Terrarium Adventure

It was a peaceful afternoon with the branches of the World Tree continuing to consume my diamonds. The Daisy dryad realized that the harsh situation was over and popped out of my terrarium artifact.

For some reason, his equipment was different from when he had entered the artifact. He was only dressed in simple clothes when he went in, but now was wearing something similar to when I first bloomed my Daisy.

Did he level up in the artifact?

Mesquite had always told me that dryads should do their best to protect their druid, but they had the option to avoid the situation altogether if they did not have the ability to do so.

It would be more of a hassle if he went out and got caught by the fire. I also use Elder as a shield frequently to avoid danger. Realizing this, I had no intention of saying anything to Daisy dryad, who was now looking around the terrarium after appearing belatedly.

Rather, I wanted to compliment him for his excellent judgment of the situation he was in. Seriously, he jumped right into the artifact without any hesitation.

Even though Daisy dryads had the same hair, eye, and bell color, each of them had their own personality and appearance.

My Daisy had pretty smiling eyes that would hide her chestnut-colored eyes. In contrast, this Daisy dryad always had his eyelids down as if he was a little sleepy.

He looked around and let out a long exclamation with such bleary eyes which did not have a hint of wonder in them. Ah, his eyes aren’t like that because he’s tired. It’s always like that.

“I was able to see everything in the artifact… but I did not think the fire could all be taken care of. In addition, the 28th branch of the World Tree, which seemed hopeless, has been restored. Master Jay is a great person! Now, by restoring the buildings and tidying up the interior, you’ll be able to get back to what this terrarium used to be! Of course, the residents would have to come back for that to happen, right?”

Listening to him, it is a pretty devastating situation we are in. Becoming the administrative officer wasn’t exactly something to be happy about.

It’s as if I ended up getting a village in a destroyed wasteland. It wasn’t very different from the background scenario for the beginning of the <Infinite Diamonds> game, where you become an owner of a ruined mining town of dwarves.

It took half a year to build a diamond empire of dwarves that I have now. How long will it take to get this place to look like the 26th terrarium?

“We have a long way to go…”

Oh, I’m about to let out a wailing cry. It’s not like there are guide quests for things like this.

You know, something like, “Welcome! You are the administrator of the 28th terrarium! From now on, please follow me! Should we start out with the operation method first?”

In <Infinite Diamonds>, dwarves had that role. They said things like, “Master! Try emptying the cart first! The cart is small and fills up quickly, so you need to empty it often!” I touched it every 5 minutes because they told me to, but I don’t know what to start with here… Somebody help me…

I let out a sigh and looked at the Daisy dryad who was kicking the ground that had been lit by the huge worm fire.

Come to think of it, didn’t he say he was in charge of the orchard chores? He said that he worked in the orchard for a long time and knew everything about the village. He says he’s in charge of “chores”, but as far as I’ve felt, the orchard feels like the center of a terrarium and something like a public institution.

In a way, he’s like a public service worker assigned to a public agency… right?

Although he had the least combat power out of all of my dryads, there was no one else better than him to teach me about how to take care of this terrarium.

Yes, it was fate that this Daisy dryad came to me like my Daisy!

“What should I do first?”

I got close to him and asked nonchalantly.

“Well, you should adjust the tax first, right? Even if you try to fix the village right away, there is no manpower. People coming from lower terrariums are anxious to ascend to a higher terrarium, but the road to this place is very harsh. The best thing would be for people to come from a nearby terrarium or from higher terrariums, but now that this place is a mess, I think implicating a low tax will be the only thing we can do to attract people.”

Tax… it’s a concept that I’m not familiar with. Honestly, I don’t even understand it. I already feel a distance between this me and this concept, which is probably as long as the Great Wall. Well, if I don’t know anything, I should follow the old method.

“What was it like with the previous administrative officer?”

“Hm, the full payment for the central area was 1,000 diamonds, with installments of 15 diamonds per month. In the outskirts, the full payment was 300 diamonds, with installments of 5 diamonds per month. I remember that the tax here was lower than other terrariums. The traveling druids would always say so.”

“What is the full payment and installment?”

What were they and why was there a huge difference between them? He said it was tax. Why wasn’t it in percentages? The Daisy dryad was taken aback by my question.

Ah, I’ve seen that expression before. When I first met my Daisy, she looked like that when I asked about how things worked here. I became so used to Mesquite, who explains everything before I even ask. 

“In order for outsiders to move into a terrarium, they have to choose between two tax options. They can either pay in full or pay diamonds every month throughout their stay in the terrarium. The first one would be full payment and the latter would be the installment. In the case of installment, you must continue to pay the diamond even if you exceed the amount of the full payment. The outskirts are the first place to be hit when a fire strikes and is far away from the orchard, so the full payment is pretty low. However, it is rare for a person to be able to pay for that many diamonds at once. Furthermore, it will be difficult to collect diamonds for full payment during the grace period unless druids who can distribute diamonds visit often.”

Grace period? The Daisy dryad quickly noticed my stupid gaze and added to his explanation.

