I’m an Alraune, a plant monster girl.
And at last, I managed to make peace with Nina and the other humans.


Overwhelmed with emotion, I was shedding nectar in place of tears when Nina suddenly noticed something.
She gently touched my cheek.


“Please, don’t cry like that.”


Nina’s finger scooped up the nectar flowing down my cheek.


“Holy Honey is coming from your eyes… it would be such a waste. Can I have some?”


────What.
N-Nina…?


“…Yes, that’s fine.”

“Ok then… so sweet! Holy Honey really is the best!”


The little witch told me that Nina was the very first regular customer for my nectar.
Doesn’t that mean she’s probably eaten quite a lot of it by now?
I hope Nina doesn’t end up becoming an addict.


“Would you like… some more?”

“Can I really have more?!”


I’m a little worried about Nina’s future, but for now, it’s fine.
If it means I get to see the smile of Nina, my junior saint apprentice whom I’ve reunited with after several years, I’ll give her as much nectar as she wants!

While I was feeding Nina some extra nectar, I heard footsteps coming from the forest.
Everyone immediately went on alert.



Then a man’s voice came from beyond the thicket, saying, “Finally made it.”
I’d heard that voice somewhere before.
As I wondered who it could be, the corporal, now an adventurer, emerged from the forest.
It looked like he had someone else accompanying him too.


Seeing someone they knew, the humans around me relaxed their guard.


“Sir Franz, what are you doing here?” Nina asked the corporal.

“I came into the forest to find out what was causing all the trouble in town, but I lost consciousness along the way.”


He was probably put to sleep by the older Dryad sister’s spirit magic.
I didn’t expect the corporal to have come into the forest as well.


“So Miss Alraune really was involved after all,” the corporal said, looking towards me.


Nina explained everything that had gone down to the corporal.

I see—so the corporal’s name is Franz.
It seems he quit being a soldier to become an adventurer, so I suppose he isn’t actually a corporal anymore.
But I’m already so used to calling him the corporal in my head that I think I’ll stick with it for now.


“So Miss Alraune wasn’t an enemy of humanity after all.”


The last time we met, the corporal told me that he believed me.
Our conversation ended there at the time, but since that day, so many more people have come to believe that I’m not their enemy.
Maybe it’s because the corporal believed in me first. I should thank him.


“Unless my eyes were playing tricks on me, I could’ve sworn you became enormous… you didn’t happen to smash the tower with your vines and spray honey everywhere, did you?”


Hearing the corporal’s words reminded me of something I’d completely forgotten.

That’s right.
I snapped the Goddess’s Tower in half!

And by “spray honey everywhere,” he probably meant the nectar mist I released while I was in my giant Rafflesia form.
Wait, am I going to get scolded for destroying the tower and releasing all that nectar mist…?


“You saved our lives twice, Miss Alraune. Thank you, truly.”


The corporal held one of my vines with both hands.
Rather than being angry, he actually seemed grateful.

After hearing the details, I learned that when I broke the Goddess’s Tower, it ended up protecting the corporal from the trolls attacking him.

What’s more, the nectar mist that filled the town apparently turned all the trolls there back into humans.
Without even realizing it, I had saved the corporal and the others.
And not just that, I’d seemingly saved the entire town too.


“That’s right. You saved the town!”


Suddenly, the young man who had been standing behind the corporal stepped forward.

He was a rather chubby gentleman.
Judging by his clothes, he was definitely a noble.
Actually, something about that face and build seems strangely familiar…


“Oh, my! To think an Alraune could be this beautiful… you’re even more stunning than what the Adventurer’s Guild described!”


I don’t really understand this guy, but he’s ridiculously excited.
His eyes were practically sparkling as he stared at me.


“Beautiful, wise, compassionate, and possessing peerless strength as a wielder of light magic. You’re the spitting image of Saint Iris, whom I have always admired!”


Ahh, now I remember.
This guy is the son of the lord of Tower City!
I met him a few times in the royal capital back when I was a saint.
He was a nobleman a few years older than me, and I believe his name was Manfred.
He left a strong impression on me because of the way he would always stare at me so intensely.


Every time we met, he would persistently beg me to let him draw my portrait.
I always refused because it was embarrassing, but he kept asking anyway. It got to the point where people from the church scolded him for pestering me too much.

And yet, when the kingdom later commissioned an official portrait of me, he somehow managed to be present for the sitting anyway.
At the time, I wondered why Manfred was there when he wasn’t even a court painter. It was only later that I found out through someone else that he had made a large donation to the church to get himself into the sitting.


Put simply, he was a fan of mine back when I was a saint.
So technically, he’s someone I’ve known before, even though we’ve barely ever spoken directly.


While I sat there blankly recalling all of this, Nina quietly explained things to me.


“This man is the lord of Tower City. He’s a great admirer of Lady Iris.”


I know that already!
He lived in Tower City, so he normally shouldn’t have been in the royal capital, yet inexplicably, I kept running into him over and over.


That said, I didn’t know he became the lord.
He probably inherited the position sometime during the three years between my death and my rebirth as an Alraune.
Manfred, it seems you’ve been through quite a lot too…

Apparently the lord now, Manfred spoke to me as he puffed up his chest.


“You know, I was actually the one who drew the picture on your wanted poster at the Adventurer’s Guild!”


You’re still drawing, Manfred?
And drawing wanted posters for the Adventurer’s Guild, no less? That doesn’t sound like a lord’s job at all.


“Ahh, seeing your face brings back memories. When I heard that Lady Iris had died, I was so overcome with grief that I couldn’t get out of bed for days…”


I’m genuinely happy that he mourned my death.

This was my first time meeting Manfred since becoming an Alraune, so I was a little concerned about whether we’d be able to get along. But I guess I had nothing to worry about.
If anything, his enthusiasm was so overwhelming that it was kind of putting me off…

I’d like to put a little distance between myself and Manfred, but I can’t.
I’m a plant, after all. Come on, roots! Just move a little for me!


As I leaned my body away from him, Manfred only grew more excited.


“To think I would ever have the honor of seeing Lady Iris’s face with my own eyes again! I’m ecstatic!”

“……I have nothing… to do with that… person.”

“No, I have spent years looking at portraits of Lady Iris, and there is no way an Alraune could resemble her this closely by coincidence. There’s no doubt about it. You are Lady Iris herself!”


W-Wait, seriously?

No one I’d met so far recognized me as Saint Iris right away.
Even Nina, who was a saint apprentice, didn’t suspect that I was Iris herself. To think that Manfred, of all people, would figure out my identity…!


As I struggled with whether I should reveal my true identity to him, Manfred’s eyes suddenly widened.


“Hmm…! Wait a moment. Perhaps I was wrong about you being Lady Iris…”


Manfred, who had been so cheerful until now, fell silent.
Then he stared at me intently.


“They’re bigger than Lady Iris’s…!”


──Bigger?
What is?

But while wondering what he meant, I noticed that his gaze was fixed directly on my chest.

I can’t believe it… when he said bigger, did he seriously mean that?!


Grrrr!
Now I’m mad.


This inexperienced young lord clearly doesn’t understand what being a saint means. I’ll have to teach him a proper lesson and set him straight.

And there’s no way I’m revealing my true identity to him now!

***

Author’s Note:

The Alraune was enraged. She resolved to do whatever she must to rid the lord of his erroneous ways.

Next Time: I’ll Help the Town