NOVEL NEXT Ch37 - Oh? Something's Happening to Mothra...
Chapter 37: Oh? Something’s Happening to Mothra…
Rena, determined to help Mothra grow, decided to test her contract skill to see if a butterfly on the verge of becoming a monster could be tamed. Mothra would become Rena’s familiar, and Alice agreed to this. It wasn’t mind control, and if Mothra desired it, Alice had no objections. Alice was happy that her butterfly friend offered to protect her.
“…Here we go, Mothra. I want to tame you. Skill [Familiar Contract]!”
Rena aimed her whip at the scarlet swallowtail butterfly and activated her skill. A shining contract magic circle appeared before Mothra!
The successful activation of the skill suggested a high probability that even a creature not yet a monster could become a familiar. As everyone watched expectantly, Lily gently guided Mothra, and the black butterfly passed through the magic circle.
“…!”
Silence fell over the spacious drawing-room. Mothra remained motionless within the magic circle, hovering unsteadily and barely managing to keep its eyes on Rena.
The World’s Gospel bell hadn’t rung in Rena’s head yet. The sound of someone gulping echoed through the room.
“…Nn!”
Senior Lily gently patted the scarlet swallowtail’s body and spoke to it. Though Mothra had grown intelligent enough to become a monster, it wasn’t one yet and seemed confused, unable to instinctively understand the familiar contract. The moment the butterflies exchanged glances and nodded, the clear sound of a bell resonated in Rena’s head. Mothra had agreed to the contract.
[Familiar Contract] established!
Familiar: Scarlet Swallowtail Butterfly confirmed.
Mothra had been successfully tamed!
“Yay…!”
Rena cheered and told Alice and Patricia the good news. The girls held hands and celebrated.
The status of a regular, non-monster butterfly wasn’t displayed. It seemed evolution was necessary first. Rena’s special Gift, [Growth Promotion], would be very helpful. Alice had been informed about Rena’s Gift when Mothra was tamed, and they had made a fairy pact to keep it a secret.
How could Mothra, without any skills, gain experience points? Even if it defeated other creatures, its attack power as a frail butterfly was negligible. Was there another way to become a monster…? Rena and her companions pondered. Everyone tilted their heads in thought.
“Hmm… Normally, you defeat monsters to level up. Any other ideas? Like crafting, maybe, doing some kind of work…?”
“A regular butterfly can’t do any work. What kind of work would a butterfly even do? Defeat insects?”
“…Maybe use a skill to [Charm] insects and have them offer themselves as sacrifices? It’s cruel, though…”
“That’s brutal!”
The master and her friend quickly rebuked the royal candidate fairy’s outrageous idea. However, they shouldn’t forget their own brutal fighting styles.
Even Alice seemed stumped about how to turn a butterfly into a monster.
“Normally, it takes time… If you want to speed up the evolution, hmm… since it’s a butterfly, maybe something flower-related? Oh, how about physical training?”
“Macho butterfly!?”
Hey, Slimes, don’t say unnecessary things.
“Wouldn’t Mothra collapse before finishing the training?”
“That’s true. Just fluttering around wouldn’t be enough exercise… and its legs are too thin for push-ups.”
A butterfly doing push-ups… That’s quite a surreal image. The discussion circled back to finding new ideas. Everyone furrowed their brows, trying their best to think.
Mothra suddenly nudged Senior Lily with its antennae.
“Nn?”
The two butterflies stared at each other, communicating telepathically. Rena, their master, still couldn’t understand what Mothra was trying to say.
Everyone looked at the dark fairy expectantly.
“…Mothra says it’s really hungry! It feels like it could drink endless nectar! Maybe it’ll grow if it eats a lot…?”
“Satisfy its appetite…! That’s it!”
Rena, a glutton herself, seemed convinced by this idea. Everyone who heard the translation nodded in agreement.
“Alright! A flower that stores a lot of nectar. Leave it to me, Mothra!”
It seemed another wave of modification—or rather, another incident—was about to occur.
Let’s create a flower that stores lots of delicious nectar!
They chose Thure, Mothra’s favorite flower, as the base. Alice brought a potted Thure plant from the indoor garden.
