I Became the Keeper of a Suspicious Forest - Chapter 74

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 74

As soon as morning broke, Ponia opened her eyes and looked at something with a serious expression.

“Hmm….”

She spread a large map on the desk and examined it carefully.

Around the cabin marked with a triangle, there were countless circles and X marks.

This was information she had steadily gathered over three months of patrolling.

Even combining all the marks made by previous forest keepers wouldn’t amount to half of what Ponia had marked.

Ponia looked at those marks with pride.

‘All of this will help Sionel when he goes on his subjugation later.’

Perhaps the map could be completed even faster than in the novel.

She had two more months left as a forest keeper.

She didn’t know when Sionel would return to the capital, but as long as he was in the forest, they could spend time together completely alone.

Things she couldn’t do in the capital because of other people’s watchful eyes, she could do freely here, and since she lived in the same house as Sionel, no one could interfere with them.

“Hehe.”

Thinking of Sionel made her smile naturally.

She was remembering their date from the previous day.

Confirming each other’s feelings and becoming lovers felt like a dream – the fact that they could do anything together.

Ponia touched her lips and smiled.

For an expression of someone thinking about their lover, it looked scheming and mischievous, but there was no one there to tell her that.

“What are you doing?”

Just then, Sionel appeared behind her.

Having just woken up, Sionel rested his chin on her head.

‘This is what happiness feels like!’

Suppressing the feeling like she might float away, Ponia spoke calmly.

“Your body has fully recovered too. After you leave, I’ll have to patrol alone, so I was thinking about where to go.”

“…You’re sending me away and staying here alone?”

His voice, which had been drowsy, suddenly dropped low. However, Ponia was in such a good mood that she didn’t notice his condition.

Instead, she added fuel to the fire.

“Oh, Chad will be here though. I can patrol with him.”

Chad still had to do repair work on the first floor warehouse, so he would probably stay for about the duration of her contract.

With Chad’s strength, she wouldn’t be afraid of facing monsters either.

‘Or not?’

Chad was supposed to become Sionel’s right-hand man in the future, so leaving the forest together seemed to follow the novel’s progression.

Although the plot seemed likely to change a lot because of Ponia, the major developments had to be followed.

While Ponia was lost in thought, Sionel turned her around. Then he declared firmly.

“No.”

“What?”

“I won’t return to the capital without you.”

Ponia’s eyes widened. Seeing her reaction, Sionel frowned.

“Why are you reacting like that? I have no intention of leaving you alone in this dangerous forest.”

“I wouldn’t be alone though. Chad is here too.”

“I definitely won’t leave you with that guy either.”

“…But I have no intention of leaving until I complete my contract period?”

“Then I’ll stay until then too.”

“…”

“Come out of here with me.”

Sionel gave his answer easily, but Ponia couldn’t accept it so readily. It wasn’t such a simple matter.

‘That won’t work?’

She didn’t know exactly when he would take revenge on his uncle.

But knowing Sionel’s personality, as soon as his body recovered, he would have left the forest to prepare for revenge against his uncle.

That’s why she had been asking about his physical condition from time to time.

Wasting time meaninglessly like this might be fine for now, but they might pay the price later.

The further they strayed from the novel’s original progression, the higher the probability that Sionel’s revenge would fail.

Just as Ponia was about to voice her opposition again.

Knock knock.

It was the sound of knocking on the cabin door.

Ponia and Sionel simultaneously looked toward the door.

“Did Chad come back?”

They had been thinking he might return today or tomorrow, as it had been a week since he left the forest.

Ponia moved toward the door.

Knock knock.

“Is anyone there?”

However, she stopped walking at the deep voice that came from outside the door.

It wasn’t Chad’s voice.

Sionel immediately moved to her side and drew his dagger.

“Isn’t anyone home?”

The polite voice continued to call for someone.

“Stay here. I’ll handle this.”

While Sionel approached the door, Ponia thought carefully.

‘Somehow that voice sounds familiar…’

But she couldn’t pinpoint exactly who it was.

While Ponia pondered, Sionel moved close to the door. Then he unlocked it.

The door began to open.

Ponia, who had been standing inside behind Sionel, couldn’t contain her uneasiness and poked her head out.

And then she realized the identity of the sense of déjà vu she had been feeling all along.

“Huh? Jerome?”

It was Jerome, the forest guide who had led Ponia to the cabin on her first day entering Mirban Forest.

At the same time, Jerome also spotted Ponia and opened his mouth wide.

