Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 27

The mother Crimson Giant Bear was overjoyed to find her cub again. She nuzzled him close, her large head dwarfing his. “You’ve grown so big!” she rumbled, her voice a deep vibration in the air. “Where did you eat so well?”

The cub *had* grown. His fur seemed glossier, his eyes brighter. The mother bear sniffed the air, her nose twitching. A sweet, unfamiliar scent clung to her cub. Instinct told her this smell was important, *good* for him.

“What is that sweet smell?” she asked, her voice softer now.

“It’s honey, Mom!” the cub chirped, bouncing with excitement. “Sweet honey from the humans’ house! It was *this* much!” He stretched out his small arms, trying to show her a size as big as a water bottle.

The mother bear wanted to try the honey herself, but she held back for her cub. Seeing her cub’s explanation, she knew a small amount wouldn’t satisfy his hunger.

The mother bear decided to find the humans’ house. She wanted to get honey for her cub.

She also thought it would be good if the humans gave her cub food. Seeing her cub grow more when he was with them, it seemed the humans had plenty of food.

After searching the area for several days, she found the humans’ house. The mother bear offered the humans a deal: protection in exchange for honey. She thought this was the best way to get honey regularly.

The mother bear was confident she could protect the area around the humans’ house because no monster wanted this desolate land.

Occasionally, monsters would cross the wasteland, but she could easily chase them away just by patrolling her territory.

But as she wondered how to explain her offer to the humans,

[The administrator of the tower says they will convey the message to the humans.]

…!

The Tower Administrator, who hadn’t done much before, suddenly helped make the deal with the humans.

Seeing even the Tower Administrator stepping in, the mother bear thought there was something special about the humans.

And so, the deal was made.

The distance from her nest to the humans’ house was quite far, so traveling that long distance every day was very tiring even for the mother Crimson Giant Bear, who was about the height of a 10-story apartment building.

But she didn’t hesitate to travel the long distance in order to feed her cub honey.

Kroooooh!

Today, the mother Crimson Giant Bear was taking her cub to the humans’ house for honey, wondering where she should take a nap while patrolling.

Thankfully, the humans also looked after her cub and even provided lunch.

The mother Crimson Giant Bear’s steps grew lighter as she headed to the humans’ house. Like any mother, she was happy to have someone else provide food for her child.

“Oof!”

Sejun woke up and got out of bed. He added another mark to the wall, counting his 173rd day of being stranded. It was the third day since he made a deal with the mother Crimson Giant Bear.

Whirr!

Screech!

Squawk!

Chirp!

While greeting the poisonous honeybees and rabbits in the morning,

Ooooh!

The cub also greeted from the hole in the ceiling of the cave, announcing his arrival. The mother Crimson Giant Bear hurried out to patrol as soon as she dropped off her cub.

“Yeah. Did you sleep well?” Sejun asked.

Ooooh!

The cub replied and waved to the black rabbit. “I’m here!”

Chirp!

The black rabbit also waved coolly. “Wait, I’ll catch fish and bring them up for lunch!”

Sejun washed his face and

Munch munch.

Crunch.

He finished breakfast with roasted sweet potato strips and carrots with the rabbits.

And quickly started the morning farming. Now that there was a field on the ground, there was so much to do.

Sejun quickly cut the green onion leaves and started harvesting cherry tomatoes, and the wife rabbit picked cherry tomatoes from the cherry tomato branches that Sejun harvested.

Meanwhile, the sickle rabbit and the carrying rabbit carried the green onion leaves that Sejun cut, and the watering can rabbits quickly watered the crops.

And

Chirp!

Squeak!

The black rabbit caught a piranha. They were catching more fish now, ever since the cub’s arrival seemed to attract more piranhas.

He was worried that the piranha population might decrease because he was catching too many, but looking at the number of piranhas attracted by the pheromones, it seemed there were still enough.

Lastly, two shovel rabbits went up in advance to make a field.

But the situation was very different from the fertile land underground.

Dig. Dig.

The shovel rabbits dug the ground, filtering out small stones to make a field.

Ooooh!

Thankfully, the cub thought it was a game and turned over the ground like a forklift with his front paws and removed the rocks, so the work sped up.

As the morning passed and lunchtime approached,

Chirp!

The black rabbit called Sejun to move the piranhas. And Sejun, the black rabbit, and the mother rabbit prepared lunch together. They planned to only light fires in the cave until they were sure the ground was safe.

As the smell of fish rose to the ground through the cave hole,

Sniff sniff.

Ooooh. Ooooh.

The cub started to whine that he was hungry. The smell seemed to stimulate his appetite.

“Wait a little,” Sejun said.

But

Ooooh! Ooooh!

The cub kept crying that he was hungry.

“Here, wait while eating this.” Sejun threw a sweet potato to the cub and told him to be quiet. And he put sweet potatoes and carrots in the bag he had brought during the vanishing.

The remaining rabbits strung together 40 uncooked piranhas.

And

“Pull!”

Sejun, who was ready, put on his bag, held two strings of raw piranhas and five grilled fish in one hand, grabbed the rope, and shouted. He went up to the ground on the cub elevator to eat lunch with the cub.

Hop!

Hop!

The rabbits hurriedly climbed onto Sejun’s body.

Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!

Knowing that Sejun was bringing up his meal, the cub pulled the rope hard. After hearing what he did when lifting himself up, he always pulled the rope with that rhythm. A bear riding a 2-beat rhythm, one might say?

Sejun came up to the ground.

About 5m away from the cave hole, there was a huge rock as tall as Sejun that hadn’t been there before. And the end of the rope was tied to the rock.

