CH 4

Chapter 4 – Someone, Please Raise Me or Sell Me to a Greenhouse

What does it mean to be plant-like?

I couldn’t help but ask myself as I disabled a deer monster with poisonous pollen.

Humble?

Calm?

Graceful?

What’s that? Is it tasty?

Just leave those kind of things to potted flowers kept by humans. Living in the wild is all about eat or be eaten. It’s completely different from a safe place like greenhouse. The plants that don’t know anything about the world like a sheltered young lady will soon wither and die.

Forget about that, I’m hungry and undernourishment. I need more food.

*swallowed*

Hmm, this deer meat is surprisingly not half-bad….

In my previous life, I wasn’t good with wild game, but any meat is fine now. After all, everything is simply being swallowed by the bulb’s mouth and digested. I can’t really taste anything.

Back to my question, what does it mean to be plant-like?

I mostly spend all day under the sun photosynthesizing.

When I need water, I spread my roots in the ground.

I take nap when the weather is good.

When I hungry, I sprinkled poison on the monsters or animals that were invited by the sweet smell of my honey to make them immobile, and prey on them.

Yup, that’s really plant-like.

What about the last part? The carnivorous plants do something similar and it’s quite normal.

In any case, it’s been a few days since I became an Arlaune. I’m gradually getting used to my new life and I can say I have been doing reasonably well as both a plant and a monster.

I don’t have to worry about what others think of me since there’s no humans here to begin with. The only ones that came to visit me from time to time were animals and monsters that couldn’t talk. This is a freedom in a sense.

I’ve heard that the body and the environment can affect the mind, but that seems to be true. Because I’m a plant monster, I will live like one, yeah.

I did some research on my body and found out various things. First of all, I’m a monster but I’m not some kind of animal. I’m a plant through and through.

There is nothing special to do during the day except photosynthesizing, but it can’t be helped since I can’t even move from this spot. I close the corolla and sleep inside it when the sun sets, and when the morning comes again, the corolla blooms as I wake up. That’s my current life cycle.

There were so many things I needed as a human, but as a plant, those necessities have become unnecessary. So basically, my three main needs are as follows:

· Water

I need water to quench my thirst. Well, I don’t actually feel thirsty, but it’s more understandable if I put it that way. After all, water is a vital element for my life activities. It’s not exaggerating if I say I don’t need anything else as long as I have water. I don’t want juice. I just want plain water.

For that purpose, I try to spread my roots as much as I can in the ground. Or rather, this is all I can do.

· Sunlight

Photosynthesizing under the sunlight feels good. I can also feel the chlorophyll inside my body rejoicing. I’m happiest when I’m photosynthesizing.

Plants use the energy of light to break down water to produce oxygen, and to synthesize carbon dioxide in the air into starch and other organic matter. In other words, I can produce my own food through photosynthesis.

Because the amount of carbon dioxide in the air decreases while oxygen increases, the world will also be protected from global warming. It’s exactly three birds with one stone.

However, I get thirsty every time I’m photosynthesizing. There’s just never enough water.

That’s right, what I need the most is water. As long as I have water, I don’t need anything else other than a moderate sunlight and a little carbon dioxide.

Someone, please water me!

· Prey for additional nutrient

Photosynthesis alone doesn’t produce enough energy. That’s because a flower of my size physically shouldn’t exist in the first place. Moreover, it’s shaped like a person and can moves the vines around and all.

Because of that, in order to sustain my life, I need to take in additional nutrients, which is the most difficult task. I can’t move from this spot, after all. I can only wait for my preys to come to me on their own.

My sweet honey is strong enough to transform a gentleman bear into a perverted bear, but prey doesn’t come every day. And even if they do come, I need to defeat them first while putting my life on the line. If I lose, I’ll probably end up being eaten or killed, instead. The world of wild is so harsh.

My irony doesn’t end there. Even if I win the battle, I will be in a weakened state due to exhaustion. Maybe it’s because I’m a plant, I don’t seem to be very good at moving my body, and it seems to consume a lot of energy. Then, of course, I will start to feel thirsty. Someone, please water me….

In any case, I am satisfied as long as these three needs are met, but free time is my biggest problem these days. There’s no entertainment. I also have no one to talk to.

