Lily's point of view


"Huh, that's a pain in the ass. ......

The other day, I was walking down the road with a sigh.
During the meeting the other day, my brother and other lords were concerned about my declining performance.
Well, I know, but to tell you the truth, I'd rather live a slow life.
It wouldn't be safer to only go out on adventures and only as much as you need to, and stay out of the rest.
That makes me a little jealous of Kyou's life.
The life of a self-sufficient monster grower. When you wake up it depends on how you feel that day and when you go to bed it depends on how you feel that day.
Speaking of work, we work in the fields, which is also a way of life, and the demons we grow become our bread and butter. It's rewarding, too.
Maybe that's why I lingered at his place more than I should have, because I sympathized with his life.

However, it's true that his grades have declined recently due to his neglect of Kyou, and I don't want to cause trouble for others, so I want to work on improving his reputation around here.
Is it better to defeat the demons after all?　I don't want to kill monsters unnecessarily.

As I was walking in front of you, I passed a figure coming out of John Freeland.

That was it.

Why is that man here?　While remembering this question, I remembered that the dining room contest is coming up next month, and I was convinced.





"Lily, do you know where the oldest and biggest tree around here is?

Then he asked me in an unusually hot tone of voice, "Old tree?

"Old tree?　Well, there's an ent tree at the bottom of the tree line. I think it's the oldest and largest tree in the region.

"Ent!　That's very promising!　By the way, what about the temperament of an ent?

"Calm. The Ents are more like wizards of the woods than demons. They won't fight back unless we attack. There are many stories of them helping humans who were lost in the woods. No adventurer would dare attack an Ent unless he was in a bad mood.

Above all, they are inedible and, I would add, inedible.
There are many plant-type demons whose roots and fruits are delicious.
The fruits of the killer plant and the mandragora are among them.
But not the ent. There's little to show for it. But.

"I see, not only is it not dangerous, it's preferable. That's increasingly convenient. No!　Lily, take me to the Ent now!

"What?　Now?

Even after hearing that, Kyou is rather motivated to pull me along and go towards the forest.
Did you hear the story?　I told you that the Ents are not edible, and what you can eat is not fruitful.
I'm not sure if there's something there, since this guy's ideas are different from yours, but before I knew it, I was filled with anticipation and curiosity, and before I knew it, I was leading Kyouko to the Ent's location.





I'm going to ask you to do something interesting for me. You're the kind of person who asks for interesting favors. I've lived for a thousand years, but I've never heard of anyone making such a request, alright. Do as you please.

"Thank you!　Dear Ent!

In front of me is a huge living, breathing Ent that laughs with amusement, and Kyou is bowing to it.
I would have listened to Kyou's request along with him, but I'm still not sure what he's asking.
So what can you do?　However, despite my doubts, Kyou is busily working on it.
Eventually, when you're done, you smile confidently at me, still with a question mark on your face.

"Well, we'll see what we can do in a month or less.

That was the number of days it took for the mashable mushroom to mature.





Wow ...... what is this ......?　Is this really Mashable ......?

It smells amazing. I haven't cooked anything yet, but the ingredients themselves smell luxurious!

I'm sure you'll be happy to know that I'm not the only one.
No, but this is really something to be proud of.

I'm glad it worked out, even though the odds of success were 50-50, to be honest. This is probably the world's only premium mash mushroom, the Entotake, not the matsutake!

Ento Bamboo. Yes, he had planted the mash mushroom fungus not in the ent tree, but in the ground near its base.
Mushrooms are mushroom-shaped demons that arise from dead organisms and tree carcasses.
They are beneficial demons created by nature to speed up the decomposition of so-called carcasses.
For this reason, they are basically harmless, although they can grow and act autonomously.
They only have the instinct to fight back in self-defense if they are attacked by humans.
But as said, their role is to promote the carcasses of plants and animals, and the demons that arise from them.
It is often mistakenly believed that mushrooms emerge from the ground, but this is not possible.
So at first I didn't understand why he was burying them in the ground.
After a while, I went to see the ent and found this mushroom growing out of the ground near the base of the mushroom.

I was watching a special on mushrooms when I learned that there are two types of mushrooms: fungi and mycorrhizae. I think all the mash mushrooms in the world are probably fungus. But mushrooms can grow into many different types of mushrooms depending on their environment. I thought maybe mycorrhizal fungi would work too, but you got it right Bingo!



I was using the unfamiliar words fungus and mycorrhizal fungi, but maybe the fungus is a mash mushroom that comes from the carcasses of plants and animals?
That means that mycorrhizal fungi are .

"Remember that matsutake mushrooms are mycorrhizae," I remember from the show. They're called the king of taste, you know?　I honestly thought it was amazing, and it left an impression on me. But anyway, Mina-chan. Cook with it!

Kyou spread the fruits of the killer plant, including entakes, jack-o'-lanterns, devil carrots, cockatrice eggs and meat and plenty of other ingredients on the table.



'Yes!　Yum!　This cockatrice meat in a killer plant fruit sauce, excellent as always!　Best of all, this entree is even better than I thought it would be!

After that, Mina cooked the entree and served it to me as a soup or baked bamboo shoots after a lot of trial and error so as not to spoil its unique flavor.
The taste is much richer than ordinary mashed mushrooms, but the biggest difference is the flavor.
The aroma of the mushrooms made my hungry tummy rumble and the moment I smelled them, I wanted to eat everything served.
In the past, when it comes to food, I've always thought that taste is the most important thing, but I never thought that the stimulation of the sense of smell would change my taste buds as much as it did.
The meat and eggs of the cockatrice you ate before are several times better.

Thank you!　But it's all thanks to Kyou-san!　It's totally comparable to those premium materials anymore!

"Oh, I know!　This confirms the victory at Mina's place, too!

"No.

They were both happy to hear that, but I dared to interrupt them.
Because I know. I know that we'll never win with this.

We'll lose. The next cafeteria tournament. You can't beat him--the gourmet hero.