I didn’t expect it completely, but the fact that Ayla sent all the mansion’s servants away ended up being a big help to me.
Somehow, I was able to bring everyone working inside the mansion over to my side. If the people working here had stayed, I would have had to make a big effort to blend in. The lie about owing the count would also have had to be much more detailed.
It wasn’t that Ayla was particularly lenient, but rather that she doubted me, so she couldn’t dismiss me. There are always people who resort to force if peaceful methods don’t work.
But even though I filled my surroundings with people on my side, there are still people I can’t meet carelessly in front of Ayla.
The hunting grounds right near the mansion.
Deep in there, I met a familiar-faced man after a long time.
“No matter how much I think about it, your face is just too well-known, little brother.”
As I sat on a suitable tree stump and spoke, my younger brother, who was leaning against a nearby tree, chuckled in disbelief.
“Then should I become a woman like you, hyung?”
“I didn’t know you had such refined tastes, but unfortunately, there’s only one Bojoo. Can’t make it again.”
The magic inside it was the work of the forest witch. However, the item that could contain that magic was a relic in itself.
“To think you’d want to become a woman using such a precious thing, hyung, your tastes are truly refined.”
“Do you want to die, little brother?”
“If you charge at me with that body, I’m confident I won’t die.”
“More importantly, hyung. You really should meet our father and mother. Both of them are very curious about your situation.”
“Are they really that curious about the situation of a secluded illegitimate child?”
“You’re not an illegitimate son anymore, you’re an illegitimate daughter now. Other families are the same. An illegitimate son is a competitor, but an illegitimate daughter is a member of the family and could help someday. Of course, father and mother wouldn’t think that way.”
I understand.
The Marquis sometimes sighed deeply while looking at me and my younger brother.
It wasn’t that he disliked our presence, but he did wonder how things would have been if there had just been one more cute youngest daughter, feeling a bit sorry for the desolate, all-male household.
As for mother… she’s always been a bit hard to understand.
She’s a good person, but her way of thinking is a little different from that of other nobles.
She’s kind and good, but sometimes it’s hard to follow her thoughts.
It would be rude not to call her “mother” when she personally bakes bread for a son who isn’t even of her blood.
“I’m afraid to meet her.”
“You’re afraid of something, hyung?”
I stared at my younger brother for a moment before pointing at a tree near him.
“There are a lot of things I’m afraid of in this world. Isn’t that normal? Those who don’t fear tend to die early.”
“If you think too fearfully— Eek!?”
My younger brother, seeing something emerge from behind the tree I pointed to, jumped back in shock.
The head that popped out from behind the tree wasn’t objectively that scary. It looked like a cute elf girl.
But for those who knew its true identity, it would definitely be terrifying.
From behind the tree, Daisy, wearing a maid’s outfit, walked out, followed by a slightly tired-looking apprentice.
Somehow, the expression was brighter than when I first saw her. I knew she hadn’t been getting much sleep, managing the hunting grounds here.
Could the research in the forest have been even more tiring?
“Wh-what, what are you!?”
“Shh. You’ll wake Seila.”
The witch raised one finger to her lips, and my younger brother quickly closed his mouth. Well, at least she had been properly trained.
I had always planned to live as an illegitimate child, and in fact, at one point, I had thought about running away and leaving this country altogether.
But even so, it took a little more time for my younger brother to accept such thoughts.
I couldn’t just say such things to the Marquis, and suddenly having a half-brother, an illegitimate son, popping up meant that my younger brother now had a competitive rival in the family.
It’s quite impressive that my younger brother once followed me into the forest.
I saved him from a creature in the forest and threw him at the witch, who spent months training him to be able to walk alone in the forest without dying.
Of course, I had to go back to the territory to inform the Marquis and his wife about my younger brother, so they wouldn’t worry.
The bond of blood…
“I’ll just stay here and listen to the stories. You share your opinions.”
“I see, little brother.”
“Is the situation really that dangerous? This territory?”
“No, this teacher just meddled on his own.”
“It was mainly because I was curious about my apprentice’s condition. She was cute, but now she’s even cuter.”
My younger brother looked back and forth between me and the teacher.
I wanted to scold him for looking at us with the same expression, but I decided to endure it as his senior.
“Father… I mean, the Marquis said he hadn’t heard anything. At least, the rumors circulating in the hunting club don’t mention the ‘murdered’ person.”
“He hasn’t lived a particularly healthy life, so I guess it’s expected. He’s at an age where it wouldn’t be surprising if he died.”
“If that’s the case, then the timing was perfect. The person who targeted him knew exactly who to aim for.”
Could it have been a coincidence?
My instincts were telling me it wasn’t. My reasoning was the same. The Baron wasn’t that politically sharp.
“Someone might be pulling the strings behind the scenes.”
“In that case, things get a little more complicated. The Baron is tangled with too many people. He might even be connected to nobles from other countries.”
