Round 113

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Swoosh-.

When Mammon focused his energy on his hands, a clear, colorless liquid slowly started to flow out.

“Wow, that’s amazing.” 

– Ohh.

Frey and I watched Mammon closely. Normally, just being near him would be dangerous due to the risk of poisoning, but thanks to Mammon’s ability to handle his own toxins freely, we were safe.

– Ugh.

Seeing Mammon struggling more than expected, I could guess how much preparation he must have done during the Guangzhou Dungeon Break.

The amount of poison he extracted was less than expected.

However, Mammon said it was enough to poison hundreds of elephants.

– Red dwarf, is it done?

– Whew! How is it! This is the potent poison I created!

Ignoring Frey’s words, Mammon lifted his nose proudly, looking at me as if seeking praise.

In a roughly made metal bucket using nearby materials, the clear liquid shimmered shallowly. It was about the amount of two sips of water.

Poispois seemed curious, fascinated by the new poison different from what it usually produced.

“Mammon, isn’t it dangerous to touch this?”

– I can suppress its toxicity. Would you like to try touching it?

“No, I’m fine, but it seems interested.”

Poispois was eagerly wriggling.

Why did it remind me so much of Ara’s dancing?

‘Maybe because they’re both slimes.’

Anyway, Mammon immediately held his palm in the air and swirled it around. It looked as if a wizard was using telekinesis.

– It’s done!

“Can I touch it now?”

– It’s safe now. Feel free to touch it.

What an incredible ability.

Being a member of the Seven Deadly Sins like Ara, such powers must be necessary to hold their own. Even so, Ara was exceptionally powerful.

Squelch-!

Poispois poked the poison in the bucket. It soon absorbed a little and squirmed.

“It’ll be okay, right?”

– It’s fine. Don’t worry, Great Lord.

Mammon spoke confidently, proud of his own ability. However, before his words finished, Poispois started trembling violently.

“Huh?”

– Huh?

What are you going to do if you react the same way I do?

I looked worriedly at the suddenly trembling Poispois and soon checked its status.

[Poispois (Slime) LV.5]

[A peculiar slime]

[It is Lee Kyu-seong’s familiar]

[Capable of liquid synthesis]

[Awakening unknown potential]

[Abilities: Poison LV.4, Mana Detection LV.1]

[Additional explanation was attached]

Unknown potential? What’s that supposed to be used for?

At least it didn’t seem to be in any trouble, which was a relief.

It was a rather positive description.

As Frey and Mammon looked on worriedly, Poispois seemed to regain its senses and stopped trembling.

Squelch?

Then it tilted its body as if wondering why everyone was staring at it.

“I was worried you might be in trouble.”

Squelch?!

Poispois was startled, showing an exclamation mark above its head, surprised by my concern. It seemed completely unaware of what had happened to it.

“Are you okay? You’re not hurt, right?”

Squelch?

Poispois looked over its body and then wobbled as if to say it was fine. Seeing this, Frey let out a deep sigh and pointed accusingly at Mammon.

– You almost caused a big problem for our apostle!

– I-I’m sorry.

Although nothing had actually happened, I felt sorry for Mammon, who apologized so readily, so I reassured him.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Nothing happened.”

– Are you sure it’s okay? It seemed like it was trembling…

Mammon touched Poispois worryingly.

When poked, Poispois showed its usual wobbly movement.

Squelch-!

– It-it’s really fine!

Mammon’s reaction was cuter than I expected. He looked like a mischievous little kid.

After this small incident, I asked Poispois first.

“With this amount, how much can we use in the Meluca flower field?”

Squelch~ Squelch~

Poispois’s movement indicated that it was enough. To be sure, I asked for translation and luckily, my guess was right.

– It says we can use it generously!

“That’s great. Shall we go right now?”

We decided to take Mammon along. Mammon’s ability to suppress toxicity was essential.

Holding Poispois, Bokkeum, and Mammon in my arms, and with Frey perched on my shoulder, we rode on Purr. The goblins waving their hands cheerfully were cute.

‘Hmm, come to think of it, I got some quests.’

There were two new ones.

One was the Slime Lord’s Awakening Quest, and the other was the Gluttony Dungeon Quest.

Both were continuation quests: one to defeat goblins and the other to recruit residents.

The Awakening Quest was simple.

[Awakening Quest: Make Them Grow]

[Raise the slimes]

[Level 5 or higher slimes: 2/5]

It seemed to mean I should consistently hunt monsters with slimes to level them up, which was an easy task for me.

Liquid synthesis!

This overpowered ability allowed them to level up just by synthesizing!

The quest didn’t seem to anticipate my ability. Thanks to this, I already had Ara and Poispois over level 5, and I just needed to synthesize three more slimes to complete the quest.

‘Mark2 first, then Bokkeum…’

I’ll think about the last one later.

Anyway, it was an easily solvable quest.

However, the state of the other quest was quite unusual.

[!!Special Quest!!: Seven Deadly Sins]

Gluttony has begun its conquest! Conquer the rest of the Seven Deadly Sins! Rewards will be given for each sin conquered!

Pride: X

Greed: O

Envy: X

Wrath: X

Lust: X

Sloth: X

Conquest? What do they mean by conquest? Am I some kind of conqueror?

