Chapter 41

Thank you for the bookmarks and evaluations. This was "The Story of the Pioneer Village and the Forest Hunter."

I will post the next chapter after some time has passed.

---

Physis calls herself a "failure."

Luka tells her that it's not true, but Physis doesn't believe it, so Luka sighs.

Physis's ability is specialized only in "listening."

Luka Michelle, Physis's husband, told Noelle this.

Because Physis has the blessing of the national deity, she can usually go to most places safely. She would take a few guards and casually go to listen to the "stories" of the grasslands and forests. She visited places that caught her attention multiple times.

This is why Physis knew the story of the cursed forest.

Noelle wrote a letter to Physis, who lives in the Michelle estate, explaining the situation and asking what she wanted to know.

Physis's reply arrived ten days later. She had immediately traced her memories after reading Noelle's letter and wrote back.

Physis's response, though sad, was conveyed to Ines.

Ines was the only one who continued to petition the royal palace until the end. The villagers who remained in the pioneer village had no other family. So, in a sense, they remained in the pioneer village.

Since Physis's ability to sense plants is a secret, she wrote down only the relevant parts and handed them over.

She explained, "There is someone who can hear the stories of the tree spirits," and asked Ines to keep it a secret.

Ines couldn't hold back her overflowing tears.

"I knew it.

Marc used the magic tool I made," she muttered and left.

◇◇

From Physis's response, Noelle learned:

Physis had heard the voices and laments of the trees in the cursed forest, which had been exposed to miasma and captured by demons.

She had recorded in her letter the final moments of a hunter who had fled into the forest.

Most of the hunters from Rok village entered the cursed forest with magic tools.

One reason was to slay the demon beasts, but there was another.

If a demon beast that had tasted human flesh attacked the village, it would come back to attack the village.

Therefore, if a hunter realized they couldn't return to the village due to injuries, they would use the attack magic tool.

Ines's magic tools contained a small amount of light magic.

There was a specific way to imbue them.

The materials from plant-type demon beasts with light magic attributes were used for this purpose.

When a hunter realized it was the end, they would use it to commit suicide.

This way, the corpse, wrapped in light magic, wouldn't be eaten by the demon beasts.

Around the time Marc went missing, a hunter came to the cursed forest.

The hunter was severely injured, probably by Dawson and the others.

The hunter spoke to the trees of his homeland as he felt his life slipping away.

He said, "I'm done."

Of the six fellow villagers, two were saved.

The remaining four had become bandits.

There was nothing he could do.

He had a girl he liked, but he could never tell her.

He was twenty years older, and besides, he had overexerted himself hunting in the cursed forest.

He would die much earlier. So, he said nothing.

The hunter said she had beautiful eyes the color of new leaves, and he touched the trunk of a tree, saying that the forest used to sprout leaves of the same color in spring.

Then, the hunter used the magic tool and died.

◇◇

The two hunters saved by Marc were probably somewhere.

The four former Rok village residents were likely killed.

The other two unidentified bodies might be other hunters or traveling merchants.

Noelle had been feeling down lately.

She seemed to have no motivation to do anything other than her work with enchantment magic and spent a lot of time sitting on the sofa.

"Sirius.

The previous queen apparently loved having dresses made," Noelle mumbled absentmindedly.

"That's right," Sirius sat down next to Noelle and stroked her hair.

He had promised to make her happy and protect her for life, but it wasn't going well.

The aftermath of the previous king, who was called the king of calamity, was nothing but tragic.

There were things he couldn't tell Noelle.

If he told her everything, it might break her heart.

"I'll never make another dress," Noelle said.

"Noel, don't say such extreme things.

Dresses aren't to blame.

Neither are the dressmakers."

"If the money to make one dress had been used to send an inspector to the pioneer village, it could have been different."

Sirius hugged Noelle to comfort her.

"But if the queen had the king under her control, the result would have been the same.

Noel, that woman was a scoundrel, but the dressmakers, theater, and jewelers prospered."

Sirius's point was clear, but understanding it intellectually and accepting it emotionally were different.

"Stop talking about it.

It's too hard right now."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize. It's not your fault, and it's already done."

"I'll make sure such tragedies don't happen again.

And I promise to do my best to make the world a better place for our children's generation."

◇◇

Time passed, and Rok village gradually began to recover.

It was actually a beautiful place with scenic views.

The cursed forest was to be managed by the Rivlas and Meres territories.

The materials from the dragon hunted by Captain Roman were used for the reconstruction of Rok village.

Noelle was pregnant with a small life.

A lovely little goddess was born to Prince Jules.

Sariel and Zeraphi's child was named Lucian.

Three years later.

In the royal garden, young children and the consorts were playing.

It was a pleasant day.

The grass was safe to fall on.

"Amalie, look, Odine picked some violets for us," Noelle showed a small flower.

"Noel, Yusei, too. What a cute bouquet.

He'll surely grow up to be a good man, and he'll make women cry," Amalie stroked Yusei's hair and said, "Thank you."

"Ahaha, really?

Odine looks like a fairy of the red roses today.

Hey, Sirius, doesn't red suit Odine?"

Sirius chuckled inwardly but smiled brightly.

"It suits her very well."

"Noel gave it to me," Amalie smiled at Sirius. Amalie, the former female knight, was tall and had a sturdy build, but when she sat quietly, she looked like a delicate woman.

"Noel has a good eye for fashion," he complimented his wife casually.

--- She was so shocked back then.

For a while, Noelle really didn't buy any dresses.

The maids had to work hard to redesign old dresses with lace and frills to make them wearable.

However, when Odine was born and could walk, Noelle quickly gave up her frugal dress lifestyle.

She was now dressing Odine like a doll and enjoying it with Jules's wife, Amalie. Today, Odine's clothes were play clothes, but there were also dresses for children with lace and gold and silver embroidery.

--- Children grow so fast... Noelle earns her own money, though.

Odine was growing up to be somewhat spoiled.

Sirius was a bit worried.

Her father, Jules, also doted on her.

The usually taciturn Jules talked a lot to his daughter.

Jules had despised the previous queen, saying, "She was a truly disgusting woman who made me want to vomit just by looking at her."

He wouldn't spoil his daughter to the point of making her like that, he thought.

Sirius planned to raise his son strictly. He had revived the royal family's imperial education.

Fortunately, Noelle didn't seem to have the hobby of dressing up her son like a doll.

Suddenly, he noticed Odine approaching a small bird.

The bird would probably fly away soon.

The two mothers seemed engrossed in their conversation. Yusei, who was tired from playing, was dozing on his mother's lap.

--- The bird... isn't flying away?

Odine extended her hand to the bird.

The bird gently flew and landed on Odine's palm.

The bird chirped as if it were speaking.

Odine smiled and nodded at the bird.

--- Could it be...?

When Odine raised her small hand, the bird gracefully took off.

"Oh, what a cute bird," Amalie looked up at the bird brightly.

"I should have given it some cake crumbs," Noelle squinted in the sunlight and watched the bird fly away.

The small bird chirped in a delicate voice, singing as it flew into the distance.

Sirius thought, 'There's no need to worry,' as he returned to himself from the moment in the heavenly garden.