Monica's Proposal (2)
While waiting on the first floor, she went up to her room, changed into elegant clothes, and appeared.
Next, they moved to the noble mansion where the nobles had gathered.
“Listen carefully. Nobles are said to be more educated than us, but surprisingly, they’re quite naive? They don’t know the ways of the world.”
As she said, the nobles indeed had surprisingly innocent sides.
With Monica’s mix of bluffs and persuasive eloquence, the nobles who were intrigued by her explanation happily opened their wallets.
Moreover, since the carrots looked of the highest quality, her words were even more convincing.
In short, it was too easy to sell.
“Is this good for skin care?”
“If you boil it, less hair falls out?”
“It’s so expensive that even kings secretly eat it?”
The carrots sold out instantly.
And Rian’s money pouch swelled as if it would burst.
“We made a total of 5 gold and 130 silver. Give me just 1 gold. Okay?”
“I’ll add 70 silver more. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have been able to touch this money.”
“We should have met sooner. If we had sold even the ones we sold at the market to the nobles, we would have earned double.”
Rian was walking the empty cart with Monica along the night road.
Though tired, he felt elated to have earned a huge unexpected amount of money.
There was a sense of fulfillment in eating only carrots for three meals today.
And because of that, his stomach was quite empty.
“If there’s a decent inn, I can recommend it? I don’t have a place to stay.”
“Oh, right, I arrived today. Then how about my place? The price is reasonable, and the facilities are clean enough. You saw it when I went to change clothes earlier.”
Since it was a place where a money-smart merchant would stay, it seemed fine, so she followed her.
After paying the innkeeper for one night’s stay and having a late dinner, he planned to buy her a drink for all the hard work today.
But she shook her head.
“My body’s not feeling well, so I want to go rest quickly. Sorry.”
Seeing her face slightly paler, it was clear something was wrong.
“I secretly took one carrot earlier. I should taste it too. I’m taking it.”
She showed the last remaining carrot, which she had hidden, in front of his eyes.
“Yeah, enjoy it.”
“Good night.”
She waved her hand and went up to her room on the second floor.
“Will I see her again? She seems like a good woman.”
Rian moved his feet with a bit of regret.
He found the assigned room, unpacked his luggage, then went down to the first floor and finished dinner in ten minutes.
And returning to the room, he plopped onto the bed.
“How long has it been since I’ve slept in a bed like this?”
After only camping, lying on a bed made him feel like he could fly.
With his stomach full, his mind was at ease.
“Hoo, I wonder how today passed. It was really a tiring day…”
No thoughts came to mind.
He didn’t want to think.
If he closed his eyes, he would fall asleep immediately.
He wanted to sleep.
Closing his eyes to sleep, …
Crack.
A sound of something cracking.
“…”
Crack.
“…?”
Crick.
Crack.
“What’s this…?”
Rian sat up.
He looked around.
At first, he thought it was a mouse, but it wasn’t.
Inside the fairy egg placed on the table.
Rian’s eyes widened as he looked at it.
The fairy that had been dormant for over three months was struggling to come out of the egg.
Rian hurriedly got out of bed.
He went to the table and looked at the cracked egg.
A tiny hand, unbelievably small, pushed out through the cracked shell, revealing a baby the size of a thumb.
“Oh my…!”
Rian let out a soft exclamation of admiration at the adorable baby.
Except for the pointed ears, it looked exactly like a human baby.
And it was a girl.
With green eyes, she was looking up at Rian in wonder.
“Peep…”
The cry sounded similar to a bird chirping.
Rian was at a loss what to do.
“What should I do? Should I feed her milk? Where would I get milk at this time? No, no. She might be hungry since she’s just born. Just leaving her alone might be okay? No. Something needs to be done. What to do!? Should I bathe her?!”
While Rian was fidgeting, the baby lying in the cradle-like cracked shell was comfortably lying inside the shell, staring at Rian with wide, sparkling eyes.
The baby instinctively wanted to cling to Rian and feel attached.
“Peep— pepe—
She stretched her small arms towards Rian, begging to be held.
But Rian, not understanding, was distracted by other thoughts, and soon she burst into tears.
“Piiiiii—! Peperiperi—!”
“Why are you crying?! What’s wrong?”
Startled, Rian picked up the crying baby still in the shell and placed it on his palm.
The baby stopped crying.
Then she smiled brightly and crawled out of the shell.
On her back, there were protruding wing bones, as if wings would sprout.
Rian gently stroked the baby’s head.
The baby smiled brightly, pleased.
Rian couldn’t help but smile like a father.
“Cute.”
Placed on his palm, she seemed to want to touch his face.
She kept reaching her arms towards Rian’s face.
“Pepe—
Rian brought his face close, letting her touch his nose.
The baby on his palm tapped his nose playfully.
That night, he named the fairy “Hyangdan”.
Chunhyang’s body servant Hyangdan came to mind, and he named it like giving names to pets: Happy, Ppopi, Danbi.
“Hyangdan, grow up big and let’s go catch bugs with me.”
Hyangdan, the ultimate weapon for pest control.
It was Rian’s dream future.
***
The next morning.
While Rian, who had played with Hyangdan all night, was sleeping late, unable to be carried by anyone, the city was in a stir due to the appearance of high-quality carrots.
