The Artist Who Paints Dungeon Chapter 13

Episode 13

“… … .”

Geo said as soon as he woke up.

“… fruit tea… .”

I want a warm and sweet fruit tea.

“Let’s make some blue.”

That’s how today’s content was decided.

Making cheong wasn’t that difficult. All you needed were tools that had been sterilized with love, fruits that had been grown with affection, and a certain amount of sugar.

‘Oh, this is the amount of sugar you need to consume to the point where you think you’re going to get diabetes.’

And most fruits could be made into syrup. You could use more than one fruit as long as they blended well.

“… … .”

The first fruit Geo decided on was the goji berry.

“But I think this will be too sweet.”

If there were two flavors needed to successfully make fruit syrup, which is sugar water itself with the flavor of fruit, the first was sourness, and the second was bitterness.

The sugar alone is already sweet enough to make your tongue sting, so if you add sweet fruit to it, it becomes nothing more than canned fruit. Geo learned this fact when he made syrup with ripe, sweet tangerines.

“That tastes good too.”

But what Geo wanted now was a bitter fruit tea with a sweet base and a hint of sourness.

It wasn’t a very difficult composition.

“I’ll need some sour and bitter fruits to go with the goji berries.”

The combination I often eat in real life is mainly strawberry and lemon.

Strawberries aren’t completely sour, but they’re soft and sweet overall. On the other hand, lemons have sour flesh and bitter peels, which adds depth to the strawberry’s one-dimensional sweetness.

This time it was similar.

“Although they are sour, the goji berries are on the sweet side.”

And because the sweetness is so strong, I thought it would go well with sour fruits like lemon or bitter fruits like yuzu. Such a fruity drink with such a variety of flavors was especially satisfying when drunk as a warm tea.

“honey.”

“Gurr.”

“let’s go.”

Geo, with a golden water bird on his shoulder, set out on an adventure with confidence.

He spoke to Honey, who had already moved into the basket.

“It’s okay if I just draw and make things like lemons or yuzu, but the foods made that way all taste so-so… I like harvesting them myself better.”

“Kururuk?”

“It’s good for me, and it’s also good for the fruit syrup I’m going to make in the future. If possible, I’d like to try using unique fruits from this forest rather than fruits with weak flavors.”

Geo could draw pictures and create edible things. But strangely, all the ingredients and food he created were somehow bland.

It was okay to eat it when I was bored, but I didn’t want to use it in a dish I was going to make. Geo pledged to make a fantasy-like fruit syrup, putting his grandmother’s honor on the line, as she was the village’s leading lady.

“When I think about it that way, farming doesn’t seem like a bad choice.”

“Kkuk.”

“As someone who grows new potatoes in Gangwon-do, I think the soil here is very suitable for farming. It’s always a mild spring day, but it’s not always windy, and it never rains, but the soil is always moist, and there are streams here and there. It’s a good environment for watering.”

“Kuuuk… .”

“I don’t have any seeds or seedlings, but I think I can get help with that part from Mr. Yoo Seong-un. If I want to receive something beyond the picture, I’ll have to give something in return, but I can give as much as I want…”

The human life guaranteed unlimited content had such an onion-like charm. Even if it didn’t seem like it, if you squeezed it, anything would come out.

“Good.”

Great. Isn’t this freedom the greatest happiness of being unemployed?

“It would be hard for crops grown by my own hands, full of the energy of the Gangwon-do mountains, to taste bad. Right?”

“Gurrrrrr.”

“I really feel like I’ve become a country person. It’s like I’ve moved to the countryside. I should have lived a peaceful and warm life like this a long time ago…”

For Geo, who was born in a mountain village in Gangwon-do, it could have been a homecoming.

“Ever since I was little, I enjoyed helping out with various tasks. Thanks to the fact that the elders had set up so many different things, I was able to try beekeeping, dig up ginseng, and meet wild boars…”

“Crunch?”

“I’m not talking about poaching. We literally met and parted ways without anyone getting hurt or killed. I think we met thanks to someone who was going around the mountains to collect mushrooms and ginseng.”

