Meluca bloomed, but now the real journey began. The goal was to ensure a stable and abundant harvest for all of Alfheim, and the small field we had now wouldn’t suffice. However, having finally succeeded in making the flowers bloom, there was no reason to be anxious anymore.
“Hmph, indeed, it’s me. And who am I? The Goblin King, Mammon!”
When we approached Mammon with Frey, he boasted with pride, and the surrounding goblins looked at him with admiration, chanting “Kiric!”
-Hmph! Thank you!
“Are you really thankful?”
Frey, perched on my shoulder, completed the sentence with a mismatched combination of words, flapping her wings. Mammon chuckled arrogantly at the sight and crossed his arms.
“If you ever need my poison in the future, just let me know. I will personally help you!”
-Hmph! Got it!
Frey responded, whipping her tiny head around. She didn’t say no, after all. I had already arranged for Mammon to prepare the poison in advance, so there was no rush. By now, he should have produced enough poison to create a new Meluca flower field.
“How’s the mine?”
“No problems! The ground is becoming slightly firmer, but it’s still manageable!”
We had assigned two goblins and one Kkumuri to work in the mine. Since there was a risk of collapse as they dug further, we asked Kkumuri to continuously reinforce the tunnel.
“Hmm, the ground is getting firmer…”
“Uh, my lord.”
“Hmm, speak.”
Mammon, who had been confident when he said he’d entrusted his works outside, now spoke in a nervous tone. I felt his anxiety and patted his head reassuringly.
“At my workplace, the captain was very impressed with your creations. He said he could feel the dedication and effort, and that they were extraordinary.”
“Heh, some humans have an eye for quality. Of course, excluding you, my lord!”
“I’ve entrusted your works to him. He even expressed a desire to personally purchase them. What do you think?”
“Hmm…”
“If they sell, the captain will continue buying your creations. I think he might even hold an exhibition solely for your works.”
“An exhibition?!”
Mammon’s astonished expression softened as he began to dream. The goblins around watched him curiously.
“Take your time to think about it.”
“Yes! Understood!”
Feeling a bit guilty for interrupting their rest, I decided to inspect the mine first. Next to the mine were various minerals and stones we had collected, now covered in a blanket of snow.
“I should ask the Kkumuri to build a materials warehouse.”
“We’re a bit short.”
“We’ll work harder!”
“That’s not what I meant. I’m already grateful for what you’re doing.”
The stones we had mined seemed insufficient for building the goblin village. We’ll have to start with the materials we have and gradually expand the village.
“There are specialists for this kind of work…”
“What do you mean?”
Curious about Mammon’s hesitant remark, I turned to see Ara, who had been examining the mined stones, exclaiming, “Ras!”
– Gula, no, Ara, you remember too.
‘Ras? What’s Ras?’
However, I quickly figured it out. The common ground that Ara and Mammon shared, plus the mistake of still calling her Gula.
“Could it be that Ras is one of the Seven Deadly Sins?”
“Ras of Wrath, and his subordinates are experts in such tasks. They’re very strong, they love digging, and they’re quite simple-minded…”
So, it really was about one of the Seven Deadly Sins. I was already aware of Wrath. It was the dungeon that appeared after Avarice.
Talking about the Seven Deadly Sins with these two feels like discussing another world. Calling a monster that is the worst and strongest opponent for humanity like a next-door neighbor feels like a joke.
‘These two are also part of the Seven Deadly Sins.’
Thinking about it, I had two members of the Seven Deadly Sins with me, and life was indeed full of surprises.
“Can’t we bring Ras and make him work?”
“Ras is a dog!”
“That guy may be a bit simple-minded, but he works very well…”
“Ras is cute!”
I scratched my head while watching Ara and Mammon, whose conversation seemed oddly out of sync despite talking to each other.
“What about this Ras?”
“He is the leader of the Gnolls. He has trouble controlling his anger.”
“Gnoll?”
Unlike the chaos caused by Avarice, no information about Wrath had ever been made public. It was only known that it existed near a border in Austria and was under the control of the European Union, with no one being able to approach it.
“A dog.”
“Yeah, if it’s a Gnoll, a dog seems right.”
Specifically, maybe a hyena? Anyway, since Ara called it a dog, I’ll call it a dog too.
Besides Ara, who is Gluttony, Mammon of Avarice, and now Ras of Wrath…
‘Are they all low-ranking monsters?’
Is this a concept of the Seven Deadly Sins? There are no high-ranking monsters. At this point, I wondered if all the Seven Deadly Sins were low-ranking monsters.
If so, it meant that except for Ras, the leader of the Gnolls, the rest of the creatures in the Wrath dungeon were likely just ordinary Gnolls.
[!!Special Hidden Quest!! : Seven Deadly Sins]
[Gluttony has begun to be conquered! Conquer the remaining Seven Deadly Sins!]
[Pride: X
Avarice: 0
Envy: X
Wrath: X
Lust: X
Sloth: X]
I checked the quest after a long time. It was a unique quest that gave rewards for conquering each of the Seven Deadly Sins. I couldn’t help but feel a creeping desire.
‘With Ara and Mammon, couldn’t we win over this Ras too?’
For now, I’ll keep this in mind and plan for later. Unlike Mammon, there was no information available, and while Ara and Mammon were exceptionally nice, there was no guarantee that Ras would be the same.
But why did I feel like Ras, the Gnoll leader, would be simple and cute like our kids?
“If I could poison Ras and make him work for me… Hehehe, hahaha!”
