Chapter 35 – Emergence

“Meow meow meow.”

As soon as Theo came out of the passage leading from the 60th floor to the 50th floor, humming a song,

“I must hurry, meow. The humans are waiting, meow!”

he quickly entered the passage leading from the 50th floor to the 40th floor with fast footsteps.

“Is it that guy?”

As soon as Theo disappeared, three hidden silver wolves appeared. They were of the Silver Wolf tribe, whose tribe had earned money for generations by working as free mercenaries in the tower.

Currently, they had accepted a request from Grid, the great landlord of the 55th floor, and were chasing a stolen item of Grid’s. It was a simply designed straw hat. It was an item that could be easily obtained anywhere.

They didn’t know why Grid, the great landlord, wanted a plain straw hat. But it didn’t matter. Because they were mercenaries who moved for compensation.

Like that, their entire tribe moved, and the only clue they found was one. That one of the fences had handed over the straw hat along with other stolen goods to a blacksmith shop in the shopping district on the 75th floor.

While tracking the straw hat with that single clue, an employee of the blacksmith shop remembered who had bought the straw hat.

“Some yellow-furred cat traveling merchant bought it from the drawing corner.”

They had tracked the yellow-furred cat traveling merchants like that, obtained information that Theo would appear here, and had been lying in wait.

“Chief Elka, what shall we do?”

“For now, we continue to follow.”

Although they were mercenaries, due to the agreement between the Free Mercenary Association and the Traveling Merchant Association, mercenaries could also use the merchant passages if they paid a usage fee.

Like that, the three silver wolves followed Theo into the merchant passage.

And,

“Why the Silver Wolf tribe?”

Jeras, who was also waiting to tail Theo, quickly entered the merchant passage as well.

Theo headed for the 38th floor, where the humans were waiting, without even knowing he was being tailed.

***

The 186th day of being stranded.

After eating lunch, Se-jun took a nap on the surface with the Black Rabbit and the baby bear, and then went down to the cave.

And,

Slash.

while he was harvesting by cutting cherry tomato branches,

Squeak.

Pyaa.

the husband rabbit approached with the sickle rabbit and pointed to the cornfield. The corn plants were in a state where only green stalks were lush, as the corn harvest had ended.

“Why the cornfield?”

Se-jun had been leaving the corn plants alone because he didn’t know whether corn would grow again like cherry tomatoes or if he had to cut them down completely and replant.

Pyaa!

The sickle rabbit went to the cornfield and made a gesture of cutting the bottom of the corn plants.

“Ah, you mean I have to cut this?”

Squeak.

The husband rabbit nodded. It seemed they had to cut them and replant.

Like that, Se-jun finished harvesting the cherry tomatoes and cut down the corn plants.

Slash. Slash.

Se-jun tied the cut corn plants with ropes and moved them to the surface. Lately, he had been covering the areas where crops were planted with green onion leaves and cherry tomato branches.

The reason was to prevent moisture from evaporating under the sunlight. Doing this allowed him to delay the watering time a bit, which gave him the leeway to use that labor elsewhere.

“Pull!”

Kku!eng! Kku!eng!

The baby bear pulled up the corn plants, which were tied in bundles of 40. Like that, he moved a total of 139 corn plants to the surface in four turns.

Se-jun carefully spread the corn plants on the field where the peanuts were planted, ensuring they didn’t cover the parts where peanuts were sown. And he laid the remaining corn plants widely over a field prepared in advance.

And when the work was finished,

Kuuuong.

the mother Crimson Giant Bear came to pick up the baby bear.

Kkueng!

The baby bear waved to Se-jun from on top of the mother Crimson Giant Bear’s head.

“Goodbye! See you tomorrow.”

Se-jun also waved to the baby bear, went down to the cave, wrapped up the remaining tasks, and went to bed.

***

The next morning.

Kuuuong.

Unlike usual, the mother Crimson Giant Bear, not the baby bear, woke Se-jun up.

“Mmm… What is it?”

[The administrator of the tower conveys that the Crimson Giant Bear says there are traces of another monster around the cave.]

To Se-jun’s question, Aileen answered instead.

“Another monster?”

Even if he didn’t know, the rabbits, who had sensitive hearing, had been quiet all night…

[The administrator of the tower conveys that the Crimson Giant Bear says they seem to be horned fellows.]

