Chapter 31: New family members are born
TL: Hanguk
"Why won't the tower open?!"
A man in his 50s with black hair and a hearty face looked angrily at the inactive portal. It had been 10 years and 3 days since his granddaughter Aileen's last seizure, but the portal remained unchanged.
"Lord, please calm down."
A man in his 30s with the same black hair and a hearty but beautiful face spoke to the man in his 50s.
"How can I calm down when I can't see our Aileen!"
"Father, please maintain your dignity. The other dragons are watching."
Anton, who had prepared precious medicines to treat Aileen, spoke quietly as he looked at the dozens of dragons from the Pritani family waiting behind him.
They were both members of the Pritani family, with Kaiser Pritani as its head and Anton Pritani as his son and Aileen's father.
"Who cares! Aren't all these dragons worried about Aileen too?"
"Aileen also has our Pritani blood. She will overcome the seizures," Anton spoke coldly as if it were someone else's business.
"Anton, Aileen is your daughter. No dragon will say anything if you show concern."
Kaiser felt frustrated and sorry seeing Anton's cold treatment of his own daughter, Aileen, due to the gazes of the other dragons in the family.
The dragons of the Pritani family had made many sacrifices to save Aileen, a hatchling.
The black tower's administrator space was originally where the dragons of the Pritani family took turns to rest and gain strength.
The abundant magic in the black tower's administrator space made the dragons stronger just by being there, but the dragons of the Pritani family gave all those privileges to Aileen.
Moreover, the dragons of the Pritani family were running around in all directions to find medicinal ingredients to treat Aileen.
Unable to show concern for his daughter due to guilt towards the dragons sacrificing so much for Aileen, Anton remained cold.
In such a situation, the black tower was not opening, and they even had to wait for several days, which increased Anton's feeling of guilt.
And they couldn't send them back either. Whenever Aileen had a seizure, dozens of dragons had to pour in mana along with medicine to balance her physical imbalance.
'Did something good happen to Aileen's Dragon Heart?'
If so, it would be a real relief...
Anton couldn't be happy about the portal not opening when he saw the dragons waiting behind him.
"For now, we'll wait here until the tower opens."
"Yes!"
Kaiser, who had issued the order, looked back at the portal.
"Is our granddaughter eating well?"
Kaiser was worried about his granddaughter, unaware that Aileen had recently become a foodie.
***
The tomato field with the bountiful harvest activated. Suddenly, additional flowers began to bloom rapidly on the tomato branches.
And then,
Buzz buzz.
The poison honeybees approached the newly bloomed flowers and sucked the nectar.
"So, this is how they increase the yield by 50%."
Se-jun had thought that the 50% increase in harvest would come as an additional items, but it was different from his expectation.
Occasionally, flowers bloomed on the branches, so Sejun had to pick each cherry tomato one by one in the field. However, he had no complaints as he knew that each flower would soon produce a cherry tomato if he just waited a bit.
After harvesting the cherry tomatoes,
"Theo, you'll be the representative for the next week."
Se-jun said to Theo, who had taken his place at his bedside before he went to bed.
Since he had acquired the incredible Relic, Saint Patrick's Straw Hat, this benefit was natural to Sejun. He honestly wanted to extend the period, but refrained from doing so as not to decrease the value of being a representative.
"Re... really, meow?! You're making me the representative for a whole week, meow?!"
Theo couldn't believe he was made the representative for a whole week without doing anything special! Theo had no idea he had a golden hand.
Snore.
While Theo was touched, Sejun had already fallen asleep.
Swish.
Theo, who had been at Sejun's bedside, got up and lay down on Sejun's stomach.
And then,
With a purr.
Feeling the stability from Sejun's moving stomach, Theo soon fell asleep as well.
In the tranquil cave where everyone was deep asleep,
Squeak!
The scream of the wife rabbit echoed in the cave. The wife rabbit's labor had begun.
Squeak!
Sejun wasn't too surprised since he had experienced this before, but
"What... what's going on, meow?!"
Squeak?!
Squeak?!
Theo and the baby rabbits were not.
"It's okay. Your siblings are coming."
Se-jun sat up and calmed Theo and the rabbits.
Squeak...
Squeak...
The baby rabbits clung to Sejun's legs and anxiously looked at the cave where the rabbit couple was.
And then,
Shivering.
Theo was terrified, hiding between Se-jun's legs and cowering in fear. He was really a coward.
After about an hour,
Squeak.
Squeak.
The faint cries of the newborn baby rabbits came from the rabbit couple's cave.
Squeak!
The husband rabbit ran out of the cave to announce the birth of the new rabbits.
However,
Snore.
Gurgle.
Squeak.
Sejun, Theo, and the rabbits had fallen asleep leaning on each other while waiting.
On the 179th day of being stranded, new cave family members were born at dawn.
***
Early morning.
Roar!
The baby bear stuck his head out of the hole in the cave ceiling and announced his presence, and the baby bear's cry echoed throughout the cave.
At the same time,
Squeak!
Squeak!
As if responding, the cries of the baby rabbits came from the rabbit couple's cave.
Roar?
When the cub bear was looking puzzled at the unfamiliar sound that he heard for the first time.
Squeak!!!
The husband rabbit, who had just managed to put the baby rabbits to sleep and finally fell asleep himself, shouted in anger.
"Shh!"
Se-jun, awakened from sleep, hushed the baby bear by putting his index finger to his mouth.
Sejun added a line to the wall and quietly prepared breakfast. The rabbits also moved quietly, looking at the rabbit couple's cave from time to time.
Sejun picked two grilled fish, a handful of green onions leaf, and two carrots, and placed them in front of the rabbit couple's cave.
