Puchi House.
Boss Dylan had gone off who-knows-where to stock up on those highly sought-after elven potions. At this moment, only Bianca was looking after the shop, and the young girl was so busy her heels couldn't even touch the ground.
Ever since summer began, the business at Puchi House had been unbelievably good.
Even though it wasn't evening yet and the scorching sun was directly overhead, the place was already packed with patrons.
All of this was because at Puchi House, even if you just ordered a cup of the most ordinary mushroom ale, your glass would be stuffed full of free ice cubes. Ice-cold beer in summer had always been an enjoyment reserved for the rich.
Establishments that could provide this kind of service either had a water-attribute mage in the shop, or the boss had bought some precious magical item. Given the cooldown intervals of the items, the ice cubes might even be supplied in limited times and quantities.
As for why Puchi House could provide free ice cubes, it wasn't a secret either.
That Boss Dylan had seemingly stumbled into some dumb luck and pulled a rare ice-attribute Puchi from the underground city, placing it right in the back kitchen to make ice. As a result, during the hottest time of the day, there were even more people coming to drink at Puchi House than at those dedicated taverns; only when night fell would the crowds disperse over there.
A slightly tipsy patron raised his empty glass high and shouted toward the back kitchen: "Little Boss! Two more cups of delicious mushroom ale! Fill 'em with ice!"
"Okay!" The young girl's response was crisp and clear.
A short while later, a Puchi wearing a maid outfit ran over from the dedicated Puchi walkway above the patrons' heads, stretching out its tentacles to deliver two cups of mushroom ale to the patron's table.
No one present found this scene strange.
A portion of Puchi Masters could indeed control Puchis to complete certain tasks without visual contact. Of course, the prerequisite was that it had to be within an area familiar to the Puchi Master.
After happily gulping down a large mouthful of ice-cold mushroom ale, that patron finally put down his cup and looked at his companion across from him.
"Sam, why did you suddenly run over to the Mushroom Capital? Did you cause trouble and get kicked off the ship by your captain?"
"Not exactly, but close enough." Sam shrugged, helplessly twitching the corner of his mouth. "The captain's ship was requisitioned by the Kingdom. They have their own sailors and have no use for me. What about you? Not working in broad daylight and coming over to drink?"
"Me? I'm not like those guys chained to their workstations unable to move." Gavin grinned widely. "Working for a few days, drinking for a few days; it's perfectly natural."
The two of them laughed and joked, not showing the slightest bit of anxiety over their lack of work.
After all, living in the United Kingdom nowadays, how bad could things really get?
At worst, one could live in the free mushroom houses outside the city and eat mushroom porridge that cost no money; it wasn't like one could starve or freeze to death, right?
After a few rounds of drinks, Sam suddenly lowered his voice and leaned in a bit closer.
"Actually, the reason I came to the Mushroom Capital this time was originally to undergo mycelial symbiosis." His gaze swept over the few messy mycelial patterns on Gavin's face. "Nowadays, a lot of jobs around our area are only willing to hire Puchi Masters. But..."
He paused, his voice dropping even lower.
"Yesterday, I saw someone in the plaza saying that mycelium can control people's minds. They said the news came from the mountains, absolutely true." He raised his eyes to look at his old friend across the table. "Gavin, you underwent symbiosis early on. Give me the bottom line, is this actually true or not?"
"Control minds?" Gavin wore an expression of 'how can you believe this stuff'.
Before Gavin could continue speaking, the young girl shop assistant passing by the table, who had a butterfly-patterned mycelium on her face, actually made a playful grimace at Sam first: "I've had my mind controlled, so..."
"Hahahahaha!" The surrounding patrons burst into roaring laughter upon hearing this.
Sam was laughed at until he couldn't quite maintain his dignity, while Gavin laughed and patted his shoulder.
"Some say mycelium can control minds, and others even say that if you believe in the Fungal Lord of whatever that Mushroom-Worshipping Cult is, you can turn into a Puchi after death." Gavin picked up his cup and took another gulp. "Brother, don't just believe everything. Mycelium is just a tool used to connect and control Puchis, nothing else."
What Gavin said was also the understanding of the vast majority of Puchi Masters.
Bianca nimbly collected the empty cups on the table and turned back to the kitchen, the maid-outfit Puchi following closely above her head, its little steps making puchi-puchi sounds.
No one noticed that under the counter not far away, among the two "Puchis left by Dylan", one of them secretly reached out a tentacle toward Bianca's direction without anyone controlling it, but was immediately intercepted by the other Puchi.
In the mycelial network.
"Evan, what are you doing? Didn't I tell you earlier that you can only look from afar and cannot make a commotion?"
"S-sorry." The Puchi that had just extended its tentacle lowered its mushroom cap. "It's just that Bianca has grown so much..."
The other Puchi, seeing Evan's drooping mushroom cap, could somewhat understand his feelings: "Sigh, I can understand the feelings of you Fungal Converters whose families are outside the Mushroom Fortress. If I were separated from my family, I might be even more anxious than you. But even if you don't show consideration for me, who is responsible for bringing you here, you should show consideration for the Fungal Lord. Being able to gain a new life is originally a bestowal from the Fungal Lord. We shouldn't fail to live up to the Fungal Lord's trust and cause Him trouble, right?"
"Sorry, I just couldn't help myself... I won't do it again. Please, let me stay through this day, don't make us go back right now," Evan pleaded.
Seeing this, the other Fungal Converter also softened his heart somewhat and agreed.
At night, in the Mushroom Garden.
A Fungal Converter saw Evan walking toward him, waved a tentacle, and greeted him: "Evan, where did you go during the day? Let me tell you, you missed out big time on today's Puchi Hot Spring team-building. After everyone got their massages, we pooled together the contribution points we got from fighting bugs to buy a Supreme Flavor Mushroom, that was really..."
He was speaking enthusiastically, but Evan merely drooped his mushroom cap limply, walking past him like he had lost his soul.
"Uh... what's wrong with him?" This Fungal Converter turned his head and asked the companion walking with Evan.
"Sigh," the companion shook his mushroom cap, his tone full of helplessness. "His wife thought he died in battle and remarried. Now his daughter belongs to someone else. He just watched with his own eyes as an older man took his place, and a family of three happily finished eating dinner together. So, he's like this now."
"Ah, this..." This Fungal Converter was momentarily at a loss for words.
Similar situations weren't isolated cases among their group of Fungal Converters.
Most of these happened to those slave Fungal Converters rescued from the Empire's demonic claws.
Speaking of which, Evan was actually considered relatively lucky.
The families of some former slaves might have long been gone due to various reasons.
The two fell silent for a moment, tacitly skipping over this heavy topic, and turned instead to discussing the taste of that Supreme Flavor Mushroom from today.
Meanwhile, on the western coast of the United Kingdom.
After going through numerous dangers and obstacles, the Hero Sophia finally set foot on the territory of the United Kingdom for the first time, and brought some shocking news for the leaders of the Kingdom.
(End of Chapter)
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