Well then, today’s the day of the joint dance party between the Forest Club and the Demon King’s Army.

The rules are simple. Whoever can dance the longest wins.

Aside from me, we’ve got thirty of the female knights, plus about ten butterflies led by Lady Butterfly.

Opposing us is the one eyepatch-wearing minotaur who uses fire magic, two regular minotaurs, and five cow-type monsters called Ereshteia.


If you count numbers alone, the Forest Club has 41 against the Demon King’s Army’s eight, which gives us an advantage. But it’s not that simple.

All of the enemy minotaurs are warriors clad in armor and armed. And that eyepatch one? He wields fire magic.

Even now, his massive axe is fused with flames, blazing with a roar.
Touching that even once would turn all of us into charcoal.

I’m a plant so I’m obviously vulnerable to fire, but Ms. Bee and Lady Butterfly are weak to fire too.

This is just a terrible matchup.


The biggest problem is definitely the eyepatch minotaur.
I’ll take him.

But even if I leave the two other minotaurs to the knights and Lady Butterfly, they still have those five Ereshteia bulls under their command.

Rather than the gentle, milk-filled dairy cows, they look more like raging bulls who’d follow their bestial instincts to charge a red cape without hesitation.

Come to think of it, my flower crown is red.
What if they mistook it for a cape and charged at my petals?
Even if they did, I wouldn’t be able to dodge them. After all, I’m a plant.


Wait a moment.
All five bulls had loads of supplies strapped onto them.

Maybe they’re just pack animals for marching.
If so, they might not be all that strong in combat.

Still, the charge of an Ereshteia is a pain to deal with.

All right, let’s take down the bulls first.


Now then, cows and friends. Welcome to the ball, otherwise known as a martial arts tournament in disguise.

Turns out my attack range was the widest here.
Thanks to that, I get to be the show opener again.

First, I must express my gratitude to the gentlemen for attending.

Good day.
I am an Alraune, your hostess for tonight’s ball.

Please remember me fondly. Well, assuming you have a future to remember anything.

And with that, allow me to present a welcome bouquet of poisonous pollen.


The minotaur reacted fast. He stepped in front of the nearby Ereshteias and used his axe like a shield, protecting both himself and the monsters from the poison.

Putting his fellow bulls before dancing with me, how devoted. I’ve never seen men pair up like this in person. I’m not sure how to feel.

Only the two bulls outside of the minotaur’s protection appreciated my greeting. They’re foaming at the mouth and keeling over in praise of me. How sweet of them.

Well, I suppose that will do.
We’re now at 41 to 6.

Gentlemen, feel free to choose your lady.

Come, everyone, let’s make sure our guests are properly entertained.
The social season begins now!


The female knights surrounded the two ordinary minotaurs and the Ereshteia bulls.

Maybe it’s the sheer number, but the gentlemen couldn’t escort the ladies very well. The minotaurs, flustered by the overwhelming number of partners, swung their axes around in confusion. The Ereshteias, meanwhile, were being stung by the ladies’ needles.

Lady Butterfly fluttered around the remaining enemies, performing her delicate dance.

A cloud of scales fell over the men. Any Ereshteias that breathed it in started twitching and stiffening up. Looks like butterfly scales in this world have a paralytic effect.

The minotaurs, covering their mouths to avoid inhaling the scales, seemed unable to counterattack Lady Butterfly effectively with their axe.

The Forest Club ladies really are impressive. Even if they can’t deliver fatal blows, they can keep the Demon King’s forces occupied.

And if they keep buying time, I’ll eventually get free to deal the finishing blow.

But that means I need to play my part too.


The eyepatch minotaur approached, brandishing his flaming axe.

Your partner is me.
Allow me to invite you to a dance with my thorns.

Right, left, right, left—I extended thorns one after another to take his arm.

He refused.
Seems he doesn’t like prickly women.

He sliced my vines down with sharp, practiced swings. The severed ends burned by his axe were slow to regenerate, perhaps because they were burned by his flaming axe.

That’s fire magic for you.
Plants really don’t get along with it.

He looked at me with a mocking grin.

Drool dripped from his mouth, and his gaze burned as it lingered over me.

I can’t lose to a creature like this.
Maybe it’s because of the intensity of the fight, but I’m starting to feel a little heated up.

——Wait. Something’s wrong.
No, seriously, I’m actually burning!

Hot, hot, hot!

One of my brambles had burst into flames. It must’ve brushed against his flaming axe.

The flames raced down the vine towards me like a fuse, creeping closer and closer.


Huh. Wait a minute!
This is really bad!

My vines are connected directly to my bulb. If the vine burns, I burn.

I tried whipping the burning vine around to snuff it out, but it’s useless. If I touch it with another vine, that one will ignite too.

Is this it for me?

I underestimated him. Fire is my greatest, strongest enemy.
I couldn’t defeat the flames.

I don’t want this!
I don’t want to burn!

The burning section of the vine gradually turned black and crumbly. What used to be a healthy green coil was now collapsing into charcoal.

That vine was my future.
When the fire reaches my core, everything will burn.

First, the bulb would ignite. Then, the corolla and leaves would be incinerated in an instant. As my body burned, I—the pistil—would be enveloped in flames, burning away.

My body will become ash, returning to the earth
The remaining ashes would be scattered into the wind, disappearing into the sky like mist.

And so, I’ll vanish from this world without a trace

That future was only a few dozen blinks away.

At times like this, I want water.
Not to drink, but to put out the fire.


At this point I just want one last peaceful moment of photosynthesizing and forget everything else.

There’s nothing I can do.
I really am done for.


——If I were alone here, I might’ve really given up.

But I’m not alone. I have allies now.
For their sake, I must keep fighting until the end.

It’ll take a little time before the fire reaches my main body.
I have to do whatever I can with the time I’ve got.

For all the Forest Club ladies who came to help me.
Even if it’s just a little, this is the least I can do to repay them……!


The eyepatch minotaur gave his final warning, “Surrender, and we won’t kill you.”
He sounded so confident.

Well, too bad for him. I’m not planning to become a dessert or a decorative houseplant pet.
If I’m going down, I’m dragging these bulls with me and turning them into barbecue!


Now then. Time for the real show.

Plant monsters have burning hearts too.
Witness the performance of a flower, drifting among burning vines, dazzling and magnificent.
The final act of a flower who refuses to wilt.

I shall show you a dance of passion, blazing fiercely in both body and soul.

Witness the glorious bloom of an Alraune’s finale.

***

Author’s Note:

There will be two updates today.

Next Time: The Elegant Lady Smiles with a Covered Mouth