Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 23

Eileen Pritani, the great black dragon, was very happy. A human had come to her place by accident. At first, she thought it was a mistake, but now it seemed like a good thing.

Eileen thought, “I want to brag about this!” But she stopped herself. No one could know about her mistake.

“Krrng. Krrng. Krrrng.”

Humming to herself, Eileen went to the collection warehouse. The Pritani family ancestors had kept their treasures there for many years. The warehouse had magic that kept everything inside perfect and new forever.

Click.

Eileen opened the warehouse door. Inside, glass cases glowed softly, filled with treasures. Gold and jewels sparkled, and strange objects hummed with magic. It looked like a museum of wonders. If these items were sold on Earth, they would be worth billions.

Eileen quickly walked past the cases filled with treasures. She stopped in front of an empty one.

Rustle. Rustle.

Carefully, she placed her item on the display case to keep it safe. She looked at it happily.

The new item was a bag of washed apples from Yesan, with the name written in Korean.

This was the apple bag Sejun used to give her roasted sweet potato jerky. The Yesan washed apple bag was now proudly displayed in the Pritani family’s collection warehouse, which was millions of years old.

“Hehe. I want to see if the human is making anything delicious again.”

Eileen left the warehouse and sat in front of her crystal ball. She looked into it, watching Sejun’s cave.

“Oh!” Eileen hissed, her golden eyes narrowing. “That cat merchant is back! That rascal, Theo! He better not try to trick our human again!”

Eileen Pritani, the great black dragon, leaned closer to the crystal ball, her brow furrowed with worry. She watched Theo carefully, ready to roar if he tried to cheat Sejun.

Whirr!

Theo jumped down from the hole in the cave ceiling, announcing his arrival. As soon as he heard the buzzing of the poison honeybees’ wings, he shouted,

“I’m on your side, nya!”

He dashed towards Sejun and slipped into his clothes. Then, he peeked his head out from the collar of Sejun’s shirt.

“Hey! You’re stretching my neck.”

“Poison honeybees are scary, nya.”

“Don’t worry. They won’t come.”

The adult poison honeybees had already told the baby poison honeybees that Theo was on their side, so it was fine.

“Phew, that’s a relief, nya.”

Theo came out of Sejun’s clothes only after he was sure the poison honeybees wouldn’t sting him.

“Hey! Did you do it? What I asked?”

“Of course, nya! I did everything and sold everything, nya!”

Theo answered loudly.

“Then, did my family get the message?”

“I think so, nya. Here’s the contract, nya.”

Theo gave the contract to Sejun.

As Sejun grabbed the contract,

Whoosh.

Just then, the contract burst into blue flames and burned. It meant that Sejun’s message and 50 million won had been delivered to his family.

“Good job. Let’s pay you then.”

“Here it is, nya! I used 5 Top Coins for the contract and 14.2 Top Coins for the store, nya.”

Theo told Sejun how much he spent as he handed it to him.

“208.8 Top Coins?!”

Sejun was surprised. It was more than he expected.

“I met someone I could trick this time and sold things for a lot, nya!”

Sejun thought, “Theo called someone a ‘sucker’? That sounds bad. Was Theo cheating someone?” Sejun didn’t know what to believe.

“Here’s extra. It’s 10.92 Top Coins, but I’m giving you more.”

Sejun gave Theo 15 Top Coins, acting generous.

“Thank you, Sejun! And there’s this too, nya!”

Theo wanted to be praised more, so he quickly got up and turned his knapsack upside down.

Pat pat pat.

Seasonings, Churu, and items for Sejun fell out of the knapsack.

“This is?”

Rustle.

Sejun carefully took a pinch of the powder in the bag and tasted it.

‘Salty!’

The salty taste filled his mouth.

‘If I have this…grilled fish and…’

He imagined all the ways he could use the salt.

“How is it, nya?”

Theo confidently climbed onto Sejun’s lap and asked.

“Huh?!”

“Am I now CEO Theo, nya?”

Sejun realized what was happening, stroking Theo’s head and looking at the items Theo had spilled out.

There were only two seasonings: salt and pepper, and 15 packets of coffee mix. There were also about 20 one-hour CEO Theo tickets.

“Alright. You can be CEO Theo for 24 hours.”

Sejun decided to give him more time since Theo had done everything he asked.

“Great, nya!”

“CEO Theo, you’ve worked hard.”

Sejun picked up a tuna-flavored Churu, tore off the end, and held it out for Theo.

Chomp chomp chomp.

While Theo ate the Churu, Sejun looked at the items he had asked Theo to buy.

Pot, ladle, bowl, spoon, dagger. They were for cooking and eating.

Sejun first picked up the pot and looked at it.

[Cast Iron Pot]

Made of cast iron, it is strong.

The handle is wood for comfort.

Can be used by anyone.

Creator: Unknown

Grade: D

“Unknown?”

Sejun picked up the ladle and looked at it too.

[Cast Iron Ladle]

Made of cast iron, it is strong.

The handle is wood for comfort.

Can be used by anyone.

Creator: Unknown

Grade: D

The bowls and spoons were the same. All were unknown.

“That’s strange.”

Slurp. Slurp. Slurp.

Theo ate the Churu more slowly as he sensed Sejun’s mood.

Sejun picked up the dagger last. He wanted to check it and then ask Theo why the creator was unknown.

The dagger was heavy, more than Sejun expected.

[Dagger]

???

Must be level 10 or higher, and have Strength 5 or higher to use.

Creator: Unknown

Grade: E

“Huh? Why are there question marks here?”

There were only question marks where the item description should be.

