Dungeon? This Tree? Why Don't You Join Me for Lunch? (Dungeon Core) Chapter 6: We need a supply line!

I could say many things about the Forest of Forget--Nots. That it was beautiful. That the field with the forget--nots could steal souls away with its beauty.

But the fact of the matter was that it was a forest, not a farm.

And I, in a rare mont of compassion, had agreed to feed not one, but five tourists.

The news was going to spread. I simply did not have enough food. The last of the flour had gone towards the chicken breasts. I had no cheese, which was a disaster enough, but not the finishing touch.

For I had... no garlic left!

One could say many things about garlic, but the truth of the matter was that it could make everything taste divine. Add a bit of honey and vinegar, so of my dear cow's butter, and you could steal souls, final wills and testants, and bank account information.

There was only one thing I could do, without selling my soul to the humans for food.

I had to go to the gnos.

There was a ti when I believed that the gnos were strange garden ornants. Their lot in life, as I had seen them, during my travels around the world after the death of my tree, was to be pretty, cute, and babysit children.

But these gnos were different.

Not only did they live in a village, which had nothing to do with toys or the idea of a toddler's dream ho, but they also had farms.

Mini farms.

Which were basically raised beds which span as far as the eye could see. I knew that I could not fail. If this deal did not go through, then I will need to turn my old girl into a murder dungeon.

I shook my head.

No, she will not allow it. Besides, I am not like that!

There are tis when my nature as a mob gives this strange thought in my mind. A question which cuts deep in .

How many tis must I repeat my mantra, the dark voice which speaks to in a mont of weakness always asks, before I see it as the lie it is?

I shook my head.

I am not like this!

"Are you planning on stealing my cabbage?" I heard a squeaky voice say. The gno was stocky, but still only fifty centiters tall. It was a miracle that he even had a garden.

"Hello, my na is Sylvan!" I offered him my whole hand, instead of just a finger. There was no surer way to end up with sothing pointy in your ankle than to offer just a single finger to a gno as a greeting. "And I would like to arrange for the purchase of your crops!"

The gno looked at my hand, shook it, then waved at .

"Follow," he said so, as if he were leading to my death. I did not fear gnos.

For, I used the last of my apples to make so baked apples. In this dark hour, only the foolish would have co in here without a bribe.

The gnomic houses had hay roofs. I marveled at the wood carvings, each one depicting a plant which the gnos surely grew in their mini farms.

The front lawns were not like those of the humans, neat and ordered, with the grass being cut so rcilessly that I could hear it begging for rcy a mile away.

No, the front lawns of the gnos were like forests. Plants grew where they liked, shared in the sun and shade as they pleased.

I smiled, feeling a warmth in my heart.

These people loved nature. And nature, if one judged by the trees, which were heavy with fruit, loved them back.

"Chief, the nymph wants to talk to you," I was glad that my guide did not want for to enter the small house. Oh, sure, the chief's ho was bigger than the other houses, but I, with my 190 cm, would have never fit through the door.

"Welco, Nymph," the chief reached out. Once more, I offered my whole hand. "What brings you here? Do help yourself to a cherry."

I smiled, taking a single white cherry from the tree next to the door of the house. Soon, I was closing my eyes and just letting the juices bring to Nirvana.

Oh, the jam I could make with this treasure...

"I would like for you to supply with food," I said, as I opened my eyes. "I can pay. Both with mana, and with gold."

For I was of the mind to charge the tourists for the food. I did not run a charity, but a nature conservation effort.

"Gold? Can one eat gold?" The chief asked, snorting. "But mana... we can do plenty with mana."

My fingers twitched. Oh, that was not good. How was I supposed to gather enough mana to pay for all the food?

"I..." I began, but the chief was already waving a stately gno over.

"One hundred points of mana per one hundred kilograms of food," the chief said, finality in his voice.

"Does it matter what type of food?" If I was going to be taking off moss from my old girl, I had to secure the best possible ingredients for my cooking!

"No. Did you not see what we have as you ca to my house? We produce enough food to feed a city! But no one wants to buy from us. No. As soon as we say we have food, they want to steal it! Just last week, a giant ca and took last year's harvest! We need mana, Nymph, for without it, we can't power our barrier!"

I nodded, feeling glad that by giving them the moss, I will help protect them. But sothing bothered .

Once the barrier was in place, it could keep out as well. What if the gnos raised their prices? What if they decided to stop sending food during the busiest days of the tourist season?

But I had no choice.

I needed the food. Needed it to save a life. Perhaps even hundreds of lives, for I knew that the tourists would spread the news.

I signed the contracts.

The gnos piled up enough food to feed an army into a bottomless bag and sent on my way.

And now... I needed to collect 1,000 mana points in 3 days, or the gnos were going to stop supplying .

But my old girl had only 300 mana stored in her moss...