Chapter 102 – The Harvest Festival Begins (4)

“Yes! We want to buy it!”

Nod, nod.

The raccoons answered, nodding their heads vigorously.

Although this soup was highly valuable as a product just for its taste, the effect when consumed was the highlight. To think it raised agility by as much as 10.5 for an hour and maintained satiety for four hours.

If they could just buy the soup, there were many places, such as other floors or towers, to sell it at a high price. Even if it didn’t sell, they could eat it themselves.

‘If agility increased, the work speed of us raccoons would become faster.’

The production volume would probably increase by about 15% compared to before. No matter what, it was not a loss.

“We will buy 500 servings at 3 tower coins per serving.”

“Spend a bit more, meow! If you tell us which stat you want to raise among strength, agility, and magic power, we can make the soup to match that, meow!”

“I-Is that really true?”

“It is, meow!”

Theo said with confidence.

‘He did well.’

Watching Theo’s deal, Se-jun smiled warmly and nodded.

“Then we will buy 200 servings for each stat at 5 tower coins per serving.”

“Good, meow! The deal is made…”

In the meantime, just as Theo finished the deal with Emil and was about to shake hands,

“Hold on!”

Se-jun stopped them. It seemed he no longer needed to worry about Theo acting like a sucker. However… he still needed to learn a bit more.

“Meow?”

“…Why are you doing that?”

Theo and Emil looked at Se-jun at the same time as if they had no idea what was going on.

‘Theo, watch closely. I will show you the world of limited editions.’

“Emil, I cannot sell it at that price. There is something I didn’t tell you, but this soup does not have many ingredients, so it is a limited edition soup that we only sell 5,000 servings of to the outside. Actually, we don’t even have enough for ourselves to eat.”

Although the subdimensional warehouse overflowed with Purple Locust meat, it was true that they could no longer obtain it. Se-jun told a slight lie.

“A l-limited edition?”

At Se-jun’s words that they would only sell 5,000 servings of the soup, Emil’s voice trembled.

‘I want to buy it!’

Suddenly, immense scarcity was created for the soup, stimulating Emil’s desire for ownership.

“How about it?”

“I want to buy all 5,000 servings at twice the previous price!”

At Se-jun’s question, Emil answered as if possessed.

“Alright. I’ll sell it all to Emil as a special exception. And I’ll pack some other crops as a bonus.”

“A bonus too?! Thank you!”

Emil was moved by Se-jun’s words and bowed his head.

And

‘A-Amazing, meow! Park Se-jun was the god of trading, meow!’

Theo looked at Se-jun with a gaze of awe that went beyond respect. Even Se-jun’s lap was already a god-level existence, but his trading was also god-level. At least to Theo.

Just as another transaction was completed with the raccoon tribe like that,

“Pyak…”

“Ppyu-ppyu…”

“Ppi-ik…”

“Ppi-i…”

The rabbits, who had carried out the great event all night long, walked out like zombies from here and there in the fields in pairs. They were so hungry that they had no energy.

However,

“Sorry, but you’ll have to wait a bit.”

What welcomed them was only an empty pot that Cuengi had licked clean to the bottom. The rabbits had no choice but to wait while clutching their hungry stomachs while breakfast was being prepared.

It was Se-jun’s petty revenge.

***

“By the way, where did you get the ingredients for the food you sell?”

While boiling the soup, Se-jun asked Emil, the chief of the raccoon tribe, about what he was curious about.

Bar rice cake and makgeolli required rice, baguette required flour, and cheese required milk. That meant Emil was getting rice, flour, and milk from somewhere. Se-jun also wanted to obtain them.

“Ah. The cheese is made by processing milk from the Milk Spring in front of our village with our own secret method.”

“Milk Spring? Milk comes out of a spring?!”

“Yes. Milk comes out of the spring.”

Emil tilted his head and looked as if asking if there was any problem.

“No.”

Since he said it came from a spring, there was nothing to say.

“Then what about the rice and flour?”

“Ah. Those were grown by Lady Cecilia, the tower farmer of the Golden Tower where our village is located.”

“Golden Tower?”

“Yes. The tower managed by the great Golden Dragons. By the way, who is the tower farmer of the Black Tower here? I would like to exchange greetings.”

Emil looked around, searching for the tower farmer.

“It’s me.”

“What?! Don’t tell me Lord Se-jun, of the great Black Dragon, is farming yourself?!”

Emil was greatly surprised by Se-jun’s words. Was that such a surprising thing?

“Yes.”

“That is amazing! You are completely different from Lady Ophelia!”

Emil highly praised Se-jun while looking at him.

