CH 11

Chapter 11 – First Human

This is troubling….

What should I do with this child?

From his appearance, I’d say he is about ten years old. He seems to be unconscious because of the Zornbiene’s poison. Still, I’ve never expected a Shota would be brought here.

Back to the topic, what should I do with this child?

① Eat him // Eating human is a bit….

② Return him to the Zornbienes // That’s a bad idea since they will eat him for sure.

③ Leave him alone // He will die from the poison at this rate.

④ Save him // I guess that’s the only way.

I carefully held the boy’s body using my vines and brought him closer.

There is no visible trauma other than being poisoned and a small wound from the Zornbiene’s stinger. If I can detoxify the poison that’s spreading in this boy’s body, I might be able to save him.

Alright, let’s heal him with recovery magic.

Oh, it doesn’t work.

When I tried to use recovery magic on this boy, my vines were rejuvenated instead.

What should I do? I have a feeling that if this boy and I united, I can heal him with recovery magic. I guess it’s a bad idea if I put him inside the bulb’s mouth and my mouth is physically impossible

That’s right! I don’t need to be united with this boy. I can just give part of me to him.

Thus I started an experiment. I filled my mouth with honey and applied recovery magic to it. I dripped the honey to my hand and poured it into the boy’s mouth.

Oh, the boy’s body glowed!

Drinking my honey mixed with recovery magic apparently can do the job. His wound is healed and the poison seems to have been detoxified as well. His breathing also becomes stable now.

I’m not a former saint just for show, after all.

I can even nullify abnormal conditions with my honey.

I want to praise myself.

Even so, this is quite surprising. To think that I can turn my honey into recovery medicine. Isn’t this a great discovery? I can treat the injured female knights with this now. I might as well stop being a former saint and start to call myself Saint Alraune.

“This place is….”

Oh, it looks like the boy has woken up. Good morning!

“Who are you, Onee-san?”

The boy was vigilant at first, but when he saw my face, he seemed relieved. I patted the boy’s head to assure him that he was safe.

“What’s is this place?”

The boy looked around. Because of that, he found out that I was not a human but a plant monster.

“W-Whoa!?!?”

The boy freaked out and tried to escape from me. However, I restrained him with my vines.

You won’t go anywhere. I’ve finally found someone who can talk.

“A-Are you going to eat me, Monster?”

GAAAAN!!!!!

I’m not yet ready being called monster. I’m aspiring to be a beautiful flower, so please don’t call me that. I’m also not a relative of Rafflesia.

Well, it’s true that the mouth of bulb below looks terrifying, and although I have a track record of preying on various monsters and animals, I have no plan of eating you, so please don’t be afraid.

“I, eat, no….”

I didn’t know if it was because I tried so hard to convey my feeling to the boy, but words suddenly came out of my mouth. The boy was surprised to hear that. However, I was even more surprised than he was.

Hmm!?!?

H-Hold on, did I just speak?

I mean, I shouldn’t be able to speak.

There’s only one explanation comes to mind. That’s right, it’s because I ate my former junior — Man-Eater. Even though she was a flower like me, she could make a sound. I might have become able to speak because I absorbed that characteristic.

Yeah, I did it!

Now I can kill time by talking to myself, not just in my mind.

“I won’t, eat, you….”

Ugh, it’s hard to pronounce the words properly. Maybe because this is originally a plant body. My vocal function seems to be much inferior to that of a human.

“Also, don’t call me, a monster…. That’s, important….”

I desperately moved my tongue to form words and tried to convey what I wanted to say.

I think I’ve already talked so much for a plant.

Can I take a rest now?

I’m thirsty. Please bring me some water.

“This is the first time I’ve met a monster that understands human language….”

“It’s Onee-san, not monster….”

“Eh?”

“Call me, Onee-san….”

“Y-Yes.”

The boy stared at me in astonishment, and when his gaze moved to my chest, he suddenly turned his face to the side. His ears turned bright red.

I wonder if he was captivated by this Onee-chan’s sexy body.

Feeling a bit like a little devil, I hugged the boy.

He is warm. This is the first time I’ve felt human skin since becoming an Alraune. I remember that I used to be a human just like him. How nostalgic….

