“We found it by getting lost and wandering around, so if we tried to go back, we might not be able to find it.”

“Why was there a Mesquite statue in a place like that?”

“Well, at that time, we also diligently investigated the meaning of the place and the statues on our own, but it was in vain. The dungeon entrance was strongly sealed, so we couldn’t even get inside, and the statues had been left neglected for so long that there was no information to be gleaned. However, we guessed that the number of statues matched the classification of autonomous fields, and one of the stone statues had a recognizable identity… so probably, in the legends passed down among the ancient tree dryads about the field….”

“Heh heh… Stop there. I think it’s best if my story ends there. I’m just an old dryad.”

At that moment, Mesquite laughed and raised her shield to step between us, blocking them off. She still seemed a bit displeased. The field… what was the next word?

Come to think of it, I recall Mesquite cutting off the conversation like this before. It was when we first met the dryads of Siedling. Back then, I thought she stopped talking because the noise was too loud… What is Mesquite trying to hide from me?

I looked up at her, positioned high above. She was right behind me, so I could only see her chin. Her mouth was tightly shut, as if she had never been laughing.

Well, if she wants to hide it, I’ll stop being curious. If it were information I needed, she would’ve stepped up and told me. She must be hiding it because it’s not good for me to know. My dryads, especially Mesquite, care about me deeply, so stopping the story might be for my own sake.

“Hmm, then shall we talk about the Viburnum colony?”

I said, pushing aside Mesquite’s shield. I won’t ask any more questions or be curious. That topic ended just now.

Iris’s party looked at Mesquite with questioning eyes. But seeing my smile as I tried to change the atmosphere, they tactfully went along.

“Ah, right. I gathered some information yesterday while walking around the Terrarium. I also visited the carpentry shop that placed the request.”

Oh, why didn’t I think of that? I only thought of using the dryads to search randomly around, but I never considered gathering information in the Terrarium. I assumed it was a simple search-type quest.

“I heard that a long time ago, there was a merchant who regularly supplied Viburnum wood to the carpentry shop. But they said he stopped showing up one day. That merchant didn’t seem to be a druid, but since he brought in a lot of wood from somewhere, they thought he must have found a colony using the power of dryads.”

“Hmm… so it’s not even certain whether the colony exists?”

“That’s true, but we could at least infer the direction where it might be. Notos, call those kids over.”

At her words, Notos held out his Terrarium artifact. While others kept one or two dryads by their side, Notos had none. Was I finally going to see his dryad?

Notos’s artifact was enveloped in a glow of light as two dryads with green hair sprang forth. Like our dandelion, they appeared to be the same species of dryad, looking as identical as twins.

The dryads had hair spreading in all directions and wore plain brown robes with flashy patterns. Flowers resembling purple pine cones hung from them like buttons and ornaments.

“Notos’s pines are quite useful for tasks like this. Are you familiar with pine dryads?”

“No, this is the first time I’ve seen one.”

The spreading hair did resemble pine needles. At this point, it seemed possible to guess the mother tree of a dryad just by looking at its appearance.

“Although pine dryads are normal-grade support types with limitations, making them less favored in combat, that’s because people don’t know their true value. The flower language of the pine tree is longevity, and pine dryads can use powers related to that flower language. If there is an area where a pine tree has ever grown even once, each pine dryad can vividly see the past of that place up to 10 years ago, as if the tree were still growing there today. And Notos’s two pines use the power of twin trees growing side by side, doubling that power.”

“Oh… so that means they can know the past up to 20 years ago?”

“Yes, since pine trees have a normal habitat field and grow well in many regions, I thought they might have grown here at least once, unless the land was barren below the 60th street. So I did some exploring yesterday. After identifying the merchant’s appearance, I had the pines examine it. I couldn’t gather much information, but I managed to find out that he frequently used the east gate of this terrarium. So the colony is probably in the east.”

Even though ‘east’ is still vague information, it was better than blindly searching all around. By the way, the power of dryads is truly amazing. Being able to know past events? Isn’t that an incredibly useful dryad?

“Wow… Should I recruit a pine dryad too? They can use such amazing powers!”

“Well, pines are indeed remarkable dryads. But as I mentioned, there are limitations for a pine dryad to use the power of seeing the past. That’s partly why this ability isn’t well known to people.”

