Chapter 106 – Finally Meeting

While the Carrot Liquor Drinking Contest was in full swing,

-Keuu. I’m envious. I’m envious.

From above the fountain, Kaiser enviously watched Se-jun and the animals drinking as much as they pleased. The carrot liquor contained in the bottle was brewed with a carrot that was as much as a thousand years old, so it tasted quite good.

-What a shame, what a shame. If I only had a body…

Kaiser felt regretful that he could not participate in the contest with the body of a statue.

Of course, even with his actual dragon body, he wouldn’t have been able to participate in the contest. Because the surrounding beings could not handle Kaiser’s energy.

At that moment,

-Grandfather, is there still a long way to go?

Aileen, who wanted to see Se-jun quickly, asked Kaiser when she could use polymorph to appear in front of Se-jun.

-Wait. The mana concentration is not sufficient yet.

Kaiser answered while checking the mana concentration. Due to the divine power flowing from the Creator God’s stone monument, the speed at which the mana concentration rose was faster than expected.

-Khing. How long do I have to wait?

-Uh-huh. Wait just a little. It is almost all done now.

While Kaiser was soothing Aileen, the contest ended, and the liquor bottle containing the giant carrot disappeared.

Wuuuu.

As the third contest of the harvest festival ended, the mana concentration on the 99th floor of the tower began to rise explosively.

And

-Now is the time!

The mana concentration on the 99th floor of the tower became similar to the administrator area where Aileen was.

-Kehehehe. Se-jun, here I come! Polymorph!

With Kaiser’s signal, Aileen left the administrator area and used the polymorph magic.

Flash.

Bright light exploded from the body of the great Black Dragon Aileen, then subsided.

When the light disappeared,

“Kehehehe. Success!”

What remained there instead of a giant black dragon was a beautiful girl with black hair falling down to her waist, wearing a cute black mini-dress. Her flawless, jade-white skin enhanced Aileen’s beauty even more.

But

“Huh?!”

The polymorph Aileen used for the first time was only half successful. Because the polymorph magic was unstable, her wings and tail remained as they were.

“Just a tail and wings… Kehehi. This much should be fine! Teleport!”

Aileen, who wanted to see Se-jun quickly, hurriedly used space teleportation magic.

And when Aileen appeared next to Se-jun, she spotted Se-jun trying to drink the liquor straight from the bottle.

‘That was?! The energy of fire?!’

The energy of fire was felt from the carrot inside the liquor bottle. And a considerably strong fire at that.

Fire Carrot Liquor. If consumed, it would burn away body waste with the energy of fire, but unless one had a considerably sturdy body, it was a liquor that would burn even the body with the energy of fire.

“You fool! If you drink that, you’ll die!”

Out of urgency, Aileen instinctively moved her tail to snatch the liquor bottle, but Aileen’s tail, which had not yet adapted to her polymorphed body, moved a bit lower and hit Se-jun on the back of the head.

Thump!

“Huh?!”

Aileen felt startled by her own tail hitting the back of Se-jun’s head, but fortunately, her grandfather’s scale on Se-jun’s left arm bore the damage instead and broke.

“Phew. Thanks, Grandfather.”

Aileen breathed a sigh of relief.

***

Slam!

Se-jun thought he had really died this time due to the powerful force hitting the back of his head.

At that moment,

Roaaar.

The black dragon tattoo on his left arm roared, protecting Se-jun, and then disappeared.

“Huh?! Huh?!”

Because it really felt as if the back of his head was crushed, Se-jun hurriedly and carefully touched the back of his head. Fortunately, the back of his head was perfectly fine.

“I lived.”

Only then did Se-jun feel relieved that he was alive, and glared as he looked for the being who hit the back of his head.

‘You dared hit the back of my head?!’

And

“You…”

Se-jun spotted Aileen next to him.

“Se-jun…”

A beautiful voice that did not seem to belong to this world was heard in Se-jun’s ears.

“Aile…”

Although it was his first time seeing her in person, he could just tell the moment he saw her. That the beautiful girl in front of him was Aileen.

Sway.

Collapse.

