“Master Jae! We weren’t being overworked! We’re resting. It’s just that every time we see the mess in the terrarium, it breaks our hearts, so we tried to push a little more…”

‘Did they read my mind?’

“Even working like this, we’re truly fine. This place is practically the same as inside your terrarium artifact. Oh, or did you come to see the dandelion saplings this time instead of me? I’m a bit sad, but now that the saplings have grown so much, I finally have a chance to show you, and my heart is racing. Come on, go and show them the results of all your training.”

“Yes! Master!”

“Yes! Massster!”

From the artifact, two small dandelion dryads, identical as twins, popped out. They had certainly changed a lot since the first time I saw them. Although Wolfsbane was still larger, their height had also shot up, making the three look similar. At first, I thought I was seeing kindergarteners, but now they seemed like elementary school students.

“You’ve grown so much!”

Their clothing had changed a lot too. The children wore long, fluffy-sleeved lime-green tops and puffy shorts that looked like two yellow dandelion flowers flipped over.

Their shoulder-length deep green capes, resembling dandelion leaves, were intricately embroidered with dandelion flower patterns in gold thread. They held cute, short staves resembling white round dandelion seeds as weapons.

The equipment that the dryads called ‘bark’ seemed to vary greatly in appearance depending on its traits.

If Daisy, the attack type, wore an easy-to-move jacket, Mesquite, the defense type, had sturdy heavy armor, while recovery and support types like Elder and Wolfsbane seemed like they wouldn’t last long if hit. Their attire was either heavily ornate or robe-like, covering down to the feet.

The dandelion dryad, being the same type as Elder and Wolfsbane, had an overall airy and flowing outfit. Thinking of Dandelion, who wore a beautiful dandelion dress, even if she leveled up and grew further here, she seemed like she’d become more yellow, ornate, and dazzling.

The two were looking up at me with the same face, same clothes, and the same expression. Their deep crimson eyes were shining clearly, reflecting my image with eyes full of expectation.

Ah, there was a difference. Both had pale yellow hair rather than petals, but their hairstyles were slightly different. With hair reaching their shoulders, one had it tied into two pigtails, while the other tied it into a single ponytail.

“Oh my, so both are female types?”

“No. That one is the male type.”

Surprisingly, the one with two pigtails was the male type. Since dryads originate from flowers, they were all beautiful. Some, like Elder, had evolved further into a radiant beauty, while others were just ordinarily beautiful. Moreover, the dandelion children were young, making it hard to tell them apart.

“I won and got two hair ties.”

“So you tied your hair into two just because you got two hair ties?”

“I’ll take them back. You cheated by tripping me when the master wasn’t looking.”

“The master said not to discriminate between means and methods. You threw a stone at me.”

“What kind of training are you two even doing…?”

Mesquite smiled and placed a hand on each child’s head.

“Daisy Dryad has been a great support as a sacred tree.”

During the time we were apart, Mesquite seemed to have built enough closeness with the dandelion children. The children laughed, using the hand on their heads to climb and hang onto Mesquite’s forearm.

“The master said that one of us would become the king of the dandelion forest of the small world tree someday. So I need to become stronger than him. We’ve been training to get stronger.”

“I’ll become stronger. I’ll get strong and become a cool king like the master’s daisy forest king.”

With that, the children fervently looked at Daisy, who was watching the place with his hands behind his back. Daisy responded with a bright smile. The children’s eyes blazed even more intensely.

Oh, that’s a good attitude. It’s a great thing that my dryads are working hard to get stronger! Indeed, only one of the two in my artifact can become the forest king. I’m looking forward to seeing who will become a cool king like Dandelion.

I recalled that I hadn’t checked the details after forming a soul connection with the children. Daisy2 was urging me to send them to the terrarium quickly, Elder was whining about following a butterfly, and I had forgotten to check when I had time.

The children’s information had popped up on my phone, just like when I brought the monkshood fruit. I woke up my phone and found it. Passing by Elder’s info window, then Mesquite, Daisy, and Wolfsbane, I could find the info window for the Dandelion Dryad, showing a possessed count of 2.

