Chapter 102: The Harvest Festival Begins (4)
"Yes! We want to buy!"
Nod, nod.
The raccoons nodded their heads vigorously in response.
The soup was valuable as a product for its taste alone, but the effects when consumed were exceptional. It increased agility by 10.5 for an hour and kept one feeling full for a full 4 hours.
There were plenty of other floors or towers where they could sell the soup if they could buy it. Even if it didn't sell, they could eat it themselves.
'If agility increases, our raccoons' work speed will increase.'
The production rate would probably increase by about 15% compared to before. It was a win-win situation in any case.
"I will buy 500 servings of soup for 3 tower coins per serving."
"Tell me more, meow! If you tell me what you want to increase among strength, agility, and magic power, we can make the soup according to that, meow!"
"I...Is that really possible?"
"Yes, it is, meow!"
Theo confidently answered.
'He's doing well.'
Sejun, who was watching Theo's trade, nodded his head in satisfaction, grinning.
"In that case, I'll buy 200 servings for each stat for 5 tower coins per serving."
"Good, meow! Deal complete..."
As Theo was about to shake hands with Emil to finalize the deal,
"Hold on!"
Sejun stopped him. There was no need to worry about Theo being swindled anymore. However...he still had a bit more to learn.
"Meow?"
"...Why? What's wrong?"
Theo and Emil both looked at Sejun, confused.
'Theo, pay attention. I'll show you the world of limited editions.'
"Emil, I can't sell it at that price. There's something I didn't mention, this soup is a limited edition soup that we're only selling 5000 servings externally because the ingredients are scarce. In fact, we don't even have much to eat ourselves."
Although there was plenty of Purple Locust meat in the void storage, but it was also true that they couldn't get more now. Sejun had slightly exaggerated the truth.
"A... a limited edition?"
At Sejun's words of only selling 5000 servings, Emil's voice trembled.
'I want to buy!'
The soup suddenly gained a tremendous scarcity value, stimulating Emil's desire to buy it.
"How about it?"
"I would like to buy all 5000 servings at twice the price you mentioned earlier!"
In response to Sejun's question, Emil replied as if he was mesmerized.
"Okay. I'll sell all of them to you, Emil. Plus, I'll throw in some other crops as well."
"Other crops as well?! Thank you!"
At Sejun's words, Emil bowed his head in gratitude.
And then,
'Wow...that's amazing, meow! Sejun is a god of trade, meow!'
Theo looked at Sejun with a gaze of awe beyond admiration. Sejun was already a god-level figure in terms of farming, and now he was a god-level trader as well, in Theo's eyes.
Just as they concluded another deal with the Raccoon tribe,
Squeak...
Squeal...
Squeak...
Rabbits who had been working all night formed pairs and walked out from various parts of the field like zombies. They were so hungry and had no energy.
However,
"Sorry, but you'll have to wait a little."
What greeted them was a pot licked clean by Cuengi. The rabbits had no choice but to wait while holding their hungry bellies until breakfast was ready.
It was Sejun's timid revenge.
***
"By the way, where do you get the ingredients for the food you sell?"
Sejun asked Emil, the chief of the Raccoon tribe, as he was cooking soup.
Rice cakes and Makgeolli require rice, Bread requires flour, and cheese requires milk. That meant Emil had somewhere to get rice, flour, and milk. Sejun wanted to get them too.
"Ah. We make the cheese by processing the milk from the milk spring in front of our village with our secret method."
"Milk spring? You're saying milk comes out of a spring?!"
"Yes, milk comes out of the spring."
Emil looked at him as if to ask if there was a problem with that, tilting his head.
"No."
Sejun had nothing to say to the fact that it comes out of a spring.
"And what about the rice and flour?"
"Ah, those are grown by Tower Farmer Cecilia from the Golden Tower where our village is located."
"Golden Tower?"
"Yes. the tower managed by the great golden dragons. But who is the Tower Farmer of this Black Tower? I want to introduce myself."
Emil looked around for the Tower Farmer.
"It's me."
"You?! You mean you, the great Black Dragon, Sejun, is farming?!"
Emil was greatly surprised at Sejun's words. Was it really that surprising?
"Yes."
"That's amazing! You're completely different from Ophelia!"
Emil praised Sejun as he watched him.
"Ophelia? The Green Tower Farmer Ophelia?"
