The Kkumuris were diligently working to develop the village. They had not only built houses for the slimes but also storage facilities to keep harvested crops individually, a building to store seeds, and even a place for Alfheim to rest when visiting.
Now, they were paving paths between the buildings and the fields while also landscaping the surroundings with remarkable skill.
“They seem lazy but are actually quite diligent.”
Thanks to their efforts, the once barren plain was transforming into a charming fairy tale village.
Kyu-seong was sorting harvested onions into items and non-items, organizing them neatly. Slimes were busily moving around, helping with the work.
“Kyu-seong Kyu-seong! You’re working so hard!”
Ara, who had been helping for a while, noticed Kyu-seong sweating and dashed off somewhere.
“Drink some water!”
Ara came back carefully carrying honey water in both hands, but by the time she reached Kyu-seong, only her wet hands remained as the water had leaked out.
“Oh no, it’s gone!”
“Looks like you’ll have to make another trip.”
Kyu-seong, finding her adorable, didn’t stop her and watched as Ara went to get more water.
After the second attempt also ended in failure, Ara, puffing up her cheeks, looked around.
“Oh!”
Ara spotted Bokkeum playing with Gomgom. She quickly approached Bokkeum, lifted him, and dashed back to the hot spring.
“Drink some water.”
Watching this, Kyu-seong’s expression hardened slightly. Surely, she wasn’t planning to give him water that Bokkeum had drunk?
Though he often entrusted Bokkeum with various foodstuffs and items, having him regurgitate water seemed a bit much.
“Ah, Ara?”
“Kyu-seong Kyu-seong! I’m coming! Just wait a bit!”
Kyu-seong paused his sorting. Soon, Ara returned with Bokkeum, who had drunk his fill of hot spring water and was now puffed up.
“Kyu-seong Kyu-seong, drink while you work!”
“…Thanks. You’re the best, Ara.”
As Ara held out Bokkeum, Kyu-seong reluctantly closed his eyes, not wanting to reject her innocent goodwill.
“Kyu-seong Kyu-seong, what are you doing? Use your hands to catch the water.”
“Huh?”
Just as he thought he’d have to drink directly from Bokkeum, Kyu-seong awkwardly cupped his hands.
Drip, drip—
The water trickling out felt oddly lukewarm. Bokkeum spat out some water, and Kyu-seong, catching a bit of it, nodded.
“Haha… It’s fine. The water is really, no, quite good.”
“If you need more, just say so!”
Several days had passed since they visited Dasom Orphanage.
During this time, Kyu-seong frequently visited, watching Ara practice her dance every other day.
Her movements were still awkward, but at least she seemed to be following the sequence, which was a relief.
‘Her clumsy moves make her even cuter. Hehehe.’
While Kyu-seong was lost in these thoughts, Ara opened a box she had temporarily placed on the ground.
“Eat a lot!”
Ara took out a blue slime shard and poured the hot spring water from Bokkeum onto it. It seemed excessive, almost as if she feared it might drown, though that was unlikely.
As a puddle formed on the ground and Ara stirred the slime shard in the water, Kyu-seong finished sorting the onions.
“About half and half?”
There were slightly more non-items, but the yield was still high.
Taking the harvested onions to the storage built by the slimes, Kyu-seong checked the surplus produce that had started to accumulate.
“Wow.”
As the number of family members increased, the consumption of crops also grew, and since they had started supplying the guild, it would take a while for the warehouse to fill up. However, there was a lot of growth potential.
With two slimes appearing each day and the expansion of fields inside the Dungeon of Gluttony, their production could rival that of any corporation. Moreover, the workers required no salaries and managed everything as long as they were provided with room and board, so expanding the farmland did not significantly increase Kyu-seong’s workload.
It was an ideal situation where the drawbacks of farming were eliminated, leaving only the benefits.
“Hehehe.”
-Giggle.
One of the slimes mimicked Kyu-seong’s silly grin.
“Oh, this isn’t the time for that.”
Kyu-seong handed the basket of onions to the slime that was imitating him and hurried out of the dungeon. Today, he was scheduled to meet Baek Tae-seop again and personally deliver the last fruit juice.
‘Even though he’s been declared fully cured, he said he wanted to take the last dose just in case.’
It was a sort of performance. Baek Seung-hyun, Baek Tae-seop’s son, had wanted to visit in person for this commemorative event, but Kyu-seong refused. To Kyu-seong, Baek Seung-hyun still seemed like a patient who had just finished detoxification, so he preferred to handle it himself rather than burden someone who might still have aftereffects.
“Ara, let’s get ready to go out.”
“To the orphanage? We went there yesterday.”
“No, today it’s somewhere else.”
Ara, who had been submerging a slime shard in a puddle, paused for a moment before suddenly shaking her head.
“Next time.”
“Huh?”
Kyu-seong was taken aback by Ara’s unexpected refusal and slumped down in despair.
‘Is Ara… not wanting to play with me anymore?!’
Was she growing up, or was she in a bad mood? While these thoughts swirled in Kyu-seong’s mind, Ara spoke.
“Today, I’m resting.”
“Ah, Ara. We’re going to make pizza.”
At Kyu-seong’s words, Ara’s tiger ears perked up. Her quivering ears looked pitiful.
“Even so, I’m resting today! I’m tired from dance practice!”
“Oh, really? Then I’ll go alone.”
Despite the lingering regret in his voice, Ara’s back only twitched slightly, and that was it. In the end, Kyu-seong gathered Bokkeum and stood up sadly.
