Before the day was even over, I could arrive at the 16th terrarium. Like the 18th, this place was bustling and crowded with people.

Only after seeing me safely inside the terrarium did Iris look satisfied.

“I’ll complete Gaia Guild’s first request perfectly!”

“Oh, take this too. You need to deliver it to the Viburnum in the 28th terrarium.”

I took out the precious Viburnum seedling from my pocket and handed it to her. The inventory in my pocket kept food from spoiling and maintained the water’s original temperature. The seedling was just as it had been the day I dug it up.

Iris carefully received the seedling, wrapped the roots in a cloth, and tucked it into her pocket.

“Thanks to Jae, we might complete the request much faster than expected!”

“I’ll send reports along the way since there are bees involved! If you meet any suspicious characters, let me know right away! Even without a carriage, I’ll come running to protect the Guild Master!”

“You don’t need to go that far…”

“I’ll be back!”

Iris and Zephyr cheerfully shouted as they rode the carriage back.

Like the one in the 18th, a massive alchemy tower could be seen in the distance. That was my destination—the place holding Wolfsbane’s secret.

But what should I do? In the 18th, I at least had Pila’s introduction. I had no idea what excuse to use to get in. Even if I entered, how would I access information about Wolfsbane? Since artificial modification was forbidden, they surely wouldn’t disclose it to outsiders.

I sat on the edge of the fountain in the square overlooking the alchemy tower, deep in thought.

Suddenly, I heard a strange sound, like a startled “Uh?” A familiar face looked at me with wide eyes.

Still, since the village was wide, I thought the chances of running into them would be low. How could I run into Siedling’s dryad right after entering? What kind of absurd coincidence is this?

“Druid, what brings you here?”

It was the Kalmia Latifolia dryad, the king of the Kalmia Forest, with a striking impression of wings woven from multiple branches of pale-pink flowers. If she was here, there was a high chance her owner, the druid, was nearby as well.

Just pretend I didn’t see them. As I hurriedly tried to leave, a Brazilian Rosewood dryad holding a violin stood in my path. He too looked at me with a surprised expression.

Oh, crap… Wait. My uneasy premonition had come true. A large shadow loomed, and there stood Siedling, clad in ordinary clothes instead of silver armor.

The armor used to completely cover his neck, so only the reddish burn scar at the edge of his jaw was faintly visible, but now that he was wearing a low-cut shirt, it was fully exposed. The burn scar stretching down to his flat chest… looked overly sexy.

Ah, right. He was a good-looking guy in his own way. If you just look at his build, he was really my type.

Siedling was staring at me with eyes that seemed to blaze with fire. I saw his tightly pressed lips twitch slightly.

“Th-the druid. I never expected to see you here. Right, Siedling? Siedling seems pretty surprised too, haha.”

Kalmia said with an awkward laugh. Soon after, his dryads, except for Belladonna, popped out one by one. Cadon, as before, acted like an overzealous fan of a celebrity toward Mesquite. He was so loud it seemed like he could drown out the clamor of a whole crowd by himself.

“It’s an honor to meet you again! I’ve been training hard while thinking of you, Mesquite! Now, even without a shield, I can stand and fight on the front lines!”

“You dimwit…”

Blue Mallow clicked his tongue with a fed-up expression, looking at Cadon.

“Th-three is done. Hold on! How can you just storm off like that just because Belladonna isn’t here? Siedling, wait! Blue Mallow wasn’t talking to the druid. It was a mutter to himself, so you can’t count it! Of course, since I’m talking to you, you can’t count this either! No, if you want to be strict about it, Cadon was talking to Mesquite!”

Siedling’s dryads grabbed his thick forearm like a leash and clustered together, murmuring.

“Want to try rock-paper-scissors? Let’s decide who does it.”

“I… don’t want to… The way you chased us out of the 28th terrarium of the World Tree… it was scary…”

“Let the youngest one do it.”

“The eldest Seongmok should set an example!”

In the end, Kalmia approached.

“Um… Druid. Since that day, Siedling has studied really hard. He enrolled in a human academy and attended classes diligently. He’s really different from back then… Even though you said we shouldn’t meet again, he’s been looking forward to seeing you again… So…”

“Pathetic… so pathetic…”

At Blue Mallow’s interruption, Kalmia narrowed her eyes sharply and gritted her teeth.

“Look, even his clothes are different now, right? He followed the coordinating advice from class… to make a good impression… He really, really tried hard. So just give him one chance…”

“What kind of class is that, anyway?”

What kind of academy did he attend? Is there a class that coordinates your outfit?

“Ah, forget it. There’s no need to act like that. It’s just a conversation anyway. Say what you want to say. I only came here because I had business.”

