CH 446

Princess Mia Begins Her Mushroom Connoisseurship

“It is a great honor for us to have Your Highness, Princess Mia, visit our humble caravan.”

“My, that’s very kind of you to say that,” Mia said with a smile as she curtsied to the hunched merchant. “I’m glad that we ran into pilgrimage merchants here.”

Pilgrimage merchants were merchants who traveled and did most of their business along Pilgrimage Road. Their routes took them through the whole traffic flow and from country to country. In addition to distributing goods across the continent, which was an important job, they also gave pilgrims things they needed on their journeys, which made them respected by all countries.

“Could you tell us where you’re going at the moment?”

“No, not at all,” Mia said. “We are on our way to Sunkland’s capital city right now.”

“Oh, you as well? What a funny thing. We are, too.” Even though he smiled when she said that, his face looked tense. “It’s a happy accident, and we’re all happy about it. There seem to be a lot of bad luck happening here.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“We had heard that there were bandits in this area, but none of us could afford to change our plans much. We were just talking about what to do if we saw any when your men showed up.”

The caravan was small. It was made up of three horse-drawn wagons, each of which belonged to a different dealer. They didn’t know each other, and the only reason they were moving together was because they were going to the same place. Obviously, none of them had enough money to hire the right kind of guards.

“Sunkland is known to be a pretty safe kingdom, but there are bandits everywhere,” the merchant said with a sigh.

“Oh, I see…”

Mia thought with pursed lips that these thieves they were talking about might be the ones who would kill Sion.

“Uh, is there something wrong?”

“Huh? Oh, no, I was just thinking that we should take advantage of this good luck since we’ve been given it. Could we look at your goods?”

“Yes, please. We have a lot of high-quality items, so feel free to look around.”

The shopkeeper put on a business smile right away and rubbed his hands together.

—

“Oh, Mia-sama, take a look at this fabric! The quality is very good.”

“You are right. I love the feel of it.”

While Esmeralda almost squealed with happiness, Mia just smiled like a princess. Mia could act like a princess when she felt like it. She wasn’t just like a princess, she was one. A real, official princess of the Tearmoon Empire! She just had to be herself, and her natural princess-ness would come out of her like a dam breaking.

It wasn’t breaking this time, though, for some reason. The dam might have been empty or something.

Everyone seems to be having a good time. Good.

Tiona and Citrina were happy to look at all the things for sale. Bel, who was following her friend, looked like she was having a great time too. Mia was happy to see that all of her friends were enjoying the chance to shop, so she nodded to herself and then looked at a strange item on display.

“My, these dried purple mushrooms are shiitake, aren’t they? They don’t grow near here, so I didn’t think I’d find them on this trip. This was a nice surprise!”

In the eastern parts of Sunkland, you could find the purple mushrooms. Drying them made their flavor richer, and people from the upper class liked to eat them. This made their name particularly fitting, since it described both the mushroom and the people who ate it.

“My! And these must be matsutake mushrooms!” A second happy cry was made when someone saw a green fungus. “When made into tea, I think they have a very unique smell.”

“Wow, Your Highness sure knows a lot.”

“Well, I guess I do know a few things about mushrooms,” she said, happy to be able to show off what she had learned. “I think these mushrooms are shimeji. They look very tasty.”

She was thinking about taking some home for Abel to try later when the shopkeeper laughed in amusement. “Ha ha, it was close, but no cigar. Those are shimeji that are red. They are dangerous.”

Mia, the living joke, has done it again! She was almost ready to kill her boyfriend. If Abel had a sixth sense, he might have felt a chill at that moment.

“P-Poisonous?! What in the world are you doing selling poisonous mushrooms?” she asked.

Citrina came in right away to give an explanation.

“You can get rid of the poison in these mushrooms by cooking them. I’ve heard that they are a treat to eat in some places. Also, their poison is called “shadowbane,” and it can be used as a cure for “lightbane,” which is another poison. Still, a red shimeji’s shadowbane is very strong, so there aren’t many toxins that are strong enough to need it as a counter.”

“Hey, it looks like there’s another expert on mushrooms here. You are correct. “These aren’t used as antidotes very often these days,” the shopkeeper said. “They were a lot more common back when poisoned arrows were still used for hunting. Back then, sometimes you would accidentally poke yourself in the finger or get poison from an arrow in your mouth, and you would use this as a cure.”

“Rina, you really know a lot!” Bel called out.

Citrina said, “Not that much,” but it was clear that she was happy with the praise.

Mia, on the other hand, was completely overshadowed…

“Huh? Is that right…?”

…Wasn’t upset at all! Instead, she nodded as if she was really interested. That’s right, Mushroom Empress Mia respected and paid attention to anyone who could teach her something new about mushrooms.

As expected of Rina. She really is a fountain of knowledge.

Mia thought, with her arms crossed. “If that’s the case, I might want to buy some…”

Even though she learned more from the mushrooms, she still seemed to come up with very bad ideas.

I mean, it seems to be a tasty treat. I just have to try it. Plus, Rina is with me, and she’s an expert, so I shouldn’t have to worry about preparing it right…

Even though it was a good thing that she was open to new things, it was a very bad idea.

“Rina, are you able to handle these properly?” she asked, giving the girl a hungry look that made it clear what she meant by “handle.”

Citrina nodded with a serious look on her face. “Yes, Your Majesty. I think I can.”

Mia quickly went to look at other items after buying a supply. Getting a new treat made her feel great, and she smiled as she looked around. Soon after, it was decided that they would travel to the same place with the merchants she had just made friends with.