Exiled Young Girl’s Territory Development Record: The Result of the Villainous Young Lady Who Was Exiled Before the Scenario Began and Did Whatever She Wanted for the People.

After completing their inspection and break, Cedric and his party resumed their exploration, leaving the unconscious Paul in the care of the attendants. The area was dim even during the day, and compared to the area near the entrance, the grass here was shorter.

Because of this, Cedric’s group could proceed without having to cut the grass. However, about 200 meters in, a wild boar appeared in front of them.

“Damn. Why are we encountering monsters this frequently?”

But of course, the wild boar had no intention of answering that question and instead charged directly at Cedric’s group.

“Deflect it! Don’t take a wild boar’s charge head-on!”

“Yes, sir!”

One of the knights, carrying a large shield, attempted to deflect the boar’s charge, just as they had done with the forest deer earlier. However, the force of the charge sent him flying about three meters.

Although the knight managed to regain his stance, his thick metal shield was severely bent.

“Snort!”

Seeing the knight still standing, the wild boar charged at him once more.

“Damn it! This time for sure!”

The knight managed to deflect the boar’s charge, only stepping back a few paces. However, the boar lowered its head, readying for another attack.

In the meantime, the other knights had surrounded the boar, thrusting their spears at it one after another.

Most of the spears were deflected by its tough hide, but one spear pierced its eye, and another struck its snout.

“Snort! Snort!”

Even then, the wild boar let out a roar and charged at the knight again.

“Whoa!?”

The knight tried to deflect the charge once more, but this time he failed, getting blown away about ten meters.

He tumbled over the grass and bushes, finally coming to a stop after rolling several meters.

As for the wild boar…

“Snort… snort…”

It weakly let out a groan as it bled profusely and collapsed. Because it had charged with a spear still lodged in its snout, its own weight drove the spear deeper into its body.

Although they had successfully defeated the wild boar, Cedric quickly made a decision.

“Tch! We’re pulling out! Get Sir Miles transported!”

“Yes, sir!”

With that, Cedric and his group concluded their half-day exploration and returned to Clarinton.

That evening, the door to the mayor’s office was flung open violently.

“What’s the meaning of this rudeness—”

“Hey, mayor.”

“Ahh!?”

The mayor let out a small shriek at the sight of Cedric entering with a terrifying expression, like a demon.

“W-what, w-what seems to be the matter? You’ve returned so soon…”

“‘What’s the matter?’ You slacked off on your job!”

“Huh? What do you mean by that…?”

“We encountered both a forest deer and a wild boar, one of each.”

“That would mean you ventured quite deep into the forest, then—”

“Not even a kilometer in!”

“What!?”

“You’ve left that cursed forest unchecked for far too long! If you neglect the forest, the boundary between the monsters’ territory and human settlements will blur. Surely you’re aware of that much!”

“Well, that’s…”

“What would you have done if Clarinton’s people had been harmed?”

Cedric glared at the mayor with piercing eyes.

“Well, that’s…”

The mayor mumbled and then whispered under his breath, so quietly that Cedric couldn’t hear, “Couldn’t we just pretend they weren’t there in the first place?”

“What did you say?”

“N-nothing…”

“A large-scale monster hunt will be necessary. I’ll inform the knight order and request reinforcements. There’s no way we can push through such a dense cursed forest with the current personnel.”

“…”

“You’ll have to take responsibility. Prepare yourself.”

“Eek! P-please, anything but that!”

“If you want to lessen your guilt even a little, you’d better devote yourself to fighting the monsters in the cursed forest.”

“N-nooo…”

The mayor let out a pathetic whimper and hung his head in despair. Cedric, on the other hand, scoffed at the sight and turned to leave the office.

Soon after, one of the knights who had accompanied the group set out from Clarinton in a rush, taking the attendants with him.

Seeing this, the townsfolk of Clarinton began to gossip among themselves.

For example, at a run-down tavern, where day-laborers gathered in search of cheap booze, a conversation like this took place.

“Hey, did you see that? The knights.”

“Yeah, they seemed to be in quite a hurry.”

“In a hurry? The ones I saw were carrying an injured knight.”

“Really? A knight got hurt?”

“Yeah. They were carrying him on a stretcher.”

“On a stretcher? Don’t they have carriages?”

“Apparently, they went into the cursed forest. So they probably couldn’t use a carriage there.”

“That makes sense. So they got hurt in the cursed forest?”

“Seems like it.”

“So, I guess they called for reinforcements?”

“Looks that way.”

“Hey.”

“Hm?”

“Do you think it has something to do with the river’s water level going down?”

“Huh? What do you mean… Ah! You think…?”

“Yeah, it could be, right?”

“Huh? What’re you talking about?”

“There might be a dangerous monster in the cursed forest. And that monster’s been drinking up all the water. The knights found out and went to slay it, but got beaten, so they called for reinforcements.”

“Oh, that makes sense. Now that you mention it, that could be the case.”

“If the knights got taken out and the monster’s drinking up all that water, it must be huge.”

“Yeah. Like, a dragon?”

“A dragon, huh. Are we gonna be okay?”

“Maybe not.”

“…Should we move?”

“What should I do? There’s a lot of things about this place, but at least the taxes are cheap.”

“Ah, true. For all its problems, it’s not a bad place to live.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

With that, they raised their mugs in unison.