“Horned fellows?”

As soon as Se-jun heard the word ‘horned,’ he wondered if it was the monster that had made several 7-meter-deep pits during the Blue Moon.

“Then it’s serious…”

Se-jun went up to the surface for now and looked around. Fortunately, the fields were not ruined like before.

Instead,

“Uh?!”

the corn plants and other materials that had covered the fields were all gone.

***

Woo Chun-sam was wandering around looking for delicious grass under the command of the Bull Demon King.

At that moment,

Sniff, sniff.

A fragrant smell drifted from somewhere.

What was this?

Woo Chun-sam cautiously entered the wasteland area. This was a useless area where no one claimed territory.

However, because it was no one’s territory, all monsters could pass through, so he needed to be careful. Even now, the scent of Red Fur was strong, as if she had passed by not long ago.

Woo Chun-sam walked stealthily without making a sound and arrived at the place where the fragrant smell was coming from.

And seeing that the grasses with the fragrant smell were discarded on the ground, he eagerly picked them up.

I’ll be praised by the boss.

Woo Chun-sam returned to his territory with both hands full of grass.

Like that, all the corn plants, green onion leaves, and cherry tomato branches that Se-jun had laid out to prevent moisture from evaporating were stolen.

***

Kuuuong!

The mother Crimson Giant Bear informed Se-jun of the monster’s intrusion and went out on patrol. Today, she planned to focus her patrol in the direction where the horned fellows were.

With the mother Crimson Giant Bear gone like that, Se-jun fell into thought.

“For now, let’s consider it fortunate.”

Although it was a mystery why the monster took the corn plants and other things laid on the ground, he decided to be satisfied that no one was hurt.

However, there was no guarantee it wouldn’t happen next time, so he needed to prepare.

“Indeed, I need the power to protect myself.”

What Se-jun thought of as a preparation was the poison honeybees. Se-jun had been thinking of a way to protect the surroundings by increasing the number of poison honeybees from before.

The number of poison honeybees in the cave was rapidly increasing, now exceeding 200. Although it was still a number that could hardly deal with even a single monster, if they kept increasing, they would become a level that could sufficiently threaten monsters.

Thinking like that, Se-jun approached the rock where the rope was tied and quietly took a spot in front of where the poison honeybee queen’s cocoon was.

Today was the day the poison honeybee queen inside the cocoon would emerge.

Since the description of the poison honeybee queen’s cocoon said she would consider the first target she saw after emerging as her master, Se-jun planned to take a break from farming today and wait here until the poison honeybee queen’s emergence ended.

When Se-jun carefully opened the green onion leaves covering the pit where he had placed the poison honeybee queen’s cocoon and looked inside,

Rustle. Rustle.

the poison honeybee queen was struggling to come out of the cocoon.

“Cheer up.”

Se-jun quietly cheered for the poison honeybee queen and closed the green onion leaves.

Se-jun made sure no one lingered around, and to avoid disturbing the poison honeybee queen’s emergence, he ate dried roasted sweet potatoes that he could eat quietly along with coffee, waiting for the emergence to end.

Fearing that the emerged poison honeybee queen might say she was hungry, he also prepared honey and a cherry tomato branch with flowers.

Like that, how much time had passed since Se-jun took his spot and waited?

Buzz. Buzz.

A delicate sound of wing fluttering began to be heard from inside the pit where Se-jun had placed the poison honeybee queen’s cocoon.

“Could it be?!”

When Se-jun slightly lifted the green onion leaves,

Buzz. Buzz.

the poison honeybee queen slowly flew up from the pit and made eye contact with Se-jun.

[You successfully emerged the poison honeybee queen’s cocoon.]

[The newly born poison honeybee queen succeeded in recognizing you as her master.]

[The proficiency of Beekeeping Lv. 2 increased significantly.]

[The proficiency of Beekeeping Lv. 2 is full, and its level rises.]

Buzz. Buzz.

The poison honeybee queen rubbed her body against Se-jun’s hand, expressing affection.

And whether she was hungry, she approached a cherry tomato flower and began to suck nectar.

“Eat a lot.”

Sucking nectar, the poison honeybee queen, who would protect the surroundings of the cave, recovered her body.

***

This was discarded in the wasteland?

Yes. Boss.

