“We meet again!”

“Oh, hello?”

I got straight to the point. To help this shop’s sales, I offered to buy the gloves she had been eyeing. But since it was kindness without any strings attached, they refused. Having traveled through many Terrariums and seen all sorts of incidents, they couldn’t just accept favors unconditionally.

However, I insisted on gifting the gloves, saying I felt indebted from earlier at the potion shop where I gave advice and helped, and that I couldn’t stand being in someone’s debt.

“Still… equipment tends to be pricier than potions…”

“No, it’s nothing, really. It’s just a gesture! Pick one out! Or actually, you don’t have to choose gloves—you can pick something else.”

“If I were the same size as you, I’d be getting free shoes… Just pick one. From the potion shop, you seemed like a Terrarium administrator. Administrators are all rich.”

“Shut up! Have you no shame?”

Despite saying that, she reluctantly picked up the gloves she had been fiddling with, as if still regretful. Then she put them back down.

“Even if it is a great opportunity… accepting rewards without working for them goes against our team’s principles. Thank you for thinking of us…”

“If it were me, I’d have just picked it.”

“Shut up.”

Don’t ordinary people like freebies? There’s even a saying about drinking poison if it’s free… Too bad. How can I boost their sales?

“Um… you don’t have to go this far…”

The shop owner actually tried to stop me. Wait… if I buy it and stash it somewhere else instead of in my inventory…?

“Would you consider trading with our Terrarium? Our Terrarium is quite short on supplies, so having a bulk stock of this equipment would be great.”

“…Huh?”

“The quality is good, and more importantly, it’s perfect for beginner druids!”

That’s right. I could buy all this, put it in the Terrarium, and provide it to beginners as they come! Even if the World Tree branch hasn’t borne fruit yet and I can’t hook them with fruit, free gear support would be tempting, right? This would be a huge promotional boost.

“Want to make a deal? I’ll purchase all the equipment here for the 28th Terrarium! Do I just need to sign a contract with the shop owner, or does an administrator need to be involved?”

“For inter-Terrarium trade, you’ll need to discuss it with the administrator.”

The personal shopper replied. “Is that so? Well, if that’s the case, then after shopping, visiting the orchard will give us more topics to discuss.”

“Wow… that person must be insanely rich. They said they’d buy everything here.”

“Hey, quiet down for a moment… I smell a quest. Excuse me…! Administrative Manager!”

“Yes? Have you changed your mind?”

“No. I don’t intend to just accept the gloves. More importantly, if you contract with this store to buy all the items, how will you transport them?”

Oh… I hadn’t thought of that. The equipment was different from artifact furniture; I couldn’t send them directly through my terrarium artifact. They’d need to be transported from the 18th terrarium to the 28th. I really hadn’t considered this…

“If you need druids to escort them, how about us? We’ve handled a few escort quests before, so we’re good at it!”

“Wow, you’re quick on the uptake. You were planning to head down by number anyway, so you’re thinking of making some extra money by taking on an escort quest along the way, right?”

“Shut up. Read the room. If you’re that blunt, what does that make me?”

“Oh! Which number terrarium are you heading down to?”

“See, he heard everything! He’ll think I’m a social climber…!”

“No, it’s just that I happen to have business in the later terrariums too. Are you passing through the 59th terrarium by any chance?”

“We do have business in the 40th terrarium, but if the timeline doesn’t matter to you, we can go to the 59th on commission!”

If I play this right, things might go well for Loop too, huh?

“Wow… then I’ll hire you! What procedure is needed to commission this? Do I need to go looking for something else?”

“Do we really need a procedure? Since you’re the Administrative Manager, just write down the deadline, quest details, completion conditions, and reward, then distribute it how you see fit.”

I can distribute quests myself? Come to think of it, the 26th terrarium’s Administrative Manager had given me a quest too. I feel like I’ve turned into a quest-giving NPC. This is awesome?

It wasn’t ideal to keep talking inside the store, so after paying for the equipment and promising the store owner we’d meet again once the contract was settled, we left the equipment shop.

I asked the personal shopper to recommend a place where we could sit and talk. She said she had just reserved a nearby dessert shop and we could head over right away. Without being told, she handled everything—it was quite impressive.

As we walked a bit further through the shopping street, we saw a dessert shop with a long queue of people. Wow, the desserts here must be really famous, huh? We’re not going to have to wait in line too, are we? Just as I was worrying about that,

“This way.”

The personal shopper guided us to the very front. Just as I was thinking that even with VVIP treatment, cutting in line would bother my conscience, we were led to a different entrance from the one used by regular customers.

“You’re the six druids, right? We’ve prepared a separate seat. I’ll guide you there.”

A staff member came out to greet us from the entrance. The personal shopper explained that this was a separate entrance and exclusive room reserved for special customers. VVIP—how thrilling! This is the best!

Not sure what desserts to order, so I ordered the entire menu. There are many of us, and I have Daisy, who’s good at eating, so it’ll work out somehow. A man, his mouth wide open at my actions, nudged the woman next to him.

“Hey, it’s not evening yet, so it’s fine to eat this, right?”

