I’m an Alraune, a plant monster girl.
And I just caught sight of the very same Fire Dragon-sama who burned me alive several months ago.


It was because I ate the eyepatch minotaur who served under Fire Dragon-sama.
So he came after me to avenge his subordinate.


Last time, I managed to survive by pollinating myself and transferring my consciousness into a new body.
But if I’m discovered again, I might be gone for real.


If I remember correctly, Fire Dragon-sama’s name was Grüschwanz.
If the owner of this botanical garden has the same name as the one I know, then sooner or later, Fire Dragon-sama may end up finding me.


If I could, I would love to run away and hide. But that’s impossible.
In the end, I’m just a flower planted in a botanical garden.
No matter what I do, there’s no way for me to escape from here.


I have, however, actually thought of one possible way to escape and return to the little witch. It’s just that I can’t do it right now.
If I can find that certain plant somewhere in this botanical garden, I might finally have a chance to get away.

So until then, I think I’ll just take it easy here.



“Barometz, look at this!”


Using Plant Generation, I created a branch shaped like a round ring.
I waved it around, a white liquid dripping from it.
Then, soap bubbles began floating out of the branch!


“A-Alraune, ah, bubbles are coming out!”


Barometz looked completely astonished.

I used one of the plants I’d recently eaten to make some soap bubbles.

This is the bubble bush.
Its proper name is Jatropha curcas, but this plant can be used to make soap bubbles.

When one of its branches is broken, it releases a white sap containing the same compounds as soap. It’s a fascinating plant. Blow through the branch like a straw, and soap bubbles come floating out.


Unfortunately, since I’m a plant, I can’t blow air from my mouth.
So I simply created a tool instead.
By generating the bubble bush in the shape of a circular ring, I made a bubble wand.

Then all I had to do was swing it like a racket, and—ta-da! Huge soap bubbles would come floating out one after another!


“Amazing! Bubbles are coming out! How does it do that…?”

“These are… called soap bubbles. The liquid that… creates them comes out of the… branch.”

“To think you can do something like this too. I really can’t believe you’re just an ordinary plant, Alraune. What do I need to do to become special like you?”


From my perspective, I think Barometz, who can produce golden cotton and wool, is the special one.


“I want to try it too!”

“Then here. You can have this… bubble bush. Normally… if you blow through the branch… bubbles come out easily.”

“Like this?”


Barometz placed the branch to her lips and blew through it like a straw.
At once, a stream of soap bubbles poured from the branch and drifted through the air.


“This is so much fun!”


Watching Barometz happily make soap bubbles, I couldn’t help but feel a little strange.

Because if she could blow through the branch like a straw… that meant she must possess some kind of pump-like organ inside her body that allowed her to blow air.


Barometz, could it be that you—


“Do you… breathe with lungs?”


The moment Barometz heard my question, her expression froze.
Slowly, she lowered the bubble wand.


“I’ve made a mistake. I never imagined you’d figure it out from this. And as I thought, you really don’t have lungs.”


I breathe too, but I do it through the stomata on the surface of my leaves.
I’m not actually breathing through my human mouth.

But Barometz was breathing with her lungs, just like a human.
──Even though she’s a plant.


“Alraune, there’s one thing I’ve been lying to you about.”


Barometz took a deep breath, as though steeling herself.
Then, with a guilty expression, she began speaking.


“I am the odd one out in this botanical garden. Because unlike you, I am not truly a plant monster.”

“What… do you mean?”

“The truth is… a Barometz is half beastfolk and half plant. So while my lower body is made of plant matter, my upper body isn’t a plant at all. It’s made of flesh, just like a human’s.”


──Half beastfolk, half plant.

Hearing that made several things click into place.
I’d been wondering why a plant monster could produce wool, which was an animal fiber, but that explains it.


“My upper half is an animal. That’s why, strictly speaking, I was never really one of your kind, Alraune…”

“Barometz…”


My human body only looks human because it’s a plant mimicking one. In reality, I’m fully made out of plant matter.
But Barometz wasn’t mimicking anything. She was genuinely a fusion of beastfolk and plant.


“I am neither human, nor can I belong among ordinary animal monsters. And I can’t even become a complete plant. A half-baked existence, that’s what I am. I know I lied to you, and if you despise me for that, then I suppose I deserve it…”

“I don’t despise… you.”

“B-But I am not entirely plant. Only my lower half is. The rest of me is made of the same flesh as the humans, animal monsters, and even demons that attacked you in the forest.”


I remember something from a little while ago, when the Dryad of the Four Heavenly Kings was examining Barometz.

