I’m an Alraune, a plant monster child.
Right now, the little witch and I are caught in a frog’s tongue, covered in sticky slime.


It seems this frog is herbivorous.
After all, I could see a blue flower inside its mouth.

Which means… if this keeps up, I’ll get eaten by the frog!


The frog’s tongue snagged the bucket too, so there’s basically no way out.
For now, being dragged straight into its mouth and swallowed whole would be the worst-case scenario.


In an instant, I shot my vines toward a nearby tree trunk.
I began wrapping the sturdy trunk tightly with my vines.

This should be enough.
Even if the frog pulls, it’ll just turn into a tug-of-war between my vines and its tongue.

I guess not having my roots in the ground is a problem. That’s why I can just get dragged around like this, planting pot included.

At least this buys me some time. I don’t have to worry about being eaten right away.


I shifted my gaze toward the mottled frog.

Just as I thought.
This frog isn’t a prince or anything like that. It’s just a wild frog monster.

In this world, you don’t run into princes like White Bird-san very often.

And beings that can transform into animals are probably limited to witches anyway.
If several witches showed up within a few days, that would be surprising in its own way.

The white-haired girl, being a witch, seemed completely flustered and didn’t know what to do.


If I released poisonous pollen while the little witch is tangled up in my vines, she might inhale it along with the frog.

What’s worse, the little witch probably has no combat experience at all.
I can’t let her be exposed to any more danger.

As her big sister, I have to do something!


──That’s it!

The sundew-like plant from this world that the little witch gave me earlier.

Let’s try using its ability.

From what I remember back in my high school days, sundews are basically sticky, flypaper-type carnivorous plants.

They have glandular hairs on their leaves that secrete a sticky substance, which can trap insects.

I wonder what would happen if I grew sundew-like glandular hairs on my vines and had them secrete that sticky mucus.

If I attach those newly created sticky vines to the frog’s tongue and pull, I might be able to free us from it.

With that decided, I used Plant Generation to grow glandular hairs on my vines.


But at that moment, I had completely forgotten something.

Right now, I’m tangled together with the little witch in my vines.
Her body is completely wrapped in them.


Tragically, I ended up growing glandular hairs on the vines wrapped around the little witch as well.
Since it was my first time using this ability, I guess I couldn’t control it properly.

A thick, sticky mucus seeped out from the glandular hairs.
And because of that, the slime ended up getting all over the little witch’s body too.


“What is this, it’s super sticky…”

When the little witch moved her arm to push the sticky vines away, the mucus stretched like threads and clung to her skin.

Now she was completely stuck to the vines.
Between the frog’s slime and mine, she was absolutely covered in goo.

Gyaaaaahhh!
Little witch, I’m sooo sorryyyyy!!


Her white hair and face were now a total mess, smeared with sticky slime.

Ugh, why did this happen?
I didn’t do it on purpose.

Uh… well… I’m really, really sorry………….

“Never mind… that… I messed up…”


This ability is useless!
That was completely the wrong choice on my part!!

I overwrote the sundew glandular hairs on my vines with plain Plant Generation.
The sticky hairs disappeared, and the vines returned to normal.

Of course, the slime already stuck to the little witch didn’t disappear.
Thin threads of mucus still stretched from her arms, and the slime on her head remained untouched.

The slime wasn’t completely gone, but at least now the little witch should be able to move a little more freely.


Apparently, even the frog got confused by all the sticky chaos, because its tongue loosened slightly.
If we’re going to escape, now’s our chance!

“Little witch, run!”

“B-but!”

“Get out… from the vines… and the tongue… while you can!”

“…Okay.”


In the next moment, the little witch’s body began to twist

Just like that, she transformed into White Bird-san.


The little witch, now transformed into a white bird, fluttered up into the sky through the gaps in my vines.
She broke free from my sticky slime and the frog’s tongue, and was finally free.


The reason she got tangled was because she was in her human form.
As a small bird, she could escape immediately.