Se-jun collapsed, unable to finish his words. Although his life was saved, the shock had not been completely dissipated.

“Ah.”

Aileen hurriedly supported Se-jun’s body.

At that moment,

“Meow! Take your hands off President Park, meow! How dare you hit President Park, I will not forgive you, meow!”

Theo spoke bravely while extending his claws, but his body was honest.

Shake, shake, shake.

He couldn’t do anything about his body, which clung to Se-jun’s lap and trembled like an aspen leaf.

It was understandable, since with just one tail attack from Aileen, the surrounding carrot field was devastated and all the other animals fainted. Even the mother Crimson Giant Bear and the Black Minotaurs.

If the mother Crimson Giant Bear and the Black Minotaurs had not blocked the aftermath of the attack in front, the rabbits might have all died. It was truly fortunate.

Moreover, the unique presence of the great Black Dragon emitted by Aileen. Theo, who still stood up to protect Se-jun even after feeling that, was truly amazing. In a way, it was true madness for Se-jun’s lap.

Shake, shake, shake.

The vibration that started from Se-jun’s lap and Theo’s body was transmitted to Aileen.

Although she felt sorry for him, on one hand, she also found Theo praiseworthy for risking his life to protect Se-jun even in front of her, the great Black Dragon.

“Are you Theo? Hello. I am Aileen. You know me, right?”

To reassure Theo, who was trembling while clinging to Se-jun’s lap, Aileen spoke softly to him. Having always watched him through the crystal ball, Theo was very familiar to Aileen.

“Could it be?! Are you Aileen, the great Black Dragon who called our President Park to the Black Tower, meow?”

“Yes. That is me.”

Aileen said proudly at Theo’s words. Even she thought that bringing Se-jun to the tower was the best thing she had done in her entire dragon life.

“Aileen, I really wanted to see you, meow!”

Theo looked at Aileen with eyes of respect. The being Theo respected second only to Se-jun was Aileen, who called Se-jun here.

“Kehehehe. I wanted to see you too. It’s nice to see you in person.”

“Meow! I like it too, meow!”

“Don’t worry. Se-jun just fainted.”

“Hunyang. What a relief, meow.”

Aileen, who was conversing with Theo while supporting Se-jun like that.

“Ah!”

Her arm began to gradually turn black. It was a phenomenon that appeared as the polymorph magic dissolved due to lack of mana.

“I must go now.”

“Why are you leaving already, meow? See President Park when he wakes up before you go, meow.”

“I want to do that too, but I can’t. I’ll go now. Theo, please keep protecting our Se-jun in the future.”

“Leave it to me, meow! I will protect President Park, meow!”

Theo spoke bravely, puffing out his chest.

“Yes. And please don’t tell him that I hit the back of Se-jun’s head.”

“That’s difficult, meow! There are no secrets between me and President Park, meow!”

“Alright. Then just don’t tell him first.”

“Understood, meow!”

“Okay. Then, I’ll go.”

Smooch.

“Teleport.”

Aileen kissed the lips of the fainted Se-jun and disappeared.

-Oh my. When will my granddaughter visit me?

Kaiser, who thought she would come to see him at the end, waited for Aileen above the fountain, not even knowing she had gone.

***

“Mmm.”

When Se-jun woke up, it was lunch on the 7th day, the last day of the harvest festival.

“President Park, did you wake up, meow?”

“Lord Se-jun, did you wake up?”

“Pyak?”

“Cueng?”

The animals guarding Se-jun’s surroundings worried about Se-jun, who had been fainted for almost a day.

“Yes. I’m fine. But… why am I lying here?”

Se-jun asked.

“President Park, don’t you remember anything, meow?”

“Yes. I clearly remember drinking alcohol in the drinking contest, but I don’t remember anything after that. Did I perhaps black out from drinking?”

Although it was short-term memory loss due to the shock, the only one here who knew the truth was Theo, who had not fainted.

“Ppi-ik!”

“Ppyook!”

“Boo!”

When evening came, the rabbits prepared for farewells by packing carrots for the departing rabbits. Because once the harvest festival ended, the 1,000 summoned rabbits would return to where they originally belonged.

