The Bears' Nightmare

Kiyomi finished the giant bear in a single instant. She erased it, in the most literal sense — the enormous body that had ruled the wild vanished without a trace, wiped clean from the world.

Or had it? Where the giant bear had stood, a perfectly round orb now floated, the sort of thing one expected of a legendary elixir.

An item, in place of a hide. Something like that.

Anyway.

The battle he had expected to be a brutal slog was over in a flash, and the sweet hour of rewards arrived.

Diriririring—!

Message windows erupted like a computer throwing a fit, much the same as when he had first slain the giant boar.

Or was it? This felt even worse than last time.

. . .

"......Whoa."

From level 36 to level 57. Twenty-one ranks in a single leap. The thrill of it shivered straight through him, bright and electric.

Yeah. This is why you hunt magical beasts.

And that was not all.

He smashed through one level wall after another and came away with two ordinary perks and one special perk besides.

One, two, four......? So the special perks come in powers of two?

When the Safe Zone had reached level 30 and no special perk appeared, he had assumed that was the end of them. What a twist.

Then the next special perk should be at level 80?

Minhyuk gave a light shrug and opened his status window to check. Ordinary perks first.

Hmm. Not bad. And the special perk?

Oh? Nice.

A Safe Zone cold enough to grow frost might not sound useful at a glance. The wording was a little grand, that was all. In practice, this was a refrigerator.

Now I can eat the fruit cold.

He was smiling, well pleased with the perks he had just gained, when—

"Boss?"

Elia caught his sleeve.

"Where'd the bear go? It disappeared."

Mm. About that. Kiyomi had killed it with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a destruction beam, and he could hardly tell a child that straight.

"......It's magic. Well? Amazing, isn't it?"

"Magic?"

"Yeah. Kiyomi's magic. One great big bear, gone in a flash."

"Ooooh— so amazing!"

There was, of course, no way to make it come back. Still, if it made her happy, that was good enough.

After the well-meaning lie, Minhyuk climbed down from the cliff and looked over the bear's territory.

Too good a piece of land to just leave sitting.

Lush green grass, and a plain opening wide in every direction. Sunlight poured brilliant onto the ground, not a single tree to block it. A cool wind blew, a stream murmured nearby, and there was even a cave holding SS-rank ore. Mountains at its back, water at its front — a perfect site. He could see why the Giant Balrog Bear had claimed the place.

The more I look, the more this is perfect farmland.

Minhyuk checked his status window.

The explosive surge just now had granted 63 new pyeong of Safe Zone, and another 6 pyeong had leveled without a location yet assigned. In all, he could place 69 pyeong of fresh territory — enough to begin again at a scale to rival the Beachfront Safe Zone. Tilling a field would be far easier than before, too. He had two sturdy cows now.

And so, on the sunniest and most auspicious ground, a Safe Zone took shape as a rectangle of 69 pyeong. The Monkey Scout Captain, who had been watching closely, trotted up.

"Ukki— ukkikki—?" (O King, do you found a new dwelling upon this land?)

"Not a home, exactly. More of a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠second farming district."

"Ukkikkikki— ukki—?" (Then may our scout brigade settle this land as well?)

"Sure. Suit yourselves."

Minhyuk agreed without a second thought. It was a Safe Zone, so nothing ought to go wrong — but he still would not be able to tend the crops here around the clock. Better to have someone nearby than to leave the place standing empty. And from what he had heard, this plain had originally belonged to the Monkey Scout Brigade, until the giant bear drove them off. High time they settled it again.

"All right, gentlemen. We withdraw."

He returned to the Safe Zone, saw the meerkats and Elia off, then came back to the plain with the two cows and a plow, a few basic farming tools tucked in as well.

Mooooo—

Well, of course. For animals that size, life on an open plain had to be more comfortable, and there was plenty of grass to graze.

......Hm?

Minhyuk's eyes narrowed as he watched them. One was far more mottled than the other, and her belly was rounder than it had been yesterday. Day ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠by day, her lower abdomen was swelling. At first he had assumed she was simply eating too much.

Huh? Pregnant? Wait a second. Don't tell me you two are a couple?

Mooooo—

The husband bison scratched his head with a forehoof, looking thoroughly embarrassed. No wonder the pair had been glued together day and night. So there had been a secret like that.

Fresh milk, though?

Minhyuk swallowed. The calf was still a long way off. Until then, surely it was fine to treat this as an excellent ingredient.

