After several failed attempts, the duel between Kyler and his daughter finally ended.
“Quest complete!”
At the same time, Emily’s quest was completed.
Now, what kind of reward would be given this time?
Poof!
A quest reward appeared before her eyes.
It was an unidentified object surrounded by a halo of light.
As the light gradually faded, the object was revealed.
“Huh? What is that?”
The revealed object was a square-shaped box.
No, upon closer inspection, it wasn’t a box but a metal ingot.
A metal ingot suddenly appeared.
Holding the ingot with a puzzled expression, Emily looked at us.
“What do I do with this?”
“Uh… hmm…”
Kyler, who was standing right in front of her, decided to check it first.
“It’s an item.”
“An item!”
A metal ingot as an item?
What a bizarre thing.
Even the minerals we mine from our mines don’t get item labels, but this one did—clearly, a special reward.
‘Well, considering how difficult that quest was, it couldn’t be an ordinary item.’
After all, it involved five duels against individuals with at least level-9 skills.
And those five duels couldn’t be against the same person; they had to be fought against five different opponents, making it an insanely difficult quest.
While the Relics of the Seven Deadly Sins quest was notorious for its cruelty, this duel quest wasn’t something just anyone could complete either.
Of course, Emily had a free pass.
Thanks to her elite connections, she breezed through every quest at lightning speed.
‘All thanks to me, of course.’
As I was silently congratulating myself, everyone gathered around to check out Emily’s reward.
“What’s this used for?”
-Why not craft a cool weapon for Emily?
-It looks pretty.
Hmm, now I’m curious about the item’s stats.
I also approached Kyler to check the information on the ingot.
[Heavenly Metal – Diligence]
[A metal imbued with the energy of Diligence, one of the Seven Virtues.]
[It is composed of a material that cannot exist in the human world.]
“Wow.”
Judging by the description alone, it seemed like a legendary-grade item.
An object made of a material that couldn’t exist in the human realm!
The “human world” must mean the physical world, right?
Anyway!
It was a truly impressive-looking metal ingot.
“Hmm, so the Seven Virtues exist too, huh?”
The name suggested a counterpart to the Seven Deadly Sins.
Just like the quest to retrieve the Relics of the Seven Deadly Sins, it seemed that the hero was aligned with the opposing side.
“A new quest has appeared.”
“What is it?”
“Prepare the Hero for the Expedition! Forge a sword using the Metal of Diligence!”
Whoa.
Another high-difficulty quest appeared.
No matter how you looked at it, handling this metal didn’t seem easy.
It probably required someone with exceptional skills.
‘Maybe I should entrust it to a blacksmith with awakened abilities or hand it over to the research lab…’
As I was lost in thought, Kyler spoke up.
“This is going to be tough.”
“Huh? Wouldn’t it work if we entrusted it to someone?”
“From what I’ve analyzed with my abilities, I’m honestly doubtful if anyone can handle this.”
Kyler examined the ingot from every angle, his expression skeptical.
If Kyler was this doubtful, it was likely much harder than I expected.
Besides, if it were Kyler, he’d definitely know at least one outstanding blacksmith with awakened abilities.
‘And yet, he says it’s difficult.’
Although we had somehow managed to clear Emily’s absurd quests up until now, this time, even I might be out of options.
-Do you need a blacksmith, my lord?
Mammon, who had been watching from the side, suddenly asked.
“Oh, you heard it. We need to forge this metal ingot into a sword.”
-Hmm… In that case…
Mammon began to ponder.
Could he possibly have a solution?
Before long, Mammon started whispering with Ara and Ras, who were cheerfully chatting with Emily.
But why leave Ashu out?
For the record, after sparring with Emily, Ashu couldn’t control her speed and was running around excitedly.
In fact, she was moving so fast that I could barely keep track of her, and I wasn’t even sure if she was actually running around.
“Kyu-seong Kyu-seong!”
“Yeah? Are you done talking?”
“Yes! So, we need to make a sword for Emily, right?”
I nodded in response to Ara’s question.
Helping Emily complete her quests was a kind of vicarious satisfaction for me.
It wasn’t something I had to do, but it felt like something I really wanted to accomplish.
Ara grinned triumphantly and shouted, “I know someone who can handle that metal!”
“…Don’t tell me, it’s one of the Seven Deadly Sins?”
“Gasp! How did you know? Kyu-seong, do you even have mind-reading powers?”
Where on earth did she learn a word like “mind-reading”?
Not just Ara—Mammon and Ras were also staring at me in shock.
-As expected of the Great Lord, truly fearsome.
-Please, do not read my mind, my lord!
I scratched my head awkwardly and tried to calm them down.
It was just a guess, really.
Whenever something like this came up, they always introduced another of their friends.
“So, this time it’s a blacksmith friend?”
“Yes! He’s the one who sleeps all day long!”
“Sleep all day?”
That narrowed it down instantly.
Ah, sloth—it had to be Sloth.
-His personality is irritable, and he’s extremely lazy.
-If you entrust him with something, it’ll take forever, but I can vouch for the quality of his work.
I was curious about what kind of being they were.
From the way they described him, he sounded like a blacksmith, but it was odd that he was lazy.
Shouldn’t blacksmiths be diligent?
Just as I was pondering, Kyler cautiously spoke up.
“Are you planning to meet the Seven Deadly Sins again?”
“Oh, they mentioned someone who could handle this ingot.”
“You’re probably the only one who treats the Seven Deadly Sins without prejudice, Kyu-seong.”
Really?
To me, they all just seemed like cute kids.
“Hmm, it might be related to the dungeon of the Seven Deadly Sins I mentioned earlier.”