“You…”

Without time for a pleasant reunion, Ponia saw Sionel behind Jerome.

He was raising his dagger toward Jerome.

Sionel didn’t know Jerome.

Ponia reached out in horror.

“Don’t!”

But the blade was already heading toward Jerome.

‘Too late!’

Ponia squeezed her eyes shut.

Thud.

A dull sound hit the ground. It must be Jerome.

“…”

Ponia couldn’t bear to look at the scene before her and stood frozen in place, then finally opened her eyes.

Jerome was lying on the ground with his eyes closed. She knelt down to check Jerome’s condition.

“…”

Jerome was breathing regularly with soft snores. He appeared to be sleeping. Not a single wound was visible.

“Haah…”

Relieved but confused, she immediately looked at Sionel, who was also looking at her with questioning eyes.

Sionel was holding the dagger by its handle with a short grip. Just before the blade touched Jerome, he had changed the direction of his hand to knock him unconscious.

As Ponia was about to open her mouth to explain, she heard movement from behind the door.

“…Hic! Hiccup!”

A young man who appeared to be Jerome’s companion covered his mouth. He looked back and forth between Ponia and Sionel with frightened eyes.

A man holding a dagger after attacking, and a woman checking the breathing of a fallen man.

It was the perfect situation for the man to misunderstand.

“Uh…”

Ponia gently raised both hands.

In this situation, there was only one thing she could say.

“Don’t misunderstand. We’re not bad people.”

Please believe us.

* * *

They caught the man who was about to run away immediately and barely managed to calm him down.

Fortunately, Jerome woke up before the misunderstanding could grow any worse.

The first words Jerome said upon seeing Ponia were these:

“You were alive?”

What kind of thing is that to say.

Ponia narrowed her eyes.

“That sounds exactly like you naturally assumed I would die.”

“….”

“Then, coming only after 3 months was also because you naturally thought I was dead and took your time?”

“…It wasn’t exactly like that.”

Jerome cleverly avoided her eyes.

‘Not really. That’s right.’

Jerome cleared his throat several times, then looked at the person standing beside Ponia.

“Who is this person?”

Jerome’s gaze was full of hostility and wariness. It couldn’t be helped.

“Ah, well, you see….”

Ponia smiled awkwardly and looked at Sionel.

Sionel had cloth wrapped around his face. The only thing that could identify him were his eyes.

Just in case Jerome might recognize Sionel’s face, they had disguised him. For reference, the idea had been Ponia’s.

“I met him by chance in the forest, and he said he had nowhere to go.”

“What happened to his face?”

“He was badly injured in the face, so he covers it when he goes around…?”

Jerome’s eyes sharpened at the clumsy excuse.

“Bringing an outsider into the forest would be a contract violation.”

Ponia hastily added her words.

“I didn’t bring him in! This person accidentally! came in. His injuries were severe, so he’s only been staying in the cabin! He’s only been in the cabin since entering the forest. Right?”

Ponia poked Sionel in the ribs. He silently nodded his head. It seemed better not to reveal his voice either.

Ponia emphasized that Sionel didn’t know about the forest’s monster. That was the most important thing to Jerome.

Jerome sighed as if he had a headache. Ponia didn’t miss the opportunity and pointed to the other person who had been holding their breath in the room.

“So who did you bring? Don’t tell me you brought a new forest keeper?”

Even though they had only had a brief encounter, wasn’t it too much to find a new candidate without even checking if the existing forest keeper was doing well?

Jerome jumped up.

“No! Didn’t I say before that I would bring a repairman? It was harder than expected to find a repairman, so I brought someone with difficulty from another village. But things got complicated along the way, so I was delayed.”

Jerome looked around the interior of the cabin with confused eyes.

“But the cabin has become completely different from before.”

Ponia found something strange in his words.

“You brought a repairman? You already sent a repairman. You said you had other business in the capital and would come later.”

That’s why Chad had come.

“Chad definitely said that, right?”

“Chad?”

Jerome thought for a moment, then hastily spoke.

“Don’t tell me you mean Chad Moreau?”

“That’s right.”

At Ponia’s confirmation, Jerome’s expression darkened.

Suddenly, Ponia had an intuition.

That something she knew would change completely with the next words Jerome would utter.

Jerome’s mouth slowly opened.

“I met someone named Chad Moreau in a nearby village. When I said I was looking for a repairman, he said he would do it.”

“….”

“And I refused him.”

It was the moment when everything Ponia had known about Chad disappeared.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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