Chapter 58 – Winning a Supply Contract

[You have defeated 1,003,781 Red Locusts on the 67th floor of the tower.]

[6,038,811,918 Red Locusts remain on the 67th floor of the tower.]

[The population of Red Locusts on the 67th floor of the tower has increased by 7 compared to an hour ago.]

“Phew.”

Aileen was relieved as she looked at the notifications on the crystal ball. This was because the rapidly increasing number of Red Locusts had almost stopped.

“Hehehe. This is all thanks to the admirable human. When Grandfather comes later, I should tell him to give a reward to the admirable human.”

With her insufficient magic power, the only floor Aileen could currently see through the crystal ball was the 99th floor. Therefore, she could not know how the situation on the 67th floor of the tower was going.

However, even without looking, Aileen knew well that Se-jun’s role was significant in defeating the Red Locusts on the 67th floor of the tower.

[67th Floor of the Tower Red Locust Extermination Contribution]

1st Place – Park Se-jun (303,113)

2nd Place – Iona (123,812)

3rd Place – Lizardman Warrior Tamuro (11,929)

…

..

.

It was because of the contribution points displayed on the crystal ball. Thanks to that, Aileen’s depression disappeared.

Growl.

Instead, hunger arrived.

“Hehehe. I should ask the admirable human to give me food.”

Today was a day she craved something sweet.

***

The afternoon of the 228th day of being stranded.

Snap, snap.

Cuengi broke the leaves of the Sturdy Blade Green Onion.

“Our Cuengi is doing well. Doing well. Doing well.”

When Se-jun clapped and praised him,

Kkueng! Kkueeeng!

Cuengi, whose mood had improved, began to dance while singing to his own rhythm, shaking his buttocks.

And,

Pyok! Pyok! Pyok!

the black rabbit, excited by Cuengi’s dance, gave a beat with his hammer, creating a dissonance.

At that moment,

[The administrator of the tower says she wants to eat sweet roasted sweet potato chewies.]

“Don’t you see us working to handle the Red Locusts on the 67th floor of the tower instead of you right now?”

Although Cuengi and the black rabbit were riding the rhythm, and all Se-jun did was clap for Cuengi, Se-jun spoke confidently.

[The administrator of the tower says she knows your contribution well.]

[The administrator of the tower says you will be able to receive a reward when the Red Locust extermination on the 67th floor of the tower is finished.]

“Reward? What is it?”

[The administrator of the tower tells you to work hard, saying the more you contribute to the Red Locust extermination, the better the reward becomes.]

“There was a separate reward?”

You should have said so earlier. Se-jun hurriedly took out the roasted sweet potato chewies.

“Aileen, give me a quest.”

Having delivered the roasted sweet potato chewies to Aileen like that, Se-jun thought if there was a way to raise his contribution points for the 67th floor of the tower further while cutting green onion leaves.

At that moment,

“Lord Se-jun, we are back.”

Elka and the wolves, who had been delivering the Sturdy Blade leaves to the 67th floor of the tower, arrived.

Once the defense line for the waypoint of the 67th floor of the tower was made, Iona thought the urgent crisis was over and tried to return to her magic tower.

Therefore, she asked for Se-jun’s permission whether she could transport the Sturdy Blade leaves through the Traveling Merchant Association on her behalf.

“Transport? We will do it.”

Instead, Se-jun asked to be paid that cost and was having the wolves deliver the blade leaves to the 67th floor of the tower. Of course, he also received the price for the Sturdy Blade leaves. He had won the contract to supply the blade leaves.

Like that, in exchange for delivering the Sturdy Blade Green Onion leaves to the 67th floor of the tower, he received 2.5 Tower Coins per blade leaf, including the transport cost. An extremely cheap price compared to the effect of defeating the Red Locusts. However, there was a reason.

Because the leaves of the Sturdy Blade Green Onion were consumables that withered after 3 to 5 days once cut. Thanks to that, since Se-jun could sell them steadily receiving 2.5 Tower Coins per Sturdy Blade Green Onion leaf, it was not bad.

