Chapter 90
Yuria woke up the next day.
Thanks to the excellent effects of the Suppository Potion.
On top of that, Yuria herself seed to be quite the shaman, since her recovery was remarkably fast.
-The Silver Fox of the Fox Tribe is an excellent shaman. Being closely attuned to mana, it’s only natural that she would recover quickly.
‘A shaman, huh? That’s a little surprising. If she’s a Beastman shaman, would that put her in a similar position as a human mage?’
-The closest equivalent would probably be a caster (a mage who uses spells in real combat).
‘Casters are an extrely rare existence though.’
It seed that Yuria’s group had been able to safely escape from the Levelium region thanks to her shamanism.
That ant she was far more skilled than I’d originally thought.
The Rabbit didn’t figure out her identity, and I hadn’t sensed her abilities either, which only proved she wasn’t ordinary at all.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
“That’s right. Though I didn’t expect we’d et again like this.”
“True. You never know what life has in store.”
Yuria appeared in the conference hall in her human form.
After exchanging a brief greeting with , she sat down. Then, Butler Harold, who had been standing behind , let out a sigh.
“My Lady…”
Butler Harold was the one who assisted in running the territory.
Of course, that ant he had often been in contact with my forr wife as well.
He must have already known that Yuria looked exactly like her, but eting her in person clearly brought a different kind of shock.
‘Well, yeah. No one would expect another person to look that identical.’
Maybe my ex-wife had an item that let her copy soone else’s appearance.
This wasn’t just a resemblance—it was practically identical.
Back before the Great Cataclysm, when countless magical items still existed, it wouldn’t have been strange if such a thing were real.
“Oh~ so this really is the Black Lion. Did the Black Cat of Rotsy settle down here?”
The first place Yuria’s gaze landed was on Leisha.
It wasn’t strange since Leisha had once worked as a rcenary in the Levelium region.
“I thought she was just so shady female, but I didn’t expect her to be a Fox.”
“Oh, is that so? Well, I also didn’t expect the Black Cat to wag her tail at a human.”
“And yet here’s a Fox thinking about wagging her tail at Bear, isn’t she?”
“Hmm, maybe it’s not so different.”
Sothing strange was unfolding in this exchange.
Both of them were smiling faintly, yet the air between them was frighteningly tense.
-Ho, so this is a battle of wills.
‘Seriously though, why the hell are they fighting for dominance here?’
-It’s probably a show of dominance to decide the leading female.
‘And what aning is there in that?’
Not wanting things to drag out into so pointless quarrel, I cut them off.
This wasn’t the atmosphere I wanted.
I had mountains of things to figure out right now, and this kind of contest wasn’t helping.
Especially a fight between Leisha and Yuria. There couldn’t be a more pointless clash.
I didn’t even understand what the fight was supposed to prove.
“Enough chatter for now. Let’s get to the important part first. Yuria, the group you brought with you—they’re all Fox Tribe?”
“Strictly speaking, they’re Fox Tribe who had been living in the Levelium region, along with their families. So humans are mixed in too. The Fox Tribe don’t mind forming pairs with humans.”
“Ah, I see. And you’re the representative of the group, Yuria?”
“That’s right. The Fox Tribe has always been led by the Silver Fox. This ti, I am that Silver Fox—Yuria.”
‘So they were all Foxes after all.’
Since the Fox Tribe could disguise themselves as humans, their identity was always ambiguous.
Even among the wagon group, most of them had appeared human.
So I asked, and as it turned out, the majority of them really were Fox Tribe.
The humans numbered about three to four hundred.
But judging by appearances alone, there was no way to distinguish humans from Fox Tribe.
“Is it true that you crossed over in order to settle in Johnson Territory?”
“That’s right. Our Fox Tribe wishes to settle in Johnson Territory.”
So that was true too.
But what exactly had happened to drag all those Foxes out of the Levelium region where they had been living just fine?
“In the end, isn’t this the real question you want answered? Why the Empire appeared in Levelium in the first place.”
“Exactly. That’s the real issue. Do you know the reason?”
