“Uh… can’t I rest a bit? I’m really worn out.”

“Excuse me? But you said we were being chased.”

“Those folks went to cover our backs. If I keep walking like this, I’ll just be dead weight. I think I’ll be fine after a little recovery.”

“Alright then. Since you did the hard work of saving this dryad.”

“And… I’m still not at ease, so could you keep watch for a bit? If I’m anxious, recovery takes longer, right?”

Whether it was because his slackened face, freed by Kanavis’s power, looked so pitiful, or because he said it would only be a moment, he actually stepped aside for a bit despite the nonsense.

I gestured toward Kanavis. She had an anxious look, maybe getting restless because the delay meant she couldn’t meet her master soon.

“Hey, let me ask you a few things. Is that guy your master, the doctor?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Was I worried for nothing?

“Don’t you have to go to the 17th terrarium for an emergency surgery? Is it okay to go to the 18th?”

At my question, Kanavis looked startled. Not so much a look of “How did you know?” but more like… she seemed bewildered….

“Huh? I’m still terrible at controlling my power to be used for medical purposes. I’m not qualified to participate in formal surgeries. So I’m still in my probation period. My druid is a doctor, but he didn’t take me along to join a surgery. We were in the middle of evacuating because the training ground was suddenly attacked….”

“What? So that guy was lying? He said he was taking you for an emergency surgery….”

“Huh? My master isn’t a man.”

It felt like someone had doused me with cold water.

So then, those guys who said they came to rescue us are the bad guys too… And while Kanavis was being kidnapped, the bad guy got attacked by another bad guy team, so he was double-kidnapped? The one who got taken used us.

“What’s wrong…? Don’t tell me my druid is still in danger…?”

It’s not just your master—it seems like we’re in danger again too. What did I blabber to that guy? I think I said I was solo without a party and had no combat power. I went and spilled everything to the enemy from the start.

Should I try a forced breakthrough this time too? But back then, everyone was gathered together, which was good, but now they’re scattered because they went to check for remnants. There might be more on the way….

Still, that side probably thinks I haven’t noticed anything suspicious yet, right? How can I use this?

Maybe the reason Wolfsbane’s ability worked properly was because luck was on my side. No, since I have bad luck, it might have been my dryads’ luck instead of mine.

When Cannabis said that he himself was resistant to the effects of Wolfsbane’s ability, it occurred to me that perhaps among this group, there might be others who, like Cannabis, possessed a Dryad with immunity.

How can I, who have nothing but money, turn this situation around?

“You said Dryads can’t be too far from their masters. Are you okay?”

“It’s far, but not extremely so, so I’m still fine. I can feel myself getting closer to my master. Perhaps my master is in the 18th Terrarium. For some reason, they can’t summon me with the artifact…”

“So they’re in the 18th, huh…?”

I asked Elder for a luck buff. He questioned why I needed it when I wasn’t even directly engaging in combat, so I just said I needed something like a charm. After all, Elder once mentioned using his own flower branches as talismans.

“Have you rested enough?”

It seems some time passed while I was racking my brain. Four people had left under the pretext of keeping watch, but only one returned. Where did the rest go?

My Dryads, reading my thoughts, tried to become wary of him, but I calmed them down. I can’t afford to be exposed yet.

People often become bold in their actions when drunk. As it happens, my drunken symptom was losing my nerve. Even though right now I’m not drunk on alcohol, but intoxicated by Cannabis’s power. I took a quiet deep breath.

“Should I make the deposit now?”

“Huh?”

“You came alone for that, didn’t you? It’s you, right?”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“There’s no one around to hear us, so isn’t it time to drop the act? We agreed you’d come up with an excuse and come alone when I gave the signal.”

He, who had been making a bewildered face at my nonsense the whole time, hardened his expression.

“The advance payment was already sent, and we agreed to settle the intermediate costs if we managed to spirit Cannabis away separately. And you were supposed to give me the final amount once I safely helped Cannabis and myself arrive at the 18th Terrarium to hide.”

The man, who had been answering readily, clamped his mouth shut. What was he thinking? That there was a spy in the organization? If so, how would he react? Would he be greedy enough to be swayed by money? Or would he not succumb to it? And if I offered an amount he couldn’t possibly refuse, what then?

“I was planning to kill the woman protecting this guy and make a run for it, but I got caught by you guys. So, regrettably, I have to resume the deal. The advance payment was in diamonds…”

I couldn’t be hasty and name a unit. I was still unfamiliar with the diamond market here. So I stopped talking and held up one finger. One doesn’t mean anything. It just felt like a single check. The other party would likely propose the reasonable amount.

“1… 100….”

His voice trembled slightly, suggesting that greed was beginning to whisper faintly in one corner of his heart. By the way, does ‘a hundred’ only warrant that much of a tremor?

“A hundred? It was a thousand, wasn’t it?”

“A thousand….”

His mouth fell wide open. Of course, Elder also flinched and trembled. But I could see him diligently closing his mouth, catching on quickly.

What now. The down payment is usually just a tiny fraction of the promised money, isn’t it? If a fraction is a thousand, and there’s also an interim payment and a completion payment, how big will those be? Huh? Will he deny it and say it’s not him? Or….

“That’s right. It was a thousand….”

He bit!

“The interim payment was twice the down payment. Two thousand. Remember?”

Elder’s shoulder beside me trembled finely.

“Of course. Acting… yes, I was just acting. In case there’s anyone around, one moment please.”

He quickly turned his head this way and that, then hurried over to where he had been keeping watch. I looked at Mesquite as she muttered something, wondering if she could hear it.

“Two thousand? What are you doing!”

