I Just Traded in the Forest of Monsters, but the World Changed - Chapter 36

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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 36
‘Why isn’t anyone coming forward?’
Se Hui took another sip of yogurt, scanning the nobles gathered before her.
She could see them murmuring, but no one stepped up.
‘What’s going on?’
A transparent container, pale yellow liquid, and a transparent straw—
‘It’s normal for me, but to these people it must just look like some strange object.’
It was only natural they wouldn’t know what it was just by looking.
One nobleman whispered something to the person next to him.
The merchants were still muttering among themselves.
Everyone was watching.
They weren’t disinterested.
But no one raised their hand first.
‘Fine.’
Se Hui gripped the yogurt in one hand and stepped forward toward the assembled nobles.
“Would anyone like to taste it?”
A brief silence fell.
The nobles exchanged glances.
Being the first to step forward was a matter of pride.
No matter how curious, for a noble to reach out and accept food first would be beneath their station.
The one who broke that silence was, surprisingly, the middle-aged nobleman who had been standing in the front row the whole time.
He adjusted the collar of his purple coat and took a step forward.
“……I’ll have a look.”
His tone suggested he was merely examining it.
Se Hui pulled out a fresh yogurt, inserted the straw, and handed it to him.
Behind them, Choco drifted leisurely through the crowd.
The nobleman took the yogurt and stared at it for a long moment.
He turned it over, held it up to the light.
“So you drink this…… this way?”
“Yes, sir. Just drink it through the straw.”
The nobleman hesitated for a moment, then brought the straw to his lips.
……
His expression froze.
Se Hui wondered, in that instant, if something had gone wrong.
But that wasn’t it.
The nobleman’s eyes slowly widened, and the wrinkles that had been furrowed between his brows began to smooth away.
“What is…… what is this?”
He brought the straw to his lips again.
This time he didn’t think—he just drank.
The moment the sweetness touched his tongue, his mind went white for an instant before sharpening again.
His hand didn’t stop moving.
Before the thought to drink came the overwhelming feeling that he couldn’t stop.
His voice trembled slightly.
“There’s a sweetness like this?”
He took another sip.
At first he sipped carefully, but at some point the straw never left his lips.
“But this is…….”
The nobleman couldn’t finish his sentence, stumbling slightly.
His attendant quickly grabbed his arm in alarm.
“My Lord, are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I’m fine, but——”
The nobleman shook off his attendant’s hand and barely steadied himself.
“It feels like my brain is being washed away.”
The words tumbled out almost as a murmur.
Erasmus, watching from a distance, stroked his beard.
“Hmm……. The reaction is more intense than I anticipated.”
The other nobles watching began to stir more restlessly.
“Look at Solte’s expression.”
“Is it really that remarkable?”
“And him of all people, abandoning his dignity like that.”
“……Quite so.”
The nobles glanced at one another, then at Se Hui.
Se Hui stood in silence, holding the yogurt.
“Let me have a look as well.”
A second nobleman stepped forward.
The moment Se Hui handed one over, a third noble reached out his hand.
“Me too.”
“Hmm……, why not.”
It happened in an instant.
The people who had been anxiously watching their dignity just moments before began forming a line.
Se Hui suppressed a laugh and distributed the yogurts one by one.
‘Just need one to break, and the rest follow.’
Se Hui quickly checked what remained.
‘This should be enough.’
She’d gotten the reaction she needed from the opening.
“Everything up to this point is complimentary.”
Silence fell around her.
“……Complimentary?”
Se Hui smiled easily.
“From here on, it’s three silver coins per bottle.”
A brief pause stretched out.
Then someone immediately produced a gold coin.
“Mine first.”
“Do you take gold coins in place of silver?”
“I’ll take two.”
[Currency Exchange Alert]
Detected: 1 Empire Gold Coin, 9 Silver Coins
Converted: 1,900 Points
Commission (20%): -380 Points
Final Acquisition: 1,520 Points
‘Excellent!’
Points were accumulating, if not in large quantities.
The nobles who had received the yogurt each showed their own reaction.
“To think something like this fit inside such a small container.”
One nobleman held an empty bottle up to the sunlight, murmuring to himself.
“It’s as if the earth’s own sweetness has been compressed, wouldn’t you say?”
“Indeed. It feels concentrated, yet not overwhelmingly heavy.”
“The tartness comes first, and then the sweetness follows after…….”
The nobles began exchanging impressions with one another.
Those who had frowned at Solte’s behavior only moments before were now holding yogurt bottles and discussing them in earnest.
The merchants were not idle either.
One of them carefully raised his hand.
“Might we taste this as well?”
“Of course.”
