As if begging for the contents of the bottle, the leaves bounced about, adding more rustling sounds... Whatever. From the sound of it, this one was male. I hadn’t even begun courting Lady Robur yet, and here was a plant whining to her like a spoiled child.
“Captain Dread, you sensed the banquet happening upstairs, didn’t you?” she said. “Your dreadlocks look great, as always.”
Captain Dread? So he did know the lady after all. Did this mean the plant had been cozying up to her behind my back this whole time?! Should I burn it?
As I watched, Lady Robur dumped half a stein’s worth of liquid onto the leaves. Smelled like wine to me. No idea how it was supposed to drink from the leaves, but it would be perfect for burning...
Suddenly, Mihail placed a hand on my shoulder. He looked at me with a horrified expression, shaking his head from side to side. Had he heard my inner thoughts?
“Heh heh heh, even the pope has dressed up for the feast! Indeed, it’s only proper for the top dog to lead the way in letting loose at a no-holds-barred party!”
“Huh?”
Lady Robur paid no mind whatsoever to our exchange. I didn’t understand what she meant, but I desperately wanted that sparkling smile directed at me. Should I burn the pope too?
“Even if you pretend to look clueless, you haven’t fooled anyone! That outfit! That’s right, it’s that costume party that becomes hugely popular in a certain country during a specific time of year! Trick or treat! Yes, that means it’s Halloween!”
“What are you talking about...” The pope’s expression had completely changed from before, looking like he’d just spotted some unidentified, creepy creature for the first time. There was no doubt that both Mihail and I shared the pope’s opinion. Of course, I’d always tip my hat to the lady’s brilliant ideas...
Mihail placed his hand on my shoulder again. That look of horror on his face was back, and he shook his head from side to side. Had he heard my thoughts again?
“Please, just calm down for now,” he murmured. Was there pain mingled within the sparkle of his violet eyes? What was wrong? Since the clarity in his eyes had changed, I could tell he was constantly troubled...
I suddenly recalled the special ability possessed by Mihail’s grandfather, Soviesch Robur. Like the charm inherent in the pope’s magic, it was supposed to be a unique power that occasionally manifested in the Robur family. I’d found mention of it in the diary I discovered at Princess Beljeanne’s villa, where I was transferred when I was first afflicted by the magic curse. I recalled it stated he should have been removed as the princess’s fiancé precisely because of that ability...
“Oh, come now! That glossy, dark crimson skin—you have to be plastered with makeup! Wings on your back, and those bulging muscles you were hiding are now on full display! I’d say the theme here is a mischievous, fallen angel macho cosplay!”
“Mischievous? Fallen angel... Macho? Hah... Huh?” The pope’s fighting spirit had completely vanished; he was visibly flustered by the utterly incomprehensible things Lady Robur was saying.
Of course, since my beloved looked incredibly delighted, I personally couldn’t care less about the meaning.
“You’re Halloween incarnate!” she declared. “Mwa ha ha, now even those church officials already teetering on the edge can roll down the path to damnation without a care!”
“Teetering? What?” the pope sputtered. “Wait, Lady Robur, what on earth did you do in this short time... Huh?”
Fall? The path to damnation? Hah! Could she have gained more corrupted believers again?! I absolutely could not approve of her gaining any more followers!
“Now then, Captain Dread! Go ahead and trick-or-treat to your heart’s content!”
“Trick! Or! Treat!”
“Of course, here’s a treat!”
She splashed the remaining wine all over the leaves, completely ignoring the pope. I still didn’t understand the meaning of “trick or treat,” or why anyone would splash alcohol around. As always though, my beloved had this chaotic atmosphere completely under control.
“Woo-hoo!” the plant cheered. “sonic wolf fin wine is my favorite! Okay! I’m pumped! Come on, ladies!”
Pop-pop-pop-pop-pop! Five plantlike sprouts appeared, encircling the plant and Lady Robur. Then, with a sudden jolt, they shot up to knee height, and white buds appeared and blossomed. At the center of each flower was a human figure. The moment they bloomed, they gave off immense holy magic, glowing faintly. As I gazed at that light, the pitch-black jealousy nesting in my chest and the restless anxiety of feeling abandoned by my beloved began to ease. The pain in Mihail’s eyes relaxed, the transparency in his pupils fading.
“Could they be a sacred beast?” I asked.
“Huh?! But they look like alraunes, don’t they?!” Mihail said.
“True, their eyes are the characteristic red of a magical beast, and I don’t understand why there are five of them...” I used magic to appraise one: It was a magical beast. But my instincts told me these were something fundamentally different from the alraunes I knew.
More importantly, Lady Robur had set down the wine bottle and stein on the ground, then crouched down to high-five the alraunes...?! She knew them too?! I wanted to high-five her too!
“Trick or treat! Trick or treat! Trick or treat!” the alraunes shouted in unison. They showed her what looked like improvised steins, woven from the ivy and leaves sprouting from their bodies... Was this a demand?
Lady Robur pulled something out of her skirt pocket, wrapped in what looked like the plastic wrap she had created. That pocket sure was handy... Inside the wrap was a black, dried-out, crispy piece of wing, like that of a sonic wolf. Lady Robur conjured a small flame in her palm with magic and roasted it. Then, after deftly breaking it into just the right size pieces, she placed them in the plant-made steins, picked up a bottle, and poured some liquor into them.
“It’s a treat!”
“Yaaay! Cheers!”
The alraunes and the young lady had started an impromptu drinking party?!
“You! Sing! Sing! Sing!”
As they cheered him on, the purple-green plant jingled his braids like branches rustling in the wind, making a melodic sound. “Whatever you want, my beloved wives. Lavi, are you ready?”
“Let’s get on the Halloween stage!” Lady Robur said with a giggle. “The body and neck are made from the hardened, dried vines from a barometz’s belly! The plectrum is made from its hooves! The skin is made from a dragon’s shed skin! We used green spider and amoeba for strings that combine elasticity and durability, and it’s perfectly tuned! This is the shamisen!”
“Wow! The legendary shamisen!” the alraunes chimed in with their high-pitched voices.
“I’ve made a wide variety of instruments for the ladies too, and they’re already stored in the captain’s subspace storage!”
“Wonderful!”
“Okay! Pull me out!”
Without hesitation, the lady grabbed the plant’s roots with both hands and yanked...
“Lady Robur! Wait!” the pope cried. “That plant is...” Unable to process the situation fast enough, he gaped in shock and frantically tried to stop her. His wings flapped as if he were about to lunge at her.
But she was quicker, yanking the plant out with a satisfying pop as she shouted the signal. “It’s! On! Stage!” She flung the plant she held straight into the air. It was a long, rootlike vegetable, its bottom forked like legs.
“Yaaay! Ha ha ha! Halloween days!” There was a piercing, high-pitched sound at a deafening volume. The plant was screaming sonic waves.