Inside the stone-walled prison cell, light shone in through a narrow vent high up. The air was permeated with the smell of old stone and dry straw, yet wonderfully mixed with a trace of freshness unique to fungi.
Julia knelt on the dry straw spread on the ground, hands clasped in fists across her chest, reciting a prayer:
"...Therefore, we praise your abundance and give thanks for the life and food you bestow."
She paused, slowly opened her eyes, and turned to No. 12 Puchi beside her, who was trying to weave a robe for itself with dry straw.
"Great Twelfth Mushroom Envoy, is the word 'abundance' too general? Reciting it always feels a bit like Elven Druids..."
No. 12's mushroom cap shook. It extended two mycelial threads and gestured in front of her.
No sound was made, but it was actually communicating with Julia in the mycelial network.
"The destination of all life, huh... Okay, let me think about how to revise this prayer."
Just then, the footsteps of patrolling guards came from outside the cell. No. 12 stood in the corner, a ripple passing around its body, and it vanished from sight.
The iron door was pushed open. A guard walked in sideways, a dozen similar-looking old keys strung on the iron ring at his waist. He was lowering his head and squinting, using his fingers to flick and distinguish them one by one.
"Started again?" The guard didn't even lift his head, his voice carrying a trace of annoyance. "Muttering to the wall all day... if you ask me, the higher-ups should send you to a potion master for treatment instead of locking you here wasting prison food."
He finally found the key belonging to this cell, opened the iron bars of the single room, and then handed over a fairly clean coarse linen cloth and a small basin of water.
"Take it, wipe your face. Tidy up your hair too, don't look like a madwoman. A big shot is coming to see you later."
"Big shot?"
The big shot arrived very quickly.
The prison door was pushed open again, much wider this time. The short and fat figure of the Warden squeezed in first, a flattering smile almost overflowing on his face. He turned sideways and bent over, almost in a posture of leading the way, ushering the person behind him into this small cell.
Inanna walked in.
The Warden rubbed his hands, speaking very fast, the sycophancy in his words almost dripping down:
"Lord Inanna, whoever you wish to see, just give an order! As long as they aren't those overly dangerous desperadoes, I can bring them to the meeting room clean and tidy for you at any time. There's really no need for you to personally step into this dirty place... the smell inside isn't good, and the dampness is heavy. If you catch any discomfort or damage your noble body, that would truly be our sin."
The Warden could still say a few flattering words, while the jailer who previously showed impatience to Julia could now only stand in the shadows of the corner, back straight as a ramrod, eyes looking straight ahead, daring not to glance around.
Inanna only responded with a faint, appropriate smile and nodded almost imperceptibly.
Ever since being kidnapped by two guys who used to be respectful and flattering to her back then, nearly losing her life in the dungeon, she had developed a wariness far beyond normal toward such ingratiating faces full of smiles.
Under fine words, who knew what kind of thoughts were wrapped inside?
It was just that Inanna had never been good at seeing through people's hearts. Often, she found it difficult to distinguish whether the smiling face in front of her was goodwill or another meticulously painted mask.
Comparatively, the world of Puchis was much simpler.
The Mushroom Tribe never hid their nature, straightforward to the point of being cute. No wonder she liked these little guys so much.
She didn't pay much attention to the Warden behind her who was still chattering non-stop trying to show loyalty. Instead, her gaze fell inside the cell.
She felt there seemed to be another Puchi here, but sweeping a glance around, she didn't see it. Didn't know where it was hiding.
No. 4 actually found No. 12 and was happily planning to go up and bump mushroom caps to say hello, but was held back by No. 12 with a tentacle to avoid exposing its existence.
Finding nothing temporarily, Inanna gathered her thoughts and turned to the business at hand.
"You are Julia of the Baygu Cult?"
...
"What did you say? Miss Inanna wants to release that Baygu Cult leader?"
Phar was originally nodding frequently at the profit forecast report of Dwarf and Elf trade in his hand. Hearing this, his brows instantly knotted into a deadlock, and his fingers unconsciously crumpled the report paper.
Just a moment ago, he was privately praising this young lady sincerely for completing the diplomatic mission beautifully, facilitating the agreement, which would inevitably make future business between both sides more frequent.
Having successfully transformed from a mere mushroom production area to a Holy Land for Puchi Masters, sitting on the headquarters of the Puchi Master Professional Association, the Mushroom Capital, as a trade hub radiating to the surroundings, was bound to benefit immensely from these increasingly frequent large-scale exchanges.
He rarely spoke a few words of heartfelt praise.
Who would have thought, as soon as this praise left his mouth, this young lady turned around and found him a difficult problem again!
Reasonably speaking, Julia hadn't committed any heinous crimes against nature; her sentence was just ordinary imprisonment. With Inanna's identity as a Duke's daughter and War Hero, under the bright feudal system, fishing out such an ordinary prisoner shouldn't be a matter at all.
But Julia involved religion!
To resist the demons, the Church of Light suffered heavy casualties and greatly damaged strength. They should have been guarding against the rise of other messy sects to begin with.
Precisely because their strength was damaged, the current Church was more sensitive and vigilant than ever before.
If not for Julia's case possibly involving Puchis and the Mushroom Tribe, she would probably have been sentenced heavily long ago.
Currently just detaining her, even providing basic conditions to not starve or freeze, could already be counted as exceptionally lenient treatment.
As for releasing her...
Inanna could naturally take the person and leave dashingly relying on her identity, but if the Church questioned it afterward, how should he, the City Lord, respond?
Phar, who single-handedly created the prosperity of the Mushroom Capital, although quite prestigious within the Kingdom, was ultimately just the lord of a city.
Even if the Church of Light's power was damaged, it was absolutely not an existence he could easily offend.
"Then... do we need to stop Miss Inanna?" Mirabelle's voice carried hesitation.
"No, no no no." Phar waved his hand hurriedly.
He couldn't afford to offend the Church, but could he afford to offend Inanna St. Clair?
Caught in the middle, whatever choice made would be wrong.
He must extract the Mushroom Capital, extract himself, from this crack.
Soon, he remembered a recent piece of intelligence.
"That's right!" A glimmer flashed in Phar's eyes; he made a decision immediately. "Didn't they say Lord Duke returned to the ducal mansion recently, which is rare? Mirabelle, go immediately. Use the communication crystal to notify the Duke himself about what happened here exactly as it is!"
He must let the person who could truly make decisions take over this hot potato.
...
One day later.
"Inanna! My daughter, returning from a diplomatic mission, actually didn't come home to see your father first!"
Accompanied by a booming voice, Alama walked into the room. He glanced at Julia, who was having a knee-to-knee long talk with Inanna, didn't rush to say anything, but first gave Inanna a big bear hug!
The strength was so great it was like confirming whether his daughter was intact.
Inanna shrank back somewhat uncomfortably.
However, the instant Alama's arms closed in, a sudden change occurred!
A formal gown condensed from pure ice crystals emerged from Inanna's body surface without warning!
Extreme chill surged out toward the direction of the attack.
"Old man!" Inanna herself was startled and exclaimed subconsciously.
Fortunately, as a Lord-tier figure, Alama wouldn't be taken out by an ice coat.
He broke off the ice crystals formed on his chin, shivering as he asked: "Good daughter, why don't I remember the warehouse keeping this kind of beautiful equipment? Could it be a gift from the Elves?"
(End of Chapter)
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