I’m an Alraune, a plant monster child.
Thanks to the fertilizer, I’m feeling much more energized.


Using the money she earned from selling my nectar, the little witch bought fertilizer for me.
Maybe it’s because of that, but I’ve grown a little bit.

My bulb, which used to be about the size of a watermelon, has now grown to the size of a slightly oversized watermelon.


I’m still a little girl in appearance, though.
But at this rate, if I can keep getting nutrients, water, and sunlight, growing bigger won’t just be a dream!


Fertilizer really is amazing!
This is the first time I’ve ever felt the soil be this rich and fertile.
I didn’t even eat a monster, yet I can feel nutrients being drawn up through my roots from the earth itself.


But that burst of energy didn’t last.
In exchange for the fertilizer, I had to offer something again.


“Alraune, work harder.”

“U-uh… I can’t. I can’t give… any more…”

“It’s okay, you can do it.”

“No… it’s no use…”

Nectar spilled from my mouth.
Drop by drop, it fell into the bottom of the bucket.


“I know it’s tough, but it’s still not enough.”

“Uu… I’m at my limit…”

“Just a little more.”


The little witch thrusted her finger into my mouth.
Her slender fingers ravaged my parched mouth, entwining with my tongue, rolling it around.

Like sucking on a piece of hard candy, fresh nectar slowly began to well up from deep in my throat.
The little witch scooped it up, pouring it into the bucket.


Yes. I was being harvested for nectar.

The last time I secreted this much nectar was when Papa Bear licked me.
But I’m not the same as I was back then. Now, I’m a little girl.
With this small body, the total amount of nectar I can produce is limited.
That’s why the little witch has to forcibly extract it from me.

It’s really tough…
It hurts so much. I feel like I’m about to cry.


“Ah, nectar is coming out of your eyes too.”

Even my tears are being harvested.
Every drop of moisture that comes from me is collected by the little witch as a commodity to be sold.

It’s all for money.
For the sake of my little witch sister, I, as the older sister, am prepared to sell even myself if I must.

But still… how long are we supposed to keep squeezing nectar like this?
Even if we manage to sell a whole bucketful, it wouldn’t be enough to buy even a single cooking pot.
Children going around selling nectar door to door doesn’t bring in much after all.


I know I have to keep going, but I’m reaching my limit.
I need nutrients…


“I want… fertilizer…”

“We used up all we had last time, so you’ll have to wait.”

“…Okay.”

“I’ll buy you more next time.”

“No… if we do that, we’ll never be… able to afford tools”


At the current price my nectar sells for, it’s impossible to buy fertilizer and daily supplies at the same time.
It would be nice if it sold for more, but then nobody would buy it.
So I’ll have to endure without fertilizer for now.


“Alright, I’m heading out.”

“Take… care.”


I watched as the little witch left to sell the nectar in town.

It’s all for the sake of her life.
It’s hard, but as her big sister, I have to endure it.

Still, maybe we should change it so she sells nectar once every three days instead of every day.
No matter how much nutrition and water I get, my body won’t be able to handle this pace.
At this rate, I might wither in just a few days.
I’ll have to talk to the little witch when she returns.



Just as the little witch left, I saw the Treant appear.
To my surprise, she was carrying several trees.

It looks like she had been gathering plants as my little junior.

Let’s see, what kind of plants are there?
Hmm, mostly ordinary ones.
Some are rare, but the majority are weeds.
I’ll have to ask Fairy-san to translate and tell her to look for something a little more unusual.


Oh, what’s this?
A triangular-shaped palm tree.
It looks like it’s still growing, but the Treant must be really strong to carry a whole tree like that.


Ah, this is a Tahina!
I recognized this pyramid-shaped palm.
I saw it in a plant encyclopedia back in my high school days.

The Tahina palm is also known as the “suicide palm.”


Tahina palms spend decades quietly growing, only to one day pour all their stored nutrients into a single, spectacular bloom.
After exhausting its entire life force to scatter its seeds, it withers away, trunk and all, as if committing suicide.


This palm tree is native to Madagascar, if I remember correctly.
In my previous world, Tahina was considered endangered. I vaguely recall reading that only about thirty wild trees had ever been discovered.
But in this world, they seem to grow everywhere, so there must be plenty of them.


Anyway, if I were to eat this Tahina, that would mean I could choose to end my life whenever I wanted!

I see, I see.
──No wait, this is useless!


I don’t want to die yet.
But Tahina only withers after scattering its seeds, so if I reincarnate as a seed, maybe it wouldn’t really be a problem.
Thinking like that, it could be useful for faking death when I need to.


──Ah, that’s it!
I just thought of a good idea.

I’ll consume the Tahina with my lower mouth.
Now, I can make myself wither on my own.


If I had this ability, it might have been useful during that experiment.

It doesn’t really have anything to do with Tahina, but I’ve been thinking about something for a long time.
During the fire, I was able to become a little Alraune girl through pollination.


Back then, what I used was a flower with stamens carrying Alraune genes, and myself as the pistil.
So then, what if I grew a male stamen and a female pistil, both with Alraune genes, on my vine and pollinated them?


I’ve been wondering about this for a long time.
With this method, maybe I could create offspring—or rather, clones.


I’ve decided to try self-pollination again.
But I won’t use my human female body.
I’ll generate both male and female Alraune flowers on my vine and pollinate them directly.


Even with self-pollination, though, I don’t think I could make a completely identical individual without using my human body as the pistil.
Even normal flowers can’t produce a true genetic clone through self-pollination alone.


But I’m not an ordinary plant. I’m a monster capable of selective breeding.
Creating male and female flowers with identical genes is nothing for me.
If I intervene with my ability during pollination, I should be able to produce a child Alraune, a true copy of myself.

As a plant, I can reproduce this way.
Even alone, I can keep producing offspring.
This is just a natural behavior for a flower, right?


Of course, if I reproduce recklessly, it could get messy.
That’s why Tahina’s ability could come in handy. It lets me return my offspring to seeds.
It’s a little scary, but I want to try it at least once.

I want to know just how far I, as a plant, can push my own abilities.


I braced my vines, determined.

To create a copy of myself, I have decided to pollinate and produce an Alraune seed.

***

Author’s Note:

Thank you so much for reading.

Next time: Producing Alraune Seeds


TL’s Note:

A Tahina spectabilis in full bloom. (Tallest in the image)