I Just Traded in the Forest of Monsters, but the World Changed - Chapter 34

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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 34
The violet mist of Greenhale, a forest of monsters, was gradually thinning.
Morning sunlight streamed long and thin through the gaps in the clearing.
Se Hui sat beneath her parasol, repeatedly opening and closing her Inventory window.
Her fingertips flicked through empty air a few times more, meaninglessly.
Each time the window appeared or vanished, her gaze wavered with it.
It wasn’t that she had anything she needed to buy.
Her hand had simply drifted that way on its own.
‘Spicy Chicken Sauce is selling so well—I bought fifteen bottles. It should be fine, right?’
She bit gently at the inside of her lip.
The inventory numbers surfaced in her mind again, unbidden.
Just then, Choco’s ears perked up at her feet.
“Huh? What is it?”
Instead of answering, Choco sniffed the air and gazed toward the forest.
Her tail stilled mid-sweep across the ground.
‘No one’s arrived yet.’
As that thought crossed her mind, she heard Cassian murmuring to himself.
“Seems there’s an outsider about.”
“What?”
“It’s nothing.”
Cassian brushed it off, but Se Hui had heard him clearly.
‘An outsider? Could it be… a customer?’
Her heart sank with a thud.
She was flustered that they’d arrived so soon.
‘But who’s coming, exactly?’
She still couldn’t say for certain who it was.
* * *
In a tavern at the lower edge of Greenhale forest, where mercenaries gathered.
Even in daylight, every table was packed.
The sounds of clinking glasses, raised voices, and laughter tangled together from all corners.
Spilled drink cascaded down the tables, and someone wiped it away roughly with his elbow.
The distinctive reek of mercenary sweat pressed down on the air.
It hadn’t been long since Bargas had taken his seat.
A voice drifted over from the next table.
“Hey, you hear about that? Word is there’s a place selling food inside Greenhale forest now.”
“Inside Greenhale forest?”
“Yeah. Ramen or something—never seen food like it before. People say once you eat it, you can’t forget it.”
“Who’s spreading that nonsense.”
“Some Red Fang boys went through and were talking about it at a drinking session.”
Bargas’s eyebrow twitched slightly.
The glass in his hand tilted infinitesimally, then straightened again.
‘How dare they run their mouths.’
“Really? Business actually works in that monster forest?”
“Apparently it’s not just working—monsters eat there alongside customers, or something like that.”
“Come on, that can’t be real.”
“Hell if I know. But I’d be curious to see it for myself.”
Laughter erupted from the table.
Bargas lowered his gaze to his glass.
‘It’s already spread.’
He clicked his tongue silently.
How long had it been since they’d left the forest?
It was then.
“Captain, are you really just going to leave that place alone, like that woman said?”
The subordinate across from him tapped the table with his finger as he spoke.
It was Krog, one of the younger mercenaries.
His eyes burned with discontent.
Bargas didn’t answer.
“Nobles and merchants have already started moving, sir.”
Krog’s voice rose.
“Shouldn’t we have struck first?”
Other mercenary bands had already caught the scent of Greenhale Forest and begun to stir.
“Besides, you already know all the routes, and you’re acquainted with the woman who runs the place.”
At those words, another mercenary standing beside Krog spoke up.
“If you’re acquainted with her, won’t negotiations be harder? We’d be far better than some noble you’ve never met.”
“That’s right!”
Krog chimed in agreement.
“Since the captain went there himself, if we just talk it through—”
Bargas pressed his fingers to his temple as if nursing a headache.
“Be quiet for now.”
The men had only just fallen silent before one of them opened his mouth again, but a gruff voice cut through first.
“To be honest, something about that woman doesn’t sit right with me.”
It was a member who’d been sitting quietly in the corner.
A wound still raw and unhealed marked his forearm.
“I still remember what happened when we went the first time and let our guard down—that strange sauce she pulled on us.”
“Yeah, that red stuff.”
“It’s something you eat, but who knew it could be used like that? Not even a weapon.”
Stifled laughter rippled through the gathered mercenaries.
Bargas said nothing.
‘Even if we hadn’t let our guard down, it would’ve ended the same.’
The thought passed silently through his mind.
Their collapse before the Spicy Chicken Sauce wasn’t born of carelessness.
The weapon itself was simply different.
It was the kind against which there was no counter.
