Chapter 70 – Getting Interns

As midnight approached,

“Guys, to your positions!”

Squeak!

Ppyah!

Ppyak!

At Se-jun’s instruction, the rabbits scattered to various parts of the fields.

This was because the fields had now become too wide for Se-jun to find the crops containing the energy of the Blue Moon alone.

A moment later,

Kuwerng!

As the Blue Moon rose, Mother Crimson Giant Bear was the first to be affected, beginning to grow excited.

“Aileen!”

When Se-jun hurriedly called Aileen,

[The Tower Administrator confidently says to just trust her.]

Along with Aileen’s message, a black dragon appeared in the sky.

And,

Kuaaaang!

As the roar of the black dragon resounded, the monsters on the 99th floor of the tower regained their senses.

“The moon is pretty.”

Since there was no need to worry about the monsters or the locations of the crops containing the Blue Moon’s energy today, Se-jun was able to enjoy leisure while looking at the Blue Moon floating in the sky and the black dragon Aileen flying in the sky for the first time since being stranded.

Slurp.

Furthermore, he even had the luxury of drinking coffee.

“Stroke me more, meow.”

Although it was bothersome due to Theo, who kept demanding things on his lap, it was still not bad thanks to Theo’s warmth and soft fur.

After some time passed,

Shhhhh.

The energy of the Blue Moon began to gather on the crops.

And,

Squeak!

Ppyah!

The rabbits called Se-jun, pointing to the crops that had turned blue.

“Good. Shall we start harvesting now?”

Se-jun harvested the crops containing the energy of the Blue Moon under the guidance of the rabbits.

And when he went down to the cave for the harvest,

[Master! I grew!]

Absorbing the energy of the Blue Moon, Flamie grew rapidly up to Se-jun’s waist.

On top of that, Flamie’s leaves, which had turned white and yellow after using the Flame of Purification and the Flame of Affinity, had turned about half green while absorbing the Blue Moon’s energy.

“How did this happen?”

[Because I received the Blue Moon’s energy, strength overflowed in me!]

The energy of the Blue Moon grew Flamie and shortened the cooldown time of Flamie’s flame buffs.

[Ah! Master! I found out the ability of the third leaf!]

“Oh. Really? What ability is it?”

[Wait a moment! Yah!]

The last leaf, which had remained green, turned blue, and a blue flame seeped into Se-jun’s body.

[The Flame of Protection seeped in for 3 hours.]

[The Flame of Protection protected the target.]

A single small blue flame floated around Se-jun like a will-o’-the-wisp.

“Is this the Flame of Protection?”

He touched the blue flame, but it was not hot.

[Yes! The Flame of Protection will protect Master!]

“Yes. Thank you.”

Se-jun praised Flamie, stroking its leaves.

[Hehehe. I feel good!]

Receiving the Flame of Protection buff from Flamie, Se-jun harvested the remaining crops containing the Blue Moon’s energy.

As a result, he was able to harvest 52 Magical Cherry Tomatoes and 2 Corns of Stamina from the corn field that was awaiting harvest.

The harvested Magical Cherry Tomatoes were shared and eaten with the animals, and Se-jun took all of the corn since his stamina was weak.

“Aileen, take the corn.”

Se-jun gave one of the two corns to Aileen, who could not eat crops that increased magic power for the time being to stabilize her Dragon Heart.

[The Tower Administrator is moved by your consideration in not forgetting to take care of her.]

After sharing the harvested crops like that,

“I should eat too.”

Se-jun ate the last remaining 10 Magical Cherry Tomatoes containing the Blue Moon’s energy and 1 Corn of Stamina. Thanks to that, Magic Power increased by 3 and Stamina increased by 0.3.

“Huh? The Blue Moon ended.”

Before he knew it, the blue moonlight disappeared, and sunlight was shining on the ground again. Thanks to Aileen, the 9th Blue Moon passed safely.

“Aileen, thank you.”

[The Tower Administrator says you only need to trust her.]

Since there was still some time until morning, everyone closed their eyes for a bit.

And,

Whoosh.

“Argh! What is that, meow?!”

A blue flame fiercely attacked Theo as he happily jumped onto Se-jun’s belly. It was the Flame of Protection.

“Meow?”

Whoosh.

The Flame of Protection, which attacked whenever he tried to get close to Se-jun.

