Round 372

Prev | TOC | Next

The best course was to help them recover slowly through use.  

“We’ve rescued the survivors. We gave them a place to stay and assigned them jobs.”  

“Well done.”  

“And after capturing the monster this time, we’re currently constructing a separate place to keep it. We’ve also hired people to manage them.”  

As Choro continued the briefing, the little humans who had crossed over were busily carrying building materials.  

Some of them transported monsters they had captured from the other side—twenty chickens and twenty pigs were added.  

“Oh wow, that’s quite a haul.”  

“I just wandered around a bit nearby, and monsters are everywhere. Inside, there are even more kinds living, but I plan to clean up the surroundings step by step.”  

“Right, right. Let’s take it slow.”  

The newly captured monsters were first quarantined and would be integrated only after they’ve adjusted.  

After distributing the supplies and hearing various reports, we were about to wrap things up.  

–Kirik! Kirik!  

A goblin came rushing in, flustered.  

What’s going on?  

“Oh! She’s given birth!”  

“Given birth? The babies!”  

Romrom gave birth!  

It was earlier than expected, so we hadn’t even guessed it. We’d been checking daily, but I didn’t expect the birth to happen already.  

We immediately headed for the ranch.  

The little humans and Verna followed behind us, and surprisingly, even lazy Bell came along.  

–The birth of life is always a miracle!  

–Nyang.  

When we arrived at the ranch, the goblins and gnolls in charge were visibly excited to greet us.  

–Keng!  

“Can we go in?”  

–Kengkeng!  

Guided by the gnoll, we headed to the stable and noticed the wild boars seemed particularly sensitive today. They’re usually calm—maybe they knew Romrom was giving birth.  

Inside the stable, goblins and gnolls dressed like midwives were bustling around.  

‘It’s not over yet!’  

I looked around to see if I could help and saw a goblin tripping while carrying water.  

Splat.  

“Ouch.”  

I helped the teary-eyed goblin up and gave it a gentle pat.  

Then I fetched water myself and headed over to Romrom.  

“Ikyuseongkyuseong, it’s babies. Babies.”  

Ara said softly with a finger over her lips.  

I carefully set the bucket down and nodded.  

‘Wow.’  

Wriggle wriggle.  

Wild boar piglets.  

They hadn’t yet developed their armor-like hide and looked just like piglets you’d see on Earth.  

They hadn’t grown tusks either, making them indistinguishable from Earth pigs.  

“They’re a bit unusual.”  

Then Kkappe, in charge of supplies, spoke up.  

“They don’t have tusks.”  

“Huh? You’re right.”  

Choro agreed. The other little humans also took turns commenting in amazement while looking at Romrom’s babies.  

“Tuskless fearsome tusks?”  

“If it were just one, fine—but none of them have tusks?!”  

With all the reactions, I had to ask.  

“Don’t they just not have tusks as babies?”  

“Fearsome tusks are born with their tusks.”  

“Oh, I see!”  

I didn’t know since it was my first time seeing the babies.  

If the little humans say so, then it must be true.  

Romrom, having finished her smooth delivery, began licking her babies and settled down, while we quietly exited the stable so as not to disturb her.  

Romrom gave birth to sixteen babies.  

An incredible number.  

The surprising part was that not a single one of them had tusks.  

That’s why I still had doubts.  

‘Aren’t they supposed to be born like that? Maybe the kids are mistaken?’  

–That thought wouldn’t go away, but then I remembered there were other young wild boars we had caught.  

I wandered around the ranch and tempted the younger-looking wild boars with crops.  

–Kkuing.  

The baby wild boars happily bounced toward me.  

Looking closely, even at a young age, they already had imposing tusks.  

“I should ask Seon-ah.”  

Could they be mutants? Or maybe something’s wrong?  

As I began to frown with worry, Ara, who was handing out carrots to the baby boars with me, patted my back.  

“Are you okay?”  

“Huh? Yeah.”  

“What are you worried about?”  

“I’m worried the new piglets might be sick or something.”  

“In my opinion, they’re fine!”  

Ara shouted brightly, eyes sparkling.  

If Ara, who has the third eye ability, says they’re fine, they must be fine.  

That ability seems to let her understand almost any phenomenon at a glance.  

Romrom’s delivery caused a brief stir, but it ended quickly.  

Then Bell, who had followed us, looked around the stable and spoke.  

–What is this. It’s a mess.  

We designed and built it ourselves, you know.  

I squinted at him, and Bell crossed his arms and said,  

–I’ll rebuild it more perfectly.  

“Oh! Thanks, Bell!”  

–But I need Churu snacks next to me while I work.  

“I’ll make sure of that.”  

Bell usually doesn’t move much, so I was surprised he offered to upgrade the stable, but it was a good thing.  

–If babies stay in a place like this, they’ll end up with crooked mouths.  

Where did he even learn that proverb?  

Bell seemed ready to get started right away, and we continued sending off the little humans.  

“Hope to see you at the first harvest!”  

“Yeah. I’ll stop by in three days.”  

After sending off the little humans, we began preparations too.  

Well, the prep was just gathering the group to go through the dimensional portal.  

‘Bell’s expanding the stable, so he’s out. I’ll just take the others.’  

Kyler and his daughter were going to collect chestnuts tonight. They’d either be home or at Slime Village afterward.  