Though the Thure was still in bloom, it was a bulb flower, not a seed-bearing one, so it could be used as a [Cultivation] material even while flowering.
The question was what traits to add to the Thure.
First, they would crossbreed it with [Super-Speed Alfalfa]. Everyone agreed on this. The “Super-Speed” effect was very convenient, but the seeds of this wildflower were rare, a special find. While not ideal for prolonging the flower’s bloom, it was a fantastic trait for fruit-bearing plants. By the way, Patricia’s dream was to own a flower shop, not a greengrocer’s…ahem.
After several attempts, they successfully created the “Super-Speed Thure.” They tried to grow it to increase the number of seeds, but since it was a bulb flower, it produced small bulbs around the parent bulb. After waiting 30 minutes for it to grow, they obtained four small bulbs, but the efficiency was far from ideal. Imagine a garlic bulb if you need a visual. They wanted to make sure these weren’t wasted, so they carefully considered effective crossbreeding combinations.
“Let’s use Simir Gold to make the flowers bigger.”
“No!”
Patricia’s suggestion was rejected by Alice!
Patricia is shocked.
“Then… We want to improve the taste, right? Variety is good. Let’s try edible Super-Speed Demon Thistle, strawberry flavor!”
“If the nectar solidifies, Mothra won’t be able to drink it. Right now, quantity is more important than taste. No!”
Rena’s suggestion was rejected by Alice!
Rena is shocked.
“We vote for spicy Red Mustard Lotus! We love spicy food~!”
“How about fluffy Cotton Cloud Grass Thure?”
“If it looks cute, it’ll stimulate the appetite! Psychotria Elata!”
“Um…blah blah blah…”
Their master reluctantly translated the familiars’ suggestions.
“No…! Your ideas are interesting, but they don’t meet our current needs.”
“Awww….”
Seeing her lovely familiars so dejected, Alice’s conscience seemed to be pricked. She offered words of encouragement, and the familiars immediately perked up. Smiling wryly at their fickleness, Alice shared her own idea.
“I agree with making the flowers bigger. But let’s use Beauty Gold instead of Simir Gold. Once the Simir component is mixed into the seeds, further modifications become difficult. Next, for storing more nectar… In addition to the flower’s own nectar, I think it would be good to create a Thure like Walnut Grass, where the hard seeds are filled with sweet nutrients. Let’s aim to develop a Thure that produces seeds, not bulbs. Also, it would be even better if it had multiple flowers on a single stem. …What do you think?”
“As expected…!!”
The hopeless-romantic older girls wholeheartedly praised Alice’s sensible flower creation idea. They had begun to realize their lack of talent in flower creation.
Creating such a convenient flower would require multiple arrangements. There would likely be many failed extractions. Although [Cultivation] was a low-cost skill, they decided to proceed cautiously, considering Patricia’s magic power and carefully planning the crossbreeding steps.
Until the desired flower was complete, they had Mothra sip nectar in the garden.
“Skill [Cultivation]… Arrangement!”
They would raise a knight to protect their cute friend and little sister. Patricia began casting the flower creation magic with more enthusiasm than usual!
“It’s done…! Super-Speed Nectar Walnut Thure!”
“Congratulations, Patricia!”
“Amazing… to complete it in one day. How lucky. Thank you, Onee-chan…!”
“Hehe, you’re welcome!”
After numerous [Cultivation] attempts, it was already dark outside. They had wasted many seeds and used up all the original “Super-Speed Alfalfa,” but they had finally created the desired flower seeds in about eight hours. Though tired, everyone in the drawing-room was beaming.
The dark purple, walnut-shaped seeds were filled with nutritious, sweet nectar. The flowers grew quickly, and a single thick stem bore about 20 fruits, so Mothra’s hunger would be satisfied. They hoped it would eat a lot and grow big. They could almost hear the foreshadowing.
Mothra, apparently not satisfied with the nectar from the garden flowers, flew unsteadily towards Alice.
“Here you go.”
“Drink your fill!”
Patricia cracked open the harvested walnut fruits with her bare hands and offered them to Mothra, who was perched on Alice’s palm.
