Barometz asked me if I would be her friend.


Ever since becoming an Alraune, I’ve actually made quite a lot of friends.
Most of them are my female knights, Lady Butterfly, and other butterfly ladies.

But I’ve never truly spoken with any of them.
We can communicate to some extent through body language, but not completely.
And honestly, our relationships are built on the fact I can produce nectar.


Recently, I’ve gained more companions who can at least understand words, even if they aren’t exactly friends.

The little witch is the one raising me and my little sister, so she’s family.
Kiri became my personal fairy, so she’s basically family too.
The Amazon Treant is my little junior, which also makes her family.


I feel like Nina, the apprentice saint, and I finally came to understand one another, but we’re ultimately just in a senior-junior relationship.
The corporal-turned-adventurer is still only an acquaintance.

And Lady Dryad is more like my employer who hired me for bodyguard work.


So until now, I’d never truly had a friend I could actually talk to.


This Barometz grew from a stem, and her lower body resembled golden cotton bolls.
A coat of golden fluff covered her upper body, while her face was that of a beautiful human girl.
And she had sheep horns growing from her head.


She was a plant monster much like myself.


To me, who spent so long rooted motionless in the forest, she felt like a kindred spirit trapped in the same circumstances.
I can’t think of her as a stranger at all.


So I answered without hesitation.


“Let’s become… friends. I’m… happy too.”


The moment Barometz heard my reply, her face lit up with joy, throwing both hands into the air.


“Yayyyyyyyyyyy!!”


Cotton-like hands stretched out from Barometz.
My vines and her fluffy hands intertwined together.


“This is the first time in my life that I’ve ever made a friend.”

“I-Is it really… that exciting?”

“Yes. Until now, I lived in the human world as a plant that produced golden wool. Because of that, I never really had the opportunity to make friends.”


As she said that, Barometz asked, “Would you care to hear a story from my homeland, the Empire?”

When I answered that of course I would, Barometz began speaking with a relieved expression.


“Many years ago, a single seedling was brought to the Imperial Palace. That seedling was an incredibly rare plant said to produce golden wool, the only one left on the entire continent.”


Golden wool.
So this story is really about Barometz herself.


“That seedling grew splendidly and came to be known as the Golden Fleece Barometz. Humans treasured her greatly, because they believed she would produce enormous amounts of golden wool every day. However, when the Barometz matured, what she produced was not wool, but cotton.”


Barometz gently stroked the fluffy boll of her lower body.


“Even so, her value remained extremely high, and the Barometz continued to be treated with great care. Since she grew in the palace courtyard, the royal princesses and maids doted on the rare Barometz and raised her with great affection. Thanks to them, she learned human language, writing, as well as common knowledge about daily life.”


So that’s why Barometz occasionally talks like a refined young lady.
With traces of the ways maids speak mixed in, it gives her a rather distinctive manner of speech.


“Once the Barometz learned to speak, she revealed her secret to the young ladies, not knowing that it was a mistake…”


Barometz’s expression darkened.


“In truth, the Barometz could not only produce golden cotton, but golden wool as well. Up until that point, nobody had noticed because she wore clothing made of fluffy cotton. But all the hair on her human self, head and body, was actually made of golden wool. Once the young ladies learned this, they immediately told the adults. And from that moment onward, the Barometz’s life changed completely……”

“……What… happened?”

“Golden wool is body hair. In other words, the Barometz was forced daily to have every last strand of hair cut from her body. Although the Barometz was born as a plant, she had been raised while being doted on by the young ladies of the palace, so in her heart, she believed herself to be human.”


I tightly squeezed the cotton hand of the still-dejected Barometz.
Meeting my gaze, Barometz continued speaking.


“Every day, my body was stripped bare and my head shaved completely bald. To the people of the palace, I was not a girl. I was merely a tool, a plant that produced gold.”


A single tear fell from Barometz’s eyes.

A life spent being treated as nothing more than a disposable resource, existing solely to produce golden cotton and wool.
For Barometz, who had grown up believing herself to be human, that must’ve been unbearably painful.


“In this botanical garden, they don’t treat me the way they did at the Imperial Palace. They harvest the cotton fluff, yes, but when I said I hated having my wool taken, no demon ever tried to shear me. Still, I was all alone in the botanical garden for so long. That’s why—”


Holding back her tears with tiny hiccuping breaths, Barometz stared directly into my eyes.


“That’s why, I am truly happy to have made a friend who’s also a plant monster!”


Perhaps overcome with emotion, Barometz suddenly burst into loud sobbing.
Even my vine, held tightly in her cotton hand, was being shaken around wildly.


“I finally understand now! I was born and lived all this time so I could become friends with you today! This is the happiest moment of my entire life!”


Being told something like that makes me feel embarrassed.
I never expected someone to be this overjoyed just because I became their friend, to the point that I hardly knew how to react.
No one has ever been this happy for simply being my friend before.

Not back when I was a high school girl. Not when I was a saint. And not even after becoming an Alraune.

That’s why I truly feel glad I got to be friends with Barometz.
Honestly, just meeting her alone may have made being kidnapped to this botanical garden worthwhile.


“After crying so much, I’ve become quite hungry. I think I’ll help myself to a little snack from the nearby plants.”


Barometz started plucking up the surrounding grass with her cotton hands.
Then she munched away energetically.
Her appetite really is incredible.


──Chomp.


“Oh my, this is a flavor I’ve never tasted before. It’s absolutely delicious. I think I may fall in love with it.”


…Wait a second.
Just now, I got the distinct feeling of someone biting down on one of my vines……


“Oh dear, what shall I do? I am terribly sorry. I seem to have done something awful.”


Inside Barometz’s mouth was a very familiar-looking vine.
That’s right—it was my vine!


“I accidentally ate one of your vines. I am so sorry……”


Eeeeeeek!!
Someone just ate my vineeeeeee!


So is this what it feels like to be prey!?

Uwaaaaaah!
The last time I was ever on the side of being eaten was when I died as a saint.
This is honestly a little scary.


“I truly apologize. As compensation, if you’d like, would you care to eat a part of me?”

“Huh?”

“Oh my, could it be that you’re not herbivorous, but carnivorous?”

“No… I’m omnivorous.”


A relationship where we eat each other.
What is this terrifying friendship!?


──Chomp.


W-Wait, while we were talking, she ate another one of my vines toooooo!

At this rate, I’m going to end up as Barometz’s food!


What should I do?
I may have become friends with someone truly outrageous.

Caretaker, help meeeee!

***

Author’s Note:

Barometz can freely manipulate her golden cotton, allowing her to grow and extend it however she pleases. Because of that, harvesting the cotton itself doesn’t bother her. However, her wool is different, which is why she especially hates having it taken.

Next Time: The Presence of a Heavenly King