“Ophelia? Green Tower Farmer Ophelia?”

At the name Ophelia, Se-jun recalled the Agility-Infused Magic Carrot grower he received as a reward for the carrot harvesting contest.

“Yes. As expected, you know her well. As you know, she is also a great Green Dragon. But… her farming is…”

It seemed clear why Emil was surprised and why he trailed off. Because Se-jun himself had tasted the carrots grown by Ophelia. Ophelia’s farming skills were very poor.

“But do you think I can get rice and wheat seeds if you talk to Cecilia, the Golden Tower farmer?”

“Seeds?! Yes. I will deliver Lord Se-jun’s message.”

“And next time, bring some milk too.”

“Yes. I will bring it during the next harvest festival.”

At that moment,

[The Enhanced Purple Chef’s Potato Soup was completed.]

[The proficiency of Cooking Lv. 4 increased slightly.]

[The Enhanced Purple Chef’s Carrot Soup was completed.]

…

..

.

The soups made for each stat—strength, agility, and magic power—were completed.

“Here. Take it.”

“Thank you!”

Se-jun placed the pots where the soup was completed into the subdimensional pocket Emil took out.

“Pay the money to me, meow!”

“Here it is.”

Theo, who had to increase his sales performance as a wandering merchant, received the money.

“Follow me, meow! I will pack some crops for you, meow!”

Theo took the raccoons and packed a few crops of each type from the storage.

And

“Huh?! This is an item?!”

Seeing that their stats also rose when eating the crops, the raccoons spent all their money to buy Se-jun’s crops. And at a very high price, at that. It was their first time seeing crops that tasted so good and had such great effects.

Thanks to that, Theo swept up all the raccoons’ money.

“Then, we will see you at the next harvest festival.”

“Next time, we will bring even more money!”

“Goodbye!”

The Hoguris left, resolving to buy more crops next time.

***

After the raccoons left yesterday, Se-jun planted the carrot seeds he obtained from the carrot harvesting contest.

And in the afternoon, he went to the west forest and, with the help of the Blessing of Mana, increased the size of the puddle to prevent fire ants from approaching the west forest.

After that, he repeated picking and planting the seeds of the Ents, then returned home and slept. Thanks to that, the number of Ents increased to 2,000.

“Heave-ho.”

When Se-jun woke up from his bed, his lap was heavy today as well.

Purr, purr.

Kyu-rorong.

Theo and Iona sleeping while clinging to Se-jun’s lap.

Swish.

Se-jun started the morning of the 267th day of being stranded by drawing a line on the wall with the two still clinging to his lap.

‘Not much time remained until the Blue Moon.’

Five days remained until the next Blue Moon.

“Aileen, please take care of this Blue Moon too.”

[The administrator of the tower bragged to trust only her.]

“Yes. Of course I trust you.”

While he was conversing with Aileen like that,

[In a moment, the second contest of the harvest festival, the Carrot Eating Contest, was about to begin.]

[Those who want to participate in the contest, please gather in front of the giant carrot altar of Red Ribbon.]

A message announcing the second contest of the harvest festival appeared.

Thud, thud, thud.

The rabbits ran to the giant carrot altar upon seeing the message.

“Let’s go too.”

When Se-jun went to the front of the giant carrot altar, taking along Cuengi who had been waiting in front of the house,

[Time remaining for registration – 9 minutes 51 seconds]

[Current number of registrations – 1,032]

That message was floating below the giant carrot altar.

“All the rabbits registered. Let’s register too.”

Se-jun went under the giant carrot altar and registered for the contest along with Theo, Iona, and Cuengi.

[Current number of registrations – 1,037]

“Huh? Why did it increase by 5 instead of 4?”

(I’m here too, Lord Se-jun.)

The Golden Bat, who had been hiding in Cuengi’s back fur, poked its head out and spoke.

“Ah. You were there. Why are you there?”

(I like it here because it’s dark and warm.)

“Cueng?”

Cuengi did not seem to know why Se-jun was talking while looking at his back.

While Se-jun was talking to the Golden Bat like that,

“Kuong!”

Thump. Thump.

The mother Crimson Giant Bear came to the giant carrot altar and registered.

‘First place was already decided by this.’

There was no being who could defeat the mother Crimson Giant Bear, whose wish was always to eat her fill.

However,

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

As if to mock Se-jun’s expectations, another strong contender appeared.

“Moooo!”

“Moo!”

“Moo!”

Huge beings running from afar with powerful roars. It was the Bull Demon King and the Black Minotaurs. They also participated in the contest to eat their fill.

