“Is this really delicious?”A handsome white-haired man, who looked pitiful with 10 missing front teeth, skeptically looked at the purple soup and took a cautious sip.
“Slurp.”
Carefully taking a sip.
Flash.
Kellion’s eyes widened, unbeknownst to himself, after tasting the sweet potato soup. Delicious! He felt the sweet taste and aroma of sweet potatoes in his mouth.
‘There’s meat in it too.’
He chewed on the locus meat, which had been boiled for a long time until it was tender. It was so tender that Kellion could swallow it without chewing, and it wasn’t burdensome to eat.
Gulp.
As Kellion, who savored the taste, swallowed the soup, a warm energy flowed through his throat and into his stomach.
“Ha!”
Unknowingly, Kellion let out an exclamation of admiration after finishing the soup.
“Shall I have one more bowl?”
Kellion quickly moved the white dragon statue to serve himself more soup.
***
“Meow, meow, meow.”
Sejun, who had finished his breakfast, had Theo hanging on his leg.
Pluck.
[You harvested a well-ripened magical cherry tomato.]
[You have 48,792 times left to complete your job quest.]
[Your job experience has increased very slightly.]
[Your proficiency in Harvesting Lv. 5 has increased very slightly.]
[You have gained 30 experience points.]
When he was busy harvesting in the tomato field to complete his job quest
Kreooong!
Cuengi’s crying sound came from the kitchen.
“Huh?! What’s going on?”
Sejun, who had left Cuengi sleeping after he finished his soup, hurriedly ran to see what was wrong.
When Sejun entered the kitchen, he saw
Kreooong!
Cuengi, clinging to the empty large pot, was crying pitifully.
“Cuengi, what’s wrong?”
Kreooong!
[The soup disappeared when I woke up!]
“Didn’t you eat it while you were asleep?”
It was a reasonable suspicion, as he had seen Cuengi eating in his sleep several times before.
Kreooong! Kreooong!
[No! I didn’t eat it!]
Cuengi was upset by Sejun’s words.
“Really?”
Kreooong! Kreooong!
[Yes! I’m sure the dragon grandpas stole it!]
Cuengi’s suspicion was also quite reasonable. Dragons could do such a thing. They’ve clearly shown that they’d eat when pretending not to. Yet, they have too much pride to admit that they like to eat.
“I see. Wait a bit, I’ll make it again. Meanwhile, eat this. Crop Gigantification.”
Sejun used his skill on a power sweet potato, turning it into a giant sweet potato and gave it to Cuengi.
Chomp.
Kreong!
[It’s delicious!]
As soon as Cuengi got something to eat, he showed a bright smile and looked happy.
“That’s right. Eat a lot.”
As he stroked Cuengi’s head, Sejun took out some purple locust meat from the storage space.
“Hehehe. It’s my turn, meow?”
Theo unsheathed his claws, ready to cut the meat.
However,
“No, you don’t have to do it, Theo. Golden Bat, could you cut this?”
(Yes!)
Flap. Flap.
The Golden Bat, which had been circling around Sejun, quickly flew over in response to Sejun’s call and started cutting the meat.
“What, meow?! It feels like my role is disappearing, meow! I can cut well too, meow!”
Theo complained to Sejun. Although he didn’t really like the task, Theo felt angry when he was not allowed to do it.
“Alright. Then, Theo, you can peel the potatoes.”
“Okay, meow!”
Rustle.
Sejun, who was thinking of having crispy potato pancakes for lunch, piled up about 1,000 potatoes in front of Theo since he asked for a task.
The potatoes could be easily peeled by rinsing them with water.
“Meow?! Isn’t this too much, meow?!”
Theo was discouraged by the large amount of potatoes he had to peel.
However,
“Don’t want to do it? Then I’ll ask the Golden Bat…”
“No, meow! I’ll do it, meow!”
He didn’t like the idea of his job being taken away by others.
Peel. Peel.
At Sejun’s words, Theo started peeling the potatoes in a hurry. Because of his greed, he was putting himself into potato peeling hell.
While Theo was peeling the potatoes,
(Sejun, I’ve finished cutting!)