Dandelion

Title: Pioneering Adventurer

Flower Meaning: Happiness, Love

Habitat: Normal Field (★★★☆☆)

Field Generation Rate: High (☆☆☆☆☆)

Value: Medicine, Food (★★★★☆)

Trait: Healer

Confirmed Grade: Normal

It is a resilient flower that can bloom anywhere there is sunlight.

Receives a combat bonus in March.

Many small yellow florets without stalks bloom at the tip of the flower stalk, forming a head shape.

As Elder had recognized at a glance, the Dandelion Dryad was indeed a Normal grade.

I immediately understood why its value was medicinal and edible, having heard that dandelions are boiled for medicine or made into a dish. Could it be that despite its many uses, it’s Normal grade because of the high field occurrence rate?

It was a bit disappointing that the children had a March combat bonus. I guess I can’t put the Emerald Ring on these kids either. No, even if I could, it would probably be a problem. If they fight like that over a single hair tie, what if I tried to give a ring to just one of them…?

While looking at my phone, I saw Mesquite explaining something to the Dandelion children. It seemed to be about that technique he mentioned earlier that could help them find a colony site.

The children seemed to have trouble understanding Mesquite’s words, but they were still trying hard. The Dandelion children looked so small looking up at Mesquite, and feeling this, she sat on a chair, causing the children to scurry up onto the desk and sit facing her.

Wolfsbane kept watching the Dandelion children with curious eyes from the moment they came out of the artifact. Could it be that they feel a peer-like closeness because they are Dryads of a similar size?

Come to think of it, Dandelion said the Dandelion children could have a positive influence on Wolfsbane. Wolfsbane was also a recovery type similar to the Dandelion Dryads. He said that if the Dandelion children awakened their recovery-type power, Wolfsbane could observe and apply it.

Alright, let’s put Wolfsbane together with the children.

Secretly wanting to join in, Wolfsbane hesitated, and I pushed his back to send him to the children.

“Little World Tree! We’re learning a technique that will help the Little World Tree! I’ll master it first!”

“No! Master Mesquite is being a stronger support for me than that kid! I’ll probably pick it up first.”

“Don’t act up.” As the boy, hit with a thud on the back, nearly fell off the desk, Mesquite quickly caught him. The boy, not backing down, was seen pulling at the girl’s clothes to drag her down. Kids grow up fighting, but still….

“Dandelions….”

I hesitated as I tried to call their names. At the word “dandelions,” both kids whipped their heads around to look at me.

Come to think of it, since they were both dandelion dryads, it was awkward to address them separately. I recalled that when I called out “Daisy” before, both daisy dryads turned to me at the same time. So, for convenience, I’d called the daisy dryad in the 28th terrarium “Daisy 2.”

With these kids, if I called them Dandelion 1 and 2, they’d probably fight over who was number 1. Plus, “2” kind of felt like second place, you know? That might give the kid labeled “Dandelion 2” a preconceived notion….

“Ah, this is so troubling. Other dryads are the only ones of their kind, so I don’t have to worry about how to address them. If one were bigger or smaller, I could call them big dandelion and little dandelion, but…”

“Jae, so that’s what you were worrying about. Hmm, it’s true that we dryads can communicate without being attached to names, but it could be tricky for Jae. In that case, how about Jae gives the seedlings their own names?”

Names… Having to give flowers names other than their flower names. That’s such a tough task.

Just then, a brilliant idea flashed in my mind. There are cases where, despite the same job, names differ by gender. The only thing that could uniquely distinguish these dandelion kids was ‘feminine or masculine.’

“I’ll call the feminine one ‘Dandelion’ and the masculine one ‘Dandelion.’”

I totally took it from ballerina and ballerino. Wow, I must be a genius. How did I come up with this? It doesn’t stray too far from the dandelion flower name and can distinguish between the two. It’s way cuter and more plausible than ‘girl dandelion, boy dandelion,’ right?

“They said a name is something a king has!”

The kids looked at each other with surprised faces, then quickly cheered up.

“Alright, alright, dandelion kids. This is Wolfsbane. Your birth dates might differ, but you’re similar in size and now the same recovery type, so let’s get along like friends. Please include them a bit.”

As I said that, I lifted Wolfsbane up and sat them down next to the kids.

* Alter ver.