Chapter 70
TL: Hanguk
As midnight approached,
"Everyone, to your posts!"
Squeak!
Squeak!
Squeak!
At Sejun's command, the rabbits scattered throughout the field.
This was because the field had grown too large for Sejun to check the crops imbued with the energy of the Blue Moon alone.
Shortly after,
Roar!
As the Blue Moon rose, the Mother Crimson Giant Bear was the first to be affected and began to get excited.
"Aileen!"
As Sejun hurriedly called for Aileen,
[The Tower's Administrator says confidently that you trust them.]
With Aileen's message, a black dragon appeared in the sky.
And then,
Roar-!
The roar of the black dragon echoed, and the monsters on the 99th floor of the tower came to their senses.
"The moon is pretty."
Today, there was no need to worry about monsters or the location of crops imbued with the energy of the Blue Moon, so for the first time since he'd been stranded, Sejun was able to enjoy the leisure of watching the Blue Moon in the sky and the black dragon Aileen flying.
Glup, glup.
He even had the luxury of drinking coffee.
"Stroke me more, meow."
Theo was annoying, constantly asking for attention while on his lap. However, thanks to Theo's warmth and soft fur, he didn't mind it.
After a while,
Rustle.
The crops began to be imbued with the energy of the Bluemoon.
And then,
Squeak!
Squeak!
The rabbits pointed at the crops that had turned blue and called for Sejun.
"Alright. Let's start harvesting."
Sejun, guided by the rabbits, harvested the crops imbued with the energy of the Bluemoon.
And as he went down to the cave to harvest,
[Master! I've grown!]
Flamie had grown up to Sejun's waist by absorbing the energy of the Blue Moon.
Furthermore, the leaves of Flamie, which had turned to white and yellow by using the Flames of Purification and Affinity, had absorbed the energy of the Bluemoon and turned half green.
"What happened?"
[When I received the energy of the Blue Moon, I felt my strength growing!]
The energy of the Blue Moon caused Flamie to grow and shortened the cooldown time of Flamie's flame buff.
[Ah! Master! I found out the ability of the third leaf!]
"Oh. Really? What's the ability?"
[Wait a moment! Ta-da!]
The last leaf that was still green turned blue, and the blue flame seeped into Sejun's body.
[The Flame of Protection seeps in for 3 hours.]
[The Flame of Protection protects the target.]
A small blue flame floated around Sejun like a will-o'-the-wisp.
"Is this the Flame of Protection?"
Sejun touched the blue flame, but it wasn't hot.
[Yes! The Flame of Protection will protect you, Master!]
""Alright. Thanks."
Sejun praised Flamie while petting its leaves.
[Hehehe, it feels good!]
After receiving the Flame of Protection buff from Flamie, Sejun continued harvesting the remaining crops imbued with the energy of the Blue Moon.
As a result, he was able to harvest 52 magical cherry tomatoes and 2 Stamina Corns from the cornfield that was ready for harvest.
The harvested magical cherry tomatoes were shared and eaten with the animals, and Sejun took all the corns as he was low on stamina.
"Aileen, take the corn."
Sejun gave one of the two corns to Aileen, who could not eat the crops that increased her magic power for a while for the sake of stabilizing the Dragonheart.
[The Tower's Administrator is moved by your thoughtfulness to remember and take care of them.]
After sharing the harvested crops,
"I should eat too."
Sejun ate the last remaining ten magical cherry tomatoes imbued with Blue Moon's energy and one corn imbued with Blue Moon's energy. As a result, his magic power increased by 3 and his stamina by 0.3.
"Huh? The Blue Moon has ended?"
Before they knew it, the blue moonlight had disappeared and the sunlight was shining again on the ground. Thanks to Aileen, they safely got through the ninth Blue Moon.
"Aileen, thank you."
[The Tower's Administrator says that all you have to do is trust them.]
There was still some time left until morning, so everyone took a short nap.
And...
Fwoosh.
"Ah! What the heck, meow?!"
The protective blue flame aggressively attacked Theo, who jumped happily onto Sejun's stomach. It was the flame of protection.
"Meow?"
Swoosh.
