Looking at Rowella’s shabby appearance, I recalled the beginner equipment I had bought in bulk and shipped from the 18th Terrarium.

Rowella looks so shabby that it reminds me of the beginner equipment I bought in bulk from the 18th Terrarium and had shipped over. Since she’s a newbie and clearly needs an equipment upgrade, giving her a gift seems like a good idea. We have similar body types, so it should fit perfectly. One of the original purposes of buying all that beginner gear was to hand it out to newbies like me who visit our terrarium for fostering, so I think this is a great chance to make the first move.

I contacted Daisy2, who was guiding Zephyr, via artifact and moved with Rowella to the simple warehouse where the equipment was stored.

“Wow, this terrarium has so many dryads. They look incredibly strong too. But are they all without owners?”

It was understandable for her to be curious, seeing various species of dryads existing without druids wherever she looked.

“Well… they’re all dryads hired from the 28th Terrarium. Their owner is… well, pretty much me.”

“Gasp…”

At my words, Rowella acted like she was about to choke.

“So how vast is your soul’s limit, Jae? If I travel for a long time and defeat lots of flames, can I become like that too?”

“Those dryads aren’t connected to my soul but are bound to the terrarium itself. That’s why their movement range is limited. It uses a special ability unique to administrative officers… so if you earn a ton of diamonds and become an administrative officer later, Rowella… maybe it’s possible?”

“Wow, administrative officers are really amazing. If I start saving diamonds now, can I become one before I die?”

‘No, I think it’s impossible for me… maybe my daughter, or even my grandson…’ Rowella muttered gloomily, looking at her wallet. She looked quite cute.

For an ordinary person to become an administrative officer of a terrarium, wouldn’t it be like winning the lottery? Speaking of which, does this world even have lotteries? In the game I played before, if you scratched a lottery ticket and won, you got a ton of in-game money and could dream of striking it rich.

All the way to the simple warehouse, the artificially improved dryads stared with blazing eyes at Rowella, who was walking a little apart from me, and her thistle dryad.

Initially fascinated and admiring the dryads, Rowella finally seemed to sense something strange when all the dryads stared intently at her. Shrinking back, she quietly asked me.

“Um… did I do something wrong? It feels like the dryads are glaring at me too much…”

“Is it because they’ve never seen a druid before? No, that can’t be it—they didn’t act like that toward the wandering fortune-telling troupe…”

Rowella said they were glaring at her, but to me, there was no malice in their gazes. It’s more like they were looking at something with intense longing?

“A thistle…”

“Too bad, it’s a thistle.”

“It’s not a sapling, but it looks weak… if only it weren’t a thistle…”

“I don’t have a thistle. What a shame. It would have been better if it were a clover.”

Whenever they passed near them, everyone said the same thing about thistles. Rowella now clung tightly to her thistle dryad’s arm with frightened eyes as she walked.

“Was my thistle dryad the problem? Does it have bad memories of thistle flowers? If you bully my precious dryad… if you bully it…”

She pulled out a palm-sized wooden stick from her waistband with trembling hands. When she pressed the button in the middle of the stick, it extended to the length of an arm, clicking like a three-segment umbrella.

“I’ll beat you all up. I’ll beat you all up. I’ll throw the first punch. Just come closer. If you get hit, I’ll hit you twice as hard, got it?”

“Yes!”

I was taken aback by her very spirited demeanor. When I first met her, I thought her way of dealing with fire was quite fiery, but it seemed to be due to her personality.

I decided to clear up the misunderstanding since I had an inkling of why the artificially modified dryads were acting that way. Daisy2 had said it as a joke, but she mentioned that the artificially modified dryads were quite envious of teaching the dandelion children.

Perhaps Rowella’s thistle looked much weaker compared to the dryads they had seen before, so they felt a desire to teach it. But since there was no paper mixed with thistle, they could only lick their lips.

“It seems the dryads want to become mentors for the thistle. Oh, among dryads, they call it a support pillar.”

Finally, Rowella relaxed.

“You mean those dryads want to educate my thistle dryad?”

“Yes. But since the thistle is also a mature tree, it can’t act like a mature tree toward a sapling, and the dryad who knows the power of the thistle species might step up.”

“Wow… then if our thistle receives teachings from such strong dryads, can it become stronger?”

“The saplings currently being educated are showing considerable results, so I think it might help… But I’m not sure what more can be taught to an already fully grown thistle. Maybe some combat tips?”

“Ooh! Our thistle said it’s not yet familiar with combat! Then… how much does the education cost? Is it very expensive? I decided to start saving today… But if you can become stronger… I’ll eat a little less.”

