Sometimes, as if dozing off, my consciousness would suddenly pop up from the haze of drowsiness.

I was the type who usually slept so deeply that, to put it bluntly, I wouldn’t even notice a fire, but I woke up because of a creepy feeling.

Still, I wasn’t fully awake. Lying down as I was, I opened my ears and took in a big gulp of the cold night air. A thick Mesquite’s cloak was covering me up to the top of my head. My hearing awakened, my sense of smell awakened, and my sense of touch awakened one after another.

As I debated whether to open my eyes or not, Mesquite noticed and patted my shoulder. It was her intention to put me back to sleep.

“It seems my alertness has been transmitted to you too, Jae. It’s nothing serious. I don’t think you need to worry.”

Mesquite’s voice was low and soothing to listen to. Combined with the steady rhythm of his pats, I felt like I would fall asleep again soon, but curious about that alertness, one part of my consciousness stubbornly clung to reality.

“What is it…?”

Thinking I had fallen back asleep, Mesquite stared into the darkness in the distance.

“I sensed a presence. It seems they spotted us first from over there. I was on guard because they showed signs of intending to fight.”

“…Isn’t it dangerous?”

“It was reassuring because it wasn’t aimed at us. I think it was trying to take out other flames farther away. Strangely enough, they’re being considerate of us. They’re making a wide detour around here. There’s a battle that starts and ends quickly. Probably every flame within a few dozen meters of us has disappeared.”

There must be another druid around. I’d like to see another druid’s battle too, though….

In fact, the stubbornly persistent consciousness was being battered down by Mesquite’s calm, steady voice, landing blow after blow.

Stealing my hunting ground… I somehow felt annoyed and went back to sleep.

***

I had a dream for the first time in a while.

Since coming here, I’ve heard so much about the World Tree that it appeared in my dream.

Actually, I don’t even know if that was the World Tree. The only things I’ve seen of the World Tree are the patterns on wax seals and stamps, and some branches from an orchard.

Yet I was convinced it was the World Tree.

A giant tree stood tall in a high place. It was so enormous that even though I was looking at the World Tree from far away, I couldn’t see the whole thing.

Crazy, I only know it’s a tree because it’s a dream—how would I recognize it as a tree in real life? It was huge too.

The trunk was as white as white jade. But as it went toward the ends like the branches, the color gradually became closer to chestnut brown.

I’d heard you could go blind from sunlight reflected off snow in a snowy field, and I felt like I understood that feeling. It was so white and dazzling that I couldn’t fully open my eyes. I even shed a few tears.

Still, I kept staring at the tree. I don’t know why I was doing that.

There was no wind blowing, but golden leaves scattered in front of me like flower petals. It was such a beautiful scene that my heart stirred. The branches also swayed sparsely.

Suddenly, one of the thinnest branches slowly reached out toward me. It would have been creepy for a tree to move on its own, but strangely, I felt nothing at all.

The thin branch was so dark it seemed closer to black than chestnut brown, and compared to the other sparkling branches, its light was faint, and it was bare without any leaves.

Only one small, translucent fruit hung from it.

The branch stopped just within arm’s reach. The translucent fruit, hanging alone on the bare branch, looked so easy to pick and tempting.

So I picked it. As soon as I grabbed it with one hand, it dropped off easily with a soft pop, like a ripe persimmon in late autumn.

Unlike the other fruits I’d held in the orchard, this fruit was cold as ice. I warmed it in my hand and stared at it endlessly. What is this fruit?

Suddenly, the branch began to slap my cheek, smack smack. Hey, starting an attack without any warning? We were getting along just a moment ago! Why the sudden change?

Then the branch began to speak.

“Get up, sleepyhead.”

Has my tendency to oversleep already become gossip even to the World Tree? That’s kind of creepy.

“You really can’t wake up, can you. The sun’s already high in the sky.”

“Master Druid! Please wake up now!”

The branch mimicked Elder and Daisy’s voices. What’s up with this World Tree?

“Master Druid! You need to continue your journey! What if you never make it to the 28th Terrarium at this rate?”

And my eyes shot open.

***

Before I knew it, the day was bright and clear. The dryads that had come out of the artifact were watching me.

Wow… Looks like I overslept. I felt as awkward as being the last one to wake up at a picnic.

“Who slapped me? Was it Elder?”

“I didn’t slap. I tapped.”

“Tapping with your strength is the same as slapping!”

It didn’t hurt, but I felt embarrassed that I couldn’t wake up no matter how much they tried, so I pretended to be distracted.

“Oh, okay. I’ll be more careful from now on.”

Elder answered with a serious expression. When you react like that, it makes me feel bad. I thought you’d argue. Feeling even more awkward, I just rubbed my cheek vigorously.

