Terrarium Adventure

Seeing the range and the duration of the rain, it seemed that I must have used a bunch of diamonds again.

Elder was watching the water droplets on his staff with a confused expression. Mesquite, watching us, smiled a little. She said it was a great sight no matter how many times she saw it. Daisy also eagerly praised me, and the Monkshood dryad nodded to the rhythm of Daisy speaking.

Even though I was the one using diamonds, it was a graft with Elder… guys, praise him a little, too. Of course, I don’t think he would be able to hear anything because he’s too busy estimating the number of diamonds used for the rain. 

Even when I praised Elder, it looked like he had a slightly different purpose in mind.

Please visit the 28th terrarium. The road has been reorganized. If you look at both sides of the road, you will be able to see cute little duckweeds floating in a puddle full of clear water. 

Now that the rain of life has been poured out, the plants will probably grow without trouble. Come and enjoy a pleasant journey in the greenery. Jay Tour.

Should I name the swamp? The only plant that still exists here is duckweed, so from now on, this could be called Duckweed Swamp. I don’t know if it originally had a name, but it’s a much more friendly and cute name than something like Death Forest which I used to call it, right? Harmless and good for anyone to visit.

There’s a lot of duckweed here, so will frogs visit as well? My phone rang at that moment, stopping my train of thought.

It was a notification saying that the name of this area, which belongs to the 28th terrarium’s sphere of influence, has been changed to “Duckweed Swamp” under the authority of the temporary administrative officer.

Uh… I was only thinking about it…

To think that the swamp adopted this name… I was somehow embarrassed.

***

On the way back to the 28th terrarium, I contacted the other Daisy dryad through my terrarium artifact.

There was no end to our conversation because there were a lot of stories to tell. He sat down on the debris, taking a break from cleaning them up, amazed at the stories I told him.

He exclaimed at the fact that there was a swamp of death on the way to the 29th terrarium, where neither life nor fire could exist.

When I got to the part about using the graft with Elder, he was extremely excited as if he had reached the climax of a movie.

It’s really regrettable that I didn’t actually see the rain of life… By the way, Master has so many diamonds. That’s amazing! Is it… really… because she was blessed by the World Tree… He muttered in a trembling voice.

When I told him that the Monkshood plant, who was supposed to have been delivered to the 28th terrarium a long time ago, became a dryad and was coming with us, he expressed complicated feelings about it. Mesquite walked close to me, worried that I would fall since I was walking while looking at my artifacts.

We talked until we arrived at the 28th terrarium. Hey, Daisy dryad! Mommy is here! Did you finish cleaning up?

It was dark out by the time we arrived. I was glad that I could spend the night here.

The Daisy dryad had gathered useful things that were in relatively intact rooms in the orchard and had temporary beds made. It seemed that he believed me when I said I would be back soon.

“Good job doing all this by yourself. It must have been a lot of work.”

“Not at all. However, I hope that a skilled technician will move to this place as soon as possible and repair the scattered debris. I don’t have the knowledge or technology, so I just move them to the side, but there is a limit to stacking them up. The outer wall was burnt a lot, but if you look closely, there will be many useful things there. The ground may be weak, so we should only have low-rise buildings in the beginning…”

It seemed that it was now Daisy dryad’s chance to talk. It was amazing how he was able to create so many stories to tell while being stuck in this terrarium alone. He will become even a greater storyteller if we travel together.

I jumped over the blankets that Daisy dryad had stacked up in a pile. He said that even though he couldn’t wash them, he had eagerly brushed off the dust off of them. I lied down in the soft place after a long day of traveling.

I could smell the scent of dust and ashes, but when I concentrated on the sweet scent of my dryads sitting around me, it was bearable.

Mesquite saying that she was hungry made me realize my hunger I had long forgotten. It was unreasonable to expect decent food in such a ruined town, so I poured emergency food into my mouth even though I hated the taste of it. The Monkshood dryad had just returned from seeing the branches of the World Tree with the Daisy dryad.

Originally, it was supposed to be his mother flower that should have arrived here a long time ago.

If it had arrived on time, could the 28th terrarium be saved? He does have great abilities that drove us into a crisis, so maybe he could have eradicated the worms.

“How was it?”

“It was awesome… The warm light… it spewed out like when we first met…”

The Monkshood dryad listed what he felt when he met the branches of the World Tree. The Daisy dryad, who was talking about how to set up a wall and dig a moat around the terrarium, let him talk after he heard his small voice.

The child who met a part of the real World Tree seemed to be impressed. As I watched him diligently explaining his feelings, I unconsciously showed a loving smile.

He was a plant created by humans by betraying the power of the World Tree and was forbidden to exist. Nevertheless, he was revering the World Tree. Of course, the World Tree had pity on him to entrust him to me.

As I listened to the Monkshood dryad, there was something that caught me. The child often stopped talking, stared at me, then continued to talk. I realized that he didn’t know what to call me.

Mesquite or Elder called me ‘Jay’, and Daisy called me ‘master druid.’ Is he confused?

“I am Jay. You can call me Jay. You could have just asked.”

I said, pointing a finger to myself. Maybe I am a little late to introduce myself. The Monkshood dryad looked confused. Is it difficult to call me Jay? Why? It’s not like I’m telling you to add ‘my master’ before my name like Mesquite does.

