My last dance partner was the eyepatch minotaur.
He was their leader, so as far as partners go, he was a perfect match.


All the other enemies had been taken out.
Only this one minotaur remained.

On my side, the damage was also tremendous.
More than half of the bee brigade was wiped out, and several of Lady Butterfly’s attendants would never flutter home again.

I can’t forgive something like this. Not ever.

I won’t let anyone else in the Forest Club get hurt.

I’ll take on the leader myself.


It seemed the minotaur was angry about losing his allies too.
With a face twisted in fury, he charged at me, raising his blazing axe overhead.

That fire imbued axe was going to be a problem.
How am I going to deal with it?

Hiding my mouth behind my fluffy feathered axe shaped fan, I thought it over.

If that flaming axe hit me directly, it’s game over.
He could throw it too, so I sent dozens of thorn-shields underground in front of me just in case.

Leaving only a few thorns in reserve, I launched a simultaneous strike from above and below.

The eyepatch minotaur conjured a ring of fire to block the thorns.
A vortex of flame swirled around him.

Ugh, I really can’t beat fire.
My thorns would just burn up trying to pierce through that.

But an axe could get through, right?

I flicked my fan-axe and sent it flying at him.
A sharp sound echoed from inside the flames. Too bad, it seems he blocked it.

While he was occupied, I stretched out some vines and retrieved the two axes I had thrown earlier.

With that, I replenished my fans.
Props are what bring color to a ball, after all. Although I’m already eye-catching as is, being a flower.

Just as I was admiring the iron feather-fan, an axe flew out from inside the flames.

The eyepatch minotaur had thrown his at me too.

I quickly created a wall of thorns.
But the flaming axe tore through it without effort.


Eek!?

I blocked the incoming axe with my prop fan.

Only an axe can stop an axe.

That was close.
Without my fan, I would have been split right down the middle.

Yes, fans are absolutely essential at a ball. I’ll have to keep one on me at all times from now on.


From within the flames, the eyepatch minotaur emerged.

He had taken the axe I had thrown and equipped them.
And it seems he’s already cast magic on his new axe—because it was now glowing with flames.

I picked up the axe he had thrown at me and rearmed myself with another fan.


Realizing that throwing attacks wouldn’t end this, the eyepatch minotaur advanced.
He seemed to want to finish this up close.

But I didn’t care about his preferences. I hurled another iron fan at him.

Sure enough, he blocked it again with his flaming axe.


I had learned a new technique: throwing items at the enemy.
But it wasn’t just axes I could throw.

I’d taken more than just that from the minotaur.
Yes, among my spoils from the scout minotaur were a vial of paralyzing potion and a vial of sleeping potion.

I secretly slipped vines toward his blind side, his left side with the eyepatch, and tossed both bottles at once.

Just after the minotaur deflected my axe, the two bottles flew in.
Even he couldn’t react in time, and they shattered against his helmet.

The bottles broke, scattering the contents into the air.

That should keep him from moving now.

The potions must’ve worked, as the eyepatch minotaur staggered. Yes, it worked.
But in the next moment, unbelievably, he pressed the flaming blade of his axe against his own left arm and began burning himself.

The smell of searing flesh filled the air.

With pain strong enough to jolt him awake, he shook off the drowsiness and regained his stance.
As expected of a leader, his determination was terrifying.

Then, before the paralysis spread throughout his whole body, he pulled out two small bottles and swallowed them.

Ah, he took antidotes again.
Those were probably specifically for the sleep and paralyzing potion.

My carefully crafted plan was ruined.
And I’d ran out of potions. What should I do?

I glanced at the corpse of the fallen minotaur nearby.
Almost as if he’d read my intentions, the eyepatch minotaur reached into his fallen comrade’s pouch and helped himself to the medicines inside.

As expected of my final dance partner.
He saw right through me.

Fine then, ‘I’ll take something too,’ I thought.
I sent vines toward the Ereshteias’ packs and rummaged through them.

Hm, he didn’t try to stop me.
Which probably meant there were no antidotes left in those bags.

Inside the bulls’ packs were mostly food and water.
Lots of meat, unsurprisingly, since these monsters were carnivorous.

Oh, but here were some leaves.
I didn’t know minotaurs had a taste for leafy greens.

No, wait, these weren’t ordinary leaves.


Traum grass.
In this world, it’s used as an ingredient to make sleeping agents.

And Faol grass.
A component for paralysis potions.

The very same herbs used to make the sleeping and paralyzing potions I had thrown earlier.

I had suspected they might carry raw ingredients as backup if they planned to use potions in battle.

I didn’t know if they had brought them from base or gathered them in the forest, but finding them was lucky.

I drew the Traum grass and Faol grass toward myself.

The eyepatch minotaur barked, “Useless!”

He was right.
They were only raw ingredients. On their own, they barely had any effect.

Even if I fed him the leaves as they are, he’d probably just get a little sleepy and feel some numbness in his limbs.
Without processing, they won’t become items potent enough for combat.


Exactly, so all I have to do is process them. Inside my body, that is!

I popped both leaves into my mouth.

