Chapter 241 240. The Future of Refugees (4K)
"Tree demon!" Seeing something approaching, Vera became a little alert.
The reason why it was only "slightly" was because the three of them were on the sixth floor and naturally knew that ever since the tree demon and Puji had been coexisting, they would often come out of the secret forest, but like Puji, they would not actively attack.
But this time they walked towards them with a clear purpose, and Vera's fingers subconsciously clenched the hilt of the knife.
Unexpectedly, Xilian took the initiative to greet him, his emerald eyes full of surprise.
"There are tree demons here too? And..." He looked closely at the wrinkled bark of the tree demons, "What grows on them are actually mushrooms, not the common moss!"
One of the taller tree demons stretched out its gnarled branches and gently wrapped them around Xirian's wrist as if testing it.
Vera's heart tightened: "Hey, is everything okay?"
"It's okay, it's okay." Xilian closed his eyes, his long eyelashes trembling slightly, and a very light emerald green halo seemed to ripple around him. After a moment, he opened his eyes and looked at the three tense people. "They are asking for help."
"Can druids communicate with monsters like this?" Fei Ling said in disbelief.
"It's a small talent given by our elven blood," Xilian explained. "When we open our hearts to each other, we can sense simple emotional fluctuations. We can do it with some degree of ease."
Several tree demons completed the "contact" and slowly turned around. Xi Rui'an followed without hesitation: "Would you like to come and see it together?"
"Could it be a trap?" Vera muttered to himself, but he had already followed. He couldn't let Sirion go alone.
Xilian said: "I don't sense any bad intentions, but it's not wrong to be cautious. Be alert on the road!"
Led by the tree demon, they passed through the cursed and desolate dead land and came to the other side of the sixth floor where they survived.
With the tree demon clearing the way, the few people passed through a deep path covered by dense vegetation and arrived at the end.
Standing at the entrance of the secret forest, Vera looked at the tree roots and the mycelium growing around them, and couldn't help but smack her lips: "I've heard that there is a secret forest where tree demons live deep in the sixth floor, but I didn't expect the entrance to be hidden so deep!"
Not long into the secret forest, the tree demons stopped and pointed forward with their branches. Without further communication, everyone immediately understood why they were so anxious - there were several demon trees on the verge of dying.
Xilian frowned slightly, his eyes swept over the roots covered with wet mud and the traces of freshly turned soil around them, and then thought about the scorched earth outside, and he had a rough guess in his mind.
Xilian muttered quietly: "The migration method is too rough..."
He said no more, placed his hands gently on the trunk of the sick demon tree, chanted a spell, and the emerald green light from his palms slowly flowed into the veins of the demon tree.
Wherever the light reaches, the gray color on the bark seems to be washed away by water, revealing the vitality hidden inside.
Seeing the effect, Xi Ruiyan smiled.
Vera on the side had a strange look on his face. His eyes moved away from the vibrant demon tree and subconsciously glanced at the other demon trees in the secret forest. Then he penetrated the shadows of the trees and saw the vast scorched earth ruins outside.
Are there more things to do?
——
Everything that happened on the sixth floor was naturally perceived by a certain green mushroom.
Lin Jun’s biggest impression is: Natural magic is truly a treasure!
Ripening and healing, looking at the effects, I seem to be particularly friendly to the mushroom system, and I feel that it is more suitable for me than magic of other attributes!
However, I have never seen a human with natural magic skills, so I don’t know if this is exclusive to elves. I will ask Aidin later.
If you want to use natural magic, one needs to decompose the skills, and two needs to learn the corresponding spells.
But now it seems that the natural spells used by this elf are all related to chanting!
Using voice...?
What's more, the chanting is in the Elvish language which I can't understand at all. Do I have to start learning a new language again?
Write this matter down on the "to-do list" deep in your consciousness. In addition to this natural magic, abyss magic is also something Lin Jun wants to get in touch with.
Unfortunately, ever since the initial glimpse at the port, I have never encountered a user since. It seems to be a very unpopular magic.
Lin Jun has never stopped studying magic. He has read through all the more than ten magic books and has basically learned all the spells recorded in them.
They were all low-level spells and not that difficult. However, due to the variety of spells he had learned, apart from the most convenient Mire Spell, which could barely reach the passing line of fast casting for adventurer mages, Lin Jun had only dabbled in the rest of the spells and remained at the level of "knowing how to cast".
However, Lin Jun is different from the mage. If the mage is slow in casting spells, he will be killed by the sudden attack. The worst that can happen to Lin Jun is to use a magic puff.
