I had suddenly used the Mushroom Brigade Skill without thinking it over too much, and what happened was completely insane! I had never thought something would actually happen but it did! In front of us there were twenty Mushrooms, walking mushrooms with adorable faces that were all wearing different costumes. Some of them had different colors, but the majority were all orange cap mushrooms.
Trying to look at their Status showed me twenty different status, each one had different stats and skills. Some were warriors and knights, other archers, a few gatherers and alchemists… others were crafters and- Huh?! There's a Blacksmith! There aren't those in the Squirrel-kin village! And there is also a Chef! Amazing, they're so useful!
"My lady please give us an order!"
"Pffff… HAHAHAHA!" Rita began to laugh while she looked at me being pampered by twenty little walking mushrooms, she pointed her index finger at me while pointing the obvious. Yeah, I can tell I am ridiculous! "Hahaha, I can't believe it! You're really being praised by tiny mushrooms!"
"Hahah… I-It is indeed very strange! It is like a permanent summon thing?" Wondered Titan. "No, this is even better, they're not true summons but actual people that obey you… You cannot unsummon them?"
"I can't." I sighed. I suddenly realized all the Mushroom Brigade rushed towards Rita and were pointing their weapons at her, surrounding her!
"Don't you dare laugh at our lady, insolent dark elf woman!"
"Your charm might be great, but a temptress that laughs at someone as pure-hearted and divine as our lady has no place in our heart!"
"My Lady, give us your order and we shall dispose of her!"
"Not so funny now, isn't it?"
"EEEEEH?! H-HELP! PLANTA HELP MEEEE!" Rita began to cry out of fear as twenty Mushroom Warriors surrounded her and were about to kill her.
It appears that NPC can kill players without any restrictions and turning off the PvP mode won't do anything about that unless they're summons or tamed monsters. But NPC are different, this summoning skill is a one-shot thing because it brings genuine NPC that are separate from Summons or Tamed Monsters that are below the jurisdiction of the Player's Game Settings.
Naturally, Belle can't kill a Player nor Silver can if keep my PvP mode turned off… But that doesn't apply to these guys! Wow… isn't this a bit broken?
"W-Wait!!!" I cried. I ran towards the Mushrooms and stopped them from attacking Rita, putting myself in front of her, all of them quickly stepped back when they saw me protect her. "Don't hurt her! She's my friend, okay? No hurting friends!"
"But she's disrespectful for being a friend!"
"Friends are people you value and rely on, not those that laughs at you, my lady!"
"Hm, well, if she says so, we can't deny her orders."
"Indeed… But my lady, tell your friend to not offend you, at least not in front of us, it is very disrespectful and infuriating!" Said the seemingly leader of the Mushrooms, the only one of them that had a very stoic and manly face, which made him look very funny when put in a cute little walking mushroom body.
He was wearing steel armor over his small hands and legs, and a chest plate over his torso, all while wearing a mushroom-cap shaped helmet all over his mushroom cap, he held a long sword sheathed, and based on his stats, he was the strongest fighter of the twenty, his name was Sporegon.
"Okay, okay! But friends do this sometimes… Rit- Achlys here likes to joke around with me, come on!" I said, as the Mushrooms calmed down, they began talking with one another and nodded.
"Understood! My lady, may we carry you though? You seem to be barefoot, is the floor not hurting your feet?" Asked Sporegon, the other Mushrooms all came running towards me with their adorable faces.
"Heave ho! Heave ho!"
"Let's go towards Mushroom Land!"
"W-Wait a second! Stooop!"
And like that, I was carried all the way to the Squirrel-kin village by the Mushroom Brigade, they seemed to be completely fine as well, and it was as if they had unlimited Stamina. The Squirrels quickly made a fuss when they saw such a big group of walking mushrooms, but with Acorn, we quickly calmed them down.
However, the Chief, Acorn's grandfather, wanted to have a meeting with me for a while now, so he invited us all into his house with a few other squirrel-kin. I used this opportunity to present them Titan and Achlys, my new friends.
"Incredible! An Ent!"
"I never thought I would see such a mythical guardian of the forest!"
"It is fitting, a Dryad and an Ent!"
"Indeed! Lady Planta, will you marry Titan?"
The squirrels began to flock around us crazily, as Titan immediately felt nervous, even more when they began to ask all sorts of weird things.
"T-That we are a Dryad and an Ent doesn't mean we'll marry or something, you dummies!" I reprimanded the younger squirrel-kin, as Acorn quickly told them to go back to their seats.
"Hahah… I-I've never seen so many NPC gathered in a single place, they're all so lively, Planta!" Said Titan. "This is amazing… I really never thought NPC were … Maybe seeing all these gameplay tips about leveling and the like wasn't all there was in this game."
I am flabbergasted that people doesn't pay enough attention to NPC, there's a whole breathing world outside, they should just begin talking with people, they're all nice and got a lot of stories to tell, their own lives and everything… these people are all my family at this point." I said, as I was surrounded by young Squirrel-kin that were called "pups" often being just a year or two of old, they were adorable and small, and they often sat around my legs when I showed up.
"Yeah… I can tell you're rather happy here..." Said Titan while admiring everything. "I guess I've begun to see this world slightly different now…"