──Huh? Wait a second…?

If she had transformed into a bird from the start, she probably wouldn’t have gotten tangled at all!

Geez!
Why didn’t you do that sooner?!


Well… at least her safety is secured now, so I’ll call it a win.

Now, the only problem left is this frog.

“Let… go!”

I tried speaking to it, clinging to a faint hope, but my word didn’t seem to reach it.

No reaction at all.
As I thought… it really was just a monster that couldn’t understand language.


The frog croaked loudly, tightening its tongue.

My vines… It’s going to snap!

Being a giant frog, it was strong.
In my current state, I’d lose in a pure strength contest.

I extended my thorns and wrapped them around the frog’s front legs.
Carrying the sticky slime, my thorns drove straight into the frog’s skin.

The paralyzing toxin from the thorns slowed the frog down.
Its pull weakened.


Now’s my chance!

With its tongue still extended, its mouth was wide open.
Serve yourself right for opening it so wide.

I sprayed toxic pollen straight into its mouth.
The little witch wasn’t nearby. I could go all out with the poison.

I’m a young Alraune now, so my poison output is much less than before.
Even so, the quality should be the same as before.

Trying to close its mouth, the frog retracted its tongue and let go of me.

But I’m not going to let that happen.

I wrapped my vines around the retreating tongue.
But because its tongue was covered in sticky slime, my vines almost slipped right off.

I generated a new vine covered in sundew glandular hairs and wrapped it around the frog’s tongue.
The sticky vine clung tight to the tongue. There’s no way it’s coming off easily now.

Once again, we’re back to this tug-of-war, my vines against its tongue.

Meanwhile, I kept injecting toxic pollen into the frog’s wide open mouth.


After a while, the frog started foaming at the mouth and its eyes rolled back.
Looks like it finally gave up on trying to eat me.

Phew… thank goodness.
It was my first proper fight since becoming a little girl, but I pulled through somehow.

“Alraune!”

The little witch ran over to me.

At some point, she had already returned to her human form.
She was properly dressed again too.

She hugged me tightly, bucket and all, even though I was still covered in frog saliva.


Her hair was completely soaked, sticky with both the frog’s spit and my slime.
I really do feel bad about that…

As I gently combed through her hair with my vines, I apologized.

“I’m… sorry…”

“There’s nothing for you to apologize for, Alraune. If anything, thank you for defeating the frog.”

Saying that, the little witch hugged me even tighter.

She really is a good kid.
That really means a lot. Coming from someone like me who’s been alone for so long, it hits me right in the feels.
Nectar might just start leaking from my eyes.


As the two of us hugged each other, both of us still sticky with frog drool, we suddenly heard a groan from somewhere.

What was that?

I scanned our surroundings, but there was no sign of any other creatures.
Just as I start to wonder, a wet splat echoes from inside the frog’s mouth.


Don’t tell me… it’s still alive!?


“Stay back.”


With the little witch behind me, I faced the frog.

Keeping my guard up, I watched as something moved inside its mouth.
After a moment, something small slides out from deep in its throat and onto its tongue.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.


What came out of the frog’s mouth…
It was a tiny girl, small enough to fit in the palm of my hand.


Tiny, insect-like wings sprouted from her back.
Her long, golden hair shimmered beautifully, and her face was perfectly delicate, like that of a finely crafted doll.

Her entire body was drenched in frog saliva, with her eyes rolled back, seemingly having fainted.


Th-this is… could it be…?

A palm-sized person with wings. There’s only one thing that comes to mind.

She looked exactly like the fairies I’d only ever see in stories.

The girl who emerged from the frog’s mouth…


It was a tiny fairy.

***

Author’s Note:

Thank you so much for reading.

Thanks to all of your support, this series has surpassed a total of one million page views!
We could never have come this far without you.
Once again, I want to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has supported this story.

Next Time: Encounter with a Fairy