The Baron lacks political insight. He’s been running around trying to form connections everywhere, which ironically got him labeled as a bat.
But some factions might have wanted to use those connections he made.
I felt eyes on me, so I turned to look, and the witch was staring at me intently. Even in the night, her characteristic sly smile was clearly visible.
“May I ask what you’re thinking, to be smiling like that?”
“Well.”
The witch didn’t even try to stop smiling as she spoke.
“I thought you might have a way of knowing such complicated moves.”
I do have a way.
The shadow of the royal capital.
“It’s a person who might ask for something in return.”
But somehow, seeing the witch’s expression, it seemed she might have already considered the price in exchange.
“I know someone who has a lot of information to pass on to that shadow.”
I do have someone.
The Empress.
“It’s impossible.”
But I said it decisively.
“Why? Do you think the Empress is going to conquer the world or something?”
“If the Empress could have conquered the world with that, she would have contacted the shadow long ago.”
While I think world conquest is too far-fetched, if the shadow really started selling information, it could shake the kingdom.
The shadow knows its limits. If it did something like that, it would eventually end with its own head on the line. Or, at best, it would escape the stabilized and well-off royal capital to live out its days in the wilderness.
If that’s the case, she’d probably choose to live well, dealing with high-level information among the nobles.
In other words, the Empress might want it, but the shadow wouldn’t. At that point, the negotiation would collapse before it even started. Rather, I would be the one getting suspicious for trying to connect with such people.
“Hmph.”
“Do you have anything else to say?”
“Do you know this about the shadow?”
The witch said that as she pulled a small bottle from her pocket.
It was a small bottle, like a perfume bottle. Its exterior was sharply cut into several faces, and if you saw it during the day, it would probably shine beautifully.
The problem was, what was inside looked like water to my eyes.
“This is the drug I used to uncover that the count was poisoned. Of course, it’s my work, and no one else could have made it.”
“Isn’t this the kind of drug every noble would want? And the poison itself too.”
“You didn’t make the poison too, did you?”
“Of course not.”
The witch straightened up.
“If I had made it, I would have ensured that it couldn’t be revealed with such a drug.”
That makes sense.
“And you plan to sell that drug, not just in the kingdom but overseas…?”
“Hmm, well.”
The witch rolled her eyes.
So, that’s why she mentioned the Empress.
“Is the forest struggling financially?”
I see.
Just a short while ago, I thought living in the forest, researching, would be a way to live without worrying about money and to do the research I wanted for the rest of my life.
Could it be that she even made those fruit-like things to sell?
Alright.
I decided not to ask any further.
I looked at my younger brother.
“Little brother, do you have any plans to go to the royal capital?”
“I do, hyung.”
“Then, go find the shadow and deliver my message.”
“…The shadow? They don’t really have any dealings with our Marquis family.”
“I’ll tell you the location. Go there and tell them this: ‘The illegitimate son wants to settle things.'”
“Settle things?”
“There’s a bit of debt owed.”
“Debt?”
The witch asked.
“I’ve passed along a few potions. Some saved people from death, and within 10 minutes, I could make time start again.”
“W-what!?”
“Of course, it was a potion that could only be obtained from the forest, so I didn’t set a price for it. I just said, ‘I’ll provide information for free for a while.'”
Of course, the official reason was a sale, but in reality, it was to start a trade.
To buy information from the shadow, you needed information, but extremely rare items could themselves be considered ‘information.’
Fortunately, the Baron’s information was cheap. Even without considering the information I received, there was still some debt left unpaid.
…At this point, I wondered if I’d end up becoming ‘information’ myself if I got too involved.
“No, wait! That was such an expensive item!?”
“If you want to sell it, just sell it. Why are you moving so secretly?”
“Well, it’s just…”
I stared at the witch. She didn’t know the value of the potion she created?
No way.
“Wait, could it be that you wanted to meet the shadow secretly to carry out exclusive sales?”
“No, well, that’s…”
I somehow started to understand why the forest seemed to be struggling financially.
Over the years, magic had developed rapidly.
The forest’s magic is still the most sought-after, high-quality magic that everyone wants, and as long as the witch is alive, that will probably continue.
But conversely, this means that everyday, more practical items are being sold at prices that aren’t as expensive as you’d expect. They might require noble-level wealth to buy, but magic tools are usually sold to nobles anyway.
“Then it’s a good thing I traded using potions. By continually trading with the forces that can make them, the shadow will make huge profits. They’re really good at business.”
And that’s what makes it a bit uncomfortable.
“The potion… I just made it because I heard someone was going hunting for dragons.”
“Actually, it worked out well. If you’d sold it at that price, you would have made a lot and flooded the market. That would have drastically lowered the price.”
The witch’s expression brightened a bit at my words.
This is why it’s a problem if someone spends too much time cooped up in a room.
You need to know what’s selling for what if you’re going to do business, right?
Meanwhile, my younger brother was just staring back and forth at me and the witch, his mouth hanging open in disbelief.