Sejun recalled the magical agility carrot grown by Ophelia. He had received them as a reward from the carrot harvest competition.
"Yes. As you know, she is also a great green dragon. But... her farming is..."
Sejun could understand why Emil was surprised and why he hesitated in his speech. Because Sejun himself had tried the carrots grown by Ophelia. Her farming skills were really poor.
"But could I get seeds of rice and wheat from Cecilia, the Golden Tower Farmer ?"
"Seeds?! Yes. I will convey message to her."
"And bring me some milk next time."
"Yes, I will bring it at the next harvest festival."
Then
[Enhanced Purple SeP's Potato Soup has been completed.]
[Cooking Lv. 4 proficiency has slightly increased.]
[Enhanced Purple SeP's Carrot Soup has been completed.]
...
..
.
The soups made for strength, agility, and magic power were ready.
"Here you go."
"Thank you!"
Sejun handed the pot of completed soup to Emil, who put it in his space bag.
"Pay me for it, meow!"
"Here it is."
Theo, who needed to increase his sales as a wandering merchant, received the money.
"Follow me, meow! I'll get you the crops, meow!"
Theo, leading the raccoons, picked up a few kinds of crops from the storage.
And then,
"Huh?! Is this an item?!"
Seeing that eating crops also increased their stats, the raccoons spent all their money buying Sejun's crops. And at a very high price. It was the first time they encountered such tasty and beneficial crops.
Thanks to this, Theo swept up all the money from the raccoons.
"Then, I'll see you at the next harvest festival."
"We will bring more money next time!"
"Goodbye!"
The raccoons left, determined to buy more crops next time.
***
After the raccoons left yesterday, Sejun planted the carrot seeds he got from the carrot harvest competition.
In the afternoon, he went to the western forest and, with the help of the blessing of mana, enlarged the size of the pit so that the fire ants could not approach the western forest.
After that, he repeatedly picked and planted the seeds of the Ents, then went home and slept. Thanks to this, the number of Ents increased to 2000.
"Alright."
As soon as Sejun woke up from his bed, his knees felt heavy as usual.
Zzzz.
Zzzz.
Theo and Iona, who were clinging on Sejun's knee and sleeping.
Swoosh.
With the two still hanging on his knee, Sejun drew a line on the wall and started the morning of the 267th day of being stranded.
'There's not much time left until the Blue Moon.'
There were 5 days left until the next Blue Moon.
"Aileen, I'm counting on you for this Blue Moon too."
[The Tower Administrator shouts out loud, asking you to trust her.]
"Yes, of course I trust you."
While he was talking to Aileen,
[The second competition of the Harvest Festival, the Carrot Eating Competition, will start shortly.]
[Participants who wish to participate in the competition, please gather in front of the Red Ribbon's Giant Carrot Altar.]
A message announcing the second competition of the Harvest Festival appeared.
Whoosh!
The rabbits ran towards the Giant Carrot Altar after seeing the message.
"Let's go, too."
As Sejun and Cuengi, who had been waiting in front of the house, went to the Giant Carrot Altar
[Time remaining for participation application - 9 minutes 51 seconds]
[Current number of applicants - 1032]
A message like this was floating under the Giant Carrot Altar.
"All the rabbits have applied. Let's apply too."
Sejun went under the Giant Carrot Altar and applied for participation with Theo, Iona, and Cuengi.
[Current number of participation applications - 1037]
"Huh? Why did it increase by 5 instead of 4?"
(I'm here too, Sejun.)
The golden bat, hidden in Cuengi's fur, poked its head out and said.
"Oh, you were there. Why are you there?"
(It's dark and warm here, so I like it.)
Kreung?
Cuengi seemed to have no idea why Sejun was looking at his back and talking.
While Sejun was talking to the golden bat,
Roar!
Thump, thump.
The mother Crimson Giant came to the giant carrot altar and applied for participation.
'With this, the first place is decided.'
There was no creature that could beat the mother Crimson Giant bear, whose wish was always to eat to her heart's content.
But then,
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
As if to mock Sejun's prediction, another strong competitor appeared.
Moo!
Moo!
Moo!
Giant entities running from afar with a powerful roar. They were Minotaur King and the Black Minotaurs. They also participated in the competition to eat to their heart's content.
