The Strongest Guild Kidnapped Me

Was it Levinas’ ability to grow plants that had mesmerized me?

For several days, I tirelessly planted vegetation all over the park.

The plants, sprouting as soon as they were planted, brought me joy like playing a game.

Having come this far, I decided to turn the entire park into a farm.

The labor was exhausting, but the sense of accomplishment was so great that I forgot about my body’s weariness and focused intently on planting.

“…Gyeoul, how about taking a break?”

“Just one more…”

“You’ll collapse at this rate, kid.”

“Uh… I’m still okay.”

I still had a lot of seeds left to plant.

I couldn’t stop now.

Like a game addict crying for one more round, I picked up my gardening set and headed towards an empty patch of grass.

“Uh…”

Was it the long hours of labor that exhausted me?

Suddenly, my legs wobbled.

My vision blurred, and my head spun, feeling like I would collapse at any moment.

‘What?’

Why was I feeling like this?

As I pondered internally, my body, losing its balance, began to collapse to the ground.

Thud—!

My face was buried into the rich brown soil.

Gasping for breath, I pushed against the ground with my arms, but they were too weak, trembling uncontrollably.

Helpless, I could only turn my head to the side.

Towards where Sophia was.

“Sophia, I can’t move my body.”

“Oh, you poor thing, after all that work, did you expect your body to still function…”

“Uh, um…”

Perhaps I had enjoyed the physical labor too much, like a game.

I realized too late that fatigue had accumulated.

“Uhaha! Levinas has defeated the king!”

Boing, boing.

Levinas, bouncing like a rabbit, ran off towards the outskirts of the park.

She seemed about to escape the park, but then, startled by an alarm sound from her neck, she scampered back into the container.

Unlike me, she was a lively child.

“—It’s nice to see a child being acting like a child.”

Sophia glanced at Levinas, then turned her gaze to me.

She looked like someone who had something to say but chose not to.

“I’m, I’m sorry. I got so absorbed I didn’t realize I was overexerting myself.”

“…It’s fine. Children often move without realizing they’re exhausted.”

“Um… Yeah…”

She must be referring to my young body.

Perhaps, as she suggested, my younger body was less aware of fatigue.

Before, I would have realized it just before collapsing.

“When I was young, I used to play so hard that I’d pass out.”

“Is, is that so?”

“Yes. The problem is that you collapsed from labor, not play…”

Collapsing from play or labor – isn’t it the same if it’s from exhaustion?

I tilted my head, pondering, as Sophia helped me to stand.

“Sophia, why are there so few people around today?”

“Everyone went to conquer a level 7 dungeon. Encia and Argo went too, looking for a share.”

“Ah, I see…”

A level 7 dungeon, huh.

Are they planning to catch a dragon or something?

I couldn’t help but worry a bit, remembering how the guild members struggled in the level 5 dungeon.

Noticing my expression, Sophia patted my back reassuringly.

“Don’t worry too much. The Guild Master went with them.”

“The Guild Master?”

“Yes. That man is a monster. He could handle a level 7 dungeon all by himself if he wanted to.”

“Wow…”

So the Daybreak Guild Master was that powerful.

As I absentmindedly looked up at the top floor of the building where the Guild Master might be, Sophia pushed me forward.

“Let’s just rest for today. You seem very tired.”

“Okay…”

✱✱✱

A dragon, massive as a mountain, collapsed with a thunderous crash.

Yeoreum was panting for breath, hiding in the shadow cast by the dead dragon.

“Haa…”

She felt like she could collapse at any moment.

Yeoreum supported herself with a sword thrust into the ground.

“Yeoreum.”

Tap tap-

Someone tapped Yeoreum’s shoulder.

With that small impact, her body fell sideways.

“Ugh.”

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I’m just tired.”

Yeoreum lay on the ash-covered ground, looking up at the person who had tapped her shoulder.

It was Han Seong-woo, a member of the third team of the Black Dragon Dungeon raid party.

“I wanted to thank you.”

“Thank me?”

We all came in and defeated the Black Dragon.

What was there to be thankful for?

Yeoreum shrugged her shoulders in confusion.

“I never thought I’d enter the Black Dragon Dungeon. It’s all thanks to the dandelion tea. Of course, the support from behind was everything.”

