The three men, fuming over their stolen goods, couldn’t sleep and declared they would stand guard themselves.

Rowella and I ate our fill and lay down in our sleeping bags early, but Seelie just sat in place with its eyes closed. A quiet night passed, with only the occasional sound of distant waves and not even the chirping of insects.

Yet I couldn’t fall asleep easily.

I was only slightly uneasy until I heard about the theft. My rings for the dryads were hard-to-find, high-grade items, but there was no problem as long as they stayed in the artifact, and it’s not like losing some diamonds or rations would cause issues with my infinite diamonds, so it felt completely like someone else’s problem.

But hearing the story about the plant vampire, a strange unease kept nagging at me persistently. Like a mosquito buzzing around my ear, one stray thought led to another, and even though I was exhausted, I couldn’t easily fall into a deep sleep.

Whether it was because of me tossing and turning every ten minutes, I could feel Siedling watching me with concern. In the end, lying still made my back feel itchy, so I got up.

“Can’t sleep?”

With sharp ears, Rowella, who had been in a light sleep, asked in a mumbling voice at my movement. She followed suit and sat up.

“I think it’s because I’m anxious from the story we heard earlier. How about we just wait until dawn and then head to the terrarium when it gets a bit brighter? Actually, I was anxious too.”

Rowella said, rubbing her sleepy eyes. Her voice was full of drowsiness. She would have slept soundly if I had stayed quiet, so I could feel her consideration in those words.

“No, I think it’s just that this is the first time I’ve traveled without my dryads, so I’m not used to it. I’ve always traveled with my dryads from the start. I thought it would be fine, but I guess it’s not. I’m going to get some fresh air and then lie down again, so you go to sleep first.”

“Hey, I’m wide awake now too. The sound of the waves is nice…”

I thought I should set an example as a senior traveler, but it felt like she was more composed than me.

The three men who said they couldn’t sleep because they were angry—true to their word—had gone back to their spot and were playing cards by the campfire. They said everything was stolen, but I guess the cards weren’t taken. Should I ask to join them?

Whether they noticed we had gotten up, they looked over at us.

“Sleeping outdoors isn’t easy, is it? Though we have no idea how long we’ll have to keep sleeping outside.”

“I had just managed to forget, and you keep bringing it up. Can’t you stop?”

The signs of another argument were showing. The pitch-black sky was gradually softening with a bluish tint. I started to think that waiting until dawn like this, as Rowella suggested, might not be so bad.

After chatting among themselves for a while, the three men lowered their voices and began whispering. Then, as if they had come to some conclusion, they suddenly spoke to us again.

“Would you like to make a bet with us?”

“A bet?”

Out of nowhere, what kind of bet?

“We’d end up living like beggars without a doubt like this, but there’s no guarantee we can find a request by tomorrow. Still, it feels a bit off to openly beg any further given our situation to people we’ve just met today. So, how about we make a bet with them, staking some diamonds or food that would last us a day as a prize? It seems like no one can sleep anyway, and don’t we all need something to pass the time?”

“That sounds like you’ve already decided on some bet, but does it mean you’re sure you’ll win and take the diamonds?”

“It’s not that unreasonable of a bet. Don’t druids often have friendly matches when they meet? We’d bet on the outcome of a friendly match. Private arenas are even legally set up in the 3rd Terrarium, where they test each other’s combat abilities and study countermeasures.”

A friendly match? What are you trying to do in the middle of the night?

“Since it’s nighttime, druids can’t step forward, but dryads aren’t affected by vision restrictions even at night, so it should be fine. Besides, the campsite has a wide clearing.”

“Uh… are you suggesting we have a match between dryads?”

Rowella asked quietly. A match between dryads?

“You look like pretty skilled druids, so please help us out.”

“Even if you’re staking diamonds or food, what would you be staking? You said you’ve been cleaned out.”

From earlier, they’d only talked about what we’d stake, without saying what they’d offer if they lost. It felt like they were confident that if dryads fought each other, they’d definitely beat us.

“Well… since our lives are on the line, I don’t think we’ll lose, as we’ll give it our all… But if we do lose, we’ll do as you wish. We’ll accept anything except death. As I said, all we have left is our bodies, so we have nothing to stake.”

Their confidence was a bit annoying, but their voice carried a lot of desperation.

It’s really out of the blue, but a dryad duel… Like they said, it might be good for passing the time. Even if we lose, losing some diamonds isn’t a big deal. But with them acting like that, if we do it, I definitely don’t want to lose.

