03. Sometimes you have to look closely…….

I don’t know how many intruders there have been. Today alone, four animals with injuries ranging from minor wounds to serious injuries received treatment from Olivia. Given the forest’s characteristic of not having fights for survival among animals, having four animals needing treatment in one day indicated a serious situation. It meant external intruders attacking animals were becoming increasingly frequent.

“What did you do with them?”

“Handled them as usual.”

Moreover, the Empire had been experiencing frequent typhoons lately, keeping the weather continuously gloomy. With the already eerie atmosphere growing more ominous, the constant appearance of intruders and injured animals had made Alois somewhat irritable. He was returning from dealing with a hunter who had attacked an otter that Olivia had just finished treating. Hunting humans wasn’t difficult, but having annoying flies constantly entering his territory was definitely irritating.

Olivia brought a towel and diligently wiped the moisture from his fur. The beast, resting his head on a cushion, looked particularly tired today, perhaps from being caught in the rain.

“All the animals are doing well. They were worried you might be concerned, Alois.”

“I’ll need to strengthen the forest boundaries even more.”

Since every intruder entering the forest was being eliminated by Alois’s hand, the rumors circulating outside the forest must have grown more ominous, yet it was puzzling why the number of intruders kept increasing. Because of these unexpected intruders, Olivia had lately been sticking close to Alois whenever she went out to gather medicinal ingredients. Even to Olivia, who had spent the least amount of time at Alois’s mansion, this phenomenon seemed strange, so the anxiety among the animals living in this forest had been amplifying.

“I wonder what’s happening outside the forest? The village I lived in wasn’t the kind where many hunters would come, and originally the villagers were so afraid of the duke’s mansion that they naturally avoided it. This is really strange.”

Once his fur had dried sufficiently, Alois settled near the fireplace and shared the answer he had found to the question Olivia was wondering about. It was information extracted from the human he had just killed.

“Apparently, a special event is going to be held.”

“An event? A festival? Our village shouldn’t be large enough for that……”

“It seems to be an event hosted by the person serving as the territory’s administrative deputy. From what I heard, a temporary event targeting mercenaries and hunters is planned. But there are many suspicious aspects to it.”

Administrative deputy? The face of the administrator, forgotten while being held captive here, immediately came to mind. Olivia never imagined that the man who ranked first among the types of human she hated would appear in this context. The mere involvement of the administrator made the temporary event immediately smell suspicious and illegal.

“He’s someone I’ve met a few times when providing treatment, and he’s a person to be careful around. He mistreats not only people but animals as well.”

“I thought they might be planning some kind of hunting game since they’re only inviting hunters and mercenaries, but a hunting game would require strict imperial permission, which that administrator fellow would certainly know……”

“Unless it’s your forest, the other forests aren’t suitable for hunting games. There are hardly any predators and not many herbivores either, making it safe enough for me to gather herbs alone without much danger.”

“Right, and the event location is suspicious. If hunting is the main activity, they would need to use the entire forest, making it impossible to do anything secretly, and if it’s just a simple festival, the road conditions for easy travel would be most important. So why there……”

Olivia moved closer to Alois, who was drying his fur in front of the fireplace, and they put their heads together. Since the administrator was someone who conducted affairs that couldn’t be easily deduced with normal thinking, it wasn’t easy to grasp what he was trying to do.

What the administrator liked: money, power, dogfighting.

“Where did you say the event location is?”

“The ruins of the ancient Itrail Temple. As you know, it’s near the mountain summit, and despite being called a temple, only the ruins remain, so the usable space isn’t very large. If there’s any usable area, it would only be the underground prayer room connected below the temple ruins……”

Though called a prayer room, it was actually a facility for re-educating impious believers brought there. The space was large, but most of it was no different from an underground prison. Moreover, even if one tried to demolish the inside and make it one open space, it would be difficult because there were structural elements that had to be maintained to prevent the underground from collapsing.

So it had little significance as a tourist or historic site, merely carrying the name without proper management, making it essentially an abandoned place.

