Chapter 52 – Planting Strawberries and Cheongyang Chili Peppers

Aileen was recently fully immersed in the pleasure of feeling the beats of her Dragon Heart, which was beating on its own. Even though she did not eat anything, her Dragon Heart was beating.

Thump…

“Oh! It’s beating!”

Thump…

“It’s beating again!”

Although it was very slow, it was beating steadily. Although the beat was still too weak to even think of accumulating mana, Aileen was so happy just because her Dragon Heart was beating.

“This is all thanks to that admirable human! By the way, what is that admirable human doing? I, Aileen Pritani, the Great Black Dragon, should be looking after him…”

When her thoughts turned to Se-jun, Aileen became curious about him. She did not know if he might be using an unidentified item that could be dangerous in the meantime. Or if he was eating something delicious alone…

“Eek! I can’t forgive that!”

Eating something delicious except for her! Just thinking about it made her angry.

At that moment,

“Huh?”

[You have achieved the achievement of replicating the forgotten tower dish, Sweet Potato Mattang.]

[You have achieved the achievement of replicating the forgotten tower dish, Potato Mattang.]

“Hehehe. Replicating a new dish for me! The admirable human did another admirable thing! I should ask him to give it to me quickly!”

Aileen hurriedly ran to the crystal ball.

However,

[Unread notifications have exceeded 1,000.]

[Please clean up the notifications.]

The notifications from the crystal ball hindered Aileen.

“Sheesh! I’m busy!”

Aileen quickly skipped the notifications without even reading them. Although there were red notifications signaling warnings among them, she skipped them in a flash with the single-minded determination to eat the new dish quickly.

And,

“Hehehe. Shall I, Aileen Pritani, the Great Black Dragon, check what the admirable human has made?”

Aileen hurriedly checked what Se-jun was eating through the crystal ball.

***

When Se-jun’s stomach was somewhat full,

[The administrator of the tower salivates, saying she came after hearing the rumors of the Sweet Potato Mattang and Potato Mattang.]

Aileen’s message appeared.

“You should have answered when I called you earlier. It has all cooled down.”

[The administrator of the tower says she had a busy matter.]

“Sure. Give me a quest.”

[A quest occurred.]

[Quest: Serve Sweet Potato Mattang and Potato Mattang to the Administrator of the Tower.]

Reward: Aileen ate the food very deliciously.

On Rejection: Aileen felt very disappointed.

“I packed it in a pot covered with a lid in the cave. You can just take that.”

With Se-jun’s words, the quest was completed.

[The administrator of the tower says thank you so much for letting her eat something delicious.]

[The administrator of the tower says it is so sweet and overflowing with strength.]

Overflowing with strength? It must be because she ate the Sweet Potato of Strength and the Potato of Strength. Se-jun and the animals were also overflowing with strength now.

“Yes. Eat a lot.”

After having lunch and taking a nap with Theo, the black rabbit, and Cuengi, Se-jun began planting the sweet potato vines that he could not finish in the morning again.

In the afternoon, the other rabbits who finished their own work joined in, and as they planted the sweet potato vines together, the sweet potato field was quickly completed.

[You have created a 2,500-pyeong sweet potato field.]

[You have acquired 5,000 experience points.]

“Whew. It’s finished. Now, to the green onion field…”

As Se-jun was about to move to the green onion field,

Pyah!

The black rabbit called Se-jun to go pull up the seafood.

“Understood.”

When Se-jun went down to the cave, there was something he had not seen before in front of the pond. It was a net made of green onion leaves.

“Did you guys make this?”

When Se-jun asked, looking at the Gray Rabbits,

Squeak!

Squeek!

Squeak!

Pyang!

“Huh?!”

Among the Gray Rabbits nodding at Se-jun’s question, the sole female rabbit was together with them. To be precise, she was clinging tightly to the side of the Architect Rabbit.

He wanted to ask what had happened with the Sickle Rabbit, but they were still young. It was an age when the heart went this way and that multiple times a day.

When he was thinking that he should instead give a carrot to the Sickle Rabbit later as a token of consolation,

Splash!

Pyah!

