Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 458

Hanson leaned back, patting his stomach. “Whew,” he sighed. “That was truly excellent.” He had eaten three juicy grilled sausages already, and his hand hovered over the platter, wanting just one more. He lowered it with a look of defeat. *I want more… but I really shouldn’t,* he thought sadly.

“Eat some more,” Theo purred, watching him with narrowed eyes. “Such a pity to stop now, meow.”

Sejun and Theo exchanged glances. They both felt a different kind of regret. The more Hanson ate, the longer they could keep him working for them.

“Um…” Hanson began, about to ask about the price.

*Chuck!* Theo slammed a paw down on the table, making Hanson jump. “Phoo-hoo-hoo!” Theo cackled, a truly villainous sound. “Nothing in this world is free, meow! Let’s calculate the price of those three delicious sausages, shall we?”

Sejun stepped forward, folding his arms and grinning in a way that didn’t reach his eyes. “That’s right,” he said, his voice smooth but firm. “We only take payment *now*.”

Theo pointed a paw at Hanson. “Become a worker on our Citrus Farm!”

“Become a slave to Chairman Park, meow!” Theo finished, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

Both of them stared at Hanson, their expressions intense and a little scary.

However,

“Of course. Food can’t be free. How much is it?”

“Meow?!”

“Huh?!”

Contrary to their expectations, Hanson pulled out a coin pouch, ready to pay for his meal.

Hanson had brought money to buy supplies if he encountered a merchant guild outside.

He’s paying for his meal so willingly, meow?! We can’t make him a slave like this, meow!

Theo had enslaved many people before, but this was new for him.

Chairman Park, what do we do, meow?! A slave with an unrotted face is trying to escape, meow! Do something, meow!

Theo frantically tugged at Sejun’s trouser leg, gazing up at him with wide eyes.

Don’t worry, Vice Chairman Theo. Trust me!

Sejun stepped forward with a confident expression, giving a thumbs-up.

But,

Phoo-hoo-hoo. Chairman Park, I understand, meow!

Theo misunderstood what Sejun meant and nodded quickly.

“Huh? Understand wha…”

Sejun didn’t even have time to finish his question.

Stomp.

Theo, producing a five-tiered slave seal from seemingly nowhere, stamped it onto the back of Hanson’s hand.

“Huh?!”

Theo stamped Hanson’s hand. A paw-shaped mark, glowing with a faint blue light, appeared on his skin. It looked like a brand, marking him as a slave.

[Hunted 1 slave.]

[All stats increased by 1 due to the effect of >Title: Slave Hunter>.]

[Now commanding 1 slave.]

[All stats increased by 0.01 due to the effect of >Title: Slave King>.]

Thanks to the new slave, Theo and Sejun’s stats increased, and Hanson was forcibly employed by Sejun Company.

***

‘Such delicious food must be expensive, right?’

Hanson tensed as he watched Sejun step forward.

The money I have now…

As he calculated his funds in his head,

Stomp.

Theo stamped his hand again.

And

[Stamped with the Five Towers Slave Seal.]

[A debt of 50 billion Tower Coins is incurred, payable to Theo Park, the target of the Black Tower.]

[If 50 billion Tower Coins cannot be repaid, you must work as a slave until the debt is cleared.]

[3,000 Tower Coins in possession are forcibly seized.]

[The remaining debt is now 49,999,997,000 Tower Coins.]

Hanson’s money vanished, replaced by an astronomical debt. He was shocked and confused.

“Phoo-hoo-hoo. Hanson is now a Citrus Farm slave until he pays off his debt, meow! What about his pay, Chairman Park? How much should we give him?”

What is this nonsense…

As Hanson was about to protest to Sejun and Theo,

“Hmm. How about a salary of 100,000 Tower Coins, and food—about 150 cherry tomatoes a day?”

The salary was higher than elsewhere, but it would all be taken back anyway.

Instead, they gave him plenty of magical cherry tomatoes, favored by the elves of the Golden Tower.

What?! 150 cherry tomatoes?!

Hanson’s mind raced at Sejun’s words.

Elves are only given a small amount of food now. Usually, an adult elf eats five cherry tomatoes in one meal.

150 cherry tomatoes is enough food to ration to 30 adult elves.