Se Hui distributed one to each of the merchants.
Unlike the nobles, the merchants’ eyes held calculation even as they tasted.
Their hands moved across parchment even as they rolled the flavor across their tongues.
“Can you tell us what’s in this?”
“Ah…… that is……”
When Se Hui let her response trail off as if she were troubled, more questions came flying.
“Is it a specialty? Which region do you source it from?”
“Would small quantities be available for trade?”
Se Hui smiled and deflected their questions.
“I’ll tell you more about it later.”
She wasn’t ready to commit to anything just yet.
First, she needed to gauge how much demand there truly was.
Just then, one of the nobles set down his empty bottle and spoke with absolute certainty.
“This is something that can elevate the Empire’s culinary standards to another level.”
“It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it the drink of the gods.”
“Agreed. I can hardly believe something like this existed.”
The moment those words spread, the eyes of the nobles who hadn’t yet received their yogurt gleamed with sudden interest.
Those who had been waiting began to press forward.
“Wait, I haven’t got mine yet!”
“Me too! Just one for me!”
Then a low voice sounded from behind Se Hui.
“Stop.”
It was Cassian.
The feet of those surging forward halted in unison.
Cassian swept his cold gaze slowly across the crowd.
Merely from that look, the temperature in the Clearing seemed to drop a notch.
“Form a line and pay. Do not disturb Se Hui’s business.”
At his words, the nobles exchanged glances and one by one stepped back.
Without anyone needing to decide the order, a line formed in front of Se Hui almost instantaneously.
‘This actually works.’
It was both absurd and remarkable to watch nobles form an orderly queue at a single command.
‘I can’t let this opportunity slip away.’
Se Hui maintained her business smile and handed the next customer their yogurt.
“Next.”
* * *
Se Hui discreetly checked her remaining stock.
‘Not many left.’
Her hand holding the yogurt string paused for a moment.
‘What if I run out?’
Five customers remained.
Se Hui casually opened her inventory.
‘I should buy more.’
The moment her fingers moved, a system window appeared first.
[Low Stock Alert]
Current Yogurt Inventory: 1 string (3 remaining of 5-pack)
Projected Shortage: 2 units
‘The timing on this is impeccable.’
Se Hui clicked without hesitation.
Meanwhile, the atmosphere in the Clearing was subtly shifting.
The merchants who received their yogurt showed a markedly different reaction from the nobles.
The tasting was brief.
The moment they swallowed, their expressions changed.
They seemed genuinely impressed.
One merchant then spoke to Se Hui.
“Does the Magical Beast remain here permanently?”
A nearby merchant answered the question.
“Since it guards its territory, surely it will stay, won’t it?”
“But that wolf—is it really a Magical Beast?”
The merchants’ gazes flicked toward Choco before turning back to the forest.
Choco, as if unconcerned with their attention, merely yawned widely with her chin resting on her front paws.
A merchant pulled out parchment and began writing rapidly.
The merchant’s hand did not stop.
“Rather than what we can sell here—”
Beside him, Erasmus stood with his arms crossed, surveying the Clearing.
Another merchant murmured.
“It’s what we can buy that matters first.”
Se Hui let the conversation pass over her and made a mental note.
‘I’ll need to talk with those people separately later.’
Meanwhile, something else was unfolding among the nobles.
As the nobles who had finished their yogurt huddled in small groups chatting, one merchant quietly slipped into their midst.
“Ah, Count Solte. I noticed you seemed quite interested in this sort of beverage earlier.”
The Count in the purple coat turned his head.
“We’ve just received new merchandise. There are items you’d find useful to keep in stock for your next visit.”
The Count’s eyes wavered.
“What sort of items?”
“Glass Containers, specializing in that trade.”
The merchant twirled the empty bottle lightly between his fingertips and continued speaking.
“I can manufacture a case that’s convenient for storing or transporting bottles of this shape. Custom orders are possible as well.”
As the merchant spoke in a soft, persuasive tone, Se Hui felt the urge to purchase something.
On the opposite side, another merchant had attached himself to a different nobleman.
“If you visit the Monster Forest on a regular basis.”
The merchant lowered his voice and leaned his body slightly toward the nobleman.
“Would you care to take a look at protective Magic Tools as well? We’ve just received a new line with reinforced Magical Energy blocking capabilities.”
“What’s the price range?”
“For a gentleman of your standing, I can offer a special rate…….”
The Clearing in the heart of the Monster Forest was transforming into a marketplace before her eyes.
‘It’s changed quite a lot since the first time I came here.’
Se Hui checked her Yogurt inventory once more.
It was about time to bring out more stock.
The real business was only just beginning.

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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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