Chapter 3
Chapter 3
In the end, I had to personally remove every single vine of the Pumpkins that refused to let go of the sisters. I even considered giving them a “re-education” with a Fireball, but if I did that, Canis and Lupus would end up roasted as well, so I held back this time.
‘Sigh.’
Leaving behind the Pumpkins that were still opening and closing their mouths as if disappointed, I supported the two disheveled sisters and headed toward the hut.
Canis, seated at the dining table inside the hut, was glaring at me while tapping her puffed-up tail against the floor. Her usual sly merchant smile was gone, replaced by a face puffing out hot breath like an angry raccoon.
“What on earth did you plant again!? A month ago, there was nothing like that!!!”
“Well, they’re Pumpkins.”
“That’s not what I’m asking! And Pumpkins? They’re that huge!?”
A month ago… right, when Canis and Lupus last came, there were no Pumpkins.
I definitely used a Giant Slime as fertilizer then. They grew in a single day after planting the seeds, but even if they looked like pumpkins, Pumpkins were Pumpkins.
They just weren’t ordinary pumpkins.
“Ugh, whatever. Trying to make sense of you is pointless. Let’s just talk business.”
“…Lupus, get down.”
At Canis’s irritated voice, Lupus’s ears and tail drooped. Clinging tightly to my ribs, she refused to let go. Canis sighed and pulled at her.
“No! I’m staying with Igrifa-nim!”
“Are you not getting off? Do you want your ribs broken again like last time? Let go, I said let go!”
Despite Canis’s strength, Lupus held on stubbornly. She only let go after one of my ribs had already been completely torn off.
“…Ah.”
“…Ah.”
An awkward silence filled the room. For a while, none of us spoke.
To break the suffocating atmosphere, I offered coffee. I poured the liquid into my mouth, only for it to immediately leak out through my jawbones.
“Hehe, Igrifa-nim, it’s spilling everywhere.”
“Yes, I am a skeleton after all.”
Lupus giggled at the sight, clearly amused, while Canis didn’t even touch her coffee. Instead, she stared at me blankly, holding my detached rib bone.
This was the third time the lycanthrope sisters had broken my ribs.
Honestly, it wasn’t that big of a problem.
“It’s fine. They grow back anyway.”
“Still…”
“I said it’s fine. More importantly, business. You said you brought what I asked for?”
“Yes.”
At the word “business,” Canis straightened up. She carefully wrapped my broken rib in cloth, then placed a bundle of seeds on the table.
“Here. The rice and barley you requested. Honestly, these aren’t found anywhere around here. I had to go all the way west to get them.”
“Thank you. These are sturdy crops. You did well.”
Canis shrugged and drank her coffee. She might be young, just like Lupus, but she was still more mature than she looked.
Watching her steady herself and handle her work made her seem dependable.
“The preservation is excellent. No doubt about it.”
Holding the seeds above my head, I examined them. No mold, no signs of being eaten.
The life force contained within them felt steady and cold. That was very like Canis.
“But, Igrifa-nim.”
“Hmm?”
“Are you really planning to farm here for the rest of your life?”
Canis frowned slightly as she looked up at me. Her gaze was a mixture of frustration and confusion, like ginseng buried too deep in soil.
“Then what else would a farmer do but farm?”
“That’s not what I mean…”
If not that, what, raise cattle instead? I didn’t understand her point. Yet Canis tapped her chest in frustration.
“You’re strong, Igrifa-nim. Whatever your past was, you could be in a much better position now.”
“I doubt that.”
“You doubt it? Our first meeting was you pulverizing a Behemoth in one strike.”
At her words, I tilted my head.
A Behemoth? It had thick skin, yes, so physical resistance was high. But that was all. Nothing particularly special.
“That’s normal if you use magic properly.”
“…Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
Canis stared at me blankly, as if I were a wall she couldn’t pass through.
Then she let out a deep, exhausted sigh and dropped her head.
“If that’s normal… this continent should’ve been destroyed already…”
She muttered while glancing at me, but I still didn’t understand.
If even Behemoths couldn’t be hunted by magic users, then what could they possibly hunt?
Canis was likely competent as a merchant, but outside her field, she simply didn’t know.
“Anyway, people keep asking about you everywhere. It’s chaos.”
“Then why ask you? They should just come here directly.”
“…Are you serious?”
“Yes.”
“Forget it… I’ve told you this so many times already…”
As Canis lost all energy and fiddled with her teacup, I awkwardly turned away.
And there, I met Lupus’s gaze.
She was staring at my face with pure curiosity.
What now?
“…You may speak comfortably.”
“Yes!”
Immediately, Lupus’s tail spun like a propeller as she pressed closer.
Unlike her sister’s heavy discussion about power and strength, she was fully focused on the seeds on the table.
