"What do you mean?"
"Don't worry. Those vandals can't get anywhere near this place. This vault is enchanted with an ancient indomitable Elven spell. The entire forest would first have to be torn asunder before they could infiltrate or snoop into this place."
Her assurance still gave no clarity to Michael's question. "Huh?" he repeated.
"They may be after the Darkwood that you gave us. I don't know how they found out about it, but that must be the goal for their besiegement."
She pointed towards the lower shelf containing only a single Darkwood. That seemed to be the very piece he sold to them a few days ago.
"I'm not going to judge you on how you obtained this Darkwood, but it may be connected to them. Did you perhaps steal it from a top secret organization?"
Now, Michael was really confused. What was she talking about?
"It's the Darkwood," she reiterated. "It's different!"
"Was there something wrong with it or…"
She shook her head. "No, it's perfect! In fact, it's the first of its kind in millenia. It's freshly harvested!"
"So?"
"So, they may be trying to retrieve the Darkwood that you stole!"
He was appalled at that accusation. "Stole? What, no! I farmed that myself!"
This time, she was the one confused. "Huh?"
"Yeah. No one's trying to retrieve it because it's mine."
It took her a good second before she finally digested the truth.
"WHAT?!"
Her voice made the trinkets in the room shake.
Because of her stress these last few days, Lady Farren's mind immediately went to a convoluted explanation for everything that happened.
She thought that Michael obtained this Darkwood from a secret organization who has now tracked down their experiment to the Elven Village.
After all, only a secret organization could have successfully revived the lost art of growing Darkwood from scratch.
"So, your thinking went to a secret organization before you thought I grew the Darkwood on my own?" he asked, bemused at her line of thinking.
She scoffed at his reaction. It's as if he thought she was the crazy one. "Of course! Why would anyone think that a human boy, barely a teen, was able to achieve what millions of Elves weren't able to do in thousands of years?!"
Now that she laid it out like that, her conspiracy theory about a secret Darkwood farming organization seemed like a more reasonable explanation than the truth.
"Oh… well, that's not true. I planted that Darkwood," he said nonchalantly.
Lady Farren just stared at him, her mouth open in disbelief.
…
…
…
"How did you grow Darkwood?!"
"Well, I followed a book step by step."
Lady Farren slapped her own forehead. "Oh, you just followed a book. Why didn't we think of that," she said sarcastically.
She experienced first-hand all the heartache and disappointment that their kingdom experienced when they tried to grow Darkwood.
In their thousands of years of history, every single attempt ended up in a miserable failure, some even turning into complete fiascos. It was such a forlorn project that most Elves ended up quitting their attempts because they got too depressed and crestfallen from their constant failures.
By complete chance, someone was able to reach the halfway point of the Darkwood's growth cycle. But when they tried to replicate the circumstances that led to that breakthrough, down to the last minute detail, they still failed to repeat it again.
This delicate, mercurial plant seemed to be governed by completely arbitrary rules.
It came to a point where many began to believe that their god forsook and cursed them with never being able to reproduce Darkwood ever again.
But now, a human boy was able to grow it himself, in an environment completely disparate from the Elven Kingdom, the place where Darkwood was supposed to have originated from.
It didn't make sense.
"Where did you even grow this?"
"In my Pocket Dimension," he replied. "It's easier to control the environment there."
"But we tried that!"
He shrugged. "Mine's special."
She, of course, was still filled with a lot of questions, most of which concerned the veracity of his story itself.
So, Michael decided to invite her over to his [Isolated Room].
A vague silhouette of the Drone suddenly appeared in Farren's vision. It had dropped its [Invisibility], with the hexagonal spots on its frame shifting its hues to become more metallic.
"My heavens! Was that always here?!"
He let her digest her surprise before inviting her over to the [Pocket Dimension].
With a simple touch on the Drone's miniature door, she was transported inside an unfamiliar and alien room filled with monitors and button-filled desks around her.
Still speechless, she was led towards the [Isolated Room] where he showed her the CCTV footage of all eight rooms growing Darkwood inside.
She pulled her face closer to the screen, thinking it was a window.
"Is that— that's Darkwood!"
Not only that, but the intertwined spire of dark brown vine that bursted out of the ground was almost two meters in height!
It was already past the halfway mark!
This was already better than anything the Elven Kingdom was able to produce! And he had eight of them all simultaneously flourishing in that isolated room!
This wasn't a fluke. Michael could have only achieved this through a methodical cultivation.
"How…" she wondered, curiosity overcoming her shock.
"Come inside. I'll show you."
He led her to the [Isolated Room], where she came face to face with the nascent Darkwood.
Immediately, the fans installed on the walls whirred into action, fanning cool air to displace the natural warmth that their bodies produced.
"Darkwood are very delicate creatures. Their environment must be perfect. These machines installed around it automatically adjust the parameters of the room to the perfect environment that they can flourish in."
Farren gawked at the systems he had in this farm. She now realized how inadequate their precautions were when they grew their own Darkwood. They seemed amateurish compared to what he'd been doing.
"In a few weeks, all eight Darkwood will be ready to harvest. Think I can sell it to you?"