“Here is the payment.”

Elka pulled out a money pouch from inside his fluffy fur with his front paw. Inside the money pouch, 75 Tower Coins, the price for 30 Sturdy Blade Green Onion leaves, was contained.

Although it was very small compared to the money Theo earned, if the harvest of the Sturdy Blade Green Onion leaves gradually increased in the future, it was highly likely to become another source of income for Se-jun.

“Elka, well done.”

“Yes. Then, we will go down again.”

The wolves went down to the 67th floor of the tower again, carrying on their backs 200 blade leaves that Cuengi had cut. In the meantime, as he did split-planting of the roots of the Sturdy Blade Green Onions, the production of blade leaves increased several fold.

At that moment,

[Your crop has defeated a pest.]

[You have acquired 1 experience point.]

…

..

.

The message that a pest was defeated appeared. It seemed there was another attack of the Red Locusts.

Recently, as the pest extermination experience was added to the crop harvesting experience, Se-jun rose by one level and became level 20, receiving a job quest.

[Job Quest: Harvest 1,000 Crops.]

Reward: Level 21, 50 Tower Coins.

Since it was not a difficult quest, Se-jun completed the quest in two days by harvesting cherry tomatoes and was raising his experience points rapidly again.

And,

[You have leveled up.]

[You have acquired 1 bonus stat point.]

He leveled up again and became level 21. He invested the bonus stat point in magic power this time as well.

***

Westward from Se-jun’s cave.

Grrr.

The mother Crimson Giant Bear was on patrol.

At that moment,

Rustle, rustle.

The mother Crimson Giant Bear heard the sound of the intruder’s movement.

Rustle, rustle.

A tree about 10m in size was walking, moving its roots. A fellow that big was usually deep in the west and could not be met, but for some reason today, it revealed itself on its own.

Roar!

The mother Crimson Giant Bear pounced on that tree monster.

Crack.

The tree branches tried to bind the mother Crimson Giant Bear’s body, but did not hinder the mother Crimson Giant Bear’s movement at all.

Thud!

Crack.

The mother Crimson Giant Bear dug both front paws into the tree’s trunk and pulled it sideways, tearing it in two.

Crunch.

The mother Crimson Giant Bear, who broke the branches that hardened as the tree monster died, chewed up the trunk and roots of the tree on the spot.

And,

Thud, thud.

she carried a few branches and brought them to Se-jun’s cave.

***

The 1st floor of the tower, Gagel’s Tower Farm Project Headquarters.

“This is a cherry tomato?”

Michael, who hurried over after receiving the report from Thomas, the research team leader, asked while looking at the cherry tomato branches that were wriggling and moving. There was no fruit at all.

“Yes, Vice President. It seems to have mutated, perhaps because of the growth promoter.”

“Mutated? Then you should have discarded it in a hurry! Why are you still growing this?!”

Michael shouted. It was natural. Because if rumors spread that Gagel made such a strange thing, it would not be good for the company image.

“We were about to do that too. But…”

“But?”

“While removing this plant, we discovered something good. Cut the bottom part of the cherry tomato.”

Thomas said, handing a sword to Michael.

“What on earth is it…”

Slice.

Michael cut the bottom part of the cherry tomato with a displeased expression.

[You have defeated a contaminated cherry tomato.]

[You have acquired 29 experience points.]

“This is?”

Slice, slice.

[You have defeated a contaminated cherry tomato.]

[You have acquired 27 experience points.]

[You have defeated a contaminated cherry tomato.]

[You have acquired 33 experience points.]

…

..

.

Michael cut a few more cherry tomato trees as if he could not believe it.

“The tree gives experience points?”

“Yes. If we defeat the plants we grew, we can obtain experience points. Besides…”

Thomas brought a flowerpot. A small sprout was growing in the flowerpot.

“It even reproduces on its own.”

“Is that true?”

“Yes. Although it needs food, it is true.”

At Thomas’s response, a good idea came to Michael’s mind.