The black rabbit went into the pond carrying the net and called Se-jun. I am going in now!

“Understood!”

Se-jun gripped the rope.

After a moment,

Tug! Tug!

A signal of pulling the rope twice came.

“Hup!”

Perhaps because a lot was packed into the net, the weight was considerable. Se-jun exerted all his strength and pulled up the net. Fortunately, from the middle, the black rabbit reduced the weight by moving the seafood packed in the net to the pond.

The number of piranhas and crayfish pulled up with the net like that was approximately 100. Although it was hard work, he could scoop out the seafood more comfortably than before.

“Let’s do it a few more times.”

Pyah!

At Se-jun’s words, the black rabbit entered the water without delay. Although about 100 was a sufficiently large amount, since there was a limit to preventing spoilage no matter how low the water temperature was, he thought it would be better to eat them quickly.

Besides, they had the Crimson Giant Bear mother and cub who were always short on food. There was no worry as useless as worrying about leftover food.

Like that, Cuengi and the mother Crimson Giant Bear were able to fill their stomachs with the meal Se-jun served for the first time.

Kruuung.

Kkueeeng.

Krung.

Kkueng.

Thud, thud. Thud, thud.

Having eaten their fill for dinner, the mother Crimson Giant Bear, whose mood had improved, returned home with a joyful stride along with Cuengi.

Se-jun caught seafood again with the black rabbit. Since he had decided to catch it quickly anyway, it was to give it to the wolves of the Silver Wolf tribe as well.

In the meantime, under Se-jun’s instructions, the Gray Rabbits made bags out of green onion leaves that the wolves could carry.

They were bags that could carry loads on both sides of the body, which he also intended to use for Theo’s merchant trip later.

With the bags made like that, the wolves carried the piranhas, crayfish, and eel flesh and went down to the 85th floor of the tower. Since they had to leave on a merchant trip with Theo tomorrow morning, today was the only time.

Thus, a busy day passed by.

***

Kkueng!

Today as well, Cuengi announced his arrival with a vigorous cry.

“Huff.”

Scratch.

Se-jun added a stroke to the cave wall, starting the morning of the 215th day of being stranded.

“Today is already the day the seed shop opens. I wonder what will come out.”

Se-jun prepared to work, looking forward to the seeds he would buy today.

Crunch.

He settled breakfast simply with a raw sweet potato and a few cherry tomatoes, and then began the work. He planned to plant potatoes today.

Chop, chop.

Se-jun placed the potatoes on a flat stone that had come out tilling the field on the surface and cut them.

“He said that an eye must be attached like this, right?”

Instead of cutting them into four pieces unconditionally, Se-jun cut them into two to four pieces of appropriate sizes so that the eyes of the potatoes were not too concentrated.

Previously, he could not have a conversation because he could not communicate with the Husband Rabbit, but since he could communicate with the Husband Rabbit, he was able to hear more detailed farming knowledge.

Tumble.

Se-jun scooped the cut seed potatoes with both hands and put them into a cross bag made of green onion leaves. Because the Gray Rabbits’ dexterity was good, if Se-jun told them the style he wanted, they made it as similar as possible.

Like that, Se-jun began planting the seed potatoes next to the sweet potato field he had planted yesterday.

Of course, he called Cuengi and asked him to clear away the green onion leaves covering the empty field.

Kkueng!

Rejoicing that Se-jun gave him work, Cuengi diligently carried the green onion leaves. To be precise, he was rejoicing in the honey he would obtain after finishing the work.

Stab.

Se-jun stabbed the ground with his dagger to make a space, took out a seed potato from the cross bag, and planted it so that the eye faced upward. Since the amount that went into the cross bag was not that much, Se-jun walked back and forth, planting potatoes diligently.

And when he had planted about half of the potatoes,

[The seed shop opens.]

[Park Se-jun’s grade is Ordinary.]

[4 kinds of seeds to be sold today are displayed at random.]

[At the current grade, you can purchase as many seeds as you want within 5 Tower Coins.]

The seed shop opened, and the seeds that could be purchased today appeared.