…
In a blink of an eye, several days passed, and Vera and his companions now had to run back and forth every day.
Every day, he first helps to regulate the demon tree, and then rushes to the barren land after the curse, awakening the dormant vitality of the earth little by little. All these tasks can only be done by the elf Xi Rui'an alone.
Feiyin's acceleration spell can still be used when traveling, but Vera and Feiling can't help at all and become completely idle.
The two felt bad for watching the elves busy, so they took the initiative to take on the "logistics" work, hunting long-tusked wild boars with firm meat in the intact areas of the sixth floor, or collecting honey secreted by some plant monsters to add to everyone's meals.
Several people are now living in the secret forest of the tree demon. They are safe. Food is provided by Puji. There is enough mushroom soup, but if they want to eat something different, they have to rely on themselves.
While the four were busy below, the situation on the surface gradually changed.
…
On Fal's side, the expected collapse of the dungeon has not yet occurred, and the heavy pressure of reality is pressing forward step by step. He has no choice but to organize people to return to the dungeon entrance, observe the situation in the dungeon, and collect mushrooms at the same time.
However, when the guild's gathering team finally arrived at their destination, they were completely dumbfounded by the scene before them - the mushrooms were too popular!
As the first batch of brave adventurers sold mushrooms in the city for a large sum of money, the tempting news spread like wildfire, instantly igniting the hearts of all those around who were eager for wealth.
So what if the dungeon is on the verge of collapse and could collapse at any time?
I didn't enter the dungeon, I was just picking mushrooms on the outskirts. If there was any sign of trouble, I would run away!
Besides, you may not be the unlucky one. You may come back with a full load of mushrooms just one moment, and the mushroom collapses the next moment.
The risk of the dungeon collapsing is invisible and intangible, but the gold coins earned from picking mushrooms are real!
Driven by the craze of "seeking wealth and honor through danger", more and more adventurers, like sharks smelling blood, flocked in and joined the mushroom gold rush.
Adventurers are not all there are. In this difficult time when food is scarce everywhere, refugees are also attracted by this no-cost business. They bring their families, carrying tattered backpacks and baskets, and join in.
So, when the collection team organized by the guild arrived, what they saw were numerous speculators and fungal mats that had been visited over and over again.
Not to mention the mature mushrooms, even those small finger-sized mushrooms that had just emerged were pinched off early by those with sharp eyes and quick hands and stuffed into their containers.
On the one hand, the guild sent more people to join the battle for mushrooms; on the other hand, they reluctantly took out some materials stored in the guild warehouse and exchanged them for mushrooms in the hands of others through barter.
This kind of transaction would have been like giving it away for free two months ago, but now, Fal can only put on a deadpan face and let Mirabelle make the exchange!
For adventurers, this exchange would not allow them to earn more, but it saved time in transporting goods to cities farther away, so most of them were happy to do it.
But this is not a long-term solution.
Inside the guild tent, Farr solemnly handed a wax-sealed envelope to Aidin: "Aidin, I'm sorry, this time... I have to ask you to be the lobbyist."
Aidin took the envelope. He knew what was inside; Farr had told him.
There is a food shortage everywhere now, and a war has begun with the demons. All food and fodder are supplied to the army first. In this situation, even if the noble lords in the surrounding cities have stored food, it is almost impossible for them to open their granaries to provide relief to the refugees.
The mushrooms near the underground city are the last hope for these refugees.
But Far didn't dare to release the refugees directly to pick mushrooms on their own. If he did that, this place would surely become a hell of the survival of the fittest.
What's more, even now, the trampling of these adventurers and a small number of refugees has already destroyed the fungal mats in some places, reducing the output a lot.
Farr wanted to be in charge, but the guild lacked the power to enforce many things.
So he needs the help of the St. Clair family to gain the right to manage!
Although the dungeon does not belong to the Duke's family, the Dumb Wind Town, the land surrounding the entrance, is the undisputed fiefdom of the Duke's family.
According to legal principles, all the output from this land theoretically belongs to the Duke.
Of course, having said that, in peacetime no noble would be foolish enough to use this hated right, which is completely thankless.
But now is obviously a special period, not to mention that Miss Inanna, the daughter of the Duke, also owns the King of Puji. With these two factors combined, it is tenable in every sense to claim that this fungal blanket and its output belong to the Duke's family.
As long as he can convince Miss Inanna to support him and then obtain the Duke's approval, and grant him the power to manage the collection and distribution of mushrooms on behalf of the Duke's Palace, the refugees' food crisis will be temporarily alleviated.
