The Druid Who Devoured the Great Nature

The man introduced himself as Podrak. He was a wandering mage who did not belong to the Mage Tower, but roamed the streets. A wandering mage could be seen as a part-time worker who had one foot in the contractor industry or was hired by a small company to earn a living day by day.

In terms of skill, he was close to the worst among the mages I had met. I judged that he would not be a threat to me even if I let him go. He himself didn’t seem to have any intention of fighting me. On the contrary, he was crawling on the ground, watching my expression. It was natural, since he had done something wrong.

“Ugh!”

“What’s with him?”

Bell said, pointing at Podrak. He was keeping his distance, as if he was creeped out by the sight of a stranger digging in the dirt with his bare hands, his eyes filled with tears.

“Did you catch another poor slave like me? To be caught by a guy like this, that person’s life is really twisted.”

Bell clicked his tongue and sympathized. As if it were a case of misery loves company, a faint favor was mixed in his gaze towards Podrak.

“So, what is it really? Did you add another slave to manage the backyard because I said it was hard to manage last time?”

Since I didn’t say anything, he was playing the drum and the janggu by himself, lost in his delusions. I played along, as if to see how far he would go.

“What if I did?”

“No, I mean, thank you, but just send him back.”

“?”

Bell’s answer was unexpected. Shouldn’t he be happy that his work would be reduced with one more slave? I had thought that a guy who couldn’t hold back his complaints about everything in the world would naturally be like that.

“He doesn’t look like he can work properly. I can take care of everything here, so just tell him to do some odd jobs.”

A territorial attitude towards others who invade one’s domain. It was an attitude commonly seen in stubborn craftsmen engaged in a specific profession. Apart from his achievement of developing an android, Bell was already a person who was treated as a craftsman in the industry. Though now he was just worker 1, suffering for the crime of having a loose tongue.

‘Does it mean he considers the management of the World Tree’s garden as his own work?’

Pride, a sense of accomplishment, responsibility. Was he feeling emotions like that? Even now, he was restlessly observing what Podrak was doing, as if he was afraid he would cause an accident.

“It’s desirable to have a sense of responsibility, but then you shouldn’t have taken your eyes off it.”

“No, what is it now?”

Nevertheless, the reason why no kind words came out of my mouth was not because I was being mean, but because there was a clear reason. When I reprimanded him, Bell’s spirit was crushed in an instant.

“What do you think is in that bag?”

“It’s just dirt. There are some plant roots mixed in.”

“He stole it from our house.”

“……What?”

At the revealed identity of Podrak, Bell’s eyes widened. Then he looked around, as if looking for something, with a whooshing sound. Soon, Bell raised a tool from the toolbox. I couldn’t help but ask, feeling his impure intentions.

“What are you going to do with that?”

“I’m just going to hit him on the head once.”

“You’ll kill someone like that.”

“If you hit a machine, it gets fixed, so why wouldn’t a person?”

Was that something a technician who had developed the first android should say? At first, he had said something like, ‘How can you fix a machine by hitting it? Don’t talk nonsense.’ It seemed that the past incidents where the World Tree and I had demonstrated this had been quite impressive.

Whether that could be applied to a human was a separate story.

“Before that, look back at your own fault. You didn’t even notice what had happened until I caught him.”

“Kkeung.”

Was it a sharp rebuke? Bell stealthily put down the tool. Then he shouted at Beta, who was standing there blankly, as if watching someone else’s business.

“Beta! Why didn’t you notice the intruder… No, it’s my fault for not looking properly.”

Bell sighed deeply and hit his own head. It seemed he really had no expectations of Beta anymore.

In reality, it was understandable that Bell hadn’t noticed. The process of Podrak’s theft was stealthy. He had used his familiar, a sewer rat, to slowly fill the bag with the contents. In addition, the contents were mostly filled with dirt, and the stolen crops were a very small part. Even if he had looked around the vegetable garden after the theft, he probably wouldn’t have felt much of a difference from usual.

“Then he must be putting back what he stole now. What are you going to do after that? The Public Security Bureau doesn’t even treat a petty thief as a criminal. Should I go dig a hole over there too?”