Time for a bit of genetic modification.
Separating toxins from my poison pollen, I combined the traits of the Traum and Faol grasses one by one.

Plant Generation complete.

I immediately fired a shot, releasing blue pollen at the eyepatch minotaur.
This was the sleeping powder.

Next, I released yellow pollen.
That was the paralysis powder. It has the same effect as Lady Butterfly’s scales.


Both powders swirled toward the eyepatch minotaur.

But once again he swung his axe and raised a vortex of flame.
Guess a frontal attack just wouldn’t work, huh.

This was going nowhere.

We would stay evenly matched like this.
And with his fire magic involved, I was even at a disadvantage.

The fact that he wielded fire, my weakness, already gave him the advantage.

If I didn’t make a move soon, I’d lose.


Fortunately, I still had the three axes I’d taken from the minotaurs.
Since I had all these blades, I decided to add a little modification to one.

I threw the axe I had just altered.

He blocked it again.
This was the third time.

The eyepatch minotaur stepped out of the flames, holding the axe I had just thrown.
Dual‑wielding axes, huh.

I had thought he might’ve thrown one again, but instead he kept them both.
Rather than hurling them at me like before, he decided to equip them.
He didn’t realize he had chosen the wrong path.

Suddenly, he dropped his axes.

His arm twitched violently.

He stared at me in confusion.
The reason was the new axe he had just picked up.

I had wrapped a vine of paralytic thorns around its handle.

If I could produce paralysis powder, I could also create thorns carrying the same effect.

I wrapped those thorns around the axe handle and severed the vine with another axe so the vine stayed in place.

Then I threw the thorn-wrapped axe toward his blind side.

Because of the eyepatch and the flames obscuring his view, he must’ve not noticed the thorns.

So the moment he gripped the axe, the thorns pierced his skin, and the paralysis kicked in.

Even if he had noticed the vine, he would have been pricked the moment he tried to peel it off.
And just that alone, I figured, would be enough to make the paralysis kick in.


It’s as they say, third time’s the charm.
Let’s bring this to a close.

Without his axes, he shouldn’t be able to defend himself with his ring of fire.

While the minotaur had his axes on the ground, I fired paralytic powder from my flower crown.
At the same time, I made man-eater flowers bloom from the brambles on all sides around him, spreading toxic pollen.

Two kinds of pollen filled the air around him.

The minotaur tried to pull out an antidote, but unlike before, his arms were too numb to properly grasp the vial.


Speaking of which, the ballroom dance wasn’t quite over.
At least for the finale, I ought to lead my partner properly.

I bound his arms with paralytic vines.

Now, let go of that antidote bottle.
Eating or drinking during a dance is not appropriate.

Maybe he doesn’t have the energy to use magic anymore.
He seems to be clinging to consciousness with the last of his will, but he can no longer put up any resistance.

The eyepatch minotaur slumped, dropping his arms.

Oh dear, partner.
Before you fall, I have something to ask.

“What business… do you have in… this forest?”

As the Lord of the Forest, I needed to know why the Demon King’s army had entered the woods.

“…No business here. Work ahead. That’s all.”

“Work? What kind?”

No reply came from the minotaur.
Instead, he let out a roar with the last of his strength.

His right arm had burst into flame. He was using fire magic.

Unbelievable.
With no weapons left, he set his own body on fire.

After confirming the flames had risen, he whispered faintly:

“Lord Grüschwanz… please forgive me…”

And so, the final dance between me and the eyepatch minotaur came to an end.

The dance was over.


Phew.
I survived somehow.

That was dangerously close.
I truly thought I was going to burn to death, I was even ready to die.

Our matchup was bad, and he was incredibly strong.

I never imagined fire magic would be this dangerous.

Even so, I was lucky he was a warrior type.
If he had been a magic specialist mage type minotaur, I wouldn’t have stood a chance.
There’s no way I would’ve survived if he kept firing fire magic from afar.

It was truly close.


Hmm? Fire?

Now that I thought about it, his arm had started burning at the end… Oh no, what do we do?


Emergency.

That minotaur had done it.

The flames on his right arm had spread to a nearby tree.

By the time the fire had engulfed his whole body, the tree was already burning.


No way.
I can’t believe it.

This guy tried to take me down with him.
If the forest burned, I’d burn too. There would be no escape.

This was no way to end things.
What a terrible dance partner!


This was the true end of the ball.
The beginning of the end.


Not only that tree, but the branches of the next tree had also now caught on fire.
If it kept spreading like this, there was only one possible future


The forest would burn.

And that was the one thing I couldn’t let happen.

If the forest went up in flames, I couldn’t run.
Because I’m a plant. I can’t walk.

So please, calm down.

I’ll burn too!

Hey, you tree over there!
Don’t let it spread!
Please hang in there!

Aaaaahhhh!!
It caught fire…


What should I do?
I might burn too…

***

Author’s Note:

There will be two updates today.
If you thought this chapter was fun or felt like I’m doing my best, I would be very happy if you supported me with a bookmark or five-star rating. Your support really motivates my writing.

Next Time: The Forest’s on Fire