It was just a coincidence that I made Mammon my familiar, but the description made it sound like I had declared war.

– War! It’s war!

The maniacal cry I had heard once echoed in my memory like an auditory hallucination. Turning my head slightly, I saw Frey sprawled on my shoulder with a relaxed look on her face.

So carefree.

– Neigh!

We arrived quickly and headed straight to the Meluca flower field with Mammon’s poison. In the meantime, Poispois approached the other slimes and made some dancing-like movements.

After the rough explanation was over, Poispois returned and absorbed the poison from the bucket. The others approached and took a bit of the poison as well, but they did not react the same way as Poispois.

– Hmm, I hope my ability is helpful.

Mammon, whose crown had become crooked while riding Purr, said with a serious expression. It seemed like he wanted to show off his poison, so I laughed and straightened his crown.

“Just coming here is already a great help. Thank you for joining me.”

– … Why are you so kind, Great Lord! I, Mammon, will become a great king like you!

He looked so cute, like a little kid chattering away. His flapping ears only made it more effective.

– And me! And me, Great Lord!?

“Of course, our Frey and all of Alfheim are always a great help. Thank you all.”

– Hehe.

It didn’t matter if they didn’t do anything for me. Just their presence was healing.

In fact, I wanted to take care of them in return.

While roughly planning the goblin village in my head, Poispois approached me.

Squelch!

“Oh! Are you done?”

Squelch- Squelch-!

I checked the Meluca flower field one more time and prepared to leave.

“Mammon, would you like to greet my family?”

– Me! I want to greet them!

Frey flapped excitedly from my shoulder.

But Mammon seemed a bit shy and couldn’t answer right away.

“I’ll bring you next time. Let’s greet them then.”

– Oh! I-I need to prepare my heart…

Watching Mammon’s fuss, I put him back on Purr. After returning Mammon to the mine, I took Frey back to my family.

– Hello!

“Oh, our Frey is here! How have you been?”

– Yes, Mother!

While the sociable Frey was being affectionate with my parents, Ara approached.

“Kyu-seong Kyu-seong!”

“Hm?”

“I harvested something! Something new!”

Something new?

Ara lifted what she was holding and showed it to my face. It looked familiar yet strange.

“What’s this?”

It was a long, brown something. Looking closer, I realized it was a bean pod with beans inside!

“Oh, white soybeans!”

Finally, it was harvest time!

These were the soybeans I planted at Hanul’s request for making doenjang. I had been too busy lately to pay attention to them, and they had grown up in the meantime.

“Wow, this took quite a while.”

“Mm-hmm! It took a long time.”

“It feels like it took almost two months.”

Is that right? I can’t remember well.

Anyway, since it took a long time, I was looking forward to it. Now I can make fermented soybean bricks with these.

“Oh, you grew beans?”

At that moment, my parents approached, looking curious. I showed them the freshly harvested beans.

“Let’s open it!”

At my mother’s words, I opened the pod.

Plump, white beans gleamed inside.

…Gleamed?

“Are they supposed to shine like this?”

“You’ve been farming for so long, and you still get surprised by things like this?”

Seon-ah, who had returned from playing with the kids, laughed.

As my sister said, the crops I harvested often had different shapes and colors from the original, so it was funny to be surprised now.

Six beans rolled out from one pod. I gave the first harvested beans to everyone.

“Let’s taste it first.”

“Can we eat them raw?”

If the taste was bad, there was no need to force it. After all, I planted 1,000 pyeong of white soybeans, so there was no need to worry about wasting them.

Crunch!

Hmm, eating raw beans is a bit much.

No matter how well I grew them, beans are beans. Eating them raw had a hard texture and a slightly bitter taste.

Of course, it was rich and nutty, but it seemed like it would taste much better boiled or roasted.

“This is delicious!”

“Yeah!”

However, it seemed to suit Seon-ah’s and Ara’s tastes. Although, Ara tends to eat anything well.

“You’re going to make fermented soybean bricks with this, right?”

I nodded at my mother’s question.

“Yes. But I wasn’t prepared for the harvest today, so I’ll just collect them for now and make the bricks later.”

“I’ll help you then.”

“Oh, it’d be great if you helped, Mom.”

Since the slimes couldn’t make the bricks, I had to handle it all by myself. I didn’t know how many bricks I’d make, but since it was my first time, I expected it to be clumsy and time-consuming.

“Shall we boil some to taste?”

“Sounds good.”

I gathered the bean pods the slimes had harvested, now all huddled together. While the beans were boiling, I’d help with the harvesting.

While my father shelled the beans and my mother prepared to boil them, Ara, Seon-ah, and I continued to harvest.

“This is kind of fun.”

Seon-ah seemed to enjoy it more than expected, as if she were on a rural experience trip. She also took the opportunity to snap cute photos of Ara and the clumsy yet endearing Gomgom harvesting beans.

– Keep it up! Keep it up!

Frey, acting as the cheerleader, was enthusiastically cheering us on. Come to think of it, she did the same for the slimes in the fairy village…

“Guys! The beans are done!”

“Yes!”

“Ooh! Beans!”

As they say, even Mount Geumgang is best enjoyed after a meal.

I called all the slimes that were working. Let’s eat first and then continue!

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