“Wait…! You’re giving away diamonds like that…!”

Elder was being annoying.

“What? Don’t you want to think it over? I thought you were amazing since you first had tea at Tree Grade 1, but paying 3,800 diamonds doesn’t give you any special benefit. It’s a personal knowledge rights transaction, so the Alchemy Tower won’t grant any privileges. Plus, I’ll be taking the knowledge rights… And you’re still just going to fork over diamonds like that?”

“You said you could produce something better than these wasps. I need wasps, and these are just a bit off for me. Do everything you can. I’ll support it all.”

Pila stared at me, dumbfounded.

“Why… why are you doing this for me? So unconditionally… surely, surely not…”

“What?”

“They say some sponsors are shameless scumbags who lure young researchers for bad purposes… Surely you’re not eyeing my handsome face…?”

It was ridiculous. With the look of a trembling hamster, he was spouting nonsense. Judging by his tone and shameless behavior, Pila definitely had high self-esteem.

His soft-looking face seemed to have gotten him through life, but my taste in beauty, past and present, was for flashy handsome men. I also paid a lot of attention to height and build. And the one who had thickened the lower limit of my standards with a concrete wall of barricades was right next to me.

Without responding further, I cupped Elder’s face with both hands. Look closely, I live seeing this face every day. Pila nodded silently with a trusting look. Then, saying he would bring the contract party, he rushed out of the lab.

A while later, a woman with a gloomy atmosphere was dragged in by Pila. Pila defended her, saying the debt had made her life a mess and asked me to understand. The woman’s hollow eyes looked at Pila with dissatisfaction.

“What is it?”

“Be polite. This elder is the one sponsoring me. They agreed to pay so I can transfer your invention to me.”

A hint of life returned to her eyes momentarily.

“How much… how much can you give?”

She shouted urgently. I suddenly grew curious. She said she had a lot of debt, gambling debt at that. Gambling is something one should never touch—if she got enough money to pay it off, could she really avoid gambling again?

But was it really my place, almost a complete stranger, to worry about her life?

“Well, name your price.”

“Four thousand.”

“You told me it was three thousand before! How can you just shout out a number like that? You said no one else was interested in that invention except me!”

“That aloof vibe screams money, doesn’t it? I need to get my cut too. There’s no one else who can make what you want, right?”

Pila and she started bickering and fighting. It was like watching two small Chihuahuas in a dogfight.

“You’ll just take that and gamble again, won’t you?”

“If the Alchemy Tower had bought my invention on time in the first place, I wouldn’t be in debt! It’s debt from overdrawing research funds! If I can’t send money home, my family will all be kicked out of the terrarium—I have to do something! I’m the breadwinner!”

I wondered if all the researchers at this Alchemy Tower were in similar situations. Pila was also struggling desperately with research funds to bring his family to an earlier-numbered terrarium.

“Still, how can you gamble? You’re even doing students’ assignments to pay off gambling debts, and now you can’t even focus on your own research, right?”

“I’ll handle my own business! So… can you give me four thousand?”

“Will four thousand pay off all the debt?”

To ask purely, she closed her mouth. Then she fell into thought. Pila glanced at me and lightly slapped her arm, as if telling her to be polite.

“The debt is 3,000. The remaining 1,000… if I have the thousand diamonds, I can bring my family to the 30th-tier terrarium. My hometown is now heavily invaded by fire, so even inside a terrarium, living on the outskirts is dangerous. I need to take this chance to bring my family to a safe terrarium.”

“Sir… but the 3,800 diamonds I mentioned have gone up by about 200 diamonds…”

Pila hesitated like a dog needing to pee. Why is she so desperate with that woman? Could it be…? Oh… oh?

“I can give it. 4,000 or so, no big deal.”

Hearing my attitude, the one who brought it up was startled instead.

“Of course, I could give more.”

“Sir! People waste easy money, you know!”

Pila seemed worried she might turn back to gambling even for fun.

“But tell me a few things. You said the 30th-tier terrarium is fine, but what about the 20th tier?”

“Any number within the 30th tier is everyone’s dream terrarium…”

She looked as if I was asking something obvious.

“What do your family do?”

At that question, her face became slightly wary.

“Are you pretending to be a sponsor but actually brought an inspector? To steal my rank by claiming I’m a gambling addict…?”

“I would never do that to you! But sir, why are you asking about Loop’s family?”

“Oh, don’t misunderstand. I have no ill intentions.”