“Why dig a hole?”

“Ah, if you prefer to pour concrete, I’ll bring a drum.”

Bell was thinking that I would naturally kill Podrak. It was a prejudice.

“Once he’s restored it to its original state, I’ll just give him a gift and send him back.”

“A thief, you say. What gift?”

If his purpose was to steal the crops and sell them, I would have punished him. But after hearing the circumstances, there was a reason to be lenient.

“I-I’m done.”

Just then, Podrak approached hesitantly.

“I-I’m, uh, I’m done restoring it, so can I really take what I want now?”

“Yes. Don’t just stuff it in a bag, pack it properly and take it.”

“Thank you! Thank you!”

“……Is this right?”

Podrak’s face brightened, and on the contrary, Bell frowned. He narrowed his eyes and observed me carefully, as if trying to see through my scheme.

“Instead.”

It wasn’t a scheme, but I had an ulterior motive.

“Don’t forget that you promised to invite me to the hideout where your comrades are gathered.”

“Of course! On the contrary, it’s something I wanted to ask you! If you’re not particularly busy, why don’t we go right now, since we’re on the subject?”

“Comrades? A hideout?”

At the ominous-sounding words, Bell seemed to be demanding an explanation, but I shrugged my shoulders and let it go. It was just that the nuance was bad; I wasn’t going to visit a criminal organization like a gang or a secret society.

‘He said it was an environmental organization alliance.’

The reason Podrak had committed theft, even though it wasn’t for monetary purposes. It was because he was a member of this city’s environmental organization.

***

I was in a small guest room. Unidentified cables intertwined like a spider’s web, an old scroll with ancient letters written on it, a bone fragment of unknown origin… Generally, when one thinks of a hideout, one would imagine such a place.

The reality was completely different. The small guest room was brighter and fresher than anywhere else. The sunlight seeping in through the window was warm, the arrangement of the furniture was harmonious, and the overall air was even soft. If the word ‘cozy’ were to be expressed as a space, it would be exactly like this.

「The World Tree stretches its body languidly.」

The World Tree relaxed as if this were its own front yard.

“Oh, this is that!”

“Heo! Amazing!”

“I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in my life!”

The people gathered here also had no gloominess. The sight of them gathered around a table, clapping their hands and expressing their admiration, even had a child-like purity. Well, there are no bad people among those who love plants.

Behind them, Podrak was talking with his nose in the air.

“Now do you believe that I haven’t been lying all this time?”

“Of course! You’ve brought the real thing, so we have to believe you!”

“I don’t know how this is possible.”

“It’s a miracle, a miracle!”

They were cheering like fans who had met a celebrity, with a pot of brightly bloomed roses in the center of the table. I could say they all had a good eye.

‘He said they were representatives of environmental organizations.’

Podrak had invited me to the ‘alliance’. The members were all representatives leading an environmental organization, and they had regular meetings to exchange information.

‘I’ve only heard that there was something like this.’

In FP, it was only mentioned in passing, and players could not participate.

“At least I know that they’re not just acting for show, blinded by their positions.”

“Of course! The reason I committed theft was because those people just wouldn’t believe me, so I got angry and wanted to show them.”

Was that something to be proud of in front of the victim? No, from the beginning, the fact that he hadn’t thought of negotiating with me was a failure. If he hadn’t been a guy who loved plants, I might have really buried him in the ground.

As I stared at him without a word, Podrak coughed repeatedly.

“I’d like to see the list of organizations belonging to the alliance.”

“Uh, that is, rather than a list, the people who have attended here are all of them.”

Comrades, a hideout, an organization… The reason they had bound each other with such words was probably to cover up the disadvantage of being a small number of people with a sense of closeness. Basically, in this city, an environmental organization is a minor organization. Even so, compared to other cities, the scale was large, so the existence of an environmental organization itself was outside the mainstream.

It was called an environmental organization, but in reality, it was no different from a gardening club. That’s why they were going crazy with excitement over a few roses.

“Have you ever sent an invitation to Greenwood?”

