Farming in the Tower Alone [EN]: Chapter 54

Floor 75 of the Tower. Sunlight streamed into the high office, but it did little to brighten the mood. Dust motes danced in the golden rays, unnoticed by the three figures gathered around the large, polished table. Mason, the fox beastman chairman of the Wandering Merchant Association, nervously shuffled papers, his bushy tail twitching with unease. Across from him, Hannibal, the tiger beastman leader of the Free Mercenary Association, leaned forward, his striped fur bristling slightly. And beside Mason, Iona, the small hamster beastman who chaired the Wizard Association, wrung her tiny paws, her whiskers trembling. These were the leaders of the Tower’s most powerful groups, and today, worry hung heavy in the air.

“It has already been five days,” Mason began, his voice low and serious. “Five days since the Red Locusts appeared on the 67th floor. My merchants on that level… the reports are terrible.” He pushed a parchment across the table. “Two-thirds of the floor, they say, is already ruined. The Lizardmen are fighting hard, defending the Waypoint, but…” He trailed off, shaking his head.

Iona sighed, a small, worried sound. “Why… why hasn’t the Great Black Dragon helped? Usually, it’s so quick to intervene.”

“Frankly, I’m not sure,” Mason admitted, his tail twitching faster. “But we can’t just sit here and wait. We might face another Great Famine, like the one that haunts our nightmares from a century ago. People starving in the streets, chaos everywhere…”

Hannibal nodded grimly. “That’s right. It’s only a matter of time before the Waypoint is captured. If the Red Locusts take the Waypoint on the 67th floor, they’ll be moving up to the higher floors soon enough.”

The leaders knew what that meant. If the locusts captured the Waypoint on the 68th floor, the next target would be the 69th floor, home to the Draken Great Farm, one of the Tower’s five major granaries. This wasn’t just a problem for the Lizardmen.

If the food supply dwindled, distribution would decrease, prices would rise, and those who couldn’t afford food would starve or turn to banditry. The entire order of the Tower would collapse. They had experienced it once, and the memory was etched in their minds.

“The Wandering Merchant Association will provide supplies worth 1 million Tower Coins,” Mason declared, his voice firm despite his worry.

“The Free Mercenary Alliance will dispatch 10,000 free mercenaries,” Hannibal added, his striped fur bristling with determination.

“The Seven Great Magic Tower Association will send 200 War Mages,” Iona offered, her small voice filled with resolve.

And so, reinforcements departed for the 67th floor of the Tower, their mission to stop the Red Locusts before it was too late.

Just then, a cheerful humming drifted down the path – “Meow meow meow.” The hunters stiffened.

“He’s coming,” one hissed, peering around the corner of the rough stone wall. They crouched lower, drawing rusty knives. They had been waiting impatiently for hours.

As Theo rounded the bend, humming happily and his bundle of red tomatoes bouncing gently on his back, the hunters sprang. “NOW!”

But even as they lunged, two shadows moved faster. With fierce growls that echoed off the stone walls, two silver wolves appeared as if from nowhere, placing themselves between Theo and the attackers. “GRRRR,” one wolf snarled, its teeth bared. “How dare you threaten Representative Theo!” The other wolf stepped forward, its eyes glowing with a dangerous light. “You fools will regret this.”

The hunters froze, their eyes wide with terror. The very scary intent radiating from the wolves was like a physical blow. They stumbled back, dropping their knives, their faces pale. One hunter whimpered, falling to his knees.

“Meow meow meow. Money is rolling in, meow!” Theo purred, unfazed by the chaos around him.

He quickly took out a contract and, with a mischievous glint in his eyes, pressed the hunters’ thumbs onto the document while they were still paralyzed with fear. Heh heh heh. Since you targeted me, I’ll take a lot of money from you!

In Theo’s mind, the idea was simple: ‘enemy who attacks me = existence that gives me money’.

“Heh heh heh. Park Se-joon said my life is worth 10,000 Tower Coins, meow!”

“You guys stay here and make sure they pay you 10,000 Tower Coins each when they wake up, meow!” Theo instructed the wolves.

“Yes,” the wolves responded, their eyes still fixed on the terrified hunters.

Theo left the hunters to the wolves and began transferring the cherry tomatoes from the wolves’ bags into his own bundle. He munched on a few as he worked, enjoying the sweet, juicy flavor.