“Limitations?”

“Yes, quite a strong one. No other species of dryad besides pines may exist in the druid’s artifact. This is due to another flower language of the pine tree: chastity. Only when pine dryads alone protect the druid, and when the druid permits a soul connection solely to the pine dryads, can all their powers be fully used.”

Only one dryad can be raised on the terrarium artifact to use that power to see the past, which is almost like cheating. It means I’d have to drive out all my dryads to use the power of the pine tree. That’s absolutely not acceptable. The heart of a card game is collection, isn’t it?

“Normally, no druid plants only a pine tree on an artifact… That’s why Notos only has pine dryads.”

I was speechless at this unexpected and tremendous limitation. But still, Notos was impressive. How did he think to raise only pine trees?

“If we head east and look into the past occasionally, we might find clues about the colony.”

After deciding on the destination and before departing, I was invited once again to Iris’s party. This time, it was as a full-fledged party member, not a temporary participant like before.

Back when I was Siedling, the party was formed unilaterally, but this time, I was a bit excited thinking I could actually play in a party with other druids. A party of five is a big group, right?

“Does Iris only have two dryads?”

Iris had two dryads by her side, and Zephyr and Herma each had one. This was certainly a contrast to me, who carries around six dryads, including the dandelion kids. It feels like I’m the only one with so many.

No, wait—Siedling also carried around a ton of dryads. Maybe I’m not the only unusual one?

“No, actually, there are three species for starters. The other dryads are in the artifact. Zephyr also has three dryads like me, and Herma has two. As you saw, Notos only has two pine dryads.”

“Then why aren’t they all out? My dryads hardly ever want to go into the artifact when I’m outside. Oh, and I thought druids of Iris’s level would have a huge number of dryads, but it’s different from what I imagined.”

“Ah, there are various reasons for that…”

Iris said that since their four members always move as a team, they don’t need many dryads. The cost of recruiting dryads due to fruits is also substantial, and because as long as the druids are in Stonehenge mode, they can share one dryad among them.

“You can share dryads?”

That’s the first I’ve heard of it. Well, I’d have to have done normal party play to know that. Is it like borrowing a friend’s hero concept?

“Yes, even though you can’t keep it borrowed for long, it’s possible if the Stonehenge dominance share is the same. You can share the connection of one dryad soul at a time. After all, every druid is a small World Tree. Still, a dryad’s top priority is their own druid, so we can’t fully control them. But our dryads have known each other for quite a long time. We’re like family, just with different artifacts, so each listens well. Except for one of Zephyr’s dryads, who absolutely refuses to listen to anyone but its master. That’s all because he spoiled it rotten.”

Indeed, there was much more to learn compared to a party formed haphazardly.

“Whoa, so can I share too?”

“Um… Master Jae, your dominance share is different from ours… You can’t exert an equal soul power…”

Ah, was the ratio different? I woke up my phone. I just checked that it connected in Stonehenge mode and turned it off.

Artifact network formation complete

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

Stonehenge dominance: Jae 4%, Iris 24%, Zephyr 24%, Herma 24%, Notos 24%

Why am I only 4%? Why am I the only one in the single digits? What is this pathetic number? Wasn’t this supposed to be an equal party? Hey, there’s a distribution error here. Is this some kind of favoritism because we’re acquaintances rather than a random party?

“I… have a really low dominance share…”

“That’s because Jae’s soul limit is smaller than ours… Stonehenge is where druids’ souls gather, so if the soul is small, the space it occupies will inevitably be narrow… Actually, I thought your soul limit would be larger, but this is surprising…”

Iris said this while carefully gauging my reaction. The reason was simple. It was because I was a lower-level player compared to them.

This confirmed that they were definitely high-level players, far above me in level. I wanted to ask, ‘What level are you?’, but they used soul size as a level unit, so they clearly wouldn’t understand.

As an administrative manager of the Terrarium, I was actually a newbie. I’d been discovered.

But wasn’t my dominance share 10% when I partied with Siedling before? I subtly asked Iris what happens when a low-level and a high-level form a two-person party.

She said 10% is the minimum guaranteed dominance share. Then just how much higher in level was Siedling, who filled the maximum 90%…?