“Of course. The ones who brought the Empire into Levelium were the Level rchant Group. To be precise—Albert McBane, the new master of the Level rchant Group.”
“The Level rchant Group brought in the Empire?”
A shocking revelation dropped right from the start.
The Level rchant Group had been the ones to unleash the Empire’s remnants.
Apparently, the Level rchant Group discovered a safe sea route leading from the Empire to Levelium’s coast. Through that route, they made contact with the remnants of the Empire and ca to an agreent.
They would join forces and share the Levelium region.
Accepting the offer, the Empire’s remnants flooded in, and the knights I had encountered earlier were part of that force.
-But isn’t the Empire even harsher than here?
‘Exactly. That place was truly ruined.’
Though the Empire’s landmass was much larger than the Ribella Peninsula, it had been utterly devastated.
Rumor had it that dozens of Catastrophe-Class Monsters road the land there.
So if they were remnants of the Empire who had hidden near the coast to avoid the monsters, it made sense that they’d be desperate to cross over here and start anew.
“What the hell were they thinking, pulling sothing like this?”
“Our great master of the rchant group seems to be dreaming big.”
“Dreaming big?”
“Apparently, he wants to use the Empire’s remnants to take control of all of Levelium.”
The plan was this: secretly bring in the Empire’s forces, let them wreak havoc on Levelium’s territories, then stab them in the back and drive them out.
After that, Albert McBane would claim all of Levelium, now a no man’s land, as his own domain.
“And that’s even possible?”
Even hearing it laid out, I couldn’t help but tilt my head in doubt.
The Levelium region had six territories. To drive out all of its lords would require an enormous army.
How many Imperial forces would he need to bring in to make that feasible?
‘And even then—how would he drive out all those Imperial forces afterward? Does a backstab solve everything? If the Level rchant Group’s power was that strong, why would they need the Empire’s help in the first place?’
“This isn’t Albert McBane’s plan alone. He has allies in the south.”
“Allies in the south?”
“And wouldn’t you know it, they’re connected to you as well. Looks like that marriage scam of yours began from their side.”
“…Is that so?”
I’d known for a long ti that there were more complicated circumstances behind my marriage scam.
The mont I heard it wasn’t solely Albert McBane’s doing, but that there were other masterminds, I had felt it.
I’d forced myself to ignore it back then, thinking only trouble would co of it.
But now it had co circling back again.
Truly, it was exhausting.
And now, these bastards were even trying to drag in the Empire’s forces to stir up more trouble, which only made my head throb harder.
They weren’t just crazy—they were utterly insane.
“So, do you think that grand dream of his has any chance of coming true?”
Honestly, I didn’t care who ended up ruling Levelium.
If Albert McBane sohow managed to backstab the Empire’s remnants and beco the overlord of Levelium, I could acknowledge it and even applaud.
But no matter how I looked at it, that didn’t seem likely.
After all, a backstab only worked if the other side trusted you in the first place.
“No way. Do you even know what kind of people the Empire scum are? By now, Albert McBane is probably already a dead man.”
Yeah, they were the Empire, after all.
The massive neighbor a nation of deceit.
There was no way to handle the Empire with tricks and betrayal.
If anything, the natural flow was for the Empire’s remnants to strike first, long before Albert even got the chance to try anything.
“Levelium must be in chaos right now.”
Judging by the situation, the Empire forces that the Level rchant Group had brought in must have thrown the entire region into turmoil.
Most likely, Yuria had anticipated this and set out on the path of exile.
Things had blown up more than expected, leaving uncertain of what to do next.
“You’d better worry about Johnson Territory before anything else.”
But this wasn’t the end.
The most important part hadn’t even started yet.
“What do you an by that?”
“Soon the pigs will co swarming this way. Albert McBane and the shadowy masterminds didn’t just invite the Empire. They invited others too.”
“Pigs? You an the Boar Tribe?”
“Yes, the pigs. They’re gathering to reclaim their forr ho. From the beginning, even the marriage scam was for that purpose.”
“Explain that in more detail.”
I’d just learned an incredibly important and shocking fact.
Our Johnson Territory had originally belonged to the Boar Tribe.