The preparation for the soup ingredients was completed.
Splash. Splash.
Ingredients were put into three large pots. Now all that was left was to boil and season them.
And then,
Thud.
He took out a Fire Ant’s carapace from his void storage. Since it was a metal material, it was perfect for creating a grater to shred the potatoes.
“President Theo, can you make holes in this?”
“I got it, meow.”
Bam. Bam. Bam.
Theo’s claws pierced the Fire Ant’s carapace, making the holes Sejun wanted.
“How’s that, meow? The power of my claws?”
Theo, who was bored of peeling potatoes, snuggled up to Sejun’s knee proudly.
‘I knew he would do that.’
Sejun smiled and hung Theo on his leg and began to grate the 100 potatoes that Theo had peeled.
Screech. Screech.
Potatoes were being grated through the holes Theo had made, and the shredded potatoes fell below.
“Good. It grates well.”
“It’s obvious because I made it, meow!”
“Sure.”
“Then, since I did well, give me a Churu, meow!”
“No. I don’t have a free hand now. I’ll give it to you later.”
Theo really didn’t know modesty or timing. While the soup was being prepared, Sejun grated potatoes.
And then,
“Cuengi, could you wring this out?”
Sejun handed over the grated potatoes to Cuengi. It needed to be drained of water to make crispy pancakes with a soft inside.
Kreong!
At Sejun’s request, Cuengi lightly grabbed the grated potatoes and applied some pressure.
Drip drip.
The water was removed from the potato pancake batter. It was made into a dough state, almost as if it had been put in a dehydrator.
“Keep wringing it like that.”
Kreong!
Sejun left the potato dough to Cuengi and seasoned the soup, which had turned purple after being boiled enough.
A moment later,
[You have completed the Purple SeP’s Sweet Potato Soup.]
[Your proficiency in Cooking Lv. 4 has slightly increased.]
The soup was ready.
“Here you go.”
Sejun ladled soup into Cuengi’s bowl and slowly discarded the batter water Cuengi had wrung out, leaving only the settled starch to be added back into the potato batter. Now all that was left was to fry it.
At that moment,
-Ahem. It’s already lunchtime. Kellion, shall we have a bowl of soup?
-Hmm, hmm. Shall we? Oh my! Kaiser, we’ve timed it just right!
The two dragon statues that had been waiting for the soup to be finished, flew over leaving a trail of smoke behind, and sat down at the table as if it was only natural.”
“I thought dragons didn’t eat much? Didn’t you say you only liked roasted sweet potatoes?”
Sejun asked while looking at Kaiser. Kaiser had said that dragons don’t often feel hunger and therefore don’t eat often. But he was back to eat again not even a few hours after eating… something was suspicious.
“Did you find the soup to your liking?”
-······
-······
In response to Sejun’s question, the two dragons awkwardly avoided answering and looked away. Sejun was sure that the culprits who had stolen Cuengi’s soup were the two dragons right in front of him.
“Here you go. Don’t steal the kids’ food in the future.”
Sejun ladled the soup and gave it to the two dragons.
-Ahem!
-Hmm! Hmm!
Embarrassed by Sejun’s words, the two dragons coughed awkwardly and swallowed the soup, transporting it to their main bodies.
After serving the dragons, Sejun served the soup to the rabbits who had come for lunch and started to make potato pancakes, heating up the frying pan. Although there was no cooking oil, there was fat collected every time they caught an eel.
Shush.
Sejun brought his hand close to the frying pan to check if it was hot enough.
‘It’s ready.’
Feeling the hot air from the frying pan,
Whisk.
Sejun threw a piece of eel fat the size of a thumbnail into the pan.
Sizzle.
The fat melted in the heat of the hot pan and quickly turned liquid, coating the pan in oil.
Squeak?
Squeal?
Squeap?
The sound of the fat melting and emitting a savory smell made the rabbits’ ears perk up.
“Good.”
Sejun scooped up a large ladle of potato dough and put it in the pan.
Sizzle.
He started to flatten the rising potato pancake batter with the ladle, spreading it wide.
And when the front side was adequately fried,
“Ha.”
