Healing in the Country Side with a Baby Dragon - CHAPTER 20 (Truck Demon)

A knight in gleaming silver armor stood proudly in the midst of the brilliant sunlight. As the light fractured across his solid plate, it lent him an almost divine majesty. The eyes gleaming from behind the narrow slit of his visor were piercing and stern, looking as though they could strike down any foe with a single glance.

The knight slowly reached out his gauntleted hand.

'Will you take up the legendary sword, or mount your noble steed?'

'Will you march forth to defeat the evil threatening the world, and rescue the captured princess?'

It was the breathtaking moment right before the start of an epic journey.

Then, the knight’s fingers clamped down on a small, golden tomato seed. Instead of neatly severing an enemy general’s neck, the metal gauntlet produced the slightly pitiful, squelching sound of a plucked cherry tomato.

Yes, that magnificent knight's true identity was none other than Oh-sik.

“That one's underripe.” I called out.

“Ah... my apologies.”

This was the grand knight who had started working as a hand on my farm just yesterday. Originally, my plan was simple: feed him a few warm meals, give him a comfortable place to sleep for a couple of days, and send him on his way once he recovered. But he had been incredibly stubborn.

“Please, order me to do anything, my lord!” he had demanded yesterday.

“No, look at you. You’re clearly not fully recovered yet.”

“I am entirely healed! My wounds are completely gone!”

“Already? Don’t push yourself. Just rest until you’re actually better.”

“I cannot do that! I have sworn my absolute loyalty to you, my lord! Sitting idly by and resting would be far more painful than any wound!”

“No, seriously, I’m telling you to take it easy.”

“Please, command me! Order anything!”

Oh-sik had insisted, his voice ringing with absolute desperation.

“...Anything?” I asked.

“Yes! If you wish for me to slay the Demon King, I shall bring you his head! If you command me to hunt down a Cataclysmic Dragon, I will conquer it without hesitation!”

“Huh?”

At the mention of hunting a dragon, Seol-ah’s eyes had lit up with excitement. I quickly patted her head to calm her down while staring into Oh-sik’s burning eyes. They were filled with the indomitable will of a warrior who refused to back down before any enemy. His noble determination was practically radiating through his armor.

'Alright,' I thought, 'let's see if that confidence is backed up by skill.'

“I happen to have an incredibly difficult task.” I said, matching his serious tone.

“Can you handle it?”

“I can do all things!”

“It won’t be easy. It will require every ounce of your focus and patience.”

Oh-sik’s eyes blazed with a competitive fire, completely confident he was about to be sent on a perilous, glorious mission to crush a powerful foe. I nodded, playing along.

“Great. Go pick some tomatoes.”

I officially assigned the harvest of my prized Golden Bell tomatoes to this walking fortress.

“...Ah?” Oh-sik gasped.

“Huh?”

“What?”

“Why...?”

“Tomatoes? Truly, my lord?”

“Truly.”

The roaring fire that had been blazing in Oh-sik’s eyes instantly fizzled out. For a legendary knight who was psychologically prepared to decapitate a warlord, being ordered to carefully pluck delicate, sugary fruit must have felt like a profound cosmic joke.

But I could assure him: farming my garden wasn’t going to be nearly as easy as he thought.

And just as I expected, today was a repeat of yesterday's disaster.

“No, not like that. You’re bruising it.”

“That one is still underripe.”

“Look, you tore the stem completely off. That's no good.”

Oh-sik had been out in the fields plucking tomatoes since yesterday morning, sweat visibly pouring out from the seams of his helmet. Before I became a farmer, I didn't realize how grueling the work was either; I only ever saw the neat, beautiful results served on a dinner table. But when you actually roll up your sleeves and try to do it, it requires an immense amount of care.

Learning exactly which fruits are perfectly ripe, identifying the sweetest ones by sight, and mastering the exact pressure needed to twist them off the vine without bruising the delicate skin is an art form. Doing it hours on end makes your lower back completely ache.

Of course, I had an unfair advantage when I started.

