Chapter 79 of 100

Chapter 79. This is My Territory, Meow!

7 min read1,845 words

Sejun decided that if he was going to build a waterway, he would make it a proper one.

And

"Alright, first, I'll lift the fountain and stack bricks underneath."

The first step of the construction was to increase the height of the fountain, where the water flow begins. This was necessary to add thrill... no, acceleration, so the water could travel further.

However, to do this, he first needed to lift the massive fountain with a diameter of 100 meters.

'I need the help of Lord Kaiser or Lord Anton.'

"Hey..."

Sejun called out to the black dragon statue.

-What is it...

Kaiser's voice, full of irritation, echoed.

'Good.'

Honestly, it was easier to talk to Kaiser than Anton. Sejun had a surefire card to get Kaiser's help easily.

"Lord Kaiser, don't you want to talk to Eilin?"

-You insolent Park Sejun! Do you think the great black dragon Kaiser Pretani would beg you for help?!

Sejun's words made Kaiser's voice sound angry.

"Of course not. I have a favor to ask, and if you do it, I'll help you with something that's bothering you, Lord Kaiser. I'll do it myself."

-Hmm... Is that so? Ask me your favor then.

It was a bit of a trick, but it worked on Kaiser.

"Can you lift the fountain?"

-Hahaha. Alright.

Boom.

As soon as Kaiser finished speaking, the fountain rose about 10 meters into the air.

"Alright, let's start the work!"

Moo!

Following Sejun's instructions, the black minotaurs began to stack mud bricks.

And

"Eilin."

Sejun called Eilin to resolve Kaiser's discomfort.

[The tower manager asks what's happening.]

"Let's eat some honey jelly while we talk?"

First, he made Eilin happy with a sweet treat.

[The tower manager is delighted by the sweetness of the honey jelly.]

With Eilin in a good mood, Sejun began to get to the point.

"Eilin, can you talk to Lord Kaiser now?"

[The tower manager says that Grandpa is upset because he's taking away her chance to shine.]

"Eilin, why do you want to appraise items and shine?"

[The tower manager says it's... to show her greatness to you.]

"Then there's no need to shine."

[The tower manager asks what you mean.]

"I already know how great you are, Eilin."

[......]

"Eilin?"

Eilin hid again.

But

-Hahaha!

Kaiser's laughter suggested that Eilin was talking to him.

***

Thump, thump, thump.

"Move faster, meow!"

Theo urged the group. Theo was in a hurry.

'I need to finish the deal and get back to Park Sejun, meow!'

Sejun's lap was in danger. Iona, who initially pretended not to care, had already taken over Sejun's lap.

'Iona is a cunning hamster mage, meow!'

Thinking about Iona on Sejun's lap when he woke up made Theo angry again.

And

"I can't forgive this, meow! Speed up, meow!"

Theo's speed increased with his anger.

"Huff, huff. Mr. Theo..."

"Take a break..."

Thanks to this, only the interns were struggling.

Under Theo's leadership, the group ran non-stop toward the 38th floor of the tower.

***

After soothing Eilin, who was upset with Kaiser, and reconciling the two, Sejun helped the gray rabbits spread mud between the mud bricks stacked by the black minotaurs.

By the time one layer of bricks was completed, it was almost lunchtime.

"We need to prepare lunch."

When Sejun went to the cave to get lunch ingredients,

[Master! I missed you!]

Flame shook its leaves and greeted Sejun enthusiastically. More than half of the leaves that had been used for the Purifying Flame and Guardian Flame had turned green again.

Thanks to the holy power from the sacred stone, Flame's leaves seemed to be recovering faster.

Sejun petted Flame's leaves and went to the pond. Hundreds of piranhas, hunted by the black rabbit and Gweung, were piled up in the pond.

With the increase in the number of grilled fish needed for the blue carp guardians on the 75th floor of the tower, they had been catching more piranhas.

Then

Swoosh.

Gweung!

Gweung emerged from the water, lifting a giant fish.

And

Thud!

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The black rabbit was hitting the giant fish's head vigorously.

"Wow..."

Sejun lost his words as he saw the name of the aquatic monster.

[Tuna]

Clap, clap, clap.

"You did well, guys!"

Sejun clapped and praised the black rabbit and Gweung.

A little later

"Let's eat!"

When it was time for lunch,

Moo!

The black minotaurs moved to the leek field to eat leek leaves.

Boom!

Mom Crimson Giant Bear drank the chef's soup from a large pot.

And

"Today's lunch is tuna sashimi."

Sejun began to cut the tuna into sashimi. However, having only eaten tuna sushi once, Sejun lacked the skill to cut sashimi by part, so he started by thinly slicing the fattiest part.

"Let's taste it."

When Sejun put the red tuna sashimi in his mouth,

"Mmm..."

He felt a rich oiliness.

Slurp.

Before Sejun could fully savor it, the sashimi melted in his mouth instantly.

"Wow!"

"......"

All the animals were staring at him. Was it that good?

Slurp, slurp, slurp.

Sejun quickly began to cut sashimi from the surrounding parts. He wanted to share the delight he felt with the animals.

"Here you go."

Sejun placed two pieces of sashimi on wooden plates and gave them to the animals.

Squeak!

Gweung!

The animals' reactions to the tuna sashimi were very positive.

