Chapter 15

✠

Rattle rattleting…

It seems that a wicked farmer has been appointed as the new owner of the dungeon.

“What are you doing? Let’s end this quickly, okay?”

Crackling!

Even though the farmer was talking normally, a strong sense of intimidation came out. For some reason, it felt more frightening than Ardmina, an evil demon.

Fear stimulated the spirit of servitude imprinted in the bones. Skull soldiers, no, Skull serfs began to move diligently.

It was hard work that was no different from before.

After clearing the wasteland from the eastern horizon to the western horizon, it was necessary to dig a huge well in search of water veins.

It felt like my backbone was about to break with the non-stop shoveling and pickaxing.

‘Prince, don’t overdo it! We can do this!’

‘Oh, no. I’m fine……’

“You there. Don’t cheat and work as you should.”

With just a little criticism, the Skull serfs were astonished as if they had been whipped. While the wicked farmer mixed up the seedlings and fertilizes them, she hinted.

“Not just one or two adventurers were killed, right? Work hard with the mindset of atonement.”

At that, Skull Serf No. 1004 grabbed the pickaxe.

That was correct. It was inevitable because he became part of Ardiman’s enslaved Skull soldiers, but it was true that his white hands were stained with the blood of adventurers.

‘After all, it was a luxury to receive rest without atonement.’

His pickaxe quickly dug the well.

On the lead of Skull Serf No. 1004, his men and three other surviving skeletons worked hard.

After a long time, a well was finally built.

“Great job. Now, for the final job, dig seven places here. We have to build a grave.”

Crackling?

I wondered if there were any corpses to bury, but the farmer indifferently said.

“You guys can go to the grave and rest. Since there are seven people, we should dig that much.”

‘Really?’

The Sull serfs were delighted.

It was always overcrowded, so everyone slept with at let’s five others in one tomb, but the wicked farmer guaranteed a comfortable living environment!

It’s a universal law, that when a tyrant does something good, it has double the effect of looking nice.

They expressed their emotions with their intense clatter, but it wasn’t over yet.

“If you keep working hard, I will erect a monument and sometimes give you flowers. You too must have been human once.”

‘……!’

For a moment, the Skull serfs forgot to rattle and crack their bones.

A tombstone with their names on it. That was the only wish they had after becoming skeletons.

No. 1004’s skeleton hand swept through his two black eye holes.  For some reason, I felt as if tears were flowing out of his empty eyelids.

✠

3 weeks have passed.

In the meantime, the administrative gods of the Transmigration Bureau have hardly appeared. They said there was a system update coming soon, and everyone seems to be busy with that.

It’s been a month and a half since I transmigrated. I was still faithful to the tutorial and living a daily life that sucked in experience points.

In accordance with the plan to have financial resources as well as ability, I was investing intensively in alchemist.

Alchemy has reached Lv.7 and I have learned ‘Significantly Increase Alchemy Efficacy Lv.4 (Passive)’.

When my father checked the effect of the healing potions I made, he was very surprised.

“Unbelievable. It has the same efficacy as the healing potion I made when I was ten years old!”

I was surprised by that too.

I was someone receiving help from a support system, including the blessings for high-speed growth, but my father did his with pure talent.

After all, my father was from the Golden Ivory Tower, where only genius alchemists gather.

Now, if we were to judge the level of my father’s ability, it was speculated that he would have to exceed level 20.

Tap, Tap!

A drop of water fell into the flask containing the potion. When I turned around, my father suddenly had tears in his eyes.

“D-Dad? Why are you crying all of a sudden?”

Were you so moved by my potion?

…Of course, I didn’t think it was such a big thing.

“I’m sorry, Eli. You have to go to the Golden Ivory Tower to make your talents blossom… This dad is…”

“Ah…….”

Dad has a sad past.

He was a promising talent in the Golden Ivory Tower, but he was unfairly kicked out of the eyes of an elder alchemist.