“Do you dare to try to take away Park Se-jun’s knee, meow?!”

Theo was furious at the appearance of a new competitor targeting Se-jun’s knee.

“Meow!”

Whoosh.

The standoff between Theo and the Flame of Protection continued.

However,

Flicker…

As time passed, the buff time of the Flame of Protection ended, and the blue flame faded.

“Puhahat. It’s my victory, meow!”

Theo lifted his chin and tail high, walked around on Se-jun’s lap in a victor’s pose, and then climbed onto Se-jun’s chest.

And,

Tap. Tap.

Theo lightly tapped Se-jun’s cheek a few times with his front paw.

“Puhahat. Chairman Park, it is revenge, meow.”

It was Theo’s timid revenge. Having completed his revenge like that, Theo took his place on Se-jun’s belly again and fell asleep.

Zzzzz.

Purrrr.

Fortunately, the Branch Scouts, who disturbed their sleep, did not appear until morning.

***

“Upsy-daisy!”

Se-jun woke up after sleeping for 4 hours and started his day.

“Representative Theo, move away! Sweat is building up!”

“I don’t want to, meow!”

Se-jun said in irritation while harvesting cherry tomatoes. For some reason, Theo’s obsession with his knee was even worse today.

Normally, he would wander around other places once in a while and return, but today, he clung tightly for several hours and wouldn’t leave.

“Sigh. Then move to the left knee.”

“Understood, meow!”

When Se-jun sighed and offered a compromise, Theo only then moved to Se-jun’s opposite knee.

While Se-jun was harvesting cherry tomatoes with Theo hanging onto him like that,

“Lord Se-jun, we have arrived.”

Elka arrived with 9 wolves, dragging 5 carts full of Red Locust carcasses. Elka was helping with the transport work, traveling back and forth between the 67th floor of the tower and the other wolves before Theo left for the trade.

“Thanks for coming. Let’s eat first. Cuengi, pull the carts to the front of the house.”

Cueng!

At Se-jun’s instruction, Cuengi transformed into a giant, grabbed two carts in each hand, and dragged them to the front of the house.

And Se-jun scooped soup from the kitchen, which had been boiling for 24 hours, and gave it to the wolves.

“Lord Se-jun, thank you for the meal!”

While the wolves were eating like that,

“How is the 67th floor of the tower lately?”

Se-jun asked about the situation on the 67th floor of the tower.

“Lately, as the pattern of the Red Locusts’ movements changed, the Lizardmen and independent mercenaries have been struggling.”

Since most of their kin died even before fighting because of the Blade Leaves, the Red Locusts moved much larger forces than before.

And the Red Locusts covered the Blade Leaves with their carcasses. It was the quantity war, which was the specialty of the Red Locusts.

Due to this, the Red Locusts no longer paid attention to the Blade Leaves, and the allied forces on the 67th floor of the tower had to fight a difficult battle again.

Thanks to this, the order quantity of Blade Leaves increased, and lately, the wolves repeated the task of bringing Red Locust carcasses in carts in the morning and evening, and carrying Blade Leaves and Seph’s Soup.

“Here is the payment for the Blade Leaves and Seph’s Soup.”

Elka took out money and handed it to Se-jun. Because of the wolves, Se-jun’s balance was increasing even when Theo did not go on a trade trip. The problem was that there was no place to spend the money…

“It’s not dangerous, right?”

“You don’t have to worry. The Red Locusts have never invaded near the waypoint so far.”

“Then that’s a relief. Would you like another bowl?”

“Yes! Thank you.”

At Se-jun’s question, the wolves wagged their tails happily and answered.

And,

“We will head down now.”

“Yeah. Take care.”

The wolves, who ate another bowl of soup, loaded the pots containing Blade Leaves and Seph’s Soup onto the carts and went back down to the 67th floor of the tower.

“Representative Theo, the other side.”

“Understood, meow.”

Se-jun, who saw off the wolves, moved Theo to his opposite knee and visited Woo Chun-sam. He had intended to make the Oren gang suffer a bit more, but he changed his mind.

***

The muddy field on the 99th floor of the tower.

Moo~

Moo~

Thousands of Black Minotaurs sang pleasant songs while scooping mud and putting it into brick molds of 2m in length, 1m in width, and 1m in height to make mud bricks.