‘Neither blade nor sorcery.’
That was the problem.
“Then why——”
“Sit down.”
At Bargas’s words, his subordinate fell silent.
Bargas lifted his drinking cup.
He took a slow sip and set it back down.
Across the table sat four more Red Fang members.
Each bore a different expression.
Some had eyes alight with agreement; others were gauging Bargas’s reaction.
“I won’t lie—it does feel like a waste.”
This time it was the stockier man seated to Bargas’s left.
“It’s a monster forest. If we just made regular runs through there, we’d be earning steadily.”
The men began adding their voices one by one.
“That’s right. We could make money just escorting nobles through.”
“How many other mercenary bands even know the route?”
Bargas listened to the conversation while keeping his eyes fixed on his cup.
The face of that woman holding the ramen pot came to mind—standing there so calmly.
That bearing, unchanged even as monsters closed in around her.
And the words he’d spoken when they left.
‘I said we’d come again, but.’
“Captain.”
A subordinate called to him then.
Bargas slowly raised his head.
“A woman running a shop alone in the heart of a monster forest. And on good terms with the monsters, no less.”
“Which is exactly why it’s suspicious, isn’t it?”
“It’s not suspicious.”
Bargas paused for a moment.
“There’s something there.”
The table fell quiet.
“If we went back in right now, with nobles in tow, what would happen?”
“The Duke’s house wouldn’t stand for it.”
“Right. Cassian del Valera holds the Permit Authority over that forest. We’d gain nothing by kicking up trouble there.”
The stockier man folded his arms and muttered.
“So we just watch from the sidelines?”
“Not watch.”
Bargas lifted his cup again.
“I’m waiting.”
“For what?”
“For the right moment.”
Bargas set down his glass and rose from his seat.
“That’s enough for tonight.”
“Sir?”
“Drink up. A commission came in today.”
The guild members stirred with interest.
Bargas walked toward the tavern door without breaking stride, speaking as he went.
“Don’t touch the Greenhale forest. Not until I make my move.”
No one answered, but Bargas deemed that sufficient.
* * *
Se Hui was just about to ask Cassian what this was all about.
Then a branch snapped somewhere in the forest.
Crackle—
It wasn’t the sound of a single person.
When Choco slowly got to his feet, Se Hui rose as well.
The Order had already shifted into a defensive stance some time ago.
The first to emerge from the forest was a middle-aged man.
Deep purple robes caught the eye, embroidered with golden thread.
The fabric alone spoke of considerable wealth.
Behind him came two figures who looked like attendants, and beside them walked another person carrying luggage.
“Hold on a moment, please.”
The man standing beside the luggage-bearer reached out toward the middle-aged man.
Old leather gloves were wrapped around his wrist.
“We should scout ahead from here.”
“I paid you well enough for this.”
The nobleman tried not to break his stride.
“Which is precisely why I’m saying it.”
The mercenary shifted slightly, blocking his path with his body.
It wasn’t polite, but he showed no sign of backing down.
“This is a monster forest. There’s no telling what might jump out, so please stay behind for now.”
The middle-aged man looked down at the mercenary once.
Displeasure was plain on his face, but he eventually stepped back half a pace.
His servants crowded in close behind him.
The mercenary swept his gaze slowly across the clearing.
‘What in the world?’
Strange items lay scattered about.
And standing before them was a woman.
The mercenary turned to nod back at his employer.
“Move aside.”
The middle-aged man shoved past the mercenary’s shoulder and walked forward.
“Hey, wait—tsk, what’s all this? Nothing special, really—”
The nobleman’s gaze swept across the clearing and suddenly froze.
A man sitting quietly with his arms folded.
Cassian’s position, exactly.
“Ah—no! Y-Your Grace Duke Valère, what are you doing here!?”
The color drained from the middle-aged man’s face.
“Ha.”
At those words, Cassian let out a soft, mirthless laugh.
“I said anyone could enter here, didn’t I?”
The clearing fell silent in an instant.
Cassian held all the permits for entry to Greenhale forest.
Those who had been following stopped one by one at the edge of the clearing.
The nobles further back, unable to see the situation clearly, craned their necks forward.
“What’s the matter?”
“Why have we stopped?”
One of the nobles mounted on horseback, looking about in confusion, turned his gaze forward.
And went rigid.

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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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