The expressions of the returning rabbits were mostly not bad. They decided to migrate to the 99th floor of the tower with their companions. Since they also had the New Year’s allowance received from Se-jun, they had sufficient travel funds.

However, the expressions of the rabbits who had to return to the 55th floor of the tower were not good. Upon returning, harsh farming work that didn’t even allow them to sleep awaited them.

“Kyut kyut kyut. Don’t worry. The Wandering Merchant Association will issue a disciplinary action to Grid soon.”

Iona reassured the rabbits. In Iona’s view, this crime was too grave, so no matter how Grid tried, there was no way for him to keep the 55th floor of the tower.

While the rabbits were exchanging greetings like that,

“I clearly saw a very beautiful woman…”

Pluck.

[You harvested a ripe Magical Cherry Tomato.]

[67,951 harvests remained to complete the job quest.]

[Your job experience increased very slightly.]

[The proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 5 increased very slightly.]

[You gained 30 experience points.]

Se-jun was harvesting cherry tomatoes while struggling to recall the beautiful woman flickering in his mind.

“Ah. Why can’t I remember?”

Se-jun frowned in frustration. By feeling, she was an ultimate beauty who would make Sera of Moonlight Fairy, whom he liked, look like a squid.

“Will I be able to see her again? She was really beautiful.”

It would have been nice if Aileen stepped up here and said that was her, but Aileen was sleeping soundly due to the aftereffects of polymorph.

At that moment,

“Pyak!”

“Ppyu-ppyu!”

The Black Rabbit and Ppyuppyu came to find Se-jun.

“Do you have something to say?”

At Se-jun’s question, the two rabbits placed their front paws on Se-jun’s body.

“Pyak!”

[I want to go down to the 55th floor of the tower with Princess Ppyuppyu!]

“Just the two of you with Ppyuppyu? Won’t it be a bit dangerous?”

“Ppyu-ppyu! Ppyu-ppyu!”

[We will rebuild the Red Ribbon Kingdom again!]

“Mmm… Alright. Instead, I cannot allow just the two of you to go.”

According to Iona, Grid would soon be kicked out from the 55th floor of the tower, but villains were originally persistent beings who survived until the end. It could be dangerous if just the two of them went down.

Even without that, the Black Wolf tribe and Silver Wolf tribe had been summoned to protect the migrating rabbits. Mobilizing them would allow the kingdom reconstruction to be done more safely.

And

“Iona, follow the Black Rabbit and Ppyuppyu and help them.”

“Kyut kyut kyut. Yes! I was also anxious anyway. I will go together.”

Se-jun had even Iona join. With Iona’s immense magic, she could easily repel the enemies even if they all rushed in, so there would be no danger.

A moment later,

“Kyung kyung kyung. Goodbye, Lord Se-jun.”

Iona, saddened that she could not sleep soundly for a while, Iona said goodbye to Se-jun with the Black Rabbit and Ppyuppyu. The Black Wolf tribe and Silver Wolf tribe decided to meet on the 75th floor of the tower and go down together.

“Meow, meow, meow! Goodbye, Iona, meow! I will wait here, meow!”

Theo, who had become able to monopolize Se-jun’s lap all to himself, saw Iona off in a bright voice.

But

Grab.

“Meow?!”

Se-jun grabbed the scruff of Theo, who was clinging to his lap, and moved him next to Iona.

“President Park, why am I here, meow?”

“President Theo, now you must go down too.”

Since he had played a lot now, it was time to work. Theo’s bundle was already filled with crops. He just had to go down.

“Understood, meow!”

Theo answered obediently. Even he thought he had played too much lately. He needed to show his face to the humans waiting for him.

“And don’t forget what I told you.”

“Don’t worry, meow! I remember everything, meow!”

As time passed after the animals left like that,

[The harvest festival overflowing with abundance and mana ended.]

[The 1,000 rabbits summoned during the harvest festival returned to their daily lives.]

The harvest festival ended.

“It’s lonely.”

Though one might not have noticed the presence of someone when they entered, one definitely felt their absence when they left; the farm where 1,000 rabbits had departed looked extremely empty.