If I hold out for a few days, I can harvest cherry tomatoes…

“Um… Sejun, could I possibly get a month’s worth of cherry tomatoes in advance?”

Hanson, desperate for food, asked Sejun if he could get a month’s worth of cherry tomatoes upfront, his eyes pleading.

4,500 cherry tomatoes is a difficult quantity to obtain, no matter how much money one has.

He had heard a rumor about a golden cart bringing many cherry tomatoes from the Golden Tower, but he thought, *It’s probably just a story.*

Hanson shook his head, recalling the words of an elf from another village he’d met while searching for food a few days ago.

The only place in the Golden Tower that could sell that many cherry tomatoes was the Damon family.

“Sure. I’ll give them to you after we finish up later.”

“Yes! Then what should I do first?”

Indeed, the Damon family!

Hanson, perked up at Sejun’s permission, jumped up, eager to find work.

Hanson still believed Yuren was the real power and that Sejun and Theo were merely in charge of practical matters.

“First, move the lightning-struck trees and lightning stones around here.”

“Yes.”

Following Sejun’s instructions, Hanson greeted the others and began moving the items into his subspace warehouse.

A few hours later.

“Hanson, good work. Do you have a place to sleep?”

“Yes. But… can I really take all of this?”

Hanson, having also been treated to dinner, asked as he rapidly packed the remaining roasted sweet potatoes, his hands a blur.

“Of course. Take it all.”

I baked extra for you to take.

Seeing Hanson’s poor food situation, Sejun had deliberately made plenty for him to take.

“Alright. Come back by tomorrow morning. And here are 30 days’ worth of cherry tomatoes.”

Sejun handed Hanson a box containing 4,500 cherry tomatoes.

“Thank you, Sejun!”

Hanson, having realized that Sejun was the real power while working together, bowed to Sejun and carefully but quickly returned to the village.

***

Golden Tower, 35th floor.

Damon Family Merchant Guild Branch.

“Yuren knows?”

Magin, who had been listening to his subordinate’s report with his eyes closed, opened them and asked.

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. What can Yuren, that pushover, do even if he finds out? If he comes to complain, we can scam him again. More importantly, what about the task I assigned?”

“We are doing the final touches.”

“Good. Soon, the elves on the 35th floor will starve to death.”

This is all your own doing.

Magin smirked, imagining the events to come.

In the past, the elf and pig tribes entered the tower together when a world called ‘Kroon’ collapsed.

The two races lived together in the world of Kroon, but their treatment was vastly different.

The gods favored only the elf tribe, with their perfect beauty. They loathed the pig tribe, who were ugly, fat, and defecated.

The pig tribe was always treated poorly.

However, the situation reversed upon entering the tower.

The gods who favored the elves disappeared, and while the pigs could freely roam the lightning-struck areas, the elves could not.

Thanks to this, the pig tribes formed merchant guilds and visited the elves who had built villages in caves to avoid the lightning.

They accumulated vast wealth by selling necessities at high prices and buying surpluses cheaply.

Moreover, unlike the pig tribe, who could use their feces to make compost and replenish the soil, the elves continued to plant crops inside the caves without compost.

The soil’s fertility gradually decreased, and production fell sharply.

As the gap between the elf and pig tribes widened,

“Let’s avenge what we’ve suffered from the elves!”

Extremists among the pig tribe began to emerge, demanding the extermination of the elves who had once scorned them.

And Magin Damon was the leader of the Elf Killers, an extremist group advocating for the extermination of the elves.

“Good. Take me to the place where the work is being done.”

“Yes!”

Magin, guided by his subordinate, moved to personally inspect the final operation to exterminate the elves.

And the place they headed to was a vast basin shaped like an overturned straw hat.

***

The next morning.

“Oink oink oink. Sejun, the work is finished! I’ll activate the magic circle! Ignition!”

Iona, who had been constructing a large lightning protection magic circle around the Citrus Farm since yesterday, poured magic power into the circle.

Then,

Oooooong.

Iona poured magic into the circle. With a hum, lines of light on the ground flared, and a shimmering, transparent wall rose up above the Citrus Farm, like a giant invisible box protecting it from the sky.

Kwagwang!

And began to block the lightning falling from the sky.

“Iona, good work.”

“Oink oink oink. Yes!”

“Then let’s eat breakfast and head to the waypoint. Everyone!”

