Even though the rewards were tempting, I was already satisfied just being able to know where the monsters were. Since this dryad seems to be the ruler of this Dandelion Forest, the rewards must be amazing. In games, the rewards from kings are always the best. She’ll take good care of it herself.

Mesquite calmed me down as I urged to leave quickly. She said I should refrain from using diamonds to expand my fiery body like last time.

This dandelion colony was directly suffering fire damage. Though I hadn’t completely ruled it out, I didn’t want to cause any more harm, so I decided to hold back as Mesquite advised.

The method of showing me the fire locations was fascinating. It wasn’t like in games with a minimap and pings exactly marking monster positions or glowing lights.

All I had to do was follow the white flower seeds Dandelion sent out. There were quite a number of seed clusters spreading in all directions, so it seemed I wouldn’t need to resort to any cheap tricks to enlarge my body.

“Druid, if you don’t mind, I would like to have a brief talk with this young daisy seedling.”

“Huh? Why the daisy?”

Everyone looked puzzled as Dandelion singled out the daisy with her staff.

Perhaps she felt a sense of kinship with the smaller dandelion children… But even though she was small, she was originally big. Daisy also looked flustered by Dandelion pointing at her.

“Should we step outside?”

Mesquite asked, linking himself and Elder together. Dandelion replied that it would be a great courtesy if they did. Elder looked displeased, but at Mesquite’s glance, he left the center of the grove without a word. Should I go out too?

“It’s fine for you to stay. In fact, it might be more helpful that way.”

Nothing big was likely to happen, but he seemed reluctant to leave, worried about Daisy. Fortunately, he wasn’t kicked out.

Daisy was popular among the dandelion children. Even the kids who had been following Mesquite around came back. Hearing them chatter, “You’re as small as us, but you’re really strong,” made the reason clear.

“Do you have any special requests?”

“No, not at all. I just really wanted to talk.”

Daisy approached Dandelion, and I plopped down on a nearby flat rock. What could this be? Why did she keep only Daisy?

“I know that usually, you travel with a druid after you’ve grown a bit… Are you a wild-born dryad, like us?”

Oh wait! That’s Daisy’s painful past! She’s barging in without warning. Should I stop this? I quickly checked Daisy’s expression. But contrary to my worries, she looked calm.

“No! I’m a dryad who blossomed from a fruit. It’s because I was separated from the world tree for a long time after blooming. I lost power and shrank!”

The child’s answer was cheerful. I felt a bit dazed.

I’d always been anxious whenever talk touched on Daisy’s past. I worried she’d remember her painful wounds and get gloomy.

But Daisy had never shown that kind of reaction. She acted as if that past never happened, every moment nonchalant.

She’s already overcome it, and I’m just fretting pointlessly….

“Were you abused?”

Dandelion’s gaze began to shift toward me, but Daisy quickly shouted and blocked her view by standing in front of me.

“The druid is not that kind of person! He’s actually my benefactor!”

My heart swelled at the small child’s desperate gesture. My kid trying to protect me….

“I didn’t mean to misunderstand, but if it seemed that way, I’m sorry. Your bond with the druid looked very good from the outside. However, the relationship between a druid and a dryad is very close. I thought it must be connected to the cause somehow.”

“It was another druid who severed the soul connection with me. It was Jae who saved me from the pain.”

“I see. So the connection was cut off badly. That’s why you ended up as a seedling…”

“It’s small now, but it’ll grow quickly!”

Daisy declared her aspiration confidently. Right, right. Our Daisy now has only days of growing fast ahead.

“Then… the other two dryads accompanying the druid are by no means ordinary. Don’t you ever feel inferior?”

Ah, I didn’t see it that way, but you’re so blunt. If you keep bombarding me with facts, it’s not Daisy but my bones that will ache more.

Daisy has been through a grade-supremacist elder, so his mental fortitude must be somewhat solid. Come to think of it, I was a bit curious about what was really on Daisy’s mind.

Mesquite was a special grade that came out of the 26th terrarium orchard after 10 years, and the elder was a unique grade that drew cheers from everyone the moment it appeared.

On the other hand, Daisy was a normal grade treated poorly.

I didn’t care about grades—it’s good if they’re high, but if not, I planned to pave a diamond road and raise them with all my might. But did Daisy feel any inferiority seeing the other two?

“Not at all. Rather, I’m glad that strong dryads are guarding my druid’s side. I only want to get stronger quickly. There’s so much I can learn from them! Of course, I might be weaker than other dryads now. But it’s just that I haven’t fully grown yet.”

“That’s right! Daisy will grow more!”

