Round 262

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The long-awaited three days and two nights have ended. 

Finally, the children who were chosen as final candidates stood proudly with commanding expressions. 

“I am the one who wins.” 

“Go and win!” 

The Slime Team. 

Their confidence looked great. Even Cheong, who always had a scared expression, looked inexplicably cute raising both fists with all his might. 

“Sorry, but I’m going to win this tournament.” 

“Not you, it’ll be me! I just need to lay a spoon at the spot I found! Hmph!” 

“What are you talking about? I found that spot!” 

And the Goblin Fairy Team is still bickering as usual. Well, Mammon and Frey are like this, but other goblins and fairies get along very well. If they were really on bad terms, they wouldn’t form a team together. They were a cute pair in many ways. 

“My minions and I… finally completed the cave.” 

“Hehe.” 

Ras stood quietly with his arms crossed. Behind him, the gnolls and goblins dust-covered, struck a pose. They were applauded for their hard work in creating a place for the portal installation on their own. 

“Ashu found a lot of food this time!” 

“Beep beep!” 

The Breed’s clan came with loads of luggage. These guys didn’t find the place they were asked to, but brought back various ingredients, which wasn’t bad. I’ll need to take the time to check what they’ve brought later.

As all the children gathered, it was time to decide on the final candidate. Everyone had brought several candidates, so they had to tell me their final choice. 

“Alright, time’s up! Have you all chosen?” 

“We have chosen!” 

Everyone confirmed their chosen spots with a grave expression. Ara had her sketchbook, Mammon and Frey seemed to have had only one candidate from the start, and Ras also chose a self-dug cave, while Ashu picked one of the many food ingredients. 

“This is the Slime Team’s choice!” Ara showed her sketchbook. 

There were incomprehensible symbols and jagged drawings on it. Everyone fell silent trying to interpret the drawing. 

Our family also moved closer to look intently at Ara’s drawing. 

“This way and then sway! Something sways! And if you go next to the sway, whoosh! It appears!” 

“Uh, um.” 

“Now, if we pass the sharp points, the place we chose will appear!” 

It seemed we would have to go there ourselves. Of course, we had to go for the portal installation, but I was curious to see what it really was. 

“Ara, is there a reason you chose this place?” 

“Hmm, it has the highest art score.” 

“Art… score?” 

It was a slightly puzzling answer, but I nodded to avoid awkwardness. Well, that could be! Art score, yeah…

We decided to go and check it out ourselves and also asked the other children why they chose their spots. 

“It’s a forest.” 

“It’s the forest!” 

The Goblin Fairy Team’s reason was simply the forest. I was beginning to feel uneasy. Surely there must be a place suitable for portal installation. Of course, since it’s easy to uninstall and reinstall, it wouldn’t be a problem if we didn’t like the spot. 

“The cave is always with the overlord.” 

The Gnoll Team’s reason was simply because Ras liked to dig caves. There was a dirt hill that seemed perfect for digging, and that’s all they did. 

“This place had the most ingredients!” Ashu’s reason was the most reasonable. It was a place filled with ingredients I’d never seen before. According to Ashu, it wasn’t that there was a lot of food, but rather a variety of plants and insects mingled together. What was interesting was that they discovered a new monster. 

Ashu had caught it and showed it to us once; it was a rodent-like squirrel, small in size, seemingly feeding on something like seeds. 

“The first monster discovered after Kkumuris and Gomgom.” 

There had been no sightings of any other individual except Gomgom till now.

[Stardust Squirrel]

Its name is Stardust Squirrel. It had sparkling eyes that felt like stars. This little creature, only as big as a palm, seemed to belong to the same family as Kkumuris, rather than the Fluffykind. 

“Squeak!” 

It was threatening with its arms wide open. On Ashu’s palm, it puffed up its body mightily, which was adorably insignificant. It was so cute yet worrying, so at that time, I had told Ashu to just let it go, but now I wonder how many of them might be living around here. 

“This caterpillar is delicious, isn’t it? Would you like to try it, Kyu-seong Kyu-seong?” 

“……I’ll pass.”

One issue was that the place Ashu chose was somewhat suitable, but most of the ingredients were insect types. 

Jae-seong, who was open-minded, was very pleased with the discovery of new ingredients, but I couldn’t bring myself to eat them. 

“Shall we all go visit the chosen places together?” 

First, we headed to Ras’s cave, which was the closest since he had stopped wandering as soon as he found the dirt hill. It was close enough that we could come and go without installing a portal. 

Upon reaching Ras’s cave, we found a place engraved with fancy decorations and sculptures. 

“Is this that cave?” 

“Yes.” 

No, has it changed this much? Last time, it was just a spacious burrow, but now it looked like a dungeon from a cartoon, decorated with quite dreamy patterns and ornaments, fitting well with the purple sky.

Under Ras’s guidance, we were all led deeper into the cave. The interior of the cave was quite cozy. However, there wasn’t much inside, but it reminded me of the dwellings of gnolls I had seen in the Dungeon of Wrath. 

“Well, how is it?” 

“Wow! It’s just like the Dungeon of Wrath.” 

“Hmm, that’s not what I’m referring to. Look at this.” 

I noticed Ras was pointing at something. Curious, I moved closer, and something round and strange was protruding. 

“What’s this?” 

“Huh?!” Jae-seong suddenly shouted in surprise and ran over. He then exclaimed while looking at the round object. 

“Mushrooms!” 

“Mushrooms?” 

This? It might be called a mushroom, but it wasn’t the typical shape we know. It was a spherical shape, but if we had to compare, it was not really similar to the World Tree mushrooms…

Anyway, Jae-seong called it a mushroom, so it seemed to be one. However, what was even more astonishing was deeper inside. 

