Chapter 27: Nice 2

To be praised like this…

“Wait a minute.”

Nis-nim suddenly looked at me with a stern expression.

“Could it be… Are you a real flower?”

“Yes.”

Nis-nim blinked in surprise at my short answer.

“I… I thought you were someone as pretty as a flower…”

“Huh?”

What does that mean?

I should welcome my master first.

“Welcome, master!”

A smile spread across my master’s lips as I engraved letters on the ground with my roots.

However, Nis-nim next to me laughed even louder.

“Oh my! You’re writing? What kind of magic did you cast? And your handwriting is cute?”

“Thank you…?”

Nis-nim was even more surprised as my roots engraved letters on the ground again.

“This… This! A flower has the will to write!?”

A proud smile spread across my master’s lips.

“That’s why I said it was special.”

“Hehe. Special…”

“I can’t believe it… Oh, I’m sorry. I’m so surprised… My name is Nis. I’m the ruler of Desmere.”

Nis-sama still looked surprised, but greeted elegantly.

‘Ah! So it was Desmere!’

The Deep Sea Labyrinth, the deepest of the Eight Great Labyrinths.

He was the ruler there…

Of course, I didn’t know anything about Desmere’s Great Labyrinth except that it was in the deep sea.

“It’s an honor to meet you!”

My roots trembled slightly.

Nis-sama circled around me, observing me.

“Wait, what’s that?”

Nis-sama’s gaze turned to Bugles, who had run away to a corner.

When Frost Moss approached her, fluttering her wings as if to greet her, Nis-sama was startled and stepped back.

“Eww! A bee… a bug!”

“It’s okay, Nis-sama! You guys are good!”

The girl butterfly circled around Nis-sama, who had fallen down.

Then, the other bugles started to gather one by one.

“Prostia-sama! What the heck…!”

“Riko’s subordinates.”

“Huh? Subordinates?”

Nis-sama looked at her master with surprised eyes.

“You… have so many subordinates… hundreds of them…!”

“I said they’re not me, but Riko’s subordinates.”

The master corrected her coldly.

Nis-sama stared blankly at the bugles for a while before finally coming to his senses.

“Hmm…! The color of the petals is really beautiful. It’s like blood red.

And the luster of this stem… Oh, and the sharpness of this root is also really amazing!

Prostia-sama, you really raised this child well, didn’t you?”

Nis-sama examined my body again and said.

‘Hehehe…! My whole body felt like it was going to buckle.

Maybe I’m too weak to compliments…

The master said with a satisfied expression, “Then, it’s the child I raised.”

“That’s right!”

“By the way, is this honey? Let me see…”

‘Huh!’

Nis-sama gently touched my sensitive spot.

Pollen flew without me knowing.

It’s too irritating when it touches someone strong!

“Oh my! Such a cute reaction!”

“Nis, stop playing with it…”

“Hey, Frostia-sama… You asked me to teach you polymorph.”

My virtual ears suddenly perked up.

That’s right! My master brought Nis-sama to me!

“Um, can I become human like you and Nis-sama?”

“Hmm… If it’s polymorphism of a plant-world monster, you should have asked the World Tree.”

Nis-sama said, glaring coldly at my master.

Could it be that I’m a plant and wouldn’t know!

“Do you think I’m familiar with the World Tree?”

Nis-nim thought for a moment at the master’s words.

“That’s true. First of all, it seems like it has a lot of magical power and high intelligence…”

The flower petals fluttered in anticipation.

The master also seemed nervous as he watched Nis-nim.

“I think you’ll have to wait about seven hundred years.”

“Huh…?”

“It’s still too early. If you try polymorphing now, your whole body will fall apart. The density of your magical power is still unstable…”

Seven hundred years…

The flower petals drooped in disappointment.

“See, that’s what I told you.”

Nis-nim shook her head at her master’s words.

“Seven hundred years is actually quite fast. Normally, you’d have to wait a thousand years… This child’s growth speed is truly amazing.”

“Hmm…”

Nis-nim’s eyes sparkled as if she had remembered something.

“Actually… there is a faster way.”

“Really!?”

Her heart pounded.

Please! Seven hundred years is too long!

“Yes—if you want to transform into a human… the fastest way is to absorb a human’s magical power.”