There was no one who didn’t have a vegetable garden, and some people raised chickens, ducks, or quails. I remember how happy it was to make cheese with fresh milk from a farm I knew across the street, or simply eat honey.

Geo was a man who had done almost everything a human could do on earth.

“There’s no way someone like me wouldn’t be able to do some farming.”

Grandma, please watch over me.

“I will prove my talent in the name of our village.”

“Kkurung?”

“I was originally taught that you shouldn’t put your name on something like this.”

My grandmother’s guiding principle was that if you can’t do it, you should sell the names of the elders in the family.

“Of course, I don’t think this is the kind of situation you’re talking about.”

Interpretation was a matter of personal freedom.

“Then what kind of seeds should I ask for…?”

“Kur?”

“… First of all, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and corn are absolutely necessary.”

Geo’s mouth opened.

“It’s not for nothing that it’s a representative famine relief crop around the world, so it’s good to grow it in case of emergency. And I hope you grow some radish, too. In particular, if you pick out the young radish sprouts and mix them with rice, soy sauce, and oil, they’re so delicious.”

“Gulp, gurgle.”

“Pumpkin? Pumpkin is good. Old pumpkins that grow big are good for making porridge, small and sweet pumpkins are delicious when simply boiled and drizzled with honey, and long and plump zucchinis are good for making soup with a moderately rich flavor and filling. You know a thing or two.”

There were many other things that came to mind.

“Like lettuce?”

“Kung kung kung… .”

“It’s surprisingly good. It’s easy to grow, and if you pick off the well-grown leaves and eat them with rice and soy sauce, you can quickly solve a meal. Or, you can boil things like bok choy in a clear broth and eat them.”

“Kururuk.”

“Peas would be nice, too. Oh, and cherry tomatoes… I like these too. If you have a vegetable garden, you should definitely have at least one tomato plant.”

Having said that, Geo looked down at the basket in his hands.

“… … .”

“Cur.”

“aha.”

Honey was seen spread out like a liquid monster spilled inside the basket.

“okay.”

It’s cute, so that’s fine.

Honey was a bird that mainly carried jewels. The jewels in the basket, which were filled with golden liquid that seemed to be dripping with rich honey, were quite a sight to behold. It seemed like it would not be boring to be together.

Geo, who was talking about his future farming plans, soon stopped in front of a tree.

“ah….”

A pitch-black tree.

It was a tree made of obsidian.

“I found this first.”

Starflower Tree

A living obsidian tree. It grows by absorbing the starlight that shines on its body. The flowers of the starflower tree bloom every morning with the light and obsidian residue it has absorbed. The flowers of this tree are effective in treating burns and frostbite. The tree’s sap and bark are mainly used as materials for works of art.

Method of preparation: The buds just before they bloom are good for frostbite, and the fully bloomed flowers are good for burns. They can be used by boiling them in water until they are soft, then soaking them in the sap of the Dorong Dorong leaf for ten days. Be careful not to ingest the flowers without the above process, as this can cause burns and frostbite.

“… … .”

Geo blinked twice as he looked at the explanation that appeared automatically.

“Did I use too much obsidian paint last time?”

A considerable amount of obsidian powder was consumed in the process of creating a habitat for water birds. It is a material often used to create a transparent texture like water or glass, and it would be a good opportunity to collect it.

Geo found a chisel and a hammer in the basket. They were tools that did not fit the word for foraging, but they were the best helpers for collecting starflowers.

“Get up, son. I find it cute how lazy you are, but Daddy has to work.”

“Gulp.”

“This isn’t your type of thing. Give it to me. That’s right.”

Geo, who gently coaxed Honey, who was playing with the tools, and retrieved the items, quickly put the basket down on the ground and approached the obsidian tree. He touched the branches of the obsidian tree to check the temperature and moisture.

I felt a faint warmth as if to prove that I was alive, and the sap flowing through it like blood.

“maybe….”

Geo found a dead branch among them.

“Is it this way?”

A hard branch with a strangely cold aura, reflecting light sharply rather than sparkling, and not feeling the slightest bit of moisture.

