Chapter 34

"It's not a mountain…"

Elder tried hard to express how absurd my claim was, but I ignored him. It is a mountain. Anything that rises above the plain is a mountain.

I lay down in a sparsely flowered area, savoring the fragrant scent of dandelions, and felt my fatigue gradually recovering.

Daisy was a popular dryad among the dandelion children, almost as popular as a celebrity.

"Did you clear all the fires outside? That's amazing."

Daisy, with cheeks as red as her hair, tried to express that Mesquite and Elder were even more impressive, but the children seemed to filter out her words.

The chattering children were so adorable. I wanted to make a soul contract with one of them to become my dryad, but before I could even think about it, Dandelion spoke first, saying that some children wanted to go on an adventure with Daisy.

However, since the sapling children were too immature to go on adventures, I firmly rejected the idea, saying that no matter how much they pleaded, I had to cut them off.

Unlike Daisy, the newly born sapling children were too weak and mentally immature, making it highly likely for them to act impulsively, contrary to the druid's will.

Moreover, they lacked the strength and experience to protect the druids, who were as important as small world trees and needed to be prioritized.

Once they matured through the socialization process in the forest, it would be fine, but dandelion dryads often went to the world tree before they fully grew up. This was why the dryads in the current colony were all small.

Daisy, who had matured but lost her strength and became a sapling, could not serve as a role model for the children, and Dandelion had already warned them once.

Even if I thought about paving a path with diamonds, it wouldn't work without the consent of a guardian, who was almost like a king. Additionally, Dandelion, like Mesquite, could see the limits of my soul at a glance.

In my current state, it was better to bring another mature dryad for protection rather than trying to take a dandelion child. It was disappointing, but there was nothing I could do. It was just a small desire of mine.

Daisy, playing with the small children, seemed full of energy. Her gloomy expression from the last battle still lingered in my mind, and even though Dandelion told me hopeful stories, I was secretly worried.

But most importantly, since Daisy herself was now so carefree and enjoying herself, I needed to let it go.

No, it wasn't the time for me to complain about my physical condition and whine about climbing a mountain. There might be even more challenging mountains on the journey ahead. I needed to reflect on that.

I shouldn't be the same as usual. I am a druid leading my dryads. I need to adapt and grow in this world.

I needed to wake up early in the morning and prepare to leave, without whining. I made that resolution.

The dandelion children, who had been running around and playing wildly while the sun was up, became surprisingly calm as soon as the sun set below the horizon.

They gathered around Dandelion and, despite their chattering, fell asleep soundly, making it seem like someone had pressed a mute button. If it weren't for the various sounds of their breathing, I would have thought I was frozen and paused.

The yellow flowers, which had bloomed so fully that they seemed to be in a yellow galaxy, closed their buds and fell asleep. The stars of the day gave way to the stars of the night.

Originally, children would resist going to bed and fall asleep only after their tired guardians put them to sleep. But when the time came, they all fell asleep as if by magic.

Among the dandelion dryads, only Dandelion remained awake. The statement that dryads don't need to sleep or eat seemed to apply only to her.

"The children are still weak, and since they have entrusted their souls to me, they are no different from human children. They follow the instincts of their mother."

She said this while gazing at the dandelion children, who were sound asleep around her, in a soft, soothing voice, like a lullaby.

Mesquite, worried, patrolled the area around the colony and returned, encouraging me to join the children's dream journey.

I counted the number of times she left the center of the colony a few times before dozing off into a deep sleep, so deep that I didn't even dream.

***

Someone said that if you look forward to the morning, you wake up naturally at the right time.

Why doesn't it apply to me? They say you can do it if you have strong willpower!

I woke up with a chilling sensation, as if my heart had dropped, and a cold feeling in my head.

Oh no... When I wake up with this feeling, it's always a disaster.

This feeling... It's like when you finally learn to speak fluently, leave your cozy home, and have to go to school every weekday morning, but you oversleep and your ancestors pour water on you to tell you it's time to go.