I still felt a bit groggy, so I took out some water to drink and clear my head.

It was surprisingly cool even though it had surely been with my body heat. It felt the same temperature as when I first bought the bottle from the general store.

I tilted it back carefully, trying not to touch it with my mouth, and then offered it to my dryads as well.

Want some water? Are you thirsty? Surprisingly, they all said their thirst-like feeling had just been relieved. From me drinking water… I almost felt like this was some kind of unity with water or something.

“What about Daisy? Daisy eats all sorts of stuff, right.”

Since she was a kid who devoured several portions at the inn, I handed her the bottle just in case.

“Back then, I was no different from a human, so I ate to survive! Still, the food at that inn was really delicious, and I still remember it. Now, I don’t really feel like eating anything. I’m not hungry either.”

She tells such a heartbreaking story while smiling sunnily. No wonder she ate so much despite her small frame…

Back then, without knowing anything, I just thought she ate heartily enough to make me feel full just watching, but now I realize it was all actions directly tied to survival.

Hmph, feeling the child’s desperate heart made my chest ache.

I’ll… I’ll eat well for you. I’ll do everything well. While I was at it, I took out some emergency rations to fill my own stomach.

Emergency rations bought up to the limit at the general store, including the ones I got as freebies. My breakfast.

The emergency rations looked like energy bars.

My thoughts changed after peeling it. There’s no chocolate coating! When I snapped it with my hand, it crumbled with a crisp sound. Oh man, no additives either. Not like nuts or anything! I can imagine the taste.

With a sour expression, I put a piece in my mouth, and it felt dry and bland, like I was forcing myself to eat just to survive.

It wasn’t even a diet food with a subtly absent taste. There was no seasoning at all—pure, complete flavorlessness.

I’ve got this stuff packed up to the limit in my pocket. The general store owner went on and on about how emergency rations would solve all my hunger during adventures, but was that just inventory clearance? Who would buy this tasteless stuff? Well, I did, with all my diamonds. Damn it…

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing… Just thinking about a lot of things.”

Daisy asked worriedly at my gloomy expression. I couldn’t bring myself to throw away what I’d already peeled, and I was hungry, so I ate it… but it’s pathetic. I have so many diamonds, and I’m eating something this tasteless.

Strangely enough, the more I ate, the fuller I got. It was tiny, so it only took four bites, but by the time I finished, I felt stuffed.

It feels like bloating, though? Is this meant to ruin my appetite so I don’t crave more food?

“Hehe, I guess it doesn’t taste good.”

“I haven’t tried it, but it feels like chewing on clumps of sawdust. I felt like a hamster for a moment there.”

Mesquite picked up the water bottle I’d set down and handed it to me with a smile. I rinsed my mouth thoroughly with water.

I forgot my earlier resolve and even had the extreme thought of just enduring hunger from now on. A Korean lives on rice, but…

Before leaving, we reviewed the route we were going to take again.

Elder pointed to our current location with his finger. It was a bit far from the 26th terrarium, but the distance to the 28th was enormous. Ah, I’m already tired.

Now that we were definitely moving far away from the blessed domain of the World Tree’s branch, we decided to switch the main leader to Mesquite.

Because the chances of encountering strong monsters increased, I thought the team’s safety was important.

I transferred the soul link, which was strongly connected to Daisy, to Mesquite.

Immediately, a translucent film covered the dryads. With Mesquite, a defensive type, as the leader, our defense increased thanks to the party-exclusive buff.

The path we set off on again was incredibly smooth. Despite switching Mesquite to leader and making thorough preparations, nothing happened even after walking for a long time.

Daisy, who had been chattering like a little bird to lift the mood, eventually fell silent in the latter half, as if the topics dried up.

Even my cheerful humming that came out naturally ended up auto-muting from fatigue after walking so long.

It would have been a nice change of pace if a monster showed up here and there, but none appeared, even as the well-paved road ended and an unpaved one appeared, starkly showing the lack of human presence.

Who swept away my hunting grounds? Could it be that druid who was said to be wandering around us in the middle of the night? How rude.

Back then, Mesquite said they seemed to be considerate of us, but from my perspective, it wasn’t the case.

There’s no experience points here. I need to level up, but what if they take all my potential experience? They should leave a couple behind. Even at a tasting station, people leave one or two for the next person. There’s no human decency anymore.

Breakfast was ruined, hunting was ruined, I was just walking tediously, and my legs were hurting, so I felt a bit down.

Yesterday was quite dynamic in its own way, but maybe I set my expectations too high that today would be the same. Well, I guess movie- or novel-like events can’t happen every time. Maybe tomorrow will be just like today, staring straight ahead and walking.

I was walking with my head down, staring at the ground, when at some point, small yellow flowers began to peek out here and there on the soft, rug-like grass.