“Wow.” 

A deep burrow. Inside, a whole different ecosystem was unfolding. From the entrance to the beginning, gnolls had dug it themselves, but it seemed that the inside was a naturally formed cave. 

Inside the cave, there was a deep-looking lake, the mushrooms we had just seen, and several types of peculiar plants. 

‘The more you know, the more fascinating it is.’ 

How much does the Dungeon of Gluttony hold?

Thanks to this, we ended up exploring Ras’s cave for a while, thinking it would be just a quick visit. 

“There are also unusual animals here. Or should I say, monsters?” 

There were not only fish in the lake but also other living things. From freshwater insects to aquatic creatures that ate such insects, and animals that hunted those aquatic creatures. 

The animals were small creatures that looked like lizards. Even if you eat fruit juice and try to check information, nothing comes up, so they seem to be classified as animals rather than monsters. 

“Delicious.” 

“Huh?” 

“This lizard, it suits my taste.” 

Could it be that you’ve caught and eaten it, Lord Ras? 

Eating lizards, oh! Now that I think about it, is it meat? Since I’ve been farming, I’ve inadvertently become a vegetarian. But now, with the edible insects Ashu discovered and the lizard meat Ras found, a new source of protein has emerged. 

‘I’m not planning to eat it though.’ 

Watching Ara suddenly try it, Seon-ah was shocked but soon adapted. 

“Ara, ask Jae-seong to grill it for you later.” 

“Okay!” 

Eventually, we collected a few lizards, mushrooms, and moss-like plants and came out of the cave. 

“Hmm, not bad.” 

That was the impression of the cave. If it had been farther away, this place might have been chosen, but unfortunately, it was too close to install a portal.

The next location was found by Mammon and Frey. And just as they said, it was a forest. 

“Why did you choose this place?” 

“We couldn’t find any other place with unique features.” 

Mammon, initially confident, became gloomy after seeing Ras’s cave. However, Frey still seemed determined not to give up and promoted the forest. 

“It’s very refreshing!” 

“Uh huh.” 

“It’s beautiful! Isn’t it beautiful?!” 

“Yes, it is.” 

“Even in winter, the leaves are lush! The sound of the leaves rustling is also very pleasant to listen to!” 

Eventually, Mammon stepped forward and grabbed Frey’s shoulder, as if to say let’s not make it worse. 

“Let go! It’s not over yet!” 

“Frey, let’s give up this time. There will be other opportunities.” 

Finally, Frey also became dejected, and I stopped walking and sat down near Mammon. Mother and Seon-ah tried to comfort the children with their cute reactions.

After gracefully accepting the results, the next location was the one discovered by Ashu. The place Ashu found was like a jungle. 

The problem was that there were various obstacles including a swamp, which was a bit concerning for ordinary children to traverse. 

“Hmm… It was certainly not a bad place. If a portal was installed, it would probably be easy to transport research materials and various ingredients. However, due to the harsh environment and terrain, it seemed best that only kids like Ashu roam around here. 

“Ashu doesn’t mind! As long as I can get food here!” 

The outcome of the contest didn’t seem very important to her. 

She was just satisfied with the possibility of finding new ingredients for cooking.

Thus, the place to install the portal was left to the Slime Team. 

“Really?” 

“Did Ara find a good place…” 

The day was almost over. This was the last spot to check before heading back. Although it would be late to return, missing one night’s sleep wouldn’t kill us. 

‘The family might struggle though.’ 

When we arrived at the location chosen by the illustrious Slime Team… We discovered a valley. 

Swoosh— 

Gushing water. 

“Hmm.” 

“Hmm.” 

“Hmm…” 

It was nice. Perfect for a summer retreat. But. Installing a portal here too? If there had been an extra portal, it might have been nice to install one, but this was the precious second portal we had managed to obtain. Using a portal just for water fun didn’t really appeal to me.

Perhaps sensing our reaction, Ara scratched her head and smiled awkwardly. 

“Hehe.” 

“Ara, this place is really nice. Shall we play here and spend the night before returning?” 

“That would be great!” 

Although we couldn’t decide on a place to install the portal, since we had come this far, we decided to spend the night. With a natural playground like the valley and food already brought along, there was nothing lacking. 

I immediately started preparing for camping, and the children began happily splashing around in the water. 

“Hahaha!” 

“It’s cold!” 

“Behold the power of the overlord!” 

“Foul! That’s cheating!” 

Watching the children have so much fun made me inadvertently happy.

Now, where should we really install the portal? 

“Chirp.” 

“Huh?” 

It was a cry I hadn’t heard in a long time. I craned my neck to look up. There, perched on a tree branch, was Chirpy. 

“Chirpy? Are you really Chirpy?” 

“Chirp!” 

My goodness, how long has it been since our reunion? Are you really my familiar? Wuffy, Purr, and Chirpy. It used to be a trio, but Chirpy had not been seen for a while. What on earth had it been doing all this time?

Noticing Chirpy’s appearance, Ara came running over. 

“Chirpy!!” 

Ara, too, looked exhilarated to see Chirpy after such a long time. 

“Chirp!” 

“Hey! Chirpy, have you been well?” 

“Chirp chirp.” 

As they started talking, I watched them blankly when suddenly Ara’s expression turned serious. What on earth could they have talked about to make her look so grave? 

A bit worried, Ara shared with me what Chirpy had told her. 

“Chirpy has…” 

“Chirpy has?” 

“Discovered an island floating in the sky!” What? An island floating in the sky?

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