‘The earth fairies helped me a ton.’

I had basically been given private, one-on-one tutoring on agricultural attributes by the earth fairies. In fact, I was still constantly learning from them. Originally, I had planned to introduce the little guys to Oh-sik to help him out, but the fairies had flatly refused.

‘Secret agents must always work from the shadows!’

‘Our classified identities must never be compromised to outsiders!’

For some reason, my underground squad of elemental fairies had watched too many spy movies and desperately wanted to act like hidden masterminds. What could I do? It was my own karma for accidentally fostering their eccentricities. I never imagined they would become so entirely obsessed with the concept of being "secret agents."

‘This is the very first time our great master has entrusted us with such a heavy, classified mission!’

‘The earth fairies are deeply moved! Mud, mud, mud...’

When they looked up at me with tearful, sparkling eyes saying things like that, how could I possibly tell them no? So, instead of letting the fairies handle his training, I had to personally step in and teach Oh-sik the basics.

Watching him stand in the middle of the lush green vines, meticulously cradling tiny cherry tomatoes with his massive, terrifying metal gauntlets, was honestly a bit tragic.

“Wouldn't it be a hundred times easier if you just took off that heavy armor?” I suggested.

“No! This... this is highly comfortable!” his muffled voice barked back.

“...Alright, if you say so.”

If the guy wanted to sweat to death inside a tin can out of sheer stubbornness, who was I to stop him?

While Oh-sik was off enduring his silent war against the tomatoes, I put the finishing touches on my latest project.

“There. Done.”

I wiped the sawdust from my hands, admiring my handiwork. I had spent the morning constructing a small set of stairs to connect the raised veranda directly to the dirt yard, carefully interlocking and securing wooden planks together.

“Alright, let’s test it out.”

The project was built specifically for the three absolute rascals currently terrorizing my household. Those little puppies were growing fast and had already started sprinting headlong around the house. Whenever someone walked through the front gate or when I came back inside, they would huddle at the edge of the high porch, whimpering and fidgeting. I was constantly terrified they would recklessly leap off the edge out of sheer excitement and break their little legs.

‘If Baldur were here, I probably could have asked him to forge something incredible.’

Since I had cobbled it together using basic tools, the carpentry looked a bit rustic and awkward. I highly doubted a set of puppy stairs made by an expert dwarf craftsman would look this clunky. But since I couldn't exactly summon Baldur out of thin air, I decided to be satisfied with what I had.

“Alright, kids! Time for work! Nurungji, Seolgi, Siru—come here!”

The moment I called out their names, the three puppies came barreling over, only to skid to a halt right at the top of the new wooden structure. They crowded around the precipice, tilting their heads and nervously stamping their tiny paws at the unfamiliar object.

“Come on, step down right here. It's safe.”

I gently tapped the wooden steps a few times to guide them. True to his bold nature, Nurungji was the bravest of the bunch. He boldly took the first step forward, carefully descending the stairs one by one.

“Oh my, look at that! Good boy, Nurungji!”

The moment Seol-ah and I began clapping and cheering for his successful descent, Nurungji got so incredibly excited that he tried to sprint down the rest of the way. Predictably, he lost his footing and ended up rolling completely down the final step, landing in a soft, fluffy heap on the grass.

I couldn't help but burst out laughing. Despite the clumsy tumble, he immediately scrambled to his feet and sprinted over to me, his tail wagging like a propeller, utterly thrilled that he had successfully conquered the great drop.

“You did a wonderful job, Nurungji,” I chuckled, scooping him up.

“Brrrrrr—”

While Seol-ah and I were busy showering Nurungji with affection, Siru was busy conducting a rigorous safety inspection.

*Sniff, sniff, sniff.* 

He was intensely smelling every single inch of the wooden planks. Apparently, he believed he could detect structural integrity and hidden dangers purely through his nose.

After thoroughly checking the stability by tapping it cautiously with one front paw, Siru finally made his slow, methodical way down the steps. Unlike Nurungji's chaotic tumble, he executed a flawless, textbook landing.

