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Mushroom Whispers of the Angel and Devil Mia
“Whatever the case, I think we should go back.”
The three of them decided they couldn’t keep hanging out at the bottom of the cliff, so they went back to the picnic spot. When they got back, their friends, who had been looking for them, were happy to see them.
“Just so everyone knows, we found some poisonous mushrooms in the woods.”
As soon as Mia said what she was going to do, everyone’s faces changed into worried frowns.
“…Are you sure, Mia? They were really dangerous?”
Rafina’s forehead was touched by the deepest crease.
Even though she was no longer in charge of the student council, she was still responsible for anything that happened on Saint-Noel Island because she was the daughter of Duke Belluga. She couldn’t ignore a safety issue like this.
“I’m 100 percent sure. Very poisonous. They are called salamandrakes, and they are these beautiful red mushrooms—”
Keithwood interrupted, “Excuse me, Princess Mia, but just to be sure, you didn’t bring any back, did you?”
“Of course not. I’ve been told it’s dangerous to even touch them,” she said, remembering the look on the face of Muzic, the hunter she met in Remno, when she reached for one of them. Mia liked big men, and Muzic was pretty big, so she was willing to listen to what he had to say. The way he told her not to touch him with her bare hands made her think that it would not go well at all.
“R-Right,” he said. “Of course you didn’t. If you were really smart, you wouldn’t bring back something so dangerous.” Keithwood said, “I don’t even know why I asked,” but he sounded like he knew why he’d asked.
Mia made a mean face when she heard how ‘happy’ he was.
She then joked, “Well, I’ll have you know that they are very pretty mushrooms, and if I had gloves, I would have brought back a bunch.”
“No! Please don’t, for the love of the sun!”
Keithwood was not amused by the joke.
She laughed at how pale his face was, and a sneaky smile spread across her lips.
Oho ho, this could be fun, she thought, thrilled at the idea of making a young man laugh about his worries. Yes, the worries are real, but they can still be eased.
The seductress Mia is at it again!
“Oh, now I remember. It must be him, right? The hunter we met then,” said Sion, nodding his head.
“Um, I read about that mushroom in a book with pictures,” Chloe said. “It is said to be very dangerous. It’s clear that eating one is dangerous, but it seems that just touching one can kill you, too.”
“That kind of mushroom on Saint-Noel… But poisonous plants shouldn’t be able to grow on this island…” Rafina murmured as she thought about this.
Next to speak was Keithwood. “Then what do we do with the mushrooms we’ve already picked? Some of them could also be dangerous. We can’t take the chance.”
Mia told him, “Those are fine. That’s why Rina is here with us. She can watch out for them. Correct, Rina?”
Citrina nodded.
“Yes. So far, the mushrooms we’ve picked don’t look like any I know to be poisonous, so they should be safe to eat. I would also recommend getting confirmation from professional kitchen staff as an extra safety measure.”
“I see…”
Keithwood moved his head to the side.
“I guess it’s okay if we get the opinion of a professional…”
Mia sighed as she heard what was being said.
Well, this is a bit of a bummer. I finally found a place where Belluga mushrooms grow, but it doesn’t look like I’ll be able to go pick any. The way this conversation is going, we’re definitely going to pack up and head back to the academy. This forest probably won’t be open for a while either…
She’d come so close. She had touched them. But the treasure trove of Belluga mushrooms and their supposedly delicious taste kept escaping her taste buds.
It was a lot of trouble.
She let out another sad sigh and went to sit down, but stopped in the middle of the move.
Hm? What is it?
One of her pockets looked funny, like it was holding something that was being pushed out by the way she was sitting. She didn’t know what was in that pocket, though.
Slowly, she put her hand in to get the thing that was bothering her.
Oh… Oh my… Here’s… It’s impossible…
She could hardly believe what she was seeing. She was holding a white mushroom. A Belluga mushroom?!
How? When?
She cocked her head and thought about what had happened that day.
I fell off the cliff, so it must have happened after that. It got into my pocket when I hit the ground. But even so, it’s probably not a good idea to eat this, right? Hm…
A little Angel Mia dressed as a white mushroom spoke into her ear.
“Yes, it’s true. Didn’t Rina tell us? False Belluga mushrooms are a poisonous species that looks a lot like Belluga mushrooms. Since the salamandrake we found proved that poisonous mushrooms can grow on this island, it’s much too dangerous to eat this.”
But her evil counterpart, who was dressed as a red mushroom, said no.
“About what are you talking? We’ve got it at last. Right now, we’re holding the beautiful Belluga mushroom, and you want to just throw it away? Nonsense.”
“Besides, even if it’s a poisonous fake Belluga mushroom, all we’ll get is a stomachache for a while,” said the Devil Mia, who was only a few inches tall.
She kept whispering with all her heart into her master’s ear.
“We know exactly what to do. We know what to do, and we just did it for ourselves. We know a lot about mushrooms now. Not only that, but we also found Belluga mushrooms. We did everything by ourselves! We’re so good at this that we could totally call ourselves the Mushroom Princess! So, look closely at that mushroom. What does our mushroom sense tell us?”
She looked at the white mushroom with narrowed eyes, like an antique dealer trying to figure out how much something is worth.
“Hmm… My mushroom sense tells me that this one is good to eat!”
So she went with her gut.
Also, “For it to show up like this in my pocket is nothing short of a miracle. This looks like God giving me the thumbs up, so I guess I should eat this mushroom!”
“Miracles don’t happen that easily!” a voice that sounded a little like Ludwig may or may not have yelled from far away.
Mia, on the other hand, didn’t hear his warning from the grave.
So, Mia followed her group out of the forest with an air of childlike innocence.