Seeing little Mammon laugh like an overlord made me laugh involuntarily too.
– Sigh, for our proud Alfheim to have to rely on such a creature.
“Crafting party! Ehehe! Exhibition! Ehehe!”
Leaving Mammon to his joyful fantasies, I approached Ara and examined the accumulated materials.
With this amount of materials, how much of a village could we complete? Ara was nearby, so I asked through her.
“Heheng.”
“Thirty houses!”
“Thirty? Are you talking about houses?”
“Heheng.”
“Yes!”
There were 500 goblins, and considering the ones with families, there were about 200 households. First, we needed an accurate count of the households. Even then, thirty was quite low. Goblins’ physical strength wasn’t as high as that of ordinary humans, so their work output was naturally lower. Moreover, I had provided them with welfare benefits, encouraging them to take it easy, which was inevitable.
“Mammon.”
“Hehe, yes?!”
“I’m planning to build a village once winter ends. Can you investigate how many goblin families there are in advance?”
“Investigate the number of households! There are 98 households in total!”
“Oh, really? You already knew that?”
“I am Mammon, the mighty Goblin King! Of course, I know this much!”
“Ohhh.”
I was genuinely impressed. Maybe I had underestimated Mammon, focusing too much on his pure and cute side. And the number of households was smaller than I had expected. Seeing that there were less than 100 goblin households, it seemed they lived in large families.
“You’re even building houses for us… I’m deeply moved and already looking forward to it!”
“I’m sorry I couldn’t do it sooner.”
“No, it’s fine! We have been living with the ground as our floor and the sky as our blanket! Having a house for the first time is more than enough to be amazing!”
I faintly heard Mammon’s muttering that he had a house, though.
“Since we’re here, let’s check the land we sectioned off last time.”
“I will guide you!”
***
Two more days passed. And we finally reached the end of winter. The sky remained a bright, dreamy, purplish color, but the once white world was now beginning to show signs of green life sprouting up.
…And I was currently facing an unexpected crisis.
“Uuuu.”
It was the first time I saw Ara’s expression like this. Looking at Ara with tears welling up, I couldn’t hide my distress.
“Snowy… Snowy…”
Ara was talking about Snowy, the small snowman my mother had made for her. The very snowman that was decorated on Ara’s hat storage roof. And our Snowy was slowly melting away with the end of winter.
“Uuuuh. Snowy is disappearing!”
In the end, Ara burst into tears. Trying to hold the melting Snowy only made it melt faster, causing quite a commotion.
“Ara, Snowy isn’t disappearing. He will come back when winter returns.”
“Waaaaah!”
It had the opposite effect. With Ara on my shoulders, I desperately tried to think of a way to handle this situation.
‘Freezer? No, how can I save it right now?’
Should I ask Bokkeum to eat it? But I knew Bokkeum could only expand space, not freeze it. For now, to prolong Snowy’s life even a bit, I suggested to Ara that we move Snowy to a place where the snow hadn’t melted yet.
“If you touch him, he’ll melt.”
Sniffle.
Ara, sniffling adorably, made me want to tease her, but I resisted the urge.
“Let’s move it quickly and carefully.”
“Uuuu.”
Ara, with trembling hands, quickly but cautiously picked up Snowy. I swiftly moved to a shaded area where the snow hadn’t melted yet and set Ara down there.
Drip. Drip.
Snowy was melting away, smiling.
“Waaaaah!”
Even though we placed him in the shade, it seemed unlikely that he would survive. It was natural for the snow to melt once winter ended. I hadn’t realized how much Ara cherished this snowman; I thought she had forgotten about it after that day.
‘Children are much more sensitive than I thought.’
Or maybe I had become too numb. It was a moment where I realized I was getting older.
Having run out of comforting words, I simply stood beside Ara, watching Snowy melt away together.
“Sniff.”
Eventually, Ara stopped crying and silently paid her respects to Snowy, her eyes still swollen and filled with tears.
“Next time, I’ll make you even better. Thank you for protecting the hats.”
“Snowy, you were a really good snowman.”
We bowed our heads in farewell to Snowy. As we were saying our goodbyes, slimes and Kkumuris, who were happily welcoming spring, came over to see what was happening.
A Kkumuri?
“Heheng?”
Imitating us, they bowed respectfully. After a brief moment of mourning, we raised our heads to see an empty patch of dirt where Snowy had completely melted.
“Uuu, sniff…”
As Ara was about to start crying again, a Kkumuri waddled over and began touching the spot where Snowy had melted.
“Heheng.”
The Kkumuri began shaping the dirt, gradually forming it into something.
“Huh?”
“!!”
What the Kkumuri created was a dirt version of Snowy.
“Snowy!!!”
Ara, her tears forgotten, shouted with joy and gently picked up the new version of Snowy. Her careful but hurried movements were incredibly cute.
“Heheng.”
The Kkumuri, having revived Snowy, looked at me with a blank expression as if asking if it did well.
“Good job.”
Thumbs up.
This little guy was amazing. Snowy was almost perfectly restored, except he was now made of dirt. Maybe we should call him Dirt-Dirt now?
“Snowy!”
It seemed Ara still considered it Snowy. We placed the new Snowy back on the roof. I touched him slightly, and he was so sturdy that it was clearly the work of the Kkumuri. Snowy now seemed safe from any unexpected accidents.
With that little incident over, I checked the time. It was almost time.
‘Golden Carrot’
Finally, was I about to move beyond level 1?
Cliche Novel 