[Current number of registrations – 2,038]

The Bull Demon King and 999 Black Minotaurs participated in the Carrot Eating Contest.

A moment later,

[Registration was closed.]

[Registrants, please gather below the giant carrot altar of Red Ribbon.]

[The Carrot Eating Contest was about to begin in 1 minute.]

When Se-jun and the animals who registered for the contest gathered below the altar,

[The contest began.]

Along with the message announcing the start of the contest, a huge basket filled with carrots appeared in front of each of them. It was easily an amount that exceeded 100.

Clatter, clatter.

Clatter, clatter.

As soon as it started, the Bull Demon King and the mother Crimson Giant Bear poured carrots into their mouths.

Munch, munch.

After chewing and swallowing the carrots a few times, the baskets were filled with carrots again.

“Wow.”

While Se-jun watched the carrots disappear in an instant,

“Cueng!”

Cuengi gigantified and rapidly devoured the carrots as if he could not lose.

And

Crunch. Crunch.

Since Se-jun and the rabbits already knew they had no chance of winning, they chewed carrots from a spectator’s perspective and watched the food fighters eat with great interest.

Although it tasted worse than the carrots made at his farm, it was edible.

While they watched like that, once the Bull Demon King and the mother Crimson Giant Bear emptied their 10th basket,

“Oh!”

Ten giant carrots filled the baskets instead of regular carrots. This was to make it difficult to eat.

However, for the Bull Demon King and the mother Crimson Giant Bear, it was merely an easy size to chew.

“Moooo!”

“Kuong!”

The Bull Demon King and the mother Crimson Giant Bear let out pleasant cries.

“Cueng!”

Cuengi also increased his eating speed as if he could not lose.

Clatter, clatter.

Clatter, clatter.

Before they knew it, the Bull Demon King and the mother Crimson Giant Bear were emptying their 20th basket. The speed of the two had not dropped at all yet.

“Cueng!”

Cuengi had now barely eaten all the carrots in his 10th basket. Perhaps because his mouth was small compared to the adults, he could not eat much at once.

“Cueng!”

Just as Cuengi was about to finally eat a giant carrot,

[The Carrot Eating Contest was ended early due to running out of all prepared carrots.]

Whether the scale of the contest was small or the participants were too extreme, the contest always ended early due to running out of carrots.

“Moo?!”

“Kuong?!”

At the contest end message, the Bull Demon King and the mother Crimson Giant Bear wore blank expressions. This was because they were not full yet.

“Kweeeeeng!!!”

Cuengi, who couldn’t even get first place and couldn’t eat his fill, cried in his mother’s arms.

[Carrot Eating Contest Rankings]

Joint 1st Place – Bull Demon King, Red Fur (20 baskets)

3rd Place – Cuengi (10 baskets)

…

..

.

[Rewards were paid to the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places of the Carrot Eating Contest.]

In the meantime, the rankings were displayed and rewards were distributed.

Handed.

“Kweeng. Kweeng.”

[Sniff. Since Daddy was weak, you had to eat this.]

As Cuengi, who could not stop crying yet, handed Se-jun one candy-sized black pill received as a reward,

“Moo!”

“Kuong!”

The Bull Demon King and the mother Crimson Giant Bear also nodded and yielded the four black pills they each received as rewards to Se-jun.

“Thank you.”

As a sign of gratitude, Se-jun served additional food to the Bull Demon King, the mother Crimson Giant Bear, and Cuengi, who felt empty from not being full.

And he checked the rewards.

[Elixir of Agility]

An elixir made by extracting essence from 10,000 carrots to boost the medicinal properties of carrots that did not grow properly due to being cultivated by an unskilled farmer.

The taste was terribly bad.

Upon consumption, agility permanently increases by 1.5.

Producer: Blue Tower Farmer Zelga

Expiration Date: 100 years

Grade: C+

Tasted terribly bad?

“Ah, damn…”

All of these guys played around with food.

“Fine!”

Se-jun closed his eyes tightly and swallowed the nine Elixirs of Agility. He just had to chew and swallow them quickly.

However,

“Lord Se-jun, from your mouth, poop…”

“Kwe-e-eng!”

The smell of the elixir remaining in his mouth lasted for a considerably long time.

‘Everyone was too much.’

In the end, the only one who guarded Se-jun’s side was Theo, who chose the lap instead of the sense of smell.

“President Theo, thank…”

“Meow! Do not open your mouth, meow!”

Theo quickly blocked Se-jun’s mouth with his front paw.

The 267th day of being stranded. Se-jun had to stay home all day because of the poop smell coming from his mouth.