Chapter 38

- Oh?

Veronica, standing behind the counter at the entrance to the library, talked to several people with a serious look, but as soon as she saw Juliet, her eyes opened wide.

- Oh, have you finished exploring the temple yet?

- Yes, thank you for seeing them off.

Juliet smiled and thanked the girl, but when she was about to leave the library, the crowd gathered near the counter suddenly looked at her.

- Oh, so it's you, the girl who came to see the sights, isn't it?

Since it was a small town, rumors about it diverged very quickly.

Juliet looked at the people imperceptibly, noticing that they were wearing the same clothes as the people she saw in the city square. And although they saw her for the first time, they behaved politely and benevolently, talking to her.

- I heard that an unpleasant incident happened to you as soon as you came here.

- This doesn't happen often here. I hope you weren't hurt?

After thinking for a moment, Juliet soon realized that it was a pickpocket.

- Oh, yes. I'm fine.

Then the people who were talking to Juliet introduced themselves as traders of the Ashur guild. They were also in the city square during yesterday's incident.

- If you're going to return to the square, you'd better wait for us a little, and we can let you down in our van. I think it won't be safe for a lady to go alone, even if it's not far away.

Juliet found no reason to refuse, so she readily agreed.

While she was waiting for them, she was perplexed what merchants might need in the library, but from fragments of the conversation, she heard that they were looking for a map of the forest stored here.

"Forest map? Have there ever been problems with cards in trading guilds?"

Why did they need to go all this way to the library?

Reflecting on this, Juliet accidentally drew attention to the map that the merchants were inspecting.

"Oh, here it is."

The map of the forest was not made of paper, like ordinary maps. In front of them was a huge topographic map carved from wooden boards and having the shape of a puzzle.

For some time, Juliet sat at the entrance to the library and looked at the bookshelves, while traders from the guild disassembled them one by one and moved them to their van. Then she got up out of curiosity and approached the bookshelves, after which she took one book, the name of which seemed to her the most interesting.

Meanwhile, the traders from the guild, having finished loading the map into the van, now seriously talked to Veronica.

- Then the problem will be serious.

- I heard that they are having hard times now because of slave traders. They're trying to catch mixed races...

- Does this have anything to do with the case?

- And what does Grand Lord Aquitaine say about it?

- When did you see the great lord cared about it?

- If the "Silver Forest" is damaged, they definitely won't stand aside.

- Do you mean the Lycan people now?

..... Lycan people?

Juliet didn't want to overhear, but the merchants spoke quite loudly, so she heard everything.

"Silver Forest"

It was the title of the book she was holding in her hands. Juliet turned over several pages and saw an image of a giant wolf on one of them.

"Smary."

Juliet suddenly became curious where that young guy from the train is now.

"Could this wolf return home safely?"

Slavery was abolished under imperial law.

However, much more mixed races lived on the eastern lands than humans. And imperial laws were not always observed in the East as in the rest of the Empire.

Everyone was also well aware that most mixed races were hostile to people and lived in groups in closed places such as the Silver Forest.

However, that is why the inhabitants of the forest were attractive targets for people engaged in the slave trade.

"Well, wherever you go, there will always be only problems from people."

Juliet frowned slightly, remembering how a big wolf was chained and could not move, sitting in a large cage.

"It's not just a coincidence. Undoubtedly, he was a rare prey trapped from which he could not get out. Those people were probably slave traders."

Juliet remembered the rumors that she heard when she was still living in the North.

Some rich aristocrats from the south, who burned their lives in luxury and idleness, loved to buy slaves of mixed races to use them for various entertainment.

However, Juliet herself had never met anyone of a mixed race before until she came to the East. So until now, she couldn't imagine that she would meet any of them.

So when Juliet saw a huge wolf on the train, she didn't even think it could represent a mixed race.

Since she got off the train, she has already visited two cities, but all she met were ordinary people, so she concluded that it is not possible to see a representative of the mixed race in the East as often as she thought.

While Juliet was immersed in her thoughts, the merchants ended the conversation with Veronica, and she turned to Juliet, saying that she could take any book she wanted with her. But Juliet refused and said that she would return later, after which she followed the people to the van.

