Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 31

“Why isn’t the tower opening?!”

An older man, maybe fifty years old, stood in front of the portal. His black hair was starting to turn grey at the sides. His face, usually kind, was red with anger. He shouted, staring at the portal that was still closed.

Ten years and three days had passed since his granddaughter, Aileen’s, last seizure, but the portal stayed closed.

“Lord, please calm down.”

A younger man, in his thirties, spoke to the older man. He had the same black hair and kind features, and was very handsome.

“Calm down, you say? How can I when I cannot see our Aileen!”

“Father, please keep your dignity. The other dragons are watching,” Anton said quietly, glancing at the dozens of Pritani dragons behind them. They were carrying rare medicines for Aileen’s treatment.

The older man was Kaiser Pritani, the leader of the Pritani family. The younger man was Anton Pritani, Kaiser’s son and Aileen’s father.

“They are all dragons of our Pritani family! Why shouldn’t they worry about Aileen?”

“Aileen has the blood of our Pritani family. She will get through the seizures,” Anton said calmly, like it was not about his own daughter.

“Anton, Aileen is your daughter. No dragon would blame you for showing concern,” Kaiser said, frustrated and sad that Anton seemed distant towards his own daughter, probably because the other dragons were watching.

The Pritani dragons were making big sacrifices to save Aileen.

The tower’s special room was where Pritani dragons used to take turns to become stronger.

The mana there made any dragon stronger, but the Pritani dragons had all given up their turn for Aileen.

Also, the Pritani dragons were working hard to find medicine for Aileen.

Anton felt guilty because the dragons were giving up so much for Aileen, so he didn’t want to show that he was worried about his daughter.

The tower wasn’t opening, so they had to wait for days. This made Anton feel even more guilty.

But he couldn’t send them away. Every time Aileen had a seizure, many dragons had to give her mana and medicine to fix the problem in her body.

‘Could Aileen’s dragonheart be getting better?’

If it was, that would be great, but…

Anton was happy that the portal wasn’t opening, but he couldn’t show it with the dragons waiting behind him.

“We will wait here until the tower opens.”

“Yes!”

Kaiser gave the order and looked back at the portal.

“Is our granddaughter eating well?”

Kaiser was worried about his granddaughter. He didn’t know that Aileen now liked gourmet food.

The cherry tomato field was full of tomatoes. Suddenly, more flowers started to bloom on the cherry tomato vines.

And then,

Whirr!

Honeybees flew to the new flowers and started to drink nectar.

“So, that’s how it increases the yield by 50%.”

Sejun thought the 50% increase would be an extra item when he harvested, but it wasn’t like that.

Flowers were blooming on the vines sometimes, so Sejun had to pick the cherry tomatoes one by one. But he didn’t mind, because he knew each flower would make more cherry tomatoes soon.

After he finished picking the cherry tomatoes,

“Theo, you’re CEO Teo again for the next week.”

Sejun said this to Theo, who was resting by his head before he went to sleep.

He had pulled the relic, ‘Patrick, the Saint of Earth’s Straw Hat,’ which was a great item, so this benefit was normal. He wanted to make it longer, but he didn’t want CEO Teo’s magic to stop working later.

“Re…really?! You’re making me CEO Teo for a whole week?!”

He hadn’t done anything special, but he was being made CEO Teo for a whole week! Theo didn’t know he was lucky.

Kroooooh.

While Theo was happy, Sejun had already fallen asleep.

Swoosh.

Theo, who had been by Sejun’s head, got up and climbed onto Sejun’s stomach.

And then,

Grumble.

Theo felt safe on Sejun’s stomach, which was moving up and down, and quickly fell asleep too.

The cave was quiet, and everyone was asleep.

Screech!!!

The wife rabbit’s scream echoed through the cave. She was starting to give birth.

Screech!!!

Sejun wasn’t surprised, because he had seen it before.

“Wh…what’s happening?!”

Squeak?!

Squeak?!

Theo and the baby rabbits were not calm.

“It’s okay. The little ones are coming out now,” Sejun said, sitting up and telling the rabbits to calm down.

Squeak…

Squeak…

The baby rabbits grabbed Sejun’s legs and watched the rabbit couple’s cave nervously.

And then,

Shiver shiver.

Theo was scared of something and crawled between Sejun’s legs, curling up and shaking. He was a scaredy-cat.

About an hour passed, and then,

Squeak.

Squeak.

The quiet cries of newborn baby rabbits could be heard from the rabbit couple’s cave.

Squeak!

The husband rabbit ran out of the cave to tell everyone about the new rabbits.

However,

Kroooooh.

Grumble.

Squeak.

Sejun, Theo, and the rabbits were tired of waiting and had fallen asleep, leaning on each other.

Day 179 of being stranded. New cave members were born at dawn.

Early morning.

Oong!

A baby bear poked its head out of the hole in the cave ceiling, announcing it was there, and its cry echoed through the cave.

At the same time,

Squeak!

Squeak!

The cries of the baby rabbits could be heard from the rabbit couple’s cave, as if answering.

Oong?

The baby bear tilted its head, confused by the strange sound, when,

Screech!!!

The husband rabbit, who had just put the baby rabbits to sleep and had finally fallen asleep himself, shouted angrily.

“Shhh!”

Sejun woke up and put a finger to his lips, telling the baby bear to be quiet.

