[Master! Should we load diamonds into this?]

[Master! What is this?]

Indeed. What is that? Judging by the timing, is it related to the certificate? I stopped the dwarves who were about to recklessly scoop diamonds with a shovel. I need to do something about them throwing diamonds into everything first.

“Keep it safe. Don’t drown it in diamonds by pouring them in. If you place it nicely in a sunny spot, I’ll take out plenty of diamonds later.”

Since I don’t know what it is yet, I’ll skip it for now. If I keep it well, it might become useful someday.

Wanting to see the certificate again, I touched the letter icon. This feeling of wanting to see it over and over… The previous process repeated, and the window popped up again.

Ever since I came to this game, I hadn’t seen any proper game-like system screens, and I felt a bit unsatisfied, as if my sense of achievement wasn’t fully fulfilled. But now that something appeared on the screen as proof, I felt so proud I could go crazy.

What do I need to do to level up further? Is owning shares something like real estate?

Can I achieve my dream of owning a home, which I couldn’t in reality, here? Can I get a theory certificate in other numbered terrariums besides the 26th?

I was grinning while looking at my phone when Elder curiously leaned in.

“What’s that?”

Elder needs to be more careful. I nearly had a heart attack. The impact of seeing a face from a distance versus right next to you is completely different. To me, it’s a very beneficial face, but it’s too harmful to my heart.

I calmed my flushed face and showed the phone screen.

“What is that?”

“It’s a certificate. It says that since we cleared all the fires around here, the terrarium here will give me benefits and guarantee my status.”

“You got something good. That’s a relief, Jae. I was worried you might get bad looks for causing a big incident in the terrarium. It seems the terrarium was more concerned about the village’s safety from the fire than anything else.”

By ‘big incident,’ was he talking about Mesquite and Elder wiping out the druids and dryads? What I did was practically the same as PK-ing in the village, and thinking back, it really did pass without much trouble.

“But now that the immediate fire is out, they’ll turn their attention to the village’s security. To pull off something like before…”

“We’ll have to do it in secret and clean up thoroughly. Let’s even use Mesquite’s roots to bury everything deep underground.”

Elder replied calmly. Since he didn’t say we absolutely wouldn’t do it, it seems if something like that happens again, conflict is inevitable. I don’t know who my dryad takes after to have such a bold personality.

“By the way, they call me a Grade 5 Gardener. It feels new having a title.”

I never even became a Grade 9 civil servant in real life, but in the game, I’m already Grade 5. And that’s just from sweeping through a hunting ground. With such privileges being given, it must not be easy or common. Don’t most people usually start with the beginner hunting ground when they first head outside the village? Was that just my own stereotype?

“My master, Jae. A status guaranteed directly by the terrarium will be very important. They say that although there are many druids, a lot of them go inactive without much achievement.”

“So, does that make me a little more special among all those druids?”

Mesquite looked at me with proud eyes. This is the thrill of a diamond-tier newbie leading the way!

I kept reading the certificate out of fascination, and the day grew dark.

Since returning to the village was an awkward option, I decided to sleep rough at a suitable spot nearby.

This is my first time sleeping rough, so I’m a bit nervous. I’m a well-raised flower who never even went to Girl Scouts in elementary school. That said, I’m not someone who can’t sleep without a bed.

I walked a bit further from where I was sitting and found a good spot. It was a place surrounded by many trees.

According to Mesquite’s advice, areas with abundant plant life are less prone to damage from fire—in other words, places where fire is very unlikely to appear. Though, of course, we had also cleared most of the nearby fires.

Thanks to the thick gear and robe I was wearing, the night breeze didn’t feel that cold. I sat blankly next to a tree that was good for leaning against, watching the three dryads chatting quietly together.

Just to be safe, we decided that only one would stay on watch while the others went back into the terrarium artifact to conserve their energy. And the watch duty was firmly assigned to Mesquite.

“Mesquite, can you go without sleep?”

“Dryads can live without eating or sleeping. Though battle wounds are unavoidable. The important thing is that our little world tree, Jae, stays healthy. Since we’re connected by one soul, if Jae is tired, the dryads feel tired too; if Jae feels refreshed, so do we. Jae just needs to rest without any worries.”

So the host’s condition affects the dryads too… What’s the use of a good computer when the power supply is terrible? Sob. Past me, I will repent.

Night had fallen. A quiet space with no sound of crickets, just the rustling of me lying down on the grass.