Well done.

Thank you!

Woo Chun-sam felt extremely good at the Bull Demon King’s praise.

Crunch, crunch.

The Bull Demon King was astonished while chewing and eating the grasses Woo Chun-sam had brought. Every single one was sweet and tender.

To think such grasses were in the abandoned wasteland. He wanted to send his subordinates to occupy the entire wasteland, but the amount of grass was too small for that.

The amount of grass placed in front of the Bull Demon King was only one-tenth of the amount Se-jun had had stolen. The rest…

Burp. I’m sorry, Boss.

Woo Chun-sam burped and apologized to the Bull Demon King. Woo Chun-sam, who had been hungry while bringing the grasses, had eaten them until his stomach was full. Thanks to that, the event of the Bull Demon King sending his subordinates to the wasteland did not occur.

Woo Chun-sam, go back to the wasteland and bring more of this grass.

Yes! Boss!

At the Bull Demon King’s command, Woo Chun-sam set off for the wasteland again. Of course, since he was full, it seemed he should first go to some quiet place and get some sleep.

***

The 38th floor of the tower.

Five days had passed since the hunters waited for Theo. Most of the hunters had given up on trading and returned, and only two teams who really needed the Cherry Tomato of Mana remained.

“Could he really have gone to another floor?”

“No. There might have been an issue with supplying the goods.”

While they were thinking of various situations where Theo wouldn’t come,

“Humans, I have arrived, meow!”

Theo appeared.

“He’s here!”

“Theo, why did you come so late?!”

The hunters welcomed Theo warmly.

“I’m sorry, meow. There was some business. But what’s this, meow? Has my popularity cooled down, meow?”

Theo had expected many humans who would cheer at the D-grade Cherry Tomato of Mana to be shown new this time, but his ears drooped at the smaller number of humans than expected.

“No. Everyone wanted to come, but we only came through drawing lots in case you would feel uncomfortable.”

“Is that so, meow? There’s no need for that from now on, meow.”

At Kim Dong-su’s words, Theo’s ears came alive again.

“Yeah.”

Kim Dong-su also told a white lie for this pitiful cat without realizing it.

‘Why did I do that?’

Kim Dong-su himself could not understand his own behavior. Seeing Theo get disappointed made him want to cheer him up somehow.

While Kim Dong-su, who didn’t know he was becoming a butler, was trying to understand his behavior like that,

“The Cherry Tomato of Mana sold today is special, meow!”

“I know. That’s why we came to buy special cherry tomatoes.”

“No, meow! This time it is even more special, meow! It is a D-grade Cherry Tomato of Mana, meow!”

“What?! D-grade?”

The eyes of the hunters, who at first thought of it as Theo’s cuteness, changed. A higher grade in the tower meant the effect was that much better. The hunters thought they did well to wait.

“Could we see the options?”

“I want to see it too!”

“Me too!”

The hunters crowded around Theo, vying to see the options of the D-grade Cherry Tomato of Mana.

“Human! Line up, meow!”

Theo lined up the hunters and had them check the options of the Cherry Tomato of Mana one by one.

“It’s really D-grade.”

“It breaks down 20g of fat?”

“The magic power increase also rose to 0.2.”

“The expiration date is 60 days.”

Once the hunters checked all the options,

“Today, I will sell a total of 2000 in auctions, 400 at a time, meow.”

Theo declared the start of the auction.

“70 Tower Coins for 400!”

“90 Tower Coins for 400!”

In just two bids, the price of the D-grade Cherry Tomato of Mana instantly exceeded 0.2 Tower Coins per unit.

The hunters called out high prices without thinking about money. The D-grade Cherry Tomato of Mana was an item that had not yet been released to the outside even once. Considering its rarity, this transaction was definitely a business where they could make more than double the profit.

The price soared terrifyingly, and each D-grade Cherry Tomato of Mana sold for approximately 0.3 Tower Coins,

“Sold out, meow!”

Theo sold the 2000 D-grade Cherry Tomatoes of Mana, received a total of 612 Tower Coins, and his total sales amount exceeded 1000 Tower Coins.

‘Puhuhu. Finally, I am becoming a mid-level traveling merchant, meow! Now I don’t need to be intimidated by Park Se-jun, meow!’

Theo was finally able to stand proud before Se-jun.