Chapter 30

“Could my daughter have come by the shop? She’s someone who hardly ever keeps in touch or reaches out.”

A daughter who doesn’t contact Oh Jukheon, who was hiding with a concealed identity.

‘So that thing she said back then must have been a lie. That she couldn’t be reached.’

Making up a lie like that to protect Oh Jukheon…….

‘No. Actually, maybe she just couldn’t be bothered and didn’t even think to find out where her father was.’

Somehow, thinking back on the first impression of ‘WillCraftAnything’, that actually seemed quite possible.

“She hasn’t been by yet. Come to think of it, I forgot that I promised to reach out to her. I’ll get in touch with her today.”

“Hoho. I’d appreciate that if you could.”

Leaving behind words of gratitude and pulling his fedora down low over his eyes, Oh Jukheon walked out of the bakery. Right around that time, a text message arrived from Seo Doha.

[Seo Doha: Are you opening the shop this evening as well?]

Baek Seol immediately replied to Seo Doha’s text. Now, her heart didn’t skip a beat or drop whenever Seo Doha sent a message. Thankfully, at least.

[Regrettably, I’m planning to close the shop a bit early today.]

[Seo Doha: I understand.]

Baek Seol had things to do today.

Not at the bakery, and not in the dungeon.

Right at the exchange where she had set up her own warehouse. Today was the day she would transport the 100,000 sugar beets into the dungeon.

‘Just when Grandpa Oh Jukheon came by earlier, the exact count of 100,000 was filled up.’

A message had come through saying the transaction at the exchange was complete. Since the exchange’s system was well-organized, the delivery would automatically go to the address she had pre-registered, but she still had to go down in person to submit the application. It was probably for identity verification procedures.

Baek Seol put on her sunglasses, pulled her hat down, and opened the door of the bakery.

As she wrapped up business for the day, Luci, the black rabbit, and the black elephant came down from the second floor to see her off.

“Please…… come back quickly, squeak…….”

“Pwoo~”

“……Kheu.”

Perhaps because they had been living together for the past few days and were getting used to her, the black rabbit and black elephant would sneakily approach and greet her whenever she went into the dungeon or stepped outside.

With two small sources of warmth added to a bakery that used to hold only Luci, the shop suddenly felt full.

“I’ll be right back.”

Baek Seol grinned and headed toward the exchange.

“All right. Sign here, and…… identity verification is over there……. ”

There were plenty of people using the exchange, and since Baek Seol didn’t even need to go to her private warehouse to finalize the trade, there was no chance of her personal identity being exposed to those around her.

Baek Seol finalized the 100,000 sugar beet transaction and arranged for the delivery to be sent to the address she had written down.

‘The delivery people wouldn’t even know what it is they’re delivering, they said.’

The anonymity system of the exchange was thorough. It was just as Baek Seol finished signing with peace of mind and was stepping out of the exchange.

Click!

“……Huh?”

It felt like she had just heard some kind of sound.

Baek Seol looked around her surroundings. Through her sunglasses, the slightly dimmed surroundings didn’t look particularly unusual.

Just the sight of hunters looking disappointed, asking if the sugar beet trade was already over?

Baek Seol tilted her head in confusion and resumed walking. Returning to the bakery, she waited with fluttering anticipation until the delivery arrived.

“Delivery is here.”

“Ah. Could you please leave it right in front of this door?”

It seemed the delivery started the moment she requested it, because not long after she arrived back at the bakery, boxes stuffed to the brim with sugar beets arrived.

“U-upsa. Sign here, please.”

The delivery person must have been a hunter as well. Seeing him effortlessly lugging those massive boxes five at a time like it was nothing made that pretty clear.

Thinking it must be that porter class she saw on the bulletin board, Baek Seol signed the paper he handed out.

The message ‘To run a shop in a place like this is seriously eccentric. And what on earth is with this massive amount of boxes?’ practically radiated from the delivery worker’s eyes, but Baek Seol completely ignored it.

“All right. Now all that’s left is for me to do my part.”

Though the delivery worker had brought the boxes inside the bakery, he hadn’t taken them inside the dungeon. Baek Seol rolled up both sleeves and opened the door leading into the dungeon.

“Kkyu!”

As if she had been waiting for this exact moment, Guchil came into view, welcoming her. And right behind him…….

“Oh……?”

Slimes were bouncing up and down, each welcoming Baek Seol in their own way. As if they had come to help her out.

And proving that intuition true, the slimes began balancing boxes on their heads or shoving them forward, enthusiastically carting them straight into the dungeon.

“Is this what they call slimes repaying a favor, squeak?”