At the time, she said, “Barometz truly is the perfect fusion of plant and animal.”
Upon hearing that, Barometz had looked at me before lowering her gaze in guilt.

Now I understood why.
Because she wasn’t fully a plant monster like I was, but instead half-beastfolk half-plant, she had felt guilty.


But honestly, Barometz…
That doesn’t bother me at all.


“Do you remember… what I told you? About how… I have family in the… forest? With a witch… and a fairy?”

“Yes. You’ve told me many times.”

“Then it… doesn’t matter. Even if you’re half beastfolk… I don’t care.”


And besides, Barometz
I used to be a human saint.

The Alraune I am now was born from the fusion of a saint and a plant monster.
So really, I’m not all that different from you.
Maybe that’s why, after hearing your story, I feel even closer to you than before.


“I like… the plant part of you. And I like the… part of you… that isn’t a plant… too.”


I don’t know how a beastfolk body and a plant ended up fused together, but that doesn’t change anything. Barometz is still my fellow plant monster, just as she always has been.


“Alraune… thank you so very much.”


Barometz burst into tears.


“As a token of our reconciliation, I’d like you to eat me.”


Huh? W-Wait a second, Barometz. What are you suddenly saying?


“We’re friends, aren’t we? But also, it’s my way of repaying you for eating your vine the other day. If you eat my golden cotton, perhaps it can help you, even if just a little.”


Ah, so she meant her cotton.
I was worried Barometz had awakened to some strange new hobby for a moment.


“If you absorb my cotton, you’ll be able to produce it as well, won’t you? It may become useful someday. That’s why I want you to eat some of me.”


Honestly, the ability to create Barometz’s golden cotton is something I desperately wanted.
Friends eating pieces of each other made for a rather strange relationship. But since she was offering, I decided to accept.


“Alright then… I’ll accept it.”

“Yes. But it’s my first time being eaten, so please be gentle with me…”


Using my vines, I plucked a tuft of golden cotton from Barometz.
The moment I harvested it, I heard her let out a sweet sigh.


“Haa…”


I popped the pinch of golden cotton into my lower mouth and swallowed it whole.

──Munch.


Just like that, I gained the ability to create Barometz’s golden cotton.
I immediately tried growing some from one of my vines.

A tiny cotton flower bloomed on the vine.
I now can produce soft, golden cotton all on my own.


It worked, but this golden cotton is exhausting to make. Even producing a tiny amount like this is pretty exhausting.
Unlike Barometz, who’s a unique species, ordinary plants aren’t meant to produce something as extraordinary as gold, so it seems to put a considerable strain on my body.



As for the golden wool, I had no intention of asking for that.
I’m fairly certain that even if I ate some, I wouldn’t gain the ability to produce it through Plant Generation.

The golden wool is an animal fiber produced by Barometz’s beastfolk half, making it not plant material.
In other words, even if I ate the wool, I probably wouldn’t be able to grow it from my own body, since it isn’t a plant.

Besides, wool is a painful subject for Barometz. And if I couldn’t absorb it as an ability anyway, there was no reason to push the issue.


“I’ve been eaten by Alraune. Which means the one who took my first time was Alraune.”


Barometz hid her face behind her cotton while fidgeting bashfully.

That wording definitely sounded wrong. It’s probably better not to think too hard about it.


In any case, I can now make golden cotton bloom whenever I want.



My thoughts drifted to the little witch far away.

If I ever managed to return to the forest, we might finally be able to leave our poor life behind.
With golden cotton, we’d never have to worry about money again.

We might even become rich.


And then, the little witch wouldn’t have to spend her days working and selling my nectar anymore.
We could just spend our days living together peacefully in the forest.


──Ah, little witch.

It’s been such a long time since I last saw your face.


I want to see you again…

***

Author’s Note:

Bubble Bush: This plant can be used to make soap bubbles. It is also used as a raw material for products such as soap and candles. However, it is poisonous, and its seeds in particular contain potent toxins, so caution is advised.
(Jatropha curcas) Family: Euphorbiaceae.

Cotton: In Japanese, the word wata can refer to several kinds of soft fibrous material. Besides plant cotton (mokumen), silk floss made from silkworms is called mawata.
(Genus: Gossypium) Family: Malvaceae

Next Time: Diary; The Little Witch’s First Search for the Alraune (Part One)


TL’s Note:

When the Jatropha curcas is snapped or cut, a cloudy, white sap oozes out to seal its wound. It’s this sap that contains soap-like properties that can be used to blow bubbles. However, manufactured products do not typically use the sap of the J. curcas, instead opting for the fatty acid extracted from its seeds.