Dungeon Bakery Chapter 30

“Did my daughter happen to come to the shop? She hardly ever answers my calls, and she doesn’t contact me either. That girl……”

A daughter who didn’t answer Oh Juk-heon’s calls while he was hiding away and concealing his identity.

‘So I guess what she said back then was a lie. About not being able to contact him.’

She must have lied to protect Oh Juk-heon……

‘No. Maybe she really just couldn’t be bothered to find out where her father was.’

Thinking back to her first impression of MakeAnythingForYou, that actually seemed possible.

“She hasn’t come yet. Come to think of it, I forgot to contact her. I’ll give her a call today.”

“Haha. I’d appreciate that.”

Oh Juk-heon thanked her, pulled his fedora down low, and left the bakery.

Just then, Baek Seol received a text from Seo Doha.

[Seo Doha: Are you open this evening too?]

Baek Seol immediately replied to Seo Doha’s text.

These days, even when Seo Doha sent her a message, her heart no longer dropped into her stomach.

Thankfully.

[Unfortunately, I’m planning to close early today.]

[Seo Doha: I understand.]

Baek Seol had something to do today.

Not at the bakery.

Not in the dungeon, either.

At the exchange, where she had arranged a warehouse for herself.

Today was the day she would move the 100,000 sugar beets into the dungeon.

‘The 100,000 were finally completed right when Grandpa Oh Juk-heon came earlier.’

She had received a message saying the transaction at the exchange was complete.

The exchange’s system was well designed, so the sugar beets would automatically be delivered to the address she had provided in advance, but she had to go there herself to submit the delivery request.

Probably because of the identity verification process.

Baek Seol put on sunglasses and a hat before opening the bakery door.

Once she closed for the day, Lucy, the Black Rabbit, and the Black Elephant came down from the second floor to see her off.

“Please…… come back quickly, ppi……”

“Poo~”

“……Snort.”

After spending the past few days together, the Black Rabbit and Black Elephant seemed to have grown accustomed to her as well.

Whenever she returned from the dungeon or came back from outside, they would quietly approach her and greet her.

With two more little sources of warmth joining Lucy in the bakery, the shop somehow felt much fuller.

“I’ll be back.”

Baek Seol grinned and headed for the exchange.

“Okay. Sign here…… and identity verification is over there……”

There were many people using the exchange, and since Baek Seol didn’t need to go to her own warehouse to complete the transaction, there was no chance of her identity being exposed to anyone nearby.

Baek Seol finalized the transaction for the 100,000 sugar beets and arranged for them to be delivered to the address she had provided.

‘They said even the delivery workers wouldn’t know what they were delivering.’

The exchange’s anonymous system was thorough.

Just as Baek Seol finished signing and was leaving the exchange—

Click!

“……Huh?”

Had she just heard something?

Baek Seol looked around.

The surroundings looked somewhat dark through her sunglasses, but there was nothing particularly unusual.

There were just some Hunters looking disappointed that the sugar beet transaction had already ended.

Baek Seol tilted her head and continued walking.

When she returned to the bakery, she waited excitedly for the delivery to arrive.

“Delivery.”

“Oh. Could you leave them in front of this door?”

It seemed the delivery had begun almost as soon as she placed the request, because not long after she arrived at the bakery, boxes filled with sugar beets showed up.

“Uff. Here’s the signature.”

The delivery man was probably a Hunter too.

Judging by how he effortlessly carried five of those huge boxes at a time.

‘He must be one of those Porter classes I saw on the bulletin board.’

Thinking that, Baek Seol signed the paper he held out.

‘I can’t believe someone runs a shop in a place like this. And what’s with all these boxes?’

She could practically read the message in the deliveryman’s eyes, but Baek Seol smoothly ignored it.

“All right. Now all that’s left is my part.”

Although the deliveryman had carried the boxes inside the bakery, he hadn’t taken them into the dungeon.

Baek Seol rolled up her sleeves and opened the door leading into the dungeon.

“Kyut!”

Gu-chil was there, looking as though he had been waiting for her.

And behind him……

“Huh……?”

The slimes were bouncing their bodies one after another, welcoming Baek Seol.

As if they had come to help her.

And apparently, that was exactly what they had come for.

The slimes began carrying the boxes on their heads or pushing them, one after another, neatly into the dungeon.

“Are these grateful slimes, ppi?”

Baek Seol heard Lucy mutter as he stroked his beak with one wing while watching them.