Say, do you have any good idea?

I usually take a nap while photosynthesizing to pass the time. Other than that, I’ve been studying the ecology of Arlaune lately. I miss the previous life when I was reading plants encyclopaedia at school.

In these past few days, I have learned several things about Arlaune. First is Alraune secreting sweet honey from their body to attract preys and catch them. I’ve already experienced this numerous times, so I will skip the explanation.

From my previous knowledge as a saint, Alraune is a monster that lures people with its female appearance and seduce them with pheromones. You may say this slim waist and bountiful breasts also serve as bait for hunting.

When I was a saint, I was rather on the small side, so seeing Alraune’s charming and bountiful breasts made me feel a little more mature. It’s good to know that even though I’ve become a flower, my growth spurt hasn’t ended yet.

I won’t lose to that fucking junior of abominable saint apprentice now. That thieving cat was cheeky because she was younger but had bigger boobs than me. I’m sure she used those boobs to seduce the hero. Absolutely heretical.

Anyway, what should I do if a human wanders into this forest?

Will they scream when they see me, or will they attack at me for being a monster?

I guess the role of this body is to prevent them from doing so. After all, it’s strange how a plant can have a human woman’s body attached to it.

I’ve also heard that Alraune feeds on life force of human males. They will seduce the wanderers using their beautiful appearance and captivate them.

What should I do?

I don’t have the confidence to do it.

It’s too embarrassing to ask a man out.

I’ve never had such an experience even in my previous life.

Yeah, I had a fiancé, but I and the hero were not particularly close or anything. I saw him more as a companion that a love interest. Our engagement was something that our parents had decided because we have known each other since childhood.

If we were close, he would have believed me….

Ugh, let’s stop. Thinking about it only makes me sad. Instead of tears, honey comes out of my eyes.

Anyway, how do I take life force from men? Don’t tell it’s through ‘that’ kind of activity. I mean, with this body? How?

Oh well, let’s save it for later. It’s not some something urgent in the first place. Or rather, I want to avoid such a thing as much as possible.

I don’t know if it’s because Alraune is a monster that look like a human, but what will this men’s life force be used for? Maybe energy? Or nutrients? I’m not sure. Unlike Japan, here is a fantasy world, after all.

While we are on this topic, am I pretty? Can I make any man turn to me?

I’m asking since I don’t know what my face looks like now because I don’t have a mirror. I wonder if it’s still the same face as when I was a saint. After all, when I touched it, the outline of my face was similar to what I could remember.

The corolla is splendid bright red. My personal impression is that it’s a beautiful flower. Maybe something like a rose? No, I think it’s a little different.

I have no idea what kind of flower it is, but it’s surely not a rafflesia. I’d like to think so….

Hmm? Oh, it looks like we have a visitor.

Lured by the sweet smell of my honey, a rabbit monster came hopping.

How cute~! The rabbit’s snow white fur looks fluffy and nice to the touch. It’s small and difficult to catch, but that’s not a problem for me.

I released poisonous pollen from the corolla to stop the rabbit from moving. Next I snapped its neck using my vine to make sure it was dead.

I feel bad for the white rabbit, but I have to steel my heart. This is also how I show my consideration so it won’t go through a painful experience of being digested alive like me back then.

It’s not like I was traumatized when my prey suddenly rampaging inside the bulb and almost ripped me apart from the inside. I’m not lying!

Finally, I dragged the rabbit’s dead body closer, opened the bulb’s mouth wide, and swallowed it whole.

Ugh, I’m really sorry….

From an objective point of view, I look like nothing but a ferocious monster in the current scene. But please believe me. I’m aspiring to be a beautiful flower, not a monster. I want to grow into a beautiful flower and not only could produce delicious honey, but also a feast for the eyes.

Oh, there’s another rabbit.

Is it perhaps a friend of the rabbit from earlier?

Then I will guide you to your friend. I’m kind, after all. I used to be called a saint, you know.

The rabbit began to tremble like a frog glared at by a snake when I opened the bulb’s mouth wide.

Please don’t be afraid!

I’m just an ordinary beautiful flower.

Here, please shake my hand (vine) and accept my apology.

Good.

I will guide you to your friend now.

*swallowed*

Thanks for the food.