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“Hey, you made it, Brother Sihyeon!”
“What took you so long, Senior?”
Following Speranza, Alfred, and Lilia welcomed us warmly, while Ashimir and Urki trailed behind.
“Welcome back, Sihyeon.”
“Good to see you back in one piece, Senior Sihyeon.”
“Nothing happened while we were away, right? You two must still be getting used to farm work. You both really worked hard.”
“We just did what we had to do.”
“Senior Elaine trained us well, so we managed alright.”
When I first left the farm, I was worried about whether the two Angels could handle the work. But turns out they handled it better than I expected.
It felt so good to catch up with the farm members I haven’t seen in ages, like I was finally back home. Lia looked around and whispered, “There’s no place like home, huh?”
“Totally agree,” I nodded.
Locus stretched and said, “Gosh, I’m getting old. Can’t even walk around much anymore, right Kroc?”
Kroc just nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, Speranza ran up to me yelling, “Papa, Papa! Did you really go to the fairy world? Did you meet the Fairy Queen too?”
“Yup, went there and met the Queen and all the fairies,” I said, smiling.
“Whoa, what does the Queen look like? Is she as tiny as Gyuri?”
Speranza’s eyes lit up as she asked me about the Fairy Queen. I patted her head gently to calm her down.
“Slow down, Sweetheart. I’ll tell you everything later. There are so many other stories I want to share with you too, like the Shadow Clan in the Forest of Silence or the story about a massive and fierce beast similar to Bighorn.”
Speranza got even more excited and started jumping up and down.
“You have to promise to tell me everything later! Promise, promise!”
“Sure thing. Promise! I’ll tell you as much as you want to hear.”
“Hehe!”
Speranza snuggled into my arms, looking very happy. As I held the little fox girl close, I felt a sense of peace wash over me.
“Hey, you’re finally back?”
A demon wandered over from the farm, seemingly half asleep and yawning insincerely. It was cute to see him still the same after all this time.
“Yep, we just got back, Boss.”
“But it looks like no one got seriously hurt, huh? I thought we might need to carry some people back on stretchers.”
Lia gave him a dirty look for his insensitive comment.
“Geez, is that really what you say to people who just got back from a tough journey?”
“Leader’s twisted personality hasn’t changed even after all these years.”
“Haha, it’s nice of him to come and greet us like this though.”
Locus agreed, and Andras laughed out loud. Kaneff didn’t seem to care about their reactions at all.
Kaneff was fooling around when he suddenly looked at me and tilted his head.
“But why did you bring that girl with you?”
“Huh?”
“And why didn’t you leave her in the Shadow Clan?”
“What are you talking about? The only ones who came back are the members of the farm.”
I was confused and asked him back. Then he walked up to me and tapped my shadow with his foot.
“Hey, are you there?”
“Why are you tapping on my shadow all of a sudden…”
Before I could finish my sentence, something unexpectedly jumped out of my shadow. Everyone, including me, jumped in surprise.
-Woosh! Woosh!
The thing that popped out of my shadow floated in the air and landed on the ground with a soft thud.
As the blurry figure slowly took shape, a woman with a slim figure appeared.
“Umm… Did we arrive already?” she mumbled with hazy eyes and a drowsy voice, scratching her messy hair.
“Eh, why is she here?”
Locus screamed, breaking his calm expression. The rest of the group looked surprised.
I called her name with a blank look on my face. “Terzan?”
“You arrived earlier than expected. Is this the farm you mentioned? It’s much bigger than I thought,” she said.
“When did you follow us? I thought you went far away,” I asked, surprised.
“At first, I was going to stay in the village. But I thought it would be more fun to follow you. I want to drink more honey beer and, on top of that, meet the leader,” Terzan replied nonchalantly.
“Long time no see, Leader Kaneff,” she said, greeting him.
“You still behave recklessly and wander around?” Kaneff asked.
“I haven’t caused any harm to anyone since you warned me before,”
“Well… that’s fine, then,” Kaneff said, shrugging it off.
Kaneff and Terzan greeted each other in a dry manner.
It wasn’t their style to be chummy, but I could sense their trust in each other right away.
Meanwhile, the farm members, who saw Terzan for the first time, were curious about her easygoing behavior with Kaneff.
“Sihyeon, can I hang out here for a while?”
“Here on the farm?”
“Yeah.”
I was surprised by her sudden request.
