"Thanks for your purchase~. Remember to show much care and love to those seeds. Especially care. Carefulness." - Street vendor

I grabbed the bag from the vendor and returned to where Mira and Blot were waiting. Bloom did an all-nighter trying to figure out the secret behind the growth elixir that the moles used for the stupid-rapid growth of those Devitrees, so she's fast asleep now. FYI, no results for what that grey goo is as of yet. What is that stuff anyway?

"What did you buy?" - Mira

"Some seed. They made me nostalgic." - Garami

"Did you have a garden when you were young?" - Alf

"You're half right. Now, have our guide arrived?" - Garami

"Not yet. They must be moving undercover due to the 'recent rumors'." - Mira

Oh, right. We did say to the whole Union, "MOLES ARE THE CULPRITS!!" and stuff like that. If one suddenly appeared so close to the town, they'd be captured immediately and hauled to the nearest prison.

...Is it me, or is that crate moving toward us? Having a strange feeling about it, I carefully lifted the box and found..., yup. Just as I thought. It's our mole. He's already been boxed in, and this is BEFORE the cops noticed him!!

"Who is this little guy?" - Mira

"Our guide, or so it seems." - Alf

The mole looked curiously at us from underneath its crate. It's smart enough to use a disguise when traveling to our meeting spot. Good boy.

"Are you Firis' friend?" - Garami

"*Mole*." - Stella Mole

...Are my ears broken, or did it say that for real?

While trying to clean my ears, I accepted the written letter from the disguised mole..., yup. I can't read this. It's just a bunch of scribbles made with something that looks like coloring crayons..., oh.

"This is from Firis, alright." - Garami

"Were there any doubt?" - Mira

"Doubts aside, what are we supposed to do?" - Alf

Eh, give me a sec... This is supposed to be..., a giraffe? A hippo? A pig? Glavras???

"...We're supposed to follow you?" - Garami

Giving up on trying to decrypt the child-rated codes (scribbles), I opted to ask the mole instead. The mole responded with a positive-sounding "*Mole*!", so I think I got it right. I hope. Time to follow the mole hiding in a crate~.

---

After half an hour of enduring the curious eyes of the pedestrians (it was TRUE TORTURE!) that were looking at a bunch of adventurers following a moving crate, we finally reached the new villain's lair. It's a deserted warehouse close to an abandoned field, located at the island's border. According to Alf, who had bought a guidebook for the island, it seems the ground got unhealthy due to the experimental cultivation of a new breed of chili peppers that took place here. Mmm~, chili.

"Tell me why this place has scorch marks then," asked Mira as she pointed at the burned ground.

"I told you. It was an experimental patch of chili peppers." - Alf

That must have been some peppers.

"Moley, you sure this is the place?" - Mira

"Moley?" - Garami & Alf

"Yeah. Because he's a mole." - Mira

"*Mole*!" - Moley

I wondered why Mira was so willing to give that cow to Firis. They're kindred spirits.

We shelved the pep-talk and snuck into the warehouse..., but it was as empty as it's abandoned.

"You sure we got the right place?" - Garami

"*Mole*!" - Moley

The mole started to pat the ground until it discovered a hidden door on the floor. ANOTHER underground hideout?! I know we are working with moles and plants here, but can't there be more imagination regarding secret lairs?

The door was locked shut, but it wasn't so difficult to get it open. The tricky part was satisfying the mole's constant "SHH!!"-sounds whenever we were about to get noisy.

Ultimately, I went down first to test the waters and discovered the new hideout. Or, should I say we found the "main office"? There are tons of those crates from the first place that got destroyed by the giant tree mutant. There are no moles down there...but I can see some humanoids.

They look...like goons from some villain in a sentai show. Do people dress like that in this world??? Also, I can see one girl who looks so out of this place. She's dressed in a gothic lolita style, even when she has angel wings on her......, ANGEL WINGS?!

