A cool breeze blew.

It felt like being greeted by a clean breeze full of the scent of phytoncide in a forest on a summer day.

The corners of my hardened mouth melted like snow exposed to the sun, becoming soft.

When I took a deep breath, a refreshing feeling seeped into my stuffy chest, and my breathing became comfortable.

It was a comfort I hadn’t tasted in a long time.

The soft atmosphere, as if I would wake up from sleep but not quite, was the perfect environment for sleeping in.

I emptied my mind and buried myself deep in the bed.

Slap! Slap!

If it weren’t for the foreign object I felt on my face, I would have fallen asleep again.

I frowned and slowly opened my eyes, only to find that half of my vision was blocked.

The sensation rubbing against my skin was rough and damp.

I quickly figured out the identity of the object covering half of my face.

“A rag?”

“Ah, you’re awake.”

In my half-blocked vision, I saw Sage’s face, expressing a strange sense of pride.

The source of the dampness and discomfort on my skin was the rag she was rubbing on me.

Sage answered my questioning gaze.

“You didn’t look well, so I was nursing you.”

When my half-asleep mind fully awoke, it wasn’t just my face that was damp.

My back, the bedsheet, and even the blanket were all soaked in sweat.

When I sniffed, it seemed like there was a rather unpleasant smell.

“The window…”

“I didn’t open it.”

In this city with terrible air pollution, ventilation was synonymous with telling your lungs to rot.

Still, I had no choice if I wanted to get rid of the smell.

As I reached for the window, Sage stopped me.

“You can get rid of the smell like this.”

Whoosh—a cool breeze swept through my hair.

It was the same refreshing feeling I had felt in my sleep.

The wind was blowing from Sage’s outstretched palms.

‘She’s improved a little since last time.’

The air conditioner-like wind that had even formed frost had now gained a temperature control function.

As it swirled around the room once and disappeared, it seemed to have even added a ventilation function.

Had it evolved from an air conditioner to an air purifier?

It was definitely a useful ability.

Especially the ventilation function was very useful in this city where the pollution level was sky-high.

‘Is it okay to use magic for such an ability?’

The reason I felt a bit uneasy was because I had sent her to become a great mage, but she was aiming for the realm of home appliances.

Wouldn’t it be similar to the feelings of a parent who sent their child to a cram school to get into a good university, only to see them fall for arts and physical education?

‘It’s probably a minor deviation.’

She was boasting so proudly, so it would be wrong of me to rain on her parade.

I had heard from Colin until my ears hurt that she was doing well at the Mage Tower.

Since no one can be perfect, overlooking minor deviations was one of the ways a guardian could show consideration.

Then, suddenly, a minor problem came to mind.

“How did you get into the room?”

I was sure I had locked the door so as not to be disturbed.

“I asked him to open it.”

Through the slightly open door, Bell was shaking his head.

It was a plea of innocence, that he had only carried out an order.

“You seemed to have changed color, so I came in.”

A halo of light sparkled brilliantly deep within Sage’s eyes.

Eyes that could identify mana.

The talent of a great mage was reading my unique mana.

“How did it change?”

“It became a bit more… brilliant.”

Her eyebrows twitched slightly, and her finger twitched.

For Sage, who didn’t express her emotions intensely, that was a sign of deep interest.

At her reaction, like a child in front of a toy, I felt a primal sense of unease.

“That’s a relief.”

No matter how young, she was a mage.

Whether she was a black mage or not, attracting a mage’s interest was not a good thing.

“I’ve prepared a meal, so come out slowly.”

Sage read the atmosphere and tactfully excused herself.

The fact that she didn’t stubbornly insist was enough to make her a person of character among mages.

As someone who knew what kind of person Sage would become if she grew up in the slums, I could even feel a sense of pride.

‘My condition is… fine.’

Fortunately, it seemed that swallowing two seeds of the World Tree hadn’t caused any repulsion between them.

I got out of bed.

