Ch.55Chapter 55. Not a Botanist, But a Plant Enthusiast

# Naidrian

A high elf archer from the Elven Forest.

Excluding large-scale firepower, she surprisingly possesses combat ability second only to Lucy in the hero’s party.

While Arsil is the saint—that is, the healer position—who stands out for using boxing techniques, Naidrian has a style of calmly cornering and dispatching opponents with arrows from blind spots through exquisite distance control and exploitation of openings. In terms of in-game performance, she was quite efficient.

The reason she ranks lower in popularity is because, unless someone is very close to her, she has almost no presence due to her shyness that borders on social anxiety.

While the porter has a gimmick of being openly disrespected, Naidrian is a character tinged with innocent sadness—her words are often ignored, though her companions otherwise take good care of her.

Moreover, with her scholarly personality, she tends to overthink things, causing her statements to be a step or two ahead of others, leading to misunderstandings or being labeled as boring.

It’s the same now.

The reason she kept fake-coughing toward Lin was to alert him of her presence so he wouldn’t be startled, and her comment about keeping quiet in a place for reading and research was actually a warning that ears could be listening everywhere.

Of course, only Lin, who had played through the original Arrogant Saga countless times to clear the porter’s route in his previous life, could understand this.

“What’s going on?”

“Nothing, Lucy. She’s just warning us that it’s particularly quiet here, so our conversation might spread widely.”

Lin calmed the irritated Lucy with a kind explanation.

Naidrian was greatly surprised that his explanation matched her intentions perfectly.

However, rather than being impressed, she gave Lin a deeply suspicious look.

That look greatly irritated Lucy’s nerves.

‘Should I kill her?’

But that wouldn’t work because of the prayer she had made to the goddess in Efalterga.

A prayer to spare only Lin and not seek revenge on anyone except Rainford.

Of course, it was only a promise not to seek revenge first.

If this person kept provoking her like this, she was thinking of snapping her neck without even needing to use the temporary holy sword.

‘Killing might be too much. Maybe I should slap her?’

She’d probably calm down if half her face was swollen.

When not facing Lin and Ravin, Lucy was a tyrant through and through.

It wasn’t for nothing that even Lin acknowledged Lucy became the number one target for elimination due to her behavior up until the Demon Lord’s subjugation.

That didn’t excuse stabbing Lucy in the back, though.

“Are you studying plants?”

Though Lin casually threw out the topic pretending not to know, Naidrian openly raised her eyebrows and stared at him.

The mood had really soured.

Lin was annoyed with Naidrian but startled by his own irritation.

Lately, though very rarely, he would experience intense emotions.

And those emotions were mostly focused on anger and irritation.

“By any chance, do you know where the magician is? I’d like to thank her for her help at the archipelago last time.”

“…”

Lucy’s mood had also turned foul.

She placed her hand on the temporary holy sword’s hilt and deliberately tapped it audibly with her thumb, which finally made Naidrian stammer.

“Do you think the magician would want to meet you?”

This statement too was likely several steps ahead in implication, but Lin understood immediately.

She’s probably sticking close to Rainford to study affection.

So that’s why Tigria said she had no time to meet with him.

Well, that’s all the information I needed.

She probably wouldn’t give proper answers even if I asked more.

As Lin was about to leave the imperial library without regret, Ravin entered, fanning himself.

“Ugh, it’s hot!”

“This is a place for reading and research. Could you please be quiet?”

“Oh? Who do we have here? It’s the archer!”

Ravin rudely approached Naidrian and began examining the books she had gathered for her research.

The archer openly showed her discomfort, but he paid no attention.

That’s just how the thief character is.

He wins people over or extracts information with his casual manner, and if things go wrong, he steals something from his target.

With his tricky gameplay both in and out of combat, it was only natural that he had an overwhelming pick rate, surpassing even the porter.

That’s why Lin had planned to use Ravin to set the stage in this episode.

He tapped the thief’s shoulder, signaling to leave, but Ravin instead addressed Lin.

“It’s about plants? Trees and forests? Porter, didn’t you say you researched farming too?”

“…I failed.”

“Why? Don’t plants just grow on their own if you bury seeds and water them?”

*Twitch*

Naidrian’s ears moved slightly.

Ravin’s insensitivity had irritated the plant scholar.

“The land was too barren for anything to grow. There were also too many weeds.”

“Come on, it’s not like you planted them in a desert, right? Ah! If you plant them right next to a river, the water flows naturally, so they should grow well!”

“While riverbanks are good for regular trees, crops are a different story.”

“How can that be? There’s land and water. I planted apple seeds from an apple I ate, and they grew just fine.”

Unable to hold back any longer, Naidrian stood up.

“Ahem, what kind of apple was it?”

“Hm? You’re interested too, archer? Well, I only remember it was a Hong-ok apple, nothing else.”

“Then it might have been a Banas Mountain apple that naturally grows well in barren soil… Anyway! Plants, especially trees, don’t just grow well because there’s land and water. Different species require different environments. And the soil needs to have nutrients, moisture, organic matter, aeration, and so on to be good quality!”

“Really? I had no idea. You know a lot about plants, archer! I didn’t know soil was so important.”

“Not only that, but drainage is also…”

Lin and Lucy watched silently.