“Then I’ll be off, meow,” Theo said, adjusting his bundle and continuing down the path towards the trading place, already calculating his profits.

Day 220 of being stranded.

Moo!

At last, the mud bricks and mud arrived near Se-joon’s cave. The Gray Rabbit architect, with a “Beep!”, directed the Black Minotaur, who carefully placed each brick with a resounding “Moo!”

Scritch scritch.

Se-joon and the Gray Rabbits worked diligently, applying mud around the bricks, filling the gaps between them. The smell of damp earth filled the air, and the sun beat down on their backs as the outside wall of the spacious house began to take shape.

They placed bricks underneath, creating a space for a fire. Se-joon was building an underfloor heating system to warm the house and keep it cozy, especially on damp days.

After stacking several layers of bricks, the house reached Se-joon’s waist height.

But someone was watching with sad eyes.

Kooeng…

It was Kooeng. The door of the house was too narrow for him to enter.

“Dad doesn’t even think about me…” Kooeng thought, his big eyes filled with longing. “I want to shrink and go into the house too…”

Just as Kooeng’s heart sank, a strange warmth spread through him. He blinked, feeling lighter. Looking down, he gasped. His paws were getting smaller! His fur seemed to ripple and shrink inwards. A dizzying sensation washed over him.

“Kooeng?!” he squeaked, his voice higher than before. He watched in amazement as his body continued to shrink, becoming smaller and smaller, until he was the size he remembered from long ago.

With a joyful bark, Kooeng bounded towards Se-joon, eager to show him. “Dad, I shrunk!” he yipped, leaping forward.

WHUMP!

“Ugh!” Se-joon grunted, knocked off his feet by a sudden, heavy weight. It felt like being slammed by a boulder. He tumbled backwards, landing with a soft thud in the thick green leek field. The leeks cushioned his fall, their sharp, oniony scent filling his nostrils.

Dazed, Se-joon lay there for a moment, then felt a wet, rough tongue licking his face. He opened his eyes to see Kooeng, small again, but still solid and heavy, wagging his tail excitedly.

“Umm… Kooeng?” Se-joon mumbled, pushing himself up, leeks clinging to his clothes. “What… what happened to you?”

“Kooeng! Kooeng!” Kooeng barked happily. “[I don’t know! I just… shrunk!]”

Just then, Se-joon frowned, noticing something odd above Kooeng’s head. A faint shimmer, like heat rising from hot ground, flickered around the words floating there. He squinted, focusing on the name. It wasn’t the same. The letters were different…

“Honey Bear?”

Kkuengie had evolved into a Honey Bear.

“So, it can’t get any bigger now?” Sejun asked, worried. He felt that if Kkuengie grew too large, the mother Crimson Giant Bear might scold him, or even worse.

Kkueng!

Kkuengie shook its head, then returned to its original size. But then, it grew even larger, reaching 5 meters.

Kkuengie had been making itself small all this time. It just wanted to be small and stay close to Sejun.

“Oh!” Sejun watched in amazement as Kkuengie freely changed its size.

“Huh?!” Then, Sejun realized this was an emergency. The cave’s storage!

Until now, Kkuengie couldn’t enter the cave, so the crops were safe. But if Kkuengie started going in and out, the storage would be in danger.

“Black Rabbit!” Sejun called, looking down at the cave.

Pyak!

The Black Rabbit, who was busily hunting in the pond, hopped up to the ground.

“Stay with Kkuengie from now on. Got it?”

Pyak!

Kkueng!

They both answered Sejun energetically and ran off excitedly. Where were they going? Sejun meant for them to watch Kkuengie, but they seemed to think it was a command to play together.

With Kkuengie being watched, Sejun went down to the cave to prepare lunch.

Today’s menu was stir-fried squid. When Sejun went down, he saw that the Black Rabbit had already caught and prepared 30 squids in the pond. That Black Rabbit is so helpful.

Scritch. Scritch.

Sejun cut the squid into bite-sized pieces.

Then, he heated the pot and added the last lump of eel fat.

Sssssss.

The fat melted, turning into oil with a savory smell.

Chop chop chop.

Sejun chopped green onions, put them in the oil, and started making green onion oil. When the scent of green onions filled the air, he added the squid and cooked them together.

He cooked it for about 10 minutes. When the squid was cooked and turned white, he added chili powder and other seasonings, then added carrots and mixed them in.

A little later,

[You have completed Spicy Stir-fried Squid.]