“You smell so good and sweet, Onee-san.”

It’s not bad to be told that my body smells good. Alright, this Onee-san will treat you to something delicious!

I dripped some honey from my mouth and caught it with both hands like a bowl.

“Drink up!”

The boy looked at the honey gathered in my hand with a grimace on his face.

Yeah, it came out of my mouth, but don’t worry about that.

The boy was hesitant at first, but he couldn’t resist the temptation of my sweet honey in the end. He scooped the honey with his fingers and brought it into his mouth.

“Delicious!?”

The hesitation faded from the boy’s face. He swallowed the rest of the honey with eyes shining.

“Onee-san, I’d like more….”

The boy looked adorable as he asked for more honey shyly.

I’m in a good mood since it’s been a long time since I’ve been able to talk with someone like this. I’m going to listen to whatever you ask, but before that….

“Where, are we?”

I’ve been living in the forest all my life. I don’t know anything about the outside world.

The boy cocked his head. He didn’t seem to catch the meaning of my question, so I asked again.

“This forest, where, country?”

“O-Oh, this is the border between the Kingdom of Gardenia and the Grants Empire.”

This is the same forest where I was killed, after all. I was curious since I couldn’t rule out the possibility that I had metastasized to another place when I reincarnated.

I gave the boy more honey as a reward. He then started to lick it with a satisfied expression.

Yeah, this boy has a talent to be a Perolist. He reminds me of the perverted bear.

Using honey as a bait, I asked more questions.

“Now, what year?”

“Year 1020 of history.”

That’s…. quite surprising….

I was born in year 1000 of history. In other words, I was 17 years old when I was betrayed and killed in this forest. If now is year 1020 of history, this means three years has passed since then.

However, it’s only been few months since I woke up as an Alraune. Perhaps I was in a dormant state during this missing two and a half years.

I continued to question the boy after that.

Did anyone die in this forest three years ago?

Has the demon lord been defeated?

What happened to the hero of the Kingdom of Gardenia?

What happened to his fiancée, the saint?

—and so on. The boy answered all of them politely since he wanted the honey so much.

Unfortunately, it seems that the boy is in the middle of training journey with his grandfather and not a native of this region. Because of that, he doesn’t know what happened three years ago.

The demon king has not been defeated.

He said he didn’t even know the existence of the previous saint who was the fiancée of the hero of the Gardenia Kingdom. He was just seven years old at the time, so it can’t be helped. However, he knows that hero of the Kingdom of Gardenia has married the new saint since it was a big news.

THAT FUCKING JUNIOR!

I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!!

If I had legs, I would sneak into the greenhouse in the castle of Gardenia Kingdom, pretending to be a flower while waiting for a chance to kill her.

Ugh, I’m envious of animals with free-moving legs….

I kept bombarding the boy with more questions after that and succeeded learned various information I wanted to know. He breathed a sigh of relief when I stopped questioning him, thinking that he could finally be free of me.

To tell the truth, I was just starving for conversation to pass the time. It hasn’t been that long since I became an Arlaune, but I’ve actually spent three years alone here.

Because I’m a plant, I can’t move around, and I have no one to talk to.

I wake up in the morning, bask under the sun while photosynthesizing, occasionally preyed on animals or monster, and go to bed at night.

Every day is the same without any change at all. In sunny days, rainy days, stormy days, I am always alone all year round.

That’s why it’s so much fun just to talk with someone like this. Enough to make me jump in joy if only I had legs.

There you heard it, boy….

Sorry, but I’m not going to let you leave this place.

You are going to be my chattering doll from now on.

“I will, never, let you, go….”

Hearing my proclamation, the boy was reminded that even though I looked like a human, I was still a monster.

Thou shalt love your neighbor.

I will make the boy mine using compassion and kindness like that of a holy mother.

As a former saint, I’m quite confident I can win over him.

So, boy, first lick this honey.

Yes, yes, good boy.

You want some more?

I guess I have no choice. I’ll feed you until you get tired of it.

Oh, you want to drink my honey forever?

There’s no helping it. Since I’m kind, I’ll forgive you for being so selfish.

And so I decided to keep the frightened boy by making him addicted to my honey.