“Shouldn’t we help him? Even with that attitude, he looks like he’s in so much pain. I can’t just leave him like this.”

“Just leave a guy like that alone.”

Elder, who hadn’t twitched even when Beggarticks used his recovery ability, said sulkily. He was already twisting his body, clearly full of intent to leave the Viburnum dryad behind.

“There are many druids, so it’d be better to put out the fire before leaving. If we leave it be, it could harm other terrariums as well. Which way is it?”

Iris said as she summoned Deglupta. Seeing that everyone seemed to agree with Iris’s words, they appeared to be preparing the dryads.

“Stop! You all are no match for it. Already… Already… my brother was devoured. It’s fire that ate a dryad. You must never… face it.”

Everyone was horrified. Good heavens! Fire that had eaten a dryad. Such fire was extremely tricky to deal with.

I recall facing fire that had swallowed a dandelion seedling. Even though it was a seedling and a normal-grade dandelion, it was very hard to handle. Not only could it use the dandelion dryad’s abilities, but I almost suffered heavy damage from those powers.

Viburnum was a rare grade. It would be even trickier to face.

Notos said to the Viburnum in a commanding tone.

“Withdraw your host plant before you die. We’ll handle the fire.”

“Please… Go back.”

“It doesn’t seem like he’ll easily withdraw the host plant. We’ll have to remove the host plant ourselves and deal with the fire.”

Upon hearing Zephyr’s words, the Viburnum stumbled to his feet. He was seen drawing his sword to block them. But that was a very rude sight for Beggarticks, who loved him dearly.

She was seen swinging her staff in a full arc to strike the Viburnum. Didn’t you say you were a recovery type…?

That was when it happened. As the Viburnum fell, a large blaze erupted from the left side of the village. The Viburnum, engulfed in flames again, writhed in agony.

“That way!”

Iris’s party dashed toward the flames. Only I stayed behind, worried about the Viburnum. I patted Elder on the back repeatedly and bribed him with diamonds, finally managing to get him to use his healing power. But as Beggarticks said, since the soul link wasn’t formed, the effect was minimal.

The fire barely subsided thanks to Elder pouring out his healing.

“Why go that far? If you left it to us—especially that other team, who’s stronger than me—they could’ve put out the fire quickly.”

“That fire… was summoned by a druid. The one who called it is human, the one who burned this entire place is human… I don’t trust humans. Except for that child.”

“Scarecrow?”

At that name, the Viburnum suddenly flinched.

“Did Scarecrow live here?”

“Everyone died… I barely managed to save her. When she was a very young child, I had my siblings send her away.”

What exactly happened here? From afar, I heard Iris shouting, “Get rid of the mother, you bastard!” It seemed the fire was nearby.

“It’s useless… Even if they’re strong, they can’t overcome that fire. Because it’s a fire that consumed a Viburnum dryad like me.”

“Because it’s a rare grade? Still, that team has quite a few dryads and can even summon a field from an artifact.”

“No. It’s because the dryad it consumed was a Viburnum.”

“I see.”

Mesquite nodded in agreement with her words and let out a hum.

“Why? What’s wrong with it being a Viburnum?”

“A Viburnum dryad is a defensive type, so the fire it consumed is also tough, which is a problem… but the real issue is because of their ability.”

Since it’s a fire that can use a dryad’s abilities, I had expected as much. But what is the Viburnum’s ability? Other than fire prevention, does it have something special?

“So a dryad who can use the power of flower language was struck down.”

“… Right. Our flower language is ‘Love is stronger than death.’ As long as we love and wish for something, we never die until death. What the fire wants is me; until I die, the fire will never go out.”

A so-called mutual destruction! Both have to die. Isn’t that like the relationship between two characters in some British magic novel?

“You certainly seem like the type to throw away your life to eliminate the fire. But the fact you haven’t means your flower language’s power is still at work. What is it that binds you?”

She did not answer Mesquite’s question.

“As he said, the fire won’t go out until he dies. To those druids, it’ll be a meaningless fight. If it drags into a long battle, it’ll be very tough.”

“But we can’t just kill this dryad, can we?”

“Treat the mother properly, you bastard! We’re the ones getting beaten one-sidedly because of you!”

The enraged shout of Iris rang out again. As she had shown when dealing with Zephyr, she had a fiery and blunt personality.

“Killing isn’t the only way.”

“Ah, there’s a way?”

“You can make him be reborn. If he places his soul into an unripe fruit and forms a soul link with a druid, he can be reborn as a dryad of the small World Tree.”

But that was also a major obstacle. He was a dryad with a deep distrust of humans. He wouldn’t easily agree to form a soul link, and as long as the condition tied to his flower language remained, he couldn’t die either.

“I said deal with him gently!”

Iris’s shout came again, and the Viburnum dryad winced in pain as she grabbed his arm.

