I Just Traded in the Forest of Monsters, but the World Changed - Chapter 13

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 13
“Ha, hehehe.”
Erasmus clutched at his chest.
The rhythm of his heartbeat had changed.
……
A short distance away, Se Hui watched the scene in quiet stillness.
Arms crossed, her head tilted slightly to one side.
‘Here we go again.’
Se Hui lifted one eyebrow just a fraction.
Minutes ago he’d been the one laying people flat, and now a single cup of coffee had him like this.
She couldn’t imagine they were the same person at all.
Of course, she kept the thought to herself.
‘Getting this serious over a cup of coffee.’
Erasmus finally tore his attention from his examination of the Mix Coffee and looked toward Se Hui as he spoke.
“Listen here—by my standards, this is unmistakably not coffee, but rather the product of alchemy.”
The cup in his hand trembled ever so slightly.
Despite the confidence in his words, his emotions were far from settled.
At that, Se Hui pressed her forehead and fixed Erasmus with an incredulous look.
‘No, wait…’
She’d already told him it was coffee, and he’d watched her make it with his own eyes—she couldn’t fathom why he’d call it alchemy.
“Why would you think that? You just watched me make it.”
Erasmus closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again and spoke slowly.
“You’re right. I did observe the entire process from beginning to end.”
Se Hui found herself at a loss for words.
‘How do you even make coffee differently here? Is there some other way than where I came from?’
“Moreover, the sweetness and roasted aroma stimulate the senses first, and they actually restore the internal Mana Circuit of the body.”
His gaze settled once more on the liquid within the cup.
As if he were only now putting words to every reaction he’d had until that moment.
He nodded, very deliberately.
“That’s when I realized it differed from ordinary coffee.”
Se Hui watched him for a beat, then pressed her lips together, struggling to suppress a laugh, though it leaked out anyway.
Her bewilderment showed plainly on her face.
She shrugged and added,
“In the place where I lived, that’s just how everyone drinks it.”
Erasmus’s eyes narrowed.
“Hmm… then where exactly was this region you’re from?”
Se Hui didn’t answer his question immediately.
“You probably wouldn’t know it even if I told you.”
Se Hui added carefully.
“Silen? Ardium? I’m generally familiar with any region renowned for magical or scholarly advancement.”
“It’s not that kind of place…”
Se Hui’s gaze drifted away.
Instead of answering, she looked elsewhere, evading the question.
“It’s just… far away. It would take a while to explain.”
She said this as if to move past the subject entirely.
Then, with a composed expression, she added,
“Anyway, it really is coffee. Truly.”
Her tone suggested the matter warranted no further examination.
“Coffee, you say? I understand what that is, at least. But this method…”
“It’s just Mix Coffee.”
Se Hui cut him off flatly.
A brief silence fell between them.
……
“Mix Coffee, then.”
Erasmus murmured the words to himself, then released a hollow laugh.
“This is hardly something to call merely coffee.”
He drew the cup close to his chest.
As if handling a sacred relic.
Then a familiar blue window suddenly appeared at the edge of Se Hui’s vision.
Se Hui’s eyes instinctively dropped.
Unlike Erasmus, whose mind was wandering, her gaze remained fixed on the text scrolling before her.
[Congratulations!]
[The combination of sugar and creamer in the Mix Coffee
has restored the Archmage’s Mana Circuit.]
‘Diabetes? Mana Circuit?’
Se Hui blinked helplessly, unable to make sense of what the System was saying.
‘What is this supposed to mean?’
After frowning for a moment, Se Hui finally opened her mouth.
“Hey.”
She spoke toward empty air.
“What are you talking about?”
“……Were you calling me?”
Erasmus’s eyes widened in reflex, and he responded immediately.
“Oh, no.”
Se Hui shook her head quickly, waving her hands in apology.
“That’s not it. It’s just something I do sometimes.”
Erasmus’s eyebrows twitched ever so slightly.
“A habit of talking to empty air?”
“Yes. It’s a habit.”