Geo felt around the edge, checked it, then brought the chisel and hammer closer.

And then knock, knock.

“… … .”

Boom…!

“Okay.”

The obsidian branch fell off easily, making a clear sound.

The branches that were still alive could not be easily separated as they are now. They were too hard and had sticky sap stuck to them inside, so they would not break easily even if you tried to break them.

‘Obsidian is so hard that it is difficult to use it to make paint.’

The sticky, sap-oozing branches were difficult to grind into a clean powder. Unless you wanted to make sharp knives or arrowheads or extract the sap, it was best to pick out as many dead branches as possible.

“That would be better for the tree too.”

Although it is an obsidian tree with a glassy texture, it is still alive. It is a tree that blooms flowers that are excellent medicines, so removing the dead branches would be much more convenient for the tree.

Geo was careful not to let the weakened dead branches break into pieces, and he split the long branches into pieces. The obsidian pieces that contained the cold energy of the stars in the night sky all went into Honey’s stomach in the basket.

“Are you going to take care of it?”

“Gurrrrrrr!”

“Okay, let’s do that.”

It seems like he’s trying to get some independence funds in advance, but anyway, he’s a bird that really shines. He’s like the embodiment of greed that doesn’t suit his clear and clean face.

‘If it’s a shiny stone, it’s useless.’

If I do it, I will do it, but at least I won’t suffer for it. Geo looked up again and looked at the starflower tree.

“… … .”

The tree was a deep black color that reflected the sunlight clearly like a mirror.

The black obsidian, so cold that it seemed like it should only be seen on a snowy mountain, blended well with the spring environment where flowers and grass were in full bloom, perhaps because it was alive. Occasionally, a forest butterfly, a shape of light, would land on it.

Geo, who had been admiring the sharp, hard tree for a while, moved his feet again.

“…I have to find the fruit.”

“Kyu-reuk.”

“I wish there was some good fruit.”

Fortunately, Geo was able to find a fruit that he liked before long.

drought complex

A tangerine fruit with a light brown peel and cracked skin like a drought field. It does not rot for nearly a year after harvest, so it is used as a preserved food during drought. If exposed to fire or left under the hot sun for three days, it becomes sweet like honey, but it is sour and bitter when eaten raw. It is rich in nutrients, so canned food or soup made from it is an excellent nutritional supplement that can save people on the verge of starvation.

Processing method: Process the drought complex into an edible form and consume it.

“It’s a nutritional supplement.”

That part is also very interesting.

“… You’re saying it’s bitter?”

Geo was drawn to this point more than anything else.

‘There’s no mention of it being poisonous, so I don’t think there’s any problem eating it raw, but how sour and bitter does it have to be? Could you tell me a way to make it sweeter?’

He bravely picked the fruit.

It was exactly the same size as a Korean tangerine, and the peel was a little harder, but the shape was similar. The flesh inside was also a deep yellow color like honey, but it was all the same as a tangerine.

Sniff sniff, Geo took a bite of the fruit without hesitation after smelling its sour scent.

“… … .”

Gulp.

Geo swallowed the fruit calmly.

“… … .”

“Ku, kuru… kururu…”

“okay.”

At Honey’s nervous reaction, Geo nodded with his characteristically blunt face. His facial muscles, which had long since degenerated, did not succumb to this level of hardship and ordeal that occurred only with his tongue.

“It’s so bitter.”

It tasted like I knew why the recipe was only ‘processed into an edible form and consumed’.

‘Perhaps even the poisons of history were sweeter than this.’

It was a shocking stimulus that made me dizzy.

He barely managed to hold onto his fading senses and realized that the texture was harder than a tangerine and that it was less juicy, but compared to its amazing taste, it didn’t bother him too much. He took a deep breath for a while.

“… … .”

Why do I feel like I don’t hate him? Geo has gained confidence.

“At this level, it’s as sweet as the sweetness of the goji berry.”

A basketful of honey came out, disgusted. The taste seemed too shocking for the sweet honey to handle.