Chapter 38: Mushroom Picking

“We have to harvest mushrooms soon or we will run out of stock.”

While checking inside the storage room, I think on what to do today. The vegetables are well harvested. And since there is a large amount of meat caught on the ground, we should be able to spend a month without starving.

With that in mind, it wouldn’t be a problem without mushrooms but that’s not enough for a gourmet like me. To put it more luxuriously, I want to eat rice and even seafood.

“I haven’t eaten rice for months…”

I want to eat TKG (Tamago Kake Gohan).

In fact, I have been searching for rice since I came to this world. I searched for rice in the Capital as well as in Mana City and talked to people in the market. However, as a result of the survey, I concluded that there is nothing like the rice I knew in this Kingdom. Though there are similar plants instead.

There are white grains that look like rice and it resembles wheat when being harvested. However, unlike rice, it’s too fragile, when you pinch it with your fingers, it breaks quickly. Many people here make use of them to make bread.

However, I still bought it and try to boil it. I had a slight expectation that it might become rice if I smashed it but what I was able to make was a sticky soup that could hardly be called as rice porridge.

“If there is a plant that looks like rice, then, there must be rice too. I don’t have to give up.”

I motivated myself.

I can never give up rice.

　◇This is translated by Yume Neiji. Please read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com

“Hyah~, there’s a lot of them as usual.”

“A lot of mushrooms.”

Erna and Pero’s surprised voice echoed at the third miniature garden.

Well, that’s to be expected because this is a mushroom paradise, no matter where you look at, you can see mushrooms. Mushrooms are growing densely on dead trees and even if you look at the ground, you can see many mushrooms sticking out of the grass.

“Today’s quota is to harvest ten pieces of cure mushrooms per person. All you have to do is pick the mushrooms you like.”

“Yes!”

“Woof!”

The two of them run to the forest while carrying a large basket. There are many magical beasts living in this miniature garden but they never come close to me.

Perhaps they even memorized my scent. And similarly, they are also wary of my companions. So, even if Erna and Pero act independently here, they will not be attacked as much as possible. Besides both of them are pretty strong, so I don’t have to worry about it.

“All right. With this, I’ve achieved my 10 cure mushrooms.”

I threw the cure mushroom into the basket on my back. Basically, adventurers use herbs to treat wounds. Well, it seems that if there is a magician who uses water magic, you can ask him to heal you with recovery magic.

However, we don’t have to rely on such things since we can get the expensive cure mushroom here. The downside is that we could only harvest the amount we would use.

“Hn? What is this scent…?”

I sniffed a pleasant scent. I smelled it somewhere, but I can’t remember what it is.

“It’s different from Matsutake…”

When I walk in the direction where the scent comes from, I noticed that the smell came from the ground. I decided to dig the ground with both hands for the time being.

A black lump came out which was about as big as a bouncy ball. I sniffed it with my nose close on it then I smelled a strong scent like perfume.

“What is this?”

I then used appraisal.

【Appraisal Result: Truffleton: A type of mushroom that grows underground. It has a strong scent and is often used in high-quality dishes. Because it is rare, it is traded at a high price among Nobles. Rarity: C】

Oh, I see, I finally remembered what this was. This is what we called truffle on earth. I used to eat it at a high-class restaurant when I was a president but I forgot about it completely.

……Hn?

The was an unfamiliar display on the appraisal results. Rarity should not have existed until now. But it may have been added because my appraisal skill became a special grade. It’s nice to know how rare something is, but it’s hard to tell if C is amazing because it’s unclear where the ranking goes from.

Then after that, I find many truffletons relying on the scent. By the way, white truffleton seem to be more valuable than the black ones. The rarity was B, which was one level higher than the black ones.

I then went deeper inside the forest while looking for more rare mushrooms. Humans are such curious creatures, when they are notified of rarity, they try to find something even rarer.

“I have reached the end of the miniature garden huh.”

After walking for some time, I finally reached the wall of the miniature garden. The concrete-like wall extends far up to the ceiling. Looking again, it turns out that this place is made by something beyond the technology of Earthlings.

This dungeon is a strange place no matter how many times I look at it. When I moved my gaze back to the ground, I found an unfamiliar mushroom near the wall. Its umbrella is about a bowl size but the color is golden.

Let’s use appraisal.

【Appraisal Result: Golden Mushroom: A rare mushroom that is said to be discovered only once in a hundred years. Those who eat it will be cured of all disease and regain a healthy body. Rarity: A】

I immediately pull out the golden mushroom and store it in the bangle. Rarity A is a big harvest. It was written that its efficacy is too wonderful and it could only be found once in a hundred years. It would be strange if I don’t get excited about it. I decided to return to Erna and Pero while humming a song.

“You’re in a good mood huh.”

Erna said so after I joined them. We are now on the way back to the hideout but it seems that I was still humming.

“Look at this.”

I took out a truffleton from the basket and gave it to them.

“Don’t tell me… t-this is…”

“Yes, it’s a truffleton.”

“Whoa, isn’t that amazing!? Cure mushrooms are rare, but Truffletons are just as rare!”