“Oh, the grace period is a one-month period where outsiders can stay in the terrarium for free and do commercial activities. Most people apply for a move-in during the period when the branches bear fruit since many druids visit at that time. People use all kinds of methods to collect diamonds from the druids to make full payment. However, it is almost impossible to collect the amount needed for full payment unless you are a person with excellent expertise in a field, such as making potions or equipment. That’s why everyone decides to do installments instead, even though it is a loss in the long run.”

“… Now I understand the system…”

“Well, the 28th terrarium residents leaving was unavoidable. Since the branches of the Tree did not bear fruit, the druids who supplied diamonds have all stopped coming here. But now that the branches have found their energy, they should be able to bear fruit again next year, right?”

The Daisy dryad smiled as if he could already see the bustling terrarium. For once, his bright smile seemed no different from my Daisy.

Tax… certainly, diamonds are needed to manage the branches of the World Tree, so residents must be attracted… I guess it’s a cycle like that… but do I even need to tax people? The World Tree is sucking up diamonds from my wallet anyway.

At my concerned expression, Daisy dryad became restless.

“Are you worried about having to lower your tax? Of course, I understand that it is a lot for you to supply diamonds to the World Tree in such a gloomy state with no residents like now. Honestly, you made a huge sacrifice to revive the branches of the World Tree. I can’t even imagine how much diamonds you used… did you make a loan? Still, if you don’t lower your taxes… no one will come… no one…”

It was refreshing to see a dryad who was worried about how much diamonds I had. You don’t know me yet. When will he realize that his master is someone who will never worry about such a thing?

Since we were talking about diamonds, I turned on the screen of my phone and tapped it. No matter how much the World Tree was using my diamonds, it couldn’t keep up with the dwarves’ diamond production speed, which I set at maximum. There was even a cart piled up with them.

“I’m not going to make people pay taxes.”

“… Huh?”

“Especially for those with special skills. You know, people who build and repair houses? Oh, wait, no.”

“Indeed! You should make people pay taxes…”

“If you think about it, I need people to have jobs here and I can’t afford to lose one person. Okay. If their purpose of moving in is acceptable, I should just let them move in without making them pay taxes. However, I shouldn’t just accept anyone because that might cause trouble, so we should just have a different grace period. Anyone who does not engage in any productive activity in the terrarium will be taxed. Those who do nothing but eat and lay around should pay taxes.”

Even I haven’t been able to do anything but eat and lay around because of summer and winter classes. It’s not fair if anyone else gets to do that.

In addition, all of my dwarves are working hard mining diamonds to make the ruined mining town an empire. People that come here should be at least hard-working as them or more. 

I should feel rewarded for paying diamonds with my wallet instead of taxing the people.

The Daisy dryad asked me again with wide-open eyes as if he had heard me wrong.

“Look, we’re not taxing anyone.”

“Why not?”

“Why would we?”

“We need to manage the branches of the World Tree!”

“It’s already consuming diamonds from my wallet.”

“You will need a huge amount of diamonds! How will you pay for it?”

“I’m telling you, my wallet is a lake of diamonds that will never dry out!”

We quarreled until Elder approached us. He had a sulk on his pretty face.

What’s going on now? Why is he sulking? Did he hear my situation about the diamonds? No, he would have fainted if he did. Seriously, I thought he would be smiling bright enough to make a halo on top of his head after taking all those piles of diamonds.

“What’s wrong? Did someone bother you?”

There’s no one here who can bother him… or were those piles not enough? At my inquiry, Elder showed an agonized look and reached out his hand. What, you want more diamonds?

On Elder’s palm was a transparent diamond ring that glowed. It was a ring with a gold cut in the shape of a leaf, which was wrapped around the diamond jewel-like it was a fruit. Whenever the light hit the fine side of the ring, it shined like a star.

A diamond ring all of a sudden?

“Oh? This…”

The Daisy dryad looked at the ring and recognized it.

“It’s the local specialty of the 28th terrarium! How did you find this? Even the former administrative officer only knew about the legend of it and couldn’t find it even after searching the whole terrarium!”

“… It was there… while I was picking up diamonds.”

Elder’s hand slightly trembled now.

Ah, now I get it. You picked this up and wanted to have it, but you couldn’t, so that’s why you have that look on your face. I understand. You would love to have this brilliant shiny gemstone.

While I was looking at the ring, Elder’s eyes stuck to the ring, and regret poured out from his gaze. As the giant worm fire died, it not left only diamonds, but also an accessory like this. I guess that’s why it’s called a boss monster.

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“Jay, it’s an immortal diamond. It is a birthstone that has the same effect as the ruby ring on Little Elder. It contains the April Sun.”

Mesquite spoke. She had been looking at me and the Daisy dryad talking with warm eyes as if she was looking at chattering sparrows.

She had been watching us even when she had the chance to explain it to me. She only started speaking now since the Daisy dryad was speechless at the fact that this ring was found.

“April sun… like the April battle bonus?”

I had two dryads that received battle bonuses in April; Daisy and Mesquite. Oh my gosh. What are the chances that the dropped item from a boss would be a special item for my dryads? Is this Elder’s luck bonus as well?