The flame of protection would attack whenever someone tried to get close to Sejun.
"How dare you try to steal Sejun's lap, meow?!"
Theo was furious at the appearance of a new competitor for Sejun's lap.
"Meow!"
Fwoosh.
The standoff between Theo and the flame of protection continued.
However,
Fwoosh...
As time passed, the buff time of the protective flame ended and the blue flame began to fade.
"Pfuhuhut. It's my victory, meow!"
Theo, lifting his chin and tail high, celebrated his victory and stepped on Sejun's lap. He then climbed up to Sejun's chest.
Then,
Tap. Tap.
Theo gently hit Sejun's cheek with his front paw a few times.
"Pfuhuhut. President Park, it's revenge, meow."
It was Theo's timid revenge. Having taken his revenge, Theo settled back down on Sejun's stomach and fell asleep.
Grrr.
Fortunately, no tree branch scouts disturbed their sleep until morning.
***
"Alright!"
After sleeping for four hours, Sejun got up and started his day.
"President Theo, get off me! You're making me sweaty!"
"I don't want to, meow!"
Sejun, who was harvesting tomatoes, said in annoyance. For some reason, Theo's obsession with his lap was more intense today.
He used to move around from time to time, but today he clung to Sejun's lap for hours without letting go.
"Sigh. Then move to the left knee."
"Okay, meow!"
When Sejun sighed and proposed a compromise, Theo finally moved to the opposite knee.
As Sejun was harvesting tomatoes while carrying Theo,
"Mr. Sejun, we're here."
Elka arrived with five wagons full of Red Locust corpses, accompanied by nine wolves. Elka had been helping with transportation, going back and forth between the 67th floor of the tower with other wolves, until Theo left for trade.
"You've worked hard. Let's eat first. Cuengi, bring the carts to the front of the house."
Krueong!
At Sejun's command, Cuengi increased its size and carried two carts in each hand to the front of the house.
Then, Sejun scooped out some soup from the 24-hour soup kitchen and served it to the wolves.
"Thank you, Sejun. we will enjoy the meal!"
While the wolves were having their meal,
"How's the 67th floor of the tower lately?"
Sejun asked about the situation on the 67th floor of the tower.
"Well, lately, the Red Locusts have changed their movement patterns, causing the Lizardmen and the free mercenaries to struggle."
The Red Locusts had been deploying many more troops than before as most of their kind had been killed by sturdy blade onion leaves before they could even fight.
And the Red Locusts covered the Sturdy Blade Onion Leaves with their own corpses. It was a mass battle tactic that the Red Locusts specialized in.
This made the Red Locusts unbothered by the sturdy blade onion leaves, and the allied forces of the 67th floor of the tower had to fight a tough battle again.
Due to this, the demand for sturdy blade onion leaves increased, and recently, the wolves were bringing in Red Locust corpses in carts in the morning and evening, and taking away sturdy blade onion leaves and SeP's soup, creating a cycle.
"Here's the money for selling the sturdy blade onion leaves and SeP's soup."
Elka handed Sejun the money. Even when Theo was not trading, Sejun's account balance was increasing thanks to the wolves. Not having a place to spend the money was the problem, though...
"You guys aren't in danger, are you?"
"You don't need to worry. So far, the Red Locusts haven't invaded near the waypoint."
"That's a relief, do you want to have another bowl?"
"Yes, thank you!"
At Sejun's question, the wolves happily wagged their tails and replied.
Then,
"We'll head back down now."
"Alright, take care."
After eating another bowl of soup, the wolves loaded sturdy blade onion leaves and SeP's soup into the carts and went back down to the 67th floor of the tower.
"President Theo, move to the other side."
"Okay, meow!"
After seeing off the wolves, Sejun moved Theo to the other knee and went to find Woocheon Sam (1003). He had initially planned to make the Oren and his followers work a little more, but his mind changed.
***
The mud field of the 99th floor of the tower.
Moooo~
Moooo~
Thousands of Black Minotaurs were happily singing and scooping mud into brick molds measuring 2m wide, 1m long, and 1m high to make mud bricks.