“Human… magical power…?”

A corner of her heart grew cold.

That meant…

“Yes, you want me to kill a human and steal their magical power.”

Her master’s cold voice rang out.

“Should I bring some humans from a nearby village?”

“Ah, no!”

I hastily carved the letters with my root.

“Not to that extent… Please don’t.”

“Just because I want to polymorph, I’ll kill innocent people…”

Burlesk squirmed as if he was preparing to fight, not knowing what I was thinking.

Of course, if he was a bad person…

Well, if he was an enemy, there’s nothing I can do…

But I still didn’t want to hurt innocent people just for polymorph.

I still have memories of my past life as a human…

“No matter how much Michel enjoys killing… he wouldn’t want to kill indiscriminately.”

Right…?

“Oh my, you’re so kind!”

Nis-nim laughed playfully.

“But do you really want to polymorph like that?”

“Yes… But that’s…”

“Okay. Then shall we find another way?”

Nis-nim’s eyes sparkled suspiciously.

Like a snake stalking its prey.

“Ugh.”

But his gaze quickly turned behind me.

“Oh my, what is this?”

Cecilia noticed that the conversation was over and she was approaching me fluttering.

‘A chance to change the mood!’

“Ah! It’s my daughter Cecilia!”

“My daughter!?”

This time, Nis-nim looked extremely surprised.

Your reaction is so quick…

She had the kind of personality that would get along with anyone.

On the other hand, our master…

“Hmm, she became a butterfly.”

I won’t go into detail, but she’s the complete opposite!

How on earth did you become close…

I was lost in thought for a moment, and then I felt two gazes on her.

Oh no!

“That’s right! She evolved a few days ago!”

Cecilia flapped her wings shyly.

Nis-nim still looked surprised, but our master looked indifferent.

“And Cecilia, at first, was an ice monster’s egg! Frost Lunaris gave her…”

While we were talking, Cecilia fluttered around us.

(At first, I was worried because it only wanted to eat my petals as soon as it hatched, but it kept eating the poisoned petals and got poisoned…

Every time, I saved it with recovery pollen, and I saved it again and again…

Then at one point, I burned the poison with flames and it became this beautiful butterfly!)

“Oh my, you went through such a difficult process? To be able to control fire and overcome poison.”

Nis-nim looked at Cecilia again.

It was like a scientist looking at a test subject with interest.

(Yes! Even though it was poisoned every day, it never gave up!

Because I kept saving it, it became so strong.

Now, it can light up every corner of the labyrinth with my flames.)

She talked so enthusiastically that it made me wonder if she had ever talked so much.

They say no one can stop someone from bragging about their children…

As if she sensed my feelings, Cecilia proudly spread her wings, sending small sparks flying.

“Hmm…”

Nis-nim’s eyes sparkled strangely.

The way he looked at Cecilia was different than before.

More deeply, more seriously.

“You’re pretty.”

The master said briefly.

But then he turned his gaze to me and continued.

“But Rico is more amazing. Sprinkling recovery pollen every day, and never giving up… If it weren’t for you, Cecilia would have just been an ordinary firefly by now.”

“Master… As expected, rather than a friendly sociable person who is usually cold, but warm to me! No, dragons are the best!”

“Huh? A—”

(And then something really amazing happened! A warrior and a saint came to the labyrinth…)

“Warrior and a saint?”

Nis-nim frowned slightly.

“Ha! Humans these days are really arrogant. To come all the way to the end of the Great Labyrinth without fear.”

(Beatrice and Seraphina… The warrior used the silver holy sword, and the saint used divine power. They were both really strong…)

“Rico, did something like that happen?”

The master also looked at me with surprised eyes.

“Yes! I wanted to fight with Bugles too, but I thought this was a trial given to them by Master Mikel.

It seemed like the foolish saintess had the wrong idea about Master Mikel, so I thought I should correct her.”

“Mikel’s trial?”

Nis-nim’s expression became more interesting.

“Yes! That’s why I made Bugles retreat and fought him alone.

I obscured his vision with blood-curdling fog, attacked him with poisonous roots… In the end, I won!”

“You fought a warrior and a saint all by yourself?”

Nis-nim’s voice was filled with admiration.

“My intuition was not wrong.”

Nis-nim smiled meaningfully.