“A rumor circulating among the flowers… I’m curious about that too.”

Earning said in a very intrigued voice. I suddenly recalled Loop’s mention of eccentric alchemists who frequent taverns and gambling dens to gather material. I couldn’t have a human willing to even damage the World Tree’s branches getting material here.

I tried to send Elder back with the artifact so that only I could hear the story.

“Why would I tell you this when you might create some sinister alchemy from it?”

Earning looked at me incredulously and said.

“I am a druid too. If it’s a famous rumor among the flowers, there’s no guarantee my flowers won’t know it.”

“Damn it….”

Elder looked at Earning with an annoyed expression and lowered his voice to whisper to me. The lab was small enough that everything could be heard anyway, but it was his own little act of defiance against Earning.

“A very long time ago, before the current world existed, the world was destroyed once, and he said these kinds of things happened back then. And he also said there was a sequence in which these events occurred.”

Of course, it was probably a lie, but Elder made a point of emphasizing that he no longer believed such stories.

First, the sun is nowhere to be seen, yet the world is as hot as if it were in flames.

Second, black rain pours down as if a hole has been punched in the sky, submerging all the low-growing flowers in dark water. The water is nutrientless, so no matter how much the roots absorb, the plants only wither away.

Third, unripe fruits fall like rain from the branches of the World Tree.

Fourth, a great earthquake overturns the ground, and the World Tree stirs up unkillable pests and diseases that it has buried deep underground for ages.

Fifth, from crawling creatures to flying ones, all fall, and no living thing moves in the world.

Sixth, no new life is born, and in the end, the World Tree alone witnesses the final days of the world.

It was quite specific. I was surprised that there were as many as six stages, and I couldn’t help but sigh, wondering how to make use of this.

I pondered for a long time. Naturally, Earning didn’t bother to think along with me. From time to time, she checked the 28th terrarium through an artifact to track the passage of time. Worry about the guild members outside also piled up, so I didn’t even notice Papyrus, who had been sitting in a corner, suddenly bustling around the lab.

After all, he was tied to Daisy’s stem, and I dismissed it as him just getting restless after staying still for so long—that was my mistake.

He stopped at a certain spot, pressed his body tightly against the wall, crouched down, and then said with a brightened expression.

“Ah, at this point, I thankfully get a feeling. Since you never come out of the room.”

By the time I turned my head at those words, he was already enveloped in a halo of light. Daisy hastily pulled her stem, but Papyrus was nowhere to be seen, and only the stem came dragging back.

“What the! What is this?”

“So that’s why, even though he’s a dryad with a master, he couldn’t return to the artifact—it was because the height didn’t provide enough distance.”

At Mesquite’s words, my blood ran cold. That bastard Papyrus, doesn’t he know we’re hiding here? If he goes back to his master and reports this… we’re screwed!

“We have to run! What do we do? Should we go back to the seed storage? No, we’d get caught there too.”

“You’re really careless. Leaving a dryad with a master so unguarded in the alchemy tower? Thanks to that, I’ve ended up in danger too.”

“Isn’t it because you came to the sixteenth terrarium that the fuse was lit? Now that we’re out of here, where do we go? And of all times, Winter isn’t here right now. There are too many guards roaming around outside for us to wander aimlessly.”

Mesquite, with a helpless expression, raised her lance. He seemed intent on taking out all the guards Papyrus had brought as soon as they opened the door and entered.

Is it really down to an all-out war now? What if I go back to the seed vault and wreck everything, threatening to destroy it all? But even if I somehow make it to the seed vault, can I get in with Wolfsbane leading the way again? Especially since Papyrus, who manages it, isn’t here.

It was a time of agonizing over whether to stay in the lab or move somewhere else. The tightly shut door made a clicking sound as it opened. Was it Winter? Or the people Papyrus brought?

Even Earning summoned her dryads, and everyone tensed up, bracing for the impending battle.

“It’s here.”

It was Papyrus’s voice. Contrary to the expectation that he’d bring a large crowd, only Papyrus and one other person opened the door and appeared.

“You are…”

Earning’s voice trembled slightly. She seemed to recognize him. Could that man be the head of Inferno? The person who appeared to be Papyrus’s master was a tall, slender old man.

The man, who exuded a similar aura to Papyrus, wore a brown suit that was hardly fit for battle, let alone carrying any weapons. Was he planning to seize the chance to pull out dryads from the artifact?

“It’s been a while. Isn’t it rare to have a conversation like this since you fooled me? Deleoning. No, I should call you Earning now.”

