Gluttony Demon King with the Swampman ~A Man with No Magic Power Who Dreamed of Magic, Wielding Knowledge from His Past Life Through Steady Research and Hard Work to Become the Most Vicious Final Boss~ - Chapter 55: Blooming

Chapter 55: Blooming

Almost a full day had passed since the start of the basic research.

The hero’s magic power was indeed enormous. Throughout the many experiments, Cira never once ran out of mana. Yet even so, there she was, sprawled limply on the ground in the mansion’s garden, utterly spent.

“I-I can’t anymore… uegh… I’ve got magic sickness…”

It seemed her body had reached its limit first.

“I brewed some tea for you both~”

“…Haro, how’re you holding up?”

I accepted the refreshments the sisters had brought over to check on us. Sitting at the table we’d set up in the garden, I flipped back and forth between my compiled notes and the books while sipping the tea and nibbling on the baked sweets.

How was I holding up? Well—

“As you can see, I’m not short on samples.”

I said it with a sweep of my hand across the garden.

Plants grew thick everywhere you looked.

Vines tangled together, leaves spread wide, and vivid flowers bloomed here and there.

Every one of them had been made to bloom by Cira’s magic. She’d said that if she felt like it, she could bury the entire mansion from the outside and even cover the sky.

The “Golden Hero” had been the same way—her magic was on a truly massive scale, with no visible bottom. A terrifying talent.

“Even with magic this powerful, she still couldn’t beat a Demon King, huh… Was the opponent another plant-magic user?”

“Yeah, presumed to be the ‘Demon King of Thorns.’ They both controlled plant magic, and Cira lost.”

Cira, still crawling on the ground, let out a low, frustrated growl.

“H-Haro-sama… do you think… I can get stronger…?”

Hmm, hard to say.

In terms of pure strength, she was already plenty strong. That said, the resolution of her magic might be lacking.

“R-resolution…?”

“Yeah, you could call it how deeply you understand your own magic. How well do you really understand yours?”

“My magic? Um… I make plants, grow them, and control them…”

“Right. But for you, ‘growing’ and ‘controlling’ are tied together. Those two actions can’t be separated.”

Cira tilted her head, a bunch of question marks practically floating above her.

I explained.

When Cira rapidly grows a plant, she decides its growth direction at that very moment—which way the vines stretch, which way the leaves and flowers face.

But once a part has fully grown, she can’t move it afterward. To make it move, she has to grow that part further, creating movement secondarily as it grows.

In other words, the essence of Cira’s magic isn’t “controlling” plants—it’s “growing” them.

“This perspective is important. Your strength lies not in ‘manipulation’ but in ‘growth.’ Understanding and making use of that strength will make magic development far more efficient.”

“I… I see…!”

Cira’s eyes sparkled.

I had no idea how much she actually grasped, but—

Well, it only mattered that the person developing the magic understood.

“So, Haro, what have you been looking into?”

Noiche asked while scooping me up into her arms.

She sat back down with me on her lap, and her ample breasts settled heavily on top of my head.

Doing my best to ignore it, I answered.

“…I’ve been examining the plants Cira created. It looks like they’re based on real, existing plants.”

“Really?”

The book on the table—

It was a plant encyclopedia I’d borrowed from the guild this morning. When I opened it again, Noiche leaned in to look, and thanks to that, her soft breasts squished and shifted atop my head.

“…This white flower?”

“Yeah. Apparently it’s a garden cultivar with vines as tough as wire.”

Comparing it to my previous-life knowledge, it was close to a clematis called “iron-wire lotus.” As the name suggested, it was a type of clematis with iron-hard vines.

Though rare, the flower was even grown in the royal palace, and Cira’s former teacher must have incorporated it into her magic because of that toughness.

But then Noiche tilted her head.

“…The flower color is a little different, isn’t it?”

She murmured it softly while comparing the plant in the book to the ones growing in the garden.

It was a sharp observation.

I’d thought the exact same thing, which was why I was poring over the encyclopedia.

“Yeah. And while we’re at it, the places the flowers are growing are wrong too.”

“…Huh? You’re right.”

“On the plants Cira grew, leaves and flowers are sprouting from places that shouldn’t be possible.”

Normally, there are only certain spots where a plant can form buds.

Yet the plants Cira had grown completely ignored those rules.

A slight difference in flower color was one thing, but an outright mutation in structure felt off.

That was why I had reached this current theory.

There might be some special property attached to Cira’s magic beyond just making plants grow—something like how Noiche’s and Zaria’s celestial magic carried the extra qualities of “sleep” and “discovery.”

“…What kind of special property?”

“Who knows yet. But sometimes giving it a ‘name’ helps. Your brother prophesied the title ‘Hero of Flowers,’ right? Cira is the Hero of Flowers—not leaves, not vines, not thorns. Flowers.”

The night sky symbolizes sleep, the dawn sky symbolizes discovery.

So what, then, do “flowers” symbolize?

For example—

“—Blooming?”

Flowers opening.

It doesn’t stop at just flowers blooming; it includes the flourishing of art and culture, the fruit of hard work, or the blossoming of talent and ability—all those concepts rolled into one.

“Interesting. We’re still far from enough experiments.”

The pathetic hero who’d been bribed with freshly baked madeleines by Zaria let out a small, terrified “Eek!” at my words.

Well, I’d let her rest for a bit. In the meantime, I’d plan the next round of experiments.

“What about Egiy?”

“She went to her part-time job at the guild.”

“I see. Tell her to take a few days off starting tomorrow. We’ll need her skills to make use of the ‘Demon King of Thorns.’”

“Got it.”

While we were handling that bit of business, the front door opened.

Oz poked her head out.

“Master.”

“Oz, how did it go?”

“Yes. It took a full day, but I succeeded in partially turning some of the thorns into a doll.”

Perfect.

They were already pieces severed from the Demon King’s main body. I’d figured that if we soaked them in ink and let the magic power get eaten away, it would be possible.

It was about time to start designing the magical armament as well.