CH 314

Grandmother Mia Says Cool Things

In fact, that makes me remember. This trip to look for mushrooms is not just for fun and games. My whole life depends on it…

The steady chewing of tasty sandwiches and the nutrients that came with them turned on her non-fungal thought centres again, which made her remember a very important fact. Why did she suggest a trip to look for mushrooms in the first place? Had it been to eat a delicious pot of mushroom stew? Nay!

So she wouldn’t give in to the allure of other foods on the night of the Holy Eve Festival, when they were forbidden; she hoped that the Chaos Serpents wouldn’t hurt her if she had a mushroom stew party with the student council. In particular, she was counting on the stew’s mind-numbing mushroomy goodness to make her enemy give up on food.

In fact, this trip was planned for a very important reason! She wasn’t gathering mushrooms like it was the last day of her life. She was picking mushrooms because it really was a matter of life and death.

So, from this point of view, how did her new finds look?

If the Serpents attacked her with sweets from faraway places, could the mushrooms in her basket stand up to their sugary strength?

They are bitter and can be eaten “technically.”

How likely was it that they could keep her stomach empty while her enemy fed her dangerous treats?

Unfortunately, the answer was 0. Zip, zilch, nada!

She was going to need mushrooms that were more tasty. Much, much tastier… Those that grew in the deepest parts of the forest. She had to have…Belluga mushrooms.

How to get to them was the question.

I can’t really talk to the others about the idea. They’ll just fire it down. And then watch me even more closely. That will just make things more difficult. If I go, it will be just me… Then I have to figure out how to get away quietly… In particular…

She was looking at the girl next to Bel.

Citrina is being a good Tearmoon noble and sticking close to me, which is a shame. I’ll have to give her a shake. However… Mia, you need to think. What can I do to get mushrooms that taste better? Hm…

“I’m sorry?” Rafina asked Mia, “What was that?”

Mia didn’t hear because she was lost in her own thoughts.

“Yes, they taste good… Want more, a lot more, and it tastes good…”

Her mumbling brought her out of her trance, and Rafina asked her again, “Mia? What’s going on?”

Mia came back to herself with the second question. She looked around and saw that she was the only one standing, and everyone was staring at her.

“Huh? O-Oh, um… I just, uh…”

She stuttered for a few seconds as she tried to come up with a good reason.

This is not good! I was so focused on getting deeper into the forest that my body moved on its own.

Panic rose. She could feel it moving up her throat, which was getting more and more dry, before it came out as “F-Felt like going for a walk… to, uh, pick some mushrooms…”

That wasn’t a good reason, though. It was the truth, nothing but the truth, and the whole truth. Which was the exact opposite of what she had wanted!

Gah! I just said it out loud! Now that they know I want to pick mushrooms in the deeper parts of the forest, they will stop me.

The thought centres in her brain didn’t stay turned on for very long. Even though the sandwiches were healthy, they couldn’t keep her brain going for long. If she wanted to really think, she would probably need what Mia needs: sugar. Sad to say, there were none.

Oh no, it’s too late… I can’t think of any way to talk myself out of this…

Just as she was beginning to give up hope…

“Pick some mushrooms? What do you mean—Oh!”

Someone, she didn’t know who, asked a question that was cut off abruptly and ended with a realisation that everyone else in the room had at the same time.

The group all said “Ooooooh” at the same time to show that they got it. The boys awkwardly turned away. One of them said, “Well, then, just keep an eye out.”

“Uh… Okay? Sure?”

Mia scratched her head because she didn’t know what to think of the answer. Anne was the only one who got up and got ready to follow her.

“Wait, Anne, it’s okay.” Mia said quickly, “Just stay here and get some rest.”

Anne doesn’t know much about the forest, unlike me. It wouldn’t make sense to force her to come along.

She gave Anne a smile to make her feel better.

“I’m fine by myself.”

Then she got up and left.

Now, those of you who are a little slow might need a little more explanation.

“Going to pick some flowers” was a common way for women to say they had to go to the bathroom when they were outside.

Everyone in the group knew, or at least thought they knew, what Mia meant by what she said. They thought she had used the opportunity to play with words and make the phrase sound more euphemistic.

No one thought she would get up in the middle of lunch and run off by herself to pick mushrooms. That goes against all common sense—the same common sense that kept them from seeing what she was really up to.

“Oho ho! I can’t believe it worked so well!”

Mia hummed as she moved deeper into the forest. She was happy that she’d been able to get away from the group.

“But I have to say, they sure made it easy on me. I don’t know why.”

It didn’t make sense to her until she had a sudden idea.

“Oh, what was I talking about? It’s so clear. I grew up in the woods. I can take care of myself. They’re just now coming to understand that. I think it was the basket of mushrooms I brought back with me. Even if you don’t like it, it was a pretty good haul, if I do say so myself.”

She nodded to herself and kept going as she thought about it.

“Hm, the map says that if I go this way from the clearing, I should…” she said as she moved branches out of the way like a brave explorer.

Soon, she came to a cliff that stopped her from going any further.

