I Just Traded in the Forest of Monsters, but the World Changed - Chapter 33

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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 33
Erasmus hooked his finger over the rim of the can the way Se Hee had shown him.
Click—
“Oh.”
A short exclamation escaped him.
He brought his nose to the open edge.
Cold air rose up, carrying the scent of coffee with it.
He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and slowly raised the can to his lips.
One sip.
The Open Ground fell quiet.
The knights naturally turned their attention toward Erasmus.
Everyone seemed curious to see what the Archmage would make of it.
Erasmus said nothing for a long time.
He looked slowly down at the can.
…….
“How is it?”
Rather than answer Se Hee’s question, Erasmus took another sip.
His eyes suddenly widened, as if about to bulge from his skull.
His mouth opened the slightest fraction.
The cold sensation rising through him, the intense sweetness that followed, and the coffee aroma that bloomed a moment later hit his mind like a sharp blow.
“Ah… this is an entirely different realm from instant coffee.”
Se Hee laughed quietly.
Erasmus’s voice trembled ever so faintly—the same way it might have when he first tasted instant coffee.
“Sweet yet light, cold yet possessing a structure that restrains the bitterness.”
“It’s just canned coffee.”
“Just?”
Erasmus looked at her.
“Is this a common item where you come from?”
Se Hee hesitated for a moment.
“…In that place, yes.”
“I truly wish I could visit your homeland at least once.”
“Ha, ha ha……”
Se Hee laughed awkwardly, brushing off the comment.
Then Rowen suddenly stood up from his seat.
He took the can in both hands, held it carefully, and bowed deeply to Se Hee.
“I shall repay this kindness without fail.”
“I’m sorry?”
Se Hee blinked.
“Oh, it’s fine. It was just a gift.”
“No, it was not.”
Rowen appeared quite serious.
“To speak frankly, I have been carrying considerable fatigue since yesterday.”
He paused, choosing his words carefully.
“Between the camping and standing watch through the night, the exhaustion was mounting. Yet with just one sip, it seemed to lift.”
He gazed down at the can.
“These words are spoken on behalf of the Knight Order.”
Then it came.
A low, quiet voice cut in from beside him.
“Rowen.”
It was Cassian.
“Why would you offer to repay this debt?”
Brief silence hung in the air.
Rowen’s expression stiffened almost imperceptibly.
“…I judged that it was not a matter requiring your direct involvement.”
“I make that judgment.”
“But Your Grace, on behalf of the Knight Order—”
“I am the Knight Order’s representative.”
As Cassian’s gaze turned quietly toward Rowen, he fell silent.
Se Hee watched the exchange for a moment, then gently interjected.
“I’m grateful to both of you. You can both share in repaying the favor, if you like.”
Cassian and Rowen both turned to look at Se Hee.
“On behalf of the Knight Order, I speak to you now: if there is anything you require, please tell us, and we shall provide it.”
Se Hee’s eyes swept across the knights standing behind them.
One knight was clutching a canned coffee to his chest, nodding earnestly.
Another had already pressed his palms together, his gaze fixed on Se Hee.
Just as the atmosphere among the knights began to visibly relax.
‘Now’s the moment.’
Se Hee folded her arms quietly across her chest.
“Then.”
Se Hee opened her mouth lightly.
“I’d like to know more about the rumors regarding the Demon Beast Forest. After the nobles were blocked, what happened next?”
In an instant, Rowen’s expression shifted.
Not hardening, exactly—more like tensing with caution.
“When the nobles were blocked from proceeding, the direction of interest changed, my lady.”
“To where?”
Rowen glanced briefly at Cassian, then turned back to Se Hee.
“The Mercenary Band.”
Se Hee’s carefully composed expression cracked slightly.
‘Could it be those mercenaries from last time?’
The face of Vargas surfaced in her mind.
That mercenary company—the ones who had surrendered to the Spicy Chicken Sauce and knelt before the ramen, even saying as they left, “We’ll be sure to come back next time.”
‘Surely those words aren’t coming to fruition like this.’
When Se Hee lifted her head without speaking, Rowen continued his explanation.
“The nobles and merchants realized how difficult it is to obtain permission from the Duke’s household.”
Rowen paused for a moment.
His expression was far from pleasant.
“So they changed tactics. Instead, they began seeking out mercenaries who knew this forest directly.”