Having failed to find anything suspicious yesterday but succeeding in finding the waypoint, they decided to register the waypoint first.

Yesterday, he had asked Hanson if there was anything special nearby, but Hanson had never ventured far from the village due to the lightning and knew nothing.

“Phoo-hoo-hoo. Chairman Park, quickly grill some fish, meow!”

Koo-heh-heh-heh. Koo-eng!

[Heh heh heh. Koo-eng is helping prepare breakfast!]

Hee hee. Kking!

[Hee hee. Give me food!]

At Sejun’s call, the group gathered around him.

A short while later.

As Sejun was enjoying breakfast with his group,

“Sejun, good morning.”

Hanson arrived for work.

“Huh? Who’s behind you?”

“I thought it would be difficult to manage the Citrus Farm alone later, so…”

Bringing 20 elves with him. It’s okay for Hanson to be efficient, but maybe hint at him talking to other elves and convincing them, rather than just showing up with 20 elves suddenly. This would show his character more.

All the elves had come with the determination to keep their families from starving, even if it meant becoming slaves themselves.

Hoo-hoo. Since the chairman is excellent, handsome employees gather on their own.

Sejun smiled to himself as he watched them.

Meanwhile,

“Phoo-hoo-hoo.”

Stomp.

Theo stamped the elves, increasing Sejun and his own stats.

“If you haven’t eaten breakfast, come and have some.”

“It’s alri…”

As Hanson was about to decline the food Sejun offered,

Grumble.

“I… I’m sorry!”

A sound came from the stomach of an elf behind him.

The elves had eaten five cherry tomatoes for breakfast, but it was far from enough.

“Eat plenty. You can’t work hard on an empty stomach.”

“Thank you.”

“We will enjoy the meal!”

The elves each took an ear of corn from Sejun and began to devour it.

“Then take good care of the farm.”

“Yes. Leave it to us!”

After leaving the farm in the elves’ care, Sejun and his group went to the waypoint.

“Who are you?! Huh?! You’re Yuren?!”

Nelly, the red pig who was the boss of the 35th floor of the Golden Tower and third on Yuren’s blacklist, was taken aback upon discovering Yuren.

Just so you know, Nelly owed Yuren 10 trillion Tower Coins.

“Yuren, long time no see. But does your lord know that you’ve come to the Golden Tower?”

Nelly, briefly startled by Yuren, thought he had found Yuren’s weakness and asked with a sly grin.

“No… he doesn’t know…”

Yuren’s voice shrank, confirming that he had indeed come secretly.

“I thought so. Yuren, what are friends for? I’ll keep your visit to the Golden Tower a secret. But there’s something I want to buy these days, and I’m short on funds…”

Nelly pretended to care about Yuren and asked to borrow money.

Of course, as soon as he received the money, he planned to run to Magin and report that Yuren had returned to the Golden Tower.

However,

“Really? But I don’t have any money either.”

Yuren, who had never deviated from Nelly’s expectations until now, gave a different answer.

“What?”

“And there’s no chance my dad will find out I’ve returned. Because Nelly, you’re going to become a slave.”

This was not the King Pushover Yuren of old.

“What?! How dare you try to make me a slave?! I’ve been lenient because you’re a direct descendant! I’ll show you the true meaning of pain!”

Rumble.

Whoosh.

Nelly roared with rage. His body swelled, muscles bulging, and flames erupted around him, turning him into a giant, burning pig-monster.

“I didn’t say I would do it… Theo, please. 50-50, you know?”

“Phoo-hoo-hoo. Don’t worry, meow!”

Theo, warming up while talking to Yuren.

At that moment,

Koo-eng!!!

Whack!

Oink!!

The giant Koo-eng struck the giant Nelly with a lightning rod.

Koo-heh-heh-heh. Koo-eng!

[Heh heh heh. Koo-eng helped big brother, so give me 100 Tower Coins!]

Theo, giving Koo-eng 100 Tower Coins.

Koo-heh-heh. Koo-eng!

[Heh heh heh. Koo-eng earned 100 Tower Coins!]

As Koo-eng happily put the money he received from Theo into his allowance pouch,

Phoo-hoo-hoo. Now I’ll receive 5 trillion Tower Coins and get praised by Chairman Park, meow!

Stomp.

Theo stamped Nelly’s footprint on the slave contract with a sinister grin.