A Medical Mushroom appeared in the hideout.
The mushroom regenerated the apple I was holding and then started spraying a pink liquid on the apples the others were eating.
I thought the same. It seemed the mushroom identified the summon apples we were eating as the injured ones and came to heal them.
Looks like it has some sort of sensor to detect injuries.
Before I knew it, all the summon apples were regenerated.
The monsters were thrilled to have more food, and Rize was staring at the apples in disbelief.
The Medical Mushroom looked around, then spotted a Poison Apple.
［Beeee…］
The mushroom quickly averted its gaze. It probably wasn’t interested since it was already dead.
［Bee!］
It waved its tentacle-like appendage at us and gracefully flew toward Passage No. 8.
Of course, I was thinking of stopping it.
I couldn’t let such a good opportunity slip away.
This thing, which had vanished when I tried to find it, had come to me.
I took another big bite of the apple I was holding.
Then,
［Bee?!］
The Medical Mushroom jumped in surprise and turned around.
I expected that reaction. It wouldn’t just pretend not to see the injured one and leave.
The mushroom flitted back to me, hovering in front of me.
［Bee!］
It wore a worried expression.
Dropping more pink liquid again, its focus was solely on the apple.
On the mushroom’s hat, a red circular spot was visible.
Without hesitation, I reached out and placed my palm against the spot.
［Bee?］
There was no resistance.
The mushroom was just staring at me blankly.
‘It surely doesn’t need to be restrained by the Dog Spider’s silk.’
It’s friendly to all living creatures. That’s why I directly used friendly means, as there was no need for severe measures. I could just cultivate a bond with it since it was already inclined towards me; otherwise, it might resist and cause trouble.
‘Let’s see, the color change speed…’
I checked the spot.
The spot’s color was a complete green. The red part was nowhere to be found.
“…What’s this.”
【Mysticism】─🤔
“Has it really been only 10 seconds and it’s already totally tamed?”
Taming the Dog Spider had taken 2 minutes.
And that was before it even broke out of its egg.
Yet, the Medical Mushroom took only 10 seconds.
This meant that it bore no faintest grudge towards all living beings, didn’t harbor any suspicion towards anyone, and was always ready to be tamed by someone like a Tamer.
Of course, there could be other reasons, but…
Honestly, I didn’t care much about the reasons.
What mattered was getting it tamed quickly.
［Bee!］
The Medical Mushroom was cheerfully circling around me.
Thus, I gained my fourth monster ally, the healer.
*
“Oooh. This monster follows you well. Did you use your ability to tame it?”
Rize asked while stroking the mushroom.
I nodded affirmatively.
By the way, I had already told him about my taming ability. No need to hide it.
The Medical Mushroom quickly made friends with the other monsters.
It was a really friendly little thing.
“Mush, you saw me earlier, right?”
［Bee?］
“The one that regenerated my finger, remember?”
I asked, curious if it was a different individual.
［Bee!］
The mushroom nodded affirmatively. It didn’t appear to be a different entity from the one I saw before.
What a pointless thing for the assistant to be curious about.
After a brief check, I confirmed it had no genitalia similar to a reproductive organ.
“Why Rize?”
Hae Yumi and I asked simultaneously.
Rize then poked his head in and replied, “Did you call me?”
“No, I’m talking with my assistants.”
“Oh, I see.”
I gave a brief explanation about the assistants.
If I kept mumbling to myself, I’d look like a crazy person seeing things that weren’t there.
While the assistants were chatting away, I cautiously asked Rize about his gender.
I was also curious.
Rize replied to my question.
“I’m genderless.”
“Oh. So your race doesn’t have a gender?”
“That’s not it. Our race has males, females, and genderless individuals.”
So it goes. My curiosity was satisfied.
“Does your race not have any genderless individuals?”
“I think there are none, as far as I know.”
“I see. Then since it might be curious about the special aspects of genderlessness…”
Rize seemed to have opened up and started talking non-stop, including things I hadn’t even asked.
The probability of a genderless being being born is less than 1 percent.
Genderless individuals tend to be stronger and live longer.
And so on.
I had to sit through a bunch of totally uninteresting things.
I couldn’t ignore it or tell him to stop talking because it was a subject initiated by my question.
When Rize finally finished his tale,
［Bee~］
The Medical Mushroom shook its appendages and started flying back toward Passage No. 8.
“Mushroom, where are you going?”
［Bee?］
“Are you going to treat other creatures?”
［Bee? Bee!］
It seemed so. Even after being tamed by me, the mushroom still intended to wander through the labyrinth to continue healing the injured.
“If you just heal anyone, you might end up healing our enemies, so don’t heal anyone else other than us from now on. You’re our ally now.”
［Bee.］
“If you understand, then come back here.”
［Bee.］
The mushroom slowly approached me.
“From now on, Mushroom, you must stick close to me and not wander off. Got it?”
［Bee, Bee?!］
At my command, the mushroom nodded its hat.
That day, the Medical Mushroom didn’t leave my side even for a moment.
*
Day 4 in the labyrinth.
Again, there were no monster attacks during my sleep.
It’s not that monsters can’t step here. Some monsters come here on their own.
Wandering-type monsters can come here at any time, so I must always remain vigilant.
‘I should make a barricade at the passages sometime.’
Thinking like that, I set off for exploration once again.
The exploration site was Cave No. 8.
The purpose was mapping, securing food, and looking for drifters.
Of course, Rize was with me.
Rize had gifted me the Execution Sword, so he could take a break, but splitting up for exploration would allow us to find drifters more quickly.
Moreover, we decided I would hand over the transferable return ticket whenever he wanted.
Putting aside the fact that I received the Execution Sword, I was pretty happy that I easily tamed the Medical Mushroom.
“Then I’ll see you at noon.”
“Yes. Be careful.”
After exchanging greetings at the fork in the road, Rize and I parted ways to proceed with our explorations. Other than having the Mushroom added to my party, the composition was the same as yesterday.
Currently, there was only Missy watching over me.
An hour into the exploration, while I was aimlessly walking, I spotted a small entrance drilled into the cave wall.
I carefully entered.
Beyond the entrance was a small chamber.
There were no luminous stones in this space, but with the Magma Slime beside me, it wasn’t dark.
‘What is this place for?’
There was a strange power felt within the chamber.
It didn’t seem like magic; it felt closer to psychic ability.
For now, I decided to venture deeper.
Then I saw shelves installed along the cave wall. They were made of stone.
On the shelves, numerous items that seemed to be parts of monsters were densely displayed.
And,
［Sii?］
［Suu…］
［Beeee…］
Two human fingers were also among them.
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