This Dungeon Grew Mushrooms

“Boss, I’ll take three bottles of Dream of the Stars! Hurry, please!”

“Do you still have any Moonshadow Blessing Potions? Any left?”

“Boss Dylan, I’ve been waiting forever!”

The Puji House had just opened for the day when a huge crowd rushed in, all shouting for different potions, so much that Dylan could hardly keep up. It was rather unusual.

The Puji House’s potions included several special elven formulas that couldn’t be replaced by any human alchemy, so adventurers who needed them always came no matter the price. Business was steady—sometimes even booming.

But it had never been like this before, with people piling in like old ladies fighting over eggs, nearly breaking the door down.

The reason was the news from the western front: the western territories had been ravaged by the Demon Race, and even Three Mountains City was on the brink of falling.

Bianca struggled to push through the crowd, picking up a maid puji so it wouldn’t get trampled to death.

But soon, even she was lost in the crush of bodies, barely able to hold space for herself and the little puji.

A warrior in armor brushed past behind her, his hard shoulder plate slamming into the back of her head.

Just as Bianca stumbled forward, a strong hand caught her shoulder firmly.

“You alright, little clerk?” Veyra, wearing light armor, stood behind her, using his arm to shield her and the puji while forcing open a small space in the crowd.

“Th-thank you, Veyra.” Bianca recognized him instantly—he was a frequent customer of the Puji House.

Dylan had also noticed the commotion. He raised his voice and shouted, “Stop crowding! Everything’s sold out! You’ll crush my staff at this rate!”

“What? Sold out already?”

“It’s gone here too?”

Amidst the disappointed murmuring, the crowd slowly dispersed.

Dylan finally had time to thank Veyra. “Thanks for that.”

“No big deal,” Veyra replied casually. Then, glancing at the empty potion shelves, he sighed a little and started toward the door.

Dylan called after him, “Hey, what were you looking for? Whisperer’s Brew?”

Veyra’s eyes brightened. “Yeah! And the Verdant Whisper Potion!”

Dylan rummaged under the counter and produced two bottles of each. “This is all I’ve got left.”

“That’s plenty!” Veyra counted out silver coins quickly and tucked the potions carefully into his belt pouch.

“Heading west, aren’t you?” Dylan asked suddenly.

“Why do you say that?”

“Right now, people stockpiling potions are either fleeing east or marching west to fight demons,” Dylan said while straightening the messy counter. “And you don’t look like the running type.”

Veyra nodded slightly. “The demon raiding force has withdrawn, but scattered groups are still roaming and destroying villages. We adventurers can’t change the war, but we can at least handle small packs of demons.”

“Be careful,” Dylan said seriously, finding the young man rather likable. “Keep an eye on the situation in Three Mountains City. Don’t throw your life away.”

Veyra waved a hand and left the Puji House.

Dylan’s warning was simple enough—Three Mountains City was the last fortress holding back the demons on the western line. If it fell, the entire western region of the United Kingdom would have to be abandoned.

When that happened, adventurers like Veyra would need to retreat immediately to survive.

Leaving the shop, Veyra walked down the gravel street toward the Adventurers’ Guild, where he’d agreed to meet his teammates.

As he passed the “Lucky Coin” casino, a commotion broke out nearby.

Two figures were thrown out roughly, landing hard on the ground.

One, a stranger, was slapping himself across the face, muttering “I deserve to die, I deserve it” over and over like a madman.

The other, however, was a familiar face—

“Please! At least give me my puji back!” Horn clung desperately to the casino bouncer’s leg, sobbing uncontrollably. “I swear I’ll pay the debt as soon as I earn it back!”

The bouncer kicked him off impatiently. “You lost it, it’s gone! Go borrow money from your drinking buddies if you want it back!”

Veyra turned his head away, quickened his pace, and walked past.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to help Horn—but helping him now would mean forcing him to quit gambling, and Veyra didn’t have time for that. All he could do was silently wish him luck.

The Adventurers’ Guild entrance was crowded as always.

A new recruitment notice for Puji Masters had drawn a large crowd.

The notice was printed in bold lettering, offering generous benefits and stamped with an official seal.

Veyra found his teammates nearby.

He had bought the potions, Fein had picked up some spellcasting tools, and Sirian shrugged sheepishly—he’d been swarmed by male adventurers hitting on him and hadn’t managed to grab any potions at all.

Just then, Phylline came out of the guild building, waving a parchment excitedly. “Perfect timing! There’s a mission to escort a batch of pujis to Gold Valley City!”

Because the pujis produced through the Mycelium Carpet carried high random variation, even though they could be raised locally on the frontlines, the fully functional and standardized ones—suitable for coordinated command—had to be transported from the rear.

It was clearly an official assignment.

After showing them the mission scroll, Phylline suddenly remembered something. “Oh, right—I wanted to ask Lord Aiden about his friend’s name, but the staff said he already left for the frontlines.”

Veyra nodded, a little disappointed to have missed him again, but understanding completely.

In times like these, everyone was doing what they could. No one wanted to just sit and watch the Empire’s iron legions crush the United Kingdom.

“Did you ask which direction he went? Maybe near Gold Valley?”

“No, they said Redstone City.”

“Redstone… I think that’s—”

“That’s the city the Silverthorn Squad captured. It’s south of Three Mountains City, with a fortress in between,” Phylline replied.

Fein added quietly, “Now that I think about it, ‘winning a city’—in these chaotic times—doesn’t even sound like good news anymore.”

The world had changed too fast. Who could have foreseen it?

The group fell silent, packing their gear in thoughtful quiet, preparing for their next journey.

…

Meanwhile, in the Redstone City lord’s mansion.

The Silverthorn Squad’s captain, Nova, respectfully welcomed Aiden into his office.

The honor wasn’t merely because Aiden was Diamond-ranked, but because this time, he came as a special envoy of Duke’s daughter, Lady Inanna.

As soon as they sat down, Aiden pulled out a small magical device engraved with intricate runes and activated it in front of Nova.

Nova looked puzzled but didn’t stop him.

Wisps of silver-gray mist flowed from the artifact, spreading along the walls until the entire room was shrouded in a faint, shifting fog.

“The Veil of Mist,” Aiden explained. “It completely blocks external detection.”

That only deepened Nova’s confusion. “So… Lady Inanna sent you here for… what purpose exactly?”

Aiden met his gaze directly, speaking each word slowly and clearly. “For the Heartwood Core—the divine relic fragment in your possession.”

“You…!”