“Igrifa-nim! What kind of creature will those grow into?”
She poked the seed bundle with her small fingers.
“What kind of creature…? They’re rice and barley seeds, so they’ll grow into rice and barley.”
I wasn’t certain, but I hoped so. It wasn’t like I had intended for potatoes or sweet potatoes to grow the way they did.
They simply grew like that on their own.
But Lupus tilted her head.
“Eh? So they won’t grow tentacles? Or wings? Or maybe they’ll become rice and barley bigger than mountains!?”
“…That’s…”
Before I could continue, she grabbed Canis’s collar.
“Big sis, big sis. Looks like this time it’s normal farming. But… crops don’t make money, right?”
At her urgent words, something inside me went hollow.
Sometimes, a child’s innocent words cut deeper than any veteran’s blade.
“It’s fine. He always says things like that.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Trust Igrifa-nim. Something valuable will come out for sure.”
A cheerful pair of sisters, smiling warmly. They were happy.
I, however, was not.
Well, I have no eyes or tears as a skeleton, but emotionally, it felt worse than when I was human.
Then Canis spoke casually.
“Oh, Igrifa-nim. Are we doing barter as usual for payment?”
“Ah… yes, let’s do that. Then… hmm, so that means Pump—”
“We’re not taking Pumpkins… I don’t want those creepy things. I don’t even want them in my carriage.”
Her smile vanished instantly as she cut me off.
Lupus also turned away with a look of disgust.
This was the first time.
“Do you perhaps have Giant Greenbells? There are a lot of requests for those.”
Canis whistled lightly.
Giant Greenbell… those were the tree-like monsters that grew from apple trees I had once planted three months ago.
They didn’t even bear fruit. Yet people wanted them.
“In the Eastern dungeons?”
“Yes. Things are rough over there lately.”
The Eastern dungeons… I couldn’t really picture it. In my human life, the word “dungeon” didn’t even exist.
“I don’t really have many of those left.”
“…I see.”
“And I don’t plan on producing more.”
Canis sighed in disappointment, but it couldn’t be helped.
Even if I had records of how I grew them in my farming journal, I had no intention of repeating it. That journal was for stable crops, not repeated failures.
No matter how much she or Lupus asked, I couldn’t agree.
“Instead, how about this?”
I opened a box.
From inside came a loud, relentless cry.
“WAAAHHHHHH!!!”
A voice that pierced even silence spells. The potatoes and sweet potatoes had become mandragoras, but at least these were growing well.
“This is a mandragora. You’re actually growing these now?”
“…Is it bad?”
Canis tilted her head, then quickly began calculating in her mind.
Not worthless. Not at all. Her expression softened into a bright smile.
“Perfect! Mandragoras are enough!! You’ll load them onto the carriage today, right?”
Despite my suggestion that they stay the night, Canis refused.
“We’ll leave next time. It’s a busy period.”
It was already late, and traveling at night seemed dangerous, but it wasn’t my place to interfere.
So I simply helped load ten crates of mandragoras into her carriage.
The Eastern region was a land tangled with dungeons.
Between mountains and valleys lay monster nests, and human adventurers poured in every day.
The Ant Nest was no exception.
They had managed to repel the attack today, but part of the inner colony had collapsed. The soldiers returned wounded, and recovery would take time.
“Any response from the alliance?”
“Not yet.”
From behind the veil, Queen Melina of the Silver Ents ground her teeth.
The Eastern Alliance had been formed under the pretense of protecting the region from constant human incursions, but reality was far different.
She sighed, recalling their position.
“Of course not. Greedy old men and their so-called order.”
The alliance was nothing more than a facade. A structure where higher dungeons fed on lower ones.
The tribute they had paid had not been to humans, but to higher dungeons in the east just to survive.
Chapter 3
“Your Majesty, what about purchasing monsters from the Lycanthrope sisters?”
“…What?”
“They are difficult to utilize, but undeniably powerful. One deployment would greatly strengthen our defenses.”
At her subordinate’s words, Melina closed her eyes.
The auction from last month came to mind.
Even ignoring the astronomical price, attending such auctions risked attracting the attention of higher dungeons.
Visiting the sisters directly was also uncertain—they might refuse entirely.
“…No. Impossible.”
Silence fell behind the veil.
Then the subordinate spoke again, voice steadier now.
“Then… I will go to the Green Dungeon myself.”
Melina’s eyes sharpened.
“What do you think you’re saying? You’ll die.”
The Green Dungeon was a place from which even diplomatic envoys had never returned.
Only the lycanthrope sisters were known to travel there safely.
“And yet… if we fail to stop the humans next time, everything will end.”
The resolve in his voice left Melina silent.
Her emotions wanted to stop him.
But reason said this might be their last lifeline.
She clenched her jaw.
“…Do as you wish.”