‘You little guys. Thanks.’

Baek Seol grinned and helped carry the boxes as well.

With the slimes’ help, it looked like they would finish in no time.

And not long after that—

A notification appeared saying the quest had been completed.

<System: Congratulations! You have completed the ‘Please Save the Black Rabbit and Black Elephant!’ quest.>

-Rewards will now be granted:

**  Dungeon Bakery Owner Lv. up!  **

**  Black Rabbit’s Gratitude  **

**  Black Elephant’s Gratitude  **

“Poo~”

“Sniff sniff.”

As soon as the quest was completed, the Black Rabbit and Black Elephant, who had apparently joined the effort at some point and were helping carry the boxes, approached Baek Seol.

Unlike before, the two let out loud cries.

Their cries continued for quite some time, as if they were calling for someone, and only stopped when black figures appeared.

There were the Black Rabbits led by the leader Black Rabbit……

And elephants that were somewhat larger than the Black Elephant at the bakery.

“Oh no. They’re going to fight.”

An overwhelming number of black creatures came rushing in all at once, creating quite an oppressive atmosphere.

As the creatures growled at each other, Baek Seol hurriedly opened a box.

The sugar beets the Hunters had worked so hard to gather tumbled onto the ground.

“……Sniff?”

“Poo……!”

The creatures that had been confronting each other sniffed the air and slowly approached the place where the sugar beets had fallen.

Then, letting out happy cries, they began munching on them with loud crunches.

At that moment, the system chimed.

<System: Congratulations! You have achieved the ‘Help the Dungeon Family Twice’ achievement!>

-Reward granted: Whistle skill acquired

-Next reward: Help the Dungeon Family Three Times>

Along with the quest rewards, she had also received an achievement reward, giving her a huge number of rewards all at once.

Baek Seol blinked as she read the achievement.

Help the Dungeon Family Twice.

‘So helping the slimes, Black Rabbits, and Black Elephants was counted.’

She also noticed that she had received a skill called Whistle.

And judging from the existence of a “next reward,” it seemed to be part of a chain of achievements……

Just then, the Black Rabbit and Black Elephant approached.

They were the ones who had been with her.

Each of them was holding something out.

 

***

 

Black Rabbit No. 965 stared quietly at the Black Rabbits of its kind and the Black Elephants peacefully sharing the sugar beets.

It had been a very long time since the two races, who had always fought viciously whenever they encountered each other, had been able to face one another in such peace.

“Sniff……. (Is this a dream……?)”

When Black Rabbit No. 965 muttered those words, Black Elephant No. 342 beside it gently nudged it with its trunk.

“Poo! (It’s not a dream!)”

Black Elephant No. 342 was looking at it with a bright, beaming smile.

No. 342, who had always done nothing but cry, was smiling so brightly now.

Black Rabbit No. 965 found the sight strangely moving.

Black Elephant No. 342 pointed toward a certain place with its trunk.

“Poooo. (This is all thanks to that human.)”

“Sniff……. (Yeah…….)”

Black Rabbit No. 965 looked in that direction.

There stood a strange-looking…… ‘human.’

It had learned that she was a ‘human’ from a bird named Lucy.

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

‘Ppi? You’re wondering why that human’s name is Baek Seol, ppi? U-uhm. Well, you see, ppi……. A long time ago, that human had something called a mother and father too, ppi……. Huh? No, not all humans are named Baek Seol, ppi!’

While they had been staying in the bakery with the human named Baek Seol, Lucy had told them quite a lot.

Baek Seol was working hard to help them……

And that they might soon have a new source of food.

If that happened, the long-standing conflict between the Black Rabbits and Black Elephants might finally be resolved.

“Sniff sniff……. (I never thought it would really happen.)”

Whenever they became curious about something, they asked Lucy all sorts of questions.

As a result, the bird named Lucy had gradually become quieter.

Perhaps because they had grown a little closer?

It seemed his original personality was actually rather quiet.

‘Is this what you call a question attack, ppi……?’

He occasionally said things they couldn’t understand, but the bird named Lucy took good care of them.

So did the human named Baek Seol.

Perhaps that was why.

There was always a warm atmosphere surrounding the bakery.

Black Rabbit No. 965 had encountered that cozy warmth embracing it after such a long time that it realized it had forgotten what this feeling was like.

There had been a time when warmth like this had always felt natural.

Black Rabbit No. 965’s memories drifted toward the past.