The butterfly extended its straw-like proboscis and began to rapidly suck the nectar. It was impressive!
“Chug! Chug!”
“Go, Mothra!”
“Conquer it!”
Encouraged by its senior familiars, Mothra showed no signs of stopping.
…The three humans gradually stared in disbelief. The normal-sized swallowtail butterfly was growing bigger and bigger as it drank the nectar! Alice’s hand started trembling under the butterfly’s weight.
The enlarged walnut fruits, a result of repeated modifications, were quite heavy, with shells about 15 cm in diameter. The nectar inside was a first-class product with a refined sweetness, which Rena later used in her baking.
The ever-growing scarlet swallowtail butterfly was now larger than Alice’s face, even with just one wing. Its appetite showed no signs of waning. The pile of walnut shells grew steadily.
“That’s some impressive drinking,” Patricia muttered with a strained smile, growing a third “Super-Speed Nectar Walnut Thure” seed in preparation for Mothra’s next serving. It had already consumed the nectar of 35 walnuts. Alice had long since moved Mothra from her palm to her lap, watching its growth.
Mothra continued drinking without slowing down, finally finishing the nectar of 60 walnuts! Everyone applauded involuntarily.
Then, a cheerful bell chime rang in Rena’s head.
☆Evolution conditions met!
Familiar: Mothra will evolve into a monster.
Evolves into: Giant Butterfly Neo
To evolve, tap the species name.
Rena gasped upon seeing the evolved species name.
“Whoa, this one’s going to get huge…!”
“Wait, even bigger!?”
“How are we going to feed it every day?”
Alice and Patricia paled at Rena’s words.
“Congratulations!!”
The senior familiars, however, seemed unconcerned.
The girls stared at the now 80 cm long scarlet swallowtail, wondering what to do. Mothra, however, stared at its small friend with determined eyes, as if saying, “I can protect Alice now!”
“…Mothra… You worked hard for me, didn’t you? Thank you…!”
Alice was instantly moved. Her cute butterfly had gone to such lengths for her.
Deciding to evolve Mothra quickly, Rena picked up her guild card with a wry smile. She tapped the species name to view the details.
It was a bit inconvenient that tapping to confirm the details immediately triggered the evolution, she thought absently. She didn’t know how big Mothra would become, but she hoped it wouldn’t grow larger than the room and crush them.
Her slender finger tapped the “Giant Butterfly Neo” entry.
[Giant Butterfly Neo]
…A very large butterfly. An evolved form with a length of 1 meter, a “new species” of the Giant Butterfly species with the potential to grow even larger. Detailed ecology unknown. Acquires the special skills [Gust], [Intimidate], and [Wind Cutter] upon evolution.
Receives the Gift [Beloved Child of the Sky] ☆5 upon evolution!
“A new species!?”
“A ☆5 Gift!? That’s incredibly rare!”
“H-How big will it get…?”
Everyone was exhausted from all the surprises, both from Mothra’s hidden potential and their master’s cheat Gift. It went without saying that ☆5 Gifts were extremely rare.
While everyone was stunned by the species’ characteristics, Mothra’s evolution had already begun. The butterfly, now on the floor, wrapped its wings around its body like a bat. It extended its proboscis upwards and, surprisingly, began to spin silk! The glossy, lacquer-like thread enveloped Mothra, forming a jet-black cocoon.
As everyone held their breath, a sharp whooshing sound echoed through the drawing-room. The top of the cocoon was cleanly sliced open by the [Wind Cutter] skill. From within, dark, glossy wings unfolded… and Neo Mothra emerged!
A jet-black butterfly with red markings, like a work of art. As everyone gazed in admiration, Mothra flapped its wings before the girls, performing its own version of a bow. It looked at Rena, who could understand it, and spoke.
“…Rena-sama. Thank you very much. For helping me grow and for reaching out to Alice-sama. I am truly grateful! Without the blessing of your Gift, I wouldn’t have been able to become a monster so quickly… I might have reached the end of my lifespan before evolving. …I want to protect Alice-sama, who has been so kind to me. With that single thought in mind, I have become a monster with your help. Could you please lend me your strength once more so I can become even stronger? I know it’s a selfish request… But I swear I will work hard and become strong enough to be worthy of serving you, Rena-sama. Please… I beg you!”
