Chapter 165. Sea Snail Party (2)
Responsibility is heavy.
Sometimes, it stings, and burns.
This is exactly one of those moments.
“...Hhuhuk, hhuhuhuk...”
Tears falling.
A broken expression.
Knees collapsing as legs give out, and trembling hands covering the face in a desperate attempt to suppress sobs.
“........”
Artanis, the Demon Queen of two generations past, looked down at the woman sobbing as if crumbling. Then she lifted her head and looked up at the sky.
So blue.
Needlessly so.
So sorrowfully blue.
But in times like this, one must not neglect the present moment.
Steeling herself, she moved her hand.
— ...That concludes the death notice. Your husband fought bravely until the very end, with honor, and was a source of pride for the kingdom.
At last, this was the final one.
Carrying out the royal family’s command.
Holding on to her own sense of honor.
It was the final notice to the family of a member of the 9th expedition who had ventured out to explore the Abandoned Land and met their end.
It was finally over.
“.............”
Was it a relief?
No, not at all.
Rather, it felt as if another burden had been added to her heart.
One hundred deaths, and one hundred notifications.
One hundred sobs, and one hundred weights of responsibility.
She had killed them.
Those under her command, who acted under her orders, had killed them.
Even if they had already sustained fatal injuries and had no chance of survival, the fact remained unchanging that their final breaths were taken in her presence, by her hands and her comrades'.
That guilt clung to Artanis’s chest like a sorrowful medal.
But...
Even that sense of responsibility felt like hypocrisy and deceit.
Especially when she thought of the things she had done long ago, here in the royal capital.
She had been the Demon Queen two generations ago.
She had invaded the human world.
She had conquered the royal capital.
She had spilled countless blood here.
“......”
Back then, she had felt no guilt at all. She thought it was only natural. The demons of the Abandoned Land were starving. They had to survive, no matter what.
So they had invaded.
Burned and pillaged.
But then...
Credos.
He was different.
Without waging war, without invasion, without making others bleed, without killing one another, he had found a way for everyone to live together—and she had been so deeply shocked by that.
— Let’s go back.
“...Yes, my lady.”
Having delivered the final death notice, Artanis turned toward the royal castle with her three loyal vassals.
The task was done. She would inform the king and then return. She had to forge a future in the Abandoned Land.
She thought so as she took her steps.
...Shiver!
Suddenly.
A chill crawled down her entire body.
“.......!”
A sensation she had never felt before.
Not even in the presence of the strongest warriors had she ever sensed this. This emotion—was fear.
What...?
Suppressing her confusion, she scanned her surroundings. Then she saw him. In the marketplace filled with people. Across the road. A man walking through.
“............”
Wearing a deeply pulled-down hood.
But through the gap, a pink ribbon faintly peeked out.
And then, for a brief moment, their eyes met.
...Gasp.
She lost her breath.
A chilling, overwhelming presence.
A transcendent pressure.
And then, she realized.
The one who stopped the statue from self-destructing, back then...
It was him.
The presence she had faintly sensed back then, the sensation—it hadn’t been a delusion.
The moment she realized that, her feet moved of their own accord. She hurriedly ran toward the man with the pink ribbon, who was walking away into the crowd.
***
“Over here!”
A loud voice rang out.
Then, more voices followed like a wave.
“Me too!”
“Here too!”
The combat engineers shouted.
The demons of the farming corps shouted.
Everyone filled the clearing with their unusually loud cries. And all of them, like hungry baby birds, held out their empty plates.
“Just one more plate... please!”
An intense cry.
Then, plop—a chunk of meat was placed on an empty plate.
Once feared across the world during the Jewel War era, the infamous ancient demonic beast, Kratum—a chunk of its meat.
But now?
It was nothing more than a ridiculously large, ultra-mega gourmet whelk delicacy!
“Khaha! Now this is a party!”
“Eat! Pour! Drink!”
The meat of the beast they’d “caught” today sizzled on grills everywhere, giving off a mouth-watering aroma. The sizzling oil added to the flavor.
And it brought joy to the taste buds of everyone gathered in the Demon King’s castle.
Seeing that, Kim Jangcheol’s heart also swelled with warmth and happiness.
Ding dong!
[The demons who follow you are extremely happy with the group feast.]
[The farming corps members and their families are so thrilled with their first taste of grilled ancient demonic beast whelk that they’re losing their minds.]
[1,890 Happy Points (HP) have been earned.]
[Current HP in possession: 7,830]
Each time someone laughed while chewing whelk meat. Each time a belly was patted in satisfaction.
Happy Points came pouring in.
And it didn’t end there.
Ding dong dong!
[Combat Engineering Corps Commander Forkray and the 500 combat engineers under his command have begun to feel loyalty toward you.]
[Forkray and the corps members have always respected and trusted you.]
Would you like me to continue with the next part?
[However, that was merely respect and trust born from a relationship of equal cooperation, not loyalty in the sense of ruler and subject, but more of a friendly sentiment.]
[But today, Forkray and the combat engineers were deeply moved after witnessing your ruthless exploits, and were even more touched by the whelk feast of the demonic beast you generously provided afterward.]
