Initiation Ceremony

With Oath City, its capital, at the center, the United Kingdom linked four other major cities and eight fortresses from northeast to southwest into a single whole, establishing a defensive system known as the "New Defense Line."

Now, with the strength of the entire nation and aid from the Elves, the main body of the New Defense Line had already been completed. Only the sections at either end were still under urgent construction.

On the inner side of the southwestern corner of the New Defense Line, among a gently sloping woodland far from the cities, a small cluster of Mushroom Houses had appeared.

The tall Mushroom Houses were connected by bridges woven from Mycelium. Nearly a hundred refugees lived in this tiny settlement.

There were several more Mushroom Forests like this in the nearby wilderness, all created by the Great Mushroom Charity—or rather, by the Mushroom Envoys of the Mushroom Worship Cult—for refugees with nowhere to go.

Will was one of the residents here.

When the Demon Race attacked, he had unfortunately run into a Monster while fleeing. He lost his dominant right arm and became a cripple.

That left him unable to find work in the city. In the war-torn years of the past, a refugee like him, missing his right arm, far from home, and with no one to help him, most likely would not have survived a single winter.

But this time was different.

Fungal Carpets had appeared all across the kingdom, and the endless supply of mushrooms allowed even a one-armed man like him to easily fill his stomach.

Because of that, he had always scoffed at those people who preached that the Fungal Carpets carried hidden dangers.

Without the Fungal Carpets, he would starve to death in a week. Who cared about some risk that