Chapter 40

Thank you for reading.

I will post again tomorrow at 8 or 9 PM.

Noel gave enchanted magical items to the scout knight who had distinguished himself in the recent investigation of the frontier village.

A shirt with enhanced defensive properties that could be worn under disguising clothes. She also enchanted it with a wind magic to alleviate the summer heat. For winter, she used a warm fire magic instead of wind magic.

The set came in two pieces, but she made an extra set for a change of clothes.

It could deflect a stab from a knife and provide enough defense to prevent a fatal wound from a sword.

She also made small but powerful throwing knives with lightning strikes.

Short boots enchanted with lightning strikes.

She heard that scouts in hiding couldn't openly carry weapons, so they had to use their bodies in combat, which is why she made these.

He was reportedly very pleased, and it felt like her efforts were worthwhile.

Eight sets of human bones were found in the backyard of the village chief's house.

Two of them were believed to be the missing receptionists from the Hunter's Association.

The other six were likely hunters who had worked in the northern forest.

Several people had come to the palace to petition about the village chief.

However, the village chief, Dawson, was associated with the previous queen.

During the time when the previous queen meddled in personnel matters.

The queen's uncle, who had no ability, was the captain of the royal guard. Dawson was a friend of that uncle.

That's why Dawson, who had been arrested for corruption, was pardoned and became the village chief.

For this reason, petitions were not accepted until the queen was confined.

As Noel listened to these stories, clenching her lips, Sirius looked at her with a pained expression and said, "I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing, Sirius?"

"I don't know who to apologize to or what to say; it's so painful."

Sirius said this, but it was probably caused by people who couldn't feel the pain of this event.

After that.

Noel heard testimony from a former villager who had come to the palace to petition. A woman in her late twenties named Ines.

She had beautiful new green eyes and neatly tied chestnut hair. Her medium-height body seemed too thin.

Ines had a face that looked as if she was deeply troubled.

"I'm not a high-level alchemist, but I make attack magic devices for magical beasts," she said, talking about herself.

Ines' family was missing. But she was too scared to go to the frontier village. Her family had also told her never to go there.

Dawson became the village chief and came to the frontier village 7 years ago, but the original village had disappeared about 12 years ago.

The kingdom is complicated.

When the king changes, the country changes.

Ines' village was destroyed by this. It was a small village called Loki.

The previous king ascended the throne, and a beautiful queen was chosen. She was a viscount's daughter but was adopted into a marquis's family and became the queen. Even if such a deception was done, everyone was just amazed when it was reported in the newspaper.

Then, disaster struck the country.

The number of magical beasts increased.

It was clear that someone unsuitable was at the top of the country. This was especially clear in a village next to a forest full of magical beasts.

It was immediately clear from the number of victims among the villagers.

More and more people were abandoning the village, and the population was halved.

Ines' family, including Marc, were also considering what to do.

—Even though they didn't want to go anywhere.

Ines lost her mother in childbirth and her father to a magical beast.

After that, a friend of her father's took her in.

Marc, a strong hunter, was a distant relative of the village chief and had a position in the village. The village chief at that time had no connection to Dawson.

The village was in decline and could no longer function. The number of magical beasts had increased too much.

So they approached the lord of the Rivlas territory and said, "The village can no longer survive."

Loki village was almost on the border, but it was slightly within the Rivlas territory, so they consulted with the Rivlas territory in such cases.

The lord of Rivlas accepted the villagers into his territory.

For the next five years, some of the original villagers occasionally went to the site of the old village to hunt, but it was mostly abandoned.

The forest of evil gradually expanded and swallowed the village.

It was around this time that the knights finally came.

The knight commander, Roman, and his team spent months slaying magical beasts like dragons, and a new frontier village was established on the site of the old village.

This was 7 years ago.

Dawson came.

Dawson was known to the lord of Rivlas, who had gathered information about him.

He was worried that Dawson might not be a good man, but Dawson was friendly to the lord of Rivlas.

About 20 former villagers, including hunters, moved to the frontier village.

After a while, the hunters who had moved there consulted with the lord of Rivlas.

Dawson did not pay the hunters who were culling the magical beasts. The branch of the Hunter's Association had also disappeared. There was nowhere to sell the game they hunted.

The lord of Rivlas told them, "Dawson seems to be an acquaintance of the queen's uncle. If you petition the palace, you will be ignored, and you might even be arrested."

For this reason, half of the hunters in the frontier village returned to the Rivlas territory.

Some of the villagers moved to the capital.

It was then that the incident occurred, Ines said.

It wasn't clear if it was actually an incident.

"The former villagers in the Rivlas territory knew that it was dangerous to petition the palace about Dawson. They heard it from the lord of Rivlas.

But some of the villagers who moved to the capital didn't hear this and petitioned about the frontier village."

When Marc heard this, he was worried and said, "It might be dangerous."

Ines and Marc had moved to the Rivlas territory.

Marc often went to the frontier village and knew that Dawson was dangerous. He also knew that Dawson was gathering troublemakers.

Marc was worried about the villagers in the frontier village.

"If the people of Loki village petition the palace, they might be retaliated against by Dawson."

So Marc rushed to the frontier village.

To warn the hunters in the village that it was dangerous.

"Marc has been missing ever since," Ines said.

Ines had been petitioning since she heard that Sirius had ascended the throne and the previous queen had retired.

Noel's heart ached as she listened to the story.

Sirius felt the same.

So they gathered information. There might be survivors who had escaped from the frontier village. They searched for survivors.

About a month later, they finally found a hunter who said, "We were able to escape because Marc came to help us." They were working in other territories to get away from Dawson.

They were able to talk to them.

"There were about 10 former villagers of Loki village in the frontier village," said a sturdy hunter in his 30s.

"The frontier village wasn't doing any work to burn the forest of evil or cull the magical beasts. It was frustrating.

But eventually, many of the hunters from Loki village didn't care anymore. They still had to survive.

There were a few other jobs in the frontier village besides hunting."

Of the 10 hunters, 6 began working for Dawson, and the remaining 4 continued hunting.

When they hunted magical beasts, they only took materials that would last and sold them to merchants who came to the frontier village. They also transported them to the Rivlas territory. They avoided getting close to Dawson and his men.

Then Marc came.

He heard that the villagers of Loki village might be retaliated against because someone had petitioned the palace.

He quickly searched for his fellow hunters to inform them and escape.

Only 4 of them escaped at that time. The ones who continued hunting.

They no longer had any contact with those working for Dawson.

Marc said, "I'll try to inform the other 6 and tell them to escape into the forest, so they should be fine."

A skilled hunter like Marc should be able to escape through the forest. Dawson and his men couldn't go deep into the forest.

But it has been over a year since then.

From the 8 bodies, 2 were identified as receptionists from the Hunter's Association based on the name tags on their clothes. The remaining 6 might be former villagers of Loki village, or they might not be. Some of the villagers might have been able to escape.

Dawson might have killed others as well.

Ines said she didn't think Marc would lose to Dawson.

Besides, Marc should have been able to easily escape after delivering the message.

Because hunters have a way to signal each other from a distance using bird whistles.

He could call someone, pass on the message, and then escape.

Marc should have been able to do it.

Ines said, "Why hasn't Marc come back?" and left.

Noel suddenly remembered.

—Maybe I can understand.

Recently, Noel had met a woman who could hear the voices of plants.