[Now, Forkray and the combat engineers consider you the number one celebrity they'd most like to follow—ruthless to enemies, but all the more trustworthy as an ally, and endlessly kind to subordinates.]
[Forkray and the combat engineers have begun to harbor feelings of loyalty toward you.]
[Forkray and the combat engineers are now included in your Happy Point (HP) sphere of influence.]
[Forkray and the combat engineers are sincerely happy as they enjoy the delicious grilled ancient demonic beast whelk.]
[501 Happy Points (HP) have been earned.]
[Bonus for gaining new subordinates: 5,000 Happy Points (HP) have been added.]
[Current HP in possession: 13,331]
“............”
Amazing.
A flood of juicy, satisfying messages.
Receiving them through his eyes, Kim Jangcheol turned to look at the Combat Engineering Corps Commander again with renewed interest.
At that moment, Forkray also glanced his way.
Their eyes met briefly.
“............”
The Combat Engineering Corps Commander gave a slight nod. A gesture unimaginable in the old days when he used to be prickly—a gaze and demeanor overflowing with something more than just respect.
“So this feeling of loyalty… it's real.”
To be honest, he didn’t fully feel it yet. But, in time, it would surely sink in.
Anyway,
Ding-dong! Ding-dong-dong! Ding-dong-daeng! Dong-ding-dong! Whoa yeah! Ding-dong!
Happy Point alerts ringing through his head nonstop during the ongoing whelk feast!
Truthfully, it had been a while since he felt this way.
Because now, everyone had become quite accustomed to chuno feasts and corn devouring.
‘............’
These guys.
Back then, just one lump of chuno would move them to tears.
Not anymore.
“They’re full now, really full, every one of them!”
Now chuno had become a staple food, eaten without much thought. Same for corn, pumpkin, and beans.
And he felt proud.
“Because now, not going hungry is their daily norm.”
They no longer had to starve. No longer needed to scavenge corpses. No longer had to wait eagerly for the day they could invade the human realm.
It was okay if they’d grown a little numb to gratitude for crops. In fact, the more indifferent they became, the prouder he felt.
And every so often, he could treat them to special feasts like this, rack up Happy Points, and live life just like that.
“Yeah, eat up, all of you.”
Seeing everyone happy made him feel full himself.
But then it happened.
“...Um...”
A small voice crawled up beside him.
Turning his head, he saw a young demon girl.
She wasn’t unfamiliar.
He’d seen her before.
Her name was...
“Flute? Right?”
“...Oh! Y-Yes!”
The demon girl Flute, face flushed bright red after having her name called by the great Demon King everyone respected, held out her plate.
“Um, h-here...!”
A steaming whelk from the ancient demonic beast sat atop her plate.
The sight made him smile.
“Thanks, I’ll enjoy it.”
“...Y-Yes! Then! Goodbye!”
She scurried off.
Watching the retreating back of the little girl brought another smile to his face.
“Ha...”
This was why.
Why he couldn’t afford to take this lightly.
Truly because of this, he renewed his resolve that he must never, ever let their farming efforts fail.
“Yeah. Let’s do this right, Jangcheol.”
He made a vow.
That the test-run rice farming to begin now would, without fail, lead to a bountiful harvest. That he would never let it fail. That he would cover the entire swamp in a golden sea of rice stalks.
And so it began.
The day after the loud and hearty feast.
Kim Jangcheol threw himself even harder into the swamp improvement project for rice farming. He encouraged everyone. He took the lead in removing red tide plankton from the swamp.
The scenery of the swamp changed day by day. The eerie reddish tint that had once colored the swamp gradually faded. The murky air also began to disappear.
Toxic water plants and rotting vegetation piled up in huge mounds were recycled into compost.
And Kim Jangcheol released egg sacs recovered from the ancient demonic beast Kratum into the purified swamp.
“...Kuwaaaah!”
“Kroooong!”
“Kyaoooo!”
Beast cubs hatched from the eggs and spread throughout the swamp. And they began devouring the detritus and dead red tide plankton at the bottom of the swamp—excellent whelks, no, rice paddy snails.
They became the vanguard of the environmentally friendly snail farming method, replacing the need for pesticides.
And at the same time, everyone began to grow excited.
“What exactly is rice farming?!”
“Are we finally going to sow rice seeds?!”
Thump thump.
Ba-dump ba-dump.
The farming corps, who had never seen real rice in their lives, began to brim with anticipation for this new form of agriculture. Some even grew restless, itching to toss rice seeds into the field.
But Kim Jangcheol didn’t act according to their expectations.
Even after the swamp purification was completed, even after the plots to be used as paddies were fully arranged, even after the agricultural reservoir was finished—he didn’t sow the rice seeds.
Instead, he poured a massive heap of rice seeds into water heated to around 50°C!
“......!”
Everyone's eyes widened.
A different world than this one.
A place called Earth.
There, in an ancient kingdom known as Joseon, this method had revolutionized agriculture.
It was the beginning of the Transplanting Method.
This one is so exciting! I'm waiting for further interaction between Aged Kimchi and Kim Jangcheol!
I really enjoy reading this, and I adore the loyalty Credos' people held to him!