Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Silver Forest Rumors
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"Oh?"
Veronica, who had been sitting at the counter at the library entrance, deeply engaged in conversation with a few people, spotted Juliet and widened her eyes.
"Goodness, look at me. Did you enjoy your visit?"
"Yes, thanks to you."
As Juliet smiled and greeted her before heading out of the library, the cluster of people gathered at the entrance waved hello.
"Ah, so you're the lady who came for sightseeing?"
It was a small village, so word spread fast.
Juliet quickly scanned their attire and realized it was the uniform of the trading company she'd seen a lot of at the village square.
True to their friendly nature, the traders struck up a conversation with Juliet, a complete stranger, without hesitation.
"You arrived just in time to see something awful, didn't you?"
"It's not something that happens every day. I hope you weren't hurt?"
Juliet paused for a moment, wondering what they meant, then realized they were referring to her run-in with the pickpocket.
"Oh, yes. I'm fine. Not a scratch."
They introduced themselves as the Water Lily Trading Company. Apparently, they had been in the square at the time of yesterday's incident too.
"If you're heading back to the square, you should wait and ride with us in the cart."
Juliet couldn't find any reason to refuse, so she promptly agreed.
She had wondered what business the traders had at the library, but it turned out they needed a forest map stored there.
'Forest map? Don't trading companies have plenty of their own maps?'
Why come all the way to the library?
Just then, her eyes caught the map the traders were handling.
'Ah...'
The forest map wasn't on paper. A massive topographic model of the forest, carved on wooden panels and pieced together like a puzzle, lay spread out before them.
While the traders disassembled the forest model piece by piece and loaded it onto the cart, Juliet sat at the entrance, browsing the books on display.
Given the region, there was a heavy emphasis on herbology and history books.
Juliet picked out one with the most intriguing title and flipped through it.
In the meantime, the traders and Veronica were having a serious discussion.
"Then that's a serious problem."
"Things are already chaotic with all the slave traders lately. They're rounding up beastkin left and right—"
"Could that be connected to this incident?"
"What does the Grand Duke of Akten say?"
"Have you ever seen the Grand Duke care about something like this?"
"The Silver Forest won't just sit idly by."
"You're talking about Lycanslope?"
...Lycanslope?
Juliet hadn't meant to eavesdrop, but she froze.
*Silver Forest*
It was the title of the very book she was looking at. Juliet flipped through the pages.
There was an illustration of a massive wolf alongside some text. Pursing her lips, she suddenly grew curious.
Roy.
'I wonder if he made it home safely.'
Slavery had been abolished by imperial law.
But in the East, beastkin outnumbered humans by a wide margin. Imperial law didn't extend to those non-human races.
Beastmen were said to mostly harbor hostility toward humans and live in closed-off groups in places like the Silver Forest.
But that very isolation made the forest's inhabitants prime targets.
Humans were always the problem, no matter where you went.
Juliet recalled the wolf chained up and unable to move, clicking her tongue lightly.
'It might not have been just for the thrill of hunting something rare—they could have been capturing it to sell as a slave.'
She vaguely remembered hearing about it during her time in the North.
Among the extravagant, idle rich in the South, there were those who bought up beastkin to use as ornamental slaves.
But Juliet, who had only ever traveled between the capital and the North, had never laid eyes on a beastman before coming East. She couldn't quite picture it.
The one she'd met on the train was the first werewolf she'd ever seen.
She'd passed through two cities since then, but aside from that, she'd only encountered ordinary folk, just like in the capital. It seemed beastkin weren't as common a sight in the East as she'd thought.
Veronica said she could borrow any book she wanted and read it at her leisure, but Juliet decided to come back later and climbed into the traders' cart for now.
The traders exchanged words that were hard for Juliet to follow.
"You're not planning to head that way, are you?"
"Why not?"
"Sigh, the atmosphere around there is no joke right now. Rumors are flying."
"Seems the Lord has changed."
"Suddenly?"
"Then how do we route to Perinas?"
"Our vice-leader was just talking about it yesterday..."
The Water Lily traders sounded worried.
For merchants whose livelihoods depended on distribution networks, figuring out how to navigate around the vast Silver Forest in the heart of the East was clearly a big issue.
"If you were planning to go near Katia, I'd advise against it for now."
The situation seemed graver than expected, as the traders gave Juliet some earnest advice too. Her plans didn't involve visiting the forest anyway.
Juliet nodded lightly and asked about something that had been puzzling her.
"What's a Lord?"
"It's the king of the werewolves."
"Ah."
Juliet made a face like she got it, but the traders explained in more detail.
"Unlike humans, werewolves have long lifespans, so a change in Lord isn't common."
"And that's important?"
"Very. At least in the East, the werewolf Lord has far more claim to the title of king than the Grand Duke of Akten."
"That much?"
Juliet blinked in mild surprise.
Akten was home to the East Gate, the largest city in the region and the old capital of the kingdom.
The Akten family had ruled it for generations—roughly equivalent, in her mind, to the Carlyle Duke's hold over the North.
But with her limited knowledge, it was hard to accept that a non-human king outranked and wielded more influence than the Grand Duke.
"It's because of the Silver Forest."
The traders eagerly explained.
Silver Forest.
'The book title earlier was the same.'
It was the name for the massive forest in the Katia region of the East.
"It'd be nice if we knew the new Lord's temperament."
According to them, the werewolf Lord's influence over the forest folk rivaled that of the Emperor over the Empire.
The forest's stance toward humans apparently shifted depending on how hostile the Lord was.
Naturally, traders who hauled goods over long distances had to stay on high alert about it.
"No idea who the new Lord is?"
"Hard to say. Especially with those stealth hunters on the rise lately. He'll be even more hostile toward humans."
The trader grimaced as he explained.
A few years back, he said, small guilds had started kidnapping young beastkin near the forest and selling them at slave auctions.
So that's how it was.
'Then what I saw...'
Juliet frowned. She finally understood the thugs from the train.
They must have been one of those guilds involved in the illegal trade.
Come to think of it, the chains, the purple sedative in the unidentified cylinder—it all screamed organized crime.
'Got dragged into a mess.'
She didn't regret freeing the pup, but tangling with underworld criminals could get annoying.
Still, Juliet clicked her tongue once and shoved the issue to the back of her mind. She didn't want to dwell on it.
But given the circumstances, she suddenly felt a twinge of guilt over parting with Roy without a proper goodbye.
What if he got caught by bad people again? She was a little worried.
'He was too docile.'
He'd looked young, too. Juliet pictured Roy's face, smiling brightly as he answered her every question promptly.
"We've arrived."
While Juliet mulled over these thoughts, the cart carrying them pulled into the village square.
She thanked them and stepped down.
But after just a few steps...
'......?'
Feeling a sudden unease, Juliet whipped around.
"Hm? What's wrong?"
"No, I just felt like—"
Something like a gaze, from over there.
Juliet walked right up to the corner where she'd sensed the suspicious presence, but there was nothing around.
Strange. Was I just tired and imagining things?
Juliet lightly rubbed the back of her neck.