How to Use the Lord’s Future Diary

Chapter 23

The so-called ‘Marriage Scam of the Lord’s Wife.’

The runaway youngest daughter of the Level Merchant Group, Yuria McBane, secretly slipped into the caravan and visited the Johnson Territory, and Iron, who fell in love with her at first sight, took her as his wife.

But the happy days lasted only briefly.

The lady of the lord, who married Iron, squandered most of the territory’s reserve funds under the pretext of developing a mine and then fled, and it was revealed that even her supposed identity was entirely false, leaving the pure-hearted Iron bedridden in despair.

Recently, with a sudden assassination incident overlapping, suspicions arose that the ‘Marriage Scam of the Lord’s Wife’ might even be connected to the assassination attempt.

The assassins all committed suicide at the scene, and since they left behind no information that could reveal their identity, the exact details remained unknown.

‘There are more than just one or two suspicious points.’

The Marriage Scam of the Lord’s Wife was a case full of mysteries.

First, it was the fact that she impersonated ‘Yuria McBane’ of the Level Merchant Group.

If it was Yuria, she was quite a known figure around Levelium, yet they boldly impersonated her to carry out a fraud.

It was an incredibly daring scam.

‘But he fell for it.’

In truth, Iron was also much at fault for believing his former wife’s words without question.

No matter how strange the times were, if one intended to marry, it was the natural order to contact the bride’s family, the Level Merchant Group, and receive permission.

If he had done so, the situation might have been different.

Especially if he had met Yuria’s biological father, the master of the Merchant Group, he could have noticed something amiss.

But the self-proclaimed Yuria, who claimed to have secretly run away from home, insisted that Iron must at least have one child with her before they could hope to receive her family’s approval.

Iron, who trusted only her words, went straight into marriage without even informing the Level Merchant Group.

Perhaps he feared that the Merchant Group would not approve of the marriage.

The fact was, Iron truly had feelings for the so-called Yuria.

Of course, being blinded by love at first sight did not excuse such recklessness.

‘Still, it was quite a meticulous setup.’

In truth, the fake Yuria looked so much like the real Yuria that it was hard to distinguish between them, and the one who escorted the fake Yuria to visit our territory was none other than an employee of the Level Merchant Group who had previously conducted business with us.

When a familiar merchant employee personally introduced her as Yuria McBane, it was only natural for us to believe it.

Furthermore, at that very time, the real Yuria had left the Merchant Group for a year to observe mourning according to her maternal family’s tradition after her mother’s death.

Even at a glance, the entire fraud was intricately and organically tied together.

‘So what exactly was this scam for?’

A scam, by its nature, should be aimed at obtaining something.

But in this case, the so-called Yuria gained nothing in particular.

The only thing the con artist did in the territory was drain the treasury under the pretense of mine development.

The abandoned mine that was dug at that time still remained near the Johnson Castle to this day.

Using the mana crystals stocked in the territory, she hired an outsider who claimed to be a mining expert to dig into the land, and last winter, while I was away at the northern gate for the defensive battle, she and her accomplices completely disappeared.

That was the entirety of the incident.

‘It wasn’t even for the profit from mine development.’

Considering how deep the mine was dug, the amount of mana crystals we had invested was rather small.

In such circumstances, I could not help but wonder what exactly they had hoped to achieve with such a scheme.

–It does seem certain there was a collaborator within the Level Merchant Group.

Black Rabbit, who had been listening closely to my explanation, nodded his head.

It was a rather sharp observation.

‘That’s my thought as well. Whether it was the mastermind or a collaborator, there must have been someone inside the Level Merchant Group.’

If Yuria McBane had not been absent at that exact time, the fraudulent scheme would have been discovered far too easily.

The reason Yuria McBane was away was purely personal.

Not many people would have known she would be absent precisely at that time.

So my assumption that someone inside the Level Merchant Group was involved in this incident was likely not wrong.

‘One thing seems certain.’

As my thoughts reached that point, I began to sense something.

Not only did they impersonate Yuria McBane to pull off a marriage scam, but the incident itself seemed to have some tie to figures within the Level Merchant Group.

Adding these together, I began to think the true target of this marriage scam might have been Yuria herself.

Otherwise, why would they deliberately impersonate such a famous figure, making it so easy to get caught?

–Indeed…

When Iron went to meet the real Yuria McBane in person, she was utterly flustered.

After a year of severing contact with the outside world to observe mourning, a man suddenly appeared out of nowhere claiming to be her husband—no wonder she was shocked.

And Iron immediately realized as well that she was not actually his wife.

‘It was a moment when conflict could easily have erupted.’

Iron chose to retreat from that bewildering moment.

Though he was furious at realizing he had been deceived, he judged that rather than arguing over rights and wrongs here, it was more important to track down the runaway former wife and bring her back.

The desire to find his wife somehow overcame the anger of having been deceived.

–Had conflict broken out there, it might have become a huge scandal.

‘It would’ve become a problem no matter what. However it turned out, it wouldn’t have been good for her.’

–Then isn’t that the conclusion already?

‘No, not exactly. If that were true…….’

If I hadn’t been the target, then why did that recent assassination attempt occur?

‘I personally believe this assassination attempt originated from that self-proclaimed Yuria or

her accomplice.’

–Why do you think so?

‘Because they ordered the assassins to collapse the mine while killing me. In fact, Iron stationed knights at the mine, and they stopped the approaching assassins. The only person connected to the mine was the former wife, and if they openly tried to collapse it, then in the end it must be related to her side.’

