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Chapter 23
A few days had passed since sending Ash away.
In that time, the season had fully shifted into summer.
Summer is often remembered for blazing sunlight and sweltering heat, but for a farmer, it was somewhat different.
It was the season of life, when plants grew rapidly day by day, but it was also a time fraught with unexpected challenges.
Too much rain—or too little—was a problem.
Excessive sunlight would scorch the crops, while insects and wild animals would seize any opportunity to gnaw at them.
And it wasn’t just the crops that thrived.
Weeds grew wildly, too. No matter how much you pulled, it was an endless war.
But to Nana, all of this felt a little different.
Why?
Because she had zombies.
A gray morning slowly crept in. Nana, still half-asleep, fiddled with her blanket before slowly opening her eyes.
“Ah, the field… the water!”
As soon as she realized the sun had risen high, she instinctively bounced out of bed.
But when she looked out the window, she froze.
Under the blazing sunlight, the farm was operating as peacefully as ever.
Zombies watering the crops.
Zombies carrying compost.
Zombies moving ripe produce into the storage.
Even patrolling the farm at night and tending the fields by day, they worked without the slightest error.
Not a drop of sweat, not a single complaint, no words at all—perfect workers.
“Oh, right. I don’t have to do anything.”
Nana muttered, then burst into a hollow laugh.
Habits were truly terrifying.
Her body reacted first, running toward the fields, only to stop, which both frustrated and amused her.
But farming wasn’t the only task.
Even if her hands were free, her eyes and mind still had to work.
The overall management of the farm still rested on her shoulders.
She quickly changed out of her pajamas and headed to the storage.
The moment she opened the door—
Pop!
A functional window popped up in front of her.
“Alright, what should I sell today?”
Recently, completing the Eastern Forest quest had triggered a major patch for the farm.
The feature Nana had been most excited about? “Sell Harvested Goods.”
[Sell Harvested Goods]
Normally, under the MasFarm system, making a profit from crops meant precisely planting and harvesting the crops listed in daily quests or taking them to a merchant yourself.
But now?
Quests had stopped, merchants had vanished, the world was destroyed.
And in the midst of that, this feature had appeared—truly a miracle.
Even if the two of them stuffed their inventories full, cooked, dried, or processed everything, the harvest kept piling up.
Turning the surplus into compost felt wasteful, and there were no other uses for it.
In that situation, the appearance of this feature was nothing short of a blessing.
Moreover, the payment wasn’t in the kingdom’s currency but in universal gold coins, the currency of the entire universe.
Shiny new gold coins, no less!
“Heh. Gold is truth…”
Nana muttered in awe, poking at the gold coin icon with her fingers.
Even if war came, even if the world fell apart, gold and rice survived.
Even in a ruined world, gold coins were the most stable asset.
And the profits from sales were far more substantial than before.
So that muscular bald man said he would help in his own way—was this what he meant?
“Experience is important, but money matters too. Especially in a ruined world.”
Today, too, Nana checked the system window diligently, grinning from ear to ear.
“Alright, let’s sell yesterday’s harvested corn today.”
BANG-!!!
Before she could even finish speaking, a loud crash struck her ears. Yet Nana merely closed her eyes and smiled faintly.
This farm… can’t a single day be peaceful? Is that it?
It had to be another meteor gacha. Ever since meeting that muscular bald man, meteors had been falling more often than usual.
Fortunately—or maybe by coincidence—most meteors still landed on the uncultivated outskirts of the farm.
Now accustomed to the situation, Nana didn’t flinch. She finished selling the corn and casually walked toward the source of the sound.
But this time, she couldn’t help but be surprised. The meteor hadn’t fallen on the outskirts—it had landed squarely in the middle of her house.
Amid a cloud of dust, the shape of the meteor slowly became visible.
This one looked different from the usual ones. Smooth, round, and egg-like, without a single bump.
Nana furrowed her brows and moved closer—but then—
Crack!
