Terrarium Adventure - Chapter 57

I could see the places where the Monkshood dryad had settled. A pile of fallen tree trunks, parts of the ground that were dug roundly, places where dead leaves are piled up as if they are able to crumble.

Looking at these places, I felt so sorry for the dryad that my hand automatically moved to pat his head. There, there. Let’s forget about these bad memories.

I could feel the little dryad’s gaze turn to me like that of a little puppy’s. That’s right. There’s no need to look at these gloomy sceneries. 

Vines fell like curtains in front of the exit to the other side, so Mesquite pulled them off with her lance.

We had to walk for a while until we could reach the exit, and I was once again surprised by the little Monkshood dryad, who was unknowingly controlling this large area. If he didn’t blindly cry when he was turned to attack type, he would be a great offensive dryad. The only problem is that cry…

As Mesquite raised her spirits and searched for fire nearby, Elder moved the staff back and forth toward the surroundings.

“It looks like this area is under the influence of the 29th terrarium and that a druid has touched it to some extent.”

He said that the fire was treated to some extent and balance was maintained, so he could feel some spirit of life.

That will surely make our plan difficult as we’ll need a lot of fire to burn up that swamp. Well then, I should revive some previous experience. 

“Daisy, don’t hit them too hard.”

I pointed to the fire Mesquite found with difficulty and spoke to Daisy. If you hit it with full strength, it will be put out, so hit it gently. Just enough to split it in half.

Daisy, who had been striking everything with 100% strength, made an expression showing that it would be too difficult for her. My child… she’s now big enough to have to adjust her power… I’m so proud.

There are quests like this in other games as well. Something like, ‘Reduce the life of a monster to a certain HP and capture it. Capturing does not work when the monster is at full life and it is also less likely to be captured when the HP is too little.’ They always give these kinds of quests when I’m strong enough to kill a field monster with one hit.

Those had me hitting these monsters with the basic hit without any gear on. Only God knows how long it took to do them, but they eventually died… It’s so hard to hit gently when you get too strong. 

I grabbed Daisy’s little hand and pulled out the diamond ring. It doesn’t mean I’m taking it away, baby. It’s just for this little fire.

“Will I be able to do it, master druid?”

It’s so ironic that this little child is asking that in this situation… Usually, she would be asking, ‘Will I be able to put out that fire?’

At her question, I had to say something ridiculous like, “I trust in you.”

To prevent Daisy from putting out the fire in one hit, I eagerly threw diamonds in the fire to strengthen it. She moved so delicately that she was able to precisely cut the fire in half without putting it out.

It was a little pitiful to see my child who had grown stronger struggle to hide her strength, but it was cute to see her doing her best to fulfill my request.

As we did in the beginner’s hunting ground, we split the fire, threw diamonds into the fires to increase their size, then split it again. The fires grew exponentially.

I realized getting rid of these fires would be bothersome only after our work was done. To deal with wide-area damage without limitation… It was too early to use the Monkshood dryad, so I decided to use Elder.

Hey Elder, can we use the graft? I poked his side, who was unusually quiet for so many diamonds being wasted.

Fires were moving toward the diamonds thrown into the swamp, burning what was around them. I’ve been using diamonds like firewood thrown into a fireplace, so why isn’t Elder squealing at me?

“Hey, what are you doing?”

“You are blindly increasing the fire around us, so I’m protecting the plant from becoming burnt.”

I looked down to see Elder’s staff, emitting a white light, pointing to the ground. There was a very small pool of water from the swamps.

There were plants living here? I looked closely and realized I knew what this plant was. Small, cute, round leaves floating on water.

“It’s frog food!”

I know this. I saw it a lot. It floats in ponds and rice fields and is used to decorate fish tanks. It’s a well-known plant, enough to be one of the classic elements of a landscape painting.  

But I didn’t know it could grow in such a small puddle. Mesquite laughed and praised me as I looked at the plant, proud that I was able to recognize something.

“You’re right. It’s duckweed. It looks like it has been hiding in this corner and avoiding the gaze of the fire all this time.”

As Daisy threw bundles of diamonds to grab the attention of the fire, we flocked to the small puddle.

Duckweed was so small that when Mesquite moved, it swayed on the water. When it became covered in water, it looked like water droplets on a glass window.

“This puddle looks too narrow for all of them.”

“Yes, it is excellent at reproducing. Normally, this little puddle would have collapsed quickly.”

“It is excellent at reproducing and purifying power. At this distance, the water was probably supplied from the swamp, but it was not affected much. Since it self-cleans, it must have cleaned this puddle up a little. However, it seems to have been suppressed due to the need to continue purifying and the poor environment.”

