‘So, what kind of mushrooms are these?’
‘Uhh. They are red or blue mushrooms. But it’s hard to explain…’
‘I guess we should go and see them then.’
And so I used the slimes to search the area for magic.
There was nothing suspicious in the area, but my HP and MP were very low. I could handle a normal monster but would have to avoid anything strong.
‘As my MP is low, we’ll have to go while staying hidden from monsters.’
‘Okay.’
‘We’ll do our best to stay hidden!’
And like that, we moved towards the spot where the dragon had been killed.
Thankfully, there were no strong monsters in the forest, so we were able to go straight there without circling around anything.
Things were going smoothly…but there was one thing that bothered me.
‘Hey, Dryad.’
‘What is it?’
‘For a while now I can only hear your voice. Where are you?’
I couldn’t see her anywhere.
And it wasn’t just for a few minutes.
It was as if she had vanished at about five minutes after we started moving.
She had done it so naturally that it took me a while to notice.
‘Where? …In the trees, of course.’
‘…In the trees?’
‘Yes. I thought it would be easier to hide from the monsters like this.’
The Dryad said as her face popped out from a nearby tree.
Apparently, she could do more than use trees to teleport.
‘Can you hide inside of a tree whenever you want?’
‘As long as my forest is healthy, I can.’
That sounded really convenient…
We talked about this as we made our way through the forest. We were now very close to the place where the dragon had died.
…But then, we encountered a problem.
‘Yuji! There is a human there!’
“I’ve seen this old man before!’
It seemed that the guild’s scouts had arrived here first.
Well, so much of the area had been burned, so it would be hard for them to miss such a place.
However, I wasn’t sure we could go mushroom hunting right in front of them.
Though, maybe they would understand if we explained it to the situation.
‘Dryad. Where are the mushrooms you want?’
‘It should grow in the exact spot where the dragon fell. Right on the ground.’
The spot the dragon fell…it was the center of the large burned area on the ground.
It would not be possible to go there without being seen by the scouts.
I suppose…I could send out the slimes.
‘Go out and quietly gather the mushrooms in this area. They’ll see me if I go out, so I’ll stay here and support you.’
‘Okay!’
At my command, the slimes started to advance to the place where the ground was burned.
I cast concealment magic on them.
Even though slimes were hard to spot, they could still be seen if I didn’t cast concealment magic on them.
‘Do they know which are dragon mushrooms?’
I said as I watched the slimes through Shared Senses.
And when the slimes arrived at the spot, I said,
‘Alright, split up.’
‘Okay!’
I now had over 300 slimes.
As my slimes would befriend wild slimes every time I went out, the number kept increasing.
As it got heavier the more there were, I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to carry it eventually…but it was times like these that they were very useful.
This wasn’t human wave tactics, it was slime wave tactics. And it would allow me to gather mushrooms in a wide area very quickly.
‘Let’s go!’
‘I’ll go this way!’
‘Then I’ll go over there!’
The slimes decided their own roles as they went about and gathered the mushrooms that grew in the area.
Like this, they were able to gather a huge amount in just 30 minutes.
‘Can you make it with this?’
‘I should be able to make quite a lot with this amount. There were more than I expected… I mean, you probably got all of them.’
The dryad said as she looked at the spot where the dragon had been.
Not a single mushroom remained in the area. Actually, not a single blade of grass remained in the area.
If these were normal mushrooms, I might have worried about the effect on the ecosystem, but that didn’t apply to dragon mushrooms… After all, they disappeared after one day, which meant they would not increase anyway.
‘You guys did really well.’
‘We did! And there were leaves too!’
‘The leaves over there tasted very good!’
…So that was why all of the grass was gone.
I thought they were just being passionate, but I guess it was just that the grass was delicious.
‘Alright, I’ll make the medicine then. …Did you bring what I asked?’
‘Yes!’
When the Dryad said this, the slimes produced something that looked like a pot.
Apparently, she was going to use it to make the potions.