I’m an Alraune, a little plant monster girl.
And while I was supposed to be on my way to the botanical garden, the devil maid took me into an empty room instead.

The one waiting for me there—wasn’t the older Dryad sister.


The Dryad wears an eyepatch, but this one was looking at me with both eyes.
And although they looked identical, the body beneath them was different.
Instead of the back of a land tortoise, this Dryad was sprouting from the shoulder of a massive troll.


This wasn’t the Dryad.
It was the cloned Dryad she had introduced to me in her room the other day.
I’m pretty sure she said this was one of her direct subordinates, one of the Three Spirit Beasts.


“So… the original… isn’t here?”

“Lady Feagismeinnicht has already departed. The only ones here are you and us.”


If the Dryad had already left, then that means she was already on her way to the Forest of Dryades.


“Lady Feagismeinnicht’s orders are for us to eliminate the Alraune.”

“Why… me?”

“There’s no point pretending anymore. We already know you aided her little sister and were involved in Oin’s disappearance in the forest.”


So they had seen through everything.
Feagismeinnicht, one of the Four Heavenly Kings, and I are enemies.
That was a fact that could no longer be changed.


“If… you kill me… Lord Grüschwanz won’t… overlook it.”

“That won’t be a problem. The maid standing over there will be taking the blame for murdering you. We won’t suffer any consequences.”


So the maid was just being used too.


“Come… it’s time to kill each other.”


The troll Dryad slowly approached, hefting her club.
I need to get out of here!


“Maid… please run outside.”


I looked back towards the devil maid carrying me in her arms.
When I did, she started laughing, her mouth stretched wide open.
A blue flower was growing inside her mouth.

──No way! She’s being controlled!


The moment I realized that, the devil maid threw me.
The troll Dryad swung her club like a baseball bat and sent me flying.


──CRASH!

I slammed into the wall.


This is awful… my flowerpot shattered.

Now my lower half was completely exposed.
Without soil, my roots were showing, and it was so embarrassing.
On top of that, I couldn’t absorb any nutrients or water anymore. If this kept up, I was going to wither away.

Grr… how dare you break my precious flowerpot!
I won’t forgive you.
You troll Dryad—that’s too long. I’ll just call you Trolly.


“Eat it!”


Trolly raised her club high.
I wrapped my vines around it, stopping the blow.


“Then how about this!”


Trolly chanted a spirit spell.
Countless branches burst from the club, transforming into a group of spear-like spikes that lunged towards me.
I grew a mass of thorns, intercepting the branch-spears.


“Not bad. But let’s see how you handle this. Explode!”


The club in Trolly’s hands violently burst apart.
The shattered wood became a rain of razor-sharp splinters that poured down on me.
I raised a shield of vines and blocked the shower of splinters.
Her weapon was gone. This might be my chance to counterattack!

But Trolly didn’t seem bothered in the slightest having lost her weapon. Laughing gleefully, she grabbed her own left arm with her right hand.


“Spirit magic allows the user to manipulate the materials of nature. Combine that with a troll’s regenerative abilities… and you can do something like this.”


Trolly yanked her troll left arm clean off.
As she did, the severed arm began to transform into a club.
At the same time, a new left arm regenerated almost instantly.


“As if a tiny Alraune like you could possibly defend against us!”


Trolly hurled the club straight at me.
I’m just a little girl, and my roots aren’t even anchored in the soil. There was no way I could stop something like that.

My shield of vines wouldn’t be enough to block it… wait!
A cushion—that’s it!


As fast as I could, I generated Barometz’s golden cotton.
My cotton shield!


──THUD.


The club buried itself deep into the cotton.
But the cotton shield absorbed most of the impact, so it wasn’t a fatal blow.


“Come on! Come on! Come on! What’s wrong? Is that all you’ve got!”


Trolly continued hurling club after club.
Thanks to the golden cotton shield, I was somehow managing not to take a direct hit.
That said, I was completely on the defensive.


“So this is all an Alraune amounts to? We were hoping you’d put up more of a fight.”


Trolly seemed to genuinely enjoy bullying me.
Her way of speaking was a little different from the Dryad’s. Even if she was a clone, it seemed they didn’t share the exact same personality.


In any case, I had to stop her.
A troll’s weakness is fire and light magic.

Should I use my flaming vines again, like I did against the last troll?
No. That technique was a double-edged sword.
If it failed, I would burn along with my target, and I wouldn’t have a second chance.


