The Hermit's Mushroom (3)
“Even thinking about it again, you’re doing truly wonderful work, Master Wizard. Teaching the children to read and write with no expectation of reward.”
“And that’s not all! That clever-looking boy named Ben—he’s even teaching him magic!”
“How remarkable!”
As they walked toward Patrick’s isolated house, the village chief and the merchant showered him with endless praise. Part of it was simply because they had nothing else to say, but the truth was that offering free literacy lessons was quite unusual. Patrick had gone even further, having the children create a biological compendium of the island’s flora and fauna—an act of genuine creation.
“It’s nothing special. I was just trying to find ways to spend time with the children.”
“If every wizard were as humble as you, sir, we merchants wouldn’t find the existence of mages so intimidating. Haha.”
“Is that so? Haha.”
While nodding along to the merchant’s words, Patrick’s mind was elsewhere.
Please let it be valuable!
If that blue mushroom—or mold, whatever it was—turned out to be as rare as matsutake mushrooms…
Would selling it all get me a goat? Then I could milk it for cheese and butter!
He vividly remembered a scene from a variety show where a celebrity milked a goat and made cheese for a salad.
Even if it doesn’t fetch matsutake prices, that’s fine. As long as it’s enough for a few ducks. Duck bulgogi, duck roast, duck soup… Ah, I’d love some duck soup with soju.
By the time his imagination had run wild, they had arrived at the house.
“Quack! Quack!”
“Get away! Why is a chicken making duck noises?”
Maybe I should just fry it instead of getting ducks.
Swallowing the rest of his thought, Patrick shooed the deranged rooster away and guided the merchant to the wooden platform in the front yard.
“It’s better out here than inside. The house is a bit of a mess.”
“Of course. I’ll wait.”
“I dried them behind the house. I’ll fetch them right away. Just a moment.”
“Teacher, shall I come with you?”
“No need. Take the kids and go play in the garden over there.”
“Really play?”
“If you have time, pull some weeds.”
“I knew it! Tch. Let’s go, everyone!”
Ben snorted at his teacher’s attempt to get free labor and gathered his friends, running off toward a nearby hill, probably hoping to find wild berries. All the better, Patrick thought. It was easier to talk money without the children around.
“I wonder if they dried properly. They were supposed to turn blue when dried, right?”
He had simply tossed the mushrooms into a basket on the day he picked them, following the advice to dry them in the shade, and had forgotten about them until now. Hoping they had dried well, he headed to the backyard when an inexplicable chill began creeping over him.
Must be because it’s shady. A bit chilly.
Dismissing it, he took another step forward.
“Ugh!”
Sudden nausea surged up.
“Urgh!”
The dry heaves kept coming. Before he knew it, Patrick had collapsed to the ground, trembling.
“Teacher?”
“Master Wizard!”
The village chief and the merchant, startled by the sound of his retching, came running.
“Ah, I-I’m fine. I just suddenly felt chills… Ugh!”
Waving them off, Patrick tried to move closer to the mushrooms when he spotted them glowing with an eerie blue light.
They really turned blue? That’s amazing. Does that mean I hit the jackpot?
And then, without warning, his body tilted.
“Huh… Why is my body… like this…?”
Thud!
His consciousness began to fade.
“……XX……! This is…… how many…… times…… now……!”
He tried to swear in his mind, but the words slipped out of his mouth before he blacked out. Just as his awareness cut off, he heard the merchant’s voice.
“Damn it! It really was a Hermit’s Mushroom! Master Wizard! Master Wizard!”
“Oh no, Teacher!”
Blink, blink.
“……Familiar ceiling.”
“What are you saying! Chief! Teacher’s awake!”
This was a line he had always wanted to say someday. Even though Ben gave him a look of utter exasperation, Patrick didn’t care. A person should do what they want in life.
“I’m so sorry, Master Wizard! I was careless! I never imagined it would actually be a Hermit’s Mushroom!”
“A Hermit’s Mushroom?”
The merchant, who had rushed in from outside upon hearing that Patrick had woken, spoke up.
What’s a Hermit’s Mushroom?
Even searching through Old Patrick’s memories yielded nothing. This guy’s useless when it comes to common sense. Absolutely no help at all.
As Patrick merely blinked, the merchant continued.
“It’s a valuable ingredient for ordinary people, but to those with mana affinity, it’s essentially a deadly poison.”
“A deadly poison?”
“It causes excruciating pain and eventually strips away all mana affinity.”
“What? Then don’t tell me……! F-Fire!”
Startled by the explanation, Patrick immediately cast magic toward the firewood without even looking.
Whoosh!
Though small, sparks definitely flew.
“……It works?”
