Sprout
I led Noah and Lena out of the guild building.
With the branch manager himself having turned out to be what he was, it wouldn't have surprised me in the least if there were listening devices of some kind planted inside.
By the time Noah and Lena seemed to be coming back to their senses, I explained what had happened during the interview. Both of them responded with utter bewilderment.
"Huh? That happened?"
"I have no memory of it whatsoever."
"Then what do you think you two were talking about in there?"
"Hmm, well... I'm not sure, but I don't believe anything improper was said."
It seemed the effects of the brainwashing (?) were still lingering.
Still, after I laid it all out for them step by logical step, Noah completed a self-diagnostic and came back to her senses, with Lena following shortly after.
"How troublesome. There is noise in my memory dating from the moment of the handshake. It consumed even my logic circuits. It appears to be a technique that affects cognition itself."
"Yeah, something did feel off starting right around then. Whether it's an Artifact or just a relic... he definitely pulled something. Wait, no—is he even allowed to do that kind of thing as a branch manager?"
"That pervy old man! I bet he's been using that power to do all kinds of messed-up stuff to people!"
Lena stamped her feet in furious indignation.
Her anger was entirely justified, and we had been the ones wronged one-sidedly—but unfortunately, there was nothing we could actually do about it.
"Can't we report him?"
"To whom? The highest-ranking person in this branch is that man."
"Maybe report him to the guild headquarters, then...?"
"That will not work."
Noah shot down Lena's suggestion without a moment's hesitation, then continued in her measured, deliberate tone.
"It is highly unlikely that a branch manager pulling machinations of this sort is a one-time affair. And yet to date, there has been nothing but suspicion—no one has ever managed to produce hard evidence."
"Even so, when the suspicions pile up this high, shouldn't that count for something?"
But when I asked Amy or anyone else, none of them had ever heard of an investigator being dispatched from headquarters.
Something was clearly, blatantly wrong here.
"A technique of unknown nature—brainwashing, suggestion, whatever it may be—can be hidden. But adventurers continuously being funneled toward the Second Prince's side is not something that can ever be concealed."
"You're saying the people above gave their approval for it?"
"It could be tacit tolerance... or it may simply be the will of the guild's upper echelons to begin with."
"...Come to think of it, Jeres said his promotion to the guild's upper ranks was right around the corner. A man like that would never do anything that might draw the leadership's displeasure."
Was the guild making a serious bid for power?
I fidgeted uneasily with my hands as the scale of the whole affair kept swelling.
When I absently slipped a hand into my pocket, my fingers brushed against something hard and round.
"Oh, right. The relic Harrington gave me."
I fished the iron ball out of my pocket and took a look.
He'd said it would react if it detected any kind of mental technique.
Sure enough, just as Harrington promised, the iron ball had turned red.
"Hmm... I doubt this could serve as actual evidence, but it should be enough to plant certainty in the nobles' minds."
"Which will only deepen the conflict between the guild and the aristocracy further."
"Maybe. Then again—did Jeres really fail to anticipate all of this coming out?"
He was committing blatantly suspicious acts over and over, in plain sight. Surely he hadn't assumed the power-sensitive nobility would just sit on their hands?
He wasn't picking a fight outright, either... so what exactly was Jeres after?
As Noah and I sank deeper into the labyrinth of speculation, Lena shrugged and remarked, entirely offhand:
"Maybe he just doesn't care if he gets caught?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, obviously. The guy's been broadcasting how shady he is from the rooftops. At this point, isn't he aiming for something else entirely?"
"She has a point."
If today's events went public, then no matter how much protection he had from above, Jeres would clearly be unable to hold on to his post as branch manager.
So was he after something that mattered more to him than the manager's seat?
...Discarding everything and casting his lot with the Second Prince to seize power?
"No, no. Jeres didn't even seem interested in power."
That whole lecture he'd delivered about power had been nothing more than a lure to hook me.
