Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 443: Seen Through Academic Theories
While listening to the Margrave of Draken, Miss Hilda must have become curious. She asked the Margrave of Draken a question. Honestly, it helped me out, since I had wanted to ask the same thing. I don’t have much of a connection with the Margrave of Draken, so it was hard to approach him.
“Margrave of Draken-sama, why did the monsters mutate?”
It seemed that everyone else was wondering the same thing. The room fell silent, and all attention turned to the Margrave of Draken. Receiving their gazes, the Margrave shook his head from side to side.
“That’s something I’m also concerned about. At the moment, I’ve sent knights and adventurers into the depths of the forest to investigate. But so far, the cause is unknown.”
“Then, there’s a possibility that something like this could happen again?”
“I don’t want to cause worry, but… yes, that’s possible.”
At the Margrave’s reply, Miss Hilda’s complexion paled. And it wasn’t just her—Carol looked pale too. Axel, who was sitting next to her, was gently rubbing her back.
…So we’re not the only couple being all lovey-dovey, huh.
“But if that’s the case, we just need to make sure we stay alert at all times. We won’t be caught off guard again. And we now have high-quality magic potions, so it shouldn’t pose too much of a threat.”
As if to reassure everyone, the Margrave of Draken said this while looking around at us.
It seems that the widespread damage in the eastern region was partly due to being off guard. There hadn’t been any monster outbreaks in this land for a long time. In a way, it was understandable.
Still, there are adventurers in the Draken Territory, huh. Maybe every frontier territory has an adventurer’s guild. I wonder if there’s a difference between the one in Heine Territory and here.
“That’s right. We won’t repeat the same mistake. Besides, the investigation is still ongoing. There’s still a chance we’ll uncover the cause.”
Marquis Mulan followed up with that. Monster mutation, huh. There’s even a theory that monsters are born from stagnating magical energy, so maybe that’s what’s in the forest. The Margrave of Draken should know that too. He’s probably already having the area around the magical stagnation investigated. I think there’s a good chance they’ll find it eventually.
The problem is how to deal with it once it’s found. Even if you locate the area with dense magical stagnation, if you can’t do anything about it, you can’t really say the threat is gone. Maybe build an observation post nearby? But it’s a monster-infested forest, so danger would always be close.
“Julius-sama, is something wrong?”
“Ah, I was just thinking—if we did find where magical energy is stagnating in the forest, what kind of countermeasures we should take.”
Hearing that, Fabienne’s eyes opened wide. What’s with that reaction? Was that a bad thing to say? Did I say something wrong? I cautiously glanced around at everyone’s faces, and now all eyes were on me.
“Julius-sama, so you’ve already figured out the cause of the monsters’ mutation?”
“No, um, I just read a theory like that somewhere. I thought, maybe that’s a possible explanation, you know?”
It’s not a lie. That’s absolutely true. When I was trying to learn more about this world and researching monsters, I came across it. At the time, I just thought “so that’s how it is,” and didn’t pay it much attention… but how did it end up like this?
“Julius… no, Julius-sama is exactly right. We also believe that magical stagnation may be the cause of the monster mutations, which is why we’re prioritizing investigation in those areas.”
That was the moment my name changed from just “Julius” to “Julius-sama.” Does this mean I’ve been acknowledged by the Margrave of Draken? Nero is staring at me with shining eyes. The other kids are looking at me the same way too.
“And just as Julius-sama said, even if we find it, we haven’t yet found a way to deal with it. So—have you thought of any good methods?”
His tone became much more respectful. This is… not good. Still, we can’t ignore the issue. If we leave it be, the same thing might happen again in a few decades.
If it’s a place where magical energy naturally accumulates, then wouldn’t it be enough to consume that magic daily?
“Well… how about planting herbs used for magic potions there? Many of those plants absorb surrounding magical energy to grow. If the gathered magical energy is consumed right where it accumulates, the stagnation might be resolved.”
The salon fell completely silent. What is this atmosphere? It’s kind of scary. I mean, this kind of idea seems like something anyone could’ve come up with…
The silence was broken by the Margrave of Draken.
“Hahaha! I see, that’s a good idea. I didn’t expect Julius-sama to even know the conditions required for growing medicinal herbs. This is a major discovery. After hearing that, there’s something I really want to try.”
“Something you want to try?”
The Margrave of Draken’s eyes sparkled like he’d found a fascinating new toy. I have a very bad feeling about this. Why, though?
“Actually, our Draken family has a seed of the World Tree—no idea when we got it, though. I’ve always wanted to try planting it.”
Why does the Draken family have something like that? If he’s speaking so confidently, then they’ve probably had it appraised and confirmed it’s the real deal.
But is it really okay to plant something like that? No, that’s not the point. If it does grow, that would be a huge deal. I need to stop him somehow.
“Margrave of Draken-sama, is it really alright to plant such a valuable item? I’ve also heard that the World Tree takes many years to grow. Even just getting it to sprout takes a long time…”
Hearing my concern, the Margrave of Draken started to think it over. Good. Keep thinking, and maybe this whole idea will be dropped.