She could hear Luci, who was watching from the sidelines, muttering while smoothing his beak with a wing.

Thanks a lot, you little guys. Baek Seol chuckled and helped carry the boxes along with them. With the slimes helping out, it looked like they’d finish in no time.

And not much time passed before a notification popped up indicating the quest was complete.

System: Congratulations! The quest ‘Please save the black rabbits and black elephants!’ has been completed.

Rewards are granted:

• • Dungeon Bakery Owner Lv.up!

• • Black Rabbit’s Gratitude

• • Black Elephant’s Gratitude

“Pwoo~”

“Sniff, sniff.”

The moment the quest was completed, the black rabbit and black elephant—who had been helping move boxes—approached Baek Seol, though she didn’t know when they’d snuck over.

Unlike before, the two let out loud cries. The cries, which continued for a long time as if calling someone over, only stopped when black figures finally emerged.

They were the black rabbits led by the head black rabbit, and elephants noticeably larger than the black elephant currently residing in the bakery.

“Oh my. If this keeps up, they’re gonna fight.”

When countless black creatures rushed in all at once in a swarm, the sense of pressure was considerable. Amidst the creatures growling at one another, Baek Seol hurriedly opened the boxes.

The sugar beets that the hunters had worked so hard to gather tumbled down onto the ground in droves.

“……Sniff?”

“Pwoo……!”

The creatures that had been staring each other down twitched their noses and slowly approached the spot where the sugar beets had fallen. Then, letting out joyful cries, they began to crunch away happily.

Right then, the system chimed.

System: Congratulations! Achievement unlocked: “Help the Dungeon Family Twice!”

Reward granted: Whistle skill acquired

Next reward: Help the Dungeon Family Three Times

Along with the quest rewards, even the achievement completion reward was handed out all at once.

Reading through the achievement, Baek Seol blinked.

Helping the dungeon family twice over, huh.

‘So it’s counting the times I helped the slime, the black rabbit, and the black elephant.’

Along with that, she could see that a skill called Whistle had been granted. Seeing that there was something called a next reward meant it seemed to be a linked achievement…….

At that moment, the black rabbit and black elephant approached. They were the ones who had been with her all along.

Each creature was holding something out.

***

Black Rabbit No.965 blankly watched its own kin and the black elephants happily sharing and eating the sugar beets together.

It had been a very long time indeed since these two species—who used to spend all their time engaging in bloody fights the moment they laid eyes on each other—were facing one another so peacefully.

“Sniff……. (Is this a dream…….)”

When Black Rabbit No.965 muttered that, Black Elephant No.342 right next to it gave it a gentle nudge with its trunk.

“Pwoo! (It’s not a dream!)”

Black Elephant No.342 could be seen looking right back at it with a wide, beaming smile. For No.342, who used to do nothing but cry, to smile so brightly—Black Rabbit No.965 found the feeling deeply moving.

Black Elephant No.342 pointed a trunk toward a certain spot.

“Pwoo-woo. (All of this is thanks to that human.)”

“Sniff……. (Yeah…….)”

Black Rabbit No.965 looked in that direction. There stood a being with a fascinating appearance…… an entity known as a ‘human’. That she was a ‘human’ was something it had heard from a bird named Luci.

The bird that called itself the Staff of the World knew a great deal of things.

“Squeak? Why is that human’s name Baek Seol, you ask, squeak? Uh, u-um. Well, you see, squeak……. Back in the day, that human also had things called a mom and dad, squeak……. Huh? It’s not like every human’s name is Baek Seol, squeak!”

While they stayed together with the human named Baek Seol in a space called a bakery, Luci had taught them quite a lot of things.

That Baek Seol was working hard to help them, and…… that before long, a new food source might be created for them.

And that if that happened, the long-standing conflict between the black rabbits and black elephants might finally be resolved.

“Sniff-sniff……. (I honestly didn’t think that would actually come true.)”

As they kept asking questions about this and that whenever something piqued their curiosity, the bird named Luci gradually grew quieter in speech. Was it because they had gotten a bit closer? It seemed its original personality was rather quiet.

“Is this what you call a question-and-answer attack, squeak……?”

Though it occasionally muttered things that were hard to understand, the bird named Luci took good care of them. And the human named Baek Seol as well.

Perhaps because of that. A warm air always lingered inside the bakery. Black Rabbit No.965, who had encountered that gentle warmth wrapping around it after far too long, realized that it had completely forgotten about this warmth until now.

It was a warmth that it used to take for granted all the time in the past. Black Rabbit No.965’s memories drifted back toward the past.