The Jeres I had seen was, unexpectedly, almost transcendent about the whole thing—as if the branch manager's chair and the Imperial Capital's power struggles simply didn't concern him. More precisely, the thought kept circling in my head that to him, all of it was nothing but a means to an end.
And there was one more remark that nagged at me.
"One week."
"Hm?"
"Jeres muttered that in a week's time, his proposal would be meaningless. What do you suppose that meant...?"
"Think about it normally, and it means something big is going to happen, right?"
Lena was right.
Something big... The fight for the Imperial Capital wouldn't wrap up that quickly, and if there was a variable in play, it would be Bolston...
Could it be connected to the disappearances somehow?
Or was something about to happen so enormous that we'd be unable to reach the Imperial Capital at all?
"Nothing for it, then. Let's go lay everything out for Harrington. He has more information than I do, so he can form his own theories."
"Right away?"
"No. Since we're already at the guild, we should take care of the [Seed] first."
"Oh, right."
...
Thud, thud...
With Amy leading the way, we strolled through what looked like a beautifully maintained farm.
With every step, the rich brown soil crunched softly beneath our feet. Warm light poured down from the ceiling, and a cool breeze drifting in from somewhere kept the humidity at just the right level.
Everywhere you looked, it was a superb space designed for plants.
The reason we had suddenly come to a place like this was, of course—to plant the seed.
Only, this was no ordinary farm.
"I had no idea a place like this existed in the middle of Bolston. And underground, no less."
When I handed over the appraisal certificate and brought up where we'd be planting the seed, the place Amy guided us to was none other than the guild's basement.
We descended through a hidden passage on the first floor of the guild building, passed through an assortment of security systems, and arrived at the guild's [Underground Farm]—which looked nothing whatsoever like something that belonged underground.
Seeing us unable to contain our awe, Amy smiled calmly.
"Everything here is guild property, you see. It was built in a converted sewer, chosen for ease of management."
"A sewer?"
At Amy's words, I swept my gaze around the space.
It was decorated with softly glowing lights like artificial suns and expanses of green grass. The various plants, brimming with vitality and meticulously tended, made it almost impossible to believe this was underground—let alone a sewer.
"The sections where wastewater actually flows are covered over so you can't see them. And some of the plants we grow here actually need that sort of dirty water, so it works out."
"Ohh..."
"Once you get past the preconception of it being a converted sewer, it's really quite a nice place."
"I see... Ah, is this where we plant the seed?"
At some point we had reached the far end of the underground farm—a stretch of open ground walled off on one side.
It seemed to be an undeveloped zone; even the nearest cluster of plants stood more than five meters away.
Amy nodded.
"Yes. This is a space reserved for special children."
Whirr
Ksshhing!
The moment Amy pressed a button jutting out of the nearby wall, a curtain of translucent light descended from the ceiling. Its texture brought to mind the plastic sheeting of a greenhouse, and it spread out wide until it enclosed us all within its bounds.
"What's this?"
"The [Tree of Longing] absorbs the surrounding mana, correct? As long as the tree stays inside this curtain, we can limit its area of activity. Though of course, we won't know for certain until we actually plant it. Now then—let me confirm the terms of the contract one last time."
Amy produced the contract documents she'd brought along, and in the crisp, elegant diction unique to a receptionist, she walked us through the key points once more.
— Should the seed produce a monster-classified [Tree of Longing], all mana required by the tree shall be provided independently by the Guild.
— Responsibility for the tree's care rests with the Guild; should negligent management result in irreparable harm to the tree, the Guild shall bear full compensation.
— All [Desert Honey] produced by the tree shall be split in a 5:5 ratio; at the party's discretion, their share may be received in currency equivalent to its market value.
...That was roughly the gist of it.
Handing over half the honey stung a little, but considering the guild would handle all the upkeep for us, it wasn't a bad deal at all. Given the guild's reach, you could even call it a reasonably fair trade.
I collected my copy of the contract and gave my consent.