“How many?”
“From what I’ve gathered, inquiries have already been made to two mercenary camps. There are likely more.”
Erasmus set down his canned coffee carefully and added quietly.
“It seems they’re referring to where Se Hee is. It pays to be cautious.”
Se Hee fell silent for a moment.
‘Two mercenary camps.’
Those words set her mind spinning.
If inquiries had already been made, it meant they could already be calculating routes.
Se Hee looked down at Choco.
Choco lay at her feet, looking up at her.
“I’ll need to prepare myself.”
Se Hee muttered the words as though thinking aloud.
“Prepare, you say?”
Rowen asked carefully.
“Inventory.”
Se Hee crossed her arms and mentally reviewed her Inventory.
An increase in customers wasn’t a bad thing.
But to receive them without proper preparation would be a betrayal of a merchant’s duty.
‘If they come, I’ll be ready to welcome them.’
It was at that precise moment Se Hee finished her mental calculations.
The knights began shuffling toward Se Hee, empty cans in hand.
“Um….”
“Do you happen to have more of this?”
“Could we get another can? There’s a knight who didn’t sleep yesterday.”
Se Hee was just reaching toward her Inventory.
A large shadow suddenly cut between them.
It was Cassian.
He stood naturally yet unmistakably between Se Hee and the knights, blocking their path.
The knights looked up at Cassian.
“…Your Grace?”
Cassian called out to Se Hee instead of answering.
“How much inventory remains?”
Se Hee blinked for a moment, then answered Cassian’s question.
“It’s not plentiful.”
“Then.”
Cassian spoke to the knights.
“Everyone heard me. Refrain from making requests without thought.”
The knights exchanged glances at his words, testing the waters.
“But sir, couldn’t we just have one can……?”
One knight even produced a gold coin and held it out toward Se Hee.
“I’ll pay the full price, I assure you!”
“Denied.”
But at Cassian’s firm refusal, the knights fell silent.
Se Hee watched them for a moment, then opened her Inventory.
“I can spare a little, though.”
She withdrew a few cans.
“That’s all for today.”
Erasmus, observing the scene, turned an empty can slowly in his palm as he spoke.
“Once word spreads that a single sip banishes fatigue——”
He gazed at the can.
“I wonder what this will come to be called.”
“What do you mean?”
Erasmus glanced toward the knights.
A knight cradling the can on his lap, another clutching it with both hands, others tucking theirs into their cloak pockets—he saw them all.
“There will be rumors of a miraculous elixir for recovery from fatigue.”
Erasmus looked at Se Hee.
“Likely coupled with tales of it being contained in this blue metal.”
Se Hee glanced at Erasmus, then at the knights.
Two of them were studying the empty can’s surface with grave intensity.
‘What are they doing.’
One even wiped away the last droplet of condensation from the can with his finger and licked it.
“It’s not a miraculous elixir. It’s just Canned Coffee.”
Se Hee said it firmly, but the knights tilted their heads and looked at each other.
“Yet the body’s reaction to it is hardly ordinary, if I may say so.”
“The fatigue fades because it tastes sweet. There’s sugar in it.”
“Sugar? And how does that make exhaustion vanish?”
Se Hee found the question difficult to answer.
‘I mean, that’s just a blood sugar spike. It’ll wear off soon enough anyway.’
In the end, Se Hee held her tongue.
A new knight carefully lifted the empty can.
“Um, ma’am. What should we do with this container? Should we discard it?”
Se Hee replied offhandedly.
“Just give it to me. I’ll take care of it.”
The new knight’s hand froze.
He looked down at the blue can.
……
He drew it closer to his chest.
“I’m sorry, ma’am.”
“Yes?”
“I find myself unable to part with it.”
Se Hee took a moment to grasp what he meant.
“No, it’s just an empty can.”
“Even so.”
The new knight carefully slipped the can into an inner pocket of his cloak.
He steadied both sides with his fingers so it wouldn’t crease.
Erasmus nodded beside Se Hee.
Every knight who’d received a can was keeping the empty container.
‘Fine. There’s something more pressing right now anyway.’
She crossed her arms again and looked toward one side of the Open Ground.
What the System had told her before came back to mind.
—A potential customer is approaching.
Se Hee slowly brought a can to her lips.
She finished the last sip and quietly gazed down at the empty can.
‘I’ll have to see for myself.’

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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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