"Great! Next, the back meat!"

Feeling more confident, Sejun cut the back meat of the tuna, as if he were a Japanese chef.

Squeak!

Gweung!

The reactions were good again.

"Next, the tail meat!"

"Side meat!"

"Head meat!"

Not knowing much about sashimi, Sejun cut and gave the meat to the animals as he saw fit.

But

Squeak..

As they kept eating tuna, the animals' reactions to the greasiness of the tuna gradually weakened.

Gweung!

Except for Gweung,

Gweung?

Gweung asked if it was okay to eat by sweeping the sashimi into its mouth, seeing that the rabbits weren't eating.

By the time the tuna was almost just bones,

Slurp, slurp.

Except for Gweung, who was still hungry, all the others were patting their bellies, satisfied.

"It's too greasy."

After eating such oily food, he wanted something fresh. He had saved something for this moment.

"Let's eat pineapple!"

Sejun took out five cans of pineapple from the storage. These were saved for eating with the rabbits, and Iona had cast a preservation spell to keep them fresh even after the stems fell off.

Squeak!

Gweung!

The black rabbit and Gweung, who had tasted pineapple before, were excited. They knew instinctively that it would be delicious.

And

Squeak?

The other rabbits began to show curiosity at the black rabbit and Gweung's reactions.

Crunch, crunch.

When Sejun gave each rabbit a piece of pineapple,

Chomp.

The rabbits' eyes widened. The acidity of the pineapple cleaned the oil from their mouths, followed by a sweet taste.

Chomp, chomp.

The rabbits finished the pineapple in an instant and licked the juice off their hands.

After the perfect lunch, about two hours later,

"Lord Sejun, we're back."

Borori, who had delivered the blade leaves and chef's soup to the 67th floor of the tower and collected the Red Locust corpses, greeted Sejun.

"Good job. How was the 67th floor?"

"Initially, we struggled due to the change in the Red Locust's pattern, but it stabilized again with the reinforcement of lizardmen warriors from the 69th floor's lizardman kingdom."

"That's a relief. But why are those like that?"

Sejun asked, looking at the Red Locust corpses being unloaded by the cat interns. Many of the dead Red Locusts had blue mixed in their heads.

"I'm not sure. Recently, the Red Locusts have been changing like this."

Borori tilted his head and answered.

Then

-That's because the Red Locusts are regressing into Blue Locusts. It's evidence that their population is approaching 5 billion.

The black dragon statue, which had descended to the ground, said, looking at the Red Locust corpses with blue mixed in.

"Regressing?"

-Yes. They regress when their population decreases and evolve when it increases.

"Then, if the population decreases further, will they regress again?"

-Yes. If the number drops below 3 billion, they will turn into Yellow Locusts.

"I see."

-Eilin, did you know this?

Kaiser asked Eilin.

-What?! You didn't know?! This brat! Didn't I tell you to check the alerts properly?!

Kaiser began scolding Eilin for not knowing this information in advance.

But

-No... I didn't yell...

-Eilin~!

[The tower manager says Grandpa yelled at her, so she's upset and won't talk to him anymore.]

Less than an hour after Sejun had reconciled them, their conversation was cut off again.

"Borori, when you go down, tell the Great Lizardman Warrior the information you just heard. It will be helpful."

"Yes, I understand."

Sejun ended his conversation with Borori and resumed stacking bricks. His goal was to stack 10 layers of bricks within 5 days.

***

"We've arrived, meow!"

Theo arrived at the 38th floor of the tower after 35 hours.

"The wolves will rest, and the interns will follow me, meow!"

"Yes..."

The cats answered in almost dead voices. If the wolves hadn't carried the interns halfway, they wouldn't have made it this far.

"You don't understand yet. Just watch today, meow!"

Theo warned the cat interns as he arrived at the hunters' camp.

"This is my place, and I'm the only one who trades here, meow!"

Theo proudly told the interns as he entered the camp.

Then

"Huh?"

Theo noticed something strange. Wild boar merchants were trading with the hunters in his trading area.

"What, meow?!"

Seeing the wild boar merchants invading his territory, Theo was furious.

And

"Move, meow!"

Theo went to the leader of the wild boar merchants and shouted.

"Who are you?"

"I'm a mid-level merchant, Theo, meow! And this is my trading place, meow! Move, meow!"

"Hmph! A mid-level merchant! I'm Uta-ta, an excellent merchant under the leadership of the best wandering merchant, Tariq! Just get lost."

Uta-ta dismissed Theo's words. This place, where the hunters had built their own camp, was a rare commercial area, so Uta-ta had no intention of leaving.

"Did you just ignore me, meow?!"

Ignoring him, a subordinate of the great black dragon and a deadly yellow cat! Theo was furious.

But he didn't solve it by force. Wandering merchants fight in their own way.

And

"Humans! From today, I won't sell my goods to any hunter who trades with these wild boar merchants, meow!"

Theo knew his strength. His strength was Sejun's crops, which could not be obtained anywhere else and had special effects.

"Puhaha! So what? You'll only be the one to lose! My goods are..."

Uta-ta, who had been mocking Theo's words, was taken aback when he saw the hunters he was trading with stop and leave en masse at Theo's one word.

"Puhuhu. See, meow? This is my territory, meow! Get lost, meow!"

Theo laughed at Uta-ta.