“Master Chay…?

Snort.

The Daisy dryad, who was listening quietly, hurriedly swallowed a laugh. Thanks to him, the Monkshood dryad thought he had done something wrong and almost started to cry.

“Again… Try again.”

“Master Chay…”

Snort.

“Hey, don’t laugh! He’s going to cry! Have you tried to comfort him? When he cries, he poisons the rainbow pond.”

Of course, you would have to pull out the safety pin to switch him to attack type, but still!

Because of the child’s peculiar, high voice, I had become Chay, not Jay. Chay is my smurf’s name… Well, whatever, the child clearly said my name, it’s just pronounced wrong. 

When the Daisy dryad burst into laughter without grasping the atmosphere, The Monkshood dryad was on the verge of crying.

“You did it right to call me that way. You’re not wrong, that dryad is just a little weird. Don’t cry! Good job!”

While I stroked the child’s head to soothe him, Elder looked in our direction with a playful expression.

“Don’t even start.”

“Why? You said it was right to call you Chay.”

“Shut up! Do you think I’ll let it slide because you have a pretty face?”

I could see Mesquite laughing playfully out of the corner of my eyes. Not you too Mesquite…

It was late at night, so Mesquite hurried me to bed. If we were traveling to the 26th terrarium, it would take us at least two days, so she wanted to leave first thing in the morning. The Daisy dryad had a slightly regretful face, but it was quickly resolved.

My dryads did not enter the artifact because the entire 28th terrarium was no different from being in my artifact. Lying down next to my dryads, it feels like I am at a campus retreat or something… the number of my dryads have suddenly increased in the past few days.

I tossed back and forth.

“Jay, are you unable to sleep? Normally, you would fall asleep as soon as you lie down. Is there something bothering you?”

Mesquite asked, pressing her arm down on the space above my head. I turned my head around and looked at her. Amber eyes shining brightly in the dark reminded me of the candlelight ceremony in front of the campfire held at the last night of a retreat. They were eyes that would make you confess anything.

I felt the other dryads pouring their attention to me. Everyone must have been worried about me being unable to sleep.

There was something that disturbed me until I headed for the 29th terrarium. It was the journal from the former administrative officer.

The reason why I couldn’t easily tell the dryads, especially Mesquite, about the journal and the clues I picked up on my way to the 29th terrarium was their attitude of blindly believing in the World Tree.

I couldn’t tell them that the strong World Tree, which they firmly believed in, had weakened due to a pest and a disease. Also, it seemed that someone was intentionally trying to isolate the 28th terrarium.

The messengers heading to the 29th terrarium were killed and the poisonous herb which is now the Monkshood dryad was intercepted. It was as if someone wanted this branch of the World Tree to become ill and die.

Maybe pests could be easy to talk about. However, it was a little difficult to speak about the possible threat to the great World Tree.

Honestly, I was afraid that my dryads would get angry, saying that it was nonsense if I spoke my thoughts. That was what I thought before entering the swamp.

Now I was going to tell them everything and ask them what they thought… because of what I’ve seen from my dryads when we first encountered the Monkshood dryad. Elder, who said he would destroy the World Tree’s fruit if I didn’t want it, Mesquite, who was dissatisfied with what the World Tree wanted from me, and Daisy, who didn’t think there was any importance to the World Tree in the first place.

I had realized then I was more important to them than the World Tree. What they blindly believed in was me.

I looked into Mesquite’s eyes and told her about what I saw in the journal. There was a long silence after I stopped talking, and she only said, “I see.”

It was a concise answer, contrary to all the things I thought she would respond with. Mesquite recognized my hesitation and seemed to infer the reasons why I was acting in such a way. She touched my hand carefully as if she were saying that she was sorry for making me worry alone.

The response was greater with the Daisy dryad. However, he seemed to save his words due to the heavy atmosphere. The Monkshood dryad said, “I should have arrived here earlier” and tried to hit himself in the head. I stopped him from doing so.

I’m not saying it’s your fault. The child listened to me and erased his gloomy expression.

When I combined the clues I gained from the way to the 29th terrarium and told them my conclusion, they gave an unexpected response. They put everything aside and worried about me first.

They were afraid those who were threatening the World Tree would threaten me as well.

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They said that my conclusion was not a leap but was valid. They also asked why I didn’t tell them any earlier. It seemed that I worried for nothing. Even the Daisy dryad, who had his mouth closed the whole time, speculated if the pest was secretly brought in on purpose.

I felt relieved after what was crushing my heart dissipated. I felt dumb for thinking alone. I’m going to tell them and be open with them from now on. I buried my face in the sheets.

I felt Mesquite wrapping her hand around my hair. I was embarrassed at the fact that I had worried about this alone, so I only turned slightly to barely meet her eyes.

“My master, Jay. I want to know about your concerns. In fact, I regretted not going into your terrarium artifact for a while where all your thoughts are shared with me without being filtered. I want to notice even the smallest worries that pass by you. I’m sorry I didn’t notice your troubles quickly.”

She pushed my hair, which was covering my face like a curtain, over to the opposite shoulder. It was as if she was saying there are going to be no secrets between us now.