One month before the Empire invaded the Northern Territory.
"Ah oh— ah oh— aooo—!"
The newly built Screaming Clock punctually issued the afternoon time signal. That howl, mixing pain with some bizarre enjoyment, resounded throughout the entire Mushroom Fortress.
Beside the open-air liquor stall below the Screaming Clock, the trio of Thorin, Grum, and Baroque gathered together once again.
With their respective developments, they were long no longer the roommates who squeezed into the same dormitory back then.
Thorin buried his head in the reproduction research of war doll technology and possessed an exclusive private rest room within the research area.
That place wasn't large, but it had everything it should. The conditions were who knows how many times better than the collective dormitory back then. Nowadays, besides worrying about the reproduction progress of the war dolls, he didn't need to care about anything else.
It was just unknown why, the hair on Thorin's body seemed not as thick as it used to be.
Grum joined the public security management team and successfully applied for a residence near the general headquarters.
Although it was also just a single room, its advantage was being close to his post, making patrols and shift changes convenient.
Baroque continued his previous life, constantly taking odd jobs from the task board in the center of the Mushroom Fortress, living in a free dormitory shared by several people.
The dormitories changed, the roommates changed, but the friends hadn't changed.
The three raised the mushroom wine glowing with a faint green light in their hands. Amidst the clinking of glasses, Baroque took out a tag engraved with his name.
Thorin was still wondering what this was, but Grum recognized it at a glance: "A soldier's identity tag? Baroque, you joined the army?"
Baroque nodded: "You've all found good places to go. I can't keep muddling along taking odd jobs there all the time."
Hearing this, Grum narrowed his eyes: "When we were living off tasks, didn't you say this life was countless times better than when you were in the tribe? How come after only a year, it's not good enough again? Confess honestly, is there some other reason?"
Seeing he was seen through, Baroque scratched the scales on the back of his neck somewhat embarrassedly: "Actually... Aisha agreed to me. I want to take over a house in the center of the Mushroom Fortress to open a tavern. Doing that, the contribution points from tasks are a bit insufficient. Besides, in the past I fought for the tribe, now I fight for the Mushroom Fortress and the Boss, which is considered my old profession."
Grum understood. They knew that Aisha; she was a half-demon with a succubus bloodline that Baroque had been pursuing previously. It was just unexpected that Baroque actually succeeded.
Thorin on the side was somewhat worried for his friend: "But... I heard others say that now that the temperature has warmed up, the Empire might notice the Mushroom Fortress. When the time comes, it might develop into a war. Joining the army now, won't it be very dangerous?"
Baroque smiled and waved his hand: "It's fine, it's fine. Even if we really fight, it's just controlling Puchis to charge. We are all near various pre-dug tunnels. If the enemy gets close, we just drill in and slip away. It's hard to die even if we want to!"
...
Recalling Baroque's smile at that time, Thorin and Grum blankly looked down at their Lizardman friend.
Or rather, former Lizardman.
A pristine white, perfectly round body, and a gray mushroom cap with spots.
Thorin couldn't help but poke it with his hand. Very soft, a genuine Puchi.
Baroque used a tentacle to push Thorin's hand away, speaking in the mycelial network: "Can you not just keep staring? I'm still not used to using tentacles. Help me find some cloth to tailor a bit; don't let me stay naked anymore!"
Thorin: "Whether a Puchi is naked or not... is there a difference?"
Grum crouched down and asked: "What happened to you? Hit by a polymorph spell? No one on the battlefield should waste magic like this, right?"
"It's not a polymorph spell," Baroque twisted his mushroom body, "I just died, that's all."
"..."
"..."
After a mess of explanations, the two dwarves finally understood that their good friend Baroque had evolved into a Puchi...
According to what Baroque said, when leading the Puchis to charge for the fourth time, he quietly poked his head out of the bunker like before, wanting to see how much damage his Puchis had caused.
But this time, before he could clearly see the situation ahead, a cold light flew over.
When he came back to his senses again, he was already in this appearance.
Beside him were another two Mushroom Converts in a similar situation to his.
And the people beside him told him that he had unfortunately died in battle, but because his heart was loyal enough, the Boss bestowed upon him a new body, allowing him to continue surviving in this world.
Thorin smacked his lips, a face full of disbelief: "Resurrection from the dead? I feel like I'm listening to those mythological stories or heroic miracles."
Resurrection from the dead indeed existed in this world.
Whether it was a divine miracle or reviving a certain hero with the power of a whole nation, although it occurred very rarely in history, it truly existed.
However, such a miraculous thing like resurrection generally shouldn't fall upon an ordinary Lizardman like Baroque no matter what.
The Mushroom Fortress obviously wouldn't bankrupt itself to do this kind of thing.
It wasn't to say the Boss was ruthless, but that this simply wasn't considered an option. Even the dead person Baroque himself, in his wildest dreams, wouldn't extravagantly hope that someone would be willing to pay such a huge price to resurrect him after his death.
And resurrecting three at once!
In other words, the method of resurrection was the former kind?
Doesn't that mean, the Boss who could do this kind of thing, could he be...?
Thorin recalled that Marshal sitting on the throne, who would occasionally take a spin around the Mushroom Fortress. It was truly difficult to connect the Boss with those deities hidden in the heavens.
While Thorin thought about the matter of resurrection with a conflicted face, Grum was more concerned about another thing: "Since you've become like this, what about the matter with your Aisha...?"
"Who knows? I'll research it later and see!" Baroque, who had picked up a life for free, was rather optimistic. "No matter what, the problem of lacking contribution points has been solved."
"Why? You get contribution points for being resurrected into a Puchi?"
"No, it's that my KIA death pension has already been issued."
"This... truly congratulations..."
...
After the three communicated for a while, the Puchi Baroque took his leave first.
As successfully resurrected cases, the Mushroom Fortress naturally had to propagandize the three mushrooms as typical examples. At square assemblies, chatting about their loyalty, and also chatting about their feelings and the problems encountered after becoming Puchis.
For the next period of time, Baroque probably wouldn't have any free time.
And the one responsible for this propaganda was a newly established department in the Mushroom Fortress—the Ministry of Truth.
As the three Puchis stood on the high platform in the center of the Mushroom Fortress square, the matter of reincarnating into Puchis unsurprisingly caused a sensation in the Mushroom Fortress.
The Mushroom Citizens scrambled to visit the few Mushroom Converts, wanting to catch a glimpse of this divine miracle appearing before their eyes.
Not long after, the dwarves, who had formally established diplomatic relations with the Mushroom Fortress and started having regular personnel and trade exchanges, also received this intelligence. However, because it was too outrageous, it was treated as a political performance by the Mushroom Fortress to control the populace, and temporarily did not attract sufficient attention.
Within the Mushroom Fortress, only one person, or rather one mushroom, showed concern over the appearance of the Mushroom Converts, and that was the Sword Saint Puchi.
(End of Chapter)
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