Embracing Magic - E.M Chapter 156 (Part 1)

The next morning, after having breakfast, they set off. Rodin gave instructions to slightly increase the speed of the carriage.

At first, there were no particular issues. The forest felt a bit bleak, but it didn’t give off a dangerous atmosphere.

However, about two hours after their departure, the atmosphere suddenly changed.

“Uh?”

“Big Brother Rodin, there are… so many people.”

“Larry, Bianca. There must be something that all these people gathered here have in common. What do you think it is?”

As they ventured deeper into the forest, the number of people increased.

At a glance, there were dozens of them. Looking further, there were easily more than a hundred people in sight.

“Uh… women…?”

“Bianca, what do you think?”

“There are so many pregnant women. Over there, her belly is big, and there too.”

Just as Larry and Bianca had pointed out, many of the women around them had visibly swollen bellies. Those who didn’t show yet were also pregnant—just still in the early stages.

“There’s more to it than that.”

“Uh… I don’t know.”

“There are a few things Cedra Forest is famous for. Among them, there’s a superstition that if a pregnant woman sleeps in Cedra Forest for one night, she’ll give birth to a son. That’s why so many expectant mothers gather here.”

This land was a royal territory directly controlled by the Lenox Kingdom, but it was close to the border of the Maven Kingdom. Because of this, wealthy merchants and nobles from both nations frequently visited this place.

Of course, it wasn’t just pregnant women from these two countries.

With the city of Aramia nearby, which sat along the Aram River, numerous pregnant women from the neighboring territories—Seldon, Rain, Olvena, and Lloyd—also flocked to Cedra Forest.

“Ohh, I see.”

“But why do they all want to have sons?”

“That, I don’t know. How could I possibly understand what nobles or merchants are thinking?”

The preference for male offspring wasn’t limited to nobles or commoners—it was universal.

Nobles needed sons to continue their lineage, while commoners preferred them for labor.

“But why aren’t there any men? If their wives come here, shouldn’t they follow along?”

“There’s another superstition. Ahem… It’s said that if a man sleeps in Cedra Forest, his virility weakens…”

“Virility?”

“Something like that.”

Although nobles and merchants sent their wives here to ensure a son, they couldn’t send them alone. The world was a dangerous place, so protection was essential.

Since the escorts were meant to guard pregnant women, assigning male bodyguards was inconvenient. As a result, they chose female knights raised within their own households or highly reputed female mercenaries to accompany their wives.

Naturally, all the expectant mothers were women. And with even the escorts being women, Cedra Forest had gradually transformed into what seemed like a male-restricted zone.

No matter how hard one looked around, men were a rare sight—scattered sparsely, like a few grains of rice in a drought.

“Huh? Brother.”

“Big Brother Rodin.”

“This is another unique aspect of Cedra Forest.”

As they continued moving through the forest, they suddenly began to see beggars.

At first, there were only one or two. But as they reached the central area of the forest, hundreds of beggars were sprawled out, desperately begging.

“Why are there so many beggars?”

“Yeah. I’ve never seen a place with this many beggars before.”

“The people coming here are pregnant women, right? They visit in good spirits, so they tend to be generous.”

“Oh! Now I get it.”

Cedra Forest had the highest density of beggars on the entire continent, not just in the Lenox Kingdom.

Reports indicated that more than 2,000 beggars resided here regularly.

The royal family had even dispatched soldiers to crack down on them, but the beggars only disappeared temporarily during enforcement periods. Before long, they would return in droves and reclaim their spots.

“Wouldn’t that be a problem?”

“Fortunately, incidents caused by the beggars here are rare. As you can see, most of them are women too.”

“You’re right. Even the beggars are all women.”

“Plus, since there are so many escorts, Cedra Forest actually has excellent security. It’s probably safer than the Richmond Marquisate.”

Every day, more than 200 pregnant women visited Cedra Forest. The number of escorts they brought totaled around 500.

On top of that, the Lenox Kingdom’s royal security force had dispatched an elite 100-member unit—exclusively composed of women—to patrol the area.

“This is why you didn’t enter the forest yesterday, right, Big Brother Rodin?”

“Yeah. Staying in a place filled only with women felt a bit awkward. And having beggars swarming around would have been uncomfortable too.”

Legally, Cedra Forest wasn’t a restricted area for men. Though rare, some men did accompany their wives as escorts.

But staying there would undoubtedly be an uncomfortable experience. There was no reason to endure such inconvenience.

If they openly parked the carriage and rested, the beggars might even look at them with pity.

“Hehe. Big Brother Rodin, this place is really fascinating.”

“If we go to Aramia, it’ll be the opposite. The husbands who sent their wives here will be swarming there. Karis, let’s pick up the pace.”

“Yes, Young Master.”

Rodin hastily finished his lunch inside the carriage and quickly passed through Cedra Forest.

Fortunately, they managed to leave the forest before sunset.

*

A day after leaving Cedra Forest, they arrived at a large city.

It was a city enclosed by tall, semi-circular walls, nestled along the Aram River—Aramia.

Aramia’s entry process wasn’t strict. There were no procedures for checking identity badges.

For a border city, its security was surprisingly lax.

But given Aramia’s nature, it was unavoidable.

Aramia was a city connected to various nations through its waterways.

As long as the river route remained open, enforcing strict land border checks was practically meaningless.

“Big Brother Rodin, there are so many people here.”

“Yeah. Probably even more than in the Richmond Marquisate.”

“Young Master, it seems many people have fled here because of the volcano.”

“That makes sense.”

The Richmond Marquisate had suffered a volcanic eruption, which worsened living conditions. On top of that, it had endured a curse-related disaster.

Because of this, its reputation as the Lenox Kingdom’s largest commercial city was now a thing of the past.

With the Richmond Marquisate becoming an undesirable place to visit, trade caravans flocked to Aramia instead, which offered relatively better conditions.

Hyung_Otaku2

•