“Creacion…”

Creacion? That name sounds familiar somehow…

She glanced at Mesquite, who was emanating a fierce battle aura, and then looked at me as she spoke.

“It would be wise not to hastily order your dryads to attack. I can reveal the location of this place to the entire tower at any moment. However, I’m just giving you a chance because the story my dryad brought—who I instructed to spend her life managing the seed vault but disobeyed to come along—is intriguing. Well then, shall we hear that story?”

He walked slowly to a chair and sat down, demonstrating with his whole body that he truly had no intention of fighting. Papyrus stuck close to his master, casting wary glances around the area. Should they be grateful that people weren’t charging in right away? What story did he want to talk about?

“Who is that old man?”

I didn’t expect an answer, but I quietly asked Earning. Judging by the atmosphere, he didn’t seem to be the head of Inferno.

“He is the highest dean of this alchemy tower.”

“Whoa…”

So he’s a really high-ranking person, isn’t he? Unlike Winter, who’s just a researcher at the alchemy tower, the top boss is here right now.

“Seeing you with Earning, you must be the new administrative officer of the 28th Terrarium. And that Dryad must be one of the improved monkshood varieties Earning tricked me into diverting to the 28th Terrarium.”

Creacion stared straight at our Wolfsbane. What are you looking at? Even if you stare like that, I’m never giving you my kid. If you try to take Wolfsbane from me, it’s war, immediate war.

By the way, Earning tricked the Alchemy Tower’s Chief Dean into diverting poisonous herbs? That seems weird? Looking at Earning, I saw a stiff, expressionless face.

“It’s the fault of the one who was fooled.”

For someone who did the fooling, Earning rather grumpily spat out the words.

“That’s right. It’s this old man’s fault for not suspecting even a bit that you might have other intentions. But I wonder if you even know how immense a loss your change of heart caused us. Losing a talent like you is regrettable, but there are plenty of people in the world with minds as sharp as yours, so it’s not a great loss.”

He not only scammed his way to being an aide in the 28th Terrarium, but now he also scammed the Chief Dean of the Alchemy Tower from the allied 16th Terrarium? What kind of person is he?

Earning, who diseased the World Tree’s branches with bugs, demanded the improved monkshood variety that could eradicate those bugs? She who cried that even one flower could have saved Scarecrow. Her actions were so contradictory that I couldn’t make any sense of them.

“Thanks to that, we not only sat idle until the administrative officer of the 28th Terrarium was replaced…”

He looked at me as if he wanted me to hear it. It’s not just Wolfsbane; you can’t have the 28th Terrarium either.

“The plans for Paradise Terrarium also fell through. You know what that means, right? That person won’t be satisfied just killing you right away. He’ll burn the flowers you treasure one by one before your eyes. Only after burning everything you’ve cared for in this world will he slowly, very painfully burn you to death.”

Earning glared fiercely with sharp eyes and gritted her teeth. Was ‘that person’ referring to the head of Inferno?

“Taking… taking my noble black flower from me and then daring to say such things… Do you think I’d easily hand over my things again like that?”

She shouted in a voice as angry as when Mesquite had hurt the Bird of Paradise flower. In contrast, Creacion merely looked at her calmly with a persistently indifferent gaze.

“Ah, right. You mean the black thistle. That made Papillion’s black thistle bloom fully. With resistance so fierce, I remember it wasn’t even fit for the forest, so after half-killing it, we barely used it as fertilizer, or something like that.”

Unable to hold back, Earning stepped forward, and as her dryads assumed combat stance, Creacion raised a hand filled with artifacts.

“If you don’t want to hasten your farewell to the rest of your flowers, you’d best think carefully. As I said, I came here today only because I wish to talk.”

To push Earning that far. That old man, who seemed so stubborn, was quite something. No wonder he’s the top dean of the Alchemy Tower. Or maybe you have to be that tough to be the boss among eccentric alchemists?

No, wait. Come to think of it… Did Earning also have a Black Thistle Dryad, like Papillion? She treasures her dryads dearly, yet that dryad is now fertilizer for Papillion’s Black Thistle….

No matter how wicked Earning is, she couldn’t help but feel compassion for a dryad dying as fertilizer. The scene of our Daisy using a White Daisy Dryad as fertilizer flashed through my mind. How on earth did a dryad end up….

Earning had been attacked by Mesquite, but now she tightly hugged the arm of the Bird of Paradise flower, which had been completely healed, and closed her eyes to suppress her anger.

“Now then, speak. My Papyrus says you know a way to quickly kill the world tree branch of the 16th Terrarium.”

If only I could go back in time, I would have covered Papyrus’s ears and kept a better watch over him.