Chapter 126: Let’s Grow a Mandrake

「I’m so angry! What on earth is that guy thinking! 」

Lily expressed her anger without hiding it in a room in the palace.

Everyone else gathered there sympathized with her.

…I’m sorry. It’s all because I’m a failure.

「It’s not your fault, Shin. It’s that guy called Masauda who is at fault. 」

Lily remembered an incident that happened a while ago when she said those words.

—

A search party was gathered to search for Kyou.

However, they were stopped by a man the moment they were about to depart.

「Brother Masauda, ​​what are you doing? 」

Shin approached in a panic, but the man called Masauda responded coldly.

「I’m the one who asks what you are doing. Do you understand your position? 」

Masuda said to Shin with obvious contempt.

「All the soldiers of this country are my property. Even though you may be of royal blood, my rights as the legitimate successor are greater. Therefore, you cannot move my soldiers as you please. 」

「…Our father, the King of this country is still on the throne. Even though you, brother, are the first heir to the throne, you don’t have full authority. 」

「It will happen eventually. No, it’s no exaggeration to say it will happen soon. 」

His words caused a stir not only in Shin, but also in the soldiers gathered there.

「You all know, right? My father, the King, is ill and has only a short time left. You know who will become King of this country when that old man dies, right? 」

No one in the room could argue against the abusive language directed at the King of this country.

Because it was none other than Masauda who was currently exercising power in place of the sick King.

「And last time, before I could stop you, you led your army to reinforce another country, didn’t you? You haven’t even been punished for that time, so there’s no way you can move your troops on your own here again. 」

Shin couldn’t respond to Masauda’s words, so he lowered his face and clenched his fists.

Masauda spat out his words as if he were looking at a bug.

「It is unthinkable to send out a search party. All soldiers gathered here must return to their posts immediately. That’s all. 」

And with that, Masauda left, accompanied by the priest who had been waiting at his side.

As soon as Masauda left, the soldiers who had gathered there also quietly dispersed.

—

「I don’t know if he’s the first heir to the throne of this country or whatever, but when I think about how he ruined our chances of finding Kyou, it makes me extremely angry. 」

Lily voiced her dissatisfaction without reservation.

However, that was the feeling that everyone in the room was feeling.

「What if we went to look for Kyou on our own? 」

「That’s…of course we could, but the desert is vast. With this few people, it will be difficult to divide the work…」

Shin looked puzzled at Fitis’ statement.

There were only a few people here, including Shin. With few people, searching for a person who had disappeared in such a vast desert would be as difficult as finding a diamond in a mass of sand.

Everyone knew that, so they had their heads down.

However, the crying voice of a girl echoed in the midst of this atmosphere.

「…No way. 」

It was Rock, who had grown closer to Kyou than anyone else and had grown up as his child.

「No way…I don’t want to give up looking for Papa…! 」

Sobbing, Rock desperately clung to Lily’s leg.

「I’m going to look for Papa…! Rock will go look for him even if I have to go to the ends of the desert! 」

Seeing Rock crying, Lily’s expression showed a little sadness, but she quickly smiled to reassure Rock and lowered her waist to the same eye level as her.

「…It’s okay, Rock-chan. I was going to go look for him anyways, and more than anything, I’ll definitely find him. 」

Saying this, Lily picked up Rock, and the sword next to her, immediately standing up to depart.

Everyone else who was watching this, whether they were surprised or astonished, shared a smile.

「As expected of Miss Lily. Then, I’ll follow your example. 」

「That’s right. Even if it’s just us, we should search, right? I can’t let you go by yourself. 」

「Then, of course I’ll accompany you. 」

Following Lily, Jack, Fitis, and Shin volunteered.

「Thank you, everyone. 」

After thanking everyone there, Lily put Rock on her shoulders and declared.

「Well then, let’s head to the desert to look for Kyou! 」

—

「…It seems to have worked. 」

I muttered, staring at a monster that I had successfully cultivated in front of me.

「Master, what is that…? 」

Right now, in front of Dora-chan and me was something like a transparent gelatin cocoon.

It was about one meter in size. It was growing out of the ground.

「Well, I think you’ll see it right away if you wait a little longer. 」

And so, Dora-chan and I observed the cocoon-like thing in front of us.

After a while, the cocoon began to tremble and bloomed like a flower, and the upper body of a monster with a woman’s body appeared from it.

「…Woah. 」

The little child yawned lazily.

She looked like an adult Dora-chan.

She had green hair that fell on her shoulders, and a face similar to Dora-chan’s.

However, the biggest difference was in her lower body.

At first glance, the lower half of its body was buried in the ground like that of a Dryad, but there was something like a jellyfish umbrella underneath it.

Perhaps it was just waking up and feeling dazed, but perhaps it was just like that as it rubbed its slightly hunched eyes with its fingers before noticing me standing in front of it. It bowed.

「…Oh, hello there. Good morning, master. 」

The woman said, with bags under her eyes and a slightly downcast tone.

At the same time, she raised the lower half of her buried body…the umbrella part.

What emerged from there were literally countless tentacles like the legs of a jellyfish.

The upper half of its body was that of a woman. The lower half was that of a jellyfish, making it a rather strange monster at first glance.

it would be similar to an Alraune* if I had to compare its appearance to something.

A monster whose lower half was integrated with large petals and buds.

I had heard that Mandragora and Alraune were monsters with similar characteristics, so this change may have been due to that.

She called out to me while I was thinking about this and observing the girl’s lower body.