“Huh. The map didn’t show this cliff.”

She looked over the edge with her arms crossed as she thought. Yellow plants stuck out of the side of the cliff, blocking her view of what was below.

“I can’t see the bottom. That’s not good. Should I try to find some way to get down? Or should I go the other way? I wonder where those mushrooms would grow. This cliff…? Or someplace beyond it…”

It didn’t look like the cliff was very high. She could probably get down if she was careful. After giving it some thought, she went with her gut.

“It’s clear that going around is the right choice! My years of experience as a mushroom guide tell me so!”

It was definitely what she felt in her gut. She was just doing what felt right to her. It had nothing to do with the fact that going down looked like a lot of work. Just saying.

“Okay, let’s try going along the edge to the left…”

She started to walk with the cliff on her right. After just five steps, she heard her name being called.

“Your Majesty!”

“Who is that?”

She stopped to see where the voice was coming from and saw Citrina running towards her. Her secret was out, and she couldn’t do much about it. She waited for Citrina to catch up with her. The little girl stopped right in front of her and smiled as she always did.

“Jeez, Your Highness, you can’t just run away like that. Not so far into the woods…”

Citrina said, her sweet smile never leaving her face as she formed words with her lips.

“What if something bad happened to you, hm? Your Highness, what would you do?”

She just…kept smiling. Even while she talked. Even as she suddenly tilted her head in a strange way, she moved like a puppet. Her smile stayed the same the whole time.

It was really nice. So endearing. A cute thing that a young child does. Still, for some reason, it made Mia feel cold to the bone.

M-My… Am I getting goosebumps? What’s happening? I feel oddly cold…

“Well? Your Majesty, what would you do? If something bad happened? Hm?”

Citrina’s big eyes, like those of a doll, looked up at Mia.

Mia worried. She had a strong need to get away.

Then another voice was heard…

“Miss Mia! Rina!”

Bel ran up behind Citrina, waving her hand excitedly as she ran towards them.

“Oh, Bel… I told you to wait…”

Citrina said something quietly. Mia felt the chill that had been holding her loosen as she did this. What in the name of the moons was that? She frowned at the strange thing, but a high-pitched scream broke her train of thought.

“Eek!”

Bel stumbled forward and fell on the wet yellow leaves.

“Ah—”

Both people who saw Bel fall had the same shocked sound come out of their mouths. A small object was thrown away from her by the movement. It went in an arc through the air.

“What is it? Mia just stood there dumbfounded as the thing flew past her. It turned out to be the small troya charm that Bel had worked so hard to make.

It went over the edge, but before it fell, it caught on a branch of a tree that grew diagonally from the edge of the cliff.

“Oh… Blessed moons…”

Mia let out a breath she had been holding. It happened at the same time as another sound nearby. Citrina had done the same thing, it seemed.

“Well, how lucky,” said Citrina to Bel after she quickly got herself back together.

“That doesn’t sound too crazy. It should be possible for us to get it back.”

Bel, on the other hand, looked at the tree that stuck out before shaking her head.

“No, that’s too risky. If we fall, we’ll go over the edge.”

“Don’t worry. I can always do it again. No matter how hard you try to hold on to something, you can’t. It goes when it’s time for it to go. That’s the way things are.”

A sad look at the hanging troya broke through her act of not caring.

Mia chewed her lip. If she hadn’t forced the issue and sneaked off into the forest herself, this wouldn’t have happened. Her sense of guilt began to weigh on her.

She also knew that Bel had worked hard to make those charms so that she and Citrina would look good together. She could make another one, though. But that’s not what was wrong.

That’s a one-of-a-kind charm. Bel put everything she had into making it. It couldn’t just be replaced by something else. So, it’s too early to give up.

The charm got stuck in a thick tree, which was lucky. It would take some careful climbing, but it seemed like it would be possible to get it. Even more so for Mia, who grew up in the forest.

After she was sure that she knew what she was doing, she turned to Bel and spoke in a confident voice.

“You’re right, Bel. No matter how much you love something or how tightly you hold on to it, it will always leave when it’s time. That’s right. But.”

She put her hand on the tree that held the charm.

“That isn’t a reason to give up before you even try.”

“Ms. Mia? What are you doing?” Bel asked with wide-open eyes.

Mia turned around to face the tree and said, “What I’m doing is showing how important effort is. Just because you might lose something doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try your hardest to keep it!”

She then jumped onto the trunk.

It went diagonally out from the edge of the cliff at an angle that was easy to climb.

She crawled up, trying not to think about the fact that she couldn’t see the ground below her.

It’s okay. I’m a forest veteran. Well, I’ve been picking mushrooms for a long time, but that shouldn’t make it hard for me to climb trees.

Even though her mushroom-forest comparison didn’t make sense, she was sure of herself.

Grandmother Mia looked like a storybook hero as she smiled bravely at Bel, who was in awe of her. She was about to do something amazing that would make her granddaughter’s jaw drop for the rest of her life.

Then she lost her balance and fell.

“Gaaaaaaaaaah!”