If they just made 10 of these and brought them to Se-jun, they could eat a pile of delicious green onion leaves instead of tasteless mud, so they were excited.

These giant mud bricks had been made since a few days ago to build a fortress wall to block the attacks of the Corrupted Ents.

And,

“Argh!”

“Ugh!”

A little distance away from those Black Minotaurs, Oren and his subordinates were diligently scooping mud and putting it into brick molds.

Their once clean fur had mud stuck all over it, turning them into beggars. Since they barely made 10 mud bricks a day even with all of them working, even grooming time was a waste.

“Sniff. How did I end up making bricks…”

Oren sobbed in resentment.

When they woke up from their sleep after eating their fill of the grilled fish sold by the grey rabbits,

“Huh?”

“Eh?!”

Before they knew it, the grey rabbits disappeared, and fearsome Black Minotaurs approached them and began to make them work.

In this way, the 10 cats became slaves of the mud brick factory.

“We will go home and bring money! Please let us go!”

Oren and the cats held onto the Black Minotaurs and appealed, but,

Moo.

They only answered that it was not within their authority.

While the cats were making mud bricks for the third day as if they would die,

Moo!

“Pardon?! The expert who will appraise the items has arrived?!”

The cats were moved to think they could escape this mud brick work.

And Se-jun appeared in front of those cats.

“Take out the items first.”

Se-jun said, stepping forward.

“Yes.”

Honestly, there was nothing to look at, but it was a procedure for one more round of hopeful torture.

Rummage. Rummage.

The cats took out the items that were in their bundles.

“All of these items are trash.”

“Pardon?!”

At the words of Se-jun, who looked at the items half-heartedly, the cats despaired.

“All of them are worthless items. You probably heard that they are magic-infused items, right? You were swindled.”

‘Puhahat. How is it, meow? Park Se-jun’s harsh tongue? Hurry up and wail!’

Theo, who overheard those words while hanging on Se-jun’s back, shivered with the pleasure of revenge.

And,

“Sob sob.”

As Theo expected, the cats began to cry.

However, the revenge started now.

“As you know, according to the contract you signed, the mud bricks you have to make to pay back the grilled fish cost is 100,000. But think about it, how many bricks are you making a day?”

“10 bricks…”

Oren answered weakly.

“Right. Then it will take you at least 10,000 days to make 100,000 bricks. But can you work all that time without eating anything?”

“No…”

“Right. Then the debt will become larger, and you will have to make more bricks. You will probably have to make bricks here until you die.”

The cats’ faces turned pale. According to Se-jun’s words, their lives were over here.

“However, I will give you a chance.”

Se-jun held out 8 new contracts.

“A chance?!”

“Working as interns for our farm’s distribution department for 10,000 days to pay back the debt.”

The cats examined the contracts carefully. The contents of the contracts were decent. Carrying items in bundles for 10,000 days, and they could even receive one grilled fish every day.

“We’ll do it.”

The cats quickly stamped their paw prints, fearing this good opportunity would disappear.

“W-what about me?”

Oren, who was the only one who didn’t receive a contract, urgently called Se-jun out of fear that he alone would be left behind.

“Here.”

Se-jun handed the contract to Oren. One detail was added to Oren’s contract.

The right of the representative of the distribution department to freely take three items from Oren’s house.

Since he heard Oren’s house was rich, Se-jun put in this detail, trusting Theo’s golden front paw.

“Here it is.”

Oren stamped his paw print on the contract and handed it to Se-jun.

There were plenty of expensive items in his house anyway. If he had asked for a huge amount of money, he would have hesitated, but giving about three items from the house wouldn’t greatly reduce the family’s fortune.

When the cats stamped their paw prints and handed the contracts to Se-jun like that,

“Interns! Welcome, meow! I am Representative Theo of the distribution department, meow!”

Theo climbed onto Se-jun’s shoulder, crossed his arms, and spoke arrogantly.

“Huh?! You are Theo?!”

Startled upon seeing Theo, Oren pointed his front paw and spoke.

“An intern is impolite to the representative, meow!”

Tap tap tap!

Theo beat Oren with his front paw and grew angry.

“Interns, follow me, meow! There is a lot of work to do in the future, meow!”

Representative Theo’s exciting revenge began. And Se-jun was able to escape from his damp knees.