“That’s because right after you collapsed, Master Oren had you drink a potion he was carrying.”
In short, they had administered proper emergency treatment.
“So that mushroom really was a Hermit’s Mushroom?”
“Yes. When properly dried and torn along the grain, it becomes like blue threads. That’s the usual way it’s used. The effect depends on how much is inhaled into the lungs. That’s why I thought there wouldn’t be a problem since you’d dried them whole…… I’m sorry.”
Oren was telling the truth. Whether inhaled through the nose or swallowed, the mushroom only took effect once it entered the body. Whole, unbroken mushrooms didn’t show strong potency. Of course, because of that careless handling, Oren had ended up using an entire precious potion—an expensive lesson.
“So, can I sell this? Or is it a banned item……?”
But Patrick’s interest lay elsewhere. He had collapsed, sure, but he’d woken up without any real issues. After nearly fainting every week since arriving on the island, he had grown desensitized.
I’m not sure if getting used to this is a good thing.
Well, whether thanks to the potion or not, his condition was nearly perfect, so he had no complaints. So please, just say what he wanted to hear!
“It’s impossible to sell on the open market.”
“Oh, XX!”
“But the government buys them in bulk.”
“Oh?”
“And they pay quite handsomely.”
“Whoa! Really?”
When Oren casually held up a few fingers, Patrick’s mouth split into a wide grin. He had already leapt out of bed.
“While you were resting, I checked, and there was about half a basket. If you entrust the trading rights to us, we can offer you this much after deducting our commission.”
Patrick nodded at Oren’s offer to take only a small commission from the government’s purchase price.
It’s not like I can leave the island anyway, so there’s no point worrying about the commission.
He briefly considered asking the chief for help but decided against it.
“Um, then, could I use the sale money to buy some goods at a discount?”
“Of course. Since it was partly my fault, I’ll give you a discount.”
Oren turned out to be more conscientious than expected.
He’ll never make it big as a merchant. This is exactly when you should rip someone off to turn a real profit.
Patrick’s assessment was rather different. A wizard with no integrity only ever thought about immediate gains. He was a frog in a well who couldn’t even conceive of a veteran merchant’s “regular customer management know-how.”
“Is there anything you need?”
“Just a moment. Could you take a look and see if I can buy these?”
Anyway, it was now shopping time. Someone once said the most fun thing in the world was spending money.
Mm, mm. They were absolutely right.
Who knew making a shopping list could be this enjoyable! Long live mushrooms.
***
A few days later, a small boat arrived at Dunbrook Island. It had come both to purchase oysters and to deliver goods ordered by the villagers.
“Oh my, thank you for your hard work!”
Normally, he never went near the shore, claiming there was no point since he couldn’t leave anyway and it only made him restless. But today was different. His own shopping items were on that boat.
“Luca, be careful lowering that! Isn’t that my box? Hey, can you hear me?”
“Understood, Teacher!”
Since there was no proper harbor, the goods had to be transferred to a smaller boat. The village’s strong young men had volunteered, while Patrick naturally stood with his hands behind his back, offering commentary.
— Come on, let’s move it quickly!
— Teacher, step aside!
— Yeah, what if you collapse again?
— If you faint on the boat, the cargo will double.
The fortunate thing was that none of the villagers shot him dirty looks for not helping unload the cargo himself.
“Let’s see…… Yes, the quantity matches!”
Instead, Patrick was tasked with inspecting whether the delivered goods were correct and whether the oysters met the required standards. It was originally the chief’s job, as he was good with letters and numbers, but thanks to Patrick taking over, the chief finally had some rare free time.
“Teacher is truly a blessing to our island.”
“Hohoho. At first, when we heard a criminal was being exiled here, we weren’t exactly thrilled.”
“Well, we never imagined someone like him would come.”
The chief exchanged light conversation with Halmae, the island’s eldest, as he watched the cargo being unloaded. A new feeling washed over him. Even though it was still spring, he couldn’t shake the thought that this year might be different from all the ones before.
“By the way, what on earth did that wizard buy to have so many boxes?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”
Halmae clicked her tongue as she watched the eccentric wizard half-hugging his wooden crate, rubbing his face against it.
“I don’t know what it is, but seeing how happy he is, it must be something precious.”
“He’s a wizard from the capital, after all. He must have found many inconveniences living on this island. Haha.”
As the chief said, Dunbrook Island lacked many things Patrick needed—far too many to list.
But out of all of them, this was the most urgent!
Patrick gazed fondly at the largest of his crates.
“Teacher, what did you buy that makes you so happy?”
“Kid, are you curious?”
“Yes.”
“What this teacher bought is…… exactly……”
Patrick crossed his arms dramatically, drawing out the moment.
“Science!”