[Current number of applicants - 2038]
Minotaur King and 999 Black Minotaurs participated in the carrot eating competition.
Shortly after,
[The application period has ended.]
[Applicants, please gather under the Red Ribbon's Giant Carrot Altar.]
[The carrot eating competition will start in 1 minute.]
As Sejun and the animals who applied for the competition gather under the altar,
[The competition begins.]
Along with the message announcing the start of the competition, a huge basket full of carrots appeared in front of everyone. The quantity was definitely over 100 at a glance.
Rumble.
Rumble.
As soon as it started, Minotaur King and the Mother Crimson Giant Bear stuffed carrots into their mouths.
Chomp chomp.
After chewing and swallowing a few carrots, the basket was refilled with carrots.
"Wow."
While Sejun was watching the disappearing carrots,
Kueong!
Cuengi quickly grew larger and ate the carrots quickly, as if he couldn't lose.
And then,
Crunch crunch.
Knowing that they already had no chance of winning, Sejun and the rabbits chewed carrots from the perspective of spectators and watched the food fighters eat with interest.
The carrots, while not as flavorful as the ones from their own farm, were still quite edible.
While they were watching, Minotaur King and Mother Crimson Giant Bear emptied the 10th basket
"Oh!"
The basket was now filled with 10 giant carrots instead of regular ones, to make it more difficult for them to eat.
However, for Minotaur King and the Mother Crimson Giant Bear, the giant carrots were the right size making them easier to chew.
Moo!
Roar!
Minotaur King and Mother Crimson Giant Bear let out a happy roar.
Roar!
Cuengi also increased his eating speed as if he could not lose.
Rumble.
Rumble.
Soon, Minotaur King and Mother Crimson Giant Bear, had emptied their 20th basket. They showed no signs of slowing down.
Kreong!
Cuengi barely finished eating all the carrots in the 10th basket. He couldn't eat much at once, maybe because his mouth was smaller than the adults'.
Kreong!
Just when Cuengi was about to eat the giant carrots,
[The carrot eating competition has ended prematurely due to all prepared carrots being exhausted.]
Whether the scale of the competition was small or the participants ate too much, the competition always ended prematurely due to the exhaustion of carrots.
Moo?!
Roar?!
Minotaur King and Mother Crimson Giant Bear made a disappointed expression at the message of the end of the competition. It's because they still hadn't filled their stomachs.
Kreong!!!
Cuengi, who couldn't win first place or eat his fill, cried in his mother's arms.
[Carrot Eating Competition Ranking]
Joint 1st place - Minotaur King, Red Fur (20 baskets)
3rd place - Cuengi (10 baskets)
...
..
.
[Rewards will be given to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners of the carrot eating competition.]
Meanwhile, the ranking was displayed and the rewards were given.
Plop.
Sob sob.
[Sob. Dad is weak so you need to eat this.]
Cuengi, who still hadn't stopped crying, gave Sejun one black pill, the size of a candy, which he had received as a reward.
Moo!
Roar!
Minotaur King and Mother Crimson Giant Bear also nodded and gave Sejun four black pills each, which they received as rewards.
"Thank you."
As a token of gratitude, Sejun served additional food to Minotaur King and Mother Crimson Giant Bear, and Cuengi, who were still hungry.
And he checked the rewards.
[Agility Potion]
→ A potion made from the extract of 10,000 carrots grown by an inexperienced farmer, aimed to enhance the weak effects of the underdeveloped carrots.
→ It is utterly tasteless.
→ Upon consumption, Agility permanently increases by 1.5.
→ Producer: Blue Tower farmer Zelga
→ Expiration date: 100 years
→ Grade: C+
Utterly tasteless?
"Damn..."
These guys are all joking around with the food everyone eats.
"Ugh!"
Sejun swallowed nine agility potions with his eyes tightly closed. All he had to do was chew quickly and swallow.
However,
"Sejun, your mouth smells like shit..."
Blegh!
The smell of the leftover potion lingered in his mouth for quite a long time.
'You guys are all mean.'
In the end, the only one who stuck around Sejun was Theo, who had chosen knees over his sense of smell.
"Thanks, President Theo..."
"Meow! Don't open your mouth, meow!"
Theo hurriedly blocked Sejun's mouth with his front paw.
On the 267th day of being stranded, Sejun had to stay at home all day due to the smell of shit coming from his mouth.