“Bya—!” Seol-ah cheered, opening her arms wide to welcome him into a hug.

But Siru wasn't done. He ignored the open arms and immediately went back to sniffing the perimeter of the grass, continuing his vital safety protocol.

“Bya...?” Seol-ah mumbled, her arms dropping slightly in confusion.

“Hold on a second, Seol-ah. Siru says he still has a few more spots left to clear.”

Only after he had meticulously verified every single scent in a three-foot radius did Siru finally leap up, happily burying himself in Seol-ah's arms. His hyper-cautious personality was a stark contrast to Nurungji, who was already on the complete opposite side of the yard, aggressively digging a hole in the dirt.

And then, there was the final brother, Seolgi.

“Haaam—”

Seolgi had actually started off strong, pacing down the steps with surprising confidence. But right in the exact middle of the staircase, he came to a dead stop. He let out a massive, soul-shaking yawn, his eyelids grew incredibly heavy, and his head began to nod.

Right there, on the narrow wooden step, he simply flopped onto his side and tried to go to sleep.

I stared at him, utterly exasperated. Every single one of these three brothers had such an absurdly distinct personality.

“Hey, lazybones. Go up to the porch or down to the grass if you want to nap. If you sleep in an awkward position like that, your neck is going to freeze up.”

I gently poked his side, but he merely cracked one eye open for a fraction of a second before losing the battle to drowsiness once more. In the end, I had to physically scoop him up myself and carry his dead weight down to the soft grass.

When I turned back around, I noticed Siru had also fallen asleep, curling up right next to Seol-ah’s feet. Even in his deep slumber, his little nose was still twitching, instinctively analyzing the passing breeze. Over in the garden, Nurungji was thoroughly enjoying the sensation of the fresh soil beneath his paws, joyfully bounding over the rows until—*thud*—he tripped over his own feet, decided he was exhausted, and fell fast asleep right where he landed.

“Brrrrrr!”

Seol-ah burst into a fit of giggles, finding the three sleepy brothers absolutely adorable. It seemed that conquering the wooden staircase had been an immense, exhausting adventure for the young hellhounds.

As the puppies lay huddled together on the grass, I knelt down to brush away the loose dirt and snot clinging to the bridge of Nurungji's nose. While I was watching over them with Seol-ah, a soft sound came from my arms.

“Haaam—”

It seemed drowsiness was entirely contagious. Seol-ah, whom I was cradling, let out a tiny yawn of her own, her heavy eyelids fluttering as she fought a losing battle against sleep.

“Are you sleepy too, Seol-ah?”

“Woong...” she mumbled, shaking her head in denial even though her eyes were already tightly shut.

I took a slow, gentle lap around the peaceful yard to soothe her, and within moments, she was completely dead to the world. I carried her inside, carefully laid her down on a soft blanket right next to the puppies, and tucked them all in together. Seol-ah and the three brothers immediately burrowed deep into the warmth of the fabric, forming a single, breathing pile of cuteness.

It was the kind of profoundly serene sight that brought absolute peace to a person's soul.

“Incredibly cute, isn't it?” I murmured, looking over at Oh-sik, who had walked over and was staring blankly at the huddle.

“Yes... it is very cute.” the armored knight replied softly, nodding his helmeted head.

It really was a sight I could never tire of.

“Did you finish harvesting all the tomatoes?” I asked, changing the subject.

“I have taken care of every single one, my lord.”

“Are you really feeling okay? Your back isn't sore?”

“Yes, I am perfectly fine. Truly.”

I raised an eyebrow, finding it a bit strange. The guy looked like he was on the verge of physical collapse yesterday, but today he was completely fine? I wondered if it was due to the supernatural resilience of a high-ranking knight, or if the special Apple of Life and Golden Bell Tomato juice I fed him yesterday had completely overhauled his recovery speed. Either way, I was glad he was functional. He stood straight as a rod, his military discipline completely intact.

“Good work. Clean up, because we’re moving out.”