Thanks to the rock that the mother Crimson Giant Bear brought at Sejun’s request yesterday, he was able to secure the rope.

Sniff sniff.

Ooooh!

The cub put his nose to the piranha in Sejun’s hand, smelled it, and got excited.

“Uh-uh! Wait!” Sejun said sternly.

Ooooh!

The cub hurriedly stepped back and sat down. “I’m waiting!”

Although the cub had already grown as tall as Sejun, that unique cuteness still remained.

Sejun and the rabbits quickly prepared the meal while the cub waited and started eating.

“Okay, let’s eat now.” Sejun said.

Gobble gobble.

Ooooh!

The cub made a happy sound while eating the piranha. “Delicious!”

Afterwards, the cub ate honey for dessert, approached Sejun, who was resting while drinking coffee, and had a comfortable nap time with the black rabbit, using Sejun’s lap as a pillow.

“I feel like I’ve been robbed of something,” Theo said.

Feeling strange, Theo arrived on the 38th floor of the tower.

“Humans, I have arrived, nya!”

“The wandering cat merchant has arrived!”

“Theo is here!”

The hunters who had been waiting eagerly for Theo greeted him happily. In the meantime, rumors about the magic cherry tomatoes had spread widely, and about 40 hunters were waiting for Theo.

Four out of the ten teams from the Phoenix Guild were waiting for Theo here. Interest in the magic cherry tomatoes was growing even hotter.

“Today, I will auction off a total of 1800 magic cherry tomatoes, 300 each, nya!” Theo announced.

Theo was upgrading his knapsack every time he received an incentive from Sejun. He received grilled fish as a weekly wage, so he didn’t have to spend money on food, and he invested all his money in upgrading his knapsack.

Thanks to this, the capacity of the knapsack increased, and the knapsack, which could only hold 1500 cherry tomatoes at first, was now large enough to hold 1800.

“25 tower coins for 300!”

“27 tower coins for 300!”

The auction was fierce, but the prices weren’t as high as last time.

That way, Theo earned 220 tower coins by selling 1800 magic cherry tomatoes.

“Theo, let’s take a picture together! I brought both Churu and coffee,” a hunter said.

“Me too! I brought Churu and chili powder!” another added.

Female hunters came to take pictures with Theo, bringing Churu, the seasoning powder Sejun wanted, and coffee mix.

“Good job, nya. I also groomed and dressed up, nya! Get in line, nya!” Theo said.

Theo lined up the hunters, took pictures one by one, let them touch his paws, and put the items he received in his knapsack.

‘Puhuhu. I can occupy Park Sejun’s lap for a day this time, nya!’ Theo thought.

Theo hurried up the tower to occupy Sejun’s lap as soon as the photo time was over.

And when he arrived on the 50th floor after moving through the merchant passage connecting the 40th and 50th floors,

“Help me!”

He heard a voice nearby asking for help.

Halt.

Theo’s steps stopped for a moment at the voice asking for help.

But suddenly, what Sejun had said came to mind.

Sejun gave Theo several warnings so that he wouldn’t become a pushover while wandering around, and one of the things he emphasized the most was to just pass by if someone asked for help on the street.

It was a heartless instruction, but Theo was the type to save someone who fell into the water and have his knapsack stolen without even receiving a thank you.

‘That’s right! Park Sejun told me to just go, nya!’ Theo thought.

Theo ignored the voice asking for help and went straight into the merchant passage connecting the 50th and 60th floors.

“What?”

Looking at Theo’s tendencies in the shopping district, I thought he would 100% help. That’s why I asked for help…

Zeras’s plan to ‘accidentally’ meet the cat merchant had failed.

After eating lunch and taking a break, Sejun went down to the cave once more and brought up 100 sweet potatoes and 10 carrot tops.

And he planted the sweet potatoes and carrot tops in the small field that the shovel rabbits had made as a test. The soil looked too barren, so he didn’t plant cherry tomatoes.

The shovel rabbits had already made holes to plant, so Sejun just buried the sweet potatoes and covered them with soil.

[You have planted sweet potatoes.]

[Due to the effect of Seed Sowing Lv. 3, the probability of sweet potatoes taking root increases.]

[Job experience slightly increases.]

[Proficiency in Seed Sowing Lv. 3 slightly increases.]

[Due to the effect of Proficiency Increase Lv. 1, proficiency in Seed Sowing Lv. 3 increases by an additional 5%.]

As Sejun was diligently planting sweet potatoes,

Ooooh?

The cub tilted his head, watching Sejun’s actions. Why bury something to eat in the ground?

Ooooh!

Thud! Thud!

The cub, realizing something, dug in the ground, took out the sweet potatoes Sejun had planted, ate them, and followed Sejun.

Crunch.

Crunch.

“Huh?!” Sejun said.

Sejun, who was diligently planting sweet potatoes, looked back at the strange sound coming from behind him.

And he made eye contact with the cub who was eating sweet potatoes deliciously.

Ooooh!

The cub looked at Sejun with a smug expression. “I found them all!”

“No! You!” Sejun’s voice rose.

Sejun was frustrated because of the cub who was finding and eating sweet potatoes from the ground, thinking it was a food-finding game.

Chirp!

The black rabbit, who was catching piranhas in the cave, heard Sejun’s voice and came up to the ground.

Ooooh?

The cub, still not understanding, tilted his head. “What did I do wrong?”

Chirp!

The black rabbit started teaching the cub what he did wrong.

On the 173rd day of being stranded, the cub learned about the meaning of planting.