This Novel is not my Novel

As expected, no monsters came charging in while we filled our stomachs.

After all, if a supporting character dies while trying to grant the protagonist's request, that marks the beginning of a tragedy.

But if a supporting character dies because the protagonist suggested eating, it amounts to nothing more than a failed joke that is not even funny.

The outcome was only natural.

"Want some dessert too?"

The protagonist of someone else's novel held out a Choco Pie as he spoke.

It had a red wrapper with the character for "affection" printed prominently across it.

By now, I could simply accept something like that and move on.

What truly left me dumbfounded was that the protagonist of someone else's novel intended to have dessert as well in a situation like this.

"I heard sugar works wonders when you're feeling down."

Apparently reading the disbelief in my stare, Reisir added that explanation with an awkward smile.

In other words, he had not offered me one merely because he wanted to eat it himself. He had taken out the Choco Pie and handed it to me because he wanted me to feel better.

After hearing that, there was no way I could refuse.

I cannot remain trapped in negative emotions forever, either.

My stomach was full, a sweet taste lingered in my mouth, and the baby dragon's soft mane tickled my palm.

I focused solely on those sensations, trying to empty my mind of the negative thoughts filling it.

I could not recover completely at once, but the effort was not meaningless.

I had calmed down enough for even a third party to notice.

"Looks like you've finally gotten some of your energy back. Then we should probably start—"

"......?"

Reisir, who had been studying me closely, broke into a broad grin and began to speak.

But he suddenly closed his mouth without finishing the sentence.

Wondering why, I was about to ask him what was wrong, but I could not.

Reisir raised his index finger to his lips and made a quiet shushing sound.

Rustle. Scrape, scrape.

Silence fell between us.

Then came a sound like a snake slithering along, accompanied by leaves brushing against one another.

It was faint enough to be barely audible, yet I could instinctively tell that it came from somewhere nearby.

A monster was gradually approaching.

Still, the sound came from only one direction, and there did not seem to be many of them.

At least one. Three at most, perhaps?

I concentrated and listened more carefully.

There was neither caution nor excitement in the sound.

My guess was that it had not detected us and was approaching deliberately. It was probably just wandering around aimlessly.

"What shall we do?"

"I want to find out what kind of enemy it is."

I asked in a heavily lowered voice, and Reisir answered in an equally quiet whisper.

Since it had not discovered us yet, the monsters here probably had poor detection abilities.

It would have been ideal if we could hide somewhere, wait for the monster to pass, and use Reisir's 【Truth-Reading Eye】 to determine its abilities in the process.

Unfortunately, the thorny vines that had grown the moment the area transformed into a Demon Realm made hiding in the undergrowth impossible.

In this environment, saying that he wanted to identify the enemy was practically the same as saying he wanted to fight the monster once.

There was no point trying to avoid the approaching monster by following the sound.

The original author would inevitably create a situation that forced us to fight them somehow, so escaping this place without combat was impossible anyway.

Besides, if we run in the opposite direction of the noise only for enemies to approach from there as well, we will be in serious trouble....

If we wanted to avoid ending up like the filling in a sandwich, it would be better to eliminate the enemy already approaching us.

And right now, we had a fair amount of breathing room.

We should be able to secure time for a strategy meeting after the battle as well.

With that in mind, I met Reisir's eyes and nodded.

I was giving my consent to fight immediately.

"All right. Then could you apply the buffs other than 【Exaltation】 first?"

Since we had yet to identify the monster, it was best to avoid making loud noises if we wanted to retain the initiative.

That was probably why the original protagonist wanted me to postpone using 【Exaltation】.

I understood his reasoning, so I nodded again and immediately activated my buff skills.

First, I applied the 【Encouragement】 buff to myself.

Then I activated 【Exhortation】, applying the keywords "my possessed body" and "my existence" to myself, "my acquaintance" to Reisir—

and six keywords to Yor, including "my spirit beast."

After that—

"Yor, I am counting on you."

"Meow meow."

"Reisir. As for you... well.... I am sure you will manage perfectly well on your own."

"I appreciate that you trust me to manage on my own, but couldn't you tell me you're counting on me too?"

"......Very well. I am counting on you. Are you satisfied now?"

"Yeah, I am."

—after that exchange, I completed the activation of 【Encouragement】.

At that exact moment, the monster inhabiting this place revealed itself.

Gripping the shaft of his spear tightly, Reisir charged toward it and shouted,

"Karvaldr! Use 【Exaltation】!"

I had intended to do so without being told.

That remark also fell into the category of "things that did not need to be said."

Without replying, I swung my whip and activated 【Exaltation】.

"This monster has two skills: 【Seed Bomb】 and 【Germination】! 【Seed Bomb】 is exactly what it sounds like—it fires seeds containing explosive force. And 【Germination】 is... apparently the ability to make seeds grow?"