It was time to head over to So-yoon’s place.

To the rest of the world, he was just Oh-sik, a clumsy farmhand. But in reality, Seian Eintermann Siegfried had spent his entire life wearing a mask.

He was a prince of the Kingdom of Siegfried. Born at the very bottom of the royal hierarchy, he possessed noble blood but absolutely no political power, leading him to be constantly looked down upon and dismissed by the court. Ever since he was a child, he had survived multiple targeted assassination attempts. To stay alive in that viper's nest, he had masterfully perfected the art of pretending to be utterly foolish, incompetent, and weak.

Eventually, he was pushed further and further away from the capital, ultimately exiled to the frozen, barren north. While the court rejoiced at having successfully disposed of an "idiot prince", Seian saw it clearly: 'This is my opportunity.'

Away from the suffocating surveillance of his siblings, he hid his sharp claws, lowered his head, and quietly began planning for the future. But during a fierce, unexpected battle on the northern border, a strange tear in reality had swallowed him whole. When he finally opened his eyes, he was lying in this bizarre, unfamiliar world.

Prince Seian remembered the exact moment he first encountered the master of this farm, Baek Jin-sol. It had been utterly terrifying.

The sheer pressure radiating from the man—even while he was simply standing still—was suffocating. Though Jin-sol held a bizarre, agricultural weapon the prince had never seen in all his travels, the aura it exuded was far more majestic and terrifying than that of any Grand Master Knight Seian had ever faced. The prince had been instantly suppressed, entirely overwhelmed by a tempest of raw power. For a trained warrior to be completely incapacitated like that—even when weakened from battle—was fundamentally impossible.

But the shocks didn't stop there. When Seian had fully regained consciousness, he realized with absolute horror that his plate armor, which was heavily secured by intricate, high-level sealing magic, had been completely dismantled.

‘He can even manipulate complex sealing magic?’ Seian had thought, a cold sweat breaking out. 

‘Not only is he a warrior with strength that dwarfs my own, but he is an elite magus! This man is incredibly dangerous.’

Every survival instinct honed from a childhood in the palace screamed an explicit warning: 'You must never, under any circumstances, reveal your true identity.'

This terrifyingly powerful man could easily be an assassin or an agent contracted by one of his rival royal siblings. Since Seian was already a master at playing the fool, he resolved to maintain the act. He would endure the humiliation, play the part of an idiot servant, and quietly bide his time until his body fully recovered and his mana returned. The moment he was back at full strength, he would escape and find a way back to the kingdom.

When Jin-sol had first handed him that bowl of steaming beef soup, Seian had felt a wave of cold despair wash over his heart.

‘It’s poison.' he had calculated instantly.

‘He’s an assassin trying to lower my guard. He wants to either kill me immediately or slowly poison my system over time.’

But refusing the meal from a host that powerful would be an immediate declaration of hostility. Prepared to face his death, the prince picked up the spoon and took a bite of the unknown, bubbling broth.

‘...Wow, this is incredibly delicious!’

In an instant, his tastebuds were transported to an entirely new world. The soup was piping hot, savory, and remarkably refreshing; the perfectly square-cut vegetables were sweet and melted in his mouth, and the tender beef was exceptionally generous. When the fluffy white rice was mixed in, the broth thickened beautifully, creating a comforting, incredibly filling meal.

‘Even if I die from poison, I will have absolutely no regrets.' 

Seian decided. If he was going to be assassinated, this was undeniably the most glorious way to go.

To reassure his powerful opponent and play the part of a gluttonous fool, he aggressively emptied five entire bowls. In truth, that was mostly an excuse—the food was simply so mind-blowing that his body physically refused to stop eating. Fortunately, there was no vomiting of blood or internal burning.

‘Aha,’ Seian reasoned, ‘he isn't trying to kill me yet. He's using the food to make me compliant so he can extract information and figure out my true origins.’