I felt sorry for Sage, but I had no interest in breakfast.

Now that I had woken up safely, it was time to check for the long-awaited changes.

***

After quickly washing up, I moved my body.

When I first swallowed the seed of the World Tree, I had undergone a change close to a complete transformation.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I was reborn.

This time, there wasn’t such a shocking change.

It was just that my body moved more as I intended than before.

Should I say that my body was completely under the control of my consciousness?

I had a gut feeling that I could control even every single joint at the extremities of my body.

And this was more of a side effect than an effect caused by swallowing the seed of the World Tree.

‘The World Tree has taken root a little deeper in my body.’

The strange sensation I had felt in my chest had spread throughout my upper body.

I didn’t know if the World Tree had taken root in my body in a physical sense or in a conceptual sense.

The vivid sensation was telling me.

The World Tree and I were connected a little more deeply.

It was a sense of unity even deeper than what I had felt during the World Tree’s growth.

It was hard to express it accurately as it was in the realm of sensation, but many things, really many things, had changed.

And I had an assistant to help me clarify this ambiguity.

I checked the system message sparkling in a corner of my vision.

「As the last druid, you have recovered the withered World Tree of the past!」

「Title: Cradle of Mother Nature is enhanced!」

「Cradle of Mother Nature: Nature Affinity +20」

It was the first notification related to a title since I first acquired it.

That’s how titles are.

Since it was a system close to a challenge related to achievements or fortuitous encounters, it was hard to even see one unless you set your mind to it and challenged it.

「Nature Affinity increases!」

「Nature Affinity that has surpassed the boundary affects the spirits!」

「The spirits clearly awaken to their origin!」

Next was, of course, Nature Affinity.

Nature Affinity is a representative stat that affects spirits.

Perhaps thanks to the steep increase in the stat through the title, there was a change in the spirits.

However, just like when I acquired Lignification before, it didn’t immediately lead to the acquisition of a skill.

This was something I could just nag them about.

I quickly moved my gaze to the next line.

「As the World Tree comes into direct contact with another individual, it has taken root in a possibility of the bygone past!」

This was the most important change in the World Tree.

I hadn’t expected that ingesting a separate seed would be the condition for growing from a sapling to a mature tree, but this was the reward of a class-exclusive ruin, no less.

It wasn’t a hardship that would end with just an increase in Nature Affinity.

‘A possibility of the past.’

The system message that followed was indeed a content that sufficiently rewarded the hardship of the ruin exploration.

***

Mister, I have to be of help to Allen.

This was the firm resolve Sage held in her heart.

He had helped her decide to leave the slums, given her the opportunity to showcase her talent to the Mage Tower’s school master, and even fed her an elixir to overcome the unavoidable age gap.

It was hard to even count how great the favor was.

If she wasn’t a beast who didn’t know shame, it was something she should naturally repay.

However, she was still too immature to pull her own weight.

She had realized this clearly during this ruin exploration.

Having only learned the basic studies at the Mage Tower, she was merely in a position of being better than nothing.

But to admit her shortcomings and just keep receiving as she had been until now made her feel uncomfortable.

Since people are not perfect, there were bound to be areas where their attention didn’t reach.

Thus, the field Sage chose to alleviate Allen’s troubles was.

Nod!

“Why?”

People management.

It seemed Allen had hired a handyman, a so-called servant.

His slick impression was not a particularly likable one.

For a handyman, his weak, muscle-less body was also a complaint.

It was the same yesterday.

At a glance, it was clean, but when she looked closely, dust came out from as many as five places.

Even though those places were hard to reach, like between the window frames, a fault was a fault.

Nod!

“Ah, right. I’ll clean it.”

Tap! Tap!

“I’ll wipe it right away even if you don’t rush me.”

…Still, it didn’t seem necessary to kick him out right away.

When pointed out, he obediently took action and worked quickly, so there was room for consideration.