Now I understand why Firis called the person helping her "big sis". Because the other party was a Flugel. And unlike Firis, who is a Half-Flugel from a human dad and angel mom, this one looks more legit. She even has a halo. That would look better on Firis than this edgelord angel. Why the gothic lolita fashion? Oh, but her wings seem a little paler compared to Firis. Is this one of those things where the Karma Value plays a role?

The evil goons and their leader angel look a little hectic for a reason, so they aren't noticing me. But trying to overhear what they're talking about would force me to get too close to them and risk getting caught, so let's leave for now.

"I'm back. *Blah-blah-blah*, and so." - Garami

After silently getting back up to the ground floor, I told the trio what I'd seen on the underground floor.

"Well, that explains the lack of alarms here above the ground. Placing them would make people take notice of the place" - Alf

"Phew. I was afraid this would be one of those cases when the intruders don't notice that they've tripped the alarm right until the last moment." - Mira

Hey, what are you guys taking me for? I'm no newbie with this stuff.

"What about the moles?" - Alf

"*Moooole*." - Moley

"...?" - Garami

"I think he is trying to say that his friends aren't coming today due to Firis having warned them?" - Mira

"*Mole*~." - Moley

"Have you taken a 'mole whisperer' course?" - Garami

"When would I have the time to do that?" - Mira

Or the money needed for it.

"Alf, why did you ask about the moles?" - Garami

"Why, you ask? Would it not be problematic if we entered a fight down there and the moles were caught in the crossfire?" - Alf

"Who's stupid enough to pick a fight with a bunch of criminals at their HQ? They outnumber us, even if just by a little bit." - Garami

"How much is that?" - Mira

"3 against 13." - Garami

"You're not counting Moley?" - Alf

"Why would I?" - Garami

It's not like he has any combat abilities...

"Moley, can you call on your friends?" - Garami

"*Mole*?" - Moley

Kukuku-ku~. I got an idea~.

"Bloom, wake up. I got a job for you~." - Garami

"*Yawn*, wha'sh going on? ...Why am I being greeted with the smile of a thousand evil suns the first thing in the morning?!" - Bloom

How rude! Call me the moon, not that glowing ball of doom and despair! Rude little fairy. I'm not going to shed a tear if things go wrong down there...

---

"So, do you have any fives? And are we just going to wait here?" - Mira

"Nope, go fish. And yes, we're waiting." - Garami

"Sounds good to me. Oh, and I won." - Alf

"HOW?!" - Garami & Mira

Grr... I swear that guy is cheating somehow. Maybe he's marking the cards with different degrees of coldness?

"I'm back." - Bloom

As I was about to defeat Mira, Bloom suddenly materialized in front of us as we waited outside the abandoned storage. Mira breathed out in relief as the bell saved her. Tch.

"How did it go?" - Garami

"I managed to blend in when the moles came to 'work', and after they prepared the essentials and left the building, much to the sentai-type grunts' confusion, I poured the muck onto the badaboomb seeds and escaped." - Bloom

"Sentai-type grunts?" - Alf

"Before that, badaboomb seeds!?!?" - Mira

"You know about them too? They're funny-" - Garami

"Those are FAR from 'funny plants'! Are you saying that the plan was about hyper-growing a small underground forest of badaboomb plants downstairs!?" - Mira

Mira seems to be familiar with the plant too.

"Excuse me, but what are these 'badaboomb' things you girls are talking about?" - Alf

"How can't you know about them!?" - Mira

"They are natural-growing bombs of nature." - Garami

"......Alright, I understand. I didn't understand anything of what you said, but I understand that we are talking about something either amazing, dangerous, or both." - Alf

Oh, he's understood enough to obtain a Ph.D. on the subject.

FYI, the badaboomb plants we are talking about are the self-destructive bomb plants I sometimes found and brought to extinction when I was surviving the Water-Knot. The vine the fruits are attached to acts as a fuse when they are cut off the main plant and are damn helpful for blasting bigger monsters into tiny, gory pieces~.