[Cooking Lv. 2 proficiency slightly increases.]

[Due to the Proficiency Increase Lv. 1 effect, Harvesting Lv. 2 proficiency increases by an additional 5%.]

[The Spicy Stir-fried Squid recipe is registered in Cooking Lv. 2.]

He gave boiled squid and salt to the White Rabbit and Gray Rabbit, who couldn’t eat spicy food. Sejun, the Black Rabbit, and Kkuengie ate the spicy stir-fried squid together. The savory smell of stir-fried squid filled the cave, a mix of the sea and spice.

“Aileen, do you want to eat?”

Aileen, Sejun’s special plant, hadn’t been responding well lately.

“Is something wrong?” Sejun worried about Aileen.

Pyaak…

Kkueng…

The Black Rabbit and Kkuengie, who had finished eating, came to take a nap. Kkuengie, now able to climb onto Sejun’s lap, settled down with the Black Rabbit.

Pyarorong.

Kkurorong.

They quickly fell asleep.

When break time was over,

“Kuh-euh.”

Sejun’s leg, which had been under Kkuengie, was numb, and he couldn’t move for a while.

Later that day, far from Sejun’s peaceful cave, excitement was brewing at the trading place.

“Humans, I have arrived, nyaa!” Theo appeared at the trading place, ready to acquire 10,000 Top Coins.

However,

‘Why are there so few, nyaa?’ There were fewer hunters waiting than he expected—only about 30 people.

Just as Theo’s good mood was about to disappear,

“Theo, please wait a moment.”

“Yes. My teammates are coming.”

“It will take about 10 minutes.”

“Wait? For *me*? Doctor Theo? Well, alright! I’ll wait one hour, nyaa!”

“Oh? Oh. Okay.”

Theo was a generous cat and waited for an hour, even though he was angry.

“Yes, it’s me! Come quickly!”

“Come quickly! Theo is here!”

The hunters hurriedly contacted their colleagues who had gone hunting nearby using their hunter phones.

As more hunters waited, the team leaders talked and decided to set up a camp. It was a waste of time to just wait. So, one or two members from each team stayed to wait for Theo, while the rest continued hunting.

After a while, the hunters returned. Nearly 300 hunters gathered for the trade.

The Royal Knights Guild and the Wizard Guild, which were closely watching the Phoenix Guild, also joined the auction.

“There are many hunters,” Leon said, looking at the crowd. Because Theo waited an hour, Leon, who was doing the antidote quest on the 36th floor, could also participate.

Since he brought the Magic Cherry Tomato home, his wife had been treating him much better, so he was determined to get more.

‘Puhuhu. There are many customers, nyaa.’ Theo smiled at the 300 hunters.

“Today, I will sell a total of 6,000 C-grade Magic Cherry Tomatoes, 500 at a time, through auction, nyaa!”

“What! C-grade?!” The hunters were excited. It had been a month since the D-grade Magic Cherry Tomatoes were released. Research on the D-grade tomatoes was just starting, and people were amazed by their effects. But C-grade?

“350 Top Coins for 500!”

Had anyone even checked the options yet?

Leon called out the price without looking at the options. He wanted to quickly win the bid and get back to his quest. The auction for the Magic Cherry Tomatoes began at 0.7 Top Coins per tomato.

“500 for 600 Top Coins, sold, nyaa!” The first auction ended with Leon buying the Magic Cherry Tomatoes at 1.2 Top Coins per tomato.

“Here you go, nyaa!” Leon received the C-grade Magic Cherry Tomatoes from Theo and checked the options.

“Huh?!” Leon’s eyes widened at the option that increased magic power by 0.5. Not 0.3, but 0.5?! If he ate 10, his magic power would increase by 5.

Leon remembered the A-grade item, the Sharp Fangs Sword of the Poisonous Spider, which he had stored because he lacked 5 magic power to use it. If he equipped the sword, his hunting speed would be three times faster.

‘I’ll buy all the rest!’

“650 Top Coins for 500!” Leon forgot about winning just one. He wanted more! He quickly bid again.

The hunters, seeing Leon’s change of heart after checking the options, actively joined the auction. Theo earned 8,900 Top Coins.

As the auction ended and the hunters were about to leave,

“I have one more item to sell today, nyaa! It’s the Detoxification Green Onion, nyaa…” Theo hesitantly took out the Detoxification Green Onion from his bundle.