The meteor split open, revealing its contents. Radiating a brilliant light, it stepped forward—one step at a time.
“Moooo-.”
A cow.
<Congratulations. You have obtained a Daily Milk Cow. An SSS-grade animal that produces milk daily without requiring a calf.>
<The Daily Milk Cow is automatically registered as a party member. As an SSS-grade animal, it has a strong sense of pride, but for a farmer of your caliber, it will allow you to milk it. You have been chosen by the World Tree. Will you name your Daily Milk Cow?>
As the message said, the cow walked slowly toward Nana, with an air of haughtiness. Its face seemed to say, “Can you even come up with a name that suits me?”
Seeing the first SSS-grade animal she had obtained, Nana shouted:
“Damn meteor gacha! Did you have to destroy my house just to give me this?!”
Meanwhile, Ishanka returned from hunting in the Eastern Forest and was stunned by the unbelievable scene.
“You’re here?”
“How… how did this happen?”
Nana smiled quietly, having completely accepted everything.
“My idiot… no, my farm god sent me a gift.”
“…Does your god destroy houses as a gift?”
‘Ridiculous, right? I thought the same thing. My house was fine this morning, and now it’s a ruin. Of course it’s absurd.’
Hahaha. Nana laughed wryly and stood up just as Ishanka grabbed her arms and turned her around.
“Are you alright?”
“Of course not! My house collapsed like this—”
“I’m asking if you’re hurt anywhere else. You’ve been at the farm all day. Didn’t any debris hit you?”
Seeing Ishanka genuinely concerned, Nana felt a bit dazed.
“Oh, yes. I’m fine, and Tanbbang was outside, so he’s safe too…”
“That cat will take care of itself, so don’t worry.”
Then Tanbbang, sitting beside Nana, hissed at Ishanka.
“I’m really okay. I… happened to be at the storage and also got something…”
Nana gritted her teeth and glanced at the cow tied nearby. Ishanka’s gaze naturally followed.
“That… is your gift?”
Just for that single cow, they destroyed her house?
After staring for a long moment, he muttered softly:
“I honestly want to slaughter it.”
The SSS-grade cow, proud and haughty, flinched at Ishanka’s murderous glare.
“But we have a more important problem.”
“More important than killing that cow?”
“You could say that. We have to sleep in the same room.”
The moment the thought of sharing a room with the cow hit him, all his plans for dismantling it vanished.
Opening the wooden door, a small room appeared with the creak of old hinges.
“For a temporary shelter, it’s not bad.”
It had been set up for emergencies: for cows or horses giving birth early or experiencing long labor. It was small but had a kitchen and bedroom, enough to live comfortably for a while.
All except one thing.
“The beds are two, but one’s unusable.”
As Ishanka said, there were two beds in the bedroom, but one looked like it would collapse under even the slightest weight.
“I’ll fix the bed tomorrow. Tonight, I’ll sleep on the floor. Just need a mat and blanket.”
“But sleeping on a hard floor will make you even more tired tomorrow.”
“I’m used to sleeping outside. Before arriving here, it was my daily routine.”
“Even so, do we really need to sleep on the floor with a bed available?”
“…Are you saying we should sleep in the same bed?”
“The bed’s big enough. We can sleep apart and be fine.”
Seeing Nana confidently pat the bed, Ishanka sighed, holding his head in one hand.
This employer… does she do this on purpose, or is she completely oblivious?
Before Nana could react, he quickly pushed her onto the bed.
“Waaah!”
The first thing filling her view was Ishanka’s broad chest pressing down on her.
“Do you really not understand what it means to sleep in the same bed with a man?”
When Nana lifted her head, Ishanka’s eyes held an unusual intensity.
Half-lidded, slightly blurred gaze.
A closer distance than usual.
Even he couldn’t explain why he was doing this.
He could have simply slept on the floor as usual.
But seeing her defenseless, clear sky-blue eyes stirred something hot inside him.
Her pure eyes held no trace of impurity.
Which made it all the more dangerous and unbearably irritating.