When everyone got into the van and it started, the merchants resumed the conversation with each other.

- But you're not going to go there, are you?

- And why not?

- Hmm, I don't think now is the best time for that. There are too many rumors about it.

- Yes, I've already heard that the situation has changed.

- And why did it happen so suddenly?

- Who knows. Then what will we do when we get to Perinas?

People from the trading guild were clearly alarmed.

For merchants, whose trading network was very important, it seemed that the problem was how they could bypass the Silver Forest, which occupied a large area in the center of the East.

- If you're going to drive through Cartia, it's better not to do it now. - One of the merchants advised Juliet, in between.

Listening carefully to their serious conversation, she thought that maybe things in the eastern part were going worse than she imagined. In any case, her plans did not include a visit to the Silver Forest.

Juliet nodded a little and asked a question.

- And what rumors were you talking about?

- We discussed the king of werewolves. There are rumors that he has changed.

- I see.

Despite Juliet's answer, one of the merchants decided to explain it in more detail.

- Unlike humans, werewolves are a long-lived race, so changing the king is not commonplace.

- Does it matter?

- It's very important. At least in the East, the Lord of Werewolves is more worthy to be called king than the great Lord of Aquitaine.

- Oh, really?

Juliet blinked in surprise when she found out about it.

Aquitaine was the largest city in the East, and there was also an eastern gate. In addition, it was also the capital of the Old Kingdom.

Aquitaine was ruled by the Akitas family for many generations, and if we talk about their situation, it was about the same as that of Duke Carlisle, who ruled in the North.

However, knowing this, Juliet could hardly believe that the Lord of Werewolves could occupy a more influential and important position than the Great Lord Akitas.

- It's all because of the Silver Forest. - The merchant immediately explained to her.

Silver forest.

Juliet remembered the title of the book she was watching in the library.

This was the name of the huge forest in the eastern district near the city of Kartia.

- It's a pity we can't find out what the new lord is.

According to the explanation, the influence of the werewolf lord on the inhabitants of the forest was comparable to that of the emperor on the empire.

In addition, the loyalty of forest dwellers seemed to change depending on how hostile the werewolf lord treated people.

Therefore, members of trade guilds, of course, could not help but pay close attention to the problems associated with mixed races, as they had to travel long distances with valuable goods.

- So you don't know exactly if the lord has changed?

- It's hard to say for sure. As the number of slave traders has increased today, they are becoming more and more hostile to people every day. - The head of the group of traders explained frowning.

He then explained that a few years ago some small guilds began to kidnap young members of mixed races near the forest and sell them at slave auctions.

Juliet frowned.

So she was right about what happened on the train. Until now, she didn't know anything about it until she found suspicious people in the dining car.

It must have been the same guild that entered an illegal business.

If you think about it, that chain and cylinder with an unidentified strange liquid inside looked as if they were specially made to kidnap and hold someone of a mixed race. So it wasn't a spontaneous kidnapping, an organized crime.

"It looks like I might be in trouble because of this."

She did not regret letting the wolf go, but she was worried about what prevented the illegal transaction of a criminal organization that was doing something like that.

Nevertheless, Juliet soon pushed the problem to the furthest corner of her thoughts. She didn't want to worry about a problem that might not exist as such.

But after learning a little more about the situation with the slave trade, she felt a little uncomfortable because she broke up without saying goodbye to Roy.

She was a little worried that those bad guys might catch him again.

"He has too soft and gentle character. Besides, he's still so young..."

Juliet remembered Roy's smiling beautiful face when he did everything she told him without hesitation, never objecting.

- We've arrived.

While Juliet was thinking about the young werewolf, the merchants' van drove up to the city square.

Juliet thanked them and got out of the van.

But before she took a few steps...

- .....?

Feeling out of place for a moment, Juliet looked around.

- Hmm? Did something happen? - The head of the group of traders asked with bewilderment.

- No, it seems to have seemed...

"But I definitely felt someone's look."

After saying goodbye to the merchants, Juliet headed straight to the place where she noticed something strange, but there was no one next to him.

"Hmm, weird. Maybe I was wrong because I'm tired?"

Thinking so, Juliet shrugged her shoulders slightly and turned away.