–Strange. Was that mine even worth it? If so, they could have collapsed it before fleeing. ‘That would’ve been difficult at the time.’

Iron, who was fiercely devoted to his wife, always stationed at least two knights at the mine.

The laborers she had brought in from outside were truly just simple diggers, and even if she mobilized them all, they couldn’t have beaten the knights and collapsed the mine afterward.

‘The only possible method would’ve been to slip assassins among the workers, deal with the knights right before fleeing, and then collapse the mine.’

–That would be quite a dangerous plan.

‘It seems they couldn’t attempt such a risky operation before making their escape. She didn’t consider it a disposable card.’

So if they wanted to collapse that mine, the right timing would’ve been after everything was finished, when no one paid attention to it anymore.

‘But that mine was nothing more than an empty burrow.’

I still didn’t know why they tried to collapse it.

After his wife fled, the heartbroken Iron visited the mine several times.

It really was just an ordinary, empty burrow.

And yet they tried to collapse it.

It was a strange affair that made me tilt my head.

–Truly incomprehensible.

‘Enough time has passed now, so she must have figured out something. She seemed like a rather clever woman. With just a little thought, she would’ve realized she was the target.’

The reason I personally joined this caravan was also to meet her again and confirm the exact circumstances.

Receiving the story secondhand through others risked the information being corrupted.

Since I was one of the parties involved, I intended to coax her myself and extract the necessary details.

‘Whatever the case, let’s wrap this matter up here.’

Honestly, I had no desire to drag on a marriage scam that wasn’t even something I personally suffered.

After two more days of travel, we arrived at Hawrun Castle, the entrance to the Levelium region.

Located at the eastern edge of Levelium, Hawrun Castle was where the headquarters of the Level Merchant Group and the main household of the McBane family were located.

This was the destination of the caravan.

It was likely that the Level Merchant Group had started trading with our territory thanks to this geographical advantage.

This was the closest territory to ours within Levelium.

“What the hell is that?”

“What…….”

No fewer than twenty-two suspicious knights riding massive mountain goats.

The goats clad in black armor looked extremely menacing.

The sight of such an unusual group approaching the castle gate instantly caused a stir in the area.

Given the fast-spreading rumors in this region, by tomorrow everyone would have heard of it.

‘Well, it’s not necessarily a bad thing, is it?’

I had no particular plans to operate in Levelium, but letting outsiders know the strength of the Johnson Territory was a good thing.

That way fewer people would look down on us.

Since our territory was in such a remote location, almost no one here would know us, but our first impression would surely be a strong one.

–Those males, their shoulders are puffed up with pride.

‘Well, just let them be.’

I did wonder why they were strutting so proudly, but honestly, riding such magnificent goats, it would be hard not to puff one’s chest.

So it was something to just laugh off.

“Lord Iron Johnson of the Johnson Territory. Confirmed. Welcome to your visit.”

We underwent a brief inspection at the gate and paid the toll.

When I showed them the seal ring and explained that we came for trade, they simply let us through.

Whether they truly recognized the seal or just went along, I couldn’t tell.

Given the heavy traffic in this area, the inspections weren’t that strict.

Apparently, tolls were one of the main sources of income here.

–A seal with a shield and a greatsword. Why on earth is there no rabbit?

‘Wouldn’t it be stranger if there was? Who puts a rabbit symbol on their seal?’

–I cannot understand.

I ignored the strange rabbit who couldn’t understand why our family’s seal had no rabbit and observed the surroundings.

The streets were neatly arranged, and there were quite a lot of people.

If we headed into the commercial district, the foot traffic would surely be immense.

This was a place where merchants from various regions gathered.

And where merchants gathered, mercenaries followed, forming a marketplace around them.

Still, compared to the number of people roaming, there weren’t that many houses.

“I noticed earlier there were quite a lot of houses outside the castle. It felt unusual.”

“Unlike Johnson Castle, monsters don’t constantly swarm this place. Still, it’s strange that houses exist outside the castle.”

“The scale of this castle seems smaller than Johnson Castle.”

“Of course. Johnson Castle is an exceptional case. I heard before the Great Cataclysm, it was rare to build castles that thick.”

Houses outside the castle walls, huh.

It seemed monster raids weren’t that frequent in this region.

But was this really okay?

No matter what, if monsters swarmed, everything outside the walls would be devastated.

Perhaps they didn’t value people as much because there were so many.

Either way, it wasn’t my concern, so I decided not to dwell on it.

“What shall we do?”

“Let’s head straight to the headquarters of the Level Merchant Group. They’ll surely receive our party.”

We went directly to the Merchant Group.

The headquarters consisted of several massive mansions connected together, even equipped with separate lodgings for visitors.

So if they had been ‘expecting’ our visit, they could welcome us without issue.

‘Let’s see how this goes.’

The reason I visited the Merchant Group so quickly was to test their influence.

I wanted to see how much sway the Merchant Group held in Hawrun Castle.

Since I had declared at the gate that we were visiting the Merchant Group, if any of their people were there, they would have sent word to the headquarters immediately.

“Welcome to the Level Merchant Group, Lord Iron.”

And right as we arrived at the entrance, a receptionist of the Merchant Group greeted us.

As if they had already expected us.

Proof that the Level Merchant Group held significant sway in Hawrun Castle.

But the receptionist didn’t lead me to the Merchant Master.

“We’ve met before, haven’t we?”

“Indeed. How have you been?”

It was Yuria McBane herself.

The very person I had wished to meet.