“Good. Plant this tree in all the land secured on the 2nd floor of the tower last time.”

“Yes. Understood.”

***

The 230th day of being stranded.

Finally, Se-jun’s brick house with a room and a kitchen was completed. Although there was no furniture yet.

“Now I will be able to sleep alone.”

Se-jun temporarily made a bed with green onion leaves and a blanket in the place he would use as a bedroom.

At that moment,

“Huh?”

In the corner of the bedroom, a wooden box the size of an apple box with a door was seen.

“What is this?”

Click.

When he opened the door,

Pyah? Pyah!

the black rabbit, who was organizing his luggage, got angry at Se-jun who opened the door without knocking.

“Sorry.”

Se-jun closed the door in a hurry.

And,

“Huh?”

He recalled the inside of the black rabbit’s house he had just seen. What was it?

While there was not even a single chair in Se-jun’s house yet, the black rabbit’s house already had a bed, dining table, and chairs.

When Se-jun thought that he should press the Wood Craftsman Gray Rabbit,

“Is this the bedroom, meow? Although it is shabby, I will stay well, meow! Because I am the generous President Theo, meow. Puhuhut.”

Theo, who was using the President Theo time pass, entered with his bundle on his back along with Cuengi and lay down on Se-jun’s bed as if it were his own.

“Cuengi, shake your feet before climbing up here from now on, meow.”

Acting as if he were the owner, he even gave a warning to Cuengi.

Kkueng!

Tap, tap.

At Theo’s words, Cuengi shook off the dirt on his soles, climbed onto Se-jun’s blanket, and lay flat on his back.

Se-jun’s blanket, which he had cleanly shaken and brought in from outside just a moment ago, was soon covered in fur by Theo and Cuengi. Rather than furniture, he was in a situation where he had to first tell the Gray Rabbit to make even a brush out of wood.

Having given up on sleeping alone like that, Se-jun came out of the bedroom and went to the kitchen.

The kitchen was built in a quite modern(?) style. He realized an island brick dining table where ingredients could be prepared and meals could be eaten, and even a 4-burner stove where the fire could be adjusted separately for each brick furnace.

“Good.”

When Se-jun looked at the kitchen with satisfaction and came out to start work again,

“Where are you going, meow?”

Pyah?

Kkueng?

Theo, the black rabbit, and Cuengi also came out and followed Se-jun around. They seemed even more excited today.

Elka, who had been delivering the blade leaves to the 67th floor of the tower, approached Se-jun who was doing farming work accompanied by the three fellows who followed him around.

“Lord Se-jun, we are back. Here is the payment.”

Elka handed the money pouch to Se-jun.

“Sure. Well done.”

“And since the Lizardmen of the 67th floor of the tower want to entrust the disposal of the Red Locusts’ corpses to us, can our Silver Wolf tribe step forward?”

“Corpse disposal?”

“Yes. Because there are too many Red Locusts’ corpses, the Lizardmen are in a difficult situation. Of course, the profits gained from there will be given to Lord Se-jun.”

With the creation of the blade leaves, the number of dying Red Locusts became overwhelmingly greater than the speed at which the Lizardmen ate them. That was fine, but the problem was that the Red Locusts ate these corpses again.

If the Lizardmen could not dispose of the overflowing Red Locust corpses, the Red Locusts would devour their companions’ corpses again and lay eggs, so they needed to be disposed of quickly.

Just in case, the Lizardmen proposed a deal to Elka, who came to eat the Red Locust corpses deliciously whenever he came to the 67th floor of the tower, offering 0.01 Tower Coins whenever he disposed of 100kg of corpses.

A deal where both sides win-win. And Elka intended to take all the Silver Wolves and go down to the 67th floor of the tower if Se-jun permitted.

“Then, of course you can.”

Even without that, since he thought three wolves were not enough as the harvest of blade leaves increased, Se-jun welcomed it if other wolves were mobilized.

Thus, the Silver Wolf tribe departed for the 67th floor of the tower to supplement their protein.