She spoke intermittently.

“…Both of them are jewelers, gem craftsmen. But people in high-number terrariums are too busy making a living, so gems don’t make money… They have no income, so they can’t even be guarantors. They have no property either. They live in a house provided by the terrarium.”

She seemed worried I might ask for something strange like a guarantee. But I’m clueless about such things, so there’s no need to worry.

“Jewelers? Why are such great jobs so far down? Aren’t the front-number terrariums fighting to take them?”

Pila asked in a much louder voice.

“Because they’ve lived in the 59th terrarium for generations, crafting the Truth Sapphire. They say that before the fire weakened the World Tree, the power of the September sun always condensed on the branches of the World Tree in the 59th terrarium. That was before I was born, though. Crafting it into accessories was our family’s job. My grandfather, when young, even crafted a special-grade sapphire ring, he said.”

That’s amazing… She wasn’t talking about ordinary gems, but the Dryad power-up gems worn on the fingers of Elders or Daisies!

“I’ll give you a thousand diamonds on top of the four thousand!”

“Elder…! Do diamonds just pop out when you dig the ground?”

Pila shouted in shock. It was true that we dwarves dig up diamonds from the ground. He opened his palm to Loop, who was staring with his mouth wide open in surprise.

“And I want your family to move to the 28th Terrarium! That’s my first condition. The extra thousand.”

He folded his thumb.

“The 28th? Why that… no, a thousand is barely enough for a high-level Terrarium like that…. Aren’t the taxes for the 20s high too?”

“The 28th Terrarium has no taxes. For those who do productive work, that is.”

“I’ve never even heard of such a Terrarium!”

Pila and Loop shouted at the same time.

“Second, the 28th Terrarium is currently half-destroyed, so there might not be any immediate housing. The family moving in will have to build their own homes from scratch. But you can claim any spot you want. The center or the outskirts. And I can provide as much support funding as needed for that.”

“Half-destroyed…?”

“There was one fire incursion, but I’ll keep the details secret. Instead, I can assure you it’s safer from the threat of fire than any other Terrarium. If the World Tree’s branches grow stronger with more diamonds, the 28th Terrarium will be the ultimate safe zone.”

It was more like a massive fire sweeping through than an incursion. But now, I’m confident in its safety. As long as the World Tree’s branch keeps sucking up my diamonds in real time, there’s no way it’ll fall behind the single-digit Terrariums. What kind of branch is the 28th anyway? It’s worse than a water-drinking hippo.

“Third, I heard the 28th Terrarium is where the Immortal Diamonds were once produced. I’d like your family to revive the wisdom of your ancestors and bring those gems back. Don’t worry about selling them. I’ll buy and handle all the gems produced. Of course, the costs involved can all be supported too.”

As I folded my third finger, Loop began to bounce lightly in place.

“Is that condition even possible? What’s your relationship with the administrator of the 28th Terrarium? Reviving gem crafting was my parents’ dream too! Not having a residence isn’t a problem. Before I became a researcher, we all stayed in communal halls or even slept on the streets if places were full… But this offer is so good… it almost sounds like you’re trying to scam me….”

“Elder, did you lend diamonds to the 28th Terrarium or something? Or blackmail…?”

You don’t get it. At this point, shouldn’t you suspect the fundamental reason why I know the inner workings of the Terrarium so well?

“Well… it’s because I am the administrator of the 28th Terrarium.”

And I’m an official administrator who even took off my temporary badge today!

At my words, both of them flinched. Then they fell silent.

“And here’s the last condition. Promise me you’ll never touch gambling again once I give you the diamonds. I’ll give you 4,000 right now, but the additional 1,000 diamonds I promised to give will be left with my dryad in the 28th Terrarium. You can receive them after your family moves here.”

“Right now! Even if it costs me my life! By all means!”

Loop let out a shriek-like cry. As I stepped back in surprise, Mesquite steadied me with both hands on my shoulders.

“I’m so sorry for not recognizing you! I never dreamed you were an administrative officer of the 28th Terrarium. Please forgive my rudeness! I’ll go right now and tell my family to move here immediately! I might as well quit being a researcher and go back to my family to take over the jeweler business. If not for my family, I wouldn’t have to keep doing this research job that doesn’t suit me! I only stayed because I had the talent and the pay was good.”

“What? You’re quitting as a researcher?”

A dark cloud fell over Pila’s face. Had I just cut off a man’s romantic prospects before they even began?