At a certain middle-aged maid’s house.
The maid served finely chopped carrot salad on the table for her husband’s breakfast.
The husband sitting at the table showed a puzzled expression.
“Where did these carrots come from?”
“I picked up what the mistress threw away.”
“It wasn’t rotten, why throw it away?”
“You know rich people don’t eat things like carrots. The mistress bought carrots from the merchants yesterday because they said they were good for the elderly, but she got scolded by the master. ‘Why did you buy something like this?’”
“Nobles say their stomachs are full. Anyway, it’s good.”
The husband laughed and ate the salad with his spoon.
At the moment he chewed a few times.
The husband opened his eyes wide.
“Oh…! It’s sweet and delicious!”
“Delicious?”
“Is this really carrots?”
“Why is it like this? If it’s not carrots, what is it? Did she put poison?”
While scolding the husband, the maid also ate with her spoon.
After chewing a few times, her eyes widened.
“Oh my!”
“It’s delicious, right?”
She nodded quickly.
Then a sudden thought came to her.
“I should tell the mistress to try it too!”
At a certain commoner’s house.
An 8-year-old boy was crying while looking at the carrot stew on the breakfast table.
“I don’t want to eat! I hate carrots! Carrots suck! Suck! Waaah!”
“If you point at food, you can’t eat.”
The mom tried to reason, but it was useless.
Because in the boy’s memory, carrots were classified as really bad food.
“Suck! Suck! I don’t want to eat carrots! Give me something else! Waaah!”
The boy, with tears and snot, clung to his dad while eating and threw a tantrum.
“Dad, I want to eat something else! I hate carrots!”
Dad smiled and stroked the boy’s head.
“Then how about one promise with dad?”
“What? Waaah.”
“If you eat just one spoonful of carrots, I’ll ask mom to make cookies.”
“Really?”
“Really, promise.”
“Really promise. Definitely.”
“Yeah.”
Dad looked at mom and hooked his pinky with the son.
The boy hiccuped and picked up his spoon.
“Really, I’ll only eat one spoonful.”
The carrots on the plate looked like a demon.
He planned to swallow them without chewing.
“Ugh!”
The boy closed his eyes tightly and ate the steamed carrots.
At that moment, the soft carrots unexpectedly gave a pudding-like sweetness.
The boy’s frowning expression changed to surprise.
“Huh!”
The boy smiled.
“More!”
The boy, who realized the true taste of carrots, started eating like a person obsessed with carrots.
Dad and mom watched in surprise.
“Look at him. The kid who hated carrots so much…”
Flowers of laughter bloomed in the house.
After emptying his share in an instant, the son even handed his empty plate to mom.
“More!”
Mom smiled happily at the changed son.
“I have to go to that handsome carrot merchant again today.”
At a certain noble mansion.
From the morning, the high-pitched voice of an old man with white hair echoed.
The old man, with white hair and beard, scolded his eldest son and daughter-in-law at the family dinner table.
“Putting dirty vegetables that grow underground on the table! Are you all out of your minds!”
The old man pointed at the carrot soup and carrot juice on the table, unable to calm his anger.
“Does our family have no money or honor! Why buy something we don’t even eat for free!”
The eldest daughter-in-law answered in a defeated voice.
“The merchant said carrots are good for the elders…”
“You don’t have to eat such things to be healthy!”
At that moment, the eldest son, who had been silently listening, said as if questioning.
“Father! Because of the war with the demon race, the food culture of the era has changed! To solve the food shortage, even nobles in the capital have started eating vegetables! Isn’t it necessary for us to change to keep up with the trend? Recently, research results show that root vegetables are beneficial to human health!”
“Shut up!”
Angered by his son’s words, the old man grabbed the chicken on the plate, tore it with his hands, and without chewing, swallowed it while shouting as if to show off.
“Look! Look! How delicious the meat is! We’ve grown eating only meat since our ancestors! If we only ate meat, we would have had only sons and all lived long and healthy…”
“Cough! Cough!”
The old man had veins bulging on his forehead, beating his chest.
“W, water!”
The eldest son barely supported him as he fell backwards.
“Your throat is blocked!”
“Where’s the water! Water! Bring water quickly!”
“Even alcohol!”
“Father can’t drink alcohol, so it’s more dangerous!”
The dining room was in chaos.
The children looked helplessly at the old man struggling to breathe.
“The water is being heated in the kitchen now!”
“Cold water is fine, bring it quickly!”
“Yes!”
While the servants rushed to get water, the eldest daughter-in-law quickly grabbed the carrot juice glass.
“Drink this in a hurry!”
“Give it!”
The eldest son handed the carrot juice to the old man, who gulped it down.
The orange liquid flowed down his throat, instantly clearing the blocked esophagus.
The old man finally breathed a sigh of relief, as if he had been saved.
“Hoo…”
Everyone in the family confirmed the old man was safe and let out a breath.
The old man, after resting for a moment, stood up and asked his eldest son quietly.
“What was that just now? It didn’t taste like water, but it felt quite delicious, sweet and refreshing.”
“It’s carrot juice.”
“What?! That’s carrot juice?”
The father, startled, rolled his eyes left and right, then suddenly shouted loudly.
“Go to the market immediately and buy everything!”