Furthermore, he was quick-witted, moving exactly as she intended with just a flick of a finger, so if she trained him well, he seemed like he would become a satisfactory handyman.

“I will help too.”

If there was a troublemaker, it wasn’t this handyman, Bell, who had already established a firm hierarchy.

“……”

It was that person who was following him around without lifting a finger.

Whether they were a woman or a man, their androgynous, strange appearance was of no interest.

To Sage, Beta did not look human.

Literally.

High-purity mana flowed through their veins, and even the color seen with her eyes lacked vitality.

Weren’t they closer to a machine?

If it weren’t for their free behavior, which was impossible for a non-human, she would have suspected.

And the decisive reason she dismissed her suspicion was.

“Ah.”

Clang!

It was because Beta was so terribly clumsy.

How strong were they, or rather, how poor was their strength control, that they had already broken a bowl with their cursed hands.

It wasn’t the first or second time.

Yesterday too, she had wondered why they were just standing there and had given them a task.

They had stepped forward with enthusiasm, so she had thought they might be a veteran hired to train the inexperienced Bell, but no.

She had forced them not to do anything because they only caused accidents and increased the workload.

“……Just, stay still.”

“Yes.”

They were obedient.

That’s why it was more of a dilemma.

How should I handle this person?

Why did mister hire this flawed person?

Sage crossed her arms and pouted her lips, showing her concern.

It was a difficult problem to solve with her short life experience.

“Bell, go outside and set up the tent.”

The sound of the door opening and Allen’s voice broke Sage’s concentration.

“A tent? Why all of a sudden?”

“The sun is strong. It’ll need to be covered until noon.”

“Does it matter if the sun is strong? Isn’t it better the stronger it is?”

“……The leaves dried up because you’ve been acting like that until now. Stop talking nonsense and do as you’re told.”

“Where else would you find a smart talent like me, why do you keep calling me ignorant?”

“If you lack common sense, you’re ignorant.”

“No, your common sense is the strange one.”

“Have I ever been wrong before?”

“Damn it.”

Bell grumbled and went outside.

The way he lifted his tools was truly natural.

“Beta, thank you for the support.”

“I’m glad I could be of help.”

“The allocation of computing power… it seems it hasn’t been resolved yet.”

He said, looking at the broken bowl on the floor.

“Even if Bell’s technical skills are insufficient, I will personally look for a way.”

“You don’t have to. Your usefulness seems sufficient with just the hacking ability you displayed this time.”

“Understood.”

Through this series of questions and answers, Sage realized.

She had wondered why he had hired this incompetent person, but he was a contractor colleague!

Indeed, hiring two handymen for a house with a proper occupancy of only three or four people was a waste of manpower.

If he was a contractor colleague, well, she could give up on finding usefulness in housework.

Sage had solved her dilemma.

***

People don’t just speak with their mouths.

More information can often be obtained from non-verbal expressions such as facial expressions, the direction of one’s gaze, muscle movements, and gestures.

In that sense, the silent Sage was saying a lot.

She was busy nodding, blinking, being surprised, and shrugging her shoulders.

「The World Tree is worried, asking what’s wrong with her.」

It meant, ‘Has she gone crazy?’

Was she sleepy from nursing me all night?

I patted Sage’s shoulder and said.

“You’ll have to return to the Mage Tower soon, so rest comfortably.”

“……Yes.”

Sage answered sullenly, perhaps realizing it was the day of her return to the Mage Tower.

I would have to see her off, so I had to get ready to go out too.

While I was at it, I planned to take care of one piece of business.

“Beta, just one favor.”

“Please speak.”

“I’d like you to find a closed community on the network.”

Although the network was a place for promotion, it wasn’t that there was no information exchange.

Especially the field I was looking for now would be maintaining a deep web, even showing the passion to periodically evade the city government’s censorship.

“What kind of community is it?”

“The Direct Market.”

As I remembered it, that was definitely its name.

(End of Chapter)