Her willingness to sacrifice for her dryad was so earnest.

Of course, I had no intention of charging a fee. Probably, the dryad mixed with thistle species would want to teach even insisting on paying something themselves.

“Then, if there’s an improved thistle variety later, I might ask for something like a sparring match. No payment needed.”

“Wow…”

Watching Rowella, I thought maybe we should create a dryad training school ourselves, just like the 18th terrarium where the Cannabis Dryad was trained.

Once all the educational courses are completed, it might be good to make a reward for beginners and set up a tutorial-specific terrarium. I already have the 16th terrarium, so why not operate this one with a different concept, instead of making it a big-city-like terrarium?

“Um… excuse me.”

Rowella subtly leaned closer to me and whispered softly.

“I’ve been curious for a while… Who’s that man next to you? He hasn’t said a word the whole time. Is he like an administrative security guard?”

“Oh, right, there was Siedling.”

I had momentarily forgotten about Siedling while focusing on Rowella. It was quite surprising that he stayed quiet without blurting out anything, waiting until the right moment. Was it because his dryads, who would usually speak for him three times in advance, weren’t here?

Siedling’s dryads had whispered among themselves before coming to the 28th terrarium, then patted his shoulders encouragingly saying, ‘Just copy! You can do it!’ and all returned to their artifact at once.

Since Siedling used to treat me like a dryad sapling too, I doubted he’d speak kindly to this newbie either.

“He’s not a bodyguard; he’s an exclusive guild member of this terrarium. Oh, should I introduce you?”

Just like I did in front of Iris’s party, I couldn’t treat Siedling roughly in front of a newbie I’d never met before, so I casually broached the topic. If he got too harsh, I could step in.

“Welcome to the 28th terrarium.”

“Oh?”

Contrary to my worries, it started off normally? I began to see him differently. Was he finally having a proper human conversation?

“Though you still look too fragile to wander outside.”

“Ahem.”

I figured as much. I deliberately let out a loud, pointed cough. Then Siedling stopped speaking and glanced down at me.

“…It seems you’re trying to grow stronger. Just keep making that effort.”

“You should introduce yourself first before judging others. You’re meeting for the first time, after all.”

I stepped back slightly behind Siedling and spoke very quietly so he wouldn’t hear. Fortunately, Rowella wasn’t paying attention to me.

“I am Siedling. I’m traveling with her, the guild master.”

Hmm, it seems he decided to follow me around after all. I suppose it won’t be bad to have him accompany me, since future adventures might get quite tough. Iris’s party will have to separate from me for missions anyway.

By the way, I felt a vague sense of déjà vu in Siedling’s conversation flow. It seemed similar to the order of my conversation with Rowella. Could he really be copying what I did?

“You look incredibly strong! I’m Rowella. Nice to meet you! Wow, to wear such sturdy armor, you must exercise a lot, right? I can barely even swing a stick, yet you carry a giant sword… I want to become that strong too!”

I felt relieved that Rowella’s first impression of Siedling wasn’t bad. His armor and sword were practically my own ideal image, so I couldn’t help but chime in with Rowella’s remarks.

“Where are the Dryads? You must have a lot of incredibly strong Dryads with you too, right, Master Siedling?”

Unaware of Siedling’s external reputation—like the Iron Beast or the guild’s wanted list—she approached him without hesitation.

Even Zephyr and Herma took quite a while to let their guard down. Seeing Rowella act so casually with him, I thought that even a third party who didn’t know about him would form a much more favorable first impression of him.

The makeshift warehouse we reached after walking for a while was stacked with boxes of equipment. From boxes sorted by size, I picked out something suitable for Rowella and handed it to her.

“Huh! You’re just giving this to me? Can I really take it?”

“Think of it as a souvenir. And if you happen to meet other druids, you can spread the word that we’re giving out equipment for novice druids for free.”

“It looks really high quality too. Is this really expensive gear? Are you sure I can just take it? My equipment is falling apart, and I really needed new gear… But I worked so hard to get my current set, I couldn’t bring myself to replace it…”

Rowella mumbled in a voice so damp it seemed like she might burst into tears.

“I’ll write it on a piece of paper and stick it on my back! I’ll even make a sign and carry it around!”

“You don’t have to go that far.”

Seeing her so happy filled me with immense satisfaction. Ah, is this the joy of nurturing a newbie?

She stepped behind a stack of boxes in the warehouse, changed into the equipment, and came out. Since I hadn’t changed mine yet, I was wearing the same gear as her under my robe. It looked like we were wearing couple outfits.

Well, since I’ve shed the newbie vibe now, if I go meet Romgato for the 18th time, I should change into something more impressive.