I’m an Alraune, a plant monster girl.
And the Witch Queen is trying to turn me into an ingredient for an aphrodisiac.


A lot has happened since I reincarnated as an Alraune.
I’ve almost been pollinated, and I’ve nearly been eaten too.
But this is the first time anyone has ever told me they wanted to use me as an ingredient for making a potion.

And of all things, it has to be an aphrodisiac.
I don’t want to become an aphrodisiac!


“If you hate the idea that much, how about I use you as an ingredient for that girl’s very first potion instead? If she’s the one harvesting you, surely you’d be happy with that, right?”


Of course I wouldn’t!
Even if the little witch was the one brewing me, I still refuse to become an ingredient for an aphrodisiac!


If that’s how it’s going to be, then I’m fighting back with everything I’ve got.
I’ll use my Plant Generation to grow squirting cucumber machine guns!


But then I panicked.
For some reason, I couldn’t control my body properly.

I tried to create four squirting cucumber machine guns, but somehow I ended up growing more than forty of them.


“Huh? What do I do? It won’t stop…!”


Plant Generation kept activating on its own, completely ignoring my will.
Countless Venus flytraps shot up from the ground towards the sky.
My vines began growing unconsciously too, and all the various plants I had devoured in the past started blooming wildly on them.


Something’s definitely wrong with me right now.
My body won’t listen to me.
I’ve completely lost my sense of how much power to use…!


“Wow, that’s a lot of nasty-looking plants. Getting hit by those would be pretty bad~”


The Witch Queen counterattacked.
This time, she seemed to be controlling thunderclouds, and the clapping of thunder erupted from around her body.


Since my roots are connected to the ground, maybe I can discharge the electricity into the earth.
Still, if it hits me directly, that part of my body will still burn.


I instinctively thrust one of my vines into the sky.
The vine acted as a lightning rod and absorbed the bolt.
A deafening crash, as if enough to rip the surroundings apart, tore through the air around us.


──I did it!
I managed to send the electricity through my vine and into the ground without catching fire.


“Lightning doesn’t work? Did you gain some kind of resistance…? Looks like Crimson Flower Princess-chan managed to absorb the spirit’s power quite nicely.”


I absorbed the spirit’s power?
Could that be why my body is going out of control?

I definitely feel far more powerful than I did before.
Things that would have been difficult for the old me feel like they’d be effortless now.


“The power Crimson Flower Princess-chan uses to keep producing plant after plant is awfully similar to the spirit magic that Dryad was using earlier.”


She was referring to Herrschaft Pflanze, the spell Lady Dryad used.
That spirit spell, which made the entire forest surge to life, really does resemble the way my Plant Generation works now.

That said, I could already use Plant Generation before all this.
But I can manipulate far more plants at once than I could before, so in that sense, it seems I really did absorb a part of a spirit’s power.

In other words, eating the older Dryad sister powered me up.


“Hmmm, what should I do now? Crimson Flower Princess-chan has somehow become just as troublesome as a Dryad.”

“Then… will you surrender?”

“I’d rather have Crimson Flower Princess-chan be the one to give in. And just so you know, if I hadn’t stepped in to save her, that girl would’ve been killed by one of Feagismeinnicht’s underlings.”


R-Really?
I did think the little witch would’ve had a hard time defeating the priest Dryad, but I had no idea she had been in enough danger to actually get killed.


“I’m the one who saved that girl’s life. If you really care about her, I’d like you to remember that.”


The Witch Queen gave me a cutesy wink.
But even if she does that, it’s not going to win me over that easily.

Just as I thought that, the ice restraining Lady Dryad suddenly shattered.


──CRASH!


She broke free of the ice on her own.
As expected of a spirit.


“Alraune, I apologize for the trouble. Thank you for waiting.”


With Lady Dryad back, it was now two against one.
We had the advantage in numbers, but the Witch Queen didn’t seem bothered in the slightest.


“You seem to be planning on teaming up, but while I was busy playing away with Crimson Flower Princess-chan, my aide already took that girl away.”


While I had been fighting the Witch Queen, the witch carrying the little witch had flown so far away that I couldn’t even see her anymore.

The Witch Queen had gotten in my way, and so I had failed to get the little witch back.


She stalled me perfectly.
But if we capture the Witch Queen and use her as a hostage, maybe we can still get the little witch back.



If what the Witch Queen said is true, then I should be able to use at least a portion of a spirit’s power now.
It’s probably safe to assume all of my abilities have been strengthened.
In that case, I might as well test it out.


I altered the seeds from my squirting cucumber machine guns into special ammunition.
All right, fire!


Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop!


The seeds I fired ignited and became wreathed in flames.
You see, I gave the seeds the ability of the rockrose, otherwise known as the “psychopath of the plant kingdom.”


The burning seeds smashed through tree after tree in the distance.
I had also applied the hardness of coconuts to them.
And the spirit’s power seemed to have strengthened the seeds even further, because now they were hitting with the force of volcanic bombs¹.
A single direct hit would probably be enough to leave an ordinary human unable to fight again.


These burning seeds might have the destructive power of volcanic bombs now, but if I had tried the same thing before devouring the older Dryad sister, they probably would have been nothing more than ordinary burning seeds.


“Don’t go spitting out something so dangerous!”


The Witch Queen began controlling lightning.
My burning seeds collided with her lightning bolts.
In the end, they canceled each other out.


But I had far more seeds from my squirting cucumber machine guns than the Witch Queen had lightning bolts.


“Nyahaha, there’s no dodging all of these.”


The Witch Queen that had been skillfully weaving through the burning seeds lowered both of her arms as if giving up.

Dozens of large seeds hurtled towards her small frame.
They struck their target, erupting in a massive shower of sparks.


──I won!


Or so I thought.
The Witch Queen soon emerged from the flames.


“I never expected Crimson Flower Princess-chan to be this strong. You’ve really surprised me.”


The Witch Queen’s body was riddled with holes and covered in burns.
And yet, her wounds began regenerating in an instant.


“Nyahaha. You should be proud. It’s been a long time since anyone forced me to use this.”


Her wounds had completely regenerated.
It was almost like a saint’s light magic.
But there’s no way a witch could use light magic, right?


Even among saints, I should’ve been one of the only ones capable of recovering completely after taking an attack powerful enough to kill someone instantly.
What on earth did the Witch Queen just do…?


Either way, simply defeating her doesn’t seem to be enough.
If I can restrain her with paralytic thorns after weakening her, I should be able to stop her from moving.


As I was thinking through my strategy, the Witch Queen started staring up at the sky.
And for some reason, she had a very reluctant, troubled look on her face.


“This presence belongs to… that one. Ehhh~? But things were just getting good. Are you seriously coming here to interrupt me?!”


The Witch Queen turned west and muttered to herself, sounding genuinely annoyed.
Who is she even talking to?


“Things were just about to get fun, but sorry, Crimson Flower Princess-chan. Looks like I’m about to be interrupted, so I think I’ll head home.”

“Huh…? W-Wait…!”

“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure that girl grows up happy.”


The Witch Queen’s body distorted.
Using transformation magic, she turned into a large white hawk.


“I’ll save turning Crimson Flower Princess-chan into an aphrodisiac ingredient for next time, so let’s meet again.”


With that, the Witch Queen launched herself into the sky above the forest.

What do you mean, ‘let’s meet again!?’
Like I’d ever let myself become an aphrodisiac!
Fine then, I’ll shoot that shameless witch out of the sky.
Squirting cucumber machine guns, rapid fire!


“Whoa, dangerous, dangerous. If you really don’t want to part with me that badly, then come chase after me. Assuming you can leave the ground, that is.”


Laughing “Nyahaha,” the white hawk disappeared into the northern sky.


W-What was with her!?
She suddenly stopped fighting and then just ran away!
Come back here and fight me fair and square!!


“Lady Dryad… let’s go after that… witch!”

“Even if you say that, neither of us can exactly move around,” Lady Dryad replied, tilting her head.


Neither Lady Dryad nor I could walk around like ordinary creatures.
I knew perfectly well that even if I wanted to chase her, I couldn’t…
As I cried internally over that fact, Lady Dryad murmured thoughtfully.


“Still, why did the Witch Queen leave so suddenly?”


She had a point.
The battle had been more or less even.
I had been pushing her back a little, but the Witch Queen clearly seemed to have a trick up her sleeve, so it was still hard to say how things would have ended.


Come to think of it, she said she sensed someone’s presence. Could that be the reason?

I looked towards the western sky.
From the ground, I couldn’t see anything.


However, at that moment, I still had no idea that someone whose arrival would make me happier than anyone else’s was approaching from the west.

And so, before long, I would reunite with someone completely unexpected.

***

Author’s Note:

The Alraune devoured the ancient tree, the true body of the older Dryad sister.
In doing so, she absorbed some of the spirit’s power and received an overall increase in strength.

Next Time: An Unexpected Visitor


TL’s Note:

1. Volcanic bombs are large masses of molten rock that are ejected during volcanic eruptions and harden as they travel through the air.