Terrarium Adventure

“Actually, it’s been a while since we met someone who could talk to Seedling for a long time without getting upset. We thought it would be a good opportunity for him to learn how to hold a normal conversation. Of course, he probably thought the same as well, resulting in him stepping over lines at times. He has a prestige that follows his name, and also has a harsh impression compared to other people… maybe that’s why there are so many people who get scared and avoid him as soon as they see him. Even if we meet someone who does not avoid him, it’s usually business or it gets ruined because of the way he speaks… as you know.”

“Harsh appearance…? He’s just a big guy. I might even think that he is handsome if it weren’t for Elder. Uh… so he doesn’t look bad at all.”

His mouth is the problem. Although there are some scars on his face from battles, that face is hard to see where I come from.

It’s too bad that I ended up meeting Elder. No face in this world is as handsome as his. Because of him, my standard has gone up way too much. I don’t even feel any inspiration anymore with a normal handsome face. Ah, I’m in trouble. 

“Maybe your standards are different from those of others, but thanks for the advice. Anyway, we are going back to the 16th terrarium. Unless you are coming up to the tens, you won’t be seeing us anymore. I’m sorry for the discomfort we have caused in every situation we have met.”

“Um… don’t worry about it…”

Dang it… I need to go up to the tens… It should be fine since the 18th is far away from 16th, right?

“We had other missions besides looking around the 28th terrarium. There was an item from the Alchemy Tower that was supposed to be sent to the 28th terrarium, but they lost contact with each other and we had to find its whereabouts. We were told that it was a dangerous material and that it had to be returned if it did not make it here. We later found out after searching that it was burned in the fire.”

Wait a minute. I’ve heard of the 16th terrarium before. Hmm… 16th, Alchemy Tower, something being sent to the 28th terrarium…

Oh my god! Wasn’t that information from Scarecrow’s journal? I remember that the Alchemy Tower sent a poisonous plant to combat the worms on the branches of the World Tree, but it did not arrive after the promised day.

Kalmia once again apologized and returned to the group. By the time they disappeared with Seedling, I had realized the correlations between the burnt wagons, the box with the skull mark, the support from the Alchemy Tower in Scarecrow’s journal, and the poisonous plant.

Anyway, I guess the Alchemy Tower in the 16th terrarium did send help to the 28th terrarium after all, but it couldn’t make it here.

Scarecrow didn’t even know that and had to wait endlessly. That’s a terrible tragedy.

By the way, I wonder what the poisonous plant is. It’s supposed to be fatal. I thought about various things while following Mesquite.

However, nothing came to mind. I never had great knowledge about plants in the first place.

***

The road back was much smoother than when I started from the 26th terrarium. Miscellaneous mobs near the village were no longer a problem.

The fires that appeared could now be put out by Daisy blowing on them.

She now had the ring with the combat bonus, and when I saw her put out a fire by throwing her dagger without moving too much, I felt proud.

Yes, yes. She doesn’t have time to face those crappy little fires anymore! She’s someone who caught a huge fire!

In addition, Elder didn’t seem nervous anymore whenever Daisy entered combat mode. He made an apathetic face as if thinking, ‘she will take care of it on her own.’

Wow… it hasn’t been many days, but they have grown so much. After a month, I will be sitting in a rocking chair and saying something like, ‘once upon a time…’ while laughing like an old man.

The downside was that I couldn’t gain any more experience. I had leveled up too much.

Thanks to the World Tree branches of the 28th terrarium regaining its strength, the fires we encountered were crushed by its blessings and were very small in size. It was a problem because they were not big enough for me to get experience.

Hm, maybe I can use my weapon to put out the fire like Seedling did. A strange sense of confidence rose in me.

There was no tension throughout our journey, except Mesquite suddenly holding Daisy up by surprise. Even that was something Daisy was shocked about, not us.

I became as idle as someone who was turning channels in front of a TV, wondering if there was anything to watch. At this rate, wouldn’t we be able to go back and forth in one day, instead of two?

I had reached the point of imagining what it would be like to attack with a giant lance-like Mesquite when Mesquite found something strange.

Objects were scattered here and there, and there were charred traces located far from us. It would have been difficult to find unless you had a keen eye like Mesquite.