However, he also remembered that Miss Inanna seemed to dislike him, and Aidin, with his friendship with Miss Inanna and his flexible mind, became the only lobbyist in Farr's eyes who could accomplish this difficult task.
The reason why Far said sorry to Aidin was because it was not a good thing.
If he succeeded, he would just save a group of insignificant refugees, but he would cut off other people's financial resources, which would inevitably lead to the resentment of the adventurers. This resentment would probably be shared equally between the Duke's family and himself as the branch president.
To put it cruelly, in the context of food shortage, reducing the "redundant" low-value population is a cruel but effective solution.
Being a lobbyist for a goal with almost no practical benefits, Far knew that he was really putting Edin in a difficult position.
He only hoped that Aidin could use his friendship to persuade the Duke's daughter, and then let Miss Inanna obtain his father's consent.
Holding the letter, Aidin looked at Farr and nodded.
The president has done his best for these refugees who have no connection with him.
Aidin asked himself, he was the kind of person who would help someone in distress if he met one on the road, but he would never put himself under tremendous pressure for the survival of a stranger like Farr did.
If he were the one presiding over the guild, he would have probably accepted the reality of "being unable to afford it" and pushed the refugee problem to the lord or let it fend for itself.
Although he couldn't do that, it didn't stop him from respecting the white-haired young president in front of him. No one doesn't want to have more "good people" around him.
As for the letter...
Aidin jumped on his horse and rode away from the noisy and chaotic camp. But he did not go directly to the Duke's manor. Instead, he gently pulled the reins, turned the horse's head, and went around an area where sparse mycelium had spread.
I should report this to the boss first...
…
Um?
The information coming from his consciousness made Lin Jun's thoughts pause slightly.
Manage the fungal creep? Save the refugees?
After receiving the report from Aidin, he did not stop him, but let him continue delivering the letter and complete Far's mission.
Lin Jun himself has a nonchalant attitude towards letting the Adventurer's Guild manage the mushrooms produced by the fungal mat.
In the context of such large-scale food shortage, the outward expansion of the fungal mat is an inevitable trend, and it will spread regardless of whether there is anyone managing it or not.
However, saving the refugees was exactly what Lin Jun wanted.
The reason for such expectation is, of course, mainly because Green Mushroom is kind-hearted.
As for the fact that most of the refugees are relatively blank slates and have more "transformation potential" and "future value" than those experienced adventurers... those are just trivial and secondary considerations.
Since both parties unexpectedly reached the same goal of "saving people", Lin Jun didn't mind helping out, even though the guild leader Farr had some minor unpleasantness with him before...
As his mind turned, Lin Jun's attention shifted to the knight Puji in the Duke's Mansion.
Sure enough, Inanna was still the same as usual, carrying Puji with her wherever she went.
At this moment, the luxurious and spacious bathhouse in the Duke's Mansion was filled with steam.
Inanna was sitting by the smooth pool, holding a muddy cat tightly in her arms. She was carefully wiping its round body with a soft sponge, trying to turn it back to its original white color.
On her left sat a few pussies that had been wiped clean, and on her right sat several equally dusty little fellows, who, under her command, lined up to wait for the cleaning service from the Duke's daughter.
Today she took the Poojis to hunt in her own woods again, so when they came back, they all turned into mud balls.
Except for the knight, none of these Pujis have the ability to [adapt to underwater]. One of them died the first time (although it was resurrected later). Now Inanna can only clean them one by one like this.
Normally, this kind of work could be left to the maid, but Inanna enjoyed doing it.
Suddenly, Inanna stopped wiping. She tilted her head in confusion, and the wet ends of her hair stuck to her cheeks.
Just now... I thought I heard the boss calling me?!
"Inanna!" Lin Jun repeated it during the connection.
"It's really the Boss!" A surprised smile instantly broke out on the girl's face, but then she asked in confusion, "Boss, how did you contact me? There is obviously no mycelium nearby!" She subconsciously looked around the misty bathroom.
"I'm talking to you through Knight Puji. Let's not talk about this for now. You still remember Aidin, right? He will soon..." Lin Jun gave a brief explanation and was ready to get to the point, explaining the refugee situation and Aidin's upcoming visit.
However, Inanna's attention had obviously been completely diverted, and she didn't hear a word of what Lin Jun said afterwards.
At this moment, she stared blankly at the knight on her lap, and all she could think about was: Since the boss could talk to me through the knight...then why didn't he say anything for so long? Huh?
(End of this chapter)
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