Chapter 30

Even though the reward was tempting, I was already satisfied with the fact that I could know the locations of the monsters. As the Dryad of this Dandelion Forest, the reward must be incredible. In the original game, the rewards given by the king were always the best. I’m sure he will take good care of it.

Mesquite, who was urging me to hurry, calmed me down. At the same time, he suggested that we refrain from inflating my body with fire as we did last time.

This dandelion grove is directly affected by fire. Although I hadn’t completely ignored the possibility, I didn’t want to cause any more damage, so I decided to follow Mesquite’s advice.

The method of indicating the location of the fire was intriguing. It wasn’t like a game with a minimap where markers were pinned to the locations of the monsters or where they sparkled. All I had to do was follow the white seeds sent by the dandelion. There were quite a few clumps of seeds spreading in all directions, so it seemed I wouldn’t need to resort to the shortcut of inflating my body.

“Druid, if it’s okay, I would like to have a brief conversation with this daisy sapling.”

“Huh? Why the daisy?”

Everyone looked puzzled as Dandelion pointed out the daisy with his staff.

Perhaps it was because the daisy was small and felt a sense of kinship with the other dandelion saplings… This daisy is small, but it was originally much larger. The daisy looked flustered at being singled out by Dandelion.

“Should we leave, Elder?”

Mesquite asked, including Elder in the question. Dandelion replied that it would be a great consideration if they did. Elder looked displeased but left the center of the grove without a word at Mesquite’s gesture. Do I have to leave too?

“It’s fine if you stay. In fact, it might be more helpful.”

Although nothing serious was likely to happen, he seemed reluctant to leave because he was worried about the daisy. Fortunately, he wasn’t chased away.

The daisy was popular among the dandelion saplings. Even the children who had been following Mesquite attentively came back. From their chatter, “You’re small like me but very strong,” I could understand why.

“Do you have any special requests?”

“No, I just wanted to have a conversation.”

The daisy approached Dandelion, and I sat down on a nearby flat rock. What’s this? Why did he leave only the daisy?

“Usually, druids travel with saplings that have grown to a certain extent… Are you a wild-born dryad like us?”

Wait a moment! That’s the daisy’s painful past! To bring it up so abruptly. Should I intervene? I hurriedly checked the daisy’s expression, but to my surprise, it looked calm.

“No! I am a dryad that bloomed from a seed. I lost my strength and became small because I was separated from the World Tree for a long time after blooming!”

The child’s answer was cheerful. I felt a bit dazed.

I always felt anxious when stories that might touch on the daisy’s past came up. I was worried that the child would recall painful memories and become sad.

However, the daisy had never shown such a reaction. It always acted as if nothing had happened, as if there was no such past.

Has the child already overcome it while I’ve been worrying uselessly…?

“Did you suffer abuse?”

Dandelion’s gaze briefly shifted towards me, but the daisy quickly blocked it, shouting.

“My druid is not like that! He’s my benefactor!”

My heart ached at the desperate gesture of the small child. My child is trying to protect me…

“I didn’t mean to misunderstand, but if it seemed that way, I apologize. Your bond with the druid is clearly very good. However, the relationship between a druid and a dryad is very close. I thought there might be some connection.”

“The one who severed my soul connection was another druid. The one who saved me from suffering was Jay.”

“I see. So the connection was severed poorly, which is why you became a sapling….”

“I’m small now, but I’ll grow tall!”

The daisy declared confidently. Yes, yes. Our daisy will only grow taller from now on.

“Then… the other two dryads who travel with the druid are not ordinary. Do you ever feel inferior?”

Oh, I didn’t notice that. You’re so straightforward. If you bombard Daisy with facts like this, it will hurt me more than her.

Daisy has been dealing with the grade-superior Elder, so her mental fortitude must be somewhat solid. Still, I was a bit curious about her inner thoughts.

Mesquite is a special grade, having emerged after ten years from the 26th Terrarium Orchard. Elder is a unique grade, causing everyone to cheer upon his appearance.

In contrast, Daisy is a normal grade that has been treated poorly.

I didn’t care about grades; I planned to nurture her to the best of my ability, even if it meant paving the way with diamonds. But I wondered if Daisy felt any inferiority when seeing the other two.

“I don’t feel that way. I’m happy that strong dryads are protecting my druid. I just want to become stronger quickly. There’s a lot I can learn from them! Of course, I might be weaker than other dryads now, but I haven’t fully grown yet.”