“Oh! You’re right. Have you seen it before?”
“Actually, I fought some regular monsters at the dungeon’s entrance and confirmed they were at least level 9. I just assumed it might be one of the Seven Deadly Sins.”
“Ah, I see.”
That was a bit disappointing.
I hoped the dungeon Kyler had found was Sloth’s dungeon.
“But there was one distinctive feature.”
“What was it?”
“All the monsters were… well, sluggish. If you ran away, they didn’t bother to chase you.”
“It’s Sloth!”
Of course, it might not be, but I wanted to believe it was.
For now, I asked the kids what Sloth looked like.
-It’s a cat.
“A cat?”
-Yes, if Ras is a dog, then that one is a cat.
-How dare you call me a dog!
Oh…
Ohhh!
“A cat, huh?”
A cat, something I didn’t have yet.
Finally, I get to adopt a cat!
Now it made sense why they were described as irritable and lazy.
If it’s a cat, I can totally understand that!
“His name is Bell!”
“That’s a cute name.”
“He’s cute too. Always lounging around, which makes him even cuter!”
A lazy cat, huh?
I wanted to recruit him immediately.
I should visit the dungeon Kyler found sometime soon.
“Whenever you’re ready, I’ll guide you to the dungeon.”
“Yes, please do.”
Right now wasn’t the best time to leave, though.
In a day or two, winter would end.
I needed to dismantle the greenhouse and start planting the seeds I had prepared.
‘The seeds from America, and the ones for the golden crops I plan to grow.’
Even though helping Emily complete her quests was satisfying, I couldn’t neglect my main duty.
And my main duty was farming.
Of course, the slimes took care of the farming themselves, but I had to oversee it.
“Before we head to the dungeon, let’s choose a place for Emily to live and build her house. It might take some time.”
“Ah! You’re right. Since we don’t know how long the dungeon expedition will take, it’s better to finish building the house first.”
A cat, a cat…
Just thinking about the cat made me excited.
Though she didn’t say anything, Seon-ah, who had been listening quietly, was also wide-eyed with anticipation at the mention of a cat.
“Alright, everyone, dismissed!”
Thus, the session for Emily’s quest ended, and everyone went off to do their own thing.
Meanwhile, I went outside to check if there were any new messages.
“Huh? It’s from Hanul.”
I had received several greetings from various people.
Among them was a message from Hanul.
“What?!”
The message from Hanul contained surprising news.
“They found a cure for dementia?”
I remembered the Meluca fruit I gave Young-seong because he wanted to study it.
It stood out in my memory because of its peculiar effects and toxicity.
But to think that fruit could cure dementia?
I never expected that.
“That’s amazing. Does that mean Hanul’s mother can be cured too?”
Soybean paste stew was still a staple food for our family.
After all, for Koreans, hearty stew and rice are essentials!
Hanul’s mother was the one who had inspired us to start making soybean paste stew.
Hmm, I should visit her sometime with Ara to pay my respects.
Anyway, I received a message thanking me and asking if it would be okay for Hanul and Young-seong to come visit when they had time.
‘Of course!’
However, Kyler would likely need to stay hidden around the dungeon outskirts for a while.
It was still too soon to reveal his presence.
In any case, they were only planning to stay for a day or two, so it wouldn’t be for too long.
Besides, Kyler had volunteered to explore the dungeon, so it wouldn’t be a bad idea to let him handle that in the meantime.
– Come visit anytime!
As soon as I sent the message, my phone rang.
– Hey, Kyu-seong! My brother!
“Hello, hyung. Congratulations!”
– Haha! It’s all thanks to you, brother!
“Oh, come on. I didn’t do much. It’s all because of Young-seong hyung’s hard work and research.”
– You sound just like that punk Choi Young-seong! Hahaha!
Hearing Hanul hyung’s excited voice made me feel happy for no reason.
We loosely agreed on a visit about a week later and ended the call.
A week was just about right—it would be after the busiest period had passed, so it wasn’t bad timing.
‘I should also share some of those golden strawberries.’
We still had plenty of the golden strawberries we harvested earlier.
After our family had eaten our fill, we held back to save some for those who hadn’t had the chance to try them.
I had planned to give five strawberries each to CEO Baek Tae-seop of Iron Blood and the guild master of the Terror Guild, so I figured I might as well ask the guild staff handling the next delivery to take care of it for me.
This time, we were planning a large-scale delivery of golden strawberries to Ara Hongryeon as well.
The price?
I hadn’t thought too deeply about it.
I didn’t want to set it too high, so I was thinking of roughly 100 million per strawberry.
‘Even at that price, people will say it’s cheap.’
After all, it was a crop that couldn’t be bought with money alone, so even 100 million was a bargain.
It wasn’t just a tasty fruit—it was an item with immense value.
Still, with my bank account overflowing with hundreds of billions of won, I didn’t have any strong desire for more money.
Now, I genuinely just wanted the people around me to be happy.
‘Come to think of it, Si-young recently established a charity foundation. I should make a donation too.’
Not only to Dasom Orphanage but also to orphanages across the country—I should make contributions everywhere.
After living through life in the dungeon, monetary wealth didn’t mean much to me anymore.
An incredible home, incredible meals, and a loving family gathered together in happiness—what more could I ask for?
Plus, the sense of accomplishment I got from farming and managing the dungeon was indescribable.
“Ugh! Ah! I can’t wait for Jae-seong’s restaurant to be finished soon.”
Who knows what fun things will happen when that’s ready?
Filled with anticipation, I headed back to the dungeon.
Cliche Novel 