He sure remembered not to speak before I allowed it. Once I gave him permission, Siedling finally opened his mouth. And the first words he said, after the dryads had repeatedly assured me he had changed a lot, were…

“You, like a single rose…”

For a moment, I doubted my ears. That was Siedling’s voice, right? With a blank expression, how could he spout such nonsense…

“To touch your long-awaited breath, I lower myself…”

“Pfft—damn it, hey, stop! Stop! Where did you learn that?”

The dryads, who had been clenching their fists and cheering Siedling on, instead looked at me with puzzled expressions.

“What’s wrong? He’s doing well, not forgetting what he learned.”

Kalmia asked me in a voice full of doubt. No, shouldn’t I be the one asking that?

“What kind of academy is it, anyway?”

“It’s an academy in that building with the visible sign, teaching speech to gain favor with people. A very popular and famous instructor teaches there. The tuition is expensive, so Siedling is the only student. There are hardly any places that accept Siedling, but this place kindly offered to help!”

“That’s right. Siedling is doing well with what he learned. For starters, he speaks softly now.”

Where exactly? He’s still as blunt as ever?

“We told him to compliment the other person first and use beautiful words. When he said he wasn’t sure, we also taught him about the rose. It was said that since it’s a flower used for proposals, it could convey affectionate feelings well.”

Rosewood diligently defended Siedling. What bizarre thing did he learn?

“Hey! You got played for a fool! You don’t even look the part!”

“What does ‘played for a fool’ mean?”

“It means you were taken advantage of like an idiot! Who wastes money on such nonsense? I have diamonds to spare, but someone like you should be saving, shouldn’t you?”

“Ah! Siedling has a lot of diamonds too.”

Kalmia, who responds to me one by one, seemed completely unaware of the problem.

“But the druid who teaches me is really popular… He said if I follow him, even Siedling can make people like me…”

“Enough! Ugh, you idiot! How could you fall for something like that?”

Siedling’s face darkened rapidly. His dryads hurriedly consoled him.

“No, you did well with what you learned. But it seems you need to try harder. Things aren’t working out with the druid. Let’s go study more and come back. Still, you had a pretty long conversation, right? Maybe it had a little effect.”

“It seems like you had a longer conversation… than Siedling did…”

It was obvious he’d been taken for a fool, but I had no loyalty to help him. Leaving Siedling behind, I walked down the street, thinking I’d find an inn first.

Then I ended up passing the building where that insane academy Kalmia had pointed out was.

Speech Academy

Speech academy, my ass. As I tried to pass by, I saw someone coming down the stairs. Curious to see the face of the con artist who had tricked Siedling, I watched. A tall, slender man with a model-like physique was coming down, twirling a keychain.

When the shadow lifted and his face was revealed… oh my, a handsome man. And he was exactly my type, with a flashy, flower-like appearance. His beauty rivaled Elder’s, to the point where I almost mistook him for a dryad.

He had glossy, curly blonde hair parted to the side, so brilliant it could suit any description like sweet honey or threads of melted star gold, and blue eyes. It was an incredibly fantastical color combination.

With clean white skin, a high nose bridge, neatly trimmed eyebrows, and lively lips. It was as shocking as when I first saw Elder and nearly had my breath taken away by his beauty. He was an utterly handsome man.

I was so entranced by his being exactly my taste that our eyes met.

“Hello? Seeing a noble black lily-like lady like you has stirred a deep resonance in my heart.”

“What the hell, this crazy bastard.”

As soon as he opens his mouth, the illusion shatters. Even our Elder looked good with his mouth shut, but he was forgivable because he was cute even when he spoke. But that guy’s mouth was beyond redemption.

Now I noticed he also had a small, cute yellow bird on his shoulder. If he hadn’t opened his mouth, he would have looked like a forest fairy, but now even that look is ruined. Carrying a live bird on his shoulder, indeed he’s completely crazy.

Wait. Judging by his speech, it was clear that man was the one who taught Siedling. The way Siedling’s dryads described him as popular… could it be they were talking about women who fell for his looks?

Wow, Siedling. You got it completely wrong, you idiot.

“Oh, are you just leaving? Won’t you come somewhere with me to drink some sweet tea and have a sweet conversation? Your very existence feels as sweet to me as biting into a bunch of ripe strawberries.”

“Ah, get lost.”

And why are you speaking informally to me when we’ve just met? As she tried to get closer, Mesquite raised her lance threateningly to stop her.

“Wow, you’ve got an amazing dryad.”

“What a shame. Why waste such good looks like that?”

It was such a shame that the words slipped out of my heart naturally.

“Oh, do you like my appearance too? Then I’ll become your single sunflower, chasing after you, the sun, so you can quietly admire me.”

Sunflower, my foot. I flipped her off, used Mesquite as a shield, and quickened my pace.

Let’s not get involved, he’s a strange guy. To purify my contaminated mind, I stared intently at Elder. Yeah, our Elder is the best. I won’t ever look elsewhere again. I must have been crazy.

The 16th terrarium was full of weirdos.

* Alter ver.