I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 431: The Results of the Meeting

Saebyeok grabbed the flower's stem tightly and pulled upward.

It seemed she was trying to uproot the entire flower.

I didn't want to let such a mysterious flower go just like that.

I quickly called out to Saebyeok.

"Saebyeok."

"...!"

Were her ears and tail shooting up because my voice startled her from behind?

"Gyeoul, didn't this thing just eat you?"

"Yeah. I just got eaten."

"There's a tunnel under this flower."

I pointed at the bottom of the flower while looking at Levinas and Bom.

I'd thought the two pureblooded beast-kin might know about this mysterious flower, but they just looked surprised.

"A tunnel?"

"Yeah. It sucked us in like a ride, then spat us out over there."

We'd been spat out by another giant flower.

Gaeul was standing under that flower with a blank expression.

She seemed confused after being eaten and quickly ejected by the flower.

"Gaeul, are you okay?"

"......"

Gaeul just stuck her tongue out slightly with a dazed expression.

Above her head, the closed flower bud suddenly opened wide.

Gaeul looked up at the suddenly opened bud.

In that moment, the flower gobbled her up.

"Shui...!"

Gaeul was swallowed before she could finish her scream.

Through vibrations in the ground, I could feel Gaeul rapidly approaching our location.

POP-!

"Eeek!"

Gaeul shot out of our flower at just the right height.

Flying through the air with limbs spread, she landed in Saebyeok's arms.

"Gaeul, I caught you."

"Heuk..."

Lick lick-

Gaeul licked Saebyeok's cheek.

I was relieved that Gaeul seemed okay.

'We've discovered an amazing flower.'

The children's eyes sparkled as they looked at the giant flower.

They'd learned through experience that it wasn't dangerous, just fun.

"This is an incredible flower!"

"It's a ride flower!"

Levinas, Bom, and even Saebyeok.

The children lined up in front of the flower.

"Aren't you scared, Levinas?"

"Nope! Levinas has even ridden the spinning plates!"

"Ah."

Was it because of all her varied experiences?

Levinas wasn't afraid of the flower ride.

She was even the first to go inside.

POP- POP-

The flower kept eating and spitting out the children.

Perhaps drawn by their giggles and laughter, Heily from the beast-kin village approached us.

"Playing with the underground flower?"

Flora's disciple Heily.

Though her tone was a bit brusque, she'd moved past her cold attitude.

Our fighting for the village seemed to have made a big impression.

"Is it called the underground flower?"

"Yeah. It transports you a certain distance in exchange for absorbing some mana."

"Mana...?"

Come to think of it, I had felt my mana draining.

Though not enough to affect daily life.

"You know, this used to be a carnivorous plant? It would trap prey in its roots and drain their mana until they died."

"Eeek...!"

"Don't worry too much, it's not like that anymore."

Flora chuckled seeing Levinas's ears shooting up in fear.

Levinas's frightened look was quite cute.

"It's not carnivorous anymore?"

"No. Seems it evolved from carnivorous to symbiotic. Being dangerous meant it would get eliminated and no one would approach it."

"Ah..."

So it evolved to be safe while still beneficial.

The world of evolution was profound and mysterious.

'Being strong and dangerous isn't everything.'

Just as I was looking up at the flower with wonder, Levinas tapped my shoulder.

"King! King! Can we plant this in our park?!"

"Yeah. Let's plant them all over the park to use as tunnels."

Since the park was quite large.

Wouldn't it be good to plant them around as quick travel items?

That would be both fun and convenient.

Just as we were about to make plans for park underground flowers, Heily shook her head at us.

"That would be difficult."

"W-why...?"

"We only have about four of them. They're hard to grow, and you can't freely set their travel paths, so it won't work like you're thinking."

"I see."

So they couldn't be grown as we wanted?

That wasn't any problem for us.

Thanks to Levinas who could freely control plants.

"Levinas, can you grow them?"