It had been the Bear Tribe, the Lion Tribe, and Johnson Territory together who had driven out the Boar Tribe and built Johnson Castle on this land.
So if the Boar Tribe wanted to reclaim their old ho, it ant a massive war was inevitable.
As the lord, this was sothing I absolutely could not ignore.
“Before that—will you accept us?”
“Hah, right now that’s…”
“But we’re desperate too. We’ve got nowhere else to go.”
Just before revealing the most important information, Yuria cut herself off.
It was clear she intended to use the crucial details as leverage to secure acceptance into my territory.
“And besides, us joining would be quite beneficial for you too.”
“What do you an by that?”
“You need information, don’t you? Until now, maybe you could afford to just worry about your own people. But that’s not the case anymore, is it? I’m sure soone like you has already realized that.”
“And?”
“Our Fox Tribe is spread all across the Ribella Peninsula. The ones who ca with to join your Johnson journey are only the core group. We fled because we couldn’t stomach the Empire. But the other Foxes are still living well in various territories. Of course, not in closed-off territories like this one.”
-As expected of Foxes. Clever creatures.
So that was the truth.
Foxes disguised as humans were scattered everywhere, gathering information.
All of it flowed into what they called the ‘main group.’
And the leader of that group was Yuria.
“The entire tribe is like an intelligence guild.”
No wonder she always seed to know strange things.
This woman wasn’t a re rchant—she was an information broker.
“And besides, aren’t you having trouble lately?”
“With what?”
“Trade. The scale of trade with Rubina is expanding. You probably want to establish sothing with Henil too. But the scale is too big for Johnson Territory to handle alone, isn’t it?”
“How could you… wait, so there are Foxes in Rubina and Henil too?”
“I told you. Unless it’s a closed-off place like Johnson Territory, the Fox Tribe is everywhere.”
So not only Rubina, but even Henil was within their reach?
These were truly high-performance allies.
“And trade is our specialty.”
“Of course. We are rchants, after all. Well? Tempted?”
Naturally, I was tempted.
If I accepted the Fox Tribe, I wouldn’t have to worry about trade anymore.
And the value of their intelligence went without saying.
“One last thing.”
“There’s more?”
“Your reputation. I could protect it, couldn’t I?”
“My reputation?”
The sudden ntion made tilt my head in confusion. But Rudick and Butler Harold lit up instantly.
“Does that an, as the Lord’s Lady…?”
“Wait, you an another sister-in-law?”
What the hell were they talking about now?
Why were “sister-in-law” and “the Lord’s Lady” suddenly being ntioned here?
-That female is already the Lord’s Lady just by existing.
‘What nonsense is this…?’
“…No, wait. That’s true.”
If Yuria walked around the territory in her human form, the rumors would spread instantly.
-The runaway Lord’s Lady has returned.
The residents who rembered the disgraceful scene when my wife ran away would be overjoyed.
The Lord’s Lady had finally co back.
‘And my one stain, the marriage scam, would be dismissed as just a passing episode.’
-So that’s what she ant by reputation.
It was a notion I never would have imagined.
The real Yuria stepping in to replace the fake Yuria as the Lord’s Lady?
Was this the true insanity of another world?
Just what did these people think marriage even was?
Even more outrageous was the fact that Rudick and Butler Harold seed genuinely intrigued by the idea.
“Well, it’s true. My lord has only ever cared about body and face.”
“When I objected before, you still accepted her as your wife just because she was pretty.”
So this was my karma—or perhaps Iron’s karma.
‘This is giving a headache.’
Shaking my head at the absurdity of it all, Yuria leaned closer and started flirting.
“What? Am I not good enough for you? We Fox females are actually very popular with human males, you know? And I’m the most outstanding of them all—the Silver Fox. I’m very confi—ow.”
“Shut up. And keep your distance, you’re suffocating .”
I couldn’t help myself—at her cheap flirting, devoid of even a shred of sincerity, I smacked her on the forehead.
This woman really was full of surprises.
-Still, isn’t she a pretty female? Have a drink.
When I first t her in the rchant group, she had seed decent.
But what happened to make her like this?
Maybe there really was sothing wrong with this land.
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