Sejun added another line to the wall and quietly made breakfast. The rabbits looked at the rabbit couple’s cave and also moved quietly.

Sejun grilled two fish, picked two good green onion leaves, and two of the biggest carrots, and put them in front of the rabbit couple’s cave.

Then it was breakfast time. Everyone was tired and couldn’t sleep well, so they just ate without thinking.

“Alright, let’s get to work.”

Squeak!

The five white rabbits were full of energy and grabbed their farming tools and went to the field.

Squeak!

The black rabbit knew they needed help, so he also went to help his brothers.

And then,

“Alright, let’s go too,” Sejun said, picking up Theo.

“Huh? What do you mean? Where are we going?” Theo asked, confused, as Sejun held him.

“You did it before, right? I’ll cut the cherry tomato vines, and you pick the cherry tomatoes and put them in the sack. It might be hard for the other rabbits, but it’s easy for our CEO Teo. Right, CEO Teo?”

Sejun said, putting Theo next to the cherry tomato field.

“Of course! It’s too easy for CEO Teo!”

Theo was suddenly put to work by Sejun’s encouragement.

The rabbit couple was missing, but Sejun’s stats had increased, so he worked faster. The black rabbit and Theo also helped, so they finished all the morning tasks.

Theo even surprised Sejun by taking out his claws and cutting the green onion leaves neatly, showing how great CEO Teo was. Because of that, Theo was put in charge of cutting the green onion leaves…

At lunchtime, they left food in front of the rabbit couple’s cave and all came up to the surface to eat together. The food Sejun had left in front of the rabbit couple’s cave in the morning was gone, taken away at some point.

Lunchtime was very quiet and peaceful.

Then, they gave the baby bear three dollops of honey for dessert, and Sejun also took a break, drinking coffee.

Theo and the black rabbit climbed onto Sejun’s lap, and the baby bear hugged Sejun and started to nap.

Day 181 of being stranded. Two days had passed since the baby rabbits were born.

Tomorrow was the day the seventh Blue Moon would rise since Sejun had been stranded. Maybe because the Blue Moon was rising from midnight today, the mother Crimson Giant Bear didn’t bring the baby bear.

Because of that, Sejun and the rabbits woke up on time for the first time in a while.

“Ugh!”

Sejun got up, put Theo, who was sleeping on his stomach, down next to him, and was drawing a line on the cave wall when,

Squeak!

Squeak!

The rabbit couple came out of their cave, leaving their baby rabbits sleeping, and greeted him good morning.

And then,

Squeak!

Squeak!

The rabbits, now older brothers, came out of the other rabbit caves and greeted him.

“Yes. Good morning.”

Today, Sejun and the rabbits hurried with their work. They wanted to finish quickly and get ready for the Blue Moon.

“CEO Teo, wake up.”

“Hmm… I want to sleep more.”

Sejun put Theo in front of the green onion leaves and,

Scritch.

Went to the field and started harvesting, cutting the cherry tomato vines.

[You have harvested 8 ripe magic cherry tomatoes simultaneously.]

[Your job experience slightly increases.]

[Proficiency in Harvesting Lv. 4 slightly increases.]

[Due to the effect of Proficiency Increase Lv. 1, the proficiency of Harvesting Lv. 4 increases by an additional 5%.]

[You have gained 160 experience.]

“I’ll show you how great CEO Teo is!”

Tap tap tap.

Theo woke up and took out his claws and cut the green onion leaves, showing off to the sickle rabbit and the carrying rabbit.

The day passed quickly.

As evening came, the rabbits went into the cave and blocked the entrance, and the honeybees also blocked the entrance to the hive, getting ready for the Blue Moon.

And then,

“CEO Teo, what are you doing?”

“I’m going in here to hide from the Blue Moon.”

Theo started to squeeze into the sack. It could do more than he thought.

“CEO Teo, keep this with you too.”

Sejun gave Theo the queen honeybee’s cocoon, just in case.

Soon after, the Blue Moon began.

Krooooh!

The Crimson Giant Bear’s roar was heard.

“I wonder if the mother Crimson Giant Bear and the baby bear are okay?”

Sejun was worried about the Crimson Giant Bear mother and child, when,

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Something was coming to the cave.

“What is it?”

Clang.

Sejun was scared and held his dagger tightly.

He quickly put on earmuffs and ate 10 D-grade magic cherry tomatoes to increase his magic power by 2.

Mooooooo!

The monster roared above the cave. It was a roar he had never heard before.

“…!”

Sejun almost passed out but stayed awake.

The monster attacked above the cave, then heard another monster roar and ran towards it.

“Whew.”

Sejun relaxed, relieved, when,

Swoosh.

Blue light started to appear on the trees in the cherry tomato field. The blue light went along the stems, filling the cherry tomatoes and turning them blue.

“How many are there?”

There were more than 10. The cherry tomatoes were full of the Blue Moon’s energy.

Sejun was happy and looking at the cherry tomatoes, when,

Swoosh.

Blue light started to appear in the other fields too.

“Huh?! That’s…”

It was the cornfield, which he hadn’t harvested yet. The blue light was forming on the corn leaves and going into the corn.

Hooray!!!

Sejun couldn’t shout because the Blue Moon wasn’t over, but he raised his hands to the sky, showing how excited he was.

Day 182 of being stranded. This morning, it’s corn!