Calculating up to that point, the prince had immediately dropped to his knees before the terrifying assassin, pledging his absolute loyalty. It was a flawless piece of acting; he wanted Jin-sol to believe he had been entirely bought over by a few bowls of soup. When he saw Jin-sol readily accept his pledge with a slightly caught-off-guard expression, Seian felt a surge of quiet triumph.

‘Perfect. He fell for it.’

Once again, his impeccable acting had successfully deceived a dangerous opponent. He would simply play the role of the mindless grunt "Oh-sik" until his body healed, and then vanish into thin air when the timing was right.

But the very next morning, when Jin-sol called him out to work with a dead serious expression, Seian’s anxieties spiked again.

‘Here it comes. The true test.’

Would he ordered me to hunt a high-tier demonic beast? Would he sent me into a perilous dungeon to prove my utility? The prince braced himself, ready for anything.

“Go pick some tomatoes.” Jin-sol said.

'Tomatoes?' Seian thought, completely thrown off. 

'Is 'Tomato' the code name for some high-ranking demon chief?'

As it turned out, they were literally just fruits on a vine.

But as the hours dragged on, Prince Seian discovered a horrifying truth: 'Farming was an absolute nightmare.' Harvesting tomatoes required an absurd amount of patience and fine motor skills. His heavy gauntlets kept crushing the ripe ones, and trying to differentiate the precise shades of red was incredibly frustrating. Worst of all, his lower back felt like it was splitting in half. He could comfortably swing a heavy broadsword ten thousand times in a day, but bending over to carefully twist hundreds of delicate fruits required a level of endurance he had never trained for.

“Wouldn't it be easier if you just took off your armor?” Jin-sol had suggested, watching him struggle.

“No! This is far more comfortable!” Oh-sik had barked.

'Do not falter! This is a psychological ruse!'

Seian screamed at himself inside his helmet. It was an incredibly insidious trick to get him to strip off his defensive plate. The moment he laid down his armor, Jin-sol would undoubtedly stage a "farming accident" to eliminate him without leaving a trace!

Seian had lived inside that silver armor his entire life. It hid his expressions, masked his true combat capabilities, and shielded his ambitions from the cutthroat royalty of his homeland. That cramped, dark, metallic space was his entire world—a portable prison that kept him alive. He felt an intense, deep-seated terror at the thought of removing it; to take it off meant certain death. He would never yield it.

“Isn't it cute?”

Seian was snapped out of his intense internal monologue by Jin-sol's soft voice. Looking through his visor, he watched the farm master gently tucking in the sleeping child and the three young animals. For a fleeting second, looking at the genuine warmth on Jin-sol's face, the prince let his guard down. 

'Could this terrifying man actually just be... a kind person?'

‘No! Wake up, Seian! Do not be deceived!' the prince reprimanded himself. It was a classic, high-level psychological tactic straight out of the imperial court—using innocent children and adorable animals to disarm a target's suspicions and force them to reveal their true nature. He was far too experienced in the art of survival to fall for such a transparent trap.

'But still... they really were incredibly cute.'

Seian quickly suppressed his softened expression, deeply relieved that his helmet completely concealed his face, and followed Jin-sol out of the house.

However, the moment they stepped beyond the perimeter fence, the prince froze in absolute horror. An entirely unknown, colossal object was resting in the driveway.

What in the gods' names was this monstrosity? It was a massive, pure white beast constructed entirely out of rigid iron, possessing four perfectly circular wheels. Since it had wheels, was it some sort of advanced, reinforced war chariot?

Noticing his rigid posture, Jin-sol looked back over his shoulder, a small, knowing smile playing on his lips. 

“Ah, don't worry about it. This is just a truck.”

'A truck? What kind of mythical beast is a truck?'

The very next second, Jin-sol turned the key in the ignition.

*ROAR—!!!!*

The mechanical monster suddenly let out a deafening, metallic shriek, the entire iron frame vibrating violently as thick smoke billowed from its rear.

“It’s a high-tier demon!!!” 

Oh-sik shrieked, his knightly instincts completely taking over as he executed a frantic, desperate combat dive into the nearest bushes.