After Kyu-seong disappeared with Bokkeum, Ara, who had been turned away, cautiously looked around. Confirming that Kyu-seong was completely gone, she put the slime shard back into the box.
“Mm!”
Then, she clenched her fists and stood up with determination.
“It’s a surprise gift!”
Recently, Ara had been interacting more with children her age (?) and had learned an important fact: the value of Kyu-seong.
‘How old is Ara?’
‘Three thousand five hundred years old!’
‘Oh? So Ara is older than your dad?’
‘Dad? Kyu-seong Kyu-seong!’
‘Ara is lucky to have a dad who always cooks delicious food and plays with you every day.’
‘It’s great!’
‘You should always be grateful. Otherwise, we’ll take your dad away.’
‘Gasp! How do I keep that from happening?!’
‘Well…’
Remembering the conversation from the previous day, Ara picked up the box and dashed off. She pondered about the surprise gift, an expression of gratitude her friends had mentioned.
‘For Kyu-seong Kyu-seong…!’
Ara arrived at a building used for storing miscellaneous items. Though it was called miscellaneous, most of the items belonged to Ara. Inside the building was Ara’s hat collection on display. Ara loved wearing things on her head, so a display had been made for her collection.
There was the straw hat she first received from Kyu-seong, a motorcycle helmet from Jeong So-yeon, a wide-brimmed, airy hat, a perfectly fitting baseball cap, and a hip beanie.
Among the various hats, Ara put on the straw hat displayed at the very front.
“Mm!”
Add a bag to this. Now she was ready. It was time to venture out.
-Knock, knock, knock! Are you there?
“Hm? Oh! Frey!”
Just as Ara finished preparing to leave, Frey arrived, glancing around while riding a starlight bug.
-Ah, Lord. The hat suits you well.
“Hehehe.”
-Where is the Grand Lord?
“He has left!”
-Oh, didn’t you go with him?
“I am now preparing a surprise gift!”
-A surprise gift?
Frey tilted her head in curiosity. Ara grinned widely and whispered into Frey’s ear.
“I’m preparing a surprise gift for Kyu-seong Kyu-seong. It’s going to make him very happy.”
-Oh, as expected of the Lord. A meticulous plan. The Grand Lord will love it.
Gomgom and the slimes nearby watched the whispering duo with tilted heads, but they simply found the scene delightful.
“Then I’m off!”
-Have a good trip! Leave everything here to me!
“Okay!”
Ara rubbed her blushing cheeks, filled with excitement and nervousness at the thought of going out alone for the first time without Kyu-seong.
“Let’s go!”
* * *
‘Sniff, sniff. Do slimes also go through puberty?’
Facing an entirely unexpected issue, I was on my way to the Iron-Blood Guild in a taxi, lost in worried thoughts. In the early days, I had occasionally left Ara in the dungeon or at home due to my busy schedule. However, she had never refused when I asked her to come with me.
“Sir, we’ve arrived.”
“Oh, thank you.”
Before I could dwell on my worries any longer, I arrived at my destination. I sighed deeply as I got out of the taxi and stood in front of the Iron-Blood Guild.
“…This is amazing.”
My concerns about Ara faded briefly as I took in the vast expanse of the Iron-Blood Guild’s grounds. Ara Hongryeon also boasted a tall building, but the scale here was entirely different.
The grounds were absurdly large, divided into sections like the technology building, education building, administration building, research building, medical building, and management building. The Iron-Blood Guild was even recognized as an autonomous district.
Knowing that such a prestigious guild had taken an interest in me was overwhelming.
‘I’m looking forward to the post-contract period!’
Seeing this immense sight in person made me slightly excited. Moreover, having established a connection with Director Choi of the Terror Guild would boost my value even further.
“Oh! Are you Mr. Lee Kyu-seong?”
At that moment, someone from the group in front of the massive gate hurriedly ran over to me and asked. Given the scale of the guild, I thought it was normal for there to be many people around, so I nodded.
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Ah, thank you for visiting the Iron-Blood Guild. I’ll notify the representative immediately.”
“Yes.”
As I nodded, the person who greeted me waved to the people at the gate. Suddenly, a group of people rushed over to surround me.
“Uh?”
Caught off guard, I let out a dumbfounded sound as the crowd gathered around me. It turned out most of them were bodyguards, and some were guild staff there to guide me.
‘Is this really necessary?’
While I was still processing this, the staff member who first spoke to me said, “I’ve informed the representative. Let’s go inside.”
“Y-Yes, okay.”
Nodding awkwardly, I entered through the main gate and saw a waiting vehicle.
“Please, get in.”
I knew the grounds were vast, but needing a car to get around was unexpected. As soon as I got into the vehicle, I felt the eyes of the nearby people focusing on me. Since they weren’t the ones waiting for me, they all looked at me with curiosity.
I found it strange too. What on earth is happening right now?
“Thank you very much for visiting us today. I apologize for the delayed introduction. My name is Oh Min-joo.”
“Oh! Awakener Oh Min-joo!”
“You know me?”
“Of course. You’re quite famous within the Iron-Blood Guild…”
“Thank you for recognizing me.”
The guide in front of me, smiling, was one of the top-ranked Awakeners in the Iron-Blood Guild. It’s puzzling why someone of her stature would be assigned to guide a mere guest.
“We’ve arrived.”
The vehicle stopped, and as the door opened:
“Mr. Lee Kyu-seong! Welcome to the Iron-Blood Guild!”
“Huh?”
Strangers greeted me warmly.
Cliche Novel 