「Hey, master! Suddenly staring at a woman’s lower body like that is sexual harassment! Are you really that curious about what’s under my umbrella? 」

「What? No…no, it’s not like that, I was just looking because it was a bit unusual…! 」

「Oh, really? I thought for sure you were interested in my body, master! 」

The woman looked at me with amusement, ostentatiously staring at me as I panicked.

By the way, inside my chest, Dora-chan was puffing out her cheeks and making a “hmm” noise.

「Well, do you know me? 」

「Well, maybe a little. But I guess you’re the husband who gave birth to me. And the rest is, well. That Mandragora is my sister. 」

The child in front of me started to worry, “Hmm, but in this case, maybe she’s more like a mother than a sister? Hmm.”

Dora-chan, on the other hand, had a complicated look on her face, wondering, “Is this girl my sister…?”

Well, it was true that they shared the same genes, but their personalities seemed quite different.

「By the way, what should I call you? 」

「My name? Hmm, well. 」

After thinking for a while, she said…

「I’m a Mandrake, you know. 」

Mandrake? …Ah, a name that combined Mandragora and jellyfish. How simplistic.

But I couldn’t think of any other options, so I decided to go with that name.

「By the way, Mandrake. Do you know why I gave birth to you? 」

「Well, I kind of know. I think it’s probably just how you think it is. Oh, by the way, you can call me Doraget-chan. 」

「Okay, Doraget-chan. Can I ask you something right away? 」

「Sure. 」

With that unmotivated reply, Doraget-chan approached the boy, who was still writhing around, grabbed one of the tentacles growing from her lower body, tore it off, and stuck it in the boy’s mouth, forcing him to eat it.

「That’s rough, hey! 」

「It’s a bit rough, but don’t worry. These tentacles of mine contain medicine effects. 」

I couldn’t help but retort, but since Doraget-chan said that, I nodded, thinking it should be fine.

By the way, behind me was a Manticore, watching the scene with a sense of anxiety.

Let me explain something. She was a new monster I had created.

A new species of monster that combined the characteristics of a Mandragora and a Desert Jellyfish, and gave the Mandragora’s therapeutic properties to its tentacles, which were the plant part of the monster.

Normally, Desert Jellyfish buried their bodies in the ground and used their grass-like tentacles to catch prey, but I cultivated them with the opposite idea in mind.

If the tentacles were the plant part, I thought I would give them the role of roots.

In order to grow in the harsh environment of the desert, roots that absorbed water were extremely important.

At that time, the tentacles of the Desert Jellyfish had reminded me vaguely of algae.

And algae were said to have the power to absorb a lot of water.

Furthermore, I figured that if it was as long and slender as a Jellyfish’s tentacles, then it would be able to absorb a lot of water even in a harsh environment like the Kalahari Watermelon.

Above all, it was inside the roots that a lot of nutrients gathered.

The Mandragora’s body also corresponded to the “roots” of plants, I thought.

I was sure there was a theory that said that a Mandragora was a creature that “was grateful for its roots.”

Based on that image, I created this Mandragora, and gave the tentacles, which were like roots, therapeutic properties.

The most important thing was that there were many parts that contained therapeutic properties, and the first condition for an ideal creature was to remove harmful parts.

There were many tentacles, and if they acted as roots, then they would have the ability to grow back naturally even if they were torn off.

As I learned during the last monster cultivation, I realized that the most important thing when I created new monsters like this was to accurately imagine the monster I wanted to create.

The imagination I had in my head was the basis, and it affected the actual cultivation.

It sounded like a fantasy when I said it aloud, but what made it possible was my “creation skill”.

Originally, this skill wasn’t just any skill, but a skill that was originally possessed by God.

As the Goddess explained to me before, this skill I possessed was specialized only for creating monsters, but it undoubtedly contained the creative power that God possessed.

And the most important thing in such creation was the image, in other words, the “imagination”.

Whether it was the Jack O’ Watermelon from last time or the tree that produced the Cockatrice, both grew “just as I imagined them”.

A pumpkin-shaped watermelon and a tree that produced monsters.

Both may seem impossible to an outsider, but my “creation skill” created them.

My dad said to have confidence. I finally understood what he meant.

If I was bound by existing rules, common sense, or things like that, I wouldn’t be able to create what I could create.

Even with the fusion of animal and plant types, I was convinced that I could do it, so I broke all common sense, and a “new life” was born.

Imagination truly created something.

It was proven that new monsters like this could be born when I gained confidence.

「Huh? 」

As I was gathering my thoughts like that, Dorage-chan, who was feeding the boy the medicine in front of me, tilted her head.

「What’s wrong, Dorage-chan? 」

「Well, this kid isn’t getting better. 」

「Huh? 」

I leaned forward and looked into the boy’s face when Dorage-chan said that.

His complexion certainly seemed a little better, but he still looked sick and breathed heavily

Did the medicine not work? Or did it not take effect?

「No, the medicine did take effect. And this child should definitely be better. 」

Dorage-chan explained next to me while I was wondering about it.

「We were able to treat his body abnormality. And yet, he is still suffering. That means there is another cause. 」

「What do you mean? 」

I wanted to understand Dorage-chan’s meaningful words.

Dorage-chan replied clearly.

「In other words, this child’s illness is not physical. It is his mind that’s suffering. 」

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*Alraune are massive, rooted flowers with the form of a humanoid woman inside. As a plant fey, they have a strong connection with other plant life yet have the capacity to interact with other sapient races in a significant manner.