Wake up, sleepyhead. How can you be lazy in your studies? Our family has a long tradition of scholarly excellence, and you are the first descendant who doesn't want to wake up until someone wakes you.

If I leave you alone, you'll sleep until evening, so I had to wake you up. But you're already late and will get a severe scolding.

If you're going to wake me up, why not do it early? Why do you always wake me up when it's already too late?

Instead of the chirping of birds in the morning, the dandelion children were chattering away. They were all awake.

Despite my resolution from the previous night, I overslept again. I went to the spring with puffy eyes and splashed water on my face. The water was just cold enough to start waking me up.

Elder looked at me pitifully as I washed my face like a cat.

"You were sleeping so soundly that I couldn't bear to wake you. You must have been very tired."

"I always sleep like the dead."

Sometimes my mom thinks I'm really dead and even puts her finger under my nose. She shakes me awake out of worry. I have no bad sleeping habits. I'm a good person, really.

"You're impressive. Even when the dandelion saplings were running around noisily, you didn't even think about waking up."

"I had a sudden thought. If I'm in danger while I'm sleeping, it might be faster to pick me up and run rather than wake me up."

I'm a messed-up human. That's how my life resolutions turn out. I'm a good person, right? Ha.

Still half-asleep and groggy, I thought about dunking my face in the spring to fully wake up.

Shaking my body like a broken toy, I saw Daisy surrounded by the dandelion children. Daisy was showing attack motions with a dagger at the children's request.

They're so cute. The children exclaimed in admiration, following Daisy's dagger with their eyes.

"Our Daisy is so energetic. How can she be so lively from the morning? I have no energy at all."

I tied my hair up loosely and sighed in admiration.

When I was their age, I used to run around the playground so much that I wouldn't go home even when my mom called. I even won first place in the running race at the elementary school sports festival.

I shook my high ponytail and stretched, and Elder's hand, wrapped in white light, touched my forehead.

"You don't seem to be in pain. No energy? Did something happen to your body from the explosion yesterday?"

I've always been protected by dryads. Even if I were hurt, I would have complained and wouldn't have stayed still.

"No, it's just a figure of speech. Maybe it's all because I'm getting old."

It's a bit of a risky thing to say to the seniors above me. My stamina in the morning can't be the same as my stamina in the afternoon.

"Mesquite is much older than you, yet she patrolled all night and went out again."

"Don't compare me to an irregular entity. How dare you compare me to Mesquite-sama!"

I need to exercise more. It's a rare game world, but I'm struggling with my original stamina.

When Mesquite returned, the dandelion dryads bid her farewell, and we left the colony as soon as possible. My resolution to wake up early, which I made last night, failed again this morning.

Daisy, with her bouncy steps, was jumping on the rocks, and Mesquite, in full armor with a shield and lance, was climbing steadily without any sign of fatigue. Elder, in flowing robes, walked with a peaceful expression.

Among them, I, the most ordinary one, was climbing the mountain with a grim face, repeating my many declarations of giving up. Elder deliberately slowed down to match my pace, probably worried that I might roll down from exhaustion.

It's not a mountain... I told you. My claim that anything 10 meters higher than the plain is a mountain was correct.

But this is not just 10 meters higher. In Korea, at least there are paths for hikers. Here, it's a truly wild mountain, untouched by human hands!

A 100% pure uphill path with no artificial installations, not even a stone staircase!

We were climbing a relatively wide path, but I, lacking skill, kept slipping and almost falling. I picked up a long stick to use as a walking stick and, not wanting to be a burden to the group, gritted my teeth and climbed without complaining.

I wish we could just keep hiking endlessly. It would be easier to just focus on the path ahead. But the druid ahead didn't seem to have taken this route... fires kept appearing.

It's already hot enough, and every time they appear, they heat me up with their flames, making it hard to breathe.

I apologize for clearing all the hunting grounds. Since you didn't, the monsters are at a "monster surge" level.

The ones that appear on the ground are just common. The strongest in this ecosystem are not the beasts on the ground but the flying creatures in the sky, which attack with fire flapping their wings.

Are these fires flying now? What kind of fire is this? It's a phoenix!