Oh my, they are nice little plants. The best thing is, they will help purify the new swamp! It will be a whole new place thanks to them!

I could see the Monkshood dryad crouch down right under me and watch the floating duckweed with curious eyes. It seems that everything he sees here is new and strange, even something as common as duckweed. 

I could hear the sound of leaves burning sporadically, and see smoke scattered throughout the sky. The fire seemed to be doing a good job.

Daisy looked at me with her eyes asking if she could stop throwing diamonds now. It seemed that she started doing it at first because I asked her, but was putting a lot of pressure on her as time passed.

At that moment, Elder, who saw Daisy holding a bunch of diamonds, threw a fit. He was asking where the hell I was throwing those precious diamonds to.

“I think we should put the fire out before the damage gets bigger. We can’t let it escape the swamp.”

I said while dragging angry Elder by his arm. Can we use the graft? Please? I’ll give you more diamonds than thrown over there.

“Your intimacy with me is already enough! How much more diamonds are you going to waste?”

“Waste?! It’s not a waste if I use it where it is absolutely necessary!”

Waste to me is when I use diamonds to see your pretty smiling face. No, since that is necessary for my aesthetic sense, maybe it’s not? Yeah, it’s not.

Elder looked displeased but stretched his staff toward me. Hm, it feels completely different when we had a strong bond between us.

Anyway, shall we pour some rain? Let’s cover the dead water with clean water. 

Turning off the fire is one thing. There’s nothing better than this rain to revive the ground here and prevent the access of fire for a while. 

As Elder said, it seemed that our intimacy was already at its maximum. I immediately recalled the feeling of graft as soon as I touched his staff. I did not have to concentrate my mind and try to think back to the battle with the wagon fire.

My heart beat like I was sprinting and Elder’s staff sparkled. White flower branches bloomed like a signal flare and the sweet scent announced rain was on its way.

Hey, dwarves! It’s time for you guys to work now! The range is wider than before, so you’ll have to turn the faucet all the way.

The feeling of my heart vibrating when I used the graft was still amazing to me the second time.

Dark clouds engulfed the smoke from the fires. There was a tickling sensation in my body as if a branch was growing.

Elder’s staff was as long as his height, so he had to move his whole body to swing it. My body as well as the enormous tree-like energy surrounding my body moved together, and all the gestures felt grandiose.

Drop, drop. 

The sound of raindrops hitting the ground was like a knock to signal the beginning of the rain.

Announcement. Fire workers working on the demolition of dead trees in the swamp may now leave. Rainwater pouring down began to drive out the fire with a terrifying momentum.

Black soil with the ashes overturned, and bright colored soil sprang up like firecrackers. The dead water which nested in the swamp was overturned, and clear water filled its space.

The branches broken off from trees built a low bank by being pushed away by the flood, and fresh air pushed out the dark air that had been sitting heavily on us.

The gloomy area that once looked like a forest of death, was transforming into a clean area with a fountain of life like a fruit that had its rotten skin peeled to reveal the luscious white fruit.

The small puddle that the Monkshood dryad was watching with his eyes lit up was also flooded with rain pouring down. The rippling, thin stream made a long course toward the swamp. Like small ferry boats, duckweed floated into a swamp filled with clean water.

The momentum of the rain was so great that small boats were likely to sink anytime soon, but piles of dirt sank underwater only for a short time and quickly rose. Duckweeds flowed until they stopped and found their right spot.

The small duckweeds looked as if light green paints were bounced off a brush and sprinkled on an achromatic landscape painting.

They will now forget the old days when they were stuck in a small puddle and fill the swamp with yellow-green color like watercolors. 

The Monkshood dryad, who was watching the rain pouring from the sky with amazement, rolled his eyes on the flowing duckweed, and soon looked at the staff Elder was holding.

His blue-purple eyes grew round. With an enlightened face, he stretched out his slender staff to Elder’s staff. The big ball on the tip of the staff formed raindrops and turned into a blue-purple color.

The scent of wild herbs lightly permeated the air covered with the sweet scent of elderflowers. Soon afterward, a refreshing energy glanced past the dryads around me. It was weak, but it was a recovery power similar to that of Elder.

Stimulated by the graft with the Elder, it seemed that I had awakened the recovery power of the Monkshood dryad without knowing. However, it was so weak that it would be difficult to use in battle. Maybe it would be useful for him to assist in an urgent situation.

But will that ever happen with Elder’s recovery power being so great? The Monkshood dryad’s recovery power was in turn-over form and healing did not seem to be his main specialty.

However, his cute behavior made me laugh and my concentration was blurred, stopping the graft.

The rain stopped, clouds opened, and the afternoon sun shined over us. The sun sprinkled warm energy all over the place as if drying a freshly finished watercolor painting.