“Right! Daisy! You’ll grow taller!”

If I had a glow stick, I’d wave it. In red. I’m your number one fan, supporting your thoughts! Your mindset is already fully grown!

Daisy’s answer made Dandelion smile brightly. Do flowers make other flowers bloom when they smile? Is this an illusion? My face grew hot at the heart-wrenchingly beautiful smile.

“You can become a king too. The king of the forest. With that mindset, you can become a dominant species that rules over other dryads. Your strong heart will certainly make it possible.”

Mesquite said that if he obtained a butterfly, he could find and subdue other dryads of the same species to create a forest.

Of course, I planned to give the butterfly to Daisy first. The natural occurrence rate is high, and I was eager to nurture her to be strong.

Daisy looked surprised at Dandelion’s words.

“Can I become a king like you?”

I imagined Daisy as the king of the forest, as elegant and strong as Dandelion. I wouldn’t see her small and cute form anymore, but thinking of a grown child is bittersweet. Still, seeing a successful child is gratifying… Is this what it feels like to be a parent? I feel like crying a bit.

“I was no different from other dandelion saplings when I was born. I was small and weak. The only difference was that my vessel was a bit larger. Large enough to accommodate the souls of other dryads.”

“You were small like me? Like these dryads?”

Daisy’s confusion mirrored mine. I couldn’t easily imagine Dandelion’s small form. I thought he had always been a king, born large and noble.

“Yes, I was small like this. I had no power to use. I stayed safely in the center of the grove, drinking water and basking in the sunlight when the time came. I talked with other saplings, ventured outside the grove with a sense of adventure, and returned shivering from the night dew… I was no different from other sapling dryads.”

Dandelion stroked the head of a dandelion sapling who was acting cute.

“As the number of dandelion dryads increased and the grove faced threats, a central figure became necessary. We could no longer live peacefully. Among the small dryads, I was chosen as the dominant species because my soul vessel was larger. As I received the souls of others, I gained new power, and using that power to protect the grove made my soul vessel even larger.”

Dandelion showed us his staff, wings, and crown, one by one, for us to see better.

“As my soul vessel grew, so did my body. As I became stronger, my weapons, which were necessary to contain my power, became larger and more sophisticated. The crown symbolizing the king’s authority and the wings symbolizing my uniqueness also grew. And you can become like this someday.”

It seemed Daisy had a dream. She had a dazed look on her face as she looked at Dandelion.

“Becoming a king means taking on the responsibility and duty of receiving many souls. Receiving a soul means transferring all your power to one dryad. One dandelion dryad is small and weak, but many together can become strong and special. Therefore, you must use your strength to help other dryads.”

“Just hearing about it is amazing…!”

“I believe the daisy species is not much different from us dandelions. There must be many dryads born with the World Tree’s blessing scattered around. You can create a forest soon. Your task is to become strong enough to prove that you are a dominant species. Among the dandelion dryads here, I was chosen because my soul vessel was larger, but the situation might be different for the daisy dryads outside.”

It was good advice. I knew becoming a king in the forest meant becoming stronger, but I didn’t realize it involved absorbing the souls of other dryads. Clearly, two dryads are stronger than one.

Not only Daisy but I also needed to grow. The dandelions here formed a forest in the wild, but in Daisy’s case, I needed to create a forest within my terrarium artifact.

To connect with many dryads and their souls, I needed to increase my soul’s capacity, which meant leveling up. I need to level up!

“Perhaps when we meet again after leaving here, I will see you as a king.”

Dandelion concluded the conversation. Daisy nodded enthusiastically.

“Great! Daisy, let’s go! We need to sweep away the fire and gather experience points!”

I pulled Daisy’s hand and headed towards the edge of the grove.

Of course, we were careful not to step on the flowers, and the seeds seemed to dance in front of me, inviting us to follow.

Mesquite, who had been waiting, greeted us with a smile.

“Did you have a good conversation?”

“Yeah! It was very helpful!”

I still planned to focus on Mesquite. We didn’t have accurate information about the fire far from the village yet.

We followed the nearest seeds among the many spreading ones. They suddenly drooped and fell as if hit by rain.

Beyond the falling seeds, there was a fire unlike any we had seen before.

It wasn’t a shapeless, squirming mass like a slime. It was… distinctly human in form.