The elder alchemist was also my dad’s teacher, and it was a terrible relationship right from the beginning when he started as an apprentice.

This is because, having recognized his brilliant talent, the Master made him in a disciple to exploit the results of his research.

It can be said that this is the long-standing evil inside the apprenticeship system.

Another senior alchemist who recognized Dad as a rival replicated the Master’s shameless criminal behavior.

But waiting at the end of his troubles was not the satisfaction of payback, but a large sweet potato of angst.

The quick-witted Master framed Dad and made him permanently expelled from the tower.

A powerless and helpless commoner young alchemist was a very convenient sacrifice for concealing the truth.

‘Shesh, I guess a good and innocent person has no choice but to eat sweet potatoes.’

In my industry, incompetent people were bound to be good at politics, and so was the unscrupulous Master.

As long as that bad guy is serving as an Elder Alchemist, the entry of our Rodellaine family into the Golden Ivory Tower was blocked.

“Because of this dad… I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Eli.”

The guilt of being a stumbling block to his daughter’s future made Dad even sadder. I put my little hand on my Dad’s big one.

“Dad, it’s okay. It is enough for me to learn from my Dad.”

There is also help from the system. Besides, I have neither the intention nor the time to dig deep into alchemy.

“So, don’t be upset. I wasn’t interested in anything like the Golden Ivory Tower. I have to go away from my dad and brother, so why am I going to such a place?”

“Eli……!”

Dad burst into tears and hugged me.

Hold on, why are you crying when I comforted you?

He calmed down while I was squirming around because it was awkward to be held in his arms.

“I’ll teach you alchemy to the best of your ability.”

“Thank you. So, shall we start class soon?”

“Yes, my child is also sincere. Let’s keep working hard. At this rate, it seems that sooner or later you will reach the level of creating your own recipes.”

“Yes!”

Until then, I had no idea that I was planning to make money by simply selling effective mass-production potions. Because there was no way for me to foresee at this point that this ability would create synergy with other fields I learned.

✠

After alchemy class, I decided to tour the farm dungeon with Bianca.

The time in the dungeons often passed faster than the time in reality. The dungeon I subjugated was the same, so the ratio of real-time to dungeon time was 1:3.

Therefore, three weeks have passed since the field was cleared and the seedlings were planted, but the dungeon was 9 weeks old.

Even after two months were full, the dungeon farm has changed a lot as the remaining time has passed.

“It’s prettier than when we came before.”

As Bianca said.

The wide field was plowed neatly in rows, and various medicinal herbs boasted green freshness.

A brook flowing from the reservoir rippled around the field, and on one side there was a poor but well-made pergola and bench set.

The tombs of the seven Skull serfs were beautiful, had thick convex outlines, and were neatly finished with stones of unknown origin. It was all the work of the skeletons.

The skeletons seemed to feel quite attached to the farm dungeon.

They worked hard to take care of the herbs, and every time a new leaf appeared or a flower bloomed, everyone gathered nearby and rattled their jaws.

They also took care of the landscaping from time to time and paid special attention to their graves. Even now, there were some who planted moss mounds, flowers buds and were delighted with decorating carved stones around them.

“Guys, I’m here.”

Katcha!

The skeletons all stopped working all at once and looked at Bianca.

They rushed out, stood in a line, and greeted each other with the sound of intense bone friction.

Because of the passive effect of the ‘Notoriety that resonates in the underworld’, discipline was well established.

“Your teeth are going to be damaged. That’s enough.”

Crackling!

I and Bianca went to the shabby wooden pergola and sat down. Then, the roundest and prettiest skull among the skeletons served tea made with herbal leaves.

The skeleton watched over Bianca as she gracefully lifted up her teacup and sipped.

Bianca glanced back at it and the skeleton jaw moved a little.

Crackling…?

“Is it delicious?”

Clatter.

“Yes. It’s great.”

I don’t know why, but Bianca communicated well with the skeletons.