"Understood. Then let's plant the seed. Now that we've gone to the trouble of signing a contract, I'd better hope this doesn't turn into a false start—the tree had better actually sprout..."
Shff, shff...
I stood in the middle of the enclosed plot, dug a shallow hole with the toe of my boot, and tossed the seed in.
I had no idea whether planting a tree seed this way was proper, but there was no instruction manual, so it was what it was.
I covered the seed's little hole with a mound of dirt.
"...So how does this thing activate, anyway?"
"Most Artifacts activate when you infuse them with mana."
"Ahh. Simple enough."
I crouched down and channeled my aura into the buried seed.
Ordinary as it looked, it was an Artifact in its own right—would it burst into a full tree in one go?
I was actually getting a little excited.
Glu-glu-glu~
The seed began drinking down my aura the moment I offered it.
Aura was the one thing I had in surplus anyway, so there was nothing to economize on. I would become the tree that gives without reserve, and—
Ptooey!!
"??"
"What's wrong?"
"No, it's... this thing..."
The seed spat my aura right back out.
Well, that was just insulting.
...
No matter how many times I tried infusing it, the seed stubbornly refused my aura. Unable to penetrate the seed at all, it just piled up uselessly in the mound of dirt on top.
Thanks to that, I eventually had no choice but to throw my hands up and vacate the spot.
Having spectated the little comedy between me and the seed, Amy stroked her chin with evident interest.
"Hm... It seems to be an Artifact that chooses its owner."
"Do such things exist?"
"The classic example would be a weapon with an ego dwelling in it. But you didn't actually converse with the seed, did you?"
"I did not."
"Then it must simply be operating on an instinctive level. Someone else had better try infusing it with mana."
"Lemme try~"
...Ptooey!
Lena failed too.
This time it looked like the seed would take a little, only for it to spit Lena's mana right back out.
Good grief—it wasn't some brat being picky about its side dishes... what on earth was its problem?
That left exactly one candidate: Noah.
"I hardly expect my input to yield a different result, but..."
"If it doesn't work, we'll just have to sell it. Does the guild buy things like this too?"
"Ah... something that picks its owner when it isn't even a proper weapon does lose some value. Universal usability tends to fetch a better price."
"Hear that? Refuse again, and you're clearance-bin material."
I threatened the seed, which couldn't even hear me, for no good reason.
If it had an ounce of sense, it would read the room and behave. It had been a bonus item to begin with, so I wasn't about to get my hopes up.
Noah, our last batter, crouched down and channeled her mana into the seed.
Sliiip...
The mana sank in, smooth and natural.
The seed did not refuse Noah's mana.
"...Hm? It's accepting it willingly this time."
"Perhaps we should watch a little longer. That's what I thought at first too."
Glug, glug, glug!
But Lena's concern proved beautifully misplaced.
Whether it simply liked Noah's mana, the seed—unlike with either of us—greedily devoured every last drop that flowed into it.
It ate so much that even Noah started to grow concerned.
Is there some particular reason it would take to Noah? Is it just random...? Oh! Wait, maybe...
The thought struck me suddenly—what if that seed shared the memories of the Tree of Longing?
It remembered the mana of Lena and me, who had fought it directly—was that why it rejected us?
...Never mind that it was Noah who actually landed the killing blow.
Well, the seed being an idiot was no skin off our noses.
"The mana has been fully absorbed. It will take no more."
While I was off chasing useless thoughts, Noah finished the job and rose to her feet.
Having gorged itself on so much mana that not even a faint trace remained, the seed settled into stillness.
"So that's it?"
"M-maybe it needs to be fed multiple times..."
Krrrk-KRAK!
Just as all of us huddled around the seed, heads bent together—
A thick fissure suddenly split across the ground.
And it radiated outward in every direction.
Grumble-rumble!
An ominous sound rose from beneath the earth.
What was happening was obvious.
"Everyone, get back!"
"Whoa! The tree's growing! Honey, here we come~"
"...Get back here now, if you would."