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Chapter 20

Chapter 20

I’d been completely accepted by the people of the village as the 「Flower Witch」. The edible plants I created through diversification and the ones the villagers had already been growing were all cultivated using fertilizer from the purification blossoms, and I received a share of the vegetables and fruit that were harvested.

With livestock feed now plentiful, the village, which had only kept a few chickens and two goats, was even starting to dabble in animal husbandry. Some villagers had purchased cows through traveling merchants. I don’t have a strong sense of smell, but the villagers had asked me to bloom purification blossoms there too. According to Noel: 「The animal pens don’t smell at all now!」

(An animal pen covered in flowers… it’s kind of whimsical, huh?)

Getting milk from cows or goats makes me happy too. Nutrient-rich liquids are easier for me to absorb as food. Noel prefers cow’s milk over goat’s milk, and he was delighted the first time we got some. Apparently, they’re even making cheese now, and he’s looking forward to the results.

Food really is one of life’s pleasures. Watching Noel happily eat while I drink tea, milk, or fruit juice, well, I touch it to my lips to absorb it, that’s become part of my daily routine.

「Witch-sama, you don’t eat very much, do you?」

(Yeah. I eat monsters instead.)

By occasionally consuming the monsters or beasts caught in the village fence, I keep my energy levels up. Of course, I also eat the things the villagers bring me now and then—especially raw eggs, which are quite nutritious, so I eat those from time to time.

Still, to a human observer, it probably looks like I barely eat. Noel’s ears drooped slightly in concern.

「Are you… maybe holding back so I can have more?」

(That’s not it. …I do want you to eat plenty, though.)

I shook my head. I don’t eat much human food because it’s made for humans. Also, I can’t cook. Since I can’t taste things like a human, I can’t make good use of ingredients in this world.

The first thing I ever cooked was grilled wild bird infused with full-recovery medicine… but when I tried cooking again after coming to the village, Noel stopped me with a pale face saying, 「I’ll do it!」 So I guess it wasn’t very good. He normally cooks his own meals.

He always tries to offer some to me, but I decline and just accept drinks, so to him, I probably seem unhealthy.

「Um… what about something like jam for tea? Would you eat that?」

(Ah, that I might be able to eat.)

「! Then I’ll make some jam today!」

And off Noel went, cheerfully heading to harvest from the fields. While he was busy, I decided to go bathe in the river behind the house.

My clothes are made from my own vines, so I can unravel and wash them. I let my hair return to vines, soak them in the river, and clean everything thoroughly.

Even though my body doesn’t produce grime like a human’s, dirt and dust still cling to the clothes. If I don’t wash them, it just builds up.

(I gave Noel a warm bath setup, but I’m not really into hot water…)

The basic bathing style in this world involves filling a large tub with hot water. But I feel like I’d turn into a boiled mandragora if I went in one of those. …Like I’d start producing mandragora broth.

purification blossoms were now growing along the riverbanks and slowly extending upstream. Their white petals floated downriver in the current, and perhaps thanks to them, the water had become rich in nutrients. Bathing in it is good for me. Water plants and fish are thriving here now too, so I occasionally eat them as a snack.

(Noel’s in the fields, and no one else is around, right?)

Just as I was thinking about catching a fish, I heard a male voice say 「Ah」 behind me, and I turned around.

There stood two humans. One was a knight I recognized. He froze upon seeing me. Naturally, I screamed inside, but the sound didn’t escape my body.

「I-I deeply apologize!」

One of the men spun around in a panic, while the other reached out and covered his companion’s face with his hand. Perhaps he struck him in the process, because the poor guy now had a nosebleed.

(Uh… I hadn’t caught any fish yet… and they came from behind… so they didn’t see anything… right…?)

My body only mimics the human form. It’s not an exact copy. I have a large chest, but no protruding parts. From the front, I look like a mannequin, smooth and seamless. If someone saw closely, they’d probably notice something was off.

I quickly got out of the river and regrew my clothes from the vines that form my hair. Internally, I was a mess of silent screams as I watched the two of them. Both still had their backs turned and weren’t looking.

「The mandragora we saw before was just as well-built…」

「Ritter, that is incredibly inappropriate, please stop.」

These two were the pair I’d seen near the demon realm once. The nosebleed knight had apparently seen me back then too… in that unfortunate form.

The other had been the one on the brink of death whom I’d saved. I’m glad he survived, but… we met near the demon realm. What if he questions why I was there?

(That’s bad… If they think that mandragora evolved into this… I need more running mandragora decoys…!)

If there are other running mandragora around, people will assume they saw one of them. No one would guess that a humanoid mandragora was creating copies of her old self using diversification and clone skills.

I’d put it off since things had been peaceful, but clearly, I do need to create more of those running mandragora. If I want to keep pretending to be human, I’d better do it soon… time to plan an experiment.

(Wait, how long are they going to keep facing away? …Oh, right. They don’t know I’ve put my clothes back on.)

The knight who’d survived my voice last time might have taken countermeasures again—but I didn’t know for sure. Best not to risk speaking. Instead, I approached and gently tapped one of their shoulders.

「U-Um, please forgive us for what happened earlier.」

「Yes, I—uh, not ‘thanks’, I mean—yes, I deeply apologize…」

Both of them turned around. The knight I’d saved was now wearing an eyepatch, hiding the mismatched eyes I remembered. The other was still rubbing at his nose, mumbling to himself.

「Ritter… I’ll do the talking. Please take a few steps back.」

Chastised, the nosebleed knight retreated a little. The one-eyed knight looked at me intently with his golden eye.

「Are you… the Flower Witch-dono?」