Then, the breakfast continued. Everyone had a tired face from not getting enough sleep, mechanically putting food in their mouths and chewing.
"Alright, let's get to work now."
Bba-yap!
The five white rabbits went to the field with their farm tools, whispering in unison.
Bba-ng!
Knowing that they were short on hands, the black rabbit also went out to help its siblings.
And
"Let's go too."
Sejun picked up Theo and stood up.
"Huh? What does that mean, meow? Where are we going, meow?"
Theo, held in Sejun's hand, asked with a puzzled look.
"Remember what we did last time? When I cut the branches of the cherry tomatoes, you just pick the tomatoes and put them in the basket. It might be difficult for other rabbits, but it's too easy for our representative Theo, right Theo?"
Sejun spoke as he placed Theo down next to the cherry tomato field.
"Of course, meow! It's too easy for Representative Theo, meow!"
Theo, who had been unexpectedly drawn into farming work, got excited by Sejun's encouragement.
Even though the rabbit couple was absent, Sejun's increased stats allowed him to work faster, and with the help of the black rabbit and Theo, they managed to finish all the morning tasks.
In the middle of the work, Theo decided to show off his dignity as Representative and neatly cut green onion leaves with his claws, surprising Sejun. As a result, Theo ended up in charge of cutting green onion leaves as well...
At lunchtime, they placed food in front of the rabbit couple's cave and all went up to the surface to eat together. The food that Sejun had placed in front of the rabbit couple's cave in the morning had disappeared, taken by them at some point.
Lunchtime was very quiet and peaceful.
After giving three spoonful honey to the baby bear as dessert, Sejun also had coffee and took a break.
Theo and the black rabbit naturally climbed onto Sejun's lap, and the bear cub hugged Sejun and began to nap.
***
On the 181st day of being stranded, two days had passed since the birth of the baby rabbits.
And tomorrow will be the seventh Blue Moon since Sejun got stranded. Perhaps due to the Blue Moon that will rise from midnight today, the mother Crimson Giant Bear didn't bring the bear cub.
Thanks to that, Sejun and the rabbits were able to wake up at their usual time for the first time in a while.
"Alright!"
As Sejun got up and placed the sleeping Theo next to him, he drew a line on the cave wall.
Squeak!
Squee!
The rabbit couple, leaving their still-sleeping baby rabbits behind, came out of their cave and greeted the morning.
And
Bba-a!
Bba-ng!
Rabbits that had now become older brothers and sisters also came out of their caves and greeted each other.
"Yeah. Good morning."
Today, Sejun and the rabbits hurried their work. They wanted to finish their tasks as quickly as possible to prepare for the Blue Moon.
"Representative Theo, wake up."
"Hmm... I want to sleep more."
Sejun placed Theo in front of the green onion leaves and
With a swish,
He went to the field to cut the cherry tomato branches and started harvesting.
[You have simultaneously harvested 8 well-ripened Magical Cherry Tomatoes.]
[Your job experience has increased slightly]
[Your proficiency in Harvesting Lv. 4 has increased slightly.]
[Due to the effect of Proficiency Increase Lv. 1, your proficiency in Harvesting Lv. 4 has increased by an additional 5%.]
[You have gained 160 experience points.]
"I will show you the dignity of Representative Theo!"
Rustle, rustle.
Theo, who had woken up from his sleep, took out his claws, cut the green onion leaves, and showed off his abilities to the sickle rabbit and the cart rabbit.
The day passed quickly like this.
As evening came, the rabbits went into the cave, closed the entrance, and prepared for the Blue Moon. The poison bees also closed the entrance to the hive to prepare for the Blue Moon.
And,
"Representative Theo, what are you doing?"
"I'm going in here to avoid the Blue Moon."
Theo began to squeeze himself into the entrance of the bag. It turned out the bag had more features than expected.
"Representative Theo, take this with you as well."
Sejun entrusted Theo with the poison queen bee's cocoon, just in case.
Soon after, the Blue Moon began.
Roar!
The roar of the Crimson Giant Bear echoed.
"I wonder if the mother Crimson Giant Bear and the cub are alright?"
As Sejun worried about the Crimson Giant Bear,
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Something was approaching the cave.
"What is it?"
Clink.
Sejun tensed up and gripped the dagger in his hand.
He hurriedly put on earplugs, ate 10 D-grade Magical Cherry Tomatoes at once, and increased his Magic by 2.
Roaaar!
A monster roared above the cave. It was a roar he had never heard before.
"...!"
Sejun barely managed to hold onto his fading consciousness and came to his senses.
Fortunately, the monster went on a rampage above the cave and then ran towards the roar of another monster.
"Phew."
As Sejun sighed in relief and relaxed his tense body,
Swish.
A blue light began to form on the trees in the cherry tomato field that was experiencing a bountiful harvest. The blue light filled the cherry tomatoes along the stem, turning them blue.
"How many are there?"
There were more than 10 at a rough count. Even the cherry tomatoes containing the energy of the Blue Moon had a bountiful harvest.
As Sejun was looking at the cherry tomatoes with joy,
Swoosh.
A blue light began to form in another field as well.
"Huh?! That's..."
Though he wanted to quickly harvest and taste them, he had been patiently waiting for the corn to ripen in the cornfield. The blue light gathered on the corn leaves and settled on the corn.
Hooray!!!
Sejun couldn't shout because the Blue Moon hadn't ended yet, but he raised his hands to the sky, expressing his uncontrollable excitement.
On the 182nd day of being stranded. Today's breakfast is corn!
*****
Good Night!!!