The Isolated Marchioness Just Wants to Make a Living - Chapter 19

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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 19

“Probably? I’m not certain, but I think the entire Empire might be in this state.”

The adjutant answered with an uncertain voice.

“Anyway, the Magic Tower seems to think it’s best to wait until summer when the monsters completely disappear. They say operating it would be too risky as it could cause bigger accidents.”

“Can we trust that the monster wave will disappear when summer comes?”

One of the knights beside the adjutant grumbled.

“Isn’t this scale a first in our lifetime?”

“Well… Even so, it’s just a matter of timing and scale. The monsters’ characteristics themselves haven’t changed. Anyway, that’s what the Magic Tower announced.”

Leopold didn’t join the conversation between the adjutant and the knight.

He simply narrowed his eyes.

“Lord Leopold?”

The boy slowly turned his head toward the hill.

His golden eyes keenly gazed into the distance.

“There’s a port over there.”

Though it wasn’t as vast and blue as the Eastern Region’s sea, the Western Region also bordered the sea as it stretched to the edge of the continent.

“Monsters don’t usually appear near the sea, so there’s no need for us to go…”

That’s when it happened.

A wind carrying a peculiar scent swirled around them.

It was the emergency signal that only key figures in the Western Region possessed – ‘Tracking Scent.’

A scent imbued with special magic that couldn’t be detected by enemies’ senses, but could be recognized by Western Knights who had trained for a long time.

Whoever it was, they had certainly sent it to the nearest unit.

“We depart.”

The boy stood up without hesitation.

He didn’t know who it was, but anyone possessing Tracking Scent would surely be someone important.

He couldn’t understand why this important person had come to this corner of the Western Territory, but they had to rescue them nonetheless.

Leopold mounted his horse that had been waiting obediently for him.

He spurred his reins following the Tracking Scent. The Knight Order followed in a rush behind Leopold’s black horse that quickly disappeared into the darkness.

3. Leopold Nogen

‘Wow.’

The Illegal Warp was already set up in the Baron Estate’s garden.

‘As expected, everything was already prepared.’

In the original story, the knights and I all die together by drowning in the sea. The Central Region has no sea, and all Warps had stopped.

Though it was a briefly described passage, I roughly understood the situation.

‘An Illegal Warp was installed, and if the knights followed, it wouldn’t have been far from the Baron Estate, and they let them follow because they could sell them according to their numbers…’

And those who could install Illegal Warps were Dark Mages.

I had heard similar talk at the Capital Academy. Rumors that all the dark mages had fled across the sea to the Sebon Kingdom to escape the Empire’s pursuit.

Originally, I should have already been sold through this warp a month ago.

But it had already been two months.

‘I’ve held out quite a bit longer than in the original story.’

It was natural. There was plenty of food in our territory.

No matter how much the higher-ups blocked trade, the lower-ranking people would barter. We too had been living by sharing things like salt and perilla seeds from Baron Hawin’s house.

When the lower-ranking people obtained food through bartering, it ended up being shared by the higher-ups.

Anyway, we had endured together like that. Though even that was now reaching its limit.

‘And… once we pass through the warp…’

I boarded the warp with Baron Hawin, the knights, the intruders, and even Baron Forman.

Baron Hawin had also brought quite a few knights, telling them to escort him.

The warp shook quite a bit but was bearable. Since illegal warps were technology born from forbidden experiments, they weren’t much affected by monsters.

“Phew…”

At the end of the warp, there was the smell of the sea.

Noisy voices could be heard.

“Wow, another group has arrived!”

“Where, where? Where did they come from this time?”

“Looks like Hawin? That small territory in the Central Region!”

“Well, all the lands in the Central Region are tiny.”

When I opened my eyes that I had closed due to dizziness, a dark port indeed came into view.

As I looked around, people with dark mage markings carved on half their faces came running over.

Those eerie markings could not be erased.

That’s why they couldn’t live mixed among people. They couldn’t hide their identity either. It was also the price for approaching forbidden magic.

Having contacted them once or twice before, Baron Hawin stepped forward skillfully.

“I’ve brought people as promised. You haven’t forgotten that we agreed on one sack of wheat for two people, right?”

What?

I was extremely flustered.

‘Half a sack of wheat per person?’

Then the dark mage immediately waved his hand dismissively.

“No way, no way.”

He cleared his throat and spoke arrogantly.

“That was the story from a few days ago. Lately, many territories have been bringing people, so the price has dropped.”

The gagged intruders had already fallen into panic and were screaming. Of course, nothing could be heard.

They hadn’t thought they would ‘really’ be sold like this.

Suddenly smelling the sea air, it seemed to hit them that they were really going to be sold.

Being sold as experimental subjects to dark mages was one of the most miserable deaths.

The dark mage grinned as if this reaction wasn’t surprising and said.

“Four people for one sack of wheat. That’s the current market rate.”

I let out a deep sigh.

This was truly unbearable.

I stepped forward in front of Baron Hawin and spoke.

“The more I listen, the more outrageous this becomes. Are you people truly human?”

I pointed this out in a cold voice and glared at him.

With everyone looking at me, I raised my chin and protested.

“Where else would you find someone slashing the price in half after just a few days? Make it three people for one sack.”

The dark mage looked at me with suspicious eyes and asked Baron Hawin.

“Who is this young lady?”

I ignored his words and only said what I wanted to say.

“There’s a knight mixed in, and he’s quite sturdy. Can you count one knight as one sack?”

Fortunately, this was the dark mage’s area of interest.

“There’s no such thing. It’s strictly by headcount.”

I scoffed at that standard.

“Then you’d count an old man on the verge of death as a proper one too? How unreasonable.”

Their labor capacity is different, and the amount they eat is different too.

While I was leading the conversation, I could see Baron Forman rustling around in the distance.

They were already surrounded by the dark mages, but it didn’t matter. I had deliberately ordered the knights to tie the rope loosely.

‘Right. This is the Western Region.’

He would definitely release the tracking scent. Then it was obvious that the nearest knight order from the Western Region would come.

‘I suspected it was the western sea from the moment it was described that they boarded a ship.’

Crossing the sea from the Western Region would lead directly to Sebon.

Since intercontinental warp hadn’t been developed yet, ships were absolutely necessary.

‘The Northern Region has glaciers so ships can’t be used, and the southern islands have a curse of sleep so you can’t go there carelessly.’

Just as the Western Region had monsters in its plains, the Eastern Region had monsters appearing in its seas. So there was no way they’d use an eastern port.

Therefore, this illegal warp must be connected to a port in the Western Region!

“So that illegal warp connects to Milfen Port in the Western Region, right?”

“No. It’s Delfoben Port.”

I couldn’t tell which port it actually was, so I just threw out any port name.

I also intended to make Baron Forman keep his mouth shut by mentioning the ‘Western Region.’

Naturally, Baron Hawin fell for my trick and revealed the exact location.

‘I was right after all.’

I absolutely had to take Baron Forman with me. I needed his tracking scent to summon the western knights.

If he hadn’t been hiding outside the door eavesdropping, I would have called for him and brought him along anyway. The situation would have become much more complex and difficult though.

‘But since he’s a former information agent, I expected he wouldn’t miss a night like this.’

He was indeed an old man who worked diligently. He had more than earned his keep in various ways.

‘The plums I gave him for dessert weren’t wasted.’

That was the highest praise I could give.

Now I had to buy time until the nearest western unit arrived.

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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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