Rena’s eyes widened at Mothra’s earnest plea. As expected of a highly intelligent butterfly that had lived much longer than the other familiars.
Their master smiled wryly at the sight of it bowing its head and asking for help. She reassured Alice, who was looking back and forth between Rena and Mothra with concern, “It’s okay.” She then returned Mothra’s bow.
“It’s nice to formally meet you, Mothra. You don’t have to lower your head, just look at me. I’m Rena Todo, the monster tamer. Pleased to meet you! I’m your master according to the contract, but I won’t force you to always stay by my side. I want you to become strong and protect Alice. She’s a precious friend to me. I’ll leave her protection to you. Of course, I’ll help you become stronger! Let’s work hard together.”
“…! Yes! Thank you!”
“My, you’re too polite.”
Rena smiled at the sight of the large butterfly happily twitching its antennae. The senior familiars, who could now communicate with Mothra, flocked to it, and the room became lively once again.
Rena, along with Alice and Patricia, looked at Mothra’s status displayed on the guild card.
“Name: Mothra
Species: Giant Butterfly Neo ♂, Lv. 1
Aptitude: Green Magic
HP: 20
Intelligence: 15
Speed: 12
Magic Power: 15
Luck: 8
Skills: [Gust], [Intimidate], [Wind Cutter]
Gift: [Beloved Child of the Sky] ☆5”
It seemed to be true that ordinary creatures became stronger than their normal counterparts when they transformed into monsters. It was much stronger than a typical level 1. Its future potential was frightening.
According to Alice, new species with the name “Neo” were rarely born during monster transformations. Rena’s luck seemed to be at its peak again today.
Let’s look at the details of the skills and Gift.
[Gust]: Creates a gust of wind with its large wings, blowing away the target. Normal flapping receives a power boost.
[Intimidate]: Causes the target to panic by glaring at them. The intensity of the glare can be adjusted to control the pressure applied.
[Wind Cutter]: Cuts the opponent with sharp wind blades. Power increases with repeated use, but magic power consumption also increases.
[Beloved Child of the Sky]: A Gift bestowed upon those loved by the sky. The weather is always favorable when the Beloved Child is flying. Also, the wind always blows in their favor.
How unfair! Mothra had said it wanted to become stronger, but it already had powerful skills and a Gift at level 1.
Ignoring the dumbfounded looks from Patricia and Alice, Rena, sweating slightly, was already thinking about Mothra’s training plan. At the same time, she was trying to predict what kind of trouble the sons might cause and devising countermeasures.
Their opponents were much older and more experienced. They had life experience, social credibility as trading company presidents, and connections.
Alice was about to start her own business. They couldn’t allow her reputation to be tarnished. If Rena and her companions simply responded with violence, it could be used against them, damaging Buyer Alice’s credibility. Their opponents were cowards who threatened a young girl with violence. They would likely hide their own misdeeds and try to frame Alice.
They needed a plan that would catch their opponents off guard, and while they were disoriented, they would pressure them into giving up on Alice and her mansion. Completely cutting off their escape routes could corner them and drive them to desperate measures, so simply scaring them should suffice. Though infuriating, she decided to give them the fright of their lives.
Unconventional tactics were Rena’s specialty. She would use everything at her disposal.
Seeing their master’s narrowed eyes, the familiars grinned wickedly in agreement. Patricia raised her fist in the air, and Alice smiled brightly, murmuring, “You’re so reliable, Onee-chan.”
The small, orange-haired girl bowed her head respectfully.
“I’m sorry to trouble you… but please, Onee-chan. Help me.”
…Of course, the older girls’ answer was already decided! For their little friend, they would drive away anyone, be it her sons or thugs.
“Leave it to us!”
“We’ll send those bad guys flying!”
And so, Operation Protect Alice began!
*Next! Let’s strengthen Mothra!
*Let’s gather information on the scoundrels.
*Let’s find allies.