Among them, the only one who was engaged in activities that fit the identity of the organization, as far as I knew, was Greenwood.

“Of course, we’re comrades, so we’ve sent one. But that side is, how should I say, a bit closed off. The alliance is a meeting of representatives, but with Greenwood, just finding out the personal details of the representative was a challenge.”

It was a shame. I had visited the alliance in the hope that I could find a connection with Greenwood. But I hadn’t had high expectations from the beginning. Greenwood was a group suspected of being related to the royal family of the elves. It was natural that the alliance, which had no social influence, had failed to contact them.

“Although they refused the invitation, we confirmed that they share our will.”

“What does that mean?”

“Greenwood sent us activity support funds. Thanks to that, we were able to breathe a lot easier.”

Activity support funds. Was it because they were comrades with the same purpose, as Podrak had said? I had a feeling that wasn’t it.

“They sent it regularly every quarter, so they supported us quite often and for a long time. They didn’t send the support funds last quarter, but we just let it go. It would be shameless to contact them for that.”

It was around the same time that I had heard from Drexier that contact with Greenwood had been cut off. Had they stopped their activities altogether, not just their contract requests? It seemed that something had definitely happened.

‘Councilor Giselle would know.’

He was a principled person who strictly separated public and private matters. There was no way he would answer a question about elves, especially the royal family.

‘It would require a suitable price.’

Just as we had traded what we wanted in our previous meeting, I had to hope that our interests would align.

‘An opportunity will come.’ The most update n0vels are published on n0velfire.net

I had saved a person who should have died in the negotiations with Pershia in the original story. Just as the incident of the smuggling market crackdown had occurred and Giselle had taken charge, there would be other changes from the FP story I knew in the future. If I wanted to get involved in this and achieve my goal, the only solution was to make a name for myself.

As I was silently organizing my thoughts, Podrak, as if he had misunderstood something, hurriedly made an excuse.

“Ah, the activity support funds were not used for personal gain. There was something Greenwood had requested when they sent the support funds. We allocated a significant portion of the budget to that and used the rest for the alliance’s activities.”

A request mentioned casually while sending activity support funds. In reality, it was a format similar to a request.

“It wasn’t that it was mandatory or anything. We hadn’t produced any particular results so far, but they didn’t say anything. It was just that our conscience wouldn’t let us pretend we hadn’t heard, and we became interested after hearing the story, so we tried our best.”

“What was the content of the request?”

“That is…”

“Let’s talk with us too, not just Podrak!”

“That’s right! There’s a mountain of things I want to ask!”

Before I could get an answer from Podrak, the members of the alliance interrupted. It was a momentum comparable to that of a hungry beast aiming for its prey.

They mostly asked me for know-how on plant growth. It was useless to talk about spirits, so I taught them other plant management methods. To my transmission of what was common sense to me, they reacted with exaggerated responses like ‘Oh, I see, so that’s how it is,’ as if they had witnessed a new world, making me feel like an otherworldly person spreading advanced civilization to primitive natives.

For my part, I welcomed this kind of knowledge transmission.

“I’ve learned a lot.”

“I’ve had my eyes opened today by meeting a noble person.”

“Let’s keep in touch often.”

As I was responding to each of them one by one, some of the members in the back were whispering.

“But if we just receive like this, won’t we lose face?”

“Hmm, that’s true.”

“Then should we give him that?”

“Not bad. It’s treated as a nuisance to us, but usually people are crazy to get their hands on it.”

“While we’re at it, let’s tell him about that request too. We’ve been failing so far, but that side might succeed.”

As if their plotting was over, they shouted.

“Podrak! Bring that thing!”

“Yes!”

The members of the alliance whispered among themselves, and then a few of them went out of the guest room and came back with something.

“That is…?”

“It’s a return gift for the precious story.”

Podrak placed a small box in my arms. Inside the wide-open box was a single plant root. It had a strange appearance, somewhat resembling a person.

「The World Tree looks down at the plant root and swallows its saliva.」

“It’s an elixir called a Mandrake.”

An elixir. It was my turn to swallow my saliva after the World Tree.