CH 316

Yellow, White… and… Red

“Mm… Mmm…”

Mia slowly opened her eyes with a quiet groan. Everything was a blur. She rubbed her eyes, closed them a few times, and then did it again. She finally got up and took a look around.

“This is… Oh, my, where am I?”

She couldn’t believe how beautiful everything was. Thick yellow leaves swayed above, dropping small leaves that gently danced their way to the ground, which was covered in a layer of white as even as freshly fallen snow.

“Are these, like, white mushrooms?”

She looked around again and gasped when she saw that she had been lying on a bed of white mushrooms. Her fall had been broken by the soft, squishy carpet.

“Yes, now I remember. I fell off the cliff, and these mushrooms kept me from hurting myself,” she said, gently stroking the cap of one of her tiny heroes.

Then she realised that her right hand was tightly balled into a fist and that something was inside. When she straightened out her fingers, she saw the horse charm that Bel had made.

“Thank the heavens. I didn’t lose it. If I dropped it here, it would be very hard for me to find it again…”

She slowly got to her feet, bracing herself for any sudden pain that might come.

None came.

She thought she wasn’t hurt, but she wasn’t sure. Her mushroom outfit probably also deserves some credit, since it was thick enough to serve as a cushion. As a maiden of the mushrooms, Mia had finally come into her own. She was now a real Mushroom Princess because they had blessed her. What’s a Mushroom Princess, anyway?

“Well, this is exactly what a lucky mistake looks like… I managed to get to the Belluga mushrooms by accident.”

She smiled eagerly at the huge area of white around her.

“There are so many sweet moons… Here, you can pick as many mushrooms as you want!”

She remembered that Citrina had said there was a place in the forest where many Belluga mushrooms grew, so she knew this was it.

She’d hit the jackpot. Well, let’s just say that “Belluga” and “mushroom” were in the names of the things.

“Marvelous… Absolutely marvellous! Everyone needs to know…”

She looked around and stopped because she saw something strange.

“My… What is that?”

A few red mushrooms popped up here and there on the white carpet of mushrooms. It looked like blood had been spilled on a field of new snow. When she looked more closely, she saw that the strange colour came from something she’d seen before…

“Your Majesty!”

“Miss Mia!”

She heard two familiar voices of young people, then the sound of people going down the cliff.

“Oh, you found me…”

When she saw that Bel and Citrina had come into view, she looked up.

If those two can get down here, I don’t think the height will be too much of an issue. The other people in the group should also be able to get down. It won’t be hard to pick the mushrooms themselves. The problem is that these mushrooms…

Her thoughts were broken up when a mass the size of Bel hit her.

“Oof!”

The little girl almost tackled her down.

“Oh my goodness, Mia-neesama, I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Bel put her arms around Mia and gave her a tight squeeze.

“Oh, Bel, you silly girl…”

Mia touched her granddaughter’s head gently.

“Look, it’s your charm. I got it back for you.”

She gently took Bel off of her and put the troya in Bel’s tiny hands.

“Oh, this is…”

“You really worked hard to make it, right? Make sure you tie a strong knot next time so it doesn’t fly away again. I can’t keep diving off cliffs to get it back,” Mia said in a very preachy way for someone whose dive was completely unintentional and the result of a disastrous attempt to climb a tree.

Her haughty behaviour, on the other hand, didn’t bother Bel at all.

“…I really appreciate it, Miss Mia.”

Bel just put her arms around Mia again and squeezed.

“Aww…”

Mia was happy to see how much love was being shown.

Bel hid her face for a while in her grandmother’s chest. After enjoying a long hug to the fullest, she finally took a good look around her.

“Wow! This is such a beautiful place, Miss Mia!”

She ran off right away.

“Wait!”

Mia quickly put out her hands in a sign of stopping.

“Hold it, Bel. You can’t just walk over all of these mushrooms. They should taste very good.”

She had a small panic attack when she thought about losing her hard-earned stash of Belluga mushrooms to a pair of tiny feet running amok.

“Okay, Miss Mia.”

Bel stopped where she was, but she kept looking around eagerly, which made Mia nervous because she couldn’t help but think that Bel’s curiosity might make her start smashing mushrooms again at any moment.

Bel’s eyes grew big all of a sudden.

“Hey, Rina, do you see that red mushroom over there? What’s that? I saw a red one hiding among the white ones, Is it tasty too?”

Mia felt a twinge of sadness because her sweet granddaughter hadn’t asked her the question.

“Oh, I’m not sure. My memory isn’t the best, but I don’t think so.”

When Mia heard what Citrina said, she smiled.

“My, Citrina! A mushroom you have never seen before? Oh, but I guess I can’t hold it against you. This one is a little out of the ordinary,” she said with the most arrogance.

Then she turned to Bel and said, “That’s a salamandrake, and it’s very poisonous.” Somehow, this made Mia’s smug even bigger. She was very happy.

After being proud of herself for a while, she remembered to add, “Oh, and by the way, it’s dangerous to even touch, so stay away! Gah! Bel!”

Bel was already on her way there.

Mia took the girl by the collar and pulled her back.

“You should quit doing that. There are a lot of dangerous mushrooms, so you should listen to  people who have done this before, like us, and do what we say. Right, Rina? Hm? Uh…Rina?”

Mia found it strange that there was no answer, so she looked at Citrina. She was just standing there with her back to the wall and her hair falling over her face, making it hard to see what she was thinking.

M-My, how odd. Why do I feel so cold once more?

She felt like something cold was going through her whole body. But it only lasted a second before Citrina’s cute giggle broke it up.

“Wow, it’s amazing how much Your Highness knows about mushrooms. What an amazing skill!”

Her usual smile was all that was left.

It was sweet, perfect, and… Mia thought it was a little scary.