“If you’re the Lord of this place, I can help with anything you need. Spying, kidnapping, assassination…”
“No, no, no! We don’t need that kind of help.”
I quickly covered Speranza’s ears and shook my head, rejecting Terzan’s offer.
She looked disappointed. “You don’t need it?”
“No, thank you.”
“Other nobles used to ask for that kind of thing.”
“I can’t speak for other nobles, but I really don’t need that kind of help.”
Terzan rolled her eyes, feeling uneasy.
I wanted to say something to comfort her, but I couldn’t think of anything.
Meanwhile, Locus insisted that we should send Terzan away.
What should I do?
It was surprising that she followed me secretly, but it didn’t seem like she had any bad intentions.
She was also incredibly skilled, which Kaneff would approve of.
Although I didn’t need her to do any investigations, kidnappings, or assassinations, I thought she could be helpful in other ways.
“Okay, you can stay.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Since you’ve helped me in various ways, I should help you in return.”
“Thank you, Sihyeon!”
Terzan smiled faintly and expressed her gratitude.
I smiled back, happy to see her pleased.
That day when the fairies returned to the strawberry field, was also the day a Shadow Clan member with unusual powers started staying on the farm.
Finally, the long and harsh winter was over, and everyone on Cardis Estate was eagerly preparing for the upcoming spring. The strawberry field, which had once faced a crisis, was now bustling with activity.
“Quick, let’s move the harvested strawberries to the warehouse!”
“Come on, hurry up! The weather’s getting warmer, but the days are still short.”
Thanks to the fairies’ return, the strawberry field had regained its vitality and was even livelier than before.
It looked like spring had already arrived there, despite it not being officially spring yet.
“Your Highness! We’ve harvested way more than we expected. We’ll have enough to cover last year’s losses and still have some leftovers!”
The hardworking villagers’ faces were filled with joy at the good news.
Strawberries were now more expensive because of the winter season, but we were all happy to see an increased yield.
I was also enjoying watching the harvest with a smile on my face.
Among the workers, I spotted someone who stood out.
“Move, Sipi.”
“Moving, Zapi.”
It was the new workers, the longhorn beetle escorts flying around and helping with the strawberries.
These were the same escorts that I met in the fairy world.
Since the fairy queen was asleep, they wanted to follow my orders.
And since there was no need for escorts in the new fairy world, they were happy to help out as workers.
Of course, I paid them for their work, and they were pleased to receive a box of freshly harvested strawberries as a reward.
“Is this fine, Sapi?”
“Hahaha! This is so fun!”
I heard laughter and turned around to see a large longhorn beetle carrying Speranza in the air.
As they landed in front of me, I noticed that Speranza’s cheeks were red from the cold.
I warmed her up by holding her face in my hands and asked, “Is it that fun?”
“Yes! It’s so much fun, Papa. Captain Beetle is the best!”
Speranza was having a blast riding on the back of the giant beetle.
The captain beetle escort had become her personal ride because he was the largest of them all.
After smiling at Speranza, I whispered to Captain beetle with a slightly worried expression.
“Captain Beetle, you sure you’re not overdoing it? Flying Speranza around like that must be exhausting.”
Captain beetle replied confidently, “I’m fine, Sapi. Carrying Miss Speranza is no problem for me, Sapi.”
“Thanks for your hard work. But please don’t fly too high and be careful, okay?”
“I’ll keep that in mind, Sapi.” answered the captain beetle reliably.
I gave him a few pats on the back to show my appreciation.
– Pow woo wooo!
– Biip! Biip!
– Biip!
Suddenly, Akum and young griffins appeared out of nowhere and surrounded Captain beetle.
They were all making excited noises and looking up at Captain Beetle.
Speranza quickly caught on and asked, “Captain, can you give these kids a ride too?”
“Sure thing, Sapi.”
“Hehe, thanks! Hop on, you guys!”
As soon as Captain beetle gave the okay, Akum and the griffins climbed onto his back. Despite the extra weight, Captain beetle effortlessly took off into the sky.
– Pow woo wooo!
– Biip! Biip!
– Biip!
The sounds of the excited Akum and the young griffins echoed through the air.
I couldn’t help but wonder why Grify and Finny, who could fly by themselves, were so thrilled to ride on Captain beetle. But seeing the kids having so much fun made me happy too.
“Thanks, Captain Beetle. I’ll make sure to get you two boxes of strawberries later,” I said with a smile.