Hearing the words of denial from the Queen Blossom, Cortina was momentarily stumped. Naturally, she wasn't demanding for her to hand the nectar over without conditions, for she had offered appropriate compensation.
Money held no significance to the Treants that inhabited forests. Hence, what Cortina offered was instead a high-quality fertilizer. To be more accurate, it was the corpse of the Fire Giant from before.
Strong monsters had equally high Magic Power contained within. If they let it decompose, it would turn into a magically-rich fertilizer. For the Treants, that should've been nothing short of a feast, a well-balanced remuneration for the nectar.
Even so, the Queen Blossom refused the offer.
"Why is that? That should've been an appropriate compensation..."
"Well, let me explain first. To start, we are currently in our multiplication season."
Multiplication of the Treants. In other words, it was a season where the Queen Blossom sprouted her seeds. There were also cases where old trees turned into Treants on a Magic-filled soil, but the increase of their ranks through that phenomenon wasn't a planned activity.
"The sprouted saplings need the nectar. I don't have enough of it to share with others."
"But... If you turn the Fire Giant's corpse into fertilizer, would it not increase the nectar production?"
"Of course, it's possible to do that. However, the problem is the soil. It would barely show the desirable effect on these barren lands."
She was right. This was a high mountain area with nothing but rocks around, hardly a place for plants to get their nourishment.
However, the question remained. What led them to come here? To even resort to taking over the Fire Giant's habitat?
Even I realized that inconsistency, so there was no way Cortina hadn't. Thus, she voiced that question.
"Then why here? If it's nourishment, surely the forest below had it in abundance."
"It happened a few weeks ago, we were attacked by the thieves."
"Thieves? In the Treant's territory?"
"Indeed. Moreover, they even took our seeds with them. For that reason, we decided to move here where we could monitor our surroundings well. It was all to protect our little ones. But due to that, the nectar is accumulating slower than expected."
"If you say that, we too need your nectar to protect this girl. You understand that, right?"
Cortina couldn't afford to step down here. Both sides had children's' lives at stake. Of course, it was possible to take it by force. But trampling down on someone we could converse with would leave a bad taste in our mouths.
"Both of us are acting to protect the young. However, we would rather avoid taking it by force."
"Mgh..."
The Queen Blossom was well aware that she was talking with powerful individuals who had slain the Evil Dragon before. While she left those two Treants behind as guards, we weren't some villagers who could be subdued with just that.
If we took a violent approach, the only fate that awaited them was a one-sided trampling.
"Wait, stop, Cortina. Such impatient isn't like you, you know?"
"Eh... Ah, I guess...?"
Hearing Maxwell's casual call, she finally realized that she was at her wit's end. That was just how much importance she put on my life.
"Calm down, Cortina. Nicole's matter is naturally important, but it's nothing for you to get so worked up about, is it?"
"That may be true. I just don't want to let any of my comrades die again..."
Maria patted her shoulders and calmed her down. Her small mutter made me realize the reason behind her impatience.
As expected, it was my death. It pressured her to "not let anyone else die".
"Then... Let's do this."
Then, the Queen Blossom offered us another proposal. She understood full well how disadvantageous her position was. If we used force, there would be nothing she could do, hence there was no merit for her to keep up the stubborn act.
She decided that proposing a bargaining point would break in the deadlock of the matter.
"We aren't so keen on getting annihilated. However, we would like to leave the nectar for our seeds."
"We understand that."
"Let me finish. I also know that you need my nectar for that child."
"That's right."
Then, the Queen Blossom directed her gaze towards the mountain's foot. There spread the woodland full of rich soil.
"If we return to the forest, the nectar production would increase. We have the Giant's corpse too."
"Then-"
"Let me finish, I said. However, if we return there so defenselessly, our seeds may get stolen once again. They already slipped past our eyes once, after all."
The seeds produced by a Queen Blossom gave birth to the Queen Blossom's larvas—to the Alraune. The Alraune evolved into Dryads, and one of them eventually became a Queen Blossom.
However, those seeds could also be used as a medicine to prolong one's life. In other words, they could fetch a high price.
Those robbers had already slipped past their defenses and stole the seeds. And since they managed to do it once, they could manage the same again. The Queen Blossom wanted to avoid that.
"As such, I would like you to catch the culprits. You may kill them or arrest them. Just make sure they never come here again."
"I see. If the culprits are gone, then you would no longer have to worry about your seeds getting stolen and could return to the mountain foot."
"And if you return there, the rich soil and the Giant's corpse would speed up the nectar production... Is what you mean, huh?"
"Indeed, that can be done... But the time..."
"It would be good if we could come to an agreement with this."
From the start, the blame lay in the side that pillaged... In other words, humans. Cleaning after someone's mess was vexing, but the forceful approach wasn't what we intended either.
As such, compromising on this was the most sensible choice. The only problem left was whether I could hold out before the culprits were arrested, but my condition wasn't something so severe.
"Cortina, I'm okay with that."
"Nicole... Right, this should be a good compromise. Understood, we will beat those culprits to a pulp then."
"I did not say to beat them to a pulp... But I suppose it does the job the same."
Cortina and the Queen Blossom shook their hands and their agreement came to a close.
And just like that, searching for the culprits that stole the seeds became our next goal.