"Um...... if you don't mind, could I have some milk? Only until the baby comes."

Mooo—

"Thanks!"

He fetched the wooden bowl he had brought and carefully began to milk her. It was awkward at first, and not at all easy.

There it was. That was the stuff. He had even stepped straight up and gained the skill already at level 2.

Shhk— shhk—

Before long the wooden bowl was full of fresh milk, and Minhyuk hesitated.

Can I drink it like this?

He did not know much about how milk was processed, but he knew it at least went through sterilization. Every carton back home was marked low-temperature pasteurized or high-temperature pasteurized. On a deserted island, that process was obviously impossible. But there was always a way.

He cast his new perk, Squeaky Clean, over the wooden bowl. All right. Time for a taste.

Gulp, gulp—

"Kkhh......!"

A dense, clean, nutty richness no watery store-bought milk could match. There was no hiding the truth gathered between his brows.

Dipping bread in this would be to die for.

A shame. A real shame. If only there were a tree that grew bread the way others grew fruit.

"You don't have to work anymore. You're carrying a precious life, so you should rest. From now on, take care of yourself."

Moooooo—

After that, Minhyuk took the remaining milk back to the Safe Zone. Wait. Now that he thought about it, Elia was a vegetarian. She would not refuse milk too, would she?

Day 98.

Step. Step.

Minhyuk headed for the plain with the members of the Safe Zone, arms loaded with crops. It felt something like a picnic.

Mooooo—

The husband bison came out to greet him.

"Yeah, yeah. You been well? The cow's all right too?"

Moo—

Everyone seemed to be doing fine. Even the field, more than sixty pyeong of it, had been plowed neat and clean. Minhyuk stroked the bison's head and drew a gift from his subspace bag.

"Here. Corn. You two love this."

It was not ordinary F-rank corn. This was E-rank (Special) corn. And that was only the beginning.

"And...... ta-da!"

From the subspace bag he produced ten cucumbers.

A (Special) Desert Island Cucumber, raised this harvest at a thirty percent chance. He had tried one a little earlier, and it was far cooler and tastier than the ordinary kind.

Crunch, crunch—

He laid the (Special) corn and the (Special) cucumbers neatly on the ground, and the cow couple flicked out their long tongues and ate with relish. While they did, Minhyuk milked the cow.

Shhk— shhk—

He had worried they might not drink it. Elia, the meerkats, the monkey vassals — every one of them had loved it.

Lap, lap—

Milk poured into a flat dish brought the Meerkat Brothers swarming in to lick it up.

Slurp—

The monkeys each took a turn with a wooden cup.

"What about Elia?"

"Hehe. Just wait a moment."

They were going to have it even tastier than that. Minhyuk dumped a generous measure of the honey and sugar he had brought into the milk in the wooden bowl and stirred hard.

Dip—

He tasted it on a fingertip. Sweetness that woke the tongue right up. That was seasoning enough.

Over the wooden bowl he triggered the special perk, Chamber of Cold, and at its lowest temperature. Once a proper frost had formed, he drew it out and stirred with wooden chopsticks, and—

A sweet, cold milkshake, complete.

"Ooh? What's this? It's super yummy!"

Faced with a marvel of human civilization, Elia went round-eyed and gulped the milkshake down.

"Uuuugh...... my head hurts......"

"Aigoo, slow down. Finish it and I'll make you another."

"For real?"

"For real."

Minhyuk sat on a mat of colossal leaves and took a sip himself. Maybe it was the honey. It tasted like premium vanilla ice cream, melted.

"Looks like the scouts went out again."

He glanced to the side. The monkeys' hut — their scout headquarters — was already looking quite respectable. The Monkey Scout Brigade itself, though, was nowhere to be seen. He had meant to share a cup with each of them.

"Let's see how hard they're working."

Minhyuk took out the Monkey Doctor's magic-stone map. It filled itself in whenever the brigade reached a new area, so he could at least check, indirectly, how far their scouting had gone.

Let's see......

"Oh?"

It had climbed another one percent. Only a speck, but part of the map's silhouette was filled in now. And at the very edge, an icon he had not seen before — had they found something new to eat? Thin stems like broomsticks, cottony ears hanging in heavy clusters......

......Wheat?

Minhyuk's eyes went wide.

Wheat? The main ingredient of flour?

Ah......

I love you.

My people.