Stars that were hard to see in Seoul were densely embedded, creating a beautiful night sky. The only light came from the moon, the starlight, and the faint glow emitted by my terrarium artifact.

In my former self, I wouldn’t have been able to endure such extreme darkness, but with Mesquite standing firmly by my side, it wasn’t that scary.

Maybe it was because I’d been drinking fatigue recovery potions like water, but even tossing and turning, I couldn’t fall asleep easily.

I never imagined I’d lie down and sleep on such a desolate patch of grass, but contrary to my worries, it felt quite nice. The grass seemed to cradle me warmly like soft down.

Just lying there without doing anything, I felt my body, which had been as heavy as waterlogged cotton, gradually become lighter.

It must be a kind of rest skill.

I touched the terrarium artifact softly glowing with light.

The two dryads in the normal field were meticulously tending to their area. Not far from the elder’s zone, a small daisy flower had bloomed.

Red petals and chestnut-colored stamens that looked like doll hair. Even though it was just a single flower, making it pale in comparison to the other two dryads whose parent trees were trees, it was still incredibly cute and pretty.

Elder had installed various items I hadn’t seen before in his zone, as if he had spent all the diamonds I’d given him at the workshop.

I felt a bit sorry that I couldn’t provide her with a house, but she was no different from me in her desire for furniture, and I could see she had decorated around her parent flower tree with all sorts of things.

There was a rocking chair with a plush cushion, and a bookshelf, table, and chair that looked like they were carved directly from a tree sprouting from the ground.

There wasn’t a single book on the bookshelf, but Elder seemed to intend to use it as a display case for a singing golden bird figurine, a tiny mini gold harp, and such.

On the table, there was a lamp that looked like it was made by gathering small firefly-like lights. I thought perhaps if Elder ever got a book, he might read there by that light.

When the elderflower petals touched the sparsely placed streetlamps, they sparkled and scattered like fairy dust.

Among the numerous fences, the golden fence I had set aside was decorated in a circle around Elder’s parent flower tree.

The mushrooms, bench, stone bridge, etc., that Elder had personally pulled from random boxes were harmoniously clustered in one area. Elder was a dryad who really knew the thrill of investing diamonds.

On the other hand, Daisy’s zone was barren, as she had returned almost all the diamonds I gave her.

Just a single red daisy flower blooming alone in the lush grass was cute, but compared to Elder’s zone, it felt a bit plain. Then, as he placed a small topiary next to the flower, I turned the angle to see what it was, and the child subtly tried to hide it with his body.

But she couldn’t escape my eyes, which could freely adjust their viewpoint 360 degrees up and down.

“J?”

So she had been hiding a letter ‘J’ topiary like that. No, why would you… ah… My nickname?

I took my hand off the glass dome, covered my mouth, and rolled around. She’s being just so, so cute. To think that the one product I bought that won me the draw was a decoration of my own nickname topiary.

“Jae, you seem to be in a good mood.”

Mesquite raised a hand to shield my rolling head from bumping into something it shouldn’t. Mesquite’s hand, about the size of my head, was soft and comfortable like a pillow, even with the gauntlet.

“I openly covet diamonds more than anyone, but Elder, whose heart is so easy to read, is also adorable, and Daisy, who is blindly devoted to me, is incredibly lovely too. And Mesquite, just being with her makes my heart swell with such a sense of security that it feels overwhelming. It suddenly struck me that I made the right choice coming here. I think I’m really lucky with dryads. I want to go on adventures together, play together, and do everything we possibly can, as much as we can!”

“My master, Jae. I feel the same way. Meeting you is a stroke of luck for me too.”

Hidden by the darkness, I couldn’t see Mesquite’s face, but I felt she was looking down at me with the same kindness as always.

Mesquite urged that it was late at night and time to sleep. He undid the buckles on his armor and took off his large cloak. Covering me with it, he said it was time to wait for the next day’s events.

I had been looking at the terrarium artifact because I couldn’t sleep, but smelling the smoky scent steeped into Mesquite’s cloak, my consciousness began to sink on its own.

I suppose I did overdo it a bit today. I moved around a lot, more than I had in a long time since the days I wore my school uniform and ran around energetically. Come to think of it, I was also curious about what Mesquite bought at the workshop…

My fading vision went completely dark. I hope tomorrow comes soon. No sooner did I close my eyes than I was pulled into a deep sleep.