While skillfully dodging and deflecting the plant stalks the monster swung at him, Reisir read its skill window and shared the information with me.

It was a remarkably inadequate explanation.

Therefore, for the sake of my dear readers, allow me to provide some additional details.

The monster that had just appeared was called a Seed Bloom, and it had appeared in the original novel.

True to its name, it was a plant-type monster that spat seeds from a mouth located at the center of an enormous flower.

Rather than planting its roots in the ground and remaining motionless, it used its stalks and leaves to brace against the ground and push itself forward, moving as though it were swimming.

This allowed it to roam actively in search of prey.

And there was an additional detail: although it normally moves slowly, its speed increases dramatically once it discovers and begins pursuing prey.

Only one had appeared now, perhaps as some kind of demonstration, but they were not creatures that always acted alone.

In the original work, more than ten of them had sometimes swarmed together.

Despite being plants, they were also reasonably intelligent.

Of all things, it had to be a Seed Bloom. This is a serious problem....

It could pursue prey at high speed, operate in groups, and possessed intelligence.

Those traits alone were enough to prove that confronting them by ourselves would not be easy.

Yet the truly frightening aspect of this monster lay elsewhere.

It was the 【Germination】 skill Reisir had just mentioned.

According to what I had read in the original novel, this monster fired two kinds of seeds.

One was the explosively charged 【Seed Bomb】.

The other was a seed used for 【Germination】.

A 【Germination】 seed did not drain vitality or anything of the sort after embedding itself in someone's body. Still, a plant would grow from it, so naturally it hurt like hell.

Since it did not need to absorb nutrients, it would rapidly grow after taking root anywhere, whether in soil or solid rock.

It would then bloom into either a blue or white flower....

The blue flowers release poisonous powder, while the white ones release sleeping powder.

Poison was manageable.

Those of you reading this might be wondering what the hell I was talking about, but I had good reason to say that.

The substance could endanger someone's life if enough of it accumulated inside the body, but it was not lethal enough to kill instantly.

More importantly, it was "poison," which meant drinking a Detoxification Potion would solve the problem.

And for a long time now, I had carried multiple top-grade Detoxification Potions as though they were ordinary household medicine.

The odds were overwhelmingly high that Karvaldr had consumed the poison of his own volition, but regardless, "this body" had once nearly died from poisoning. [N O V E L I G H T] I carried them just in case.

Still, my supply is not unlimited, so if we can avoid inhaling the poisonous powder, it would be best to do so.

In any case, the greatest problem was the sleeping powder.

From the perspective of modern medicine, the human body also recognized medicinal compounds as substances requiring detoxification, breaking them down and expelling them.

Antidotes likewise could not selectively eliminate only toxins. They sometimes neutralized or inhibited medicinal compounds with structures similar to that of the targeted substance.

The Detoxification Potions of this fantasy world, however, removed only toxins that attacked the body.

In other words, if the sleeping powder affected us, drinking a Detoxification Potion would accomplish nothing.

Put another way, we would remain asleep until the sedative compound naturally wore off.

Falling asleep in front of a monster is a perfect way to end up sleeping forever.

Judging by his behavior, however, the current original protagonist did not seem to know.

He had no idea what the monster he was fighting could cause to "germinate."

Even though 【Truth-Reading Eye】 should have been strengthened by 【Encouragement】, the monster's skill description still did not explain what would grow from a germinated seed....

Only one monster had appeared for now, and the baby dragon was supporting Reisir by forming and firing Ether arrows.

Perhaps because he had sparred with me and my whip many times, Reisir effortlessly evaded the monster's whip-like stalks and launched counterattacks.

At this rate, there seemed to be no need for me to join the fight.

No, more accurately, I could not intervene just yet.

The monster needs to use 【Germination】 first. Only then can I warn Reisir about the pollen without raising questions....

That did not mean I intended to stand idle.

Reisir would not be on guard against either the plants that grew from those seeds or the powder their flowers released, so I needed to watch for them on his behalf.

I gripped my whip tightly and prepared to charge at any moment so I could respond the instant the monster used 【Germination】.

But even when the original protagonist finally reached the monster, drove his spear into the center of its red flower, and forced a powerful electric current through it—

even when the monster collapsed and ceased moving entirely—

the Seed Bloom merely fired 【Seed Bombs】 that exploded one after another. It never once used 【Germination】.

I knew something was strange.... No matter how low his proficiency with 【Truth-Reading Eye】 may be, it was still enhanced by 【Encouragement】. Yet the description of the monster's defining skill was far too vague.

No matter how I considered it, the original author's will had unquestionably intervened.

The author intended to use the monster's 【Germination】 skill at a crucial moment to place us in danger.

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