“Oh… that.”

The minimum requirement to enter the Black Dragon Dungeon was magic resistance.

Due to needing to wrap the body in mana to defend against magic, only those with a high amount of mana could enter.

For Han Seong-woo, who was just short of mana even with all the doping he could do, the additional boost from the dandelion tea must have been a welcome relief.

“Is it really okay to sell such doping tea for just a hundred thousand won?”

“Yes. Gyeoul wanted to sell it as cheaply as possible.”

Gyeoul.

I had seen her once in a beginner’s dungeon before.

Han Seong-woo subconsciously stroked his neck.

It was out of guilt for ignoring a child in need.

“What’s the child doing these days? I saw a new container house recently.”

“She’s….Slowly learning about the world.”

She is getting better, little by little.

Yeoreum swallowed the words that almost escaped her lips, along with a sigh.

‘I miss Gyeoul.’

What could Gyeoul be doing now?

I couldn’t speak to her because she was so focused in her farm work.

She wouldn’t just work until she collapses, would she?

Since we made a promise?

With these thoughts, Yeoreum got up.

She intended to quickly tidy up the dragon’s corpse and head home as soon as possible.

✱✱✱

The next morning, I awoke before dawn, earlier than anyone else.

“Ugh…”

Something was lying on top of me.

Rubbing my eyes and looking down, I saw Levinas sprawled on my stomach.

Her stretched-out feet were pushing against Sophia’s cheek.

‘This is bad.’

What a troublesome sleeping habit.

I adjusted Levinas’ position and carefully stepped out of the container.

“Ugh…”

Maybe it was because I had overdone it for the past few days.

My whole body creaked and it was hard to move.

Even in the body of a child with good stamina and recovery, I seemed to have overexerted myself.

Well, it was fun nonetheless.

I didn’t really regret it.

‘Should I check on the cabbages?’

I had planted them next to the azaleas.

I dragged my tired body to check on the cabbages.

“My cabbages…?”

When I reached the cabbage patch, not a single one was left.

“Cabbages?”

Where did all my cabbages go?

I ran to the lettuce patch, but there was no trace of lettuce to be found anywhere.

“My lettuce—!”

I had worked in the field non-stop for almost a week.

Who could have stolen all those crops overnight?

Overwhelmed with despair, I collapsed backwards.

‘I’ve been frostbitten—!’

I remembered seeing news about this on Earth.

Criminals who disguised their thievery using ‘frost’ as an excuse, stealing all the crops.

One of them had even stolen crops that were under research.

I never imagined I’d become a target of such a group.

‘This is a planned crime…’

Most of the guild’s power was in the dungeon.

They must have taken advantage of the absence of the authorities to secretly steal the crops.

And the place where I planted the crops was hidden from sight, deep within the park.

I had been complacent, thinking that no one would come to such a remote area because the park was so vast.

“Ugh.”

All my hard work for the past few days was in vain.

As I sat there with my face buried in my hands, someone approached with the sound of footsteps.

“Gyeoul, what are you doing here?”

“…Mourning the loss to a thief.”

“A thief?”

“Yes. Someone stole all the crops I planted.”

I wanted to cry, but I didn’t really cry.

It wasn’t the first time I had been engulfed in such despair.

“Why did you plant something so far away?”

“Yes. I didn’t rest at all for days planting those crops…”

“…You didn’t rest? You didn’t collapse from working, did you?”

“…That’s not what’s important right now.”

I waved my hands frantically towards Yeoreum.

She looked like she had a lot to say, but she agreed that catching the thief was the priority.

“Right, let’s catch the thief first and see?”

“Yes, yes…”

What did she mean by ‘and see?’

I aimlessly stared at the ground.

‘But how do we catch the thief?’

My sense of smell is better now, should I try tracking the scent like a dog?

While seriously contemplating this, I noticed someone’s footprints imprinted on the ground.

“Are these footprints…?”

“Huh? Oh, they are?”

“Yes.”

Together with Yeoreum, I followed the footprints.

The footprints led us through the cabbage patch, lettuce patch, radish field, and carrot field.

Eventually, we spotted a black van.

“My cabbages—!”

I could see the stacked-up crops in the back seat of the van.

In a rush, I chased after the van, but the vehicle, already started, was speeding away.