Let go of that monster girl!

"Don't panic. First, bring over a few pieces of wood, tie some empty wine barrels to the bottom to increase buoyancy, and build a sturdy raft. Don't rush to pile them up."

"Squeak!"

The rat girls howled and rushed upstream to intercept the drifting fungi.

Moren shook his head, then turned and continued to direct the other ratgirls to load the remaining spoils onto the newly built raft in batches, so that it wouldn't sink again.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a wisp of black smoke rising from the roof of a half-collapsed ruin not far away.

Molen followed the smoke and went around two broken walls.

Then I saw several rat girls squatting behind the ruins, around a campfire, roasting fist-sized round mushrooms on skewers over the fire.

The mushroom skin was roasted until slightly charred, emitting a wonderful mushroom aroma.

"These mushrooms are so big, they look delicious."

"It's almost cooked, it's almost cooked, my mouth is watering."

The mushrooms were roasted, and the little rat girls eagerly took bites of them, one skewer at a time.

"Hmm~"

"vomit."

The rat girls vomited one after another.

"It tastes awful."

"How could it taste so bad?"

"Hey, Baron, what brings you here? Oh dear!"

Molen walked over and tapped each mouse on the head.

The rat girls covered their heads, looking aggrieved.

“We didn’t slack off during our rest days; we only picked them to try because they looked delicious.”

Morren withdrew his hand, feigning sternness:

"Don't eat mushrooms from fungal forests indiscriminately. Some varieties will cause a mushroom to grow on your head a few days later if you eat them."

"Squeak! How scary!" The mouse girls huddled together in fear.

After scaring the rat girl, Morren bent down and picked up a string of untouched roasted mushrooms from the campfire.

Light yellow, round and plump, with a smooth and full surface, it looks like a mushroom magnified to the size of a fist.

With its harmless appearance, it even looks rather delicious, and after being roasted, it even emits a faint mushroom aroma.

No wonder the mouse girls are so greedy.

Molen tore off a small piece, put it in his mouth, and chewed it.

Wow, this tastes awful.

It is bland and tasteless, with a crumbly texture, and leaves a slightly astringent aftertaste after swallowing.

It's like chewing on a lump of wet pulp.

Feeding this thing to a giant cargo rat might get you kicked.

Morren frowned, tore off another small piece and put it in his mouth, this time chewing it more slowly and carefully.

Why does this awful taste feel so familiar?

As he chewed, he searched his mind for illustrated information on various fungi in the fungal forest.

Light yellow, round cap, smooth surface without scales, short and thick stem, pale white spores.

I remembered.

Molen swallowed the mushroom bits in his mouth and looked down at the remaining half skewer of grilled mushrooms in his hand.

This is the very batch that the caravan brings every three months, the kind of food that the cooks try their best to salvage but can't, the kind that the rat women rely on for their livelihood but hate to the core:

The taste of dried mushrooms!

It's a nutritious mushroom, a nutritious mushroom that's been monopolized!

Chapter 18 Water and Monster Girls

The cook stood on the high city wall of the low hill, gazing longingly at the endless darkness to the south.

Every moment of waiting felt like an eternity.

Is the young master hungry?

Was he terrified?

Was he injured?

When that red and green flame rose over the southern plains, she was so anxious that she jumped off the city wall, but luckily a rat on guard duty grabbed her by the tail.

The agreed-upon four-day deadline has now passed, but the short expedition team has still not appeared.

Could it be...?

The cook felt a lump in her throat and nervously rubbed the hem of her skirt with both hands.

The city wall was filled with eagerly waiting mouse girls, densely packed together, their round ears all pointing in the same direction.

There seems to be something on the river!

A sharp-eyed mouse suddenly shrieked and pointed her finger into the distance.

On the surface of the Cheese River, one light brown piece of wood slowly floated by.

Following behind were rafts of various sizes, piled high and low with all sorts of goods.

Drifting closer, you can see a large amount of broken wood chips and broken rope ends mixed in the water, scattered here and there.

Bang.

The lead mushroom tree crashed headfirst into the iron gate of the city wall on the river, making a loud clanging sound.

"Open the sluice gates quickly! Open the sluice gates quickly!"

The mouse girls scrambled up the winch in a flurry, while six or seven mice squeaked and screamed as they hung on the winch, kicking their legs desperately.