According to Elder, who had memorized the map, we were on the verge of moving into a terrain with small swamps.

We would have to go around the swamps if they were wide, but they were small and shallow, so we had planned to just travel through them. It wasn’t long after we were cautioned that the terrain will change.

Suspicious traces just before entering such a place… huh.

“This…”

Mesquite had a serious face. Even at a glance, I could tell there was a battle. This place seemed to have been defeated by fire like we saw in the mountains.

I didn’t understand since all the fires we encountered until now were small and weak. There was no way there was another monster like the wagon boss.

“What if we meet another huge fire…”

“My master, Jay. This is not a sign of battle with fire. Of course, there could have been a fire here. I can see traces of burns. But take a closer look.”

Her reaction was slightly different from when she saw the overturned wagon. I observed the scattered objects once again. Daisy also looked down with me.

The traces were similar to before, but there was one difference. The items were relatively intact. It was easy for me to check the shape of the items, but I was not sure what I was supposed to be looking at. I saw some tattered bags, some empty bottles with nothing in them, and some sword sheaths…

“You won’t be able to see it right away because of the burns, but if you look closely, you will be able to see cuts on the objects. Can you see them?”

“Yes!”

“Yeah!”

Ah, I see what she means now.

“Wait a minute, a fire using a knife?”

Elder looked at me as if I was pathetic. You are being a little too explicit in showing your rudeness today, aren’t you? Well, it was true that I said something pathetic. A fire would burn stuff, why would it use a knife in the first place.

Wait, does that mean that there was a fight between people or dryads here?

“They must have moved the corpses, or the victim survived and ran away.”

Elder said while looking in the direction we were heading. There were dry and dead trees leaning on each other, making it look like a dark cave. Reddish vines stretched out like unleashed hair, making it look even more dreary as if a ghost might come out.

There are also swamps there, right? Could there be a body? Should we rethink what we were trying to do with just going through them?

“My master, Jay. The obstacles you were concerned about may be different from the fires we have encountered before. There’s nothing worse than fire, but what we might face could be more intelligent or vicious. Whatever it may be, we have to be careful.”

“Master druid! Look at this!”

Daisy was lifting some object with her dagger. Dirt and dust poured out from it as if it had been a long time since someone had touched it.

Daisy made the object bounce off her dagger and flipped it, revealing the backside which had relatively few burnt parts. On that side, there was a familiar mark embroidered with dark green thread.

“Wow… I feel like I’m in the middle of a crime scene right now. Or a reasoning game.”

The number 28 was written along with the enormous tree pattern that symbolized the World Tree. Goosebumps sprung up on my forearm. Without knowing it, I clung to Mesquite and hugged her thick forearms. This is crazy. 28. Again?

Maybe the person or dryad who had this object was the messenger sent by Scarecrow. Who killed them? Why?

“Do you think the person who killed them is still around?”

“I do not know. They may not be, since it looks old. We might be able to find out more… if we go over there, right?”

Big fires are scary, but they’re just things that move based on their original instinct and burn everything they see. In the end, I can just see them as a monster in a game, and I just have to fight them to win and gain experience.

However, these guys with some other motivations give me a different kind of fear, making me think about multiple consequences. I might have to be suspicious of everyone I meet from now on.

Dammit. How do I know what anyone’s thinking about me? Should I hide the fact that I am the temporary administrative officer of the 28th terrarium?

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“Ugh…”

“The wagons we saw while traveling to the 28th terrarium and these items here are all related to the 28th terrarium. This… yes. This is certainly what made the 28th terrarium become isolated. There must be a reason that bad events overlapped there. Do you think the illness of the branches of the World Tree has something to do with this?”

I couldn’t say anything since I was the only one who knew about what was written in Scarecrow’s journal. It wasn’t only pests, there was something more involved in this. I couldn’t say anything to Mesquite since this issue was becoming bigger than I thought it would be.

Back then, I had promised to explain everything when the fire problem was resolved, but… now that I saw these things, it seemed like someone was deliberately doing something to make the branches of the World Tree die.

In the end, I didn’t think I could sleep unless I learned more about what had happened. We moved the objects we discovered to a more remote place and decided to enter the new terrain.