CH 13

Salt mushrooms had great strength. Their stems were thick and solid and their caps curled down like maitake mushrooms. From a distance, the whitish salt mushrooms growing in a bunch on the meter-long rock salt looked like beautiful crystals, but getting closer, it was rather unpleasant. It was easy to tell where to cut, though, since the roots were hard and slippery. And even if you took a lot, when it rained, they would all come back to life. They were the unsung heroes of not only humans, but of all the other creatures that needed salt.

“Salt mushrooms last for a long time when they’ve been dried, so it’ll be okay if you pick a lot. But be careful with where you try to cut, since you could damage your knife if you accidentally hit the rock instead of the stem.”

“They’re bigger than the dried ones. So soft and squishy.”

“I like these mushrooms, they’re cute~”

“If you look closely, each one is cleanly separated…”

Each of us harvested salt mushrooms from the sides of the large rock salt. Fikar and I took from the top, where it was difficult for the children to reach. We used salt every day and we’ve been here many times, so Fikar and I were used to it.

“Sumire, you use these in your meals, right? How many do you use in a day?”

“Hm? A single dried mushroom has a lot of salt in it, so we cut them in half and only use one half each day. A large family would probably use a whole one each day, though.”

I replied to Lukitas, who was looking up while holding some salt mushrooms. To my answer, he nodded and began excitedly counting his mushrooms. I guess he wanted to feed his family with today’s harvest. He had an attitude, but he’s adorable like this.

As for Fikar and I, we finished our harvest and, as we were watching over the four kids, Su came from behind and thrust her face under my right hand. Su had a big head in proportion to her body, so my arm was able to rest comfortably on her head. She made some quiet “guu~” noises, staring at me with her big yellow eyes buried between her crimson scales.

It was unusual for such a big, dinosaur-like creature to be so docile, but it seemed like she enjoyed being stroked, probably because I petted her whenever I had a chance. She looked like she was saying, ”I did lots of work today, so praise me!” It was cute that she didn’t ask Fikar, who was rather rough, to praise her.

“Su, today was a big success~. You did a great job. You’re tired, aren’t you? You worked hard.”

When I stroked her like a king of the animal kingdom, she squinted her shiny yellow eyes and let out a “gugugu~” from her throat. Her vertical pupils and her shutter-like eyelids were cute once you got used to them. I wasn’t sure if the sensation of being stroked could be felt over smooth and seamless scales, but when I put my hand on Su’s forehead, I could feel a rising warmth that felt wonderful.

And so, I climbed onto Su’s face from the front. I hugged her long nose and putting my weight onto it, but even like that, my face only reached to about the top of her eyebrows. Su lifted her head a little, and my legs swayed.

As Su continued moving around and my legs continued bobbing around, I felt a heavy weight on my back. With Fikar leaning against my back, Su had to lower her nose. An adult man was rather heavy, after all.

“Fikar, heavy… Crushed–”

Then, breathing became easier and, at the same time, I was suddenly lifted up. Flipping me around and lifting me up like a child, Fikar took my arm and put it on his head. It looked like he wanted me to do what I had just done to Su, to him. Looking down from my high position, I saw that the basket was full of mushrooms and that Fikar had taken it off his back to prevent it from overflowing.

“Fikar did a good job, too~”

I stroked his silver hair and he nodded in satisfaction. He then started rubbing his cheek against my stomach, but I was a little anxious because of my unstable position, high in his arms.

“Oi, you guys! What are you doing, playing around?! You aren’t good knights if you’re letting your guards down while on the job!”

I couldn’t help but look up at Lukitas’s reprimand, which looked a bit like he was trying to imitate his father. Being looked at by the children, who had finished collecting mushrooms and gathered around Fikar, I felt very awkward.

“Ah, that’s not fair, Sumire! Fikar, lift me up too!”

“So you’re lovey-lovey after all~”

“… this sort of thing… leave it for when you’re alone…”

“Sorry… let’s go back…”

Fikar’s cheeks, which tried to stay put on my stomach, were stretched again.

“Have you all finished putting your salt mushrooms into the colander? Next up is sorting the popolicus and soup mushrooms~”

After safely leaving the forest and parting ways from the dragons, we were spreading out our harvest in an open-air warehouse to the right of the guild’s office. Turning over the mushrooms that the children brought back without being able to identify, I reviewed how to tell the difference with them. The soup mushrooms, with their blue undersides, were placed in tubs of water. The popolicus, with their red undersides, were placed in a large colander.

“So the pretty blue ones are the ones you can eat~”

“… I thought it was the other way around…”

Liliana and Leonardo seemed to have looked for the color difference when collecting the mushrooms, since they had collected about the same amount of red and blue ones. And when they put the mushrooms into their bags, they were set apart and mostly kept separate, making sorting a lot less difficult.

On the other hand, Marth and Lukitas, who were competing with each other to see who could get more, seemed like they had been working in the dark, collecting a lot of inedible popolicus.

They took a peek at the back of their mushrooms.

“Argh! This one’s no good either! Dammmiiit!”

“There aren’t enough soup mushrooms! Why didn’t you tell me while we were picking them?!”

“Adventurers need to be observant and have good judgment. Also, the good popolicus can be sold, so don’t just throw them aside.”

In the end, Liliana and Leonardo filled their own small tubs of soup mushrooms, while Marth and Lukitas tied them with only a little room left in theirs.1 Listening in on the two who had paid attention to the mushrooms they collected, they seemed fired up, determined not to lose next time.

