Let's Go Mushroom Hunting

............Morning.

Morning dew dripping from the leaves of the Kirkree tree hits my cheek, waking me up.

“............Mm, mm”

I sit up and give myself a huge stretch.

In spite of myself, a yawn escapes.

My bed last night was a branch of a massive, massive Kirkree tree.

Since I can use 【Silverfish】 even while sleeping, there's no chance of me falling to the ground.

......Good morning.

<......Fuwaah, good morning, Emi>

Omake-sama has also awakened.

Rubbing my eyes, I look down.

At the foot of the Ranrananga Mountains, beyond the fortress city of Liheid, the endless green fields are shining in the morning sun.

The clear, cloudless sky is gradually brightening.

I wonder if the white moon, still lingering faintly as if reluctant to leave, will sink soon.

The crisp air, with its feel of autumn, is pleasant.

Even sleeping without a blanket, I hardly ever wake up from the cold anymore these days.

I'm sure my body is becoming more robust.

It seems it rained a bit in the middle of the night, but I didn't really care and just kept sleeping.

Gugyuuuuuuururururu......

......I'm hungry.

<It's breakfast time, isn't it.>

I stand up and, while rubbing my eyes, use 【Silverfish】 to walk straight down the trunk of the Kirkree tree to the ground.

For me these days, walls and trunks are no different from floors.

I can ignore gravity and walk anywhere.

Once I've landed on the ground, it's time for chestnut gathering.

I walk along, kicking through fallen leaves that smell slightly damp from the rain.

The Kirkree nuts, which I thought I'd mostly eaten up last night, seem to have fallen again during the night; plenty are rolling around.

Unlike Earth's chestnuts, each one is huge, so it's great that it doesn't take much effort to find them.

Desperate to carry their lives on into the future, the burrs try to keep me out, but fuhaha, thorns like these can't so much as scratch my body!

There's no need to even use 【Body Strengthening】.

I rip the burrs open any old way and take out what's inside.

I'm face-to-face with beautiful brown nuts shining in the morning sun.

Ah, what a lovely scent.

I can't hold back anymore!

I'm eating them shell and all, bari bari!

<By the way, I hear this shell is normally cracked open with a hammer. And the insides are steamed and made into manju filling, apparently. I saw it on the Gourmet God's Isekai Reincarnation Broadcast.>

Huh, I'd love to try that someday.

Though it's impossible right now.

My appetite's aim is way too indiscriminate, after all.

Oh, a rat is lying dead and bleeding.

<It probably got hit by a falling Kirkree nut.>

Checking with 【Magic Perception】, I see that the magic power that should naturally dwell in the meat has drained away quite a bit.

Proof that a fair amount of time has passed since its death.

Personally, I prefer meat that's freshly killed and freshly hunted, brimming with magic power, but oh well.

I'll eat whatever is edible.

Musha musha.

◇ ◇ ◇

As I kept at my breakfast for a while, the whole area got picked completely clean.

Neither Kirkree nuts nor rat carcasses remained.

My, I'm just like the forest's cleanup crew!

Just as I was thinking I'd go hunting to find some snacks, I discovered something I hadn't seen once yesterday.

It was a brown object poking its head out from the base of a Kirkree tree.

What is it?

Size-wise, I'd say it's a bit smaller than a ping-pong ball.

The color, as I said, is brown.

But if you look closely, its shading forms horizontal stripes.

When I touch it, the surface is relatively dry.

When I pluck it, there's a white stem on the inside, hidden by the brown......

Ah, this is a mushroom.

<AAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!?>

Whoa!?

And here, Omake-sama, a mysterious, enormous scream!

What, what?

What happened!?

<That look, there's no mistaking it! Emi! This mushroom is a Parasitic Mushroom!>

Pa, parasitic!?

That's a name that gives me a bad feeling!?

What's that!?

<It spreads spores, parasitizes humans who inhale them, and irreversibly turns them into mushroom monsters...... it's a mushroom with a mysterious ecology!>

SCARYYYYYYYYYYY!?

THAT'S NOT INFO YOU CAN JUST WRITE OFF AS ‘MYSTERIOUS’, NO WAAAAAAAAAAY!!

<It's all right. With as much mana transmutation as you've undergone, Emi, you can resist it easily. It is not something that can harm you.>

No, even if that's true for me......

Those people wandering around here yesterday, adventurers or professional chestnut gatherers, whichever they were, it's not the same for them, is it?

They looked kind of weak, you know?

<Well, that may be so. But that doesn't matter.>

It does matter!?

<This Parasitic Mushroom, you see, is actually...... incredibly, delicious.>

........................Eh, seriously?

<Seriously. I saw it on the Gourmet God's Isekai Reincarnation Broadcast, and I saw it on the Mushroom God's Isekai Reincarnation Broadcast too, so there's no mistake.>

........................Gokuri.

By the way, is this really that Parasitic Mushroom?

You're not mistaking it for something else, are you?

