I’m an Alraune, a little plant monster girl.
And this is Kiri, the fairy who fell for my nectar and became my personal fairy.


Kiri agreed to tell me everything about the forest.
But before that, I explained to her how I was attacked by the poison fairy.


She was surprised at first, but after a while she began telling us about the forest while drinking nectar straight from the bucket.


“The poison fairy you mentioned must be Oin. She’s a dark fairy, a Dökkálfar.”

“What’s… that?”

“It’s a fairy who betrayed us and joined the Demon King’s army. Fairies like me who stayed on the good side are called light fairies, Ljósálfar, among ourselves.”


From that explanation, it sounds like Kiri herself isn’t part of the Demon King’s army.
So fairies aren’t exactly united after all.


“Since she sprayed you with weedkillers, the soil should still be contaminated, right? I’ll clean it up for you.”


Using spirit magic, Kiri removed the toxins from the soil.
She’s not on the same level as the poison fairy, but it looks like she can do something similar.

After thanking her, I asked the question that had been on my mind.


“Is Lady Dryad also part of the Demon King’s army?”

“No way! It’s the complete opposite. Lady Dryad is the forest spirit protecting this forest and Tower City.”

“Really?”

“Of course it’s true! Just recently a huge wildfire swept through the forest, but Lady Dryad cast a massive spirit magic spell and raised a barrier to protect it from the flames!”


Could that be the boundary line the little witch and I saw from the sky when we first came to The Forest of Dryades


We saw a place where the fire had been protected from the fire, as if someone had drawn a border.
So Lady Dryad must have protected this forest from the massive fire caused by Fire Dragon-sama.


“That wildfire drained most of Lady Dryad’s power. So until she recovers, she asked Alraune to act as the forest’s guard.”

“To protect the forest… from the Demon King’s army?”

“That’s right. Though part of the reason was also so Alraune could protect me from the Demon King’s army too.”


That sounded almost like Kiri herself was being targeted by the Demon King’s army.


“To tell you the truth, I’m the key to entering the sanctuary. You can’t get into that place unless you go with me.”

“Are other fairies… keys too?”

“Nope, the others won’t work. I may not look it, but I’m a special fairy.”


So Kiri is the key needed to reach Lady Dryad.
But why is the sanctuary guarded so strictly?


“Well, that’s because the Hero’s Helmet is there. Just like the Holy Sword the Hero carries, it’s one of the sacred relics of light said to have been created by the Goddess.”


I recalled the Holy Sword my fiancé, the Hero, once carried.

Just like a sword blessed with the power to cut through anything, a helmet blessed by the gods would surely have all kinds of uses.


“Lady Dryad uses the Hero’s Helmet to maintain the barrier over the eastern forest and Tower City. As long as she and the helmet are there, the Demon King’s army can’t launch a large-scale attack on this place.”

“Can the poison fairy… get inside?”

“Fairies or demons with special powers can slip through the barrier for a short time. That’s why the Demon King’s army is always trying to target Lady Dryad and the Hero’s Helmet.”


In other words, the poison fairy had been searching for Kiri.
Her goal must have been to capture Kiri, enter the sanctuary, and steal the Hero’s Helmet.


But how did the poison fairy know Kiri was here?
She did say she heard it from someone.


“I’m especially targeted in the western forest. That side is already under the Demon King’s army’s control.”


When we found Kiri in the western forest, she had been swallowed by a frog.
Maybe she hadn’t simply been prey. Maybe the frog had captured her because she was the key to the sanctuary.
If that’s the case, then that frog monster must have been part of the Demon King’s army too.


“Every monster in the western forest works for the Demon King’s army. That giant eagle monster that attacked us while I was moving to the eastern forest? That’s one of the most dangerous among them.”


She must be talking about the eagle-type monster, the Begia Adler.
When we first came to this forest, that giant eagle looked like it was watching us.

