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Chapter 15

(The fact that the river water has that zombie-like taste probably means the rotten bodily fluids of those monsters are flowing in from upstream. It might be fine for me, but for a human, it’s no surprise they’d get sick.)

While eating—extending vines from my clothes to catch fish underwater, pulling them back, and brushing them against my legs under my skirt—I mulled things over. Noel had said there were more poisonous fish lately, and that seemed to be true. Poisonous fish aren’t particularly tasty, so I can tell right away. But it feels like over half the fish now carry poison. The contaminated water must be affecting them too. What’s worse, these aren’t ordinary fish; they’re a kind of monster that’s evolved to survive in this toxic water. …Well, even if they’re poisonous, they’re still monsters, so they’re more nourishing than normal fish and perfectly fine for my meals.

(Hmm, but this really isn’t good. Noel probably got sick because he washed food in this river… I wonder if the villagers did too? If that’s the case, then unless I deal with the root cause, this illness isn’t going away.)

I turned my gaze upstream. The number of zombie monsters on the mountain had increased significantly, and wiping them all out would be difficult. My voice attacks don’t work on them, so I’d have to take them down one by one—and that’s just not realistic.

(But if this keeps up, no ordinary animals—including humans—will be able to survive near this mountain. According to Daon, that mountain’s in the middle of forming its own ecosystem, and it’s still unclear what direction that’ll take…)

From the conversation between the two creating Witch-sama’s lore, I’d learned that the mountain, overflowing with dense magical energy due to a dragon’s death, had turned into a place where the miasma harms living things. Over five hundred years, the energy gradually faded, but now it’s become fertile ground for monstrous life—where monsters consume one another and rapidly evolve. A dangerous land. Humans apparently call such places 「demon realms.」

(Thank goodness I escaped before it turned into a swarm of powerful monsters… That mountain’s ecosystem became zombie-infested thanks to this new evolution. It used to be all goblins and such at first, but partway through, even the goblins turned into zombies.)

I recalled life back then with a tinge of nostalgia. I hate goblins—they’d yank me out of the ground and give me a fright. Once I took humanoid form, they stopped pulling me out, but when I lay buried with just my head poking out, a zombie goblin once chomped down on my stem. Of course, I screamed in surprise—but my scream has no effect on zombies. And zombies aren’t tasty, so I had no desire to eat it. I strangled it with my hair vines and sprayed it with dissolving fluid, but more kept coming, so eventually it was faster just to tear them apart with vines or slice them up with sharp-leaved plants…

(Ugh, now I’ve remembered something awful. I never want to live like that again… Still, in a mountain overrun by zombies, it’s no wonder the water’s contaminated. I’ll need to purify it.)

Of course, there are plants capable of purifying polluted water like this. Sitting by the riverbank, I grew a variety of plants around me using diversification, and ordered them to extend upstream. But growth has its limits. While they’ll spread faster if I pour in my magic power, overdoing it makes me hungry.

Since this area is downstream from the village, I grew the plants past the village and called it a day. …Feels like the nourishment I got from the fish has been used up.

(It’s probably impossible to fix this all at once… I’ll extend it gradually over time. The zombies disappeared partway down the mountain, so… oh right, maybe as far as the spot where that human collapsed?)

The first human I helped after taking on human form. I wonder how that knight is doing now. I’d stayed off the river path to avoid running into him again, so I don’t know if he passed me or not. Maybe he made it home safely… or maybe he didn’t. He wasn’t from this village, so I probably won’t see him again—and have no way to find out.

(But if humans go that far, then I should purify the river up to that point too. It’d help animals that can’t tolerate poison, after all.)

Next, I want to check how the village uses its water. And tomorrow, I’ll need to deliver more recovery medicine to the sick.

(The village had a well, too. Since it takes years for groundwater to surface, the well water might be safe… but just in case, I’ll grow these plants there too.)

By the waterside, I grew a plant with many tiny white blossoms. Where did I find it? On the back of a zombie monster.

Like a parasitic fungus, it spread across zombies. Once the body was completely covered in flowers, the zombie would crumble and return to the soil, while the plant rooted itself in place—such is its lifecycle. I can display the status of any plant I absorb, so I’ve learned a lot about it.

I absorbed this flower thinking it might be an effective weapon against zombies, and it only parasitizes zombies, so it’s harmless to humans. …Zombies do meet a pretty gruesome end, but it poses no threat to people.

(This world really has some terrifying plants… but from a human perspective, it’s a good one.)

It absorbs rot, waste, and poison, converting them into nutrient-rich fertilizer. Its name is 「purification blossoms.」 A bit of an obvious name, but it’s considered incredibly valuable. However, it only grows in places rich in magic, so it’s rarely found in human-populated areas. Even if brought back and planted, it won’t thrive due to magic deficiency.

My plan is to grow it at the well, then in toilets or manure pits for fertilizer production. If I get the plants growing to a decent size, the villagers can use the fertilizer to keep them alive efficiently.

(Since I can grow plants freely, they can use as many as they need. With this, I can save the villagers!)

Having figured out the source of the illness and how to solve it, I cheerfully returned home. …Surely, if I’m this helpful as a witch, the villagers will keep accepting me from now on.

Using vines, I climbed into the hammock hanging from the ceiling and lay down. …The sensation of being suspended is strange. I’m a creature meant to be in the soil, not dangling in the air. Suddenly, I remembered those root vegetables hanging from strings in my old world.

(I wonder if this is how dried daikon radishes feel…)