“Just shut up.”

Sitting down, we continued talking about the druid party and the commission. It felt like using the wallet would work, so I took out my phone and woke it up. Then I saw them simultaneously pull out their wallets.

Uh, excuse me. I’m not familiar with this yet, so I can’t do it right away… You’re being too hasty.

I slid into administrative management mode and frantically searched for the operations related to the commission. They seemed to misinterpret my confusion over the controls as something else.

“Do you have a lot of commissions to entrust?”

Well, what do I have? First, escort the transport of items from the 18th terrarium to the 28th terrarium, and escort the relocation of the Loop family from the 59th terrarium. Also, if Pila negotiates well with his family, I need to escort the relocation of his family from the 42nd terrarium.

If it’s going to a higher-numbered terrarium, since the elder’s butterfly is heading that way, should I ask them to also gather rumors about wild elder flowers while they’re at it? And maybe even promote recruitment for residents to live in our terrarium…

As I folded my fingers one by one, sorting out the commissions I could entrust, the druid party’s eyes sparkled.

“If you have a lot to entrust… and if those are mostly in the higher-numbered terrariums… how about hiring us exclusively? You mentioned the 28th, right? Hire us exclusively for the 28th terrarium of the World Tree, so we can handle all the commissions on our own?”

“Wow, is that even possible?”

“Of course! Do you know anything about guilds?”

Guilds? I know them very well. In games, players gather to form guilds. I never thought I’d hear such a familiar word here.

But who knows? What if, like butterflies or bees, guilds have a different meaning in this game? I nodded vaguely. I sort of know…

“Then this will be quick! Since you, the Administrator, are also a druid, let’s form a guild together! And you become the Guild Master, passing all the commissions to us! Plus, if the Administrator is the Guild Master, it becomes the exclusive guild for the 28th, so the guild’s gathering place will automatically be set to the 28th terrarium, and we’ll become druids backed by the 28th terrarium, making movement even freer!”

“The guild master has to cover all the guild establishment costs, right? That’s what you’re after, isn’t it?”

“Shut up. Read the room. If you’re that blunt, what does that make me?”

“An administrative officer as a guild master… Seems a bit too easy to enjoy privileges… If this gets out, all the capable druids will swarm in besides us…”

The man had been told to shut up and read the room twice today. But since he showed no intention of doing so, it seemed he’d hear it again soon. Anyway, it seemed the guild was the kind I was thinking of, and a guild created by an administrative officer must be even more special! I was learning a lot.

“We’re capable too! Oh, my god! This is first! Let us introduce our team! If you check the wallet, we’ve opened up all our team info!”

Suddenly, the terrarium artifact on my wrist vibrated. Then the screen of the phone I was holding flipped. Black letters flashed against a red background. I had experienced this once before.

Wallet mode change. Stonehenge mode ON

Artifact network connecting

This happened when I formed a party with Siedling. So, unlike the first time, I wasn’t too flustered.

Adjacent terrarium artifact: Iris

Connect?

[YES] [NO]

“If you accept, you can see all our info! Plus, we’ve opened up our request completion records too. You’ll be able to see right away what reliable druids we are!”

When I touched ‘YES’, the screen changed. It felt a bit different from the party I had formed with Siedling just for a simple boss fight.

Artifact network formation complete

The barrier between terrarium artifacts is temporarily lifted, and a Stonehenge is formed.

Stonehenge leadership: Jae temporary, Iris 25%, Zephyr 25%, Herma 25%, Notos 25%

Oh, amazing. This was my first time forming a multi-person party here. I was told the only woman in this party was Iris, the man who kept getting scolded was Zephyr, the small-built man was Herma, and the quiet man was Notos.

The four said they were all from the same 35th terrarium and had been active as a team together since their rookie days. I’m jealous. Traveling around with peers… Must be reassuring….

With the wallet switched to Stonehenge mode, I could check various info. A list popped up showing what requests they had taken and completed. If this were a user, they’d be at quest specialist level.

Since I’m the type of player who takes on many quests, whether main or side, when gaming, I felt a strange kinship. Their completion rate was an impressive 100%. Wow, that’s trustworthy.

“If you look closely, you’ll see we’ve taken on and performed quite a few high-difficulty requests too.”

It felt like I was receiving a résumé to join our company, Terrarium. Your career history is quite impressive. Do you have a reason for applying to our Terrarium? This is my first time in the employer’s position….

“Normally, I’d have to go directly to the 28th Terrarium to establish a guild, but since the key administrative officer is here, it’s possible right away!”

“A guild…”.

I figured <Terrarium Adventure> would have a guild system since it’s a game after all, but I never dreamed I’d be building one so hastily. And that too, with a newbie like me as the guild master.

Those people don’t even know my level and are just relying on my title as an administrative officer… What are they going to do if they find out I’m a low-level newbie? Looking at the completed request lists, they all seem like high-level players…?

At times like this, I wanted to talk to Mesquite. She knows all the common knowledge about this place that I don’t, so wouldn’t she be able to advise me? Is it okay to just create a guild like this?