Aiming for a Cozy Life in a Dangerous Forest in Another World! - Chapter 41.1

A Side Story: Behind the Incident

It was about two years ago when I heard that report from my colleague.

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“Rail-san! It’s terrible!”

“What is it, Kiera? Why are you in such a panic?”

“I heard from a traveling merchant who came from the royal capital that Viscount Marshag’s family has been stripped of their title and their estate confiscated!”

“…Kiera, surely you don’t believe such a ridiculous story. I’ve told you countless times to be wary of rumors and disinformation campaigns…”

“But! I asked several other merchants, and they all said the same thing! And it was paid information, so it must be somewhat credible…”

“…………But that’s impossible. Viscount Marshag’s family has always been above reproach, they have never been associated with any wrongdoing or criminal activity. Lord Lazal, the head of the family, is the very embodiment of integrity, an honorable and upstanding man… There’s no reason why his family would be stripped of their title…

First, let’s verify the validity of this information. If it’s true, then we’re in a dangerous position. We must never reveal our identities. We’ll travel to the surrounding towns and gather information from merchants and adventurers. Let’s meet back here in two weeks, at midday.”

“Understood.”

We spent two weeks gathering information, and when Kiera and I met again and confirmed our findings, it was almost certain that Viscount Marshag’s family had indeed been stripped of their title.

On that day, we lost the master we had served for 20 years.

♢　♢　♢

I worked as an investigator for Viscount Marshag’s family.

For generations, the Marshag family had held the position of managing the kingdom’s finances. While they didn’t possess any land, they held the important post of Finance Supervisor.

The Finance Supervisor’s main duty was to oversee the taxes collected by each noble from their people and ensure they were paying the correct amount. There were some nobles who would try to evade paying taxes, claiming “poor harvest” or “poor fishing”. We would investigate their ledgers and force them to pay the correct amount.

And sometimes they would even falsify their ledgers, so investigators like myself, those who worked for the Marshag family, would visit their territories to conduct investigations.

We also monitored the collected taxes to make sure they were being properly managed.

I was on one such investigation when I heard about this incident.

The Marshag family had been stripped of their title and their estate confiscated for embezzlement. And the head of the family, his wife, and his eldest son, who were deeply involved, had been executed. The second son and eldest daughter had been stripped of their noble status and sent to a remote village.

But I couldn’t accept it.

Lord Lazal, who had exposed countless cases of fraud, who was said to be the most honorable and upright of all the Marshag family heads… How could he do such a thing…?

So I conducted my own investigation.

And I discovered that the Marshag family had been framed.

The ones who framed them were Marquis Renlow and his faction, and the second prince of the Kingdom of Lasiar.

I wasn’t able to uncover all the details, but I learned that Viscount Marshag had been preparing to expose Marquis Renlow’s wrongdoings, and they had framed him to prevent it.

The second prince of the Kingdom of Lasiar was known as the “Idiot Prince”. It was rumored that he had been squandering the royal family’s money on lavish expenses and had even attempted to embezzle funds from the national budget, which had resulted in a conflict with Viscount Marshag.

They probably joined forces to get rid of the troublesome Viscount Marshag.

The enemies were too powerful, there was nothing I could do alone.

And since the downfall of the Marshag family, my fellow investigators had all moved on to other jobs, or even left the country.

But Kiera and I had yet to repay the debt we owed to the Marshag family, especially Lord Lazal.

He had saved us when we had failed as adventurers and were burdened with a huge debt.

So we decided to protect Lord Lazal’s children from the shadows.

But by the time we located them and arrived at Canaan Village, they were gone.

The villagers said it was an epidemic.

However, there was no sign of an epidemic in the village.

…I could guess what had happened.

Reporting it to the officials of the territory would be pointless. They might even be complicit.

Kiera and I, having lost our purpose, decided to stay in the capital of Margrave Baiz’s territory. We would return to our old lives as adventurers for a while as we thought about what to do next.

♢　♢　♢

The territory of Margrave Baiz is considered to be the most dangerous place in the Kingdom of Lasiar, bordering the Great Forest of Chrys, a death trap for humanoids and most magical beasts and monsters.

The areas around the forest, even the outer edges, were teeming with dangerous creatures.

Adventurers accepted requests to hunt magical beasts and monsters, or to gather materials.

They could keep anything they found besides the requested materials and sell them for their own profit.

Therefore, Margrave Baiz’s territory was a gold mine for adventurers.

Kiera and I were a little rusty, but we were able to function as adventurers without any problems.

This was because, during our time as investigators, we sometimes had to deal with assassins hired by nobles who didn’t want their territories investigated. So we had never let our training lapse.

But it had been a while since we had fought magical beasts and monsters.

The magical beasts and monsters that inhabited the area around Margrave Baiz’s territory were all very powerful.

But if we only had to deal with one at a time, Kiera and I could handle them without any problems.

Well, there was that one time when we almost died.

It was a Fangrabbit, which had probably wandered out of the forest while chasing prey.

We would have stood no chance against it.

Fortunately, it didn’t even glance at us and quickly retreated back into the forest. The thought of it charging at us still makes me shudder.

That day, when I heard that a Fangrabbit, which had wandered out of the forest after getting lost, had destroyed Canaan Village, I felt… a strange mix of emotions…