Clunk.

Sejun grabbed the dagger since he could use it. Then, he cut the dried green onion leaves he used for bedding.

Slice.

The dried green onion leaves were thin but hard like wood when dried. They cut easily. It seemed good enough for cooking.

“CEO Theo, where did you get this?”

“Huh?! I bought it from the blacksmith’s gacha corner, nya.”

Theo was worried because he thought Sejun would ask about the unknown creator.

“Gacha corner?”

“That’s right, nya. The blacksmith said they were selling items at a discount, so I bought it from there, nya.”

The blacksmith told Theo to pick one from the gacha corner. They had put equipment there that they couldn’t identify. Theo had only asked for a dagger to use for cooking.

“Lower the price, nya!”

Theo tried to bargain three times at the gacha corner, like Sejun had taught him. He got the price down from 20 Top Coins to 13 Top Coins and brought back a dagger.

“Okay. Good job.”

Well, it doesn’t matter what kind of dagger it is. It’s good if it was cheap.

It was heavy, but it cut well, so it was good enough.

Just then,

[The Tower’s Administrator says that something bad might happen if you use an item without knowing what it is. They offer to identify it for you.]

“Really? Then do it.”

[A quest has been created.]

[Quest: Send the unknown dagger to the Tower’s Administrator.]

Reward: None.

Failure: Cannot identify.

[Another quest has been created.]

[Quest: Give roasted sweet potato jerky to the Tower’s Administrator.]

Reward: Identified dagger

Failure: Cannot receive the dagger.

“…Do you really need to do this?”

[The Tower’s Administrator says that items can only be sent through quests.]

[The Tower’s Administrator says they don’t want roasted sweet potato jerky!]

A strong denial means it’s true, right?

[The Tower’s Administrator wipes their lips.]

[…!!!]

I knew it.

[The Tower’s Administrator says they want to eat roasted sweet potato jerky a little, but a quest is still needed.]

“Alright.”

Sejun decided to identify the dagger. After hearing the Tower’s Administrator, he felt worried about using an item without knowing what it was. Giving a few pieces of roasted sweet potato jerky wasn’t hard.

‘I was going to give it again soon, so this is a good time.’

“Take it.”

The dagger disappeared from Sejun’s hand.

[Quest completed.]

[The Tower’s Administrator identifies the dagger.]

[The Tower’s Administrator says it’s lucky it’s not a dangerous item.]

“Really?”

Sejun took out some roasted sweet potato jerky from the leather pouch where he kept the seed potatoes.

“Here you go.”

The roasted sweet potato jerky disappeared from Sejun’s hand, and the dagger appeared.

[Quest completed.]

[You got the identified dagger – Cainz’s Training Dagger as a reward.]

“Cainz’s Training Dagger?!”

The equipment had a name! This was named equipment!

Named equipment costs hundreds of millions outside. Sejun quickly checked the dagger.

[Cainz’s Training Dagger]

Cainz, the ranger of the Red Mountain, used this dagger to train when he was young.

Black iron makes the dagger heavier than others.

A little mithril was added when making the dagger, so the blade stays sharp for a long time.

Must be level 10 or higher, and have Strength 5 or higher to use.

Creator: Blacksmith Leven (Black Hammer Tribe Dwarf)

Grade: B

Skill: [Proficiency Increase Lv. 1]

[Proficiency Increase Lv. 1]

Skills used with this dagger increase 5% faster.

The Tower’s Administrator used strong magic to see everything about the dagger. Even secrets, like who made it, were shown. Normally, the merchant group kept this information hidden.

Sejun didn’t need to ask Theo about the creator anymore.

Chomp chomp chomp.

Theo ate the Churu faster again. He knew Sejun was in a good mood.

“Sejun, scratch my back too, nya.”

Theo asked confidently.

“Alright.”

Scratch scratch.

Sejun scratched Theo’s back, thinking about Cainz’s Training Dagger. He looked at Theo differently.

What? I thought he was just a sucker… Theo has other talents.

He has golden hands, no, golden paws… The world is fair.

Suddenly, Theo’s paws looked very pretty.

“CEO Theo, do you want more Churu?”

Sejun asked, touching Theo’s plump paws.

“Of course, nya! Give it to me, nya!”

Theo said arrogantly. He had been saving his paws, but Sejun had touched them first. And then, Sejun spoke kindly.

‘Puhuhu. You, Park Sejun, are just a human, nya.’

He had tricked him. All humans love his paws, nya.

What? Why is he so rude?

Sejun didn’t like Theo’s attitude.

He didn’t want Theo to be CEO anymore.

Theo missed his chance to be CEO.

Chomp chomp chomp.

Theo didn’t know he had lost his chance and kept eating the Churu.

At that moment, the black rabbit came closer. It didn’t like Theo being on Sejun’s lap.

Pyak!

The black rabbit shouted, glaring at Theo. That’s my spot!

“What are you talking about, nya? This is the CEO’s spot, nya!”

Pyak!

The black rabbit took out its hammer and answered. I don’t know! Get out now!

Theo and the black rabbit argued over Sejun’s lap.

“Hehe. You cute things.”

It was fun to watch them, but it was time to sleep.

Snatch.

“Let’s all sleep together.”

Sejun hugged Theo and the black rabbit tightly to keep them from leaving and lay down.

“What, nya?!”

Pyak?!

At first, they tried to get out of Sejun’s arms, but soon they fell asleep, listening to Sejun’s heartbeat.

Day 161 of being stranded. Sejun, Theo, and the black rabbit shared each other’s warmth and slept soundly.