I reached out to Kaori via Hummingbird first. Since I had mentioned the Matsutake to her earlier and she had seemed eager to try some, I figured I should share the bounty.
Her shop was supposed to be closed for its regular holiday today, so I made sure to check if it was a bad time before heading over. She replied instantly, telling me it was no problem at all, and we made arrangements to meet at her shop at 10:00.
The wooden box Alice gave me held about ten mushrooms; that seemed like a reasonable amount for a gift.
"You know, why not just wholesale them to Kaori-san so she can use them in her set meals?" Alice suggested.
"That’s not a bad idea... Short of having someone like you with an infinite stomach dispose of them, eating ten thousand mushrooms is a tall order. Letting a restaurant take some off my hands would be perfect. But... is that even allowed?"
"Even if the bonus amount was ridiculous, you did pay Lanza for them, Kaito-san. There's no problem with wholesaling them elsewhere. Besides, the Spirits of the Spear-branch Tree aren't particularly exclusionary; they’re more the isolationist type who are simply indifferent to anything outside their own domain. They couldn't care less what happens to the Spear Mush once it's shipped."
"Oh, they're that type... It’s hard to imagine given Lanza-san’s personality, but come to think of it, the idea of enjoying food as a luxury didn't seem to occur to them until I pointed it out. They had no intention of joining the World King’s faction until they met Camellia-san, so if you say they have no interest in the outside world, I can see that..."
The Winged Race, for example, tended to be exclusionary—they were reluctant to associate with other races, kept their trading to a minimum, and generally barred outsiders from their village. In contrast, the Spirits of the Spear-branch Tree seemed to possess virtually no interest in anything beyond their own borders.
Lanza had only joined the World King’s faction and begun interacting with the world after meeting Camellia; before that, her people had apparently remained within their own territory for tens of thousands of years. For better or worse, they were a race whose lives were almost entirely self-contained.
Just to be safe, I sent a follow-up Hummingbird to Lanza regarding the wholesale idea. "This isn't definite, but if the opportunity arises, would it be alright if I passed some of the Spear Mush along to others?"
The reply was instantaneous. "No problem at all! The Spear Mush I gave you belongs to you now, Kaito-san. You are free to do whatever you wish with them!!"
The characters in the message were ridiculously large. I wondered if she’d poured extra magic power into it just to increase the font size. She really was an incredibly high-energy person.
"...Well, it looks like you’ve secured a supply of Spear Mush even outside of harvest season from now on, Kaito-san."
"...Eh? Why?"
"Want to hear why?"
"I do, but why did you pull out a wine glass?"
"Well, you see, Kaito-san is building weird flags unconsciously again, and Alice-chan just can't stop laughing."
I felt a twinge of dread as I watched Alice pull out a wine glass and sip from it with obvious delight. If it were something that would actually harm me, she would have stopped me beforehand, so it probably wasn't anything dangerous. However, given my track record... I had likely done something "good, but bizarre" yet again.
"...Kaito-san, you gave Lanza some of Canaris-san’s Delicious Water, right?"
"I—I did, but..."
"To you, that's just tasty water, but to a Spirit, it’s practically an addictive nectar. To put it in terms you’ll understand, it’s like handing a cup of Glorious Tea to someone who’s only ever drank the cheap stuff from a tea bag."
"...In—In other words?"
"Your standing with the Spirit Race was already ridiculously high, and then you went and gave them a perfect gift like that. The affection levels from the Spirits of the Spear-branch Tree are going to skyrocket. Honestly, even if you showed up at their home next month out of the blue, they’d probably give you a grand welcome."
"..."
I see. It was true that there was no downside for me. It simply meant my standing with the Spirits of the Spear-branch Tree would soar, and if I wanted Spear Mush in the future, I could potentially get them even out of season by offering Canaris-san's water in exchange.
But the real issue was that the situation was already absurd. I’d bought a hundred mushrooms and received nine thousand nine hundred as a bonus. I’d only ever met Lanza, yet I felt as though my favorability was already through the roof. And now it was going to get even higher?
"...Maybe next time it’ll be a hundred thousand mushrooms~"
As I watched Alice giggle happily over her wine, my expression turned complicated. It was certainly nice to be liked, but... I couldn't shake a growing sense of dread.
Serious-senpai: And so his favorability with the entire Spirit Race increases yet again... Give it a rest. There are already more than enough spirits sending you romantic glances as it is. Stop harvesting so much affection!