Just then, the clerk told me that someone was looking for me in the inn lobby. Who could it be? Maybe Kalong?

“I’ll be back in a moment.”

“Yes, take your time. We’ll keep discussing Lord Jae’s request!”

Seeing Iris’s party putting together a schedule and route based on the list of requests I planned to entrust, I stood up from my seat.

“I’m Jae. Who’s looking for me?”

A man in a suit standing in front of the lobby door approached me and bowed.

“Hello, Lord Jae. My employer wished to meet with you, so I’ve come to see you. My employer is the head of the Golden Pumpkin Trading Company, which operates across various Terrariums with a base in the 5th Terrarium.”

“Sounds impressive, but why me?”

“My employer has a business item that might tempt your boss and wishes to make a proposal.”

Mentioning ‘boss,’ he must be one of the people at the auction for the 28th Terrarium. I was supposed to receive proposals relayed through the administrative officer here, so why did he come to me separately?

“We agreed to handle the orchard in the 18th Terrarium separately, so why seek a private meeting now? Hmm… Ah!”

He wants to secure the deal before competitors, doesn’t he? Everyone was tearing into each other fiercely at the auction.

I didn’t want to accept him, because there was a risk that if I saw him once, others would come to me separately. It’s better to just set a schedule and see them all at once. I also have matters to settle with the administrative officers here, so I need to visit the orchard soon anyway.

As I was about to tell him I declined, a woman in a suit who entered the lobby shot a fierce glare this way. To be precise, her gaze was aimed at the man in front of me. It was a look filled with all sorts of disgust and contempt.

Sir, what did you do to that person?

She approached with fierce strides.

“You must have come from that old pumpkin bloated with greed like a pig? How dare you try to intercept a trade!”

“And you there, you’re from the toothless corn crew, aren’t you? It seems you tried to set up a separate meeting with Master Jae, and though our arrival times differ, it’s clear we had the same idea. A jewelry shop named Corn? Your actions are as terrible as your terrible naming sense.”

“Who are you to say that!”

The two started bickering like cats and dogs, leaving me standing there dumbfounded. At the commotion, several clerks rushed over to calm them down.

“This is a place where many esteemed guests are resting. Please maintain your decorum.”

When a person who seemed to be of the highest rank among the clerks stepped in and said a word, the two stopped their quarrel. However, from the way they glared at each other, it was anyone’s guess what kind of vulgar curses they were exchanging in their minds.

“Hello, Master Jae. I’m from the jewelry shop, Jewelry Cone, and our president specifically wished to meet with you, so I’ve come to see you. I assure you that I can offer you a better deal than that old pumpkin on any proposal.”

“Do you think a mere jewelry shop can compare to our Golden Pumpkin, which handles all sorts of general merchandise?”

The air between them began to stir with the tension of war again.

“No, I was thinking of meeting separately…”

“Hello, Master Jae.”

Who is it this time? I wondered if someone else was butting in to escalate the fight, but fortunately, it was a clerk wearing the inn’s custom uniform.

He handed me a luxurious, crisp envelope. The wax seal bore an imprint of a pod pattern with embedded beans. First came a pumpkin, then corn, and now beans? What kind of crops are these? Why are they all…

“No, that’s!”

“Isn’t that the seal of those bean-pod rats? How dare those rootless scum!”

The crops really have a terrible relationship. I opened the envelope and read the letter. It started with “Hello, Master Jae. We are the Great Bean Alliance,” and simply expressed in writing the same desire to meet separately as those others.

“If left like this, they’ll endlessly request meetings. Let me be clear. I have no intention of meeting anyone separately. Send the proposal to the 18th Administrative Office as discussed, and if they want a meeting, it will be held in the orchard’s conference room. I was planning to visit the orchard soon anyway, but seeing how anxious they are, it’s better to set a date quickly, isn’t it? I’ll visit today. After dinner this evening would be fine. Whether or not their employers participate, tell them to decide on their own. Even just reviewing the proposal is fine.”

At my words, the two hurriedly took their leave. I feel like a celebrity. Everyone’s clamoring for a meeting left and right.

As I returned to the dining area and enjoyed dessert, someone from the Administrative Office came to inform me that the schedule had been set.

Before heading to the orchard, I planned to visit the Alchemy Tower first. That was to meet Pila and Loop, as well as the alchemist who made my gun’s bullets.

Since Iris’s party didn’t need to accompany me, I stuffed them with a handful of diamonds as activity funds before leaving.

“As I said before, it’s best for each of you to acquire your own bees. I’m currently using a wasp, but it only allows one-on-one communication.”

“Wow… finally the time has come to use a honeybee…”

They accepted the generous amount of diamonds quite calmly, likely because joining a guild made rationalization easier.

“And after buying the bees, how about the three of you, excluding Notos, purchase Dryad fruits? With luck, you might obtain a recovery-type Dryad like Wolfsbane.”