Unable to hold back, Elder finally shouted.

“Two thousand is pocket change.”

“’So that’s why you insisted on the 18th terrarium side,’ he said. But my master, Jae, is quite skilled at lying. You seemed like a completely different person.”

“If it were the usual me, I wouldn’t have dreamed of it. My voice would have been trembling. But I was a bit drunk.”

Mesquite glanced at Kanabis. It looked like a look that said she wanted to get away from him quickly.

Meanwhile, the man returned.

“It’s fine now. Shall we continue the conversation?”

I thought that my belief without any suspicion might seem suspicious in itself. With such a large sum of money involved, if I just trusted blindly, it would feel a bit off. I need to set an easy trap.

“But still… are you sure you’re the right person? It’s suspicious. You don’t even seem to remember the down payment properly… This involves ten thousand diamonds.”

I subtly pushed Elder to send him behind Mesquite’s back to hide him. It’s a problem if he keeps thrashing around like a fish on the hook.

“Ten thousand… down payment of a thousand… interim payment of two thousand… the remaining seven thousand….”

His voice got smaller and then louder again.

“What are you talking about? I am the right person. That’s why I came alone like this, isn’t it?”

“Is that so? We had a code, didn’t we? If you’re the right one, you’ll know it, right?”

“A code…?”

His expression changed. He looked completely flustered. There’s no such code. Just like this….

“What about the match?”

“The match… the match is like….”

“You are the right one.”

Whatever he answers, I’ll just say he’s right anyway.

“Like…? Like this bastard….”

“Huh? What did you say?”

It’d be good if this causes some internal strife too. Even if things go wrong, the fake doctor who swindled me will be taken care of one way or another. Pretending not to hear, I let him clear his throat loudly.

“No, nothing. See that? I am the right one.”

“Alright, I’ll give you the interim payment now. Last time you asked for it all in physical goods instead of a deposit, but what about this time?”

“This time, just deposit it directly to me.”

When the other person pulled out their phone, I did the same. As the cart rattled over, I sent over 2,000 diamonds. The dwarves were clamoring about something, but this wasn’t the time to care. Anyway, I see now that this person’s name is Kalong.

I deliberately set the completion fee high to prevent him from just taking the 2,000 diamonds and vanishing. With the completion fee awaiting, he’d have to take me to the 18th terrarium—and since it’s a village, he probably can’t do anything to me there, right?

From what I heard while tied up tightly, it seems they can’t forcibly seize diamonds from a wallet against the owner’s will.

I saw his eyes tremble wildly as he looked at his phone screen. The amount was clearly shaking him greatly.

“Now, hurry it up. Our boss isn’t patient. If this deal goes well, there’ll be more, right? I even gave you a full ten thousand diamonds when you asked for escape funds. Stay well hidden until the next order, got it?”

His attitude had become very respectful.

“Yes, of course. There are many eyes watching, so just behave as well as you did earlier.”

After that, he managed himself well on his own.

He was an extremely greedy man, willing to betray loyalty in the face of a huge sum of money. Making excuses to his companions, he left them behind, gradually reducing their numbers, and eventually committed team-killing.

When he struck from behind at those who suspected nothing from their comrades, I had to act as if nothing was out of the ordinary. As if I’d expected it… Though I did lend a little help.

Since he spoke to me first, I thought he might be a leader-level figure, and my guess was somewhat correct—he seemed to have some skill.

***

The blessing energy of the World Tree was growing stronger, suggesting we’d soon reach the village.

“This is the point where we’re supposed to meet up.”

Oh no. It seems I wasn’t supposed to meet inside the terrarium after all. Well, an administrative officer couldn’t blatantly commit such a crime in a place where the village is fully visible through just a phone, right?

“It’d be best to hide here for a moment. There’s a dryad among them with good detection abilities, so I recommend sending all the dryads back into artifacts.”

That’s a bit of a dilemma. Send all the dryads protecting me back into the artifacts? Mesquite and Elder shot me looks that said absolutely not.

At that moment, he sent one of his own dryads back into an artifact.

“Cannabis can pretend to be my dryad and stay hidden, but your dryads—their energy is too strong; it won’t work.”

“Alright.”

“You…!”

Elder got angry, so I mentally told him to stay still. Let’s trust him once. A trust bought with money. He even did a team-kill, after all.

Almost forcibly, I sent the dryads back into artifacts. The last one left, Mesquite, lightly gripped my shoulder and met my eyes.

It was a look that seemed to say, “Rest assured, I can come out anytime something happens.” On the contrary, it felt like the situation had reversed—I should be the one coaxing and soothing them to go back into the artifact, to be okay. Almost as if to make sure I was as reassured as possible with my own choices.

Mesquite only ever thought for my sake. The center of every action and every thought was me. And so, with that overwhelming affection and loyalty, I truly came to feel at ease.

After confirming that Mesquite had entered the artifact, she walked toward the group of people ominously gathered there.

“Things went wrong. Machi is a traitor. There’s another organization.”

No way? Am I falling into a trap again? I clutched the grass tightly where I was crouching. The artifact trembled slightly. But still, wait a little longer. It’s not time yet.

“My companion was hit. I need help. They can’t have gone far. I’ve used up a lot of stamina in the fight, so I’ll go deliver the report instead.”

At his words, I saw the gathered people scramble down the path we came from. As they faded into the distance, the man standing tall in that spot nodded toward me. The money… had won.

“It’ll be exposed soon. By now, both the ones we left behind and the ones who ran off will have noticed something’s off. We need to move quickly.”

After running hastily, we finally managed to enter the 18th terrarium.