He gave a snap of the wrist to flip the pancake.
Chak.
Thanks to his high agility stat, the pancake, beautifully drawing a parabola, landed perfectly on the frying pan, flipped 180 degrees.
“Ha.”
Sejun enjoyed a moment of self-satisfaction at having flipped the pancake without ruining it when
Squeak?
Squeal?
Squeap?
The rabbits, holding their bowls, called Sejun from behind him.
“Huh? Oh, you want to try it? Just a moment.”
Sejun placed the pancake on a large plate, tore it into long strips with chopsticks,
Glug. Glug. Glug.
He poured three dollops of honey into a bowl.
“You can eat it as it is, but when it cools down a bit, dip it in this honey. It will taste even better.”
Sejun explained how to eat the pancake to the rabbits and
Sssssss.
He added eel oil and prepared the next pancake.
After frying about 10 pancakes like that, the rabbits left to go back to work after eating their fill, and only Cuengi was left, busily dipping the pancake in honey and eating.
Kreong!
Cuengi, who had dunked an entire pancake in honey and put it in his mouth, couldn’t contain his joy and waved his arm, expressing his excitement.
“Is it that good?”
Kreong!
Cuengi nodded his head vigorously in response. Seeing Cuengi enjoy his meal so much, he couldn’t hold back any longer.
“I should try one too.”
Drip drip drip
Sejun took out the new sauce that Theo had brought this time and poured the black liquid into a small dish. It was soy sauce.
Chop chop chop.
He then chopped a Cheongyang chili pepper into it. This would make the pancake more appetizing, adding a spicy taste to the salty, allowing you to continue eating without feeling greasy.
“Hehehe. Shall I give it a try?”
Sejun picked up a piece of pancake with chopsticks and dipped it in soy sauce when
-What is that?
-What is that made of?
The two dragons, who had finished their soup, showed interest in the pancake. Although dragons are known to be picky eaters, they decided to try Sejun’s food first and then make a judgment.
***
55th floor of the tower.
While Iona was killing Grid, the wolves, the black rabbit, and ChuChu took care of the guards protecting the mansion. The barrier and dragon knights disappeared the moment Kellion moved to the 99th floor of the tower.
Thanks to this, they were able to capture the mansion smoothly. Grid’s mansion was full of incredible treasures. And the crops filled the warehouse.
Seeing these, Iona was once again reminded of how greedy Grid had been.
“Let’s ask Sejun about what to do with these later. Seal!”
Iona sealed the mansion with magic and went outside, starting to liberate the rabbits in nearby villages.
Of course, there was resistance from the wild boars, but they were just the lazy guards who were managing the farm rabbits. They were no match for Iona and the animals.
As they took over a few villages, the number of rabbits that had joined increased to 300. There were more rabbits caught by Grid than expected.
“Power of magic, obey my command and attack the enemy. Bombardment!”
With Iona’s magic, thousands of magic missiles were launched at the wild boar tribe at the forefront of the defense line. Iona chose the magic spell that caused the least damage to avoid harming the crops.
“Drive out the wild boars!”
“Defeat the enemy!”
The Black Wolf Tribe and the Silver Wolf Tribe ran towards the broken defense line.
Squeak!
Squeal!
Squeap!
On the backs of these wolves, The Black Rabbit holding a hammer and the enslaved rabbits, who had joined on the 55th floor and holding farming tools, joined in.
The rabbits looked exhausted from their long life of slavery, but they willingly put their effort into driving out the wild boars.
As the battle continued, the wild boars began to flee to other floors. Having lost their core, they would never target for the 55th floor again.
Thus, 100 years after the fall of the Red Ribbon Kingdom, the flag of the Red Ribbon Kingdom once again began to fly on the 55th floor, and the news of the kingdom’s reconstruction began to spread to other floors.
*****
*****
TL:
I am feeling somewhat better. The pain has subsided, but the blisters are still present. I will need to wait and be cautious to prevent them from popping, as doing so would prolong the healing process. If any blisters were to pop, the healing time would increase, and the risk of infection would also rise.
Also, thank you everyone for your well-wishes, and enjoy reading!!!