Se Hui shrugged as if it were nothing.
“Don’t mind it. It’s like talking to myself.”
Erasmus didn’t press further, but his gaze lingered briefly on the empty space.
The exact spot where she had been looking just before.
Se Hui felt too self-conscious with Erasmus present to say anything more to the System.
Unlike Se Hui, who had been startled by Erasmus, the System window gave no further response.
It vanished silently, as if nothing had happened.
Only then did Se Hui turn her attention back to the present.
There was one gaze fixed upon her.
When Erasmus caught her eye, he slowly lowered his head.
“I’ve been so absorbed in the coffee that I forgot my thanks. I won’t forget this kindness.”
“Oh, it’s fine.”
Se Hui replied at once.
“I wasn’t thinking about getting paid for it.”
She glanced down at the cup for a moment.
‘I wasn’t expecting payment for this.’
The reaction just now and the information about Mana recovery had already been more than enough value.
By her standards, she’d already come out ahead.
‘It’s just one cup of coffee.’
At her words, Erasmus’s eyes shifted.
“You don’t take payment?”
“No.”
“For a recovery of this magnitude?”
Se Hui shrugged instead of answering.
“You looked tired, so I just gave it to you. It’s fine.”
At her response, Erasmus fell silent for a moment.
Because you looked tired.
A human who conjured a miracle—the alignment of a Mana Circuit—for no reason other than that.
Erasmus stared at Se Hui without words.
Se Hui didn’t seem to notice his gaze; her attention was already elsewhere.
Erasmus couldn’t shake the thought that this was the same Demon Forest he’d always known.
‘I’ve never heard of such a remarkable place existing here.’
He flexed his hand once, then opened it.
The subtle pain that had coursed through his Mana Circuit had vanished as if it were a lie.
Even after the light had faded, the golden radiance lingered in the air of the tent like a ghost.
Erasmus decided to stop overthinking and turned his gaze elsewhere.
“Hmm…….”
Yet in the center of his vision stood the Paper Cup filled with Mix Coffee.
“Mm.”
Still making indecipherable sounds, Erasmus finally spoke to Se Hui, who held the Paper Cup.
“Strange. I don’t usually act like this, but I’m ashamed to say it—I’m drawn to it again.”
Erasmus paused, choosing his words carefully, and Se Hui lifted her head.
“Yes?”
“Would it be possible to have just one more cup of that beverage?”
Though his Magical Power had already recovered, Erasmus found the sweetness and subtle nutty flavor lingering on his palate, returning to his mind again and again.
‘I can’t stop thinking about the taste.’
Reason told him he’d had enough, yet his tongue continued to crave the coffee’s sweetness.
“This old man’s palate simply won’t let it go.”
Se Hui glanced at the cup, opened her inventory, then looked back at Erasmus.
‘Is it really that delicious?’
From his reactions so far, she’d already sensed that this drink possessed some kind of special property.
‘The System said it recovered something, after all.’
Her mind was already calculating.
‘The cost per serving of Mix Coffee is practically zero.’
But giving it away as a service felt like she’d be losing out bit by bit.
‘Given his reaction, I could probably sell it.’
One cup was one thing, but from the second cup onward, it seemed too wasteful to give away for free.
‘Handing it out as a service indefinitely doesn’t feel right either.’
After deliberating, Se Hui finally spoke.
“Ah, it seems to suit your taste?”
Erasmus hesitated for a moment, then nodded and replied.
“If it’s possible, no—I absolutely must have it every day.”
His expression was unusually grave.
“This is no ordinary beverage. The flow of my Magical Power… it’s being properly aligned.”
His voice trembled with emotion as he continued.
“It’s as though the invisible hand of a god is gently unraveling a tangled knot within me, strand by strand.”
He moved with deliberate care, as if afraid to lose that precious sensation.
Erasmus closed his eyes slowly, examining his body from within as though conducting an inventory, then opened them and breathed out quietly.
“Honestly, this sense of stability is something I haven’t felt in decades.”

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