They were excited because if they made just ten of these and brought them to Sejun, they could eat a pile of tasty green onion leaves instead of tasteless mud.
These huge mud bricks had been in production for a few days now, meant to build a wall to defend against the attacks of the Corrupted Ents.
Then,
"Aaargh!"
"Ugh!"
A little further away from the Black Minotaurs, Oren and his followers were busily scooping mud into brick molds.
Their once-clean fur was now covered in mud, making them look like beggars. It took all of them sticking together to barely make ten mud bricks a day, so they didn't even have time to groom themselves.
"Ugh. How did I end up making bricks..."
Oren whimpered in misery.
When they woke up from their sleep after eating grilled fish sold by the Grey Rabbits to their heart's content,
"Huh?"
"What?!"
Suddenly, the grey rabbits had disappeared, and instead, terrifying Black Minotaurs started approaching them, giving them orders to work.
Thus, the ten cats became slaves at a mud brick factory.
"We will go home and bring money! Please let us go!"
Oren and the cats appealed to the Black Minotaurs,
Moo~
But they just responded that it wasn't within their power.
As the cats were barely surviving, making mud bricks, on the third day,
Moooo~
"What?! An expert who can appraise items has arrived?!"
The cats were thrilled at the thought of escaping this mud brick labor.
And then, Sejun appeared before them.
"First, bring out the items."
Sejun stepped forward and spoke.
"Yes."
Truthfully, there was nothing worth looking at, but it was a step to torment them with hope again.
Trembling.
The cats brought out the items from their bags.
"All these items are trash."
"What?!"
At Sejun's casual words, the cats despaired.
"They're all worthless. You probably heard they were magic items, didn't you? You've been scammed."
'Pffft. How is it, meow? Do you like the sharp tongue of Sejun? Start wailing!'
Theo, who was hanging on Sejun's back and overhearing the conversation, shivered with the pleasure of revenge.
And then,
"Sniff sniff."
As Theo expected, the cats began to cry.
But the revenge was just beginning.
"You guys probably know this, but according to the contract you signed, you have to make 100,000 mud bricks to pay for the grilled fish. But think about it, how many bricks can you make in a day?"
"Ten bricks..."
Oren weakly replied.
"That's right. So, it will take you at least 10,000 days to make 100,000 bricks. But can you just work without eating anything during that time?"
"No..."
"That's right. So, your debt will increase and you'll have to make even more bricks. You'll probably have to keep making bricks here until you die."
The cats' faces turned pale. If what Sejun said was true, their lives were over here.
"But I'll give you an opportunity."
Sejun held out eight new contracts.
"An opportunity?!"
"For 10,000 days, you will work as interns in our farm's distribution department and repay your debt."
The cats carefully examined the contract. The content was okay. For 10,000 days, they would transport goods as porters and even get one grilled fish every day.
"We'll do it."
Afraid that this good opportunity would disappear, the cats quickly stamped their paw prints.
"What...what about me?"
Oren, who had not received a contract, called Sejun in desperation, fearing that he might be left alone.
"Here."
Sejun offered Oren a contract. There was an additional clause in Oren's contract.
The representative of the distribution department has the right to take three items of his choice from Oren's home.
Sejun added this clause, trusting Theo's golden paw, knowing that Oren's house was rich.
"Here you go."
Oren stamped his paw print on the contract and handed it to Sejun.
There were plenty of expensive items in his home. There would be no significant decrease in his family's wealth just because he gave away three items. If Sejun had asked for a large sum of money, he might have hesitated.
As the cats stamped their paw prints and handed over the contracts to Sejun,
"Interns! Welcome, meow! I'm Theo, the representative of the distribution department, meow!"
Theo, climbed onto Sejun's shoulder, crossed his arms and said arrogantly.
"Huh?! You're Theo?!"
Oren, surprised to see Theo, pointed at him with his front paw.
"Intern, don't you know how to behave in front of the representative, meow?!"
Whack! Whack! Whack!
Theo hit Oren with his front paw, getting angry.
"Interns, follow me, meow! We have a lot of work to do, meow!"
Theo's exciting revenge had begun. And Sejun was able to escape from his drooping knees.