First, I headed to the mine to find the triplets.  

Mammon, Las, and Frey.  

They were doing something—Mammon seemed to be making something.  

The other two were watching and waiting.  

–My Lord!  

Frey waved enthusiastically at me.  

Then pointed at my shoulder and shouted,  

–Angel!  

“Huh?”  

I turned to see Verna sitting there naturally.  

Weren’t you going with them?  

–Not an angel, a goddess.  

–But your wings are angel wings.  

–Still, I’m a goddess.  

Listening to their back-and-forth somehow cleared my mind.  

I barely managed to focus and asked, “What are you doing?”  

–Frey asked for a crown too, so we’re doing metalwork.  

Mammon explained proudly and showed me what he was making.  

“Ohh.”  

It was a crown—or more precisely, a tiara.

It looked like it was made to fit Frey’s head—very small—yet it had impressive decorations and engravings.  

“It’s beautiful!”  

–Should I make one for you too? Yours would be easy.  

“Yes!”  

While Ara reserved a tiara of her own, Ras, chewing on a dog chew, suddenly said,  

–You’re going again today?  

“Yeah. Actually, that’s why I came.”  

–Ah! You’re going to meet the elves. I’ll wrap this up quickly.  

“No rush. We’ve got plenty of time.”  

Even if we came back through the dimensional portal, only about ten minutes would have passed, so there was no pressure.  

Roughly five minutes later, Frey’s tiara was complete.  

“Wow, amazing. It’s really well made.”  

–This isn’t the end! I’m going to add more engravings!  

Frey exclaimed in excitement.  

Seriously, they’re all so cute.  

–Can I place an order too? Something fit for a goddess, please.  

–Huh? You too, Verna? Are you okay with wearing something I made?  

–Is there a problem with that?  

Verna tried to look dignified, but there was still an undeniable air of clueless charm.  

–Sure. But let’s go first.  

–Where are we going?  

Verna asked, looking at the side of my face.  

Too close. Personal space, please.  

“Verna, I can now open a portal like the one you came through. It’s not for an invasion or anything—just a portal I can use once a day to travel back and forth. I want to explore it.”  

–A portal connected to another dimension, right?  

“Exactly.”  

Verna seemed deep in thought for a moment, then suddenly stood up and shouted,  

–The Goddess of Mercy, Verna! Shall accompany you!  

“Sure, let’s go together.”  

–…?  

She made a weird sound, not expecting me to agree so quickly, but I ignored it and said,  

“All set? Let’s go?”  

–Yep!  

–Sounds good.  

–This lord is always ready.  

With the three kids, I went to find Ashu.  

Ashu was in the Slime Village kitchen but took off her apron immediately and followed us.  

By the way, Ashu only wore that massive apron when she was cooking.  

It felt like a waste, but I figured it wasn’t wrong, so I let it go.  

Afterward, we picked up Levi, who was playing by the sea through the coastal portal, and everyone was gathered.  

“Perfect timing. I just finished getting ready.”  

“Let’s go, Uncle!”  

Kyler and his daughter were ready too, and all of us used the portal together.  

Wuuung~  

The only difference from last time was that Verna had replaced Bell.  

Should be fine.  

“Welcome.”  

“Oh, you were waiting.”  

The elf we saw the day before greeted us.  

We did agree to meet, but the difference in our time perception made it hard to set a precise appointment.  

But next to him stood another elf.  

“Greetings.”  

This time it was a female elf.  

The male elf from the day before introduced her.  

“This is our village leader, Janya.”  

“Hello. I’m Lee Kyu-seong.”  

“I am Ara!”  

We introduced ourselves in turn, and we finally got the male elf’s name.  

“Come to think of it, I never told you my name. I’m Dorohan.”  

“Dorohan?”  

“That’s right.”  

What an unusual name.  

Ah, from their perspective, my name must sound just as strange.  

“Just as I heard—you really came from another world. Amazing.”  

“We happened to discover a way. We can stay here for three hours.”  

Wait a second.  

How much time passes here while we’re in the real world?  

“Just wondering—how long has it been since we last appeared here?”  

“It’s been about twenty days, I think.”  

“What?!”  

Oh no…  

“Did you wait for us all twenty days?”  

“Technically, I only waited two. I had things to do in the village too.”  

“Oh, th-that’s a relief?”  

Come to think of it, time flows differently here.  

One of our days equals roughly twenty days here.  

‘Three hours is 180 minutes. We experience about 10 minutes. So, it’s about 18 times faster?’  

That math seemed to check out.  

Still, from their point of view, we’re taking forever.  

I shared my rough time estimate with them, and Dorohan nodded as if it wasn’t a big deal.  

“If it’s just a 20-day difference, it’s nothing.”  

“Huh?”  

“For us elves, time is in abundance. Waiting twenty days is no different from a human waiting one day.”  

“Oh.”  

Elves supposedly live many times longer than humans—guess that’s true.  

“By the way, Lee Kyu-seong.”  

“Yes?”  

“Give me food.”  

“…What?”  

The sudden request caught me off guard.  

He wants food?  

Then Janya, standing beside him, chimed in as well.  

“We can’t forget the food you shared with us. Please, let’s trade again…”  

Oh no.  

Looks like we’ve got more people who’ve become addicted to my crops.

Prev | TOC | Next