"Yeah! Levinas will make flowers that go from here to there!"

"That would be... hard?"

Heily's words ended in question.

Because underground flowers had started blooming at Levinas's feet.

The underground flowers extended their roots along the path Levinas pointed.

Those extending roots created a second underground flower where Levinas had indicated.

"...I'm not even surprised anymore."

After Heily's mumble, silence fell briefly.

In that silence, Heily spoke again.

"No, actually it is surprising."

Our Levinas's abilities were quite something.

Ahem, I found myself puffing out my chest without realizing.

**

After playing with the underground flowers, we explored more of the beast-kin village forest.

There were many plants we'd never seen before, but Levinas and Bom explained them well.

"This fruit only grows in the beast-kin village!"

"I think it's called soul fruit or something?"

Soul fruit.

It had a shockingly sweet taste.

As I explored the beast-kin village, I realized something.

'The beast-kin village has so many strengths.'

The plants were unrealistically beautiful, and the huge lake opposite the village was clear and transparent enough to be called a jewel.

Some plants were impressive enough to replace human world items.

Seeing these magical plants that only grew in the beast-kin village, I could understand why they rejected human civilization.

'They have reason to be proud of their nature.'

We shouldn't carelessly bring in human civilization and overshadow their pride.

Let's gradually exchange only the best of both sides.

As I was thinking this, Flora approached me, apparently finished with her meeting.

"We've reached a conclusion."

"How did it go...?"

"...We're thinking of trying exchanges with the human world."

"...!"

My eyebrows rose high at the news that the closed-off beast-kin village would open its doors.

I hadn't expected such good results from the start.

My tail started wagging with joy.

"However, we won't open to just anyone."

"Yes. That's natural. We need to be careful at first."

"Right, at first we'd like people who can respect beast-kin culture."

"Yes. That would be best."

People who could maintain manners and respect beast-kin.

Who would find such people?

As I pondered this, Flora made a shocking statement.

"We'd like to entrust the selection to you..."

"Um... well..."

Though surprised, I sincerely wanted to help develop the beast-kin village.

It was an offer I had no reason to refuse.

"Yes. I'll do my best to select carefully."

"Thank you."

"Hehe."

Who would be good for interacting with the beast-kin village people?

People with good manners would be best.

It seemed I needed some time to think about it.

**

Not long after I became a beast-kin.

The Korean Beast-kin Union had come looking for me.

'I should probably call them first to ask.'

Was her name Min So-yoon?

I remembered her number being saved in Levinas's smartphone.

I figured I should give her a call.

"Levinas...?"

Just as I approached Levinas, I witnessed an amazing sight.

Bom was standing at the center of the beast-kin village children.

"Earlier Bom took down all the monsters with transformation magic."

"Yeah, I saw too. Bom's an amazing transformation mage."

"...!"

Bom's cheeks were flushed red.

Though embarrassed, she seemed to like it, wagging her tail.

'Hehe.'

Bom was getting rewarded for helping the village.

After watching red-faced Bom for a moment, I approached Levinas.

"Levinas, can I use your phone?"

"Yeah!"

Levinas handed me her phone.

About to look for the number, I remembered our cutting-edge AI and just spoke:

"Sunny, please call Min So-yoon from the Korean Beast-kin Union."

-Yes, understood.

Sunny found the saved contact for Min So-yoon and dialed.

Ring-

"Hello?"

Min So-yoon answered before even one full ring.

"Hello. This is Han Gyeoul. Do you remember me?"

"A-ahem... Yes, I remember."

"Ah... Well, I wanted to ask something."

"Yes. Please ask freely."

Her serious voice somehow put me at ease.

Thanks to that, I could continue comfortably.

"Our beast-kin village has decided to have exchanges with the human world?"

"...What?"

Min So-yoon's voice filled with surprise.

As someone from the Beast-kin Union, she couldn't help being shocked about opening up the village that had been so thoroughly hidden.

It seemed I should give her time to process this.