If it really belonged to the Demon King’s army, then perhaps it wasn’t watching us at all, but the saint apprentice’s carriage on the road below.
Maybe it was reporting to the Demon King’s army that a new saint apprentice had arrived in Tower City.



“Fairy, you haven’t told us the most important part yet, have you?”


The little witch eyed the fairy Kiri suspiciously.


“If the Dryad killed the Hero fifty years ago, doesn’t that make her part of the Demon King’s army too?”


Right, there was still the matter of the Hero’s grave.

And the poison fairy said she was acting under Lady Dryad’s orders.
Which would mean Lady Dryad betrayed the forest and joined the Demon King’s army… wouldn’t it?


“It’s true that Lady Dryad killed the Hero. But it wasn’t the Dryad you know.”


Does that mean there’s another Dryad who killed the Hero?

So… the forest spirit isn’t just one…?


“Do you know why the Forest of Dryades is divided into east and west? It’s because two Dryads rule over the forest, splitting it between them.”


So there really were two Dryads.
The one who asked me to serve as the forest’s guard was the Dryad of the eastern forest.


When she asked me to become the forest’s guard, she specifically said, “should outside enemies approach the eastern forest.”
Which means the western forest had been outside Lady Dryad’s sphere of influence from the very beginning.


The one ruling the western forest is the other Dryad, the poison fairy’s master.
That Dryad belongs to the Demon King’s army, making her the real enemy.

Seriously, someone should have told me this earlier.
When I agreed to become the forest’s guard, a little more explanation would have been nice, you know.



“Found you!”


An irritating voice I recognized echoed through the air.

Before we knew it, a small dark-skinned fairy had appeared.


It was unmistakably the poison fairy who had sprayed me with weedkiller.
Her body was covered in wounds from the thorns, and her left wing was gone, but she was still alive after all.


For some reason, she was flying with just her right wing.
She wobbled unsteadily through the air, barely managing to stay aloft. Still, fairies seem capable of some surprisingly deft feats.


When Kiri saw the poison fairy, she cried out.


“Oin! You’re still with the Demon King’s army?”

“What do you know about how I feel, Kiri? I’m just a fairy loyal to my master, that’s all.”


Kiri and the poison fairy, Oin, began arguing.

The two of them seemed to have some sort of past together.
Judging from the atmosphere, maybe they used to be friends before going their separate ways.


“You there, Alraune! How dare you rip off my wing!”

“The fairy… who sprayed weedkiller… is the one at fault.”

“Shut up, shut up! I’ll never forgive you! I’m going to beat you down until you’re begging me to wither you to death!”


The poison fairy cast spirit magic, creating a purple liquid in the air.
Then she launched the liquid into the sky like fireworks.


“It’s already too late. Kiri, Alraune, and that human over there too, you’re all going to die!”


Suddenly, a powerful gust of wind swept across the forest.
A swirling vortex, like a tornado, rushed toward us.


At the same time, a massive shadow engulfed the trees.

I nervously looked up into the sky.
There, hovering above us was a familiar giant eagle.


The poison fairy burst out laughing. “Kyahaha!”


“Now kill them, Begia Adler!”


The monstrous bird, as large as the passenger airplanes I once saw back when I was a high school girl, dove straight toward us.
So she called for reinforcements.


Now that I’ve overcome the weedkiller, that giant eagle is honestly a far greater problem than the poison fairy.

In terms of strength, it’s on par with Papa Bear, maybe even stronger.
And since it can fly, it might actually be even more troublesome.

This is too much for a little Alraune girl like me to handle.


But I can’t back down here.
After all, I’m the forest’s guard.


I’ve defeated plenty of powerful monsters before.
So I should be able to handle this one too.

Well then.

Time to begin my first job as the forest’s guard.


Let me show everyone in this forest what I’m capable of.

***

Author’s Note:

Thank you very much for reading.

Next Time: Giant Bird Begia Adler vs. the Little Plant Monster Girl