“Dogfighting……”

Olivia’s complexion suddenly turned pale as she was lost in thought. She had a hunch but was too shocked to speak easily. Alois pulled her waist closer, letting her lean against his body, and slowly waited for her to calm down.

“The administrator originally operated illegal dogfighting rings. He raised several wolf-dogs for fighting, and I went to treat them a few times.”

“Dogfighting? So this administrative deputy fellow chooses to do things that go against Imperial law. Did you report him?”

“It’s the administrative deputy doing it. Who am I supposed to report to? The person receiving reports is the administrator himself, remember?”

Ah. Alois sighed briefly.

The Schraien territory was a place that received stronger recognition of autonomy than other territories. As the Emperor’s power strengthened, most lords were incorporated as central officials, but duchies, granted only to imperial bloodlines, still maintained to be recognized as an independent autonomy.

There was no way for Olivia, a mere territory resident, to do anything about the corrupt administrator who was filling in for the absent lord. Unless it was the Emperor who had appointed the administrator.

“But something seems odd. Isn’t dogfighting usually attended by gamblers or wealthy people? Why would they invite hunters and mercenaries?”

“After hearing what kind of person he is, I can roughly picture it. He’s not just planning to hold dogfighting. He’s planning to hold combat games between humans and fighting dogs.”

In the past, there were occasional combat games between war prisoners. However, there were too many cases of cruel deaths, so it was naturally legally prohibited now. Of course, being excessively stimulating made it an attractive business proposition for someone like the administrator.

“Combat between people and fighting dogs? But one side could die!”

“It’s not just one side that might die; all the fighting dogs should be considered dead. If they fight one-on-one with a human and the human wins, naturally the dog will die, and even if the dog wins, do you think the humans who came to watch would leave a dog that killed a human alone? Eventually, at the highlight of the festival, the dog will be hunted by multiple humans, giving them a vulgar sense of victory.”

Olivia counted the days from her last visit to the administrator’s mansion for treatment until today with trembling hands. She had deliberately set a long recovery period, but if he hadn’t ignored her words and injured the little ones again, the recovery period would end around these few days.

“Do you know when this event is scheduled?”

“Not much time left. I heard it’s being held in two weeks. So that’s why invited guests gathering in the village were deliberately trying to break through the thorny bushes, which are rumored to be dangerous, for combat practice.”

They probably thought it was a good place to practice since rumors spread that no one who entered ever returned alive. They couldn’t imagine they would actually die themselves and were trying to show off their strength. Truly simple-minded and stupid humans, Alois’s hatred for the humans he had disposed of intensified.

Just as he was thinking it would be better to make it completely inaccessible, Olivia grabbed Alois’s hands with both of hers, pleading.

“We need to help the dogs escape from the administrator.”

“The wolf-dogs you said you treated?”

“They were raised as fighting dogs, but they’re not bad. They were in pain every day from injuries but didn’t want to fight. If we bring them here, I’m sure they can get along well with the other animals.”

Olivia’s suggestion was certainly not a bad one. Alois’s forest was vast, and adding a few wolf-dogs wouldn’t destroy the existing ecosystem. After all, this forest wasn’t governed by natural laws but was entirely managed and operated by Alois’s abilities.

But despite Olivia’s pitiful request, Alois firmly shook his head.

“How would you bring the wolf-dogs here? Just because you can talk to animals, do you think you can get past the administrator’s security?”

“That, well……. Ah! If the competition is held at the Itrail Temple, they’ll probably move the dogs there before the event. Since you have to pass through the village and forest to reach the temple, if we watch carefully for that opportunity, there might be a chance.”

“Who would do that?”

“We would!”

Olivia, who was about to say she could do it, was silenced by Alois’s cold gaze. Why? She thought Alois would naturally agree to do it. He loved animals too and hated humans who mistreated animals like the administrator. But contrary to Olivia’s expectations, Alois had a dark expression and showed no favorable stance.