<Yes. There's no mistake. I do find it a little odd that it's growing here, so far from where it's known to grow, though.>

Yes! THAT'S THE DANGEROUS KIIIIIIND!

THE KIND WHERE YOU EAT A POISON MUSHROOM BY MISTAKE AND DIIIIE!

<It's all right. At this point, there's no way you'd die just from eating a poison mushroom by mistake.>

When you say it's okay, you mean okay in that sense!?

<I mean, the other day in the grasslands, you were hungry and dug up and ate some potato-like thing, right?>

Yeah. It was sweet and delicious.

<Now that I think about it, that thing was deadly poison.>

Pfft!?

<See, see! I'm telling you it's okay! Poison doesn't work on you anymore! Let's try eating it, the Parasitic Mushroom!>

U, uhh...... but still......

<Still worried? Then, Emi, try tearing that mushroom lengthwise.>

Eh? Why? Is it a way to tell if it's real, like if it tears straight?

Well, I'll give it a try...... there we go.

“Gyaaaaaaa......”

<See? You heard a scream-like voice come from the mushroom, right? That's the Parasitic Mushroom's telltale trait!>

Scary!

So scary!!

That makes me want to eat it even less!!

<You've ignored the screams of the poor little monsters living in the wild and slaughtered and eaten every last one, so don't go getting scared of a mushroom's scream now!>

Scary!

Looking back at myself, I'm so scary!

Am I some kind of cruel and heartless predator!?

I'm doing it so I can survive, so I have no intention of stopping!

Because I don't want to die!

I'll survive, whatever I have to kick down to do it!

Gugyugyugyugyururururururu......

AAAAAH!

Geez!

This mushroom has such a lovely scent!

My body! Wants it!

EAT THE MUSHROOM, MY INSTINCTS COMMAAAAAND!

Oh, what the heck!

Paku!!

Mogu mogu......

Mogu mogu, mogu mogu, mogu mogu......!

Mogu mogu mogu mogu, mogu mogu mogu mogu mogu mogu!!

SO GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!!!

I'm eating it raw, and yet WHY IS IT SO TASTYYYYYYYYYYY!!?

<Ah, this concentrated mushroom umami! A faint sweetness and a mysterious saltiness! A plump and springy texture! ......See, Emi! Aren't you glad you ate it?>

Yeah, it's really...... delicious.

Thank you, Omake-sama...... for telling me about something this delicious!

......I want more.

I look around.

Sure enough, I could see Parasitic Mushrooms growing at the roots of Kirkree trees all over the place.

I pull up every last one and pop them in my mouth!

Delicious...... delicious!!!

<Wonderful...... that was delicious. My only regret is that you've eaten them all, so I suppose we can never taste this deliciousness again......>

Basking in the afterglow of the meal, Omake-sama murmurs that wistfully.

But, you see.

Wait a moment, Omake-sama!

<Eh?>

I sniff both my hands, which are stained with the lovely scent of mushrooms.

Next, I take a deep breath of the morning air floating around me!

............Hmm.

............Got it!!!

<Yes!?>

Omake-sama!

My sense of smell, after all the training upon training I've given it in the wild...... if I do say so myself, has been honed to a superhuman degree!

In other words!

The other Parasitic Mushrooms lurking in these mountains!

Their location!!

I shall track them down by the rich scent drifting through the air!!!

That much is no trouble at all!!!!

<Eeeh!? Th, that's amazing! Just like a truffle pig!!>

Who're you calling a pig!!!

I mean, truffle pig is a term I've heard in my previous life too, but why does Omake-sama know it?

<............I often watched the broadcasts of gods other than Ardyst's, too. So I've picked up bits of knowledge about all sorts of worlds.>

Hmm......?

<More importantly, Emi! If you can find mushrooms by scent, you'd better hurry! It is said that Parasitic Mushrooms are most delicious before midday, when their caps spread and they begin releasing spores! The more time passes, the more the taste deteriorates!>

W, what!?

That's not good!

I can't just sit here......!

I've got to hurry, find the other clusters, and eat every last one!!

I activate 【Body Strengthening】 with all my might and dash from the spot!

The ground is gouged by the impact and Kirkree trees fall with a mishimishi creak, but sorry, I don't have the luxury to care!

<I believe we have about 4 hours left! Please hurry, Emi!!>

Seen from the outside, it might not look entirely unlike she's exterminating dangerous mushrooms to protect people...... maybe.

Run, Emi! Save the adventurers of Liheid (without realizing it)!

And, I want to say this loudly: everyone, you must never put an unknown mushroom in your mouth!

Absolutely not! It's dangerous!

I mean, it's not just mushrooms.

Emi eats all sorts of things raw, but that's only possible because she's a fantasy creature living in a fantasy novel; it's not a feat that we people of the real world can perform.

Absolutely, you must not copy Emi.

I doubt anyone would want to copy her, but as my duty as the one who brought this text into the world, I'll keep writing this kind of warning as many times as it takes.

Absolutely, please do not copy Emi.