Mushroom Lord in the Underground City-Chapter 325 - 317: Nightmare (Bonus - )

The cool morning sunlight silently creeps through the window, slicing the room into a silent tableau of light and shadow.

Inanna was already awake.

She curled up at the head of the bed, her chin gently leaning on her knees, her arms wrapped around her shins, like a young beast trying to guard itself.

She was still savoring the fragments of last night’s dream: a grand ball, a cold touch, and the hollow under the pink hair that made her heart pound.

The Pukis surged forward one after another, separating her from the woman, completely blocking the door.

The whole dream ended like a play with a strong start but a weak finish, amid chaos.

Inanna didn’t understand. Although her memory of her mother was already blurred, in her impression, her mother was a gentle presence who would call her to the bedside and gently stroke her hair when she cried.

Why did the mother in the dream become so frightening?

After cuddling the Knight Puki for quite a while, Inanna finally regained her spirits.

"Miss Inanna, Mr. Edin is already waiting outside." The maid’s gentle voice called from outside the door.

Today is the day of the city wall completion ceremony. As the nominal host here, Inanna had to attend.

Inanna hugged the Knight Puki and walked out of the house. Edin, dressed in an exquisite noble attire, was waiting outside. Together, they headed towards the north gate.

When they arrived, there was already a crowd gathering under the city tower. For many people, the rise of this city was the fruit of their labor, and they shared in the honor of this moment.

Fa’er stood atop the towering city wall, using amplifying magic, delivering a passionate and stirring speech, with the crowd below responding with bursts of enthusiastic cheers.

Everyone was immersed in this fervent atmosphere, except Inanna, who found the ceremony lengthy and dull.

Fortunately, she didn’t need to say anything, just stand there to certify Fa’er’s new position as the temporary City Lord.

Fa’er’s contribution to the construction of the new city was evident to all. Although Inanna herself felt the Pukis contributed more, the position of City Lord could never fall to a Puki no matter what.

Inanna herself wouldn’t bother with managing affairs. She didn’t want to, so leaving the position of new City Lord to Fa’er was the best.

Regarding this matter, Eric had already asked the Duke and obtained the decision-making authority.

And the reason it was "temporary" was because there was no precedent for a Branch President of the Adventurer’s Guild also serving as a City Lord.

In other words, the fact that a Branch President forcibly developed a small town into a city in less than a year was unprecedented.

If it were peacetime, the higher-ups might summon Fa’er, grant him a noble title, and relieve him of his Branch President duties to appoint others.

But right now, they were still at war, and rashly replacing the Branch President could lead to conflicts or issues affecting the food supply, which would be undesirable.

Therefore, all procedural matters were postponed, allowing Fa’er to hold both positions and oversee everything as "temporary City Lord."

At the end of the speech, Fa’er announced the city’s new name—Mushroom City!

Actually, he originally wanted a rather elegant name, "Bodekrai," meaning "Land of Abundance."

However, Miss Inanna casually mentioned, "Isn’t Mushroom City nice?" and it was decided smoothly and logically.

This name was naturally the result of Lin Jun whispering to the Pink Puki beforehand.

And for Fa’er, the name of the city was not more important than the support of the Duke’s Daughter, so of course, he wouldn’t dampen Inanna’s enthusiasm, as long as it wasn’t something as outrageous as "Shanghai."

Fa’er spoke on the city wall about the various meanings of "Mushroom City," and finally, amidst the enthusiastic cheers, concluded his speech.

The crowd gradually dispersed, and the guards officially took their posts, guarding the city gates.

From now on, all newcomers would undergo inspection, registration, and pay the city entry tax. From now on, Mushroom City was going to operate according to the rules of a city!

Of course, the setup of various Magic Arrays was still behind schedule and would take one or two more months.

A traveling merchant from afar presented his guild proof and identification documents, meticulously inspected by the guards. After paying the city entry fee, he finally entered the legendary new city where even the streams were said to be sprinkled with mushrooms.

Leading his horse, he proceeded unhurriedly with the crowd, his eyes busy scanning the shop signs on both sides of the street, muttering under his breath: "Puki’s House... Puki’s House... No rush to make contact, but better find the place."

...

That night, the Pink Puki had a nightmare.

In the dream, humans lit fierce flames, turning the mushroom fields into scorched earth in the firelight.

The Puki Masters drove the enslaved Pukis to frantically attack the Mushroom Garden.

And the Pukis in the Mushroom Garden fought desperately, entangled in melee with the invaders near the staircase entrance.

Inanna wanted to rush out to stop the humans, or simply help the Pukis resist the invasion, but the Pukis around her tightly held her back, pushing her into the Mushroom House, signaling for her to hide.

In the distance, explosions, clashes of weapons, and cries of anger intertwined, relentlessly pounding her eardrums.

In the dream, she couldn’t understand why people would do such things.

Clearly, mushrooms spared them from hunger, and the Pukis always showed the greatest goodwill towards humans, so why must they be utterly eradicated?

At the end of the dream, the sounds of battle gradually subsided. She mustered the courage to step out of the Mushroom House, only to find the Knight Puki that always guarded the door and wouldn’t let her out was nowhere to be seen.

She searched frantically, and finally, on that fierce battlefield at the stairway entrance, she saw it lying silently on a small hill of piled Puki and human corpses, unable to respond to her anymore.

Tears flowed uncontrollably as she rushed forward, tightly hugging the lifeless body of Knight Puki, sobbing uncontrollably.

...

Suddenly awakened.

Before her was the familiar room, not the Mushroom Garden. She quickly sensed the connection with Knight Puki was still clear, and it lay well in her arms.

"It was a dream... just a dream." Inanna hugged the Puki in her arms tighter, yet tears continued to slide from the corners of her eyes.

She slowly calmed her breathing.

That night, although "mother’s" true appearance was frightening, Inanna wasn’t too scared, didn’t consider it a nightmare, just a strange dream.

But today was undoubtedly a genuine nightmare, and she still struggled to soothe the sadness in her heart.

Since she started dreaming of her mother, everything in the dream seemed to start becoming strange.

Inanna thought of Eric’s reminder: if she had a nightmare, she should tell him immediately.

She remembered her mother and the effect of the Beautiful Dream Flower, a fear lingering in her heart.

Was this a disease?

Would she, like her mother, become gradually weakened by recurring nightmares and eventually pass away early?

Inanna didn’t want to die, she really liked her current life, and wanted to continue living like this with the Pukis.

She should tell Eric... but once she did, Eric would surely take her back to the Duke’s Mansion.

More importantly, if this really was a disease, it might not be curable!

Otherwise, her mother wouldn’t have passed away like that back then.

"What should I do..." Inanna pressed closer to the Knight, seemingly seeking solace.

Much later, while performing the ultimate move "Sunstone Illumination" on the comatose Xiao Lan, Lin Jun received Pink Puki’s pitiful plea: "Boss... I, I might be dying!"