“The wall… of thorns… is about to break. So hurry up!”


“Got it,” said Mr. Drink Station as he launched a water spell at me.

Ahhh… that felt so good.
Water is delicious.


Between Mr. Drink Station’s unlimited water supply and Drago’s rain summoning magic leaving the ground completely soaked, I could fill up my water reserves in no time!


I generated a water-storage sac of the Kangaroo Pocket and filled it to its absolute limit.
With this much water, it should be enough.


Next, I released all the water inside my body through the stomata on my leaves as water vapor.
Transpiration.


The last time I fought against Mr. Drink Station, I nearly suffered root rot.
Back then, I had mixed the lachrymal agents into the water vapor, but this time I’ve made one important change.


A thick mist spread outwards with me at its center.
As my vision gradually became obscured, I heard the older Dryad sister call out, “So the princess can create mist too?”


“This mist… it smells sweet,” Mr. Drink Station murmured, sounding puzzled.
Directly after that, Nina let out a cry of delight.


“This taste… it’s Holy Honey!!”


Exactly.
When I released the water vapor through transpiration, I had mixed plenty of my nectar into it.
It did become a little diluted, of course, but I made sure the concentration was still high enough that everyone could clearly taste its sweetness.


The nectar mist released through transpiration swept across the troll horde.

In an instant, the forest erupted with the trolls’ agonized screams.
It seems they breathed it in.


The attack wasn’t limited to the ground, either.
The fairies flying overhead were thrown into confusion as the sweet mist reached them.


One after another, they tumbled down from the sky.
All of the fairies each coughed up a blue flower from their mouth.
It worked.


As the nectar mist cleared…

Around me, about three hundred humans lay sprawled across the ground alongside chunks of flesh that were once trolls
Every single person who had been transformed into a troll had been purified by my nectar and restored to normal.
We did it!


The only one left standing was the priest Dryad, who had fused herself with a human.
“What… what just happened…?” she asked, seemingly unable to comprehend reality.


“Incredible… you never cease to amaze me, princess.”


The wall of thorns fell apart as vines tore it down.
The land tortoise lumbered forward, crushing the shattered thorns beneath its feet as the older Dryad sister, Feagismeinnicht, slowly approached atop it.


“I never imagined you’d expose my brainwashing flowers like this… their only weakness was supposed to be a saint’s light magic. So just what exactly is your nectar, princess?”


She clapped her hands and offered me a smile.


“Could it be that your nectar has the same effect as a saint’s light magic?”

“You could… find out… by drinking it. Wouldn’t you… like to join me… for tea and nectar?”

“I’m afraid I’ll have to decline your invitation, princess. I prefer my water not tainted by any impurities.”


It looked like the nectar mist hadn’t affected the older Dryad sister at all.
I couldn’t tell whether it was because she blocked it with spirit magic or was simply immune to it.

It hadn’t worked on Lady Dryad, either.
She was still glaring at me with open hostility. The brainwashing clearly hadn’t been broken.


“The trolls… are all gone. The tide has… turned… in our favor.

“You really think so? It doesn’t matter how many trolls or fairies are taken out. You’re still facing two Dryads. The difference is insignificant.”


She was probably right.
I had no idea how powerful Dryads really were.
Even back when I was a saint, I had never fought one.
Still, I could easily imagine they were powerful enough that even an entire horde of trolls wouldn’t stand a chance against them.


If only we could free Lady Dryad and bring her back to our side. Our chances would improve dramatically.


“How… do we save… Lady Dryad?”


Kiri answered my question.


“Lady Dryad’s true body is the ancient tree inside the sanctuary! If you pour your nectar onto the blue flower parasitizing her body, she might return to normal!”


Right. A Dryad’s true body is a tree.
Being spirits, they can’t stray far from it. Because of that limitation, the older Dryad sister had transplanted hers onto the back of a land tortoise so she could move around freely.


“Kiri… here… take this.”


I produced a small orb of nectar from the back of my throat.
Using a vine, I passed the nectar orb to her.


“I think with this… you should… be able to wither… the blue flower.”

“Thank you, Lady Alraune! Leave it to me!”


Clutching the nectar orb, Kiri shot high into the sky.


“Everyone! Please cover Lady Alraune while I’m gone!”


Kiri called out to her fellow fairies.
The fairies, who had been lifted from the brainwashing, seemed to have also regained their senses.
Even if they were only fairies, having more allies on our side was reassuring.


Now the only problem was figuring out how to get Kiri safely into the sanctuary.
I couldn’t imagine the older Dryad sister would simply let her pass.

Sure enough, the older Dryad sister, who had been watching us the whole time, spoke.


“Finished with your little strategy meeting?”

“Thanks… to you… it is.”

“I see. Sorry to interrupt while you were all getting so fired up, but I’m a rather cautious person. I always prepare a backup plan, just in case.”


The older Dryad sister reached into a tree growing from the land tortoise’s shell and pulled out a small, round metallic object.


“Princess Alraune… do you recognize this?”


I recognized it immediately.
After the shock of seeing it at the Hero’s grave in the sanctuary, there was no way I could ever forget it.

That battered, weathered helmet wasn’t just any ordinary helmet.


It was the Hero’s Helmet. The very same Hero the older Dryad sister had killed some fifty years ago.

***

Author’s Note:

Thank you for reading.

Next Time: The Hero’s Helmet and the Hero’s Lover