*Rumble, rumble, rumble*...

"Hey, it sounds like it's coming." - Garami

"RETREAT!!" - Mira

Mira grabbed all her stuff and dashed it... Yeah, getting away from the blast zone is an idea. Let's run.

Alf and I were right on Mira's tail as we exited the storehouse only for lots of vines to appear and wrap themselves around the building. Phew. I should have expected this.

"So...these are the seeds you bought earlier?" - Alf

"I've been in these plants' debts too many times in the past, so I got nostalgic when I saw the vendor from before having some for sale~." - Garami

"What's wrong with that vendor!? Having such dangerous stuff on sale!?" - Mira

"Selling badaboomb seeds is by far from illegal, as its explosive traits depend on the amount of aether provided to the fruit while it is growing. You can assume the fruit's explosive force based on its size." - Bloom

"Then those are bad news then?" - Alf

HOLY! The vines have started to bear fruits, which are the size of wrecking balls! Let's take some with me home. I've learned my lesson and started to prepare enough space in my Storage lately.

"Bad news indeed..." - ???

Huh? Who said... Where did he come from!?

"Hello again, everyone. How have you been doing?" - ???

"Blot!? What are you doing here?!" - Mira

Blot was standing not too far behind us, wearing his suit and pushing his glasses up. Is it me, or does he look a little pale?

"Before I answer that..., can we secure the safety of my men inside there? And somehow remove those plants of destruction?" he said while cold-sweating. Oh...

"I am whole-heartedly agreeing with him!" - Mira

"Let me guess, these plants have a bad reputation in Solomar." - Alf

"VERY!" - Blot & Mira

So that explains it.

"I'm fine with that and all, but Blot? You said 'your men' just now, didn't you?" - Garami

"-! What's your goal? ...Huh?! Where did he-?" - Mira

Mira switched gears instantly and pulled out her sword and aimed it at Blot's neck..., only to find him having moved three meters away from his previous location before we could notice! "Huh?!" indeed.

Ignoring our reactions, Blot pulled out a white handkerchief and started to wave it around. Is that supposed to act as a white flag?

"Yes, yes. I surrender. Please excuse me for telling you the shortened version of my story, but our organization discovered a highly dangerous substance that we could not destroy, so we had some cooperators of ours transform it into a less harmful form and wished to make maximum profits from this substance." - Blot

"You are talking about the grey goo here?" - Mira

"Correct. This 'grey goo' is a limited existence on Terra Sol for various reasons, but we wish to extinguish it as fast as possible before it falls into the wrong hands. You can see what its ultra-diluted form can do right here." - Blot

"Then why the increase of Devitrees?" - Alf

"Even after our collaborators managed to turn the 'grey goo' into a workable substance, it is still quite the fickle liquid. Using it to grow quality wood is the safest option left for us, but for some reason, only the Stellar Mole on this island seems to have the 'natch' to use it properly without making the result a biologically unstable contraption that will melt to vicious liquid when exposed to overstimulation." - Blot

He's pretty talky for someone who just popped up behind us without any warnings.

"And why the sudden need to explain all this now, hmm? It's your fault we've been on this loose goose chase!" - Mira

"About that, I apologize. And due to some inconvenient circumstances, I was prepared to stop this 'goose chase' soon anyway." - Blot

"What circumstances?" - Alf

"Can we talk about that afterward? All my men down there hail from Solomar, so I do not doubt their current situation is extremely stressful to them." - Blot

"He's got a point! Garami, Alf, you two can go and take a look. I'll make sure this guy is not trying to sneak away!" - Mira

You're just scared of getting too close to the fruity bombs. But she's right. If we don't hurry, the idiots inside may start moving and detonate the bombs! And I have some nasty plans for those things. Like throwing them in the face of a certain four-eyed jerk.

"*Shudder*!!" - Blot

Hehehehe~.