This Naidrian, she’s fallen for Ravin’s trap.

Sorry to say, but she’s an easy target.

In conversation, it’s human nature to respond engagingly when someone speaks.

Given Naidrian’s shyness and plant otaku tendencies, her communication style was unlikely to lead to smooth dialogue.

But Ravin responds to her.

He finds her words fascinating.

Though she corrected his insensitive remarks that irritated her, he became even more curious and asked questions.

Naidrian was excited.

“Recently, forest areas worldwide have been decreasing. Indiscriminate logging is a problem. That’s why I’m researching tree seeds that can grow large and quickly even in harsh environments. Actually, I’ve almost completed it.”

“Amazing! You’re creating a new tree species? Let’s go plant them right away.”

“We can’t plant them without permission since this is the imperial palace. Still, I’ve managed to create about one bag in my room, and someday I plan to travel the world planting them.”

“But you’ve already traveled the world, haven’t you?”

“Um… I released an early experimental species in the market a year ago, but I couldn’t track where they were sold or planted. I know they were put up for sale in the commercially famous Valtercrois market and sold out immediately…”

Ravin’s eyes lit up.

After gesturing to Lin and Lucy to wait a moment, Ravin continued the conversation.

“Developing a new tree sounds incredibly expensive just hearing about it?”

“That’s right. It costs an astronomical amount.”

“Are you rich, archer? Is it because you’re a scholar?”

Naidrian smiled unconsciously.

She preferred being called a scholar rather than an archer.

“I don’t have much wealth. While being in the hero’s party provides decent support funds, it’s still far from enough for researching new trees. Fortunately, I found an investor. Thanks to them, I’ve come this far.”

“Must be an incredibly wealthy person.”

“But because the research costs so much, my investor recently said they’re having difficulty with fund circulation and asked me to wait a while.”

“That’s unfortunate. I hope the circulation improves soon.”

“Yes, indeed.”

Naidrian smiled faintly.

“It will be soon. I want to complete it quickly and send the first seeds to that person.”

This high elf would never dream that the investor was wearing a mask right in front of her.

Not particularly wealthy, but instead holding ownership and disposal rights to all miscellaneous items obtained from the hero party’s battles.

If sold well according to market rates and regions, one could earn decent money, enough to invest in Naidrian’s research.

Since the Demon Lord’s subjugation, there had been no battle spoils to look at, so now there was no money.

Even in the Zramun Archipelago, barely making money from part-time work…

‘I didn’t get paid because I fainted and left, did I?’

Truly penniless.

Lin felt bitter.

Still, it was fortunate that he had purchased all the seeds released in Valtercrois a year ago.

“I heard the magician does a lot of research too. Does she cover it all with support funds?”

“Hmm~. I suppose so? She rarely comes out except for research-related matters, so if not for support funds, there wouldn’t be other ways.”

“I want to see the magician’s research too. Where is her room?”

“Next to mine.”

“Great! I can see both of your research alternately.”

“Mine too?!”

“Of course.”

Naidrian excitedly revealed the location of her room.

Good, now Lin could directly find Tigria in case of emergency.

Was all this long build-up just to get this one piece of information?

It seemed trivial now, but it was very valuable.

“By the way, Lucy? Your support funds are accumulating in the national treasury. Make sure to collect them before you leave on your journey.”

“…What about the porter’s?”

“Pardon?”

“I don’t know about that.”

Having heard about the hero’s support funds, there was no way she wouldn’t know about the porter’s.

Her blunt claim of ignorance grated on Lucy’s nerves, but Naidrian remained cold toward the porter.

Surprisingly, Naidrian’s words were true.

The porter’s support fund details—the elf archer absolutely couldn’t know them.

Because Lin was excluded from the hero party’s support funds.

It happened because he was perceived as a non-combatant who simply carried luggage.

As a result, Lin earned money by selling miscellaneous items whenever the hero party visited cities, and 90% went into Naidrian’s research funds.

‘Strange.’

In the original game, Naidrian and the porter had a relationship of mutual disregard and indifference.

But from some point, starting during the Demon Lord subjugation journey, Naidrian had viewed Lin as a thorn in her side.

‘Something seems twisted.’

However, Naidrian was a lower priority.

Right now, he had instructions for Ravin and Lucy.

At Lin’s eye signal, Ravin said goodbye to the archer, and Lucy snorted as they left the library.

In the end, putting Naidrian as a lower priority turned out to be a bad move.

If possible, Lin should have cleared up the misunderstanding with her at that time.

[Nooooooo!!!!!]

[Burn it all!]

‘…?’

A sudden vision played in Lucy’s mind.

Naidrian, forced to kneel before elven elders, screaming in despair.

And bags of seeds burning in flames set by imperial soldiers.

[Ah, sorry, sorry. The world-line got fixed in this direction.]

‘What was that just now?’

[It’s one of many possibilities that might happen in the future. Don’t worry about it. It’s just like a dream. Though vivid, it has little impact on reality. Think of it as having a daydream because you’re connected to me.]

The temporary holy sword’s voice appeared after a long while.

Lucy shook her head at the excuse and followed Lin.

[Hah, damn. It’s my first time getting spoiled at this point.]

The temporary holy sword wore an ecstatic expression.

[Well~. The elf’s regret might be quite delicious too~!!!!]