Rows of rafts filed in, passing through the city walls and fences, and drifted downstream with the current.

The rat girls on the city wall swarmed down, chasing the raft along both banks of the river.

"So many things."

"What's that? A chair? What a beautiful chair."

After a long while, one of the older female mice suddenly slapped her head and shouted:

"Find the pole right now! What's the point of just chasing it?"

"Yes, yes, the fishing hook, the fishing hook is in the warehouse."

Several female mice couldn't wait to find poles and jump into the river with ropes.

Splash! Splash! A string of water droplets flew up.

They pushed the raft toward the shore in waist-deep river water.

Unfortunately, the mouse girls were too small and weak, and were tossed about by the current. Two of them were carried away by the raft.

The closer the cheese river gets to the low hills, the shallower and wider it becomes.

The rafts drifted slowly to the shallows at the bend, with the ones in front running aground first, followed by the ones behind.

They swarmed together, quickly piling up into a crooked dam.

The rat girls who had run to the warehouse returned to the riverbank, panting, carrying the hooks used for hauling logs. When they saw more than a dozen rats still soaking in the water, they almost fainted from anger.

"Are you all idiots? There are still rafts floating behind. If you stay in the river, you'll be crushed."

"Come on up, everyone come on up quickly."

The mouse girls in the water squeaked as they climbed ashore, while the mouse girls on the bank held up their hooks and poles, reaching into the river to drag the stranded raft toward the shore, one stroke at a time.

"Wow, it's a silver coin."

"Hehe, let me handle this cabinet."

There were gasps of surprise, a commotion, and utter chaos.

The cook stood on the city wall, looking at the empty fields outside, the chaotic river channels inside the city walls, and then at the empty fields in the distance.

My heart clenched even tighter.

"Look!"

Suddenly, the rat girl standing on the corner tower of the city wall pointed into the distance and shouted.

At the edge of the dark wilderness, a few dim, yellow lights slowly emerged.

Hearing the commotion, the rat girls who were still playing by the riverbank surged up the city wall in a huge swarm.

"I'm back!"

"They're back!"

Moren, along with his militia rats, carrying long poles, walked along the riverbank.

Like a boatman, he would occasionally poke at the rafts floating in the water to prevent them from getting stuck.

He looked up and saw that the city gates were wide open, and the rat girls were pouring out like a tide.

A pair of familiar white round ears rushed to the front and plunged into Morren's arms.

Before Morren could even get his footing, more rat girls pounced on him, and soon Morren was submerged in a sea of ​​round ears that reached his chest.

Molen was squeezed so tightly he couldn't move, and the squeaking rats carried away his long pole. He could only sigh with a wry smile.

"Sigh, I miss my big bed."

-----------------

Meimei slept in late, while Molun slowly woke up from his ten-square-meter bed, yawned deeply, and touched his chest with lingering fear.

As he put on his clothes, he strolled to the window, pushed open the rickety window, and glanced outside.

It was pitch black as always, and I had no idea how long I had slept.

The glowstone lanterns along the riverbank flickered with light as the mouse girls busied themselves along the waterway, dismantling the stranded rafts and carrying various furniture and miscellaneous items on their heads in several rows of mouse teams, moving them into the warehouse.

A rare moment of peace.

Molen stretched and slowly walked into the restaurant along the broken staircase.

"Young Master, you're awake."

The cook stood smiling to one side, breakfast already laid out on the table, and she looked very energetic.

Molen glanced at the table, looking at the various mushroom dishes, and finally picked up the bowl of mushroom soup that looked the most normal and took a sip.

Ugh, it tastes awful.

"How long have I slept?"

"I only slept for a short while."

Molen put down his soup bowl and casually asked:

"The wood has arrived, has the waterwheel been assembled yet?"

"It's already installed."

Molen's hand trembled, and the soup bowl almost fell onto the table.

How long have I been asleep?!

Not long after.

Under the low mountain.

Molen held up the blueprint and looked at the large wooden object in front of him.

The main body of the waterwheel is made of fungus wood, with a small part obviously pieced together by the carpenter rats using table legs and door panels. Directly below it flows a wide underground river, the water of which is chillingly cold. The river is wide but the current is not rapid.