I didn’t delve into it, but cure mushrooms and truffletons are of the same rarity?

Cure mushrooms seems to be higher in value as much as it can help you recover, but yeah, truffletons also appears to be on demand among nobles.

“Oh, it smells really good.”

Erna is excited about the scent. Pero also smelled it but he snorted and shook his head. I remembered seeing such expression.

From the start, truffles are not so attractive to the Japanese. The reason is that Japanese prefers matsutake-like scents and truffles are preferred by those white men. I also sniffed a lump of truffle when I was a president, but to be clear, it stinks.

Each person has their own unique senses, but it feels like it’s easier with a Japanese nose. However, right now, I feel that it has a nice scent. Well, the evolution may have made me feel different from when I was a Japanese.

“Yeah. Oh, I also found something like this.”

I then took out the golden mushroom out of the bangle.

“What is that?”

Erna had a puzzled looked on her face as she pondered on what it is. It can’t be helped if she doesn’t know about it as it’s a phantom mushroom.

Then, I’ll be the one to inform her… Kukuku.

“This is a golden mushroom.”

“Golden mushroom? What is that?”

“It’s a phantom mushroom that cures all illnesses. It’s so rare that it can only be seen once in a hundred years.”

“A hundred years!?”

Erna unblinkingly stared at the golden mushroom and immediately grinned afterwards. She’s probably thinking that we could get a lot of money if we sold it.

“I won’t sell it, you know?”

“E-Eh!? You won’t sell it? If you sell this, you can get a lot of money and I can buy a lot of clothes!”

“I won’t buy you clothes even if we get a lot of money. Instead of that, this would save us someday. It’s wiser to keep it.”

“Mumumu…”

Hmm, there seems to be no objection.

Well, even if there is, I’m definitely not going to sell it.

　◇This is translated by Yume Neiji. Please read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com

After harvesting mushrooms, we went to the disposal site to loot the dead bodies. We hadn’t come here for a while so new corpses were added and the mountains were higher.

“All right then, shall we collect the things we are interested in?”

In the meantime, we put the basket containing mushrooms on the floor then the three of us start to loot the mountain of corpses. I was wondering if I should give Pero a hand, but I decided that it would be better to teach him properly in case I died. Well, that’s also partly because I don’t know when I’ll die in this world.

 “I found two gold coins!”

Erna shouted.

It looks like we have a good harvest today huh.

“Father this!”

Pero brought something to me. I received it and carefully observed the item.

“It looks like a tiara…”

Gemstones such as diamonds and emeralds are abundantly used to form it and a large pink sapphire is embedded in the center. My intuition is whispering that this is of considerable value.This is translated by Yume Neiji. Please read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com

I then used appraisal.

【Appraisal Result: Tiara of the Naji Royal family: This item is used by the succeeding Empress who married into the Naji family. It’s a national treasure whose historical value, rarity value and artistic value does not go down to fifty pure silver coins. Currently stolen and now in the hands of Shinichi Tanaka. Rarity: A】

My body suddenly stiffened.

T-Tiara of the Naji Royal family…?

Moreover, if you say fifty pure silver coins, it is about five billion Japanese yen! Since it turns out to be a national treasure, my hands can’t help but tremble.

“Father, what’s wrong?”

Pero looked doubtful seeing my reaction.

“Pero, where did you find this?”

“It was there.”

Then Pero starts running so I also chase after him.

The most recently added corpses were lying around the location where I was guided to. The corpse looks like a man, but he has a brown tail on the lower back hips and a dog-like ears on its head. His heart was gorged out and he has a big hole in his chest.

“This person had it.”

“I see. You found it so well. That’s remarkable.”

As I stroke Pero’s head, he closed his eyes as if saying it makes him feel good. I praised him, but no matter how I looked at it, this tiara would invite trouble. However, it can’t be thrown away either so I decided to store it in the bangle for the time being.

“What are you guys doing?”

When Erna approached us, I pointed the man’s body.

“He looks like a mixed of a beast and human, what type of person is he?”

“He’s a beastman. If you go east from Rogas Kingdom, there is a country called the Naji Republic, most of the people there seem to be beastman. But it’s rare to see beastman in this kingdom though.”

“Beastman huh…”

There are really various races in this world. I want to visit Naji Republic someday.

“By the way, what’s wrong with this beastman?”

Erna asked as if she noticed something. I don’t want to show the tiara if possible so I decided to deceive her.

“It was a rare race so I was just curious.”

“Hmm…”

She stared at me with an inquiring look. If I show Erna the expensive tiara, she’ll probably want it. When that happens, it may be difficult to return it to the owner. Though I feel bad for her, I’ll keep it as a secret.

“…Well, fine. Let’s quickly finish the collection.”

“Okay.”

When Erna leaves, I just gestured to Pero not to say anything. I felt guilty as I made my son lie but there is no other way for us to avoid trouble.

In this way, we resumed looting the corpses. Though after that, we are not able to recover any outstanding ones.This is translated by Yume Neiji. Please read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com

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