[1 Fire Bean Seed – 5 Tower Coins]

[20,000 Carrot Seeds – 4 Tower Coins]

[100 Strawberry Seeds – 0.5 Tower Coins]

[100 Cheongyang Chili Pepper Seeds – 0.5 Tower Coins]

“Fire bean seed?”

It cost a whopping 5 Tower Coins for just one. Although he had enough money, because of the condition that he had to buy within 5 Tower Coins, if he bought the fire bean seed, he could not buy the rest.

“Hmm… after all, it’s the taste I know.”

Se-jun’s worry was short. Instead of buying one thing whose taste he did not know, he decided to buy multiple things he knew well.

[You have purchased 20,000 Carrot Seeds.]

[You have purchased 100 Strawberry Seeds.]

[You have purchased 100 Cheongyang Chili Pepper Seeds.]

[A total of 5 Tower Coins is withdrawn from Seed Bank Park Se-jun’s account.]

[50 Seed Shop mileage points are accumulated.]

[A total of 56 Seed Shop mileage points has been accumulated.]

Clink.

Three leather pouches containing seeds appeared in Se-jun’s hands.

[Thank you for using the Seed Shop.]

[30 days later, you can use Seed Shop Lv. 2 again.]

“I have more to plant now.”

Although the work had increased, Se-jun’s face was bright. Strength surged within him at the thought of eating strawberries and Cheongyang chili peppers.

“I should leave the carrot seeds to the rabbits.”

A vast field reclaimed by the Black Minotaurs and Shovel Rabbits over the past few days was ready, and given the rabbits’ passion for carrots, they would plant all the carrot seeds even if they had to cut back on sleep.

When Se-jun finished planting all 4,000 potatoes and finished planting all the strawberries and Cheongyang chili peppers in the cave,

“Lord Se-jun, we have arrived.”

The wolves returned after giving food to the wolves on the 85th floor of the tower.

“Take a short rest.”

Se-jun let the wolves who had suffered to go to the 85th floor of the tower take a short rest, detached the bags tied to the wolves, and went down to the cave.

And,

“Representative Theo.”

He called Theo, who was eating Churu hard in the corner.

Chwap, chwap, chwap.

“What is it, meow? Is it break time, meow?”

Theo, who was eating Churu, ran toward Se-jun’s lap.

“No. Let’s pack this together.”

Se-jun walked to the warehouse with Theo hanging from his lap. Then, together with Theo, he packed the cherry tomatoes harvested yesterday into the bags.

Since the bags carried by the wolves did not have preservation magic on them like Theo’s bundle, they packed the ones harvested most recently.

Like that, he put the six bags, each containing 100 cherry tomatoes, back onto the wolves.

“Have a safe trip, Representative Theo.”

“Understood, meow! I will sell out everything again and return, meow! Underlings, let’s go now, meow!”

“Lord Se-jun, we will be back.”

“Yeah. Have a safe trip, Elka, Boldo, and Kishu.

Theo and the wolves went down the tower, saw off by Se-jun.

“Whew. Now I should prepare lunch.”

Se-jun went to the pond and, together with the black rabbit, scooped out piranhas and crayfish with the net.

Although they were still edible, unlike yesterday, the eyes of the piranhas had become slightly cloudy, suggesting that decay was progressing, so he thought he had to hurry. In any case, even if they went bad, he had the Green Onion of Detoxification, so there was no worry of food poisoning.

“However, I don’t want to go that far to eat them.”

Thinking such thoughts, Se-jun pulled up the net.

“Heave-ho!”

What was pulled up with the net this time was a chunk of eel flesh.

Pyah!

The black rabbit came into the pond, took a breath, and went back out of the pond.

And when he cut the eel flesh into small pieces with a harpoon made of Se-jun’s dagger and put them into the hole, the other rabbits took the eel meat to the fireside and grilled it.

Even after that, the black rabbit only scooped up chunks of eel flesh in the net.

“Does the black rabbit want to eat eel?”

When Se-jun was thinking such thoughts,

“Uh?! Ugh!”

Tug!!

The rope connected to the net began to be pulled so strongly that Se-jun’s body was about to be dragged along.