They said they’d do anything if they lost, but I couldn’t think of anything specific to have them do.

But seeing them so confident—could they be way higher level than they appear? I could tell at a glance with Siedling, but Iris’s party also seemed fairly high-level.

But they didn’t have that vibe. At best, they seemed only slightly higher level than me.

It wasn’t compelling enough to immediately agree, so I delayed my answer and thought it over for a long time. Siedling kept silent from the start, and Rowella kept glancing at me, her lips twitching.

Since they were the ones in a desperate position, if we refused, the bet couldn’t even start. So, seemingly anxious, they added conditions in a more urgent tone.

“Ah… have you heard? We won’t act so shamelessly. Not that guy, but my and this one’s dryads will be the ones in the match.”

He pointed at the faraway man, shook his head, then pointed at himself and the man right next to him as he spoke.

“Heard what?”

“Oh, didn’t you know that guy over there placed as high as 2nd place in the final match of the private arena in the 3rd terrarium last month?”

The person who supposedly placed 2nd was the most quiet one among those who came to our spot for food. So they really were all high-level, despite appearances.

“It was a match with a pretty big prize pool, so I thought you knew. It was quite a famous match because a druid, other than the arena bully Ironbeast, managed to snatch 1st place for 2 consecutive times. He just had bad luck with the bracket; otherwise, he might have taken 1st. A lot of strong competitors showed up, so it was heated from the preliminaries.”

“Ah, I see….”

He seemed as proud as if that achievement were his own. He rambled on endlessly about the atmosphere of the arena back then.

I glanced at Siedling. They’re talking about you, aren’t they? But Siedling hadn’t even looked their way for a while now.

“And while talking about the arena, you don’t recognize the guy most famous for it? I heard he got banned from the arena for monopolizing 1st place.”

It occurred to me that if they had recognized Siedling from the start, they might not have even brought up the dryad duel bet in the first place.

“So he won’t step in for matches against ordinary druids. What do you think? Just consider it a light sparring session to test skills….”

If Siedling stepped in, would he win easily? Since I’m sure he’d win, I kind of want to take them down a peg.

“Should we give it a try?”

“I’ve never done a dryad duel before, so I’d like to try… but I’m too weak, so it wouldn’t even be a contest.”

At my words, their faces lit up. They also blatantly looked at Rowella, who was subtly hinting that she wanted to participate. They seemed to think Rowella would be an easy opponent to beat.

But even if this duel was a good opportunity for Rowella to learn something, I had no intention of sending her out. I’ll step in myself.

“I’ll bet three days’ worth of emergency rations for three people and a few diamonds.”

I took out the emergency rations from the flat rock I’d used as a seat, and grabbed a handful of diamonds from my pocket and placed them on top. Their eyes sparkled at the sight.

“Let’s each bring out two dryads and compete in a 2 vs 2. We won’t worry about traits, and we’ll stop as soon as the outcome is clear before either side gets seriously hurt.”

I had no intention of revealing a Mesquite-grade dryad in a duel like this. Even though I wanted to win, I felt that Mesquite, Wolfsbane, and Elder were cards that had to be hidden until the very end. Marguerite hadn’t even crossed my mind.

It would have to be Daisy, right? If I used two, one would be the offensive-type Daisy, and who would the other be? Should I summon the defensive-type Viburnum?

They summoned their dryads first. Two dazzling dryads appeared, surrounded by a burst of light that brightly illuminated the dark night. Dryads whose flower names and grades I didn’t even know.

I summoned Daisy as well. Looking confused, as if she had no idea she would be called at this hour, Daisy appeared, scattering red petals. The way she checked on me first was utterly endearing.

“Master Jae, is it a dangerous situation?”

“Not exactly, but the dryads are going to have a little duel….”

At my words, Daisy looked around, then glanced at the other side and suddenly flinched, her shoulders trembling. She seemed greatly startled. As I studied her face, I could feel she was deeply shaken by something, her eyes wavering intensely.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

“That… that druid…”

A voice trembling, so unlike the usual bright Daisy. I got the impression she recognized someone among the three men over there. But I had just met those three today for the first time?

“Doesn’t that look like a Red Daisy? They brought out a Normal grade?”

“Yeah. It’s a Normal grade dryad, right? I’ll tell my dryads to give it their all, but will a Normal grade be okay?”

I was confident Daisy would no longer be bound by her grade, but their rude remarks seemed to be affecting her.

For some reason, I recalled the small and fragile Daisy from when we first met.