“Yesterday’s incident made me realize how nice it would be to have a Dryad with that kind of special healing power. But since it’s not the fruit season, the earlier numbered orchards are probably out of stock. I’ll check when we go down to the later numbered terrariums for a request. Otherwise, I’ll try to find some unripe fruits and look around!”

After handing over the diamonds, we each had errands to run, so we parted ways outside the inn.

Before parting, Iris suggested using an artifact to send a few Dryads back, but none volunteered to return, and we were used to traveling together, so we decided to let them stay.

The rumors about people targeting high-grade Dryads were a bit concerning, but I trusted Mesquite to handle them all. While hiding a trump card is a good strategy, it also seemed effective to intimidate from the start by visibly showing off strong companions so no one would dare attack.

Upon arriving at the Alchemy Tower, unlike when I was stopped at the entrance before, I received a warm welcome. Such was the prestige of being at Tree Stage 1.

At the information desk, I handed over the letter of introduction from the weapon shop owner. The alchemist in question happened to be on duty, so they said they’d arrange a meeting time right away.

While waiting, I headed to Pila’s research lab to see him. There are so many stairs here too. Why isn’t there an elevator? It’s strange for people who can tinker and make all sorts of things.

On the way, familiar faces greeted me. They were the ones who had commissioned synthetic alchemy at the artifact workshop. The people who looked half-dead with zombie-like faces that day now seemed incredibly bright. They must have earned a ton of diamonds.

When I arrived at Pila’s research lab and knocked on the door, he answered from inside.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Jae.”

“Oh, Elder!”

The door swung wide open, and he welcomed me. But his research lab, which had been as dirty as a pigsty when I last visited, was now completely empty.

All his belongings must have been stuffed into boxes piled up on one side, as the boxes were bulging as if about to burst, revealing the edges of their contents. It looked like he was preparing to move.

“Moving your lab?”

“Didn’t you suggest last time, Elder? About moving to the 28th terrarium. So I borrowed a colleague’s bee and contacted my family, and they said it sounded great and wanted to move right away. Rumor has it that among the higher-numbered terrariums, one was completely burned down, making the area uneasy and business poor. They said they wanted to move to a lower number quickly… so I’ve been preparing in advance!”

“Wow, that’s great!”

“Yes! My long-time dream has finally come true! Thankfully, my druid brother said he and his colleagues would help my family move, so the situation is better than on the Luff side. But Elder, do you know how awful the guy next door is? He asked for so many diamonds just to borrow a bee—charging per character in the message, and demanding extra fees because the target terrarium was far! It’s obvious that word got out that I made a lot of diamonds from my inventions. How on earth did he find out!”

He earns even more diamonds than I do! Pila stomped his foot while glaring at the left wall. It seemed that besides preparing for his family’s move, following Luff was one of his goals too.

“But didn’t the Alchemy Tower have anything to say about you leaving? You know… they’re wary of rich people poaching their researchers, right?”

“No, I was already slated for demotion due to poor results, and I had no grounds to complain even if I were kicked out. Actually, when Luff said he would quit the research post entirely, the deans of the Alchemy Tower went into a frenzy. Unlike me, a Grade 5, Luff is a Grade 1 reserve alchemist, specializing in rare insect alchemy, so it’s a loss of intellectual property to the Tower. If they were going to cling that badly, they should have supported his research funding strongly enough so he wouldn’t turn to gambling.”

“Luff is impressive too.”

“Right? Ah, you came to see Loop too, right? He probably already paid off his gambling debts with the diamond you gave him, bought land, and finished discussing with his family. I’ll call Loop over right away!”

A short while later, Loop appeared alongside Pila.

“Sir!”

When I first saw her, she looked truly awful, but now, perhaps because the long-troubling issue was resolved, she seemed neat and clean.

“You can just call me Jae.”

“Ah, since she called you Elder, it stuck with me too…. I’ve passed on the relocation matter to my family, and everyone agreed! However, as I mentioned before, there’s an elderly grandfather in the family…”

I told them about Iris’s party, who would escort the move. Since the relocation of Pila’s family was also decided, it seemed like moving up the migrant escort request over the supply transport request could align their relocation schedules.

Loop was from the 59th terrarium, and Pila was from the 42nd, so it seemed perfect to escort them to the 42nd first, then have them join and move together from there.

With the escort personnel decided, the next issue was the transport—specifically the wagons. To solve that, I planned to head to the orchard. Just then, someone came to Pila’s lab. It was to inform me about the alchemist interview I had requested at the front desk.

I suggested having dinner together after the meeting with the alchemist who made my gun’s bullets, and both readily agreed. As Pila happily anticipated a grand feast, Loop gave her a subtle look.

I bid them farewell and left Pila’s lab. What kind of person would that alchemist be?