Volume 1 Chapter 58 The Secret Mushroom Garden
I slide down the dense area of moss.
I almost slip and fall, but I grab onto the trees and Mr. Lucian helps me down.
"Lydia, this place is pretty dangerous. Are you sure we're going the right way?"
"Y-yes, maybe... The market ladies said to go this way."
"The market ladies really go to some risky places."
"Well, I guess they work hard for the mushrooms..."
"I see. Everyone is desperate to survive. Lydia, hold onto me. Don't roll down."
"Y-yes... eek, ah..."
The bottom of my boots, which go up to my ankles, slips on the wet, dead leaves and ground.
Mr. Lucian, who had already found a stable spot, grabbed my hand and caught me before I could fall.
Mr. Lucian is about a head and a half taller than me, and when he hugged me tightly, my body fit perfectly against his.
"...T-thank you..."
"Are you okay, Lydia?"
"Y-yes, I'm fine... I'm fine, so, um, c-can you let go now?"
"It's just that it's so nice to hold you. You're so small, Lydia. I can easily wrap you up in my arms."
"Eek... Mr. Lucian, if you keep doing things like this, one day a woman will really get mad at you..."
Though it's likely I'm already being resented.
I squirmed in Mr. Lucian's arms, feeling tightly held.
Mr. Lucian's body is as hard as a big tree. And it's warm. I didn't know muscles could be warm.
"Ah... I just couldn't help it, you feel so nice to hug. Lydia, I am the captain of the Holy Knights, Leonsroar. I don't touch women carelessly."
"...But the members of Leonsroar go to brōtḥels, right?"
"That's my subordinates. Fighting monsters and catching bandits can get pretty intense. I think it's necessary to cool down that heated blood. But I don't go."
"W-Well, please let go of me... We came to pick mushrooms..."
"Ah. Lydia, shall we go? ...It seems that touching you makes me feel better. My worries and impatience seem to disappear."
"I'm going, Mr. Lucian... Takeri Matsutake is right over there...!"
Mr. Lucian quickly lets go of my hand, so I pull him along.
He smiles at me and follows.
We push through the grass that forms a tunnel and move deeper.
The tall grass hits my cheeks and arms, and it hurts a little. Picking mushrooms is quite dangerous, huh?
I need to learn from the passion the market ladies have for mushrooms.
Along the way, Mr. Lucian steps in front of me and clears the grass.
I stick close behind him and follow through.
Beyond the grass, there's a deep cave made by overlapping big trees.
It's so deep I can't see the end, and it's wide enough for my restaurant to fit inside.
Sunlight is coming through the gaps in the overlapping trees, but even though it's daytime, it's still a bit dark. The light moss is shining in a bluish-green color, lighting up the area.
"...This place feels different."
"It's a secret spot...!"
I feel a bit excited.
Speaking of which, the octopus fishing I did with Mr. Tsukuyomi was fun, even if I got all wet.
Exploring the forest to pick mushrooms is also enjoyable.
I stepped into a cave-like area formed by the overlapping trees.
As I went deeper, I saw big mushrooms growing at the base of a thick tree.
"Mr. Lucian! Look, it's Takeri Matsutake! There are so many! There's also Oni Shimeji and Hirahira Maitake, amazing, amazing!"
"That's great, Lydia. It really is amazing; there might be too many to pick."
"Y-yes, I can't take them all... I'll only take what I can eat, just enough to fit in my basket... Mr. Lucian, they're so big, really big... It looks like my basket will fill up quickly..."
The basket on my back isn't very big, so just the mushrooms in front of me might fill it up.
"Yeah... Lydia, it definitely looks like you can't fit all of that in your little mouth."
As I crouched down in front of the Takeri Matsutake, Mr. Lucian crouched down next to me.
The Takeri Matsutake is longer than the Oni Shimeji. The cap is small, but the stem is thick, about the size of my wrist.
Overall, it's brown and has a proud look, truly like the king of mushrooms.
"Yes... but it looks delicious, Mr. Lucian's..."
Mr. Lucian pulls out the biggest thing from the ground and shows it to me.
Wow, it looks delicious.
If we roast it, it will definitely taste great.
I want to put a grill on the stove and cook it.
"...Lydia... right now, I feel quite a bit of guilt..."
"Guilt...?"
"It's about this. Should we go deeper while taking the bigger ones?"
"Yes...!"
I grabbed the thick stem of the Takeri Matsutake.
The stem is so thick that I can barely hold it with one hand. It's about as long as my arm from the elbow down.
Just one of these would fill me up.
I held the Takeri Matsutake with both hands and smiled. I've never seen such a big mushroom before.
"Mr. Lucian, I'm glad we came here. But this place is a secret spot for the aunties, so it's a secret, okay?"
"...Ah. It's a secret between Lydia and me."
"Yes...!"
Mr. Lucian said it playfully, so I nodded.
Now we have more secrets.
I already have a secret with Sir Ciel, and having more secrets makes me feel uneasy.
But this place is more like a secret between me and Mr. Lucian, or rather, a secret with the aunties, so it's a bit different from my promise with Sir Ciel.
We moved deeper into the cave while picking mushrooms.
As we went further in, the light from the glow moss increased. The trees are so thick that it seems like the light can't reach us.
In this somewhat magical scenery, mushrooms are growing everywhere like a paradise.
"There are so many... There are a lot deeper inside, Mr. Lucian. I guess the aunties don't come this far... Wow, amazing...!"
As I happily picked mushrooms and put them in my basket, I felt something brush against my ankle, like it was wrapping around it.
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