In front of a much larger colander, Ludo-san was sorting the popolicus out at a speed fitting his greater experience. The large, flawless ones were left as they were, and the small, scratched ones were put into a bag.

“You’re collecting good popolicus, Marth and Lukitas, but more of them will be purchasable if you handle them more carefully.”

“Uu~ I’ll do better next time!”

“Popolicus is a poisonous mushroom, isn’t it? What are you going to do with them?”

“Popolicus can cause hallucinations, but they’re also strong pain-relievers. So, after refining and diluting them, you can make a simple painkiller. It’s useful for when you get injured when you’re traveling and can’t stop.”

In Tortea, where most of the hunting and subjugation jobs were more or less at a 2-star level, Ludo, young but with 5 stars, was the target of the children’s admiration. He’s also popular with the older women in the neighborhood because he’s a looker and takes good care of them.

“… So you really can make medicines once you get 5 stars… !”

“So cool~”

“Your group gathered a lot of good popolicus. How about 6 small bronze coins?”

“Wah, a little more than market price. You did it, everyone!”

Handing out the money given by Ludo, who had put out the request for collecting popolicus, the children stared at their small bronze coins with excited eyes. The shine of the first coins you earn is especially gratifying.

The supply of popolicus was usually high this time of year because of the influx of new, young adventurers, but it seemed like Fikar and I had collected enough usable popolicus that Ludo gave the kids extra. 

“Ufu~ It’s thanks to Marth and Lukitas.”

“Ou! Gladly!”

Helping each other out was the best part of group requests. I was thinking of sharing what Fikar and I had gathered with the two who hadn’t got as many soup mushrooms, but since the four were already sharing amongst each other, I decided to share the salt mushrooms with everyone instead.

“Leave them out in the sun to dry, but bring them inside before the sun goes down. Do that for three days. You can bring them out on cloudy days, but make sure they don’t get rained on. And don’t dry them out at night — the taste will change.”

Each of them nodded, holding their small tubs and colanders, then returned to their parents, who picked them up with damp eyes. I wondered if Leonardo’s parents, who were usually known for their bravery but were now crying the most, were looking back on what they had once been in the olden days.

“Lukitas, you’re staying at the inn, right? Do you want to dry them in the guild?”

“Sure. I’ll dry them myself. … So, um…”

“Mm. Let’s go ask him together.”

As I was stroking the head of Lukitas, who was still squirming and hesitant to go forward with the plan, the knight that acted as Lukitas’s guardian and servant arrived. His face was as rugged as his body, giving off an aura of intimidation. As he knelt down in front of Lukitas, Lukitas dared to call out to him.

“Nyuda. These are the mushrooms I picked… I want to eat some of them today.”

Nyuda, who looked like he could drive away a thug with only his eyes, glanced at the contents of Lukitas’s tub and colander. He looked at Lukitas, who had a rigid face, and tried to open his mouth to speak… but quickly covered his face with one hand.

“UuUuu… young mashter… you’ve gwown so musch…”

“Nyuda?!”

He nodded his head repeatedly, no longer able to speak due to his overflowing emotions and tears. “Let’s make something delicious,” he agreed, hiding his face behind both burly hands now, which were more accustomed to holding a sword than his face. Seems like his temperament with the guild clerks was just him worrying about his precious young master.

“Even though… you ushed to be so shmall… you’ve gwown so big…”

“I, I get it… let’s just go back for now.”

It was such a moving scene that the other parents around us were crying, too, but it looked like the sudden burst of tears had calmed Lukitas’s fears. Letting out an embarrassed laugh, he turned to me.

“Thank you, Sumire. That was a great request.”

“You did a great job, Lukitas. If you have any questions about salt mushrooms, you can always ask.”

“Mm. See you — and Fikar!”

Lukitas, walking with Nyuda (whose shoulders were still shaking), was like a completely different person compared to that morning. Maybe he had just been nervous about being in a strange new town. Playing with dragons and encountering the shikui mushrooms today must have been positive stimuli.

“Fikar, we should go home and prepare these mushrooms.”

Although all the popolicus were now gone, I still had to process a few mushrooms as a sample to report to the guild, but there were still plenty of them left in Fikar’s basket to carry back home.

“We’re going to eat a small pot of them today. … if we have this many, we’ll want to change the flavor of the ones we bottle. Salted and spiced and… No, you don’t have to lift me up.”

Fikar’s face went from expressionless to slightly miffed as I took a step back, sensing that I was about to be picked up by both his hands.

I was quickly captured as I tried taking another step back. Being tightly hugged and lifted up, I gave up resisting.

“You know, I’m not a child…”

Of course, Fikar wasn’t paying attention to the conversation, only rubbing his cheeks around.

He looked up a bit and let out an unusual sigh, stirring up his silver hair that reflected the colors of the rainbow. Then he patted me on the back. Seems like this was his idea of taking care of me.

A passing acquaintance greeted me, so I waved back. At first, everyone teased and laughed, but now no one even reacted. Familiarity’s a scary thing.

“Ah, we’re low on tobikarashi2 fruit, so let’s buy some before we go home.”

Fikar nodded silently and changed his destination. I’ve adapted to my situation, so my sense of shame seems to have pretty much disappeared.

Su’s cry echoed from the forest as the sun began to set.