Then light magic it is.
As a plant, I can no longer cast offensive spells directly. But I can produce nectar infused with light magic.
And so, I shall launch my counterattack.


Good day to you, Ms. Trolly.
I happen to be a maid here in the Demon King’s castle.

Allow me to teach such a barbaric lady as yourself the proper duties of a maid.


And what is one of a maid’s most fundamental tasks?

Laundry.

As a laundry maid, Ms. Trolly, I’ll have you sparkling clean.


Hidden behind my cotton shield, I made myself busy growing a bubble bush.
Let’s wash you from head to toe with bubbles, shall we?
As for the detergent, I’ll use my nectar.
After all, if I could mix chili pepper juice into the liquid before, then surely I could mix my own nectar into it as well.


“My, my… what adorable little bubbles. Have you given up and decided to start playing around instead?”


Trolly swatted the bubbles with her club.
The countless bubbles I sent out burst into splashes of water in an instant beneath her relentless barrage.


“So you thought these little things would make me let my guard down? A pointless effort!”

“Then… please enjoy these… instead.”


While Ms. Trolly’s attention was focused on the bubbles, it was time for my next duty.
Now that her body is nice and clean, let’s move on to a meal.

Time for the parlor maid to step in.

Today’s dinner is my seed.
Please, do enjoy them to your heart’s content.
Hidden behind my cotton shield, I quietly generated my squirting cucumber machine gun and took aim.

Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop!


“What?!”


Completely absorbed in swatting the bubbles, Trolly failed to notice the seeds fired from inside the cotton.

Several thorn-covered seeds pierced the troll’s chest.


“You think you’ve accomplished something? It’s useless! With a troll’s regenerative abilities, wounds from mere seeds—”

“It doesn’t seem… to be regenerating… though.”

“What did you say?!”


Instead of healing, the troll’s wounds only kept spreading wider and wider.

That’s because I’d filled the seeds with nectar infused with light magic.
Did you enjoy the flavor of my nectar, which even Fire Dragon-sama loves so much?

Oh my, you really shouldn’t be so picky.
It seems trolls don’t like nectar infused with light magic.
The nectar was purifying the troll, melting away its flesh.


“GRAAAAAAAAH!!”


Since the cloned Dryad was fused with the troll, the damage was affecting her as well.
Judging by the scream, she seemed to be protesting that it wasn’t dinnertime yet.
Or perhaps… she was volunteering to become today’s main ingredient herself.

In that case, it’s time for this kitchen maid to show off her skills.


I’m quite good at lighting the stove.
Using the ability of the eucalyptus, I ignited my vines on fire.
Then I gently wrapped them around Trolly.

Like a nursery maid soothing a restless child, I calmed the struggling Trolly down.
There, there…
It’ll all be over soon.


Perhaps comforted by the warmth of this maid’s vines, Trolly had been burned completely black.
Bedtime had arrived.
She’s fallen fast asleep. It’s as though she’ll never wake up again.

With my babysitting done, my duties as a maid were complete.
Using the lithops’ molting ability, I shed the burning vines, eliminating any risk of me catching on fire.

You certainly gave me quite the beating, but how did you find my service?
As a maid, I served you with the utmost care.


Trolly had called me a tiny Alraune.
But I’m the personal maid of Fire Dragon-sama.
Please don’t lump me together with ordinary maids.



“W-Where am I…? And this mess… what happened here?”


A voice called from the doorway.
Turning around, I saw the devil maid trembling as she stared at me.


Oh right.
There had been another maid in this room.
Even so, she’d just been under the older Dryad sister’s control. I can’t let my guard down.


“You’re… an Alraune? But you’re wearing a maid’s uniform… who exactly are you?!”


The devil maid asked me in a fluster.
That’s strange. The way she spoke to me made it sound like she didn’t know me.


“You already… know who I am… don’t you?”

“I don’t know you. I don’t know anything about some plant monster like you.”


What’s going on here?

The devil maid and I have crossed paths many times, and she had even mocked me by calling me a “vase.”
So hearing her speak as though we were complete strangers was honestly a little shocking.
Could her memories have become fuzzy?


That’s when I noticed it.

Lying at the devil maid’s feet…

…was a blue flower.

***

Author’s Note:

Lithops: A succulent in the Aizoaceae family. Because it closely resembles a small stone, it is also known as the “living stone.”

Next Time: Preparing the Escape