If I had a glow stick, I’d wave it in red. I’m your number one fan supporting your thoughts! Your heart having such wonderful thoughts is already fully grown!

At Daisy’s answer, Dandelion smiled brightly. When flowers smile, do flowers bloom around them? Is this an illusion? Her heartbreakingly beautiful smile made my face hot.

“You too can become a king. The king of the forest. With that heart, you can become a dominant species ruling over dryads of the same kind. Your strong will surely make it possible.”

Mesquite said that once she got the butterfly, she could find and subdue dryads of the same kind, creating a forest.

Of course, I was planning to give the butterfly to Daisy first. Since the natural occurrence rate was also high, I was full of desire to raise her quickly and strongly.

At Dandelion’s words, Daisy looked surprised.

“Can I become a king like you?”

I imagined Daisy becoming a king of the forest like Dandelion. Daisy, who had become a king looking so elegant and strong… I wouldn’t see her small, cute appearance anymore.

Thinking of a fully grown child makes me sad, but seeing a successful child is heartwarming… Is this a parent’s heart? I suddenly feel like I might cry a little.

“When I was first born, I was no different from the other dandelion sapling children. I was small and weak. The only difference was that my vessel was a bit larger, large enough to accommodate the souls of other dryads.”

“You were as small as me? Like these dryads here?”

It seemed Daisy felt a sense of wonder, and I too couldn’t quite imagine Dandelion as a small figure. I had thought Dandelion must have been king from the start, born large and noble from the very beginning.

“Yes, that’s right. I was as small as this child here. I had no power to use. All I could do was stay safely at the center of the colony, drinking water, basking in the sun, and playing when the time came. I’d talk with the other sapling children, venture out of the colony out of curiosity, then come back shivering from the night dew… I was no different from any ordinary sapling dryad.”

Dandelion stroked the head of the dandelion child clinging to her and spoke.

“As the number of dandelion dryads being born grew and the colony came under threat, a center for the community became necessary. Peaceful days were no longer possible. Among all the small dryads, I was chosen as the dominant species because my soul vessel was larger. As I took on souls one by one, new power emerged, and as I used that power to protect the colony, my soul vessel grew even larger.”

Dandelion showed us her staff, the wings on her back, and the flower crown on her head, one after another, so we could see them more clearly.

“As my soul vessel grew, my body shot up in size. As my power grew stronger, the weapons meant to contain my power also became larger and more refined. A flower crown symbolizing the king’s authority and wings symbolizing uniqueness also sprouted. And someday, you can become like this too.”

It seemed Daisy had found a dream. She wore a dazed expression while looking at Dandelion.

“When you become king, you take on the responsibility and duty of having many souls entrusted to you. Entrusting souls means handing over all one’s power to a single dryad. A single dandelion dryad is small and weak, but when many gather, they can become a powerful and special force. Therefore, you must use your strengthened body to wield that power for other dryads.”

“Just hearing about it is incredibly impressive…!”

“I believe the Daisy species is no different from us dandelions. There must be many dryads blessed by the World Tree scattered everywhere. You’ll soon be able to create a forest. All you have to do is grow strong enough to prove yourself as the dominant species. Here among the dandelion dryads, I merely had a larger soul vessel, but the circumstances for the Daisy dryads outside may be different.”

It was good advice. I knew that becoming the king in the forest would make you stronger, but I didn’t realize it was by absorbing the souls of other dryads. Certainly, two dryads are stronger than one.

Not just Daisy, but I also had to grow. Here, the dandelions form a forest in the wild, but in Daisy’s case, I need to create a forest inside my terrarium artifact.

To connect with many dryads’ souls, the limits of my own soul, meaning my level, had to increase. I need to level up!

“After leaving this place, when we meet again someday, I might see you as a king.”

Dandelion thus wrapped up the story. Daisy nodded enthusiastically.

“Alright! Let’s go, Daisy! We need to quickly sweep away the flames and gather experience points!”

I grabbed Daisy’s hand and headed out of the colony.

Of course, I was careful not to step on the flowers, just like when I came. The flower seeds danced lightly before my eyes, as if urging me to follow them.

Mesquite, who had gone ahead and was waiting, greeted us with a smile.

“Did you have a good talk?”

“Yeah! It was very helpful!”

There was no change in keeping Mesquite as the main focus. We still didn’t have precise information about the flames that had moved away from the village.

I followed the nearest of the scattering flower seeds. The ones fluttering gently suddenly drooped as if hit by rain and fell to the ground.

Beyond the shower of falling seeds, there was a flame that looked different from the ones I had seen before.

It wasn’t the disgusting, slime-like, squirming mass, but that thing was almost… a human-like shape, wasn’t it?