“In the end, he couldn’t hold back and attacked the mother.”

Mesquite said calmly, in a tone that implied she deserved the beating for not listening. Soon after, a huge booming sound erupted.

In the distance, a towering barrier of fire rose into view. It seemed a battle had finally begun.

But Iris’s party had no idea about the situation with that fire. They didn’t know that until this Viburnum dryad died, he could not be defeated by the fire. Since the boss fight had already started, turning back from the battle was impossible.

And yet, there was no way to relay this fact to them. The battle would continue until Iris’s party was completely exhausted.

There was only one way. They had to change the mind of the Viburnum dryad from their side. Still, he did react to the mention of Scarecrow. Should I try to exploit that?

“I’m actually the administrative manager of the World Tree’s 28th Terrarium, the same one as Scarecrow. I inherited her position and work there.”

Ah, the Viburnum, who had been silently staring at the ground with his mouth shut tight, showed a reaction.

“That kid… is she still alive and well?”

“Well… about that… um… she died of old age….”

I couldn’t lie and say she was alive. What if he wanted to meet her? If the lie was exposed, it would lead to disaster!

“I see… so that’s how it is. Human life is so short…. I thought that kid would live longer since she was born a druid. If she lived out her full lifespan and died, even if I can never meet her again… it’s a relief….”

“Well, actually….”

I tore at my hair. Scarecrow did not die peacefully at all. Could I tell him this?

“Th-That’s right! Can you tell me more about Scarecrow? I didn’t know her all that well.”

We only met briefly, but it was an incredibly intense encounter. She guarded the fire of the 28th Terrarium, using up all her life force to keep it from escaping outside. It was magnificent.

For the first time, a smile appeared on the pained face of the Viburnum dryad. Recalling old memories, he seemed to be in very high spirits.

“Originally, there was a colony of our Viburnum here. It was a vast, green expanse that covered an entire side of the mountain. We three brothers were born here, receiving flower seeds blessed by the World Tree. I was the first to be born. With the largest vessel for souls, I was entrusted with my brothers’ souls and became the king. Every day spent guarding the colony was joyful.”

His voice sounded quite cheerful.

“One day, humans began gathering at the colony one by one. They were people without homes. Our trees are fire-resistant, so they burn poorly, and they wanted to entrust their bodies to a safe place. There were no druids among them, so we couldn’t communicate through words, but we willingly gave up one side of the colony. We even provided timber for them to build houses. Humans kept gathering from somewhere, and their settlement grew quite large.”

Over there, a fire barrier had been erected, and a fierce battle was raging, while over here, they were telling old stories, utterly peaceful. The contrast between the situations was truly stark.

“One day, a child was born, carrying the blessing of the World Tree in their soul. It was a child who could become a druid. Such a lovely child. Every time I saw that child, I felt a warmth that almost brought me to tears. The blessing of the World Tree felt as warm as sunlight and as refreshing as clean water.”

That child was Scarecrow.

“Our brothers longed for the child to grow up quickly. We wanted to communicate with each other, rather than just unilaterally listening to humans. There was so much wisdom we wanted to share with humans—places where single-fruit berries, usable as food, grew abundantly, or dangerous spots where fire appeared. But since we weren’t druids, we couldn’t tell anyone. Happy days continued from the moment the child finally grew up and could speak. The child was smart and always smiling. As the child grew, the power of the World Tree’s blessing in their soul also increased, leaving us no choice but to cherish and love the child even more.”

The Viburnum recalled that time with a truly happy expression. The ashes smeared all over his face could not dim the light of his smile.

“We… we wanted to form a soul bond with that child if they wished. We wanted to become their dryad and protect them for life. We even promised the child that we would travel outside together someday. We trained hard and built up our strength while waiting for that day. We thought we just had to wait. Until that person came to the colony.”

The Viburnum’s expression suddenly darkened.

“A man claiming to be a merchant came and said we were wasting precious timber, offering to pay and demanding we sell it. At first, the humans drove him away, saying they couldn’t harm the Viburnum recklessly because they were under a great debt of gratitude. But he was persistent.”

That merchant was clearly the one Iris had heard about at the woodworking shop when she asked about the colony. Following his trail had even led them to discover this place.

“But when he coaxed them, saying that if they gathered diamonds with the money from selling wood, they could move into the terrarium, people began to give in. They were trees that had provided everyone with ordinary shade and acted as hedges blocking fire… but they started claiming ownership, insisting the trees around their own homes belonged to them. Then more and more people began cutting down trees they claimed ownership of and selling them to the merchant. Trees not near homes became first-come, first-served. Before long, everyone started rushing to chop down trees without exception. Just as many people left the settlement following the merchant, the trees